Gerry and Ziggy are the best of friends. Knitted in stripes in stockinette stitch, they make a huggable pair of toys. Designed by Amanda Berry @fluffandfuzz, both are knitted in acrylic DK yarns on single pointed needles (not in the round). For confident beginners and above, other techniques used include casting on and off, knits, purls, increases and decreases, knitting stripes and seaming to finish.
Try one of these felt animal crafts for your next sewing project with a cute jellyfish, sloth, squid or magical unicorn
...and they lived happily ever after. Welcome to my Twitter Feed. Some birds tweet, some chirp, and others sing and coo along! I found the bird pattern at Block Lotto. Here is the link - http://www.blocklotto.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/BirdBlockDirectionsV2.pdf I made the first pair of birds on January 9. And I was hooked. If two were fun, eight would be a party. I played with dots, stripes, prints and more. After that, I went into an assembly line mode. Since the colors were so energizing, there was no boredom that is normally associated with assembly line work. Lots of Color After the first step of block preparation, I stepped back to admire the colors and my handiwork!. Throats Legs Blue Throated Warbler and Fuchsia Woodpecker I chose pinks and greens, blues and teals, aqua and fuchsia, spots and stripes, but I also used prints and batiks too. This is an extremely fun quilt block to make, because you can play with so many combinations. All colors welcome As I stepped away from the design wall to admire the birds and take in-process pictures, I noticed that there was not enough contrast in the yellow dotty birds' throats and beaks. Brown Beaks - MEH! So I changed the beaks from brown to orange. What a big difference that made. An orange beak would make it a Cardinal. Meet my Yellow Dotty Cardinals! Orange Beaks - WOW! The birds were made in mirror image pairs. I made 64 birds and the quilt uses 63 arranged nine across by seven down. I finished the flimsy last week and it was a terrific feeling because it meant that I completed at least one of my goals for the OMG link-up. Finished Flimsy - Yeah! Since the block is rectangular, I chose to piece in columns. I realized that it would be impossible to nest the seams, since all blocks are oriented the same way. Therefore I chose to stagger the columns by just a couple of inches to avoid bulky seams. Can you spot the Chipotle Chilebird? Once the flimsy was done, I realized that the binding would cover a portion of the beaks/tails on the birds in the edge columns. My Twitter Feed - FINISHED!!! So I added skinny strips of background along the sides. That way the Teal Batik Woodpecker (top left) is not pecking away at the binding :-D So happy :-) The wide backing fabric came from Connecting Threads. For binding I chose a sea-green solid. Since any color binding would look fine with the quilt front, I chose to match the binding with the backing fabric. Quilted Quilted with wavy lines, thanks to my Walking Foot and Jacquie Gering's Craftsy class. The push to finish this Dreamy Tweety Chirpy quilt comes from the fact that I want to enter it in the Quilt Show. The registration ends on February 28, 2017. There is nothing like a deadline to set my behind on fire and get it done. What started as a Dreami moment, ended as a lap size quilt. Finished Quilt is 53" by 63". Let's get closer to the birds - admire them and name them, maybe. There is the Green Breasted Fiesta Bird on top left and the Flashy BlueBird next to it. Do you see the Noella Songbird on the bottom? We also have a Peachy Dotty Cardinal and the Green Beaked Checkbird. Can you see the Green Throated Bugcatcher in the picture above? And next to it is the Autumn Songbird. The Pink Striped Woodpecker is facing the Teal Batik Woodpecker. You see, making them is fun but naming them is super fun too. A change of perspective Lap Size - 53" by 63" A lovely finish, even if I say so myself. Getting Close The Black-Winged Greenbird, the Green Breasted Autumn Warbler, and the Red Breasted Finch in the top row above. The Yellow-Breasted Fuchsia Bird is so bright and the Pink Breasted Purplebird is so regal in her bearing. Orange Flamebird, Green Winged Thrush, Blue Beaked Chat and Green Breasted Finch occupy the top row in the picture above. Oh yes, I labelled it and I will put another label to make sure it is ready for the show. Do you see the Chipotle Chilebird peeking from the right? Labelled All names are made-up. As much as I would like to, I am not a birder, although I have enjoyed bird-watching with dear friends Annie and Hans when I lived in Florida. They would often invite me to accompany them to St. Marks Wildlife Refuge where we enjoyed many lovely afternoons - watching birds, eating oysters and pointing out alligators. When I made Angel's Midnight Quilt, I had a favorite block and I even had a favorite house in the Homeful quilt. But I cannot pick one favorite bird in My Twitter Feed Quilt. And that works perfectly because I would not want any jealous tweets here :-D But please let me know - which one is your favorite. And if you want to name a bird or two, I would be so tickled :-) I will be linking with OMG, Sandra's Dreami Linky Party and all my other favorite linky parties.
How to Make an Easy Dress (For Cheap!): Two facts about me: I'm cheap. I love dresses. I wear dresses probably 6 days out of the week. It's not that I one day just decided to wear dresses to feel cute and girly. Far from it. I spend a lot of time sitting at home, knitting, crocheting, …
Sail Boat Block Tutorial
For this week's sewing 101, let's talk about facing. Facings are so easy to make and give your garment a professional finish, without a full lining. Of course you can face and line a garment,
Have you ever coveted a stuffed toy? And we are not asking you about coveting stuffed toys as a child but as a grownup. We are sure that most of us have and
Sizler tarafından çok sorulan bir bebek battaniyesi modelleri yapımını paylaşmak istiyorum. Anlatacağımız battaniyenin yapımı oldukça kolay. İstediğiniz
With Mother's Day right around the corner, I took inspiration from one of my mom's favorite animals for creating my latest plush design. She loves raccoons, and I'm sure she would have one as a pet if she if could (I think I get my obsession with animals from her ?). I made a raccoon last
Make some cute felt dinosaurs using our free printable template. This fun sewing craft for kids is part of the Sew a Softie blog hop
Here's a tip for serging smooth hems in the round from serger expert Gail Patrice Yellen .
Updated October 2014: My quilty friend Wanda T. wrote me on my Facebook page, pointing out something I was totally forgetting to pass on to you even though it is in the photos below, I didn't suggest it in this tutorial. Here is Wanda's message: Thanks Tiffiny, pressing those seams open will help get rid of the hard bump in the center that I hate so much! This is one of those, "why didn't I think of that" moments! Thank you again Wanda T. for catching a very important step =) When I took a class last April for making a Stack-n-Whack quilt the instructor taught us this neat trick on how to make our points always line up together. I will pass what I learned on to you now by making the following picture tutorial. I hope this tutorial helps, please let me know. PS...this is the book and pins I used for my stack and whack patterns, you can click the picture of the book below to purchase it yourself from Amazon.com: :-) This will be your finished product. Nice pointy Points ~ not the technical term...hehe :p 1. Pin through the back of your fabric and the top of your 1st point. 2. With right sides of fabric facing each other you now pin the same spot right below the point going through both layers. 3. Bottom view of two fingers holding the stabilizing pin. 4. Pin along one side of the stabilizing pin, while stabilizing pin from bottom & after matching the seams on the bottom & top. 5. Pin on the other side of the center stabilizing pin (I use these flat head butterfly pins). **** Click the button on the left below this red writing to continue reading the full tutorial**** :-) Tweet 6. Remove the center stabilizing pin, it is now secure. 7. Continue pinning to prepare to sew. 8. Start sewing your 1/4 inch seam allowance. I use this nifty 1/4 inch tool to stay on track. I also remove my pins normally before I ride over them. Even though these are the thin pins that are safe to sew over, I have still been known to break my needles. Normally the new ones :-) UPDATE: I was talking to Sarah of Sew Together and she made a GREAT point (hehe a pun). Anywho, she suggested that we should keep the pins in when we are sewing over the pointy sections, since the fabric can still move if not pinned and just go VERY slow over the pointed sections as mentioned in the next pic below :). I think I have just been VERY lucky so far but I totally agree that it is likely to happen. Continue slowly over the area where the points meet, guiding if needed and using the side wheel of your machine to walk it over the thick area. Want one of these awesome guides? Go here to Sarah's Sew Together website to get one, tell her I sent you, she is such a sweet lady! :) 9. Press your seams open to help with bulk. 10. Another example of pointy points. Please let me know if this helped you out when making your points. :-) I hope this helps you feel better about how to make your points match up. Please let me know what you think of this tutorial when you get a chance :-) Hugs & Smiles, Tiffiny ~ Smilie Mommy Tweet
Inspired by a quilt that my friend Mary shared with me from Pinterest, I decided to design an Ombré HST quilt mathematically. This was the result. I chose to use a gradient of eight different values, numbered 1-8 from lightest to darkest. I began by drawing a 7 by 9 rectangle in my graph notebook and ...continue reading →
Keep your creative juices flowing with over 100 free quilt blocks rounded up in one place. Includes everything from basics, traditional and paper piecing.
A tower-style sleeve placket is used on men’s shirts, but some of women’s shirts also use this same type of placket. I think it is suitable when you want your shirt to have a more masculine, strong, powerful look. It looks a bit intimidating, but like any technique, with some practice, you will be able […]
15 Sewing Tips and Tricks that Make Sewing "SEW" Much Easier!
Adding some easy pleating to a Tote Bag really gives it some character. Here is a FREE pattern and tutorial for a simple pleated tote purse. This is a great
Gathering fabric is beautiful, but it is also time-consuming. In this article, you will learn the easiest and fastest way to gather fabric. Any kind of it!
Learn how to make cloth napkins easily in about 10 minutes. DIY cloth napkins are eco friendly, easy to sew and useful!
Learn how to finish a seam and when to use it with one of these 9 seam finishes. There are different seam finishes for knit and woven fabric.
In this article Threads Digital Ambassador Peter Lappin writes about how to create a professional sleeve placket.
FREE PATTERN ALERT: Taco Zipper Pouch. Learn how to make an easy sewing project to create this fun Taco Zipper pouch.
YouTube is full of fascinating videos involving all sorts of things, including sewing! Whether you often check out sewing videos on YouTube or have yet to explore that world, we think you will appreciate this list of what we think are the 10 Best Sewing YouTube Channels you'll want to follow. It was difficult to narrow down the list to only 10 as there are many more amazing tailors and seamstresses who make useful videos and who truly make the best sewing channels on YouTube, but we felt that these were the accounts with the most variety. There are also videos on techniques and projects for all skill levels. No matter what you are looking for when it comes to sewing, you will find a channel in this list that is worthy of hitting that "subscribe" button. Before we get to these top sewing YouTube channels according to us editors here at AllFreeSewing, did you know that we have videos, too? Check out our original sewing videos here. Watch our useful video right below and then keep scrolling down to get to our awesome list of sewing YouTube channels we love. If you like them, be sure to subscribe to take advantage of all the free tutorials, tips, tricks, and projects they all have to offer every week! Sign Up For More Free Patterns >>>
Appliqué is a fun way to express yourself with fabric. Learn How to Applique Like a Pro by following these easy steps. It's easier than you think.
To me, Tula Pink is the I Spy of the fabric world. I can stare at her design collections over and over, and every time I find something new: a sailing ship in a courtier’s elegant hair style, bumblebees and swallows hiding amongst the berries, a seagull bobbing on the waves. We’ve loved every one
ROUNDUP: 20 Essential Sewing Techniques. Learn how to sew with professional finishing and great fitting with this 20 sewing tutorials and sewing techniques
Hair has always been a canvas for self-expression, and what better way to showcase your personality and creativity than with bold and colorful hairstyles? If you're feeling adventurous and want to...
Lesson 1: Create Custom Pajama Pattern. Total of 4 lessons including making and altering a pants pattern, add elastic or drawstring waistband, sewing the PJ pants.
I can feel summer in the air, and my little family and I are really taking advantage of it! Every moment we can, we’re outside soaking in the sun. The other day as I was watching my girls play, I was reminded of this cute little dress that I designed years ago when I made...
Commercial sewing patterns can be hard to understand. Learn how to read a sewing pattern with these easy steps. Each part is broken down into simple terms.
Learn to make quilt binding in six simples steps by Simple Simon and Company.
A fantastic guide to the Basic Hand Stitches for Beginners.If you are learning to sew or teaching someone to sew,this is an excellent guide to sewing basics
In this article Threads Digital Ambassador Peter Lappin writes about how to create a professional sleeve placket.
Top 9 Toy Animal Sewing Patterns - great designs!
Have you fallen in love with a pattern, only to find that it doesn’t come in your size? A few ladies told me that Itch to Stitch’s patterns don’t come in their sizes – some are smaller and some are larger than the measurements. Perhaps you have a tween who is not quite big enough to […]
Learning how to sew placket can be intimidating, but this step-by-step instruction on how to sew the placket on your sleeve will make you an expert soon!
