Giveaway! 21 Projects Using Bandanas
Disclaimer: The book being given away today was provided by C&T Publishing. No monetary compensation was provided for this posting. The Amazon links in this post are affiliate links and benefit Sewing Mamas when purchases are made through the links.
We are giving away a copy of Bandana-rama – Wrap, Glue, Sew: Kids Make 21 Fast & Fun Craft Projects
Here are a couple fun projects from this book:
Bandana Skirt
Bandana Book Cover
Bandana Shoulder Bag
The drawing closes at midnight on Monday, October 20, so get those entries in! Sorry international friends, this giveaway is open only to US residents.
Good luck!
Kelly
Quick Tip: Use Jumbo Wonder Clips For Embroidery
(First, an exciting disclaimer – Amazon has started to collect sales tax in Minnesota, which means we have our affiliate links back! So, the product links below will generate a small commission that helps keep Sewing Mamas running if you purchase through our links. Please know that Sewing Mamas’ blog ONLY posts about products that I actually use. I don’t want to share stuff unless it’s good! Thanks for helping out!)
I bought these Clover Jumbo Wonder Clips some time ago because I already had these little red ones and I thought bigger ones would be nice to have, though I wasn’t really sure what I was going to use them for.
As it turns out, they are really handy for embroidery. When I have bigger pieces that I am embroidering on, I usually end up holding parts out of the way of the embroidery hoop. My daughter wanted her name on her basketball bag. The side of the bag bounced about, even though I had rolled and scrunched it up. The clips were wide enough to hold onto the scrunched up bag and made it so much easier to control.
Happy Sewing!
Kelly
ps – I think we’re due for a giveaway, so check back tomorrow to see what I have for you! :)
Quilts Do Not Finish Themselves!
- At September 03, 2014
- By Kelly
- In Quilts, Sewing For The Kids
- 4
Some time back, I posted about Jack’s (unfinished) quilt.
This project has been hanging over my head for years. It’s beyond ridiculous. I need it out of my sewing space and out of the space it has been occupying on my mental to-do list.
A week or so ago, I cut and pieced the back, which we have now decided is the front.
After all, no self-respecting third grade boy wants an i-spy quilt. (Actually, they do, they just do not want everyone else to know that they do. So, the i-spy side will hide on the back where only the 8 year old owner can see it and secretly spy matching squares.)
The steps are 6″x12″ finished size. I cut them using the 6.5″ strip cutter on my Accuquilt Studio and then just cut apart 12.5″ rectangles from the strip. Very efficient.
I used chalk to mark the lines for quilting.
Fortunately(?), I spent about 11 hours in the car when we went to my parents’ house for my dad’s birthday. This was plenty of time to hand sew the binding to finish it up. I am sooooo happy to be done with this one! Jack’s pretty happy, too.
And, in the spirit of embracing imperfection, I am even going to let you see the quilting up close. And then I will tell you what I learned.
This was quilted on my home sewing machine. It is a Bernina Virtuosa 155. In doing this, I pretty much quilted it in the worst possible direction. First, I quilted the straight line across the middle.
That would have been fine, except that I then stitched the one to the left.
And then I continued to the left until that whole side was done.
This meant when I got to that far left side, I had the whole quilt bunched up in the throat of my machine. Now, you may be thinking this does not matter, because after all, at some point I would have had it all bunched up there, right? But if I had been smarter and instead moved to the right first, when I did the left side and it was all bunched up, it also would have already been quilted, which would have made it much more stable and compressed over there. (ie, less bunchy and loose and more cooperative!)
So, it would have been better if I had done the right side first.
Lesson learned – think ahead about where the quilt will be with respect to the machine when quilting!
I also learned that it is much harder to keep my stitch length consistent on a big quilt than on a mini quilt. Guess I need more practice! I am okay with that.
Here it is hanging from his top bunk. Quilts are for fort making, you know. :)
All in all, I am happy with the result, and Jack is happy to have his own mom made quilt.
Happy Quilting!
Kelly
Sewing Tutorial: Simple Messenger Bag
This tutorial was created by Barb, who is fw221 in the Sewing Mamas forums. Thanks Barb!
Supplies:
- 2/3 yard of 60″ wide fabric for exterior
2/3 yard of 60″ wide fabric for interior
OR
1 yard of 44″ wide fabric for exterior
1 yard of 44″ wide fabric for interior - Thread to match
If you want to use a lighter weight fabric, be sure to match it with a heavier weight. Two light weights won’t be substantial enough without interfacing. Two heavyweight fabrics will be tough on your machine (but not impossible).
Part One: Cut Your Fabric!
We’ll need from each fabric:
two cuts of 15″ (tall) x 18″ (wide)
one cut of 13″ (tall) x 15″ (wide)
one 3″ wide strip across the entire length of the fabric (we’ll cut this down later)
Part Two: Boxing
With the exterior fabric, take the two cuts of 15″x18″ and sew around three sides (15 – 18 – 15). Seam allowance should be 1/4″ to 3/8″, just be consistent. Be sure to secure the beginning and end by sewing back & forth a few times.
With the interior fabric, take the two cuts of 15″x18″ and sew around three sides (15 – 18 – 15) BUT leave a hole around 3″ wide in the middle of the 18″ length to turn the bag.
Press both pieces FLAT.
Pinch the corner and put seams together. Flatten out the corner on a grid and draw a diagonal line (My grid is 0.5″, so measure your diagonal at 2″ on each side).
Pin to keep in place, then take to sewing machine and sew along the line.
Cut excess off.
Do this for both corners on interior and exterior fabrics.
Press what seams you can.
This is what the corners will look like now:
Part 3: The Flap
Put interior & exterior fabrics right side together. Round off the bottom corners (flap will be 15″ wide by 13″ tall). I used a CD to round the corners, but a plate or glass will work too.
Sew around 3 sides and clip the corner.
Turn right side out and press!
Topstitch and then press again.
Part Four: The Strap
Place right sides together and sew up the long sides. Turn in your favorite fashion (I have a Turn-It-All set).
Press and topstitch.
Cut to desired length. I used 42″.
Part Five: Putting it all together
This will come as a great surprise… Press everything again!
Center the flap onto bag interior, like fabrics together and pin.
Center the strap ends to the seams, like fabrics together and pin.
Stick the exterior of the bag inside the interior, right sides together and pin.
Sew the whole thing shut.
Check the seam to make sure you sewed through all the layers. Then turn right side out through the hole you left in the bottom of the interior fabric.
Sew the bottom shut. I used my machine to sew right next to the seam, but hand stitching looks better.
Put the interior inside the exterior and press again
and topstitch
VOILA!
A HUGE THANK YOU to Barb for taking the time to put together this fabulous tutorial. Hope you have fun creating your own messenger bag!
Happy Sewing!
Kelly