Well, it’s been awhile since I’ve joined in here at Itch to Stitch. I’m a teacher and back to school time is a crazy, exciting, hot mess as I’m sure many of you know. Do you know what else used to be a hot mess for me?! Removing serger seams! Honestly, I didn’t used to […]

I'm crazy about J. Peterman Style! In the latest catalog, describing a fabulous pants look, Peterman said it best: "It's late evening; her pants are a cool, del…

You've seen it on pea coats, duffel coats, and more, but what exactly is this melton stuff, how is it made, and where did it come from?

Installing an invisible zipper into a pillow is one of the easiest sewing skills to learn. Your family will think you’ve lost your mind because you can’t stop making them. Materials: -1 invisible zipper (a few inches shorter than your pillow form/or follow a tutorial to shorten it) -front and back pillow panels (cut...Read More »

Tips to help you be more accurate in your sewing.

May 1st already! Can you believe it? That means it is time to start a new section of Gypsy Wife. Today I'm going to show you how I made Crazy Anne, one of the blocks in this month's section (section five). Only I'm not too sure if I made the centre section correctly, so follow my lead at your own risk! I began by making the centre rectangles (and this is the part I'm not sure about). I felt like I should off-set the two pieces at each end by quarter of an inch so that when I pressed the pieces open the diagonal went corner to corner exactly (see both pictures). When you see the picture of the finished block, you will be able to see why I am not sure if this is correct. The rectangle should measure 4.5" by 2.5" at this stage. Then I laid all my pieces out to check that I was happy with the fabric placement and so that I could put the pieces together without muddling them all up. I stitched the centre three pieces together, then I made the corner units. These are fairly straightforward, just follow the instructions in the pattern. Each corner block should measure 4.5" square at this stage. Sew the top and bottom row together, being careful not to accidentally rotate any of the blocks as you move them to your machine, then stitch the three rows together. You will be able to see in this picture that I didn't get sharp points in the centre where the star point meets the centre square. Maybe you are supposed to, maybe not? I'm not fussed, the great thing about Gypsy Wife is that it is such an explosion of colour and blocks that a few dodgy points go largely un-noticed.

It's easy to transform your crew neck T-shirt into a more flattering V-neck shirt in a few simple steps. You don't even need to add any additional fabric!

One of the quilts that I'm working on for my solids challenge is my biased quilt . I have had so much fun making the blocks, so I took some ...

Take your sewing projects to the next level using these sewing tips and tricks.

One of the quilts that I'm working on for my solids challenge is my biased quilt . I have had so much fun making the blocks, so I took some ...

Starting an embroidery journal is tough. I'm trying to make it a bit easier by giving you some tips & tricks. Let's talk about spacing.

When I first saw crochet arcade stitch, and I immediately thought 'I HAVE TO learn it!'. Some stitches are truly breathtaking, and surprise you with their beauty when you look at them for the first time. This lovely technique combines geometric, repetitive pattern with lacy structure. Little eyelets are shaped evenly and make the 'arches'

Quite a while ago, Kathy Shaw asked me if I would be interested in seeing her new book, Stunning Stitches for Crazy Quilts, when it was published. And of course, I said yes! For those of you who have been hanging out with me on Needle 'n Thread for a while, you already know I'm a bit of a book f

Last week my friend Trish posted her new project to make an hourglass block a day, and it felt like a perfect fall project for my current crazy life situation. I can make 2 hourglass blocks in just a few minutes...so I can fit in a block here and there while I'm helping my kids...Read More

Installing an invisible zipper into a pillow is one of the easiest sewing skills to learn. Your family will think you’ve lost your mind because you can’t stop making them. Materials: -1 invisible zipper (a few inches shorter than your pillow form/or follow a tutorial to shorten it) -front and back pillow panels (cut...Read More »

I'm kind of hesitant to share this quilt today and I'm not quite sure why. Maybe because it feels so different from most of my work? Maybe...

This sewing tutorial will help you learn how to hem knit fabric with a serger or sewing machine. I’ve compiled my tried and true tips on hemming knits so that puckered hems and popped stitches are avoided

I'm kinda picky when it comes to pillow covers and their openings. Envelope style openings are not my favorite. They're great for when you don't have a zipper or when you want to keep your cost down, but I don't' like how they can bulge out...they don't keep the pillow's shape very well. Buttons are OK and can add a pretty detail to the pillow, but they just don't work in my house with all the hoodlums laying around. I prefer a stuffed pillow where I can throw the whole thing in the wash or a zippered cover. I used to sew my zippers on the side seam. Recently, I came up with a new way to add my zippers. I think it looks much nicer AND I've created a tutorial just for you! Zippered 14" Pillow Cover Tutorial Supplies Fabric 15" x 33.5" Ruler Rotary Cutter & Mat or Scissors Sewing Machine Zipper Foot Coordinating Thread 12" zipper (or longer) Cut fabric for front 15" x 15" Cut fabric for back 6.5" x 15" and 12" x 15" Center zipper on long edge of 6.5" fabric line up right side of zipper to right side of fabric and sew in place using a zipper foot. Fold fabric back, wrong sides together, leaving a "flap" over right side of zipper and leaving about a 1/4" edge past the other side of the zipper, as shown with the purple arrow in the picture above. Pin in place and sew along previous stitch line. Don't stress about the size of the flap..as long as it covers the zipper and you think it looks good, then it's fine. Fold "flap" over and pin in place exposing zipper. Sew other side of zipper to the 12" x 15" piece of fabric, right sides together. To give you a perspective..the pin indicated by the left arrow is holding the "flap" down. Be sure to line up your fabric edge with your zipper edge (as indicated by the other arrow) and be sure that the edges your 6.5" piece of fabric lines up with the edges your 12" piece of fabric. When you are finished, you should have a rectangle with a zipper in the middle. Trim excess fabric off the end of the 12" piece so that your pillow cover backing is 15" square....you may ask..."why do I need to trim my fabric? why didn't we cut it right the first time"?..I like to err on the side of caution... it allows me some wiggle room when fiddling with the zipper flap. Pin cover backing to cover front. Sew using a 1/2" sew allowance. Finish edges and trim corners. Be sure to leave the zipper OPEN before you sew your cover shut as indicated in the picture above. The zipper allows you to turn your cover right side out after you sew all four sides shut. Your Done!

Invisible Closing Seam. On all these cute little animals and friends that I'm making, I like to have a nice finish to them. It's much e...

7 ways to make a ruffle, ruffles, 7 ways to make ruffles, ruffle tutorial, how to make a ruffle, making ruffles, ruffle making

Today’s feature isn’t a tutorial, per se, but it is a super helpful post from Positively Splendid that will most definitely help you improve your sewing! Head on over for five simple, yet incredibly useful tips! What is your favorite sewing tip? Love this feature? We encourage you to pin from the original post!

If you have no idea what a planket is...that's okay. Cause I'm pretty sure it's made up. BUT...once you see what it is..you will be itching to sew one because they are just that cool.

When I first saw someone do a blind stitch I think my world stopped spinning. Just for a minute. She was sewing white fabric with bright red thread and it didn’t even matter. IT DIDN’T MATTER! (ok, if you’re not a seamstress you definitely think I’m crazy right now. But trust me, this is huge)…

I really, really love this one! 114/??? blocks done. Not bad progress for only being two months in! More info about the quilt can be found here.

I'm kind of hesitant to share this quilt today and I'm not quite sure why. Maybe because it feels so different from most of my work? Maybe because I pushed myself out of my comfort zone a lot while making it? I don't know, but I did like the challenge. And I do like the quilt. A lot. The basic design idea came from a button down shirt. As I was working on it, the quilt took on a life of it's own and it ended up quite different from what I imagined it would be. That's all a part of the fun, though. It's all part of the process. I used a few Kona jelly rolls that I've had in my stash for years. It felt great to finally USE them. This is probably the hardest "simple quilt" I've ever made. It looks like I just took a few strips of fabric and sewed them together. In reality, I spent a lot of time laying out so the colors until they were just right. Lots of math, lots of photos, lots of rearranging. It makes me smile, though, because it totally matches some of my daughter's recent artwork. The quilt will most likely end up on her bed because she needs another quilt. Ha! In this photo the quilt reminded me of those great big parachutes we used to play with in gym class back in elementary school. And that's how a quilt is named. :) The quilt top measures about 78" x 84".

Did you have a sewing project that was driving you crazy because the fabric keeps fraying? Well, it's really frustrating to work on your project only to have the fabric fray and create a mess. But there is a solution! In this tutorial, I'm going to share 21 proven ways of how to stop fabric from unsightly fraying. By taking the time to prevent fabric fraying, you can ensure that your sewing projects turn out looking neat and professional.

Welcome to finish it up Friday! This week I decided that I needed to make a half-dozen thread catchers (pattern is available here) with the mini charm packs that I picked up at spring quilt market. I wanted to use them before too long, or I knew that I would hoard them until the end of time. (There is enough fabric in that category already! Hahaha!) I used three different fabric lines: the good life, by Bonnie and Camille, Flower Mill, by Corey Yoder and First Romance by Kristyne Czepuryk of Pretty by Hand. (All by Moda Fabrics.) I like using mini charm packs for this purpose, because each thread catcher uses 21 squares of fabric, so you can make 2 from one mini charm pack. (Hurray for that!) These will be gifts and door prizes, most likely....if I can let them go! Last weekend I traveled to Indiana to speak and teach. It was a CRAZY trip in regards to travel, but the students were amazing, so it was totally worth it! My friend Suzanne drove several hours to attend the class and she brought her finished slopes quilt (pattern is in No Scrap Left Behind) for show and tell. Isn't it fabulous? She busted a whole lot of scraps and made it a twin size. Thanks, Suzanne, for letting me share your quilt! It's so fun to see quilts being made from the patterns in the book. That's it for me today! Please link up your finishes for the week. Thank you for joining me for finish it up Friday!

All the knowledge you need for picking the perfect fabric. Click through for a description of different fabric types and how best to use them.

I love starting new projects - especially projects with new and unique techniques! I recently purchased two sweet baby daygown books from Ma...

Notoriously difficult many quilters and sewists fear to work with minky. Fear no more here's my super easy, step by step guide to a perfect minky quilt back. Hi everyone, my 5 Step Guide to A Perfect Minky Quilt Back is proving extremely popular across the internet and my tip list is being printed off and shared. Obviously, as a teacher, I'm always delighted to share my knowledge with everyone and 'spread the word' and I'd love you to do the same for me - tell everyone that you found the info right here and suggest that they visit my blog too. You'll notice that sadly I've also added ugly watermarks to the crucial images. Thanks for your support in advance - Chris :D Disclosure: This post contains Amazon and Craftsy affiliate links for which I am paid commission on click-through purchases (at no additional cost to you). Otherwise, no payment or commission is received for click-throughs to shared links; the post is for informational purposes only and all opinions are my own. Now let's slow things down and do the same again in pictures: 5 Step Guide To A Perfect Minky Quilt Back NEVER IRON MINKY, IT WILL MELT!!! step one Lay your minky out on a flat surface. You might want to tape your minky to the surface - I didn't and mine's laid on a slippy glass table top, that part is up to you. You'll notice that my table is also smaller than the quilt - I find that spray basting a quilt in halves or even quarters allows me to baste quilts that are larger than my space would allow with a pin basting method and I can slide the quilt sections away from the table as I finish basting them and move to the next section. step two Lay your quilt top on top of the minky, wrong sides together. I didn't cut the minky to size, that is too tricky at this stage so we'll do it later. Instead, I placed the quilt top at the top corner of the whole minky sheet. step three Fold half of your quilt top back on itself, right sides together and spray baste visible minky on the wrong side. don't go crazy with the spray baste, it's just not necessary - read my spray basting notes below for guidance. step four Unfold quilt top + place it back on spray basted minky, smoothing out wrinkles. Spray baste is repositionable so lift and relay if you have folds or creases. As you can see in the pic, I hold the quilt top high in the area and smooth it back into place on the minky bit by bit and making sure each section is wrinkle free before lowering the next section of the top. I also work from the centre out to the sides easing the fabric as I go. step five Fold the still unbasted half of your quilt top back on itself and repeat Steps Three and Four. This is easy, the quilt top will only lift back from the section you haven't already spray basted - the rest of it is glued! I marked where the bottom corners of the quilt top lay on the minky backing (you can see one of the marks in the bottom right of the pic below). This gave me a visual to spray baste up to rather than spraying the whole of the remaining minky sheet. The two layers are completely glued together and won't move while you quilt or hand-tie or bind the quilt. Unless you've been way too sparing with the spray baste, you really can throw the basted quilt around now - it's like it's one piece of fabric, not two layers. NEVER IRON MINKY, IT WILL MELT!!! spray basting In my classes, I've seen students easily use a giant can of 505 basting spray to baste one baby quilt - this is complete overkill and I guess if people use spray baste in these quantities then probably they do have problems with fumes unless the room is extremely well ventilated. When I spray baste, I can baste 3-8 quilts (depending on size) from one spray can. I spray the quilt layers very lightly in a large sweeping motion from a 1'-2' (30-60 cm) distance - it takes me seconds to complete a quilt sandwich layer. You can't see the spray on the layer surface and it doesn't create a sticky mess on the surrounding floor, furniture or wall (yes, I sometimes baste quilts by taping them to the wall too!). There's never any fumes either, I just don't use enough of it for it to be a problem. Next time you spray baste try moving your hand back a bit from the quilt and spraying faster and for a shorter time, I think you'll be quite surprised to discover you need hardly any of the spray baste for the sandwich layers to stick together. Think of all the money you'll save too!!! If you do experience sticky residue on your surfaces you should be able to wipe these away with a damp, lint-free cloth, stubborn stickiness may need a little detergent to help release it. Some people lay down newspaper sheets before spray basting but the thought of print transfer makes me a little nervous. Another option is to lay your quilt out on a shower curtain bought cheaply from the dollar/pound store and you'll be able to reuse it too. 505 is my preferred spray baste brand and this is where I purchase it. Note: I'm an Amazon affiliate and will receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you) on any purchase you make following this link. cutting minky Minky is also known for stretching and changing shape as you move it and this makes it difficult to cut. Now that the minky is glued to the quilt top the quilt top and spray baste will stabilise the minky and force it to retain its correct shape. Don't be frightened now to handle your quilt. Use scissors or a rotary cutter to cut the excess away from your quilt top. Overlock or zig-zag around the quilt top edge to secure and this will also reduce further shedding of minky fur. I recommend you use a walking foot or dual feed to sew the quilt as this can better manage the fabric bulk and slippy surface texture. Quilt or hand-tie and bind your quilt in the normal way, my preferred method is hand-tying as personally, I don't like the appearance of trapped minky fur under machine quilting stitches. Click the image below for my How To Hand Tie A Quilt tute. cleaning up after working with minky While you are working with minky I recommend regular clean ups of your work surfaces and floor and clothes - this fabric sheds fur like crazy. I have a cordless handheld vacuum cleaner that's perfect for the job. A sticky lint roller or sticking tape wrapped around your hand will help clean your clothes. If you've used your cutting mat you'll probably find minky fur trapped within cuts in the mat - follow my tute for cleaning your cutting mat to restore your mat's surface (click image link below). Finally, lift the sole plate on your sewing machine and give it a good clean - there's bound to be lots of minky fur and lint hiding under there and your machine deserves a bit of TLC! and always remember NEVER IRON MINKY, IT WILL MELT!!! so what is minky? it's a synthetic polyester fibre, fade resistant and super soft, it will remain super soft for its lifetime if laundered correctly. It is available in many nap and pile lengths and in different types of 'fur' and colours. Here's a pic of some minkies I have in my stash, I've shown both sides of the white minky so you can see how the back is made too. I'm often asked about the minkies I use so here are links to my two favourite minkies to work with in ivory and white (they are the two on the far left above). Note: I'm an Amazon affiliate and will receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you) on any purchase you make following this link. is it safe to use minky for baby quilts? as it's a synthetic fibre, minky isn't breathable and, as babies can't regulate their body temperature well, it's certainly not the best choice for a newborn. Aside from a risk of suffocation babies and adults can develop sweats and rashes. Minky isn't a good choice around naked flames or heat either as the fibres will melt. how to launder minky cool wash with detergent. DO NOT use fabric softener as, bizarrely, this will take the life and softness out of the fabric and no bleach either. Dry on a low heat or line dry - remember direct heat will melt minky. is it safe to use spray baste for baby quilts? I'm not able to say it's safe but if you want to use basting spray then use it minimally (see my notes above about over spraying) and wash the quilt at least once before gifting/using and this should remove temporary basting spray. My preferred spray is 505. Related Posts: Love it or hate it, I've shared the minky facts, now it's up to you but don't forget NEVER IRON MINKY, IT WILL MELT!!! 5 Step Guide To A Perfect Minky Quilt Back Do you have any tips for working with minky or experiences to share about minky? We'd love to hear, tell us in the comments :D Featured On: Clicking on an image will take you to a new page of crafty goodness :) Disclosure: This post contains Amazon and Craftsy affiliate links for which I am paid compensation on click-through purchases (at no additional cost to you). Otherwise, the post is for informational purposes only and all opinions are my own. Copyright: Uncredited reproduction of all content, text and images on this site is prohibited. All content, text and images must be credited to Chris Dodsley @made by ChrissieD and include a link back to this site. Follow

Alterations are a basic sewing skill that many take for granted. Learn the basics, skip the dry cleaners bill and do it yourself.

I am still working on "The Cherry Dress". My last tutorial showed how to Pipe a Peter Pan Collar . Since some people have trouble with attac...

The clothes used in this tutorial had been sitting on my ‘to do’ shelf with rips in them for well over a year. It was time to fix them and make a tutorial while I was at it. I hope you find this tutorial for how to mend rips in clothes useful! Now I have […]

I'm kind of hesitant to share this quilt today and I'm not quite sure why. Maybe because it feels so different from most of my work? Maybe because I pushed myself out of my comfort zone a lot while making it? I don't know, but I did like the challenge. And I do like the quilt. A lot. The basic design idea came from a button down shirt. As I was working on it, the quilt took on a life of it's own and it ended up quite different from what I imagined it would be. That's all a part of the fun, though. It's all part of the process. I used a few Kona jelly rolls that I've had in my stash for years. It felt great to finally USE them. This is probably the hardest "simple quilt" I've ever made. It looks like I just took a few strips of fabric and sewed them together. In reality, I spent a lot of time laying out so the colors until they were just right. Lots of math, lots of photos, lots of rearranging. It makes me smile, though, because it totally matches some of my daughter's recent artwork. The quilt will most likely end up on her bed because she needs another quilt. Ha! In this photo the quilt reminded me of those great big parachutes we used to play with in gym class back in elementary school. And that's how a quilt is named. :) The quilt top measures about 78" x 84".

Did you have a sewing project that was driving you crazy because the fabric keeps fraying? Well, it's really frustrating to work on your project only to have the fabric fray and create a mess. But there is a solution! In this tutorial, I'm going to share 21 proven ways of how to stop fabric from unsightly fraying. By taking the time to prevent fabric fraying, you can ensure that your sewing projects turn out looking neat and professional.