Sometimes jumping into free motion quilting needs a baby step, and grid quilting is just the thing to do it! Create structured free motion quilting using these 9 grid quilting ideas to dip your toes in and get started!
I found this amazing idea for half square triangles by the Missouri Star Quilt Company on Youtube. I thought I would do it to make sure it r...
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...
The title Judy's Rainbow originates from the commissioner of this piece. It refers to the spectrum of colours that lichen comes in and Hawaii's gorgeous rainbow
Looking for a new quilting pattern to finish off your quilt tops? Here is some striking stitching from Leah Day. It is called Curved Pinstripes and wow, is it lovely. It is not always easy to fin…
So, if you've been wanting to try big stitch quilt binding, consider trying this unique alternative to machine binding.
Sometimes jumping into free motion quilting needs a baby step, and grid quilting is just the thing to do it! Create structured free motion quilting using these 9 grid quilting ideas to dip your toes in and get started!
tutorial on joining the ends of quilt binding
In an unprecedented act of blogging fanciness I decided to make a video documenting how I create the woodgrain texture (so thoroughly p...
What do you do with leftover quilt batting scraps? I have a wonderful solution to turn them into frankenbatting... if that confuses you, it is not near as hard as it sounds. It's a great way to make use of leftovers!
Before you can quilt you need to baste all of your quilt layers together. Continue reading to see how easy it is to get this job done!
Sew directionally - This handy sewing tip helps you get both sides of the garment to stay the same length throughout the construction process.
It's finally here! The video showing you how I do big stitch quilting - a super easy and fun hand quilting technique! Big stitch quilting is my new favorite way to hand quilt - I'm not sure I'll ever go back to traditional hand quilting. It's just so much fun! I love the chunkiness of the
Learning how to tie a quilt is a great way to give some hand quilted charm to your projects. Continue reading for 6 fun ways to try it out!
Straight line quilting is a great beginner quilting technique, but there's a right way and a wrong way. Continue reading to see if you are doing it right!
Straight line quilting is a great beginner quilting technique, but there's a right way and a wrong way. Continue reading to see if you are doing it right!
Washing a quilt can be a stressful process for many quilters because the risk of ruining a quilt that you just spent hours and hours to make is scary! However, washing your quilt doesn’t have to be as scary as we make it out to be. Plus, you can even wash and dry your quilt...
Want to give your quilting some added texture and depth? Try machine quilting with 12 wt. thread! It's not difficult, but there are 5 secrets you must know.
The quilt-along starts Saturday 30th September- see below for more details! When I first started quilting back in 2019, it was via a lot of hacked together Youtube videos. But quilting brings me SO much joy that I want as many people to do it as possible, hence why I pulled together my free Quil
This post will walk you through everything you need to know about how to stitch in the ditch when quilting and sewing. Read the full tutorial here.
Is this the easiest quilt-as-you-go joining method ever? I think so! There is no hand sewing and no joining strips!
This nicely complex block is a WHOLE lot easier to make than it looks. (Edited to add: See the finished quilt here!) It's July, and I'm so excited that it's my turn to host again in the Nurture Circle of do. Good Stitches! This month we are all going to be making blocks based on the Fibonacci sequence. The Fibonacci sequence is a mathematical concept that was discovered around 200 BC. In fact, it's been around even longer than Fibonacci, who it's named after, but he introduced it to the western world, so he got the credit. The sequence is a series of numbers where each number is the sum of the two previous numbers. Traditionally the sequence starts with 1, but the numbers themselves aren't actually what is important, but the ratios between them. The cool thing about this is that this sequence of numbers, these ratios, show up all over the place. The Golden Spiral for instance is made from boxes whose sides lengthen following the sequence. This spiral shows up a lot in nature. But it's not just nature, it's architecture, art, even web design. The golden spiral is very pleasing to our eye. Many trees have branches in combinations of the Fibonacci numbers and even in the bumps in their bark. Sunflowers and some other flowers have petals according to these numbers. It is nature's numbering system, for reasons that we don't entirely understand, but it is without a doubt both aesthetically appealing and efficient. I have been fascinated by the Fibonacci Sequence even since I learned about it in high school. You can see in the image above how the sequence is used in this month's block. With nature itself on our side we can't help but make a beautiful quilt, so let's get started! This technique makes 2 blocks at a time, which is all I am asking you for, but in order for the design to look right I really will need a 6x6 layout (36 blocks). I am planning to make the extras myself, but if anyone wants to send extra I would appreciate it! For this quilt I am thinking of colors similar to this quilt we did before. You will each need to choose 2 complimentary solids with a decent amount of contrast between them. (No pinks or purples please, let's keep it boy friendly.) Cut a 14" square from each solid. Slice each of the squares into strips, (2) 1" wide, (1) each of 1.5", 2", 3", & 4.5". (There will be a narrow strip leftover which you can toss into the trash or your scraps.) Swap every other strip between the sets to make 2 complimentary, inverted strip sets. Be careful to keep the strips in the right order. Sew the two strips sets together into 2 new blocks and press toward the darker fabric. It's easiest to press as you go along, after adding each strip. (Normally I am not a stickler about pressing but in this case it is important. If one of the fabrics isn't obviously darker, just pick one to press toward, but keep it the same for both blocks.) You might check your measurement here. At this point the blocks should measure 10.5" in their shorter dimension. Square up one end of the strip sets. Then slice off strips going crossways in the same measurements as before: (2) 1" wide, (1) each of 1.5", 2", 3", & 4.5". Again there will be a bit leftover, but probably not much. Again, swap every other strip between the two sets to create 2 complimentary blocks. See how the seams nest? (Yes, sorry, the fabrics changed colors.) Sew these together carefully. The pressed seams should nest, allowing you to get really crisp intersections without pinning (but absolutely do pin if you need to!) Be careful that the ends line up; this time we don't have any to spare. You can press these seams all the same direction, to whichever side you want. Please do run a line of stay stitching around the block about 1/8" from the edge to protect seams from splitting in shipping or assembly. You blocks should measure 10.5" square, but trust me I know how hard it is to stay precise with this many seams. As long as you are within a 1/4" or so don't stress and send what you've got. Thanks so much for being an awesome group, Nurture Circle! I look forward to our finished quilt! (Edited to add: See the finished quilt here!)
Okey Dokey, here is my first attempt at a tutorial…feedback encouraged! Hopefully at least some of this makes sense. :) I’m going to explain the ridiculous way I figured out how to do t…
It's a beautiful Sunday and I am ready to start sewing... but first there are a few things I need to take care of... Just in case you missed...
If you’ve used a sewing machine before you’re probably familiar with the backstitch function on your machine. Backstitching is when you reverse over your stitches to help lock them into place. This stitch can be an important part of sewing because it helps secure your stitches in place. This prevents your project from unraveling. But...
Learn how to square up fabric before cutting any pieces for your next quilt - especially when dealing with longer strips.
Put all of those old jeans that are too worn out to wear or donate to good use and make a quilt out of them. This easy freeform pattern from Create with Claudia is the perfect way to do that. With…
Stay stitching happens right at the beginning of the process of producing a fine garment. Learn how to sew stay stitch step by step and why.
I love the modern look facing gives to a quilt. For those of you who wonder what facing is. It is invisible binding, the way you bind your quilt that it is doesn´t show from the front. I wanted to do it on my denim quit and tried to search on-line for a facing tutorial. There are a lot of different ways to do it but nothing came up in the search for a quilt with rounded corners. So in this post I share the way I did it. It is really simple and worked well.It is very important to cut the binding
A chart with the most common baby quilt size. Plus, how to choose what size your quilt should be based on the use. Included are other common quilt sizes!
In this post, I am going to review how and why you should be creating quilt labels and six different ways to it!
Sewing the northern hemisphere constellation quilt from Haptic Lab
A step-by-step tutorial on how to make your own bias quilt binding.
Want your quilting to look just as good as the professionals? Using stitch in the ditch might be what you are missing! Continue reading to find out how!
One of my very favorite kinds of quilting is organic straight-line, and it's as low-stress as it gets. Though it's even simpler than doing ...
Hi y'all! I am Jessica and I blog over at My Inner Need to Create. I am a stay-at-home mother to 3 kids (8, 4 and 3) but once a upon a time I was a web and graphic designer. Though I am not doing this as my career right now, I see this side of my style bleed through into all my crafting. In fact I like to think of all the clothes I make as a canvas waiting for me to make it into a piece of art. I like to do this in many ways but love the look of appliquéing... Here is a recent appliquéd project: Rainbow Butterfly Skirt. To start I took a skirt of my daughter's to use as a pattern. I chose a thick gray knit as the fabric for the skirt (it was left over from my Superhero Circle Dress from Week 1 of the Sew Along). I just made a simple A-line skirt with no seem allowance for the top since I planned on using 1.5 inch elastic for the exposed waistband. After the front and back of the skirt was cut out, I sewed one of the side seems together and laid out the skirt flat. Next I drew out the butterfly design, I used the skirt shape to dictate the cropping on the butterfly. Take your design and trace it on to Iron-On Fusible Interfacing, make sure that you reverse the image! Iron the butterfly onto the black fabric. Next- cut it out. Peel off the paper from the back of the butterfly, you will need this for a template in a minute. For my butterfly I wanted a rainbow, but at this step you could use a cute print or a solid color. I choose my colors and sewed them together in 1.5 inch strips. After the strips are sewed together and ironed flat, use the paper backing off of the Iron-On Fusible Interfacing as a template and cut out the wings. Iron the black part of the butterfly onto the colors. Take another piece of interfacing and iron it onto the back of the entire butterfly. Then iron that piece onto the skirt. Next you have to zigzag around all the black raw edges. I sewed with black thread... but with a gray bobbin thread so that I didn't have to line the skirt. I sewed the skirt together at the other side then I attached the 1.5 inch black elastic as the waistband. The skirt turned out very eye-catching with the bold, big butterfly but it is a really simple jersey knit skirt with very limited sewing skill needed (the zigzagging around the pieces of the appliqué takes the most practice.) My daughter loves the skirt and wears it everytime she finds it in her drawer clean. I took these photos with her wearing a black leotard as her top but a 3 year old wearing a leotard all day is really not ideal for going to the bathroom. So I refashioned a slimming black tank top from an old (very old!) tube top if you hop over to my blog you can check out the tutorial! Thanks for inviting me to guest post during this month of Flicker Friends! I am so glad to be able to get in on the fun! I hope everyone is having a great summer! If you don't feel like drafting your own skirt, the Becky Skirt Pattern from our shop would be a great base for this appliqué. Want to pin this post for later? Save this image on Pinterest. Related Posts
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