Blend Fabrics – Page 7

BBQ Napkins {Father’s Day Sewing Tutorial}

June 2, 2014 by Amanda 1 Comment

I am so in love with this fabric line from Blend designed by Maude Asbury called Ribs and Bibs. It screams Father’s Day. I normally don’t sew for the men in my life but this year is totally different because of all the inspiration this fabric has given me! Don’t you just love it!! I wish I had yards and yards to make table cloths with! Every day this week I am sharing a tutorial using this fabric line.

Of course Father’s Day is in June – during one of the busiest months of the year. The holiday has to compete with end of the year final projects, class parties, class field trips, graduations, and the list goes on. The tutorials I am sharing are projects that can be sewn quickly – because who has time in June for anything extra?

I am the world’s messiest eater – I really mean it. When I go out to dinner with my husband, I have a pile of napkins at the end of the dinner and my husband doesn’t even have one (because I used it for myself). At home I eat with a kitchen towel on my lap – it just saves paper 🙂 When our family gets together to eat ribs or BBQ paper napkins just are not enough – and even cloth napkins leave something to be desired. That’s when I decided to purchase “Bar Mop” towels and turn them into BBQ napkins. Bar Mop towels are available at any home store in the kitchen towel department. They are slightly smaller than normal kitchen towels, and not a traditional washcloth. They provide the right amount of absorbency for BBQ sauced fingers!

Let’s get started….

Supplies:

Bar Mop Towels – pre wash & dry

fat quarter Ribs & Bibs “Open Pit” in brown fabric

fat quarter Ribs & Bibs “Checker Board” in red

Therm O Web Heat n Bond Lite

Begin by cutting a piece of the Heat n Bond and ironing it to the back of the Open Pit fabric.

Cut around each image leaving a little bit of brown boarder.

Peel off the backing paper and iron it to the corner of the bar mop towel. Keep in mind the heat n bond won’t permanently adhere to the fuzzy towel so it needs to be sewn on. The Heat n Bond will hold the image in place temporarily and it will prevent fraying.

Sew around each image with a straight stitch.

Iron another piece of Heat n Bond to the wrong side of the checker board fabric. (This is a little bit of a “cheater” way to add an accent strip to the towel.)

Cut strips of the checkerboard 2 squares wide. Peel off the backing fabric.

Iron it to the bottom of the towel and top stitch around the strip. Now make enough for everyone coming to your Father’s Day BBQ!!

Filed Under: Blend Fabrics, Father's Day, FEATURED, gift, gifts, Heat n Bond, sewing, Therm O Web, tutorial

Sunglasses Zipper Pouch Tutorial

May 10, 2014 by 1 Comment

Today I am sharing my tutorial for a zippered sunglasses case over on the Therm O Web Blog. What is great about this zipper pouch is the lining is made of flannel so it is soft on the lenses. I love this fabric – it’s the “blue” version of the Clementine fabric by Blend. It screams summer to me.

Here you can see the gray flannel inside the pouch:

For the zipper pull, I took apart some owl earrings and used a split ring to attach the owl to the zipper pull. I always am on the look-out for cheap dangly earrings!

It’s not too late to sew up one of these in time for Mother’s Day. It should only take about 30 minutes!

For a slightly different version……

cut a 1″ square notch out of each corner of the bag when it’s in this stage:

Open the notches, and match the seams, sewing a 1/4″ seam. This gives the bag a “bottom” and allows the pouch to stand up. I can’t decide which one I like the best!

Filed Under: Blend Fabrics, FEATURED, gift, mother's day, Therm O Web, tutorial

Bread Blankets: Flour Sack Towel Tutorial

May 8, 2014 by 6 Comments

I have had it in my mind to make these “Bread Blankets” for sometime. I bake a lot of bread, rolls, and especially our secret family recipe Orange Rolls. I like to cover my rising dough with a light weight flour sack towel. The white towels are so plain and boring, so I decided to embellish the towels. The Clementine fabric from Blend lends itself so well to my orange roll making – so I knew I wanted an orange on the towel. Since the recipe is my mother-in-law’s, I decided to send her one of these Bread Blankets for Mother’s Day.

Supplies:

2 1/2″ x WOF strip of fabric for the ruffle

Small pieces of fabric for the appliqué

22″ lace

Heat n Bond Lite Fusible appliqué

Flour Sack Towel

Orange pattern, download HERE

When you open your flour sack towels, toss them in the wash and dry them, then press them. They will be very wonky.

The towels are much larger than the cookie sheet trays or a bowl of rising dough. Cut the towel as desired, I cut mine 26″ x 20″. Sew a rolled hem on both sides, then sew a rolled hem on the top and bottom.

Cut your ruffle fabric 2 1/2″ x WOF

Sew a rolled hem in the bottom:

Gather the fabric using a ruffling foot – or you can gather by hand.

This will make extra ruffle. Cut the ruffle 1/2″ longer than the towel on each side. Fold the ends of the ruffle in 1/4″ and 1/4″ again and sew a little seam.

Pin into place. You can position your ruffle where ever you like it, of course you can add more ruffles or change up the design. Stitch along the gathering stitch.

Pin the lace into place and sew using matching thread.

Print the pattern and trace it onto the Heat n Bond Lite. The pattern is already printed in reverse. Iron the Heat n Bond to the wrong side of the orange, leaf, and stem fabric. Cut out along the pattern line, peel off the backing and press into place. Outline stitch in black thread 2 times around the shapes.

Perfect for covering a delicious tray of orange rolls!

Filed Under: Blend Fabrics, FEATURED, gift, mother's day, tutorial

Citrus Churn Dash Table Quilt

May 7, 2014 by 1 Comment

Today’s Mother’s Day Tutorial is this cute Citrus inspired Churn Dash Table Quilt. I made this little quilt for my mom (I hope she doesn’t read my blog between now and Mother’s Day!) My mom is always asking me if I have a little quilt she can put on her table to decorate with and in my parent’s backyard are lemon, orange, and lime trees – sooooo when I saw this Clementine fabric from Blend I freaked out!!

I am so in love with this fabric – I want to rip out all my kitchen decor and replace with these fabrics. Here is a little close up of some of the prints I used in this quilt.

Let’s get started – you can make this project in a few hours.

Supplies:

fat quarters of spoon print, stripe print, and small fruit print

1/4 yard large citrus print

1/4 yard for binding

3/4 yard for back

batting

Finished Quilt: 25″

Cut (2) 7 1/4″ squares of the gray

Cut (2) 7 1/4″ squares of the stripe

Cut (4) 3 1/2″ squares of the gray

Cut (4) 3 1/2″ squares of the stripe

Cut (1) 3 1/2″ square of the center square, fussy cut if desired

Draw a diagonal line on the back of the 2 stripe 7 1/4″ squares

Layer them right sided together and sew 1/4″ along both sides of the diagonal line. Cut on pencil line.

Press toward the dark. These half square triangle blocks finish slightly larger than the desired 6 1/2″. This is so you can square the block up and it is nice and even. Lay it on a rotary mat and align the diagonal with the diagonal line on the mat and cut so it measures 6 1/2″ square. Do this to each of the 4 blocks.

Sew the 3 1/2″ squares in (4) sets like this: Press toward the dark.

Lay out the churn dash block and sew together in rows. Press seams.

Now all that’s left is to sew the boarders on. Cut the small fruit into 2″ strips. Sew sides, then press, then sew top and bottom. You don’t need to measure on this part. Use the block as your guide.

The large citrus print is cut in 4″ strips. Sew those on in the same manner as the small fruit strips.

Quilt as desired and bind.

I love it!!!!!

Filed Under: Blend Fabrics, FEATURED, gift, mother's day, quilt, tutorial

Mother’s Day Gifts: Zipper Pouch Set

May 6, 2014 by 2 Comments

These cute zipper pouches are a darling gift to give someone special this Mother’s Day. This tutorial is written by my good friend Jennifer. Jennifer is the one who takes me on crazy adventures to find fabric all over Southern California. She is an amazing sewist and writes a blog called Jennifer Sews Again.

Her tutorial for these zipper pouches is great – I followed each step and my pouches turned out perfect! These amazing fabrics are from Blend’s Modern Eclectic line. I love the prints!!!

I love the lining! What’s great about these zipper pouches is they unzip all the way so you can have full access to your items. I always take mine when I travel.

I love that they nest too!

And they make a nice set when paired with a fabric keychain!

Filed Under: Blend Fabrics, FEATURED, gift, mother's day, quilt, sewing, tutorial, zipper pouch

The Maisie Dress

April 28, 2014 by 1 Comment

I am in love with this dress! The fabrics are called Maisie from Anna Griffin. They are so fun and whimsical! This dress is the perfect dress to sew if you are like me and collect fabric in 1/4 or 1/2 yard increments. I rarely go fabric shopping and purchase 3 yards of every fabric I love.

To make this dress you need a peasant dress bodice pattern – or make your own. I like to wait until the patterns are $1 at JoAnn’s fabric then I go crazy! Peasant dresses are perfect if you want a fast way to construct a dress – no buttons or zippers or lining – Yippee! Follow the directions on the pattern for the bodice. I used ones print for the bodice and a different print for the sleeves.

Here are the measurements for the skirt. This is for a size 6-8 girls.

Collect 10 fabrics you want for the skirt. Cut them 8.5″ x 20″ and sew them together like this:
(forgive the photo, it was about 11:30 at night in my mom’s kitchen!)

There will be 5 fabrics on the front and 5 on the back. Sew with 1/4″ seams and then zig zagged each seam to prevent fraying – time consuming yes. Sew the rectangles together to form a giant circle that will be the skirt. Press seams to one direction. Sew a gathering stitch along the top of the skirt piece and fit it into the bodice matching side seams. Sew along gathering stitch, zig zag, then press.

For the bottom ruffle, cut (4) 3 1/2″ x WOF strips. Sew them together end to end, press the seams. Sew a rolled hem on one of the edges. I cheated and used my gathering foot – hoping I would not run out of ruffle – it worked! This saved time because as I didn’t have to fit the ruffle into the skirt – I could use the ruffle like trim instead. The ruffle foot is one of my favorites! I had to make a little seam on the side where the 2 ends of the ruffle meet – but it blends in OK. After the ruffle is sewn on, press the ruffle and top stitch.

Filed Under: Blend Fabrics, clothes, sewing

Bunny Bricks Quilt Tutorial

March 26, 2014 by 13 Comments

I am so excited for spring and Easter and flowers and bunnies and sunshine! I am a cat person by nature, but when spring rolls around my obsession with cats turns into an obsession with rabbits. I have rabbit “nick-nacks” all over the house!!! A new bunny wall quilt is long over due! When I came across this amazing line of fabric from Anna Griffin, called Grace, I fell in love. It feels like vintage spring!!!! I paired the rectangle “bricks” with a bunny silhouete appliqué from Sizzix. I’m in love!

Here’s how you can make one:

Supplies: 15 assorted prints, fat quarters or 1/4 yard cuts
1 yard of cream solid cotton
Heat n Bond Lite by Therm O Web for appliqué
1/2 yard fabric for binding
1 1/3 yard fabric for quilt back
cotton batting

Assemble the Bricks:
Cut the 15 assorted prints into 3″ strips x WOF
Sub cut the strips into 6.5″ bricks

The bricks measure 3″ x 6.5″ each. Stack them into piles.

Begin making pairs out of the bricks and chain piecing them; leave about 12 single bricks. Pair up 12 of the pairs with 12 pairs, and so on. The goal is to have 12 rows of 7 bricks. I went pretty random and did not lay the pattern out ahead of time.

Here you can see my 12 rows. The rows will be sewn into sets of 3’s.

Press the seams of the bricks to one side. To sew the rows together the bricks need to be offset just like in real masonry work. Align one of the rows on your cutting mat. Each brick should measure 6″ (except for the end ones.) Align both seams of the brick with the 6″ marks on the cutting mat. Take the next row and align the seam along the 3″ mark which is the center of the first brick. Put right sides together, pin, and sew using 1/4″ seams.

Continue sewing the rows together in sets of 3’s. The ends of each row will be uneven because we are offsetting the rows. Once the rows are sewn, press seams to one side and “square up” the edges (below).

Cut the cream cotton into (3) strips 8″ x 39.5″. This will be the bunny appliqué pieces.

Prepare the appliqué:

Cut the bunny fabric and Heat n Bond roughly the size of the Sizzix Die. Iron Heat n Bond Lite to the wrong side of the fabric. Run the fused piece through the Sizzix to cut the bunny. I cut 2 at a time.