Onesies Galore!

Today I worked on making onesies for my shop. I'd had a lot of people ask "Why don't you make rock climbing onesies?" Quite frankly I never thought about it. It wasn't until this week that I got a custom order for one! I also looked at my Etsy shop stats and saw that people were actually searching for rock climbing onesies! Who knew!? 


Here is what's new at my shop: 

Inspiration

I batiked a couple onesies today. In addition to them, I was inspired by my potholders and decided to make batik potholders. They will be a set of two. Here is stage one of the batik process: 

So far I love them! The tomatoes are my favorite!

Q.S.M.A.S.B.C.

Forget the NY Firefighter calendar! Here is your calendar for 2012! 

If you are a quilter, lover of burritos, or enjoy shirtless men, this is your calendar! I have to admit I was drawn to the calendar because there are some really nice looking quilts! 

Here is the  Quilter's Shirtless Man and Spicy Burrito Calendar:

This calendar was put together by Megan over at The Bitchy Stitcher. This calendar wasn't just put together just because. The money from the calendar goes to a good cause. Megan's brother has been battling brain cancer for more than a year, and all the profits from the sale will be going to him and his family.

Now you can pick up a copy for $19.99 right here at lulu.com. 

Pot Holder Tutorial

My fiance is going to his friend's wedding in a few weeks. I asked him what he was going to get her for a wedding gift and he really had no idea. Well, I'm one who can't just give someone a gift card for their wedding, so I started thinking about what to make his friend for her wedding. I have never met her, so trying to figure out a gift was especially challenging. I decided that everyone needs kitchen things in their life, so I decided to make two pot holders, an oven mitt and embellished some flour sack towels. I went to the fabric store in hopes of being inspired by some fabric. Boy was I ever! Here were the results! 

To make the towels, I was inspired by a tutorial I found here at the SewMamaSew blog. 

To make the oven mitt, I found a tutorial here. However, there were some changes that I needed to make. 

1/3 Insul-Bright insulated lining

1/3 yard of cotton batting 

1/3 yard of exterior fabric

1/3 yard of lining fabric

Making the pot holders was fairly easy.Here is what you'll need to make this pot holder...

- Scraps of various fabrics. I used 5 different color fabrics for the log cabin pattern on the front. One color on the back and one color for the binding. Here are the fabric measurements for this project. 

Cherry fabric: 2"x2"

Green fabric: 2"x2", 2"x 4" 

Red fabric: 2"x 6", 2"x 8"

Black polkadot: 2"x4", 2"x 10"

White fabric: 2"x 6", 2" x 8" 

Backing, Insul-Bright and cotton batting: 10"x10" 

Binding: 2 1/2" stripes 10" long 

Pot holder loop: 2 1/2" x 6" strip (optional) 

First take your two squares and sew them together using a 1/4" seam.

Next, iron the seam on top of the green fabric. This will help when it comes time to quilt the pot holder. Whatever you do, don't iron your seams open, this will make your life incredibly difficult. 

Line up the next fabric with what you have sewn so far. Sew the fabric together on the right. 

Cut off any excess fabric. 

Iron the seam you just sewed to the right side. Your seams should be on top of the new fabric piece. 

Add the next piece of fabric on top to what you've sewn. Iron the seams up so they are on top of the new fabric you just added. This is what you should have so far. 

Take your next piece of fabric and iron your seams to the left so they are on top of the new fabric added to the pattern. 

This is what your pot holder should look like so far. 

Keep adding fabric stripes and ironing the seams down so they are on top of the new strip added.

Now your log cabin block is completed! Let's start putting layering! Add the cotton batting underneath the block. 

You should have 4 layers in the following order: top, cotton batting, Insul-Bright, and pot holder back facing down. Make sure when you layer your Insul-bight lining that the shiny side of the batting is facing down towards the pot holder backing. According to the Insul-Bright directions, "The shiny side of your Insul-Bright should face the hot or cold item allowing it to reflect the energy back to its source."

Pin your layers together so you have a pot holder sandwich. 


Next I switched my presser foot over to my walking foot. A walking foot prevents the top layer of fabric from shifting by moving it under the needle at the same rate as the machine's feed dogs are moving the bottom layer, preventing puckering and pleating of the layers. It is a handy tool to have when you sew together multi-layers of a fabric such as a quilt or a pot holder.


Now we are going to stitch in the ditch. This is when you stitch right next to the seam allowance. This is also why you ironed your seam allowance to one side.


You will stitch two squares. 

Start at one corner of the middle square and have your needle follow right along side the seam. You will want to sew as straight as possible so the stitching will be hidden. Don't rush this process, take your time! 

Outline the middle square. When you are done, outline the next biggest square using the same method.


Yay! you are done quilting your pot holder! Cut off any excess fabric that remains around the edges. 


Now let's add a binding. I opted to not use a continuous quilt binding for my pot holders because I didn't want to do any hand stitching. I call this "lazy man's binding".


Take two of your 2 1/2" stripes. Fold them in half and iron.

Take one strip and lay it on top of your pot holder. Raw edges should line up. Sew using a 3/8" seam allowance. 

Next, fold the binding over the raw edge and pin pin pin that binding to the pot holder! 

Now we will keep practicing stitching in the ditch. Stitch in the ditch along the binding seam line on the pot holder top.  As you stitch,  you want to catch the outer edge of the binding at the back of the pot holder. Remove pins as you approach them. Trim off any excess fabric on the ends. 

Repeat these binding steps on the opposite side on the pot holder. 

You have two sides left of your pot holder. Take one binding strip and line it up just like you did the previous ones. This time, take the raw edges and fold them in. Sew the binding to the pot holder. 

Fold the binding over the raw edge of the pot holder. It will also fold over the raw ends of your binding. Pin then stitch in the ditch. Do this for the final side as well.

Your pot holder is now complete! 

After I made my pot holders I decided I needed to add a loop. Take a 2 1/2" x 6" strip and fold it in half. Iron.  Open it up. Take one raw edge and fold it into the middle so it lines up with the middle crease. Iron. Do the same thing for the other raw edge. When both raw edges line up with the middle crease, fold in half and iron. Use a 1/8" seam allowance and stitch both sides of the strip.

Pick a corner of your pot holder that you would like to add the loop. Fold both ends under 1/2"-1" on both sides of the pot holder. Hand stitch in place. Congratulations! Now your pot holder is completed with an added loop! 

Complete!

After many hours of sitting in front of the TV and hand stitching the binding onto this quilt, it is finally finished. 
I'm really excited about how this quilt turned out! 

Many have you have heard about the terrible fires in the Austin Area. It's such a shame and prayers go out to all the families. This is what Austin looked like today (no I didn't take the photo). 

While looking at this photo, my music teacher self just broke into song "Fire in the mountain, run boy run! Cat's in the cream jar, run girls run!" For those who know the reference you get 10 points! For those of you who don't, it's from the good ol' folk song "Jim Along Josie". 


I was working and dealing with extra crazy children because they were not allowed to go outside for recess due to smoke in the air. I had one 4th grader today who just couldn't sit still. I asked him several times to stop rolling on the carpet and his response "I can't help it. I'm extra wiggly today! We didn't get recess!" At least he was honest.


I have been suffering from horrible allergies because the air quality is so poor right now. I feel like I have a cold it's so bad. In the midst of everything I made more progress sewing the quilt binding onto the quilt. I also made two new onesies.


This one is for sale on my etsy shop.

This was a custom design for a friend of mine. 

I will be resting the rest of the night. No sewing, no batiking. I am even skipping samba rehearsal because I feel that bad. 


Sewing = fun 
Sewing + feeling bad = no fun


Stay healthy Austin. 

Labor Day Weekend

I have finished quilting! Now all I need to do is add the binding onto this quilt. Guess what I'll be doing for the next week or so? 

I also finally finished a batik project that was sitting on my sewing table for weeks. It's a baby counting book that is for sale at my Etsy shop. 

I have a couple other projects I would like to get started on: a knit sweater, a couple fabric landscapes, and the quilt I started a while back, but just got put on the back burner. We'll see how soon I can get started on those...