12 Days of Christmas in July 2018

Welcome to the final day of 12 days of Christmas in July 2018, hosted by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict!  Thank you Sarah for hosting this and letting me participate.

I have been having a lot of fun working on my project, and I have a tutorial for you today.  I hope you will also visit Susan at Quilt Fabrication and Jean at All Points of the Compass to see their projects this year.

When I first got my longarm last November I wanted to see how well it worked with different fabrics so I bought a yard of satin and stitched out a pantograph.

 

 

The satin stitched out beautifully!  I showed everyone in my family because I was so excited with how it turned out.  Then they asked me how I planned to use it.  I had actually thought that through beforehand (for once!) and was able to confidently reply, "Stockings!"

Aren't they beautiful?!  I am so happy with how they turned out and am really looking forward to making some more in other colors (I just pulled silver satin with a Christmas lights pattern off the machine yesterday and I plan to do red satin with a holly leaf pantograph next).  And the most exciting thing happened while stitching out the snowflakes on the blue fabric, I hit one million stitches on my longarm!  Celebrations are in the works, you will have to check back next week to see what we have planned...

STOCKING TUTORIAL

 

The great thing about stockings is that they come together quite quickly, once the quilting part is done.  And because I quilted the satin with a muslin backing I did not feel like it needed a lining, so one less step in the process.  If you are not comfortable quilting satin yourself or are not set up for pantographs, you could always ask your longarmer to quilt some up for you, or you can contact me!  My website www.bluespoolsewingroom.com has my information if you are interested.

 

For this project you will need:

quilted fabric for the stocking body

minky for the cuffs

white fabric to line the cuffs

cord for a hanging loop

 

Disclaimer: this tutorial is a generic how-to, there are no exact measurements or templates.  This allows you the freedom to make a stocking in whatever size suits your needs. :)



I traced my current stocking onto a large sheet of paper and added a quarter inch all the way around to create a template.



You want to be sure to cut out your pieces so they are facing opposite ways.  Put them right sides together and sew a quarter inch seam using a 2.0 - 2.5 stitch length.  Cut notches into the toe and heel curves to help ease the curve when you turn it right side out.  I used my pinking shears to do this.



I also did a zig zag stitch along the edges after sewing the two halves together so it will not fray quite so much.



I decided to use some fluffy minky for the cuffs, and I highly recommend putting painters tape on the fluffy side before cutting to keep down the nastiness that usually comes with cutting this apart.  FYI, putting the tape on the back side does not help.  Ask me how I know...

 

When measuring for your stocking cuff, make sure to measure across the top of your stocking after you sew the halves together, multiply the measurement by two, and add half an inch to that amount for seam allowance.  I also found I needed to add a lining to this as the dark color of the stocking showed through a bit.

 

I cut the lining the same size as the cuff, then sewed along one long edge using a quarter inch seam.

Then I top stitched about 3/8 inch up to keep it tidy.



Then I turned the stocking right sides out, basted the hanging hoop an inch from the LH side (loop will be between the cuff and stocking and pointing towards the inside of the stocking) and then inserted the cuff.



This part is always hard for me to remember which way to put it in, but you insert the cuff as if you were putting it on the outside.  It works every time, trust me!  I sewed the cuff with a quarter inch seam, then turned it right side out and top stitched it about half an inch from the top.

I found that setting my stitch length to 3 allowed me to pull the bits of minky that were held down by the stitches back out and basically hid the stitches.

 I appreciate you visiting my blog today, I hope you have enjoyed all the amazing projects that have been shared over the last 12 days.  If you have missed them, you can find the schedule on the post prior to this one or on Sarah's blog at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

 

Have a wonderful day!

~Brandy

 

 

12 Days of Christmas in July - Tutorial and Giveaway

 

Welcome to the first day of the 12 Days of Christmas in July blog hop!  I am excited to share my pillow sham tutorial with you and hope you will also visit Carole at From My Carolina Home and Sharon at Vroomans Quilts to see what they have made.  You can see the full line up of blogs here.  If you leave us all comments on our featured days you will be entered to win a prize and there will be prizes for each day of the hop!  Be sure to also swing by and thank Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for putting all this together.

 

Pillow shams are a great way to use up scraps and practice free-motion quilting (FMQ). I made my pillow sham to fit a 16 inch pillow form, wanting something larger to cuddle with during the winter. Winter seems very far away at the moment with this 100° weather!

I used 1.5-inch strips of Christmas fabric to create strippy half-square triangle blocks that finished at 4 inches, then arranged them in a pinwheel pattern according to my husband's input (he said it made him happy, which is important of course).

 

I then basically made a table runner that measured 16.5 inches by 35.5 inches unfinished.  You can see I added a 3.5 inch strip to one end of my top, this was to make it long enough to overlap in the back.

 

 Here is a good shot of my FMQ.  I was able to do a continuous line pattern so I only had to bury a couple threads, a very nice time saver!

After your top is quilted, trim the batting leaving a quarter inch of batting around the edges.  Then bind the short ends.

 

Place the quilted piece right side up on the table. Fold the end that you want to see when the sham is turned right side out approximately 8 inches towards the center.  With the pattern I used I folded it two blocks width.

 

Then fold the other side in so that there is about a 3-inch overlap.  Again, with the pattern I used I folded two blocks width plus the strip.

 

 Here is a close-up of the overlap.

 

I have found I like to clip my edges together using Wonder Clips for the next sewing step because it's pretty thick with four layers of fabric and two layers of batting, and even more so where the flaps overlap.  Using a walking foot, sew a straight seam about half an inch from the edge (I used the edge of my walking foot as measurement).  Take your time as you go over the bound ends so you don't break a needle.  I also suggest backstitching a couple times where the bound ends are to strengthen where the sham will experience the most stress when putting the pillow form in.

 

Next, trim the corners down so that they will be less bulky when turned inside out.  Then sew a wide zigzag along the edge to clean it up and keep the fabric from fraying.

 

 Here is a close-up of my stitching.  The long straight stitch right next to the zigzag is my basting stitch, not the stitch to enclose the pillow sham.

 

 All that is left is to turn the pillow sham inside out!

 

 View from the back.

 

View from the front.

 

I hope you will try making a pillow sham using this method.  Send me a photo if you do!  My email is brandizzle7133 at gmail dot com.

 

Remember to leave a comment on our blogs as you visit to be entered in the giveaways.  There are twelve(!) prizes to be won!

If you need comment inspiration, how about telling me your favorite small, homemade Christmas gift to give or receive, I'm always looking for more ideas!

 

Merry Christmas in July!

~Brandy

 

 

And in case anyone was wondering where the quilt inspectors were during this process, well you can find them near a window, soaking up as much sunshine as possible!

 

 

Linking up to Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts



60° Rainbow Diamond Block Tutorial

Hello everyone and welcome!

 

This is a tutorial for setting 60° diamond blocks with 30° background pieces for a 12.5" block that looks like this:

 

 

I am not explaining how to make the 60° diamonds in this tutorial, but I do offer tips for how to get matching points on them.  Here is a great tutorial for making diamonds  (45°) at the Moda Bake Shop, be sure to make your cuts 60° if you use their tutorial.

 

Recommendations:

 

- use a small stitch length (1.7 on my machine, ~15 stitches to the inch)

- press your seams open as much as possible to reduce bulk

- use Mary Ellen's Best Press or starch on your fabric BEFORE cutting, as the majority of this block is assembled on the bias

- you will need a ruler with a  30° and 60° line on it (standard on most 6" x 24" rulers, I have one of the Olfa Frosted rulers)

- you will also need a large square ruler that will give you a 12.5" square

 

Fabric Needs (for one block):

 

(8) 2.25" x 6.5" background pieces

(1) 8.5" x WOF background, sub-cut into (4) 30° triangles (explained below)

(4) 60° diamonds (I made mine from 2.5" strips cut from various fat quarters).

 

 First, you want to make your diamonds.



 

To get your points to match, take two pairs of diamonds and line up your pieces so that the seams meet as shown above.  In my case the light green and the dark green seams will be aligned.  You will also see on either end little tips sticking out, similar to the jeans photo below.

 

This photo is from the backing of my niece's quilt I made in 2016 :)

 



 I like to pin the points like this, it helps keep the fabric from folding under when being pushed/pulled by the feed dogs on the sewing machine.  After sewing this seam, press your diamond open.

 

 Fold the 8.5" background strip in half and trim the unfolded edge so the ends are even.  Line up your ruler as shown, with the 30° line along the cut end, and cut (2) triangles.

 

 Move your ruler to match up the other 30° line on the cut you just made and cut out another (2) triangles.

 

 Decide which point you want to point to the outside of your block, and place one of the 2.25" x 6.5" rectangles on it, letting the extra hang over the end that will be the outside corner.

 

 Sew and press open the background and trim off the excess even with the diamond.

 

 Now place another 2.25" x 6.5" on the other outside portion of the diamond and sew on.

 

Press open the background and trim off the one end as indicated in the photo.

 

 Take one 30° triangle and mark the small pointed end about half an inch in, then line up the inside diamond with the marked point so that when they are sewn together, the background triangle will be on the right side of the diamond.  Sew the pieces together from the inside point out.

 

*If you sew from the outside in, your points are far more likely to become uneven and create a mound in the center*

 

 Press the seam open and trim off the excess INNER point, do not trim the outside away.

 

 If needed, trim the background to be about 1/8" from the inner point of the diamond.

 

 

 Repeat for the other three diamonds.  The centers should look as if they are slightly off-center, this is to account for the next seams.

  

Sew the quarters together, again from the center out.

The points should look like this.

 

 Then sew the halves together.
 

 Your block will look similar to this now, a little rough around the edges.  :)
 

 Now square up the block by aligning the points with the 12.5" marks on your ruler.  This block happened to match perfectly on all four diamond points, my next one did not, but there is plenty of background to still get a 12.5" block.  And it still looks great!
 

 

 

I have a total of five blocks made so far and plan to get up to nine in the future, but have a number of previous projects to catch up on first.

If you make this block I would love it if you send me a picture (brandizzle7133 at gmail dot com) and feel free to ask questions or leave suggestions if anything is unclear.

Have a wonderful day!

~Brandy

Linking up with:

Let's Bee Social