Tutorial Tuesday - How to make bias tape... sort of

The end of the month looms, as does the Finishes link-up for OMG @ Red Letter Quilts. Have I finished the repairs to J-Boy's Good Old Hockey Game? Nope. Have I even started? Ummm... nope.

Time to stop procrastinating and get to it. My repair plan involves the creation of bias tape to cover questionable raw edge appliqué. I thought I'd share with you my step by step directions for creating bias tape.

1. Iron your chosen fabric and lay it out on your cutting mat. Using the 45 degree line and a large ruler, make your initial bias cut. Lament the fact that your lovely yardage is going to be a weird shape when you put it back in your stash.

2. Re-position your fabric with the diagonal cut against the vertical lines. Spend valuable quilting time Googling what size strips to cut for your size of bias tape maker. Or read the (likely misplaced) instructions for your chosen bias tape maker. Your call. Overestimate the number of tiny, stretchy bias strips required and get to cutting.

3. Sew your tiny, stretchy strips together whilst hoping against hope that your machine doesn't choose this moment to chew up the edges when you start a segment seam and jam them clear into the bobbin case while creating a colossal thread nest.

4. Trim to ¼ inch seam allowance and press open. Attempt to avoid steam burns while cursing the concept of pressing seams open.

5. Stuff the end of your strip into the bias tape maker. Curse. Think about why you chose not to starch your fabric.

 6. Using whatever sharp object is at hand, stuff/tease/drag your strip into the bias tape maker.

7. Stuff/tease/drag the end of your strip out of of the bias tape maker. Wonder why your fingers are so large and/or why the bias tape maker is so small.

8. Enjoy the zen magic of bias tape creation. Press, slide, press, slide. Ohmmm. Wonder why you don't do this on EVERY project you ever make.

9. Stare in disbelief and consider why this occurred. Curse the bias tape making Gods/Goddesses. Press wonky edges down whilst incurring steam burns on fingertips. Think about turning off steam function.

10. Hold your breath whenever one of the carefully pressed open seams from Step 4 passes through the bias tape maker. Pray to the bias tape making Gods/Goddesses.

11. Argue with your bias tape maker over which side of the fabric you REALLY wanted on the outside of your bias tape. Exert your will and twist strip until it flips right side out again. Press. Burn fingers. Curse.

 11. Repeat Steps 8, 9, and 10 at random intervals.

 12. Breathe a sigh of relief as you come to the end of the strip without further incident.

12. Sew it to something.

Though there might be a couple extra steps in my tutorial, it might be useful to someone out there. I'm  linking it up with Tips & Tutorials Tuesdays @ Late Night Quilter.

J

P.S. If you're looking for a resource that's a little more concise, check out this PDF from Dritz.

P.P.S I forgot to announce that Ana @ Mad Cat Quilts won the giveaway from last week's Stash Love link-up! A custom scrap pack of oranges and yellows will be heading her way soon!

Merry Bee-lated Christmas again!

I know, I know... enough with the Christmas stuff! But don't you remember? My bee-mates and I like to extend the season a little and hold our holiday dinner in late January when we're not too busy to enjoy ourselves.

This year as my gift to my bee-mates, I decided to do my own version of a little something I found on Pinterest. I was careful about where I pinned this - did you know you can create secret boards? They're great for projects and ideas you don't want to share with the whole planet (or your friends who follow you on Pinterest!)

What is it, you say? Why a magnetic pin tray, of course!
They're quite easy to make... I don't know if I can even call this a tutorial. It's that easy.  Himself dabbed on the adhesive and I put the (very strong) magnets in place.

We used PL Premium construction adhesive. Himself tells me it is ridiculously strong. This is not my department.

I was thinking tidy dabs, but Himself felt that the excess glue would make the magnets stick better...

 Let it dry for a few hours and voilà!

I was pretty pleased with myself that I managed to find trays with the first initial of all of my bee mates! I might of sat down on the floor in front of the bin at Michael's and rummaged until I did. The things we do in the name of crafts!

All presents are made better with the addition of chocolate.

All wrapped up and ready to go! Not terribly Christmas-y, but we seem to have a lot of pink and blue tissue paper around our house! ☺

And here's my loot from the evening. Remember, each person makes/buys a present for every other bee mate. It's meant to be something small - under 5$. I'm always amazed and pleased with what these creative ladies come up with!

 There might have been some chocolates... but I don't know quite where they went! ☺

And since it would be just plain 'ole rude to make you read all about presents and not share, I'm offering a giveaway today. It's also in honour of my 200th post! Just leave me a comment - tell me about the most memorable present you ever received. And what will you get from me? Well, just like Christmas morning, you won't know until you unwrap it! You have until midnight (Atlantic Time) on Wednesday, January 28th to comment! ***Giveaway has ended!***

J

P.S. I'm trying something new today and linking up with...

Challenge accepted... and a giveaway!

So, way back in the winter, I was approached by Sew Sisters to do a tutorial for their Kona Club Challenge. Who, me? It's not as if I even like Konas... yeah, right! Between one thing and another, it's been a long time coming... but today's the day! I'm being featured on their blog!

Learn how to make your very own boxy tote - suitable for fat quarters, scraps, and even (gasp) fabric that isn't Kona!

Pop on over and check it out. And to make it even more worth your while, there's a giveaway (open until Thursday, August 28th). Isn't that a nice way to celebrate the last week of summer?

J

Tutorial Tuesday - Pillowcases!

One of my bloggy, quilty friends posted about making pillowcases for her kiddos for Christmas. Duh! Why didn't I think of that! Once the Boxing Day sales were on, I went out and snapped up some fun Christmas prints for just that purpose. While doing so, Q-A asked if I'd share my measurements and a tutorial was born!

Caveat: These are very simple pillow cases. I don't make French seams. I don't know how - no matter how many times I've seen Q-D do it - and don't see the need to do all that work for a fun little pillow case to be used for a short season. That said, if you want to make it more complicated - French seams, piping, rick-track trim, fireworks - have at 'er! Okay, maybe the fireworks aren't such a great plan...

First up, dive into that stash or head to your LQS. If you buy a metre of two fabrics, you'll have enough for two pillowcases. Not identical, but match-y.  I went with Riley Blake's Santa's Workshop. I like the feel of a crisp quilting cotton, but they'd work in flannel or minkie or whatever. 

I cut a 9 inch strip WOF of the blue elf-y print for the cuff and a 27 inch WOF piece of the stripe for the body of the pillow. 

Trim those pesky selvages. Just kidding - we all know I love selvages. I trim them so I can save 'em for future projects. (If you don't, please leave me a comment so we can make arrangements for me to get yours. You think I'm kidding, don't you?) If you're really feeling lazy (or efficient), you can leave them on. Just be sure to adjust your seam allowance so they don't show on your finished pillowcase. The bonus of leaving them is that you won't have to finish your seams!

 Press the 9 inch strip in half lengthwise.

Using a ½ inch seam (I know, I know, that's not what the blog title says!), sew the raw edge of the cuff on to the pillowcase body.

Depending on your fabric, the pieces might not line up in the end, just trim 'em to match. It's a pillowcase, not a parachute. Things don't need to be exact here!

 Press the seam open.

Top-stitch on both sides of the seam. It adds a little bit of fun to your pillowcase and finishes the seam. I use a straight stitch in contrasting thread colour, but it would be a nice place to break out a decorative stitch... if you like that sort of thing! ☺

You now have one large pieced rectangle. Fold it in half, matching the cuff/body seams, to make your pillowcase. Pin it along the bottom and side of the case, if desired. I know Q-D will!

Once you've sewn the bottom and side using a ½ inch seam, go back and zigzag beside your seam to finish it. Or use the seam finishing technique of your choice. Or decide it doesn't really matter to you. It's your call here!

 And ta da! A finished pillowcase! I like to give mine a little press to make the seams crisp!

I will be the first to admit that I might have gone a little overboard! But on the up side, they're all ready for next year's gifting!And the fabric was 30% off.... practically free!

 Himself even asked if we get some for our bed... who says they're just for kiddos!

Maybe you'll be snuggling up to a fresh new pillowcase for the holidays in 2014!

J

Tutorial Tuesday - Yo' Gotta Have a Tote!

Disclosure: This week's tutorial is not my own. I'm adding my two cents (and some quilting) to a pattern found at Sew4home.

Mom's been asking me for a while if I could whip a tote to hold Ms. M's mat when she heads off to salute the sun. I've been putting it off - for no good reason, I might add. If she'd asked for a quilt, I'd probably have it done already! Today, I decided to get this item off my to do list (and in time for Christmas gifting!) Ms. M likes pink and aubergine (that's purple to the rest of us). This seemed like a good pick, especially given that it was just hanging out in the stash with no planned purpose and was a smoking deal on a Marden's trip a while back. Tula Pink's Eye Drops - check out that selvage!

Anyway, I have made a couple yoga totes in the past and used a pattern, but I haven't the foggiest clue where that pattern is now! So off to the internet I went. Sew4home had a really nice one that I'd pinned a while ago. It features a drawstring top closure and a pocket with a flap. The pattern called for decor weight fabric. It's not something I generally have in the stash and my LQS doesn't open until noon on Sundays, so it had to be quilting cotton. I decided to fuse some Kona Green Tea to the back of the pocket to give it a little more oomph. Nothing worse than a saggy pocket!

In order to beef up the body of the tote, I decided to quilt it. Would it have been easier to wait until the LQS opened and by what the pattern called for? Yes. But where's the challenge it that? Here's the pocket pieces all velcro'd up and ready to be attached once I quilt the body of the bag. That's Kona Capri that will be my bag lining/quilt back.

Since the pattern didn't call for it to be quilted (or even lined), I had to be a little creative. When layering the pieces for the body of the bag, I was sure to cut the batting three inches shorter to leave space for the drawstring casing at the top.

Then out came the Frixion pen again! It didn't feel the need to quilt the living daylights out of this one. I figure a yoga bag probably won't be washed too often. I just needed to keep the layers together!

 You can see the random lines that I quilted much better on the back.

And time to attach the pockets. On the first yoga bag I ever made, I attached the pocket upside down. By the time I realized, it was well beyond the easy fix stage. Years later, it's still on there - upside down.

My machine didn't dig on stitching through four layers of fabric, a layer of fusible web, AND the quilted bag. Guess I should have switched to the top stitch needle before breaking my quilting needle! Oh well... just means there's a fresh one in there! The drawstring closure isn't perfect by any means. Sometimes I think I should plan these things out a little better! ☺ In the end, I just folded the raw edges of the top and backing together and top stitched them. Then I added a line of stitching an inch or so down to make a casing.

 Next, the strap. The pattern called for a 1 inch finished strap. A little wimpy for my tastes. I opted to beef it up to 2 inches finished and added two layers of batting as well. It turned out nice and sturdy and should hold up well.

 Attaching that thick strap was another challenge - more broken needles. Oh well!

Just one step left - the bottom of the bag! The pattern called for a 7 inch circle. Sadly, I have no protractors at home, so a plate had to pinch hit. It took a little doing to find something in the kitchen that fit the bill.

 I layered and quilted it just like the bag. These pins were deadly... like a sewing hedgehog!

I threaded some elastic cording through the top casing and.... voilà! C'est fini!

 The blue looks even better on the finished product than I thought it would.

The whole process reminded me a lot of making a quilted water bottle holder for my Mom this summer. I will say that this was easier given the larger scale! All in all, any troubles I had with this project were entirely due to me adapting it to be quilted. The tutorial offered at Sew4Home  was clear and concise. Even with having to think things through during the process, it was only a couple hours work.

Can't wait to find out if Ms M likes it!
Happy Tuesday, all!
J