Category Archives: Sewing

Cotton Voile Scarf

When I was in Nobleboro Maine this summer taking a Denyse Schmidt class at the Alewives shop I noticed their infinity scarf kits. They have a kit that uses the same fabrics as used in the velvet throw. They also offer a kit for a scarf made with two pieces of the cotton voile. I just love this fabric. It is very silky and the colors on the reverse of the fabric are nearly as sharp and bright as on the right side of the fabric. With this in mind I decided to make a more finite version of the scarf by sewing the two pieces of fabric down the middle with a French seam. This worked out very nicely! The scarf folds at the seam and wraps around your neck or ties in a nice knot. The trick is to do the French seam in reverse, so to speak. Start with the right sides together to get the scarf to fold down the middle and lie flat with the right sides up when finished. While it is true that you can’t notice the difference between the sides easily, there is a bit of a difference, so if you are particular you will want the right sides up!

Here are some quick instructions:

Cut two pieces of fabric, each 13″ x 72″
With right sides together sew a 1/4″ seam along the long edge
Next press a rolled hem along all sides with mitered corners
For best results use an edgestich foot to sew along the edge of the rolled hem
With wrong sides together, sew a 1/2″ seam along the long edge to finish the reverse French seam

Voile-Lahhhhh … you have a voile scarf to enjoy!

Hopefully these pictures will help to get the idea across for you!

To make this scarf I bought 2 yards of 2 fabrics so that I would not have to piece two lengths of fabric for a 72″ long scarf. Of course, this voile fabric is 54″ wide, so that means I can make several scarves for gifts!

I decided to try a different version for one of these gift scarves. This one uses my new Ruffler presser foot. Very girly!

Pillow Talk

I wanted to show everyone how I make my pillows. These are two pillows that I made for my sister and my niece who is adopted. The quote on the pillows is very important to her!

The photos give step by step instructions for putting the pillows together. I machine embroidered the quote and trees on 12″ square backgrounds and then added 3″ borders. I made my own pillow inserts for these 18″ pillows. I hope these photos provide sufficient details. Send me a comment of contact me if you have any questions!

I also have made pillows that have a quilted front. I just layer the front over a piece of batting and backing, then I free motion quilt the layers together. The back of these pillows is the same as shown here with the fusible interfacing. My Cardinal Pillow is my favorite!

: The Front of the Pillow

: Cut two pieces for the back of the pillow that are the same width, but 1″ longer to leave room for attaching the zipper.

: Iron woven fusible interfacing to the reverse side of the front and two back pieces

: Reverse of the Pillow Front with Fusible Interfacing

: To attach the zipper place right sides together

: Use your zipper foot to attach the first side of the zipper

: Close the zipper to finish sewing towards the end of the seam

: First edge attached.

: Fold over 1″ of the second back piece and press

: Open up the folded edge of the fabric and sew 2nd edge of the zipper on with the right sides together

: Fold the pressed edge back and sew close to the raw edges to hold it in place

: Sew the two back pieces together. Be sure to catch the edge of the piece on the bottom as it is narrow!

: Place front on top of the back and trim the back

: Sew a 3/8″ or 1/2″ seam and remember to leave the zipper un-zipped!

: The Finished Pillow Case

: Back of Pillow Case

: The Finished Pillow

: and one for my Niece

: Finished Pillow for my Niece

iPad Drawing Fabric Designs

I have been using the Draw Free app to draw designs for Spoonflower. Admittedly, they are not the most sophisticated designs, but it is too much fun to resist. I put a whole set together and ordered 8″ square swatches, 15 for $20. I’ll have to put a little quilt together with them.

Here are some of the fabric swatches for my designs. I have also included screen shots from the Draw Free app so that you can compare the designs to the fabric swatch. The colors came out pretty close to the drawings considering that I did not do any color editing.

Spoonflower Fabric

I have been having quite a bit of fun turning my little bird appliques into fabric on Spoonflower. Spoonflower allows you to create your own fabric. It’s pretty easy. All you have to do is upload an image and you are a fabric designer. Too fun! You should try it.

Here are pictures of my fabrics. You can check out my Spoonflower shop if you are interested in buying some of these fabrics.

Beach Bag

I spent this rainy Saturday making a beach bag from the Screen Play pattern. This bag is made with Pet Screen.

Pet Screen Beach Bag

Of course I could not make mine with Black screen like everyone else. Mine had to be ORANGE!!

I took this class at Quilters Common in Wakefield, MA. It’s really a wonderful shop. They have a little bit of everything! Thank you Marianne for a wonderful class.