needle and thREAD

I've jumped on this bandwagon.

Elizabeth Foss frequently has these posts where she shares what she's sewing and what she's reading. Since I share absolutely nothing about my life (haha, right), I thought you might be interested in these details. Anyway, here's my current project.

A BIG QUILT!

I've made a couple of smaller quilts for my bed at school, but I've never tackled a king-size bedspread. I'm excited about the project, but a bit nervous. I start working full time in a week and half, so my quilt making time will be severely diminished. As usual, my anxiety is probably unwarranted: the quilt is a gift for a couple of good friends who are getting married three days after Christmas. I've got time

p.s. - I'm reading a P.G. Wodehouse collection on my kindle. Three bucks, seven thousand pages. Do it. It's worth it.

oooooops

I did it again. I get so enamored by the concept of free time and doing fun things that I start doing too many of them simultaneously. I'm in the middle of three different books and I started making four aprons. I have so many loose ends (literally and figuratively), I'm not sure which one to pick up first.

And instead of trying to pick up one or another, I blog about it.

Has anyone seen my apparently misplaced logic?

Fabric, fabric, fabric

Ah, the wonders of wandering into the local fabric store! Shelf upon shelf of various colored fabrics surround you. It's almost like a jungle. Not that I've ever been in a jungle...but I can image, can't I?

I just got back from an excursion laden with $60 worth of fabric. Right now they are merely 10 spring-hued yards of cotton and cotton-poly blends, but in a couple of weeks (tops) I should have an Easter dress for me and an Easter skirt for Mom. I'll post pictures when I'm done...

Sewing a la Sesame

Know someone who's having a baby? Low on cash? I have the answer for you! Make a custom, cute, cuddly baby blanket CHEAP!!! Don't know how? Well, I've taken care of that for you too!

WHAT YOU NEED:
This is equivalent to the "ingredients" section of a recipe. You'll need 1 yd. flannel, 1 yd. cotton or cotton/poly blend (I tend to use quilter fabrics), and two packages of piping (approx. 5 yds)

GETTING STARTED:
Before any sewing project, there are two things that an aspiring seamstress must do: 1) wash and dry fabric (do them together, so if one bleeds really bad you can find out and switch fabrics. You don't want it to get wrecked while in the hands of the "gifted" individual) and 2) iron the fabric. This step is ESSENTIAL to making quality products -- don't skip it!

CONSTRUCTION:
Step 1: attach piping. First select the smaller of the two piece of fabric. They should be more or less the same size, but depending on how you washed them, one might shrink more than the other. In the case of my blanket, the flannel was slightly smaller due to frayed edges. Begin attaching by placing piping on RIGHT side of flannel with "piped" part facing away from edge. Pull piping edge off of fabric, so raw edge won't show (see picture)

On the corners, curve piping around. This gives you a nice looking "corner", and saves you the hassle of trying to fold the piping into a right angle. You want to start and end the curve at approximately the same distances from the corner. Some people are able to eyeball this. As I am not one of these fortunate few, I always measure with my handy-dandy measuring tape approx. 4 in. from the corner.

When you have about 2-3 in. left of your first strip of piping, guide it off the edge of the fabric. Begin the new strip the way you began the first one, but make sure to overlap it enough. The result may be slightly scary, but when you flip it over to the finished side, it looks really nice.


Once you have the piping all the way around, you're ready for step two. (Note: before moving on to step 2, clip excess fabric from corners for a smoother finished product)

Step 2: Lay the piece of fabric with piping on it right side up. Take the second piece of fabric and lay it right side DOWN on top of the first piece. Pin the two together, making sure to use enough pins around the curves.
With your sewing machine, sew the two together. Place your needle in the stitch line that you made when you secured the piping. Deviation from this line causes piping to go whonky (yes, it's a technical term). Pay special attention when going around curves -- you have to make sure the piping is laying flat, with the fat part facing away from the edge. If it faces towards the edge, it will end up on the inside of the blanket.

DON'T SEW ALL THE WAY AROUND!!! If you do, you won't be able to turn the blanket right side out! Trust me, that is a VERY frustrating experience. How much of an opening you leave is up to you, but if you have to fight with the blanket for a half an hour before succeeding, it's probably too small :D

Step 3: After you've got the blanket inside out, it's time to sew up that little hole. You're going to want to hand sew it, just to make it look nice. Make sure you hide the tail on the inside of the blanket, and to then stitch the front to the stitching on the piping. That way it stays invisible.



Step 4: Now, if you've gotten this far (which would surprise me beyond measure), the last step is really easy. You're going to run a stitch along the outside edge of your completed blanket. Generally I use a zigzag stitch, but my machine was being temperamental today, so I just stuck with a straight one. It's purpose is to keep the two pieces of fabric together nicely. Without it, the two end up not lying flat on top of each other and it looks really sloppy.

And then you're done! And you have a beautiful, soft, cute, cozy, cheap blanket. This one, for the sake of example, only cost me seven dollars and almost two hours of labor. Now, isn't that worth seeing brand new Leah Catherine all snug and warm in a pretty blanket?

Good luck!


P.S. -- If you need any more detail, let me know :)