Time to Re-Cover

 

I have been staring at this ugly, dirty, worn ironing board cover while working like crazy the last couple months. As a bookkeeper, this is a pretty busy time of year with taxes and all that fun stuff but now that April 15th has passed, I get a little bit of time to recover - AND Re-cover (get it? haha!)!

I have looked for a new cover for this ironing board on several occasions but it is not a standard size so they don't have them in any stores I have been to. It is a wider-width which seemed like a great choice to me at the time, especially since I never use my ironing board for clothes but only rather for pieced quilt tops. However, when looking for a replacement cover, that can be a nuisance.












Anyways, I am not an upholsterer so I wanted to find the easiest way to make this happen and, in the end, to have a nice, new functioning cover. So, here's what I did:

I literally laid my fabric on top of the ironing board and left a "bit" hanging over. Then I trimmed around the sides. I roughly calculated in my head the measurement for the "bit" by figuring that I would need enough to make casing for the rope I was going to use to cinch the cover and tie it on to the board. In this case, I decided to leave about 4" hanging down.

Next, I sewed a casing around the edge. I folded up approx 1" and then folded over another 1" and then stitched near the edge, leaving a 4" opening in the seam on one end. 

I used a piece of rope that my husband had in the garage and fed it through my casing starting and ending at the 4" opening.

Now the fun part, and I would suggest 2 people for this...

Pull the ropes and cinch up the cover on the board!

I am quite pleased with my final result. I used a remnant of decorator-weight fabric from a previous project and some old rope so even if it doesn't hold up forever, it looks nice for now and didn't cost me anything.

Since this one went so well, I kind of went a little crazy...I started looking around my craft room at all of the other things I could re-cover! 

The next victim (ahem) project, was this Ikea office chair. The cover came off years ago and after trying several times to get the original cover back on, it has sat like this for almost a year now. Still useable but very unattractive. 

And, I have another small ironing board that is very useful, but also well-loved. As you can see, it needs a new cover!

I searched through my remnants until I found just the right piece of fabric for each of these projects.

In the case of the chair, I auditioned a couple fabrics until I found just the right one.

I used the same steps as above for each of these projects and I had one very successful evening! Pretty happy that I get to use these lovely things to make many more projects. 

Sweet Skirts and Matching Outfits #1

I had a scary thought the other day: my little girl is growing up!

I keep thinking that "someday" I will make her some cute clothes for her and her dolls and Barbies. Right now she loves it when I make something for her and thinks that my taste in fabrics is great. But the day will be coming soon when she won't want to wear anything homemade or play with her dolls and I came to the realization that I need to make today that "someday"!

Here is Abby with one of her dolls all dressed in her outfit. This outfit went together very easily because it came from a marked panel by Andover Fabrics. The panels were part of a line of fabric called, Let's Play Dolls. The instructions were printed right on the panel and you just sit down, cut and sew. The only other materials needed were a bit of bias-cut seam binding (you can buy pre-made or make your own) and thread. There are 2 different panels that each have an outfit and accessories printed on them.

Then, they had coordinating fabrics on the bolt so that you could make matching outfits in girl-sizes. The skirt I made for Abby uses the pink w/ yellow polka dot fabric from that line but I found a tone-on-tone yellow chevron that I used for the lower ruffle. She's actually not a huge fan of pink so I was trying to tone that down a bit.

Since I made this outfit, I also did one for a friend's birthday party that Abby was going to as part of her gift. I made a skirt for the girl and a matching dress for her doll. It was a big hit.

The pattern for the skirt came out of a McCall's Quilting magazine. They have re-printed the same pattern several times now. I think the first time I saw it was in their Quilts and More magazine. It is a pretty simple pattern with an elastic casing for the waist and then the 2 ruffles. I have re-sized it on my own now since Abby is getting a little big for the pattern as is (and if I can re-size it with my very limited pattern reading ability - you can too!).

Hope you get inspired to make some things of your own!

Alphabet Banner--Part II: Open Buttonhole Filler

For almost a year now I've worked on the alphabet banner for my son.  Not consistently, of course, but when I do watch out!!!  Unfortunately, at the rate I'm going Sebastian will be in high school by the time I finish.  Oh well... I'll save it for my grandkids!  Actually the banner is a pretty simple project.  My inspiration came from the various alphabet books and flash cards I use with my son.  Many of the letters were represented by simple objects or animals like elephants, owls, and cars.  Although I've never been one to attempt applique, the vivid imagery was too enticing to pass up.  I designed the letters freehand but the pictures were based on Ed Emberley's drawing techniques.  He uses simple shapes to create boldly graphic designs.  He has a series of "how to" drawing books that really takes the mystique out of drawing.

The sewing material I used were several old sweaters I recycled; however, you could use regular felted wool which is easier to work with because it's not as thick as recycled sweaters.  I used Aurifil wool thread to stitch my applique pieces and various other threads to embroider and embellish.  In a pervious post about this banner I included pictures of a couple of blocks I had completed but I didn't elaborate on the block embellishments.  Well, I wish to correct that mistake and talk about them now!

The problem with talking about embroidery stitches is, depending on what source material you use, one stitch may go by a multitude of different titles.  I never really thought about it before now because I normally don't think about the name of a stitch.  I based my use of certain stitches on their looks rather than what they were called and if I needed to locate a certain stitch, well again, I looked at the pictures of my embroidery books rather than rely on assigned names.  Titles only become a problem when you need to compile a list or try to explain how to do certain stitches.  This was the situation confronting me while trying to put this post together.  A prime example of this particular quandary is the open buttonhole filler stitch, a.k.a. the net stitch, a.k.a. the detached buttonhole stitch.  All three pretty much refer to the same thing, except the detached buttonhole is similar but very different from the other two; however, I chose it because it was the only representation I could find on the internet.  Here are some examples of this elusive stitch.

This is a detail of the "A for alligator" block.  I use the open buttonhole filler to simulate the animal's scales.  I used a no. 8 pearl cotton thread.

The example below is a close up of the "N for nectarine" block.  While I used the same stitch I had a completely different purpose.  I needed to add texture and color to an otherwise boring block.









Instructions for this stitch are available in two books:  Creative Stitching by Sue Spargo (open buttonhole), and Embroidery & Crazy Quilt Stitch Tool by Judith Baker Montano (net stitch).  If you're not interested in acquiring a book you could also look at Sharon B's Dictionary of Stitches website (detached buttonhole).

I particularly liked this stitch because once the anchor row is established the rest goes pretty quickly.  Little effort for a BIG effect!  It's funny because it has less to do with embroidery and feels more like crochet or something similar.  Of course there are other stitches represented through out each block but I think I'll save that for another day...

Happy stitching!!!!

Alabama Chanin Dress: Done at Last!

Good Morning Dear Readers,

I finally completed my Alabama Chanin inspired dress!

Although I'm posting this rather late the dress actually didn't take as long as I thought it would.  I wrote the first post in July and I finished the dress in September.  It truly was a labor of love and it was wonderful learning new skills, including stenciling and reverse applique.  I also discovered new appreciation for the control hand sewing affords; however, the best part was the dress fits like a dream!  Ms. Chanin sure does know how to draft a flattering dress pattern. 

I would like to thank my mother-in-law for the fabulous accessories (i.e. necklace and earrings).  I'll never wear this dress without them again!

Happy sewing everyone!

Trick...or Treat?

It's been a long time, but the cooler part of the year is hitting us and that means more time indoors and (hopefully) crafting. Here is a quick seasonal post for you with our first FREE printable - an original piece of Kim's artwork! I was trying to wrap this one up quickly to get it out in time for Halloween. Because of that, I wasn't able to take great pictures, but I think you will get the idea. And, we may see this owl again in another style soon...

This adorable owl is a great, quick piece of art to trace and use for embroidery. I was really in the mood for a few Halloween pillows to go on the chairs on the front porch. I printed the pdf (click here for the printable), and traced it on to muslin using a water-erasable blue pen (available at any sewing supply/fabric store). I picked out a few black fabrics and I found this great, chunky, orange ric rack and picked out embroidery flosses to match. Here is a "trick" I use for embroidery projects:

I use a binder ring to keep track of the colors I am using for a particular project while the project is in process.

I copied the image in 2 different sizes:

I wanted to make an interesting set of pillows so the 2 different sizes of the image helped with this. They went together quickly and were enjoyable projects. I hope you enjoy as well!

The T-Shirt Revitalized

Salutations!

I continue to revel in my recent new-found obsession with all things Alabama Chanin!  I was never one for working with knit fabrics but I'm REALLY enjoying the "little" projects I've undertaken thus far.  In fact I'm enjoying myself so much I decided to get the other two books in the Alabama Chanin series: Alabama Stitch Book and Alabama Studio Style, which were actually the first two books from the series.  Both (of course) are similar to Alabama Studio Sewing + Design, which was the first book I owned, but there are more projects centered around the home in my new books.  They even have recipes in them and some of them don't look half bad!

After reading the new books I had not realized that the company used to use old t-shirts as their main source for fabric.  So much so, that many of their designs were dictated by this resource.  By the time the last book was written (Sewing + Design) they seemed to completely move away from recycling t-shirts and only use fabric on bolts.  While I continue to work on my reverse applique dress (check out my post from July) I thought I would do a quick project to up-cycle one of my old t-shirts.  Here are some before and after pictures:

These are pictures of an old t-shirt I've kept for years commemorating the graduating class of 1997 from the Western College Program at Miami University.  My college years were very good times for me and I always loved the color and logo of this t-shirt.  But, after the 90s I never wanted to wear the shirt again because, while it might have been cute during the "Grunge era" it's not so stylish now. Unfortunately, these are very bad pictures because the shirt is actually purple, not maroon!  The logo below says, "if the world is night... shine my life like a light..."

The next two pictures are much better because they show the actual colors!  Here's what the shirt looked like after I was finished.  The pattern for the tank top came from Alabama Stitch Book.  The book explains how to deconstruct t-shirts to get the maximum amount of fabric possible and gives you step-by-step instructions on how to put the shirt together.  I sewed the entire shirt together by hand using Coats & Clark's Dual Duty Plus Craft & Button thread.  For my needle I used a standard embroidery needle I had laying around my sewing supplies.  The eye just needed to be big enough for the thread to fit properly.

This is a view of the front and below is a back view.

One of the best things about working with cotton jersey is that you don't have to finish your edges unless you want to.  Based on how the fabric is constructed it will not unravel!  Finishing some of the edges may be beneficial for some of the designs, especially if you want a more polished look.  For instance, I will probably finish the neck and armholes of the cotton jersey dress I'm still working on.  This shirt took about three days to finish and now I have my old t-shirt back ready to wear!!!!

What do you think?  Do you have old t-shirts that need new life?  Let us know we may be able to help out!

Quilt Extravaganza!

Good Morning!

It's August and that means it's quilt show time for those of us who live near Berea, KY!  Since moving to Lexington, three years ago, I've tried to attend the annual Quilt Extravaganza every year.  Whether with friends or alone the show is always worth seeing.  Not only does it give me an opportunity to see the kind of work local quilters appreciate, but it also gives me the chance to connect with artisans and art suppliers from my area.  Plus, local shows typically have a different type of vendor that you probably won't find at the really big shows like Cincinnati, Chicago, or Houston: the resident antique dealer.  Antique stores are a great source of quilting and sewing supplies but most don't specialize in this area.  Local shows attract dealers who focus on sewing notions and I try to stock up on buttons, unique bias tape, and other odds n' ends whenever I have a chance!

Contestants could enter quilts they made themselves or made by others.  It could also be a contemporary quilt or an antique.  Visitors were asked to select their favorite quilt from the show and which ever received the most votes won a cash prize.  Take a look at what I thought were some of the highlights from the show:

Interesting modern scrappy quilt.

This detail is of a modern Cathedral Windows
quilt.

I love the colors used in this modern quilt!  Just amazing!!!!

Wonderful example of Drunkards Path!  Can't remember if this was antique or modern.  It could be either!

Beautiful precision and another way to manipulate the block used for Drunkards Path. (antique)

Excellent example of color control.  I believe this was a more modern quilt.

This quilt is gorgeous in the picture but it was mind-boggling in person!!!!
(antique)

Is it just me or does this not look like an abstract painting.  Crazy quilts are
always inspirational! (antique)

Detail from crazy quilt of  hand embroidered flowers.

Very modern quilt with an applique embroidery combination.
I believe the figures were suppose be performing a rain dance.

Hawaiian style reverse applique quilt.  Very striking color
combination!

Traditional applique quilt with very fine detailed embroidery probably all done by hand!  This was an antique.

This modern quilt was pretty awesome not only because it was entirely made out of
double knit fabrics, but because it was made by a woman in her 90s completely by hand!!!!
I hope I can stay that limber!

Well, there you have it!  Did you visit the Berea quilt show this year and if so, what did you think? If you're ever in the area around the beginning of August make a point of visiting the Quilt  Extravaganza.  It's a lovely peek into local quilt flavor and make sure you stay to visit the town of Berea!  Coined as an artisan community, the town is overflowing with artistic charm.  It's well worth the visit!