Hi to all of our followers, you will notice that I have not been posting as frequently because my daughter (Katie) gets married in less than a month and it's a "weekend away wedding" at a retreat centre. As a result, everything must be brought in which means rentals (tables, chairs, linen, catering etc.) along with decor. This is precisely what I have been busy with! Along with a pinched nerve in my neck, my quilting has had to take a holiday to heal and with lots of help to get ready for the wedding from family and friends. Hallelujah!! My daughter recently shared her engagement story on her blog/website here My son-in-law to be (Chad) went to great lengths to propose and it was a very romantic, DIY rustic, thoughtful, outdoorsy proposal. Exactly like this couple! The wedding of course will be outdoorsy and rustic. Keep in mind we are doing this while the couple getting married lives in another province! My youngest daughter (Mallory) and I are attempting to execute some outdoorsy, DIY decor elements. I have to say I could not do it without her, she is so good at DIY and a talented artist! I will be sharing these DIY's & subtle sewing/quilting elements directly after the wedding on this blog. I cannot spoil the surprise by posting it before! We are having lots of fun! Stay tuned!! For now just a little glimpse into the engagement sight below, you can click on the picture and it will take you to the full story on the couple's website: Happy Monday everyone!
I hope you are enjoying this lovely weather!☀️
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Sorry folks, I have been away for a few days because of recent trunk shows in New Market (Region of York Quilters Guild) and Cambridge- Busy Hands. I was also teaching in Barrie, completing some custom quilts and some wedding prep for our family (my daughters) wedding June 24 (Yikes). Also, I just recently I found out I have a pinched nerve in my neck. The good news is I will survive, albeit I have been told to take it easy !! I am finding that this is not an easy thing to do! Just not in my nature!! Remember these pens I spoke about in the previous post and the Maple Leaf satin stitch block I did with them? As you can see above I made them into a simple tote. I thought I would share how I made it .... and a great technique for making ultra simple and strong handles for all bags! Simple Tote Tutorial What you will need: Front of bag: 10 3/4" square, orphan block or make the Maple Leaf Block shown above from blog post 05/02/2017 2 Strips 3 1/2" x width of fabric for sashings around block Back of Bag: 16 3/8 x 16 3/8" square of fabric for back of bag Batting: 34 x 18" piece of batting Lining: 32 3/8" x 16 3/8" rectangle of fabric Handles: 2- 3 1/2 x 20" rectangles of fabric 2 Pieces of webbing (nylon or cotton) 1" x 20" How to make this simple tote: Cut your 2- 3 1/2" strips for block sashing as follows: Cut 2 strips 16 1/2 x 3 1/2", cut 2- 10 3/4" x 3 1/2" Sew the 2- 10 3/4" strips to the vertical sides of the block, see below: Sew the 16 1/2" strips to the top and bottom of your block, see below: Your front of bag is completed, square it up to 16 3/8" x 16 3/8" Sew your back square fabric to the bottom of the front square right sides together. See below: Quilt your top only to the batting with any pattern you desire, I just meandered mine. You could also just use fusible interfacing if your do not want to quilt it. Interfacing will give it body as well. See below: Fold your quilted/interfaced bag front in 1/2, right sides together and sew up the side seams. See below: To box the bottom of your bag, mark a line 1" Up from the bottom corners of your bag on both sides. Sew on these lines and clip corners. See below: Fold your lining piece right sides together and sew up one side. On the other side sew, leaving a 3" gap for turning. Box the bottom corners as you did for the outside of the bag. See below: To make your handles, pin your webbing piece in the centre of your 3 1/2" x 20" handle fabric (wrong side) and sew it down the centre. See below: Press one side down 1/4", see above photo: Press the raw edge over the webbing, See below: Press the 1/4" folded edge on top of the raw edge as below: Top stitch to catch folded edge and alternate side (about 1/8" from edge). See below: I was able to machine stitch through all layers like butter. If you have any issues with the thickness, change your needle to a top stitch or jeans needle as they will be stronger than quilting needles. Make 2 handles this way. You now have 2 very strong handles and it's a simple method for all bags. These handles are also very flexible. Pin and sew your bag handles onto the right side of your bag front and back 5" in from the corner on the right and left side & 1/8" from the top of the bag. Make sure your handles do not get twisted. See below: Insert the outside of your bag (right side facing out) inside the lining with right sides together. This will seem weird but trust me it works. See below: Make sure the handles are facing down and pin all side seams to match, pin around the top edge of the bag and sew. See below: Using the gap you left in the lining pull your outside of the bag through the opening. See below: Once you have the entire bag out, tuck the lining back inside the bag, it's permanent home! Sew the gap closed on the lining inside by hand or by machine, your choice. Press the lining down towards the inside and top stitch all around the top edge of the bag to finish your bag. Admire your efforts! 🍁You now have a sturdy bag to go to the beach, holiday or celebrate Canada Day!
I sincerely hope you enjoyed this simple tote tutorial and that you will try my handle method! Happy Friday! Enjoy some lovely weather this holiday weekend!
I recently attended a sewing and quilting event and saw the below amazing IRON ON Transfer Pens being demonstrated and decided I "NEED" them!
LOL, yes I definitely can use them. Wow I am so excited about what I can do with them. Check out a picture of them below:
The above are pens I purchased, yes in all different packages because I wanted all of the colours the store had and therefore I had to settle for new and old packaging but they are by Sulky. (All are working great even older packaging).
Now you are wondering .... What to do with these??
I will show you below how they work first and in future posts, what I will be doing with them.
1. Draw out a black line design. There is a free PDF download of a maple leaf in the Shop/ Free PDF Patterns section of this website here. This is the design I am using first. You could use any design or stencil you already have as well. I have a project planned for the maple leaf so this is why I am using it. See below traced out black line design:
2. Cut out a piece of fabric you would like to transfer your design to. I am just going to use a piece of white fabric because I will later insert it into a project. See below:
3. Shake up your pen and draw over your black line design with a sulky iron-on transfer pen ( I used red for the first maple leaf).
4. Heat set your fabric with an iron. Simply iron over it to warm it up to prepare it to take the ink.
5. Press your image ink side down to right side of your fabric and press. Do not slide your image or iron, press in all areas of the design with a cotton heat setting (if using cotton). Works best with cotton and cotton/poly fabrics per instructions on package
6. Check it out below! The ink is vivid and red and lovely, I am really impressed.
7. So I pressed 2 more with the same inked image (inked only once!). The instructions states you can use the inked image 3-4 times.
8. I decided to use the pens as a marking tool only with this project. See how I satin stitched these leafs below:
Another wee project idea... use your quilting/scrap booking/craft stencils, ink the design directly onto paper (no black line drawing needed as the stencil is your guide) and then transfer to fabric. See below photos where I am using the ink purposely to make it be the design element. Its easy as 1, 2, 3
#1#2#3
There are many possibilities with both of the leaf and blossom image, I could use them as quilt blocks, embellish something with them ... a pocket, a bag front, pillows, make quilt labels, home dec etc. The sky is the limit!
The important thing is these Sulky Iron-on Transfer Pens allow you to transfer images with ease and no printer required unless you want to search for images on line and use them. They are awesome!
Check back over the next few weeks to see what I do with the above images.
I hope I have inspired you today in some way! Happy Tuesday ☀️Hoping for sun! |
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