Thumbprint selvage quilts by Cheryl Sorg of California on Etsy.
In the spirit of recycle/reuse, I’m making a small quilt using discarded items. Here is the finished quilt: All you need are some selvages from your fabric stash, base fabric cut into square…
This selvage block was made by Amy Friend of During Quiet Time . It looks like 16 small blocks put together with additional long selvag...
I am so excited to share my completed Selvage Whirlwind quilt today. It turned out just the way I had hoped and I love it! I think shots of quilts blowing in the wind are pleasing so I had to inc…
These delightful and adventurous quilters made a silk cigar style selvage quilt on Saturday in Harwinton, CT. We took this photo before the end of the day, but you can see that there was a lot of progress being made! This was their first selvage project, and it's the most challenging quilt in the book: Quilts from the Selvage Edge. Lots of laughs, we had the best time, as quilters are known to do. :) This is a non-selvage, raw-edge version by Judi. Well, there is one selvage, and she asked me to sign it as a souvenir of the day. Isn't that sweet? This will be a hexagonal quilt for a table (under glass). Cool. I love how quilters see an idea and add their own twist to it! Thanks for a wonderful day!!
Are you considering your next (or first) selvage project? How about a OOAK (one-of-a-kind) selvage tote bag. Won't that be fun to bring to ...
Last Saturday I was honored to be asked to be the guest speaker at the MMQG Super Saturday Sewing event. Why is it super? Well for starters, they gather from 9am to 9pm for 12 hours of non-stop stitching!!!! That's pretty super in my books. It was a lovely day with nice company, good food and great stitching. The event happens upstairs at GJs fabrics so there's always great shopping available too! :-) It's a great space for sewing with loads of natural light!! There were many wonderful quilts to see ... And I did a bit of show and tell myself ... I can't even imagine what I was thinking / saying in that last shot with Groucho. Maybe I should run a caption competition ;-) All in all, I had a great time and want to thank everyone at the Guild for being so lovely and welcoming!! Andi xx
Are you comfortable with fabric grain lines? Join Heather Valentine from The Sewing Loft to learn the basics about understanding bias & selvage.
I know. It's not even Halloween yet and this is looking very Christmassy. What can I say, Christmas is my favorite holiday, and when we're all coming down from our candy buzzes in a few days, it will be time to kick into all-out holiday crafting mode, so why not get a head start? Don't you love a cute house ornament? I made a little fabric house last year, but it bugged me that the door and embroidery disappeared into the bottom of the house (Exhibit A), so I changed the design to avoid that problem. These scrappy house ornaments don't take very long to make, and they do include a hanger, I just tucked them under for the photo above. I mentioned before that I was in the mood for a tutorial, well...here it is! Fabric House Ornament Tutorial Materials: Pattern (click here to get pattern) Quilting cotton scraps for house back, roof, window, and door Fabric with numbers or fabric selvage for house number Linen, linen/cotton blend, or cotton quilter’s linen for house front Wool or wool-blend felt scraps for bird 10” length of ribbon, 3/8” to 1/2" wide (satin, grosgrain, velveteen, picot edge, twill tape, etc.) Rick rack (1/2" wide), miniature pom pom, or other trim Wonder Under fusible web (1/8 yard) Sheer weight or lightweight fusible interfacing (1/8 yard) All purpose thread Embroidery thread Button Polyfill or other stuffing material Tools: Scissors, rotary cutter/quilting ruler/cutting mat (optional), sewing machine, iron/ironing board, pins, seam ripper, hand sewing needle, disappearing fabric ink, chopstick or turning tool *Seam allowances are 1/4" unless otherwise noted, finished house is 4-1/2" tall, not including chimney. *Always backstitch/backtack at the beginning and end of each seam. Instructions: HOUSE 1. Cut a piece of fusible interfacing slightly larger than the house pattern piece. Fuse the interfacing to the wrong side of the linen with a hot iron according to package instructions. Press with iron on the linen side until the interfacing is completely fused. Use a ruler and rotary cutter to cut around the house pattern. 2. Draw the cutouts at the bottom of the house with disappearing fabric ink (the cutouts are 1/2" x 1/2"). Cut on the lines with scissors. Cut another house from quilting cotton (there is no need for interfacing for the cotton house). ROOF 1. Place a length of rick rack or pom pom trim on the linen house fabric, indicated on the pattern with a dotted stitch line. Center the trim over the line. I find it helpful to draw a line with a fabric pen 1-3/4" from the top of the house (the solid line on the roof of the house pattern). The top of your medium sized rick rack should meet this line, as well as the roof fabric when you place it over the rick rack (see Step 2). Mini pom pom is a little narrower than rick rack, and so sits a little lower than 1-3/4". 2. Place the roof fabric on top of the trim, right sides together, with the edge of the fabric 1/4” above the stitch line. Sew a 1/4” seam along the stitch line. 3. Fold the roof fabric up. If you use rick rack, go ahead and iron the fabric. If you are using pom pom trim or other synthetic trim DO NOT PRESS WITH IRON!!! Pom pom trim melts very easily. Finger press the fabric only. 4. Turn the house over, and trim the roof fabric to match the outline of the house. 5. Turn the house back over and machine baste the roof fabric in place, very close to the edge of the house. DOOR, WINDOW, & HOUSE NUMBER 1. Cut a piece of Wonder Under slightly larger than the appliqué piece. 2. Adhere the Wonder Under to the wrong side of the appliqué fabric with an iron (bumpy side of Wonder Under to wrong side of fabric). Let cool. Lift up an edge of the paper backing to loosen it from fabric. 3. Cut out the piece of fabric that is fused to the Wonder Under. 4. Remove the paper backing from the fabric. Place the pattern piece on the sticky side of the fabric and cut around it. 5. Remove the pattern and iron the appliqué in place on the front of the house. Do this for the window, door, and house number, using the pattern as a guide for placement. DO NOT decorate your house below the line marked on the pattern, and remember to keep the iron away from any heat-sensitive trims! 5. Using a straight stitch on your machine, sew around the outside edge of the appliqué, just off the fabric edge. Sew a second line just on the inside of the fabric edge. For the door, I used thread that matched the door on the inside of the fabric, black on the outside. For the window, I used black thread only. I sewed pretty fast, not aiming for a super straight line, I like the hand drawn look of wobbly lines. For the house number, I only sewed one seam, on the inside of the fabric edge. BIRD 1. Cut a bird from felt and place it on the house. Sew in place by machine with matching thread, just on the inside edge of the felt. 2. Divide the embroidery floss and use three strands for the bird. Hand embroider beak, feet, and wing with backstitches. 3. Make a French knot eye. BUTTON DOORKNOB 1. Add the button last so you don't have to worry about bumping into it while sewing the birdie or other appliqués. CHIMNEY & HANGER 1. Fold chimney fabric in half. Sew across the top and down the side with the raw edges. 2. Trim corner and seam allowances. 3. Turn right side out and press. 4. Place chimney upside down where indicated on the pattern, right sides together. Sew in place very close to the edge of the fabric. Fold ribbon hanger in half, place on the top and center of the roof and sew in place very close to the edge. 5. Alternate method: you may press under the top and side edges of the chimney fabric 1/4", right sides facing out, and hand sew the chimney closed with a ladder/blind stitch before attaching to house. FINISH 1. Place the front and back of your house right sides together and pin. Make sure your ribbon will not get sewn into the seams. Sew around the bottom, sides and top of the house, leaving a 1-1/2” turning hole on one side. DO NOT sew the notched cutouts yet. 2. Reach inside the house to pull open the cutout on one side. Flatten it so the seams match up, and the seam allowances go in opposite directions. Sew across this short straight edge with a 1/4” seam allowance. Repeat for other side. Make sure the seam allowance on the bottom of the house is folded the same direction on both sides. 3. Turn the house right side out, stuff, and close the turning hole with a ladder stitch. 4. You're finished! Hang your ornament on a tree, doorknob, wall or stocking hook. Happy homemaking! Kim P.S. The number fabric is Annie's Farm Stand Seed Catalog from Lakehouse. It has lots of different numbers in several fonts and sizes, perfect if you're going to make a bunch of these. P.P.S. For those of you who don't sew, I will be adding the house ornaments to my shop soon! All the ornaments are on their way to new homes, thanks so much! P.P.P.S. Don't forget that I am having a sale this week, just enter the code CELEBRATE during checkout at my Etsy shop for 20% off your order. The patterns in my sidebar are already discounted. The sale goes through Wednesday, 10/26. Sale has ended, thanks! UPDATE: just editing my sale and shop info, so as not to be confusing :)
I know. It's not even Halloween yet and this is looking very Christmassy. What can I say, Christmas is my favorite holiday, and when we'r...
This amazing thumbprint art is the work of Cheryl Sorg of Encinitas, California. At first I thought it was a selvage quilt! I wondered...
This colorful selvage quilt was made by Elena McDowell of Texas. She is a very accomplished selvage quilter; you've seen tons of her creations here on the Selvage Blog. You can view her Flickr Photostream, and her website Quilts by Elena. She also has a beautiful Etsy store. Elena is one busy lady!
(Edited to add: see the finished quilts HERE ) Back in January I cut my string scraps that were less than 2.5" down to a uniform width o...
At our monthly Quilt Guild meeting last Thursday they were all but begging for more quilt submissions for our bi-annual public show coming up in July. While driving home it hit me; "these people need to see a selvage quilt!"...
This string quilt by Southern Belle is so cheerful. It's part of my new treasury of string quilts. Take a look. Warning: It will make you want to drop everything and make a string quilt. Here's another link, String Thing Along, from Brenda at Scraps and Things in Canada.
Today I would love to share with you a technique that I learned several years ago that is absolutely essential for cardigans if you want to avoid knitting the bands and finishing the raw edges. It also comes in handy for scarves or any items with open raw edges. It looks like an ap
This Marimekko cotton fabric features the Pieni Unikko pattern, printed in Helsinki.Unikko, which symbolizes creativity, was born when Marimekko’s collections lacked floral designs. Maija Isola, however, was fascinated by the theme of flowers and decided to create an entire range of novel floral prints. Material: 100% Cotton Width: Printed 56", selvage to selvage 58" Care: Hot water wash. Line dry. Iron with high heat (cotton setting)
This colorful giraffe quilt was made by Laura Heine of Fiberworks in Montana. In case this inspires you to make a fused quilt, Laura likes to use Steam a Seam 2. This photo is from an interview with Road to California. I like this giraffe's leafy tail. Well done!
What is selvage, what is bias & what is grain? These are 3 terms that every beginner needs to know when starting to sew. Easy tutorial.
Written instructions and chart that show how to knit easy lace knitting stitch pattern for scarves, shawls and cardigans.
Slim-fit jeans with a tapered leg, made from exceptional Japanese selvage denim that has a history d
The sheep farmer near Bathgate, Scotland dyes his sheep with nontoxic dye to entertain passing motorists. This photo was taken by Cooldawg: Katy Buxton from the UK and posted on Deviant Art. Teresa Raleigh found this and pinned it on her Pinterest page. She has lots of interesting pins.
The Selvage Bookshelf Quilt has had a makeover! This is the new version of the original Selvage Bookshelf Quilt. This pattern includes the original improv method with all new photos and tips and tricks to make your Selvage Bookshelf Quilt uniquely yours. The smaller quilt in the photo is an example quilt used to show you how to make this quilt using traditional cutting and piecing methods. In addition to the Selvage Bookshelf Quilt that we all love, I have added brand new unique foundation paper piecing blocks so that this quilt can include a few, or be completely made with that method. One pattern, with three methods on how to achieve a memorable quilt that will surely thrill any book lovers heart. This best-selling pattern has been enjoyed by thousands from countries all over the world, and even featured in a couple of magazines, and several podcasts! The Selvage Bookshelf Quilt pattern is a tutorial style pattern, with the option of traditional style piecing as well as foundation paper piecing. In the photo the main quilt measures 76" x 91", the second largest quilt measures 76" x 88", and the smaller quilt measures 53" square. Each of these is an EXAMPLE size. The pattern will teach you how to make a Selvage Bookshelf Quilt to your own custom size. *Trinket images on the example quilts are appliqué from novelty fabrics and are not block patterns included in the pattern. There are instructions included for how to use your favorite novelty prints to make your own unique Trinkets for your quilt. This PDF pattern is very detailed with a lot of photos and instructions. As a result it is 54 single-sided sheets when printed on paper. If you are wanting this in paper form, I recommend having this printed at a print shop to save money on ink and paper. I hope you enjoy making these as much as I did! Use #selvagebookshelfquilt so we can all enjoy the pictures! Instagram: @jessicaquilter ::::::::::::::::: DOWNLOADING DIGITAL PATTERNS: Printable PDF Sewing Patterns - Instant PDF Download (no paper pattern to be mailed out). In most cases, you can access the files anytime on your Etsy account Purchases page. After purchasing digital files, you will see a "View your files" link on the receipt of your purchase which goes to the Downloads page in your Etsy account. Here, you can download all the files associated with your order. Downloads are available once your payment is confirmed. Paying with PayPal or with credit card on Etsy might take a few minutes. If your payment is still being processed, the Download Files button will be grey. Check back later and try again. You will receive a notification email from Etsy. If you do not receive emails from Etsy regularly, this may appear in your Spam folder. *Patterns are not emailed to you from me. * 1. To access your digital files, go to "You" > "Purchases and Reviews" on www.etsy.com and look for the order. 2. Next the order, click Download Files. This goes to the Downloads page for all the files attached to your order. If you are having trouble downloading the file and receive a pop-up message telling you the file is not working, this will most likely be due to a problem within your browser setting. Please disable any non-standard add-ons like ad blockers or toolbars that you’ve installed and try again. If you are still having trouble getting the file to download it is possible that you are missing the program required to open the file type. All my patterns are downloaded as a PDF. You cannot download a digital purchase through the Etsy app at this time. A web browser must be used to download a digital file (i.e., Google, Safari, etc.). Please sign into Etsy on your mobile browser or a non-mobile computer. If you have any problems with the information provided to you above, please contact Etsy Help Customer Service.
13.5oz JPN 13.5oz Japanese Indigo/Indigo WABASH White Selvage WORKSHIRT #3192 This is a beautiful Japanese Indigo stripe that is reminiscences of a true Wabash, but better. Wabash looks like quite a formal fabric, but in fact it was commonly used for work wear from the early 1800s through to the early 1900s, very often as uniforms for the massive US railroads work force. Finding out a lot about Wabash is very difficult, but we believe there were 2 ways in which the dots were originally “applied” to the base fabric: 1) the pattern would be applied as a block print to the un-dyed fabric with a starch based “resist” and then dyed, the dye not adhering to the resistant pattern; and 2) the fabric was dyed and then the pattern bleached into the fabric - this was done by applying a mildly acidic solution to the cloth via copper rollers with the pattern raised from the surface of the roller, a process known as discharge printing. Perhaps the most famous of the American Wabash dying and printing companies was J.L. Stifel & sons set up in West Virginia in 1835. T hey called their product "Indigo Wabash Stripe" and it was often characterized by an impressive assortment of dots, triangles and diamonds. A few examples of these can be found in "King of Vintage vol 3" by Rin Tanaka. Our latest Wabash fabric, is created utilizing the jacquard weave technique. This fabric is not discharge printed as an original Wabash would be. Because we use a jacquard technique for the ticker stripe, the stripe created will not fade and will age with great character. The images are examples of the 13.5 oz JPN Selvage. As for the fit check out more details available on our fit guide.When selecting your size, please check actual measurements you need (measure an existing pair like this, do not simply go by tag size) and compare with detailed measurements for this model by clicking the "FIT GUIDE" link If you need more pictures , let us know and we will be glad to send them. Just let us know what kind?
Hot off the sewing machine: the Ferris Wheel quilt! There's a pattern for it too. This is a fun way to make fan blocks. No paper-pieci...
This gorgeous spiderweb quilt was made by Megan. You can see more photos on her blog: Lucy and Norman. She was inspired by a quilt called "Maple Leaf Rag" in Sarah Fielke's book "Material Obsession 2." This quilt is also featured on Angela Walter's blog: Quilting is My Therapy. Have you seen Angela's books on machine quilting? She machine quilted this quilt for Megan. Wonderful job, Megan and Angela!!
This classic was created in 1964, after Marimekko founder Armi Ratia publicly banned flowers in Marimekko prints. Artist Maija Isola defied the order and designed a whole collection of floral patterns that were so fresh and unique that Armi took eight of them. One of those she accepted was Unikko, the future icon of icons, now in delightful, infatuating new shades. Material: 100% cotton Width: 58” selvage to selvage. Pattern width varies with each print Care: Hot water wash no bleach, line dry, hot iron
Spring into the season with this free flower zipper pouch pattern. It is easy to make and perfect for using up smaller fabrics within your stash.
knitting blog
One of the students in my ESL class is an amazing artist. Her favorite motif is repeating shapes, often with a geometric arrangement. Several times over the last two years, she made bookmarks for every other student in the class, each featuring a unique design! This spring, she presented me with this piece: Beautiful, right!!!! And it is only 5" x 6"! She knows that I am a quilter (we have shared our work with each other), so she said she hoped I could make a quilt based on this design. Challenge accepted! The first thing to take note of is this: Clearly there are 12 wedges (thus, each must be 30 degrees). At first sight, it appears that it is the same segment repeated 12 times. But look again closely. If we start at the top middle and go clockwise, you can see that the odd sections (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11) are slightly different from the even ones! If you still can't see it, look at the shape of the black "triangles". The best way to create such wedges, with their crazy angles and small pieces, is with the paper piecing technique. That meant I would need to create a pattern for the 6 odd-numbered wedges and a slightly different pattern for the 6 even-numbered wedges. Her design of each wedge initially appears to be very simple. Some stripes and rectangles and lines. How to translate this into fabric? I used this design as a starting point. No way would I try to find fabrics with the exact patterns on her drawing. Trying to do so and getting them in complementary colors would be a fool's errand. So, I would have to use fabrics that gave the same feel or appearance as the original. How big to make it? Obviously, having a finished quilt at 5" x 6" is somewhat foolish (unless you're decorating a doll house), and to do a paper pieces one of that size would be next to impossible. I did some rough calculations and came up with a workable length of about 11" for the longer edges (the left side of the odd pieces!); the edges of the odd pieces are a little shorter. The outer background could then be whatever extra size would make sense overall. This would give a total size of about 22" x 24". Once I made that decision, the next question was how much of her design should I try to replicate? Since each wedge was fairly small and made up of a number of pieces, I had to eliminate some of the smaller details. So I took a copy of her original, and, using paper scraps to "edit" and drawing in some revised lines, I came up with a design that could be done in cloth. Since each wedge is made up of several different fabrics, the total amount of any particular one is very small (less than an eighth of a yard). At that point, it just made sense to use fabrics I had in my stash. The original is blue, and blue is my favorite color, so naturally I have the most fabrics in that color. But try as I might, I could not find the right ones to work here. 😒 The greens seemed like the next best candidate, and yes! I found just the right mix of colors and patterns. Everything was falling into place! Next I went to the local copy shop to make a full-sized enlargement. 400x ought to do it: I then used special paper-piecing paper to trace each odd and even segment. Then I had to cut each of those into the sub-sections. For example: there might be A1 and A2 as one subset in an Odd wedge; B1, B2, B3 as another. Then draw the seam allowance around each and mark each sub-piece with an identifier for the correct fabric. Then make a final copy (actually 6 of each) for the odds and evens. Next: putting it together. It was just a matter of sewing each sub-section together, then sewing Set A to Set B, etc., then sew the wedges together. One difficult part was the white outer background. These parts were not included as part of the wedge since: a) it would have been too big to fit on one sheet of paper, and b) each white area is a little different based on which wedge (1 - 12) it is attached to. So after making each wedge, I just added a large piece of white in roughly the shape needed. Then I trimmed them to fit. Looking back now, it would just have been better to add large white triangles (and the strips on the sides) after each 3-wedge group had been sewn together (fewer background seams that way). I also decided to put a thin green border which echoed the thin fabric strips in the wedges. Quilting was minimal: ditch quilting on the 12 wedge seams using clear monofilament thread. Then a ditch of white thread in the background - border seam. Finally, I wrapped it canvas-style around wooden stretcher bars. It's now ready for hanging. Hopefully, this does justice to the original. I will be gifting this piece to my artist-student-friend. But you may have noticed that this quilt does not yet have a name. I asked her what she called her original piece and she said there was no title for it. We tried to think of a name, but couldn't come up with one. So I am asking my loyal followers to submit their suggestion (either as a blog comment or directly to my email). We will pick the best one and then I will give her the quilt (and update this post). Thanks to all who submitted name suggestions. As you can see, the winner was "QFL". What does that mean? Quilting as a First Language! Because art is the language that all people speak and understand.
This incredible house quilt is from the Netherlands. It was featured on Quilts Thema. The sashing is full of trees. Wowzers!
