Blog About Sewing, Quilting and DIY Projects

Design, color & stitch a beach tote with Mont Marte (free tutorial)

5/11/2023

Today at www.quiltsocial.com, I'll show you how to embellish a cute pre- made beach tote with the Mont Marte Fabric Art Set . The canvas tote is included in the set making this project so easy! Check out the free tutorial here.

Getting the supplies lined up ready set go!

The beach tote, I hope there's lots of fun in the sun this summer!

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Free motion stitching on a DIY lampshade cover- Part 3

5/10/2023

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Today if the last day of the tutorial all about recovering a lampshade with Mont Marte fabric paints at www.quiltsocial.com. I'll be discussing how I outlined each of the designs on the lampshade with free motion stitching. The free motion stitching really makes the floral designs come to life. Check out the post and be sure to comment below & let me know what you think and/or leave me any questions you may have.
Tomorrow, I am embellishing the easiest tote ever at QUILTsocial as well so check back often to see what I am up to with these amazing fabric paints.

Starting the free motion stitching process

The outlines free motion stitches in black (Gütermann Thread) , really show off the designs & fabric paint

Happy Wednesday!

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Getting creative with Mont Marte fabric paints & a lampshade -Part 2

5/9/2023

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Happy Tuesday, Do you have an old lampshade that screaming "recover me"? If so head on over to www.quiltsocial.com to look at my blog post Getting creative with Mont Marte fabric paints & a lampshade- Part 2. This is a creative look at how to recover a lampshade and it could be very customizable with any design or theme your creative mind can think of.

It was so much fun to paint with these paints, they are bold, non bleeding, gorgeous colours and oh so easy to work with on fabric.
Check this post out and don't forget to leave me a comment below the post. Have a great day!

Painting the lampshade fabric with Monte Marte Fabric Paints

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Recover a Lampshade with Fabric Paint!

5/8/2023

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This week at QUILTsocial , I am explaining how I used Mont Marte Fabric Paint and art supplies to recover a lampshade.
The title is of the blog post is: Recovering a lampshade with Mont Mart art supplies- Part 1, Part 2 & 3 will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday.
It is a technique I have never used before but the paint is really awesome and the recovering process worked! There is also a video tutorial showing you how to recover a lampshade with fabric included in this post. Be sure to watch so you can Reduce, Reuse Recycle. The post is here at www.quiltsocial.com

Happy Monday, Enjoy the blog post and I encourage you to comment or ask any questions you may have. 😊🌷

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Make A Valentines Ear Bud Pouch –Part 2

2/8/2022

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Today is all about fun & sewing with your sewing machine & finishing up the Valentines Ear Bud Pouch. The prep work is behind us! I’m using my Bernina 350 sewing machine, the #37- ¼” foot & the #4 zipper foot. Check out yesterday’s post below if you missed the cutting instructions.

Sewing

Lay the interfacing top & bottom of the heart fusible side down to the wrong side of the 5.5” x 5.25” front pouch fabric, making sure to allow for a ¼” seam allowance to be drawn all around each piece.
Pin the other 5.5” x 5.25” lining piece to the front fabric as shown and cut out on the seam allowance lines.

Fold the top of the heart top pieces in half along the straight edge & mark the centers as shown. Do the same for the bottom pieces.

Fold the zipper in half & notch with scissors as shown on both sides.

Matching notch to marking, pin the zipper right side to right side of top front of heart fabric as shown.

Pin the lining top piece right sides against the wrong side of the zipper, matching the marked fabric & zipper notch as shown.

Insert a zipper foot on your machine and set the needle position as far left to the left as possible. Sew the zipper to the top pieces using the right edge of the foot as your guide.

Tip: Remove pins, engage needle down function & move the zipper open as you go, this helps to allow for a straight line of sewing.

Press the lining & the top fabric away from the zipper.

Matching the notch & markings, pin the bottom front piece right side down to the right side of the zipper and the lining piece right side down to the wrong side of the zipper as was done with the top.
Sew as with the top pieces.
Press as with the top pieces.

Trim any excess zipper to make your heart front look uniform. Top stitch the fabric on each side of the zipper, approximately 1/8” on either side of the zipper.

Press the fusible side of the other heart interfacing to the wrong side of the 4.5 x 4.25 outside fabric, pin to the same sized lining fabric, draw a ¼” seam allowance & cut it out as with the front pieces.

Place the backing & lining fabric wrong sides together.

Tip: I used a fabric glue stick to adhere them together.

Make the O- ring tab by folding the 3” length of the 2 x3” fabric in half, fold each side into the center & press one more time so that you have a pressed edge & folded edge as shown. Clip; ready to stop stitch 1/8” in from edge on both sides.

Insert the ¼” foot on your machine & place the O-ring on the tab, fold it over and sew it to the upper left corner of the back fabric as shown using a 1/8” seam allowance.

Place the backing fabric right sides down to the zippered front fabric with the zipper opened to the center, right side of lining facing up, pin & sew with a ¼” seam allowance. Make sure your needle position is centered.

Trim the seam allowance close to the stitching as shown.

Turn the pouch to the right side through the zipper, poke out & smooth the point & corners, Press & top stitch 1/8” from the edge.

You're almost there!

Your Valentines Ear Bud Pouch project is complete. Think about your fabric stash & what colours you have to make a Valentines gift for someone special.

A ¼” foot, zipper foot & a Bernina sewing machine is all you need to make someone’s day. A little chocolate would'nt hurt either!❤️
Wishing you a Happy Valentines Day, I hope someone is sweet to you!

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Make a Valentines Ear Bud Pouch- Part 1

2/7/2022

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Do you need a small Valentines Day gift suitable for young & young at heart?
You can create one of these heart shaped mini pouches, they’re fast, easy & so useful. These pouches are fantastic for the storage of ear buds (earplugs), jewellery, lip balm, coins &/or pop some chocolates in it for treats on the go. I used my Bernina 350 sewing machine & found myself addicted to making these!
Note: This is part 1 of a 2 part series of blog posts. Make sure you visit again tomorrow for part 2.

Make many for young & young at heart!

For today’s post we will be making the dark green one as shown.

ooh that chocolate!

What Will Be Needed

Pattern for heart (directions to follow)
Scraps of 2 different complementary fabrics (lining & front/back of pouch) 2 pieces- 6” x 13”
Medium weight fusible interfacing -8 x 4”
¾” O-ring
4 ½” zipper to coordinate with fabric (can be larger & cut down)
Bernina zipper foot #4 & ¼” foot #37
Used for this project- Bernina 350 sewing machine
4 x 4” piece of paper
Paper & sewing scissors
Marker or pen
Thread to match
Sewing clip optional
Fabric glue stick optional
Chocolates optional (but helpful :)

Supplies Needed

Cutting

Draw out the heart pattern by folding a 4 x 4” piece of paper in ½ and referring to the pictures below, draw & cut out the heart pattern.

Drafting the pattern

Cutting out the pattern

Cut 2 hearts from the medium weight fusible interfacing using the heart pattern.
Cut 1 piece of fabric 5.5” x 5.25”–front of pouch, 1 piece-5.5 x 5.25-lining, 1 piece 4.75 x 4.5-front of pouch & 1 piece 4.75 x 4.5-lining.
If your zipper is longer than 4 ½” you can cut it & zigzag a stop at the bottom of the zipper so you do not loose your zipper pull. You will need to find a #1 foot or open toe foot for this.
Cut an O-ring tab out of the front of pouch fabric 2 x 3”.
Mark a line on one of the interfacing hearts 2” down from the top horizontally & then 2 more lines on either side of the 2” line, ¼” out from this line as shown.

Measuring 2" down from the top

Measuring 1/4" on either side of the 2" line

Cut the interfacing heart on the ¼” lines that were drawn as shown. Discard this center slice of interfacing.

Dicarding the cut out interfacing

Cutting complete, prepped & ready for sewing. Getting excited!

My cutting is complete! I’m ready & excited for tomorrows post when we get to the sewing with a #37- ¼” foot, #4 zipper foot & my Bernina 350 sewing machine. Hope you can set aside time to visit tomorrow.❤️

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New Tutorial-Notebook/Moleskin Covers

2/2/2022

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Hi yah, finally have this tutorial uploaded to you tube. A great project to ease into 2022 and so easy!
Note book covers. Also works for MOLESKINS. We all need pretty & practical right?
Have a look at my video, a great gift for all ages, men, women & children. Anybody working on Christmas gifts for 2022? Lol no pressure! 😋 Have a great day, enjoy, like & subscribe.

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New YouTube Tutorial, Easy Zipper Pulls

8/4/2021

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Hi everyone, I hope you all are enjoying this gorgeous day today in Southern Ontario or wherever you are.
I'm just announcing the posting of a new YouTube video tutorial entitled Easy Zipper Pulls. I also discuss in the video some of my upcoming Back to School Projects for www.quiltsocial.com. See the YouTube Video below and look me up on YouTube to see all my videos here. Don't forget to subscribe to my channel by clicking on the Sew Happy Quilt in the lower right hand side of all of my videos. Happy Wednesday!😊

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Stay Hydrated With A DIY Water Bottle Tote

7/14/2021

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Happy Wednesday ! Hope you are feeling great and staying hydrated this summer.
Just letting you know my newest YouTube video is out along with a new pattern to encourage and assist with staying hydrated…..
DIY Water Bottle Totes, my newest pattern was created because I cannot stand holding onto a perspiring water bottle while walking or on the go and needed this “ hands free” tote . The video is shown below and the pattern is available here .
Enjoy and stay well and hydrated !💦🚰💧

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YouTube Channel starting Monday May 3rd!!❤️❤️

5/1/2021

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Woo Hoo!! I'm excited to announce I dusted off my video/tech fears (they were growing dust elephants!) and I started a YouTube Channel with the assistance of my daughter Mallory.

I have been asked many times over the last 12 months to provide video classes. I'm starting out in JK (not literally, but you get it) with YouTube video tutorials and working on classes! Hang in there for all those who have been asking. I'm hoping for the wait to be over soon. That being said there is a lot of work that goes into the videos/ demos so please add your comments (good or bad) and subscribe so I know you are interested and it's worth your time!

The video below explains what I have happening for May and each month I will announce what is going on for video tutorials. Sometimes there will be free pattern downloads as well. My you tube channel is Quilting In The Loft. The first video comes out May 3 and the second May 17th. Have a look, I'll look forward to your comments and ANY suggestions you might have. Have a great weekend!