Lily and I were surprised to hear from so many Little House on the Prairie fans who might like to sew along with us this summer. I made this little button for our sew along. Feel free to share it…
This quilt tying tutorial shows how to tie a quilt with yarn or embroidery thread. Quilt ties is an easy and fast way to finish a quilt.
Wondering How to Finish a Quilt? Top US quilting blog, Diary of a Quilter, features an Easy DIY Tutorial for Finishing and Binding a Quilt. Click here now!!
Adding embellishments to your quilts is a great way to add interest and texture to your quilts. Learn 9 ways you can embellish your quilts
Use the best kam snaps tutorial and see how to add kam snaps to nearly everything - so easy!
Throughout the 18th century, as well as in the end of the 17th, and beginning of the 19th, men’s shirts were fastened with clever little buttons made of thread. These were simple to make with…
A Non-Slip Lining Keeps This Rug in Place! While you may have some qualms about using a quilt as a rug, that won’t be the case with this project. It’s designed specifically as a rug and will be charming in your sewing room or elsewhere in your home. Jelly roll strips are woven and stitched …
Learn how to make a cheater quilt that is fast, easy, and you can use any striped or plaid fabric. A cheater quilt is perfect for gifts!
You might be closer to having a pile of finished quilts than you think! I hope that's true for me because I have 50 UFO's! But not for long.Tied quilts finish fast, and they can be absolutely stunning. Take a look at my new pattern: "Quilt Knots, Ten Ways to Tie a Quilt." One is called "Monster Noodles." Haha! "Double Woolies" Pattern #2 in "Quilt Knots" Included are lots of handy tips that I discovered while doing these 10+ projects. I used lots of different materials and tools. I show some of the quilts before and after machine washing and drying. There is a detailed supply list. Even a handy pattern for those occasions when you need it done yesterday. Take a look. Could someone please put this on Pinterest and FB for me? Thanks. :)
Ever wanted to sew the Liesl + Co. Classic Shirt as a pop-over instead of button-front style? Now you can with this free popover placket pattern piece and tutorial.
Delicate fabric and lace, a simple pattern, and fine sewing add up to a couture cami. Christian Dior designer Alexandra Armillas teaches you how to make one of your own.
My quilted fabric bead obsession continues... (Which is good, as they are now selling almost as fast as I can stitch them!) ...
So, you bought a fancy sewing machine with all of the bells and whistles, and you’re determined to learn how to quilt with it. If you’ve never learned how to quilt on a sewing machine before, there’s no need to panic because the process is really much easier than you think. Quilting on a sewing […] Read more...
Hello! It’s a Totally Tipster day around my house today. I have been making blessing outfits for my grand babies, and came to the button part of the pattern. Oh no, ugh! …
we've pulled lots of fabrics, we've got our pattern book and pencil ready, and some of us are kinda nervous. i hope everyone is excited! ...
How to make the Quilted Sewing Machine Cover. Free Sewing Tutorial and Pattern
Embroidery 101: How to Embroider: This instructable will teach you the very basics of hand embroidery. Learning to embroider is not as tough as you might think! With a bit of practice, you'll get it down in no time. Plus, embroidery is a nice relaxing thing to do after a long day if…
Edited to add: This tutorial was written in 2014. It may not work with all versions of Adobe Reader. You can also use the chart below to enlarge patterns on printers that include that feature. Than…
Use this standard quilt size chart to design your next project. It covers all sizes from baby to California King. Size chart is easy to read and printable.
My newest fabric collection, Redwood Cupboard, is coming in October! The collection is anchored by this gorgeous print done in deep red with brown undertones. This print comes from the Old Sturbridge Village archives and dates to the early 1800's. There are six coordinate reds.... Six coordinate browns..... And six coordinate neutrals. Then, I added this deep, deep brown print for some great contrast. Wanna see the quilts I designed using Redwood Cupboard? Redwood Manor - by Pam BudaThis is Redwood Manor. The sashing is the striking dark brown print above, the border is the gorgeous Sturbridge Village print, and the blocks are a mix of the six reds, browns and neutrals. The Carpenter's Wheel and LeMoyne Star blocks are made with modern rotary cutting and piecing. No "Y" seams here! Quilt size is 78 x 98. Crossfire - by Pam BudaCrossfire is the second quilt designed with Redwood Cupboard. I used the same gorgeous border from Sturbridge, and the deep brown print is the first border. All of the blocks are a wonderful mix of the reds, browns and neutrals. Quilt size is 70 x 77. Both quilts are now finished, and I will be taking lots of photos this week so you see all the real fabrics, and the quilting. I will also be taking pre-orders for both quilt kits, half-yard bundles and fat quarter bundles. I'll have a new blog post next weekend with all the details. Friday, I'll be headed to Seattle to join my pals Paula Barnes and Mary Ellen Robison of Red Crinoline Quilts to teach and have SO much fun on an Alaskan cruise! Our cruises are sponsored by Stitchin' Heaven Quilt Shop. We will set sail again next year. Click here to check out all the amazing cruises hosted by Stitchin' Heaven. If you've never been on a quilting cruise....they honestly are so, so much fun. You'll love it...I do, which is why I keep saying 'yes' when asked to teach on cruises. As always, keep your needle busy and your heart content. Be well....
Who's ready for the next installment of our Serging 101 series? I know I am! If you're new to the series, you may want to read up on our first two mini episodes so you're all caught up: Getting Started With a New Serger Videos For Threading Your Machine And now today we're going to show you how to thread your serger to do a rolled hem! This is the first skill I wanted to learn on my new serger because of how often I do rolled hems with CKC patterns. I've always done it the slow way on a sewing machine and I'm ready to move onto the serger method. And I did it! Here's my very first skirt I made using a serger. I guarantee you can do it too! Today I will walk you through a few important steps using pictures, and then we will show you a couple videos that will show how smooth it is to do. The first thing you need to know about rolled hemming is that we only need one of our two needles. We need to remove the left needle so that we're only using our right. The second change we need to make will depend on which serger you have. If you have a Juki, you pull a little switch (the video will show this in a minute). But if you have a Brother like mine you will open up your machine and remove the "stitch finger". -- The what?! -- Well, just look where I circled above in red. The stitch finger is that tall skinny thing in there. Do you see the orange arrow about halfway down? You will hold the metal there, and then push the little lever where I drew a green arrow. This will pop the stitch finger out. This is what the stitch finger looks like. We will need it later, but not for rolled hems. The Brother machine gives us this neat little storage place right inside the cover where we can snap the stitch finger in place until we need it later. Now that we removed our left needle and our stitch finger, we are ready to thread our machine as we did before and then set the tension dials to where we need them. Notice the picture above. We will not be threading the yellow at all because we removed the left needle. The remaining three dials can be set in a variety of ways but we have found that for doing rolled hems on the Brother serger, this is the best combination for us: 4 - 5 - 7. It may be different for your machine. After playing around with it if you find a better setting for yours, be sure to write it down or take a picture so you can save yourself time in the future. On the side of the Brother machine there are dials for stitch width and length. We want to set both of them to R for rolled hem, as you can see in the picture above. Now all of our settings are exactly where they need to be. It sounds like a lot but after one or two times it will become an easy habit. Two more little tips: Since this was my first time serging I didn't realize that we need to "chain off" before and after everything we serge. When we're done we can't just lift the presser foot and remove our work like we do with a sewing machine. We have to drive our stitching off the back and then clip the tail, leaving some for the next one to start with. It's not hard at all, just a new concept to me! (I'm a beginner remember. The experts are probably chuckling at me, but I bet I just saved you some time!) It is also very important that we have our threads pointing straight backward, away from us, and not to the side. It took me a few minutes to figure out why, so I'm showing you in the picture above. As we're serging we are stitching around two needles that are pointing toward the back of our machine.In the photo above there is a green arrow pointing at them. These needles have the threads chained on them, so if we try to pull threads to the side they won't go anywhere! Everything has to move toward the back, sliding off those needles. It's not a huge issue, but definitely something I didn't know before today. Alright those are all my tips. I'm so happy with how my first rolled hems turned out! I did practice on a bunch of scraps before starting on my actual skirt. But honestly, the machine does all the work and I wish I would have tried this out months ago!!! Now if you actually read through all that, congratulations! And if you didn't, you can now catch all the same stuff in our videos. First up is my video where I show how to get my Brother machine ready to make rolled hems: See, it's really not hard! You'll be doing this in no time! For those of you who own a Juki serger instead, you get to learn from the fabulous Shannon! She also shares some helpful tips that I didn't know about until after I made my own video. Don't you love that you get the beginner and the expert side of things? So now -- Are you ready to start making some rolled hems?! We certainly hope so! Pull out some scraps and start playing around with it today. If you have any questions, please ask in our patterns group where there are a lot of experienced women ready to help! And we'll see you next time in our Serging 101 series. Let's Create! ~ Kristen
How to turn a men’s button down shirt into a summer top for a woman. A simple shirt refashion.
6 quilt photography tips from an expert to help your quilts shine! These tips are easily applies to your every day photos taken with just an iPhone!
FREE DOWNLOAD by Linda Reynolds Learn the techniques used by the top fashion design houses for applying some of the more commonly used couture finishes in garment sewing. You'll find information and how-tos on:
No matter your skill level, our sewing projects for clothing, accessories, handmade gifts, stuffed animals, and beyond will hope you hone your skillset.
Best tips and tricks for how to sew buttonholes and have them look professional
