tutorial – Page 5

Riley Blake Flannel Baby Quilt and Burpers Tutorial

October 6, 2014 by Amanda 6 Comments

I am so excited to be participating in the Riley Blake Flannel Blog Hop! Thanks for stopping by! Let me introduce myself….I’m Amanda, a Southern California mom of 3 children who LOVES fabric, sewing and quilting! I love sharing my projects and patterns on my blog and connecting with people who share my same interests.

First let me just say how much I love Riley Blake flannels. I have been sewing with flannel for years and the quality and durability of Riley Blake flannel is amazing – plus it comes in so many cute prints! My tutorial today is for two projects. #1 Easy Quilted Flannel Baby Blanket and #2 “Old School” Baby Burpers

…..yes I know super “Old School” but this burper pattern has been in the family for 40 years – since I was a baby!! Each generation of babies and mommies has loved using these.

Let’s get started….

Quilted Flannel Baby Blanker

Supplies:

1.5 yards top fabric, I used Riley Blake Country Girls Patchwork in Pink….I love this because it already looks like a darling quilt

1.5 yards back fabric, I used Riley Blake Country Girls Country Floral Navy plus extra for the appliqué letter

1/2 yard flnnel for binding and accent square

cotton batting

Heat n Bond Lite

Basting spray

I love sewing with flannel, especially quilting because it is soft and it doesn’t move around when you sew! I always prewash my flannel.

The first part of the project is pretty much just quilting the two 1.5 yards of fabric together. Pin baste the back, batting, and top fabrics of your quilt just like you would any quilt. If the edges don’t line up perfectly, don’t worry. After you quilt it you will square it up. Quilt as desired. I quilted free motion meanders. Square up.

Attach the monogram:

Cut a 9″ square of accent flannel.

Print your desired letter in reverse. I choose a “J” because I am giving this to my friend who is having a girl and naming her Juliette. Trace the letter onto the Heat n Bond Lite and iron it to the wrong side of the flannel.

Cut out the letter, peel off the backing paper and press it to the center of the 9″ accent square. Using basting spray or pins, position the accent square as desired on the quilt.

Using a 1″ seam, sew around the square. Then sew around the letter sewing close to the edge. Cut little slits into the edge of the square like this:

I choose to add the letter after the quilting so the letter would have a quilted look as well. After a few washings, the fringed edge of the square should look more ruffley similar to a rag quilt.

Cut (6) 2.5″ strips of flannel for the binding. I choose to machine sew my binding on so it would hold up nicely after many washings.

I think it turned out so cute! and it’s sooooo soft and snuggly!

Old School Baby Burpers

Just a word about these baby burpers….. My mom sewed this same style burper when I was a little baby. As a toddler I would carry one around like it was a little blankie. I called them “Night Nights”. I’ve continued the tradition with my children. Below are ones I sewed 16 years ago for my first baby. The flannel selections were so sad back then – but I made do! I made stacks and stacks of these and boy did we go through them! Since my children are older, I found a new use for them – dusters! They are perfect for dusting the piano, the china hutch and for other finishes you don’t want scratched!!

Supplies

1/2 yards of assorted flannels

ric rac

Pattern, click HERE

Begin by printing the pattern and tracing it onto tissue paper. Note, the pattern is only for half the burper, trace both sides onto the tissue paper and cut it out. Pin it to the flannel, I like to cut 4 out at a time. Cut around the pattern line.

Cut the desired amount and choose matching ric rac.

Beginning and ending on the side of the burper, take one of the pieces you’ve cut and sew the ric rac on; line up the edge of the ric rac with the edge of the burper. Sew the seam in the center of the ric rac. Start and stop on the side, overlapping the ric rac and having the edges outside of the seam like this:

Pin the second piece right sides together with the first piece. Sew along the seam created by sewing the ric rac. Start and stop on the side leaving a little opening to turn.

Turn right side out, press seams so they lay flat and edges curve nicely. Top stitch. This will close the opening that was left open for turning.

Now do this over and over until you have a nice stack! These are great to make and keep on hand for baby gifts.

I love that they are coordinating! What a perfect gift!

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Filed Under: appliqué, FEATURED, Heat n Bond, quilt, Riley Blake, Therm O Web, tutorial

Halloween Disappearing 9-Patch Quilt

September 15, 2014 by Amanda 23 Comments

Have you ever made a “Disappearing Nine-Patch Quilt”? This is such a fun pattern and great for beginner quilters. You can change the pattern of the quilt by changing the colors of the patches and the layout. It is made by sewing a simple 9-Patch block and then cutting it in quarters and repositioning the new blocks. I love the simple Halloween colors of Black, White and Orange. I found this black, orange and white wavy boarder from Riley Blake Designs. I think it totally makes the quilt! Here’s how you can make one:

Finished quilt: 49″ x 62″

Materials:

assorted orange and black fabric

1 yard solid white

3/4 yard solid black for inner boarder and binding

3/4 yard orange and black wavy stripe

Begin by cutting 5″ squares of orange, white and black. For this quilt I pieced (12) nine-patch blocks. Each block had the same color values: orange corners, white side centers and black center. I used a variety of oranges and blacks.

cut (12) black 5″ squares

cut (48) orange 5″ squares

cut (48) white 5″ squares.

Using 1/4″ seams throughout, sew squares together in rows and then rows together to form the block. Press toward the dark. The block will look like this:

Cut in quarters. Since the block at this point measures 14″ square, cut it at the 7″ point on both sides:

Next comes the fun part of playing with the layout. I choose to lay mine out like this so the small black squares made a pattern.

Sew the blocks together in rows and the rows together and press.

For the boarder:

The black inner boarder is cut 1.5″ wide. I didn’t measure the length, I sewed it to the sides of the quilt and trimmed the excess.

The wavy outer boarder is 5″ wide. I matched the stripes when piecing the boarder together. I added 5″ squares to the corners of the boarder.

I LOVE how it turned out! I have it on my couch and it makes me happy to look at it. Now, to just keep the cat off it 🙂

Filed Under: FEATURED, Halloween, patterns, quilt, Riley Blake, tutorial

“Spooky” Quilt for Riley Blake Designs

September 8, 2014 by Amanda 1 Comment

I am so excited to share this quilt! Did you know I love Halloween and I love black cats? The fabric in this quilt is Riley Blake Design’s “Witch Hazel.” I love the vintage feel of the prints and the colors. I enlarged the cat from the theme print to create this cat silhouette. The pattern is being featured over at the Riley Blake Design Blog “Cutting Corners” if you want to make one 🙂

It’s 100 degrees here but all this Halloween sewing is helping me get in the mood for Fall. This quilt is hanging in my family room and it makes me smile every time I look at it….and it makes me want to adopt another black cat!!

There are many different parts to the quilt: a patchy center, appliqué, lace and pom pom trim and an appliqué scallop top and bottom border!

Filed Under: appliqué, fall, FEATURED, Halloween, Heat n Bond, quilt, Riley Blake, Therm O Web, tutorial

Apple Appliqué Pillow Tutorial

August 21, 2014 by Amanda Leave a Comment

We are getting ready to start school next week. I thought this pillow would be a fun back to school decoration or even a thoughtful gift for a teacher. My tutorial is over on the Therm O Web Blog! I used Heat n Bond Lite which made the appliqué a snap!

I think I could add pom poms to ever project I make 🙂

Filed Under: appliqué, FEATURED, Heat n Bond, pillow, sewing, Therm O Web, tutorial

Summer Nautical Pillows

August 18, 2014 by Amanda 1 Comment

I know most of the stores have their fall and even Christmas decorations out on the shelves, but we still have one more week of summer vacation left and I am embracing every minute of it! Summer is my favorite! I love being with my children all day and just being FREE!!!!! I had to get in one more summer sewing project. I decorated my family room with a few nautical pops here and there and my couch was begging for some nautical pillows! These sew up in a snap!

Sea Critters Pillow (20″):

Don’t you just love this fabric from Dear Stella? We love sea critters at our house!

Cut the sea critters fabric 13.5″ x 20″

Seersucker Twist Red from Blend fabric 7″ x 20″

cotton batting 21″ or larger

20″ navy blue lace trim

2 yards navy fringe trim

20″ square Denim for the back

20″ or longer Zipper

accent fabric 4.5″ x 20″

20″ pillow form

Spray n Bond for basting

Sew them together using 1/4″ seams. Using Spray n Bond basting spray, baste the pillow top to the batting.

With the two pieces basted you can quilt as desired. Straight lines would be cute, I was impatient and free motion is faster for me 🙂

Trim off the excess batting

Add the navy blue lace trim

Sew the navy blue fringe to the right side of the pillow. I found it easier to use my walking foot. Curve the corners.

Prepare the back of the pillow. I have found this is the fastest way to finish a pillow. For the tutorial on how to do this, click HERE. I cut the back 20″ and then cut 3″ from the top for the zipper placement. The chevron piece is cut 4.5″ and then folded in half.

Now that the back is ready, place the right sided together, with the zipper open, and sew all the way round the pillow using 1/4″ seams. Turn and insert the pillow form.

I Heart Whales Pillow (20″)

This is very similar to my pink I Heart Whales pillow found HERE. Follow those directions for the Heat n Bond Applique.

Cut the solid white 10.5″ x 20″

Cut (2) Seersucker Twist Blue from Blend fabric 5.25″ x 20″

“I Heart” pattern click HERE

Whales from Blend’s True Blue fabric line

Prepare the appliqué pieces (directions HERE). Iron the pieces to the solid white fabric. Sew the blue fabrics to the white fabric using 1/4″ seams.

Using Spray n Bond, baste the pillow top to the cotton batting and quilt. Instead of appliquéing the images on before quilting, I sewed around each image in navy thread during the quilting process to give the pieces a little pop.

I finished this pillow the same way as the Sea Critters pillow with the same navy trim.

I love the backs of the pillows!

Filed Under: appliqué, Blend Fabrics, FEATURED, Heat n Bond, pillow, sewing, Therm O Web, tutorial, whale, whale week

Stair Steps Quilt Pattern featuring Briar Rose

August 14, 2014 by Amanda 1 Comment

I am so excited to share my newest quilt pattern with you! Last year I went to Sewing Summit in Salt Lake City, Utah and I went on a “Bus Tour” of several quilt shops in the area. It was a blast. I picked up all these fabrics in the Briar Rose line from Heather Ross. Who wouldn’t love these adorable frogs, bees, & grasshoppers!

When my daughter saw them she instantly declared they were hers! It’s almost been a year and she and I decided that this summer we would put a quilt together. We worked on the pattern design together and she sewed the entire quilt! I am so proud of her!

I wanted a pattern that she could handle but that was more than just squares. This pattern has lots of elements that are great for beginners to learn. We also wanted a pattern that didn’t cut the fabric up too much – after all, the frogs are just too cute! So we added a few solid blocks of frogs here and there in the pattern. Here is how you can make one:

Finished quilt: 50″ x 65″

1/4″ seams throughout

Supplies:

Assorted fat quarters or quarter yard cuts of 6 or more prints

(20) 5″ squares or charm squares

1 yard green print

1 yard white solid

1/2 yard binding

2.5 yards minky for the back

Begin by constructing (20) framed square blocks:

Pink frame (2) 2.5″ x 4.75″ and (2) 2.5″ x 2.75″

clover frame (2) 2.5″ x 4.75″ and (2) 2.5″ x 2.75″

center square 5″

Ella laid all her blocks out to make sure the fabric patterns were evenly distributed. She is the best at laying out quilt pieces!

Sew the top two rectangles together, the side rectangles together and bottom rectangles together like this:

Press seams toward the dark.

Sew the side rectangle units to the center square. Press. Sew the top and bottom units to the square and press seams. (I forgot to take a picture of the finished block, but you can see it in the quilt below)

Construct (24) half square triangle blocks

Cut (12) solid white and (12) green print 10″ squares

Draw a diagonal line from corner to corner on the wrong side of each white square. Put the green square and the white square together right sides facing. Sew 1/4″ along both sides of the pencil line. Cut along the pencil line and press toward the dark. Each square sew yields (2) half square triangle blocks.

Now you will need to square up the blocks. The blocks finish slightly larger which allows for some room in squaring up the blocks. Line up the diagonal seam with the diagonal line on your cutting mat and cut each square to be 9″.

Cut (4) 9″ squares from the frog print to mix into the layout. This is how we laid ours out:

Sew the blocks together in rows and press the seams in each row in alternating directions, I always press toward the first block in each odd number row and away from the first block in each even row. Sew the rows together matching intersecting seams and being mindful of the triangle points.

For the quilting…..

We got to go play with some fun long arm quilt machines. Our friends at Quilt EZ let us try out “The Butler” quilting robot which is a computer that attaches to any long arm quilt machine and it has hundreds of programmable quilting patterns. We selected a pattern, told it the size and hit “start” and it did this wonderful all over flower design. You do have to roll the quilt and start the machine up, but it remembers where it left off each time – genius!

Here you can see the quilt design up close – I could not do this free hand!

We got home from the quilter and added the binding – Two days from start to finish!! Not bad for a 14 year old 🙂

Of course Ella wanted minky on the back of the quilt – she is such a snugly person! Love the fun green color.

Filed Under: FEATURED, quilt, tutorial

Whaley Zipper Pouch

July 17, 2014 by Amanda Leave a Comment

If you know me at all, you aren’t surprised that a whale zipper pouch would be apart of “Whale Week”! I have gotten so much use out of my 1/2 yard of True Blue Whales fabric by Blend!!! I love the little anchor charm I found to use as the zipper pull. The lining of the bag is super cute with lifesavers and anchors on it!!

This tutorial is more of an overview, if you want extra details and you are new to making zipper pouches, check out My favorite zipper pouch tutorial.

Supplies:

Fat quarters or large scraps for the outer bag and lining

scraps for zipper tabs

Medium or light weight fusible stabilizer

Heat n Bond LIte

zipper

scrap of ric arc

Cut the denim outer bag, bag lining and stabilizer 8″ x 11″ (2) of each. Fuse the stabilizer to the wrong side of the lining fabric.

Iron the heat n bond lite to the wrong side of the desired whale. Fuse and cut the whale out. Position the whale as pictured below. Sew an accent piece of ric rac.

Cut 2 zipper tabs 1.5″ x 4″. Pres the ends under 1/4″ and then press in half.

Here you can see the 2 zipper tabs. (Sorry about the lighting, it was 11:00 pm).

Measure the zipper and the tabs so you have 1″ on each side of tabs (there will be extra). Sew the tabs to the ends of the zipper. Again, click HERE for more details on this process. Cut the folded piece of the tab and cut out the excess zipper. The goal with this is to reduce bulk in the seams.

Flip the zipper over and match with the top edge of the whale piece. Place one of the lining pieces right side down and align all the edges. Don’t worry about the zipper tabs, we will even them up in a minute.

Sew using a zipper foot. Press and do the same thing to the other side of the zipper so it looks like this:

Top stitch 1/8″ along the zipper. Trim the excess tab fabric. Match right sides with right sides and pin all the way around. MAKE SURE ZIPPER IS OPEN Sew using 1/4″ seam leaving a 2.5″ opening on the side of the lining fabric.

After you’ve sewn all the way around cut a 1.5″ notch out of each corner of the bag.

Match bottom seams and sew a 1/4″ seam:

Turn right side out and top stitch side opening. Yea! It’s done!

It’s the perfect little pouch to tuck inside a beach bag with all the little stuff that might get lost.

Filed Under: appliqué, Blend Fabrics, FEATURED, Heat n Bond, sewing, Therm O Web, tutorial, whale, whale week, zipper pouch

Whale Composition Book Cover

July 16, 2014 by Amanda Leave a Comment

I love composition books and I have written several tutorials for them. I use these cute covered books for everything: journals, notes, reminders, etc. Do you use a sewing journal? I am always writing patterns or changing existing patterns and I take notes as I go. This has totally saved me as I have all the notes in one place. Here is my current sewing journal – with only a few pages left in it:

This is an example of how fabulous my notes and sketches are 🙂 After I have all my notes and the project is finished, I type it up as a tutorial or pattern online. It’s time for a new composition and I’m feeling “whale-y!

This is the composition book I am using – make sure you measurements are 9 3/4″ x 7 1/2″

Supplies:

composition book

scraps of fabric

1/3 yard fabric for lining and flaps

batting

spray n bond basting spray

hair elastic

button

You can create any design as long as it measures 16/5″ x 11″ when you are finished

Anchor fabric 3″ x 16.5″

pink accent fabric (2) 1.25″ x 16.5″

whale fabric 4.5″ x 16.5″

flower fabric 3″ x 16.5″

Piece them together in this order using 1/4″ seams:

Press the seams in one direction. Using basting spray or pins, baste the top to the batting. Quilt as desired. I quilted 1/4″ lines on both sides of the seams. Square up the batting after quilting.

Take the hair elastic and baste it 1/8″ in the center on the left side of the book cover. Like this:

For the lining, cut a piece 16.5″ x 11″

For the flaps cut (2) 11″ x 10″ and press in half

Lay them out like this:

Lay right sides together and pin all the way around. Sew using 1/2″ seam allowance leaving a 3″ opening at the bottom to turn.

Turn right side out and press. Top-stitch the opening closed.

Insert the composition book and mark where you want the button. Remove the book and sew the button on with a needle and thread – inside the flap. It’s hard to see my button because it is blue.

And you’re done!! Perfect gift for just about anyone!!

Save

Filed Under: Blend Fabrics, FEATURED, gift, sewing, Therm O Web, tutorial, whale, whale week

True Blue Whale Skirt & Top

July 15, 2014 by Amanda Leave a Comment

I can’t get enough of these whales from Blend Fabrics!! We are all sporting whale shirts! I think we will be wearing these to Sea World when we go 🙂

The fabric is cute enough that all you need to do is add some Heat n Bond to the back side of the whale, cut it out and then iron it to what ever you want!

After I ironed the whale to the T-shirt, I top-stitched around the whale twice. Sally needed a complete whale outfit (I am pretty sure if I had enough fabric I would have sewn myself a whale skirt!!)

I used skirt “A” from the pattern book Little Sassy Skirts.

I have made these skirts over and over. The patterns are easy to follow and everything is done with rotary cutter measurements (a quilters dream!). This skirt is fun because you don’t have to have a lot of yardage, I only had half yards of the True Blue prints and I love the 4 prints all pieced together!

We had such a fun day at the beach! It was beautiful! I love summer and I love whales 🙂

Filed Under: appliqué, Blend Fabrics, FEATURED, Heat n Bond, sewing, t-shirt, Therm O Web, tutorial, whale, whale week

I Heart Whales Throw Pillow

July 14, 2014 by Amanda Leave a Comment

Isn’t this the cutest fabric? It’s from the True Blue fabric line by Blend. Everyeday this week I will be featuring a project using fabrics from this fabric line – all with a whale theme!!

I totally LOVE whales and I have loved them since I was like 4 years old 🙂 I thought this pillow was super fun and I love the colors! My tutorial is over at the Therm O Web blog – so hop over there if you want the instructions to make your own!!

Filed Under: Blend Fabrics, FEATURED, Heat n Bond, pillow, sewing, Therm O Web, tutorial, Uncategorized, whale, whale week

Riley Blake Flannel Baby Quilt and Burpers Tutorial

Halloween Disappearing 9-Patch Quilt

“Spooky” Quilt for Riley Blake Designs

Apple Appliqué Pillow Tutorial

Summer Nautical Pillows

Stair Steps Quilt Pattern featuring Briar Rose

Whaley Zipper Pouch

Whale Composition Book Cover

True Blue Whale Skirt & Top

I Heart Whales Throw Pillow

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