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National Sewing Month 2012 Winner Annoucement!

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First of all, we’d like to thank everyone who participated in our National Sewing Month blog series. It was so much fun sharing tutorials, tips and stories with all of you and it was especially great getting to work with some of our designer/blogger friends! As promoted throughout our series, we included a special mystery grand prize to be rewarded to one random winner. We received 750 entries!

Well, a big congratulations goes out to Chiara Aldridge for being randomly selected as our winner!

Chiara will receive this prize package from AllFreeSewing:

The prize includes:

  • Coats & Clark Dual Duty XP Thread
  • Pink Sand Beach Designs Huntington Hobo Bag pattern
  • Silk Therapy for Pillows pattern
  • Clover “Quick” Yo-Yo Maker
  • We Make Dolls by Jenny Doh
  • Happy Home by Jennifer Paganelli
  • 7 different kinds of batting

Thanks again to everyone who participated in our series! You can revisit any of the tutorials from National Sewing Month 2012 at any time. And for more chances to win prizes from AllFreeSewing, visit our giveaways page.

Happy National Sewing Month everyone!

 

National Sewing Month 2012: Reversible Laptop Sleeve Tutorial

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It’s finally that time, readers. We’re getting ready to bring our National Sewing Month series to a close and choosing a winner tomorrow. Are you still hoping it’s you? Remember, you have to leave a comment under any (or all) of our National Sewing Month 2012 blog posts. One lucky winner will receive our mystery grand prize! Today, we’re sharing one last tutorial with you. Since we know you love your gadgets, here’s a project that’s sure to come in handy.

To read more about Lelanie and to find her entire project list, visit her designer profile.

 

 

 

 

Hi there, friends! I am Lelanie and I blog at To Sew With Love, To Cook With Love and Villa Portillo. Last year, I have also guest posted for the National Sewing Month celebration here at Fave Crafts and I showed everybody how I made this On-the-Go Medicine Kit. I am glad that some people found it helpful. This year, I am proud and humbled to be invited to guest post again for the National Sewing Month event. I would also like to thank everybody at All Free Sewing and Fave Crafts for the opportunity and the continuous amount of traffic I get daily from them! You guys are awesome!

Today, I will share with you how to make a Reversible Laptop Sleeve.


I actually made this laptop sleeve earlier last year and all the photos have been in my computer all this time. I have always been telling myself I will post the tutorial one of these days and I think, the timing is great as this is also a great back-to-school project!

This project is very easy. You can adapt it to your own needs and can actually make one for your laptop, e-reader, tablet or any iGadget. You can use zipper, velcro or buttons for the closure. Use your creativity and adapt it to your necessity! If you don’t have any batting on hand, you can use some felt as padding, too. You can make it reversible or non-reversible. It’s all up to you!

The photos I will show you for this tutorial was of a reversible laptop sleeve I made for a 17.5″ laptop. Feel free to change the measurement according to your needs. Just make sure to allow some allowance when cutting your fabric pieces. For example, for my 10″ Dell mini Inspiron laptop, my fabric pieces would be:

WIDTH: 27 cms (the width of the laptop) + 1 cm (0.5 cm allowance on each side because I will sew the pieces 0.5 cm away from the raw edge) + some room for the battery charger = 39 cms.

LENGTH: 19.5 cms (length of the laptop) + 1 cm (0.5 allowance on each side where I will sew the pieces 0.5 cm away from the raw edge) + 3 cms room allowance = 23.5 cms.


For this laptop sleeve, I used:

  • Fabric A: 39 cms x 23.5 cms
  • Fabric B: 39 cms x 23.5 cms
  • For embellishment, some scrap fabric, ribbons, felt
  • Velcro for closure
  • 2 Batting pieces

The how-to:

Iron on interfacing to the wrong side of all the fabric pieces. This, however, is optional. You can still go on and make your gadget sleeve even without any interfacing on hand.

Get the tab pieces. Sew on the velcro piece where it should be if you plan to use velcro. Bring them together, right sides together and wrong sides outwards. Sew the pieces together by sewing on both longer sides (don’t sew the one of the short side) and sew on one short side by sewing a round shape. This, again, depends whether you want it round or just straight.


Clip the rounded edge so it won’t get bulky when you turn it later and you will have a crisp and clean look.

Turn it inside out and sew straight stitches all through the sides.

Get one of fabric A and pin the embellishment you like on the fabric (optional). Pin the embellishment on with the sleeve’s main fabric in between the batting (or felt) and the embellishment.

Sew the embellishment on the fabric + batting.


Do the same to the other fabric. (I also sewed on embellishment as this is a reversible sleeve)

Secure the batting on the fabric by sewing both pieces together with basting stitches.

Fix the tab on one of the sleeve pieces by sewing it with basting stitches.

Get both sleeve pieces and pin them together, right sides facing together, batting facing outwards: Fabric A + Fabric A, Fabric B + Fabric B. Make sure the tab is pinned and tucked in nicely so it won’t get in the way. Sew the three sides of the fabrics except the top and make sure you leave one of the bottom sides when 4″ unsewn. This opening is where we will turn the sleeve inside out, later. Just to make sure the stitches won’t get undone, I sew zigzag stitches along the edge. Do the same to the other fabric. Remember, only one of the fabric pieces (you choose whether A or B) will have 4″ unsewn at the bottom side.

Take the bottom tip of the sewn sleeve part and sew straight stitches about 1″ away from the pointed tip. This will give the sleeve more room.

Take the bottom tip of the sewn sleeve part and sew straight stitches about 1″ away from the pointed tip. This will give the sleeve more room.

Take the bottom tip of the sewn sleeve part and sew straight stitches about 1″ away from the pointed tip. This will give the sleeve more room.

Cut the tip leaving 1/4″ of the edge intact and sew zigzag stitches on this raw edge. Do the same to all of the other tips of both sleeve pieces.

Get sleeve A and sleeve B. Place sleeve A inside sleeve B (or vice-versa) with right sides of the fabrics facing together.

Sew straight stitches all through out the top side 1/4″ away from the edge.

Sew zigzag stitches to strengthen the stitches. Zigzagged stitches make me happy! ^^)

Turn the sleeve inside out through the unsewn part at the bottom of one of the sleeves.


As you can see, just to avoid the bulk in just one side and just because I only had 2 batting pieces, I only sewed batting pieces on the embellished side. And to make sure both sides of the sleeve will have some batting, then the embellished sides are not together. I have one embellished side here:

and one embellished side opposite to the other embellished side:


Now, for the last step, sew straight stitches 1/4″ away from edge of the top side of the sleeve.

Now, you have a nice reversible laptop sleeve! A 15″ laptop (the pink one in the picture below) can even fit with some room allowance.


You can also make zippered ones and with pockets!


I hope you liked our tutorial and that you find it useful. If you like this tutorial, then don’t hesitate to visit more of our tutorials here. Thanks to all Free Sewing and Fave Crafts for having us here. We always enjoy our guest posts with you!

Have you enjoyed our National Sewing Month series? Have you drawn inspiration to create your own projects?

 

 

National Sewing Month 2012: Personalizing a Quilt Pattern

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We’re celebrating the last few days of our National Sewing Month Blog Series, and today we’ve got a special post on quilting for all of our quilters out there! Our friend Deanna from WeddingDressBlue is here to tell you how to easily adjust a quilt pattern to fit your needs. With her simple tips and formulas, you can make any block quilt any size you need. Whether you want to scale down a bed quilt or supersize a baby quilt, you’ll be able to figure out how! She also shares secrets about how to adjust a quilt block for smaller pieces of fabric, so you can use your stash efficiently.

Remember, if you’re looking to score our huge mystery prize, leave a comment at the bottom of this post and every post with National Sewing Month 2012 in the headline. You’ll be automatically entered to win. We’re picking a winner this Saturday so stay tuned!

Now let’s hear from Deanna!

How often do you see a quilt and say, “I love it, BUT…it’s a twin, and I need a baby quilt” or “it’s a baby quilt, and I have a queen-sized bed.”  Well, there is a solution to that—it just takes a little math and the quilt can be yours.

This is Deanna from WeddingDressBlue here to share a little very non-scary quilters’ math to show you how to make that great quilt idea a perfect quilt idea.

The Hundred Patch Charm Quilt you may have seen on FaveQuilts is a great example.  Here is the original pattern:

Hundred Patch Charm Quilt

It finished at 75 x 99″.

But what if I want a couch quilt, like Cindy did?

Hundred Patch Charm Quilt

Or what if I have a lot of 2-1/2” squares and the pattern calls for 2”?  Do I really have to recut all those squares?  NO!  Birgit didn’t; she just changed up the pattern a bit.

Hundred Patch Charm Quilt

Or, what if I, the original designer of the quilt, decide that I really need a queen size quilt?  Can I do that?  YES!

Hundred Patch Charm Quilt

First of all, you need to know what size quilt you want to make. My favorite reference for quilt sizes is this chart.

Some patterns are written for multiple sizes, and that is a big help. If your pattern isn’t, you can arm yourself with a little information and make the changes yourself.  You need to decide what you plan to change. If it is overall size, you will just add or subtract blocks from the pattern. Most patterns have the block size included and will say something like “Block Size: 12″ finished.” This means you can change the size 12 inches at a time by adding or subtracting blocks from the original pattern. That is what I did in the Hundred Patch modification above: I added four blocks to create a wider quilt. The finished size of the larger Hundred Patch is 99” x 99”.

The slightly more complex change is a change in the size of the pieces or components in the quilt. When Lillian changed from 2” to 1-1/2” starting squares, she used the quilters’ rule: “subtract ¼” all the way around.”  Because quilters use a ¼” seam allowance standard, you can figure the finished size of any square or rectangle by subtracting the seam allowances from the size of the cut piece. So 1-1/2” squares will finish at 1”.  How many of those squares do you have? That is how many inches across the quilt will be.

You can check this math with other size squares. Do you have 2-1/2” squares? They finish at 2”. Do you have 2” squares? Yep, 1-1/2”.

So, next time you face an almost-perfect quilt pattern, be brave and change things up a bit to make it your own.

Do you have any tips for personalizing a quilt? Share them below, or leave a comment to enter the giveaway!

National Sewing Month 2012: 4 Reasons to Start Sewing

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There are only a few days left in our National Sewing Month blog series. Today’s post will inspire anyone who doesn’t currently sew to give it a try! We know the FaveCrafts Blog brings in all kinds of crafty people, some of whom steer clear of the sewing machine. It’s time to give sewing a try! Our friend Angel, from the blog Fleece Fun, created this handy list of all the reasons why you should consider sewing this season.

Remember, if you’re looking to score our huge mystery prize, leave a comment at the bottom of this post and every post with National Sewing Month 2012 in the headline. You’ll be automatically entered to win. We’re picking a winner this Saturday so stay tuned!


To learn more about Angel and to find her entire project list, visit her designer profile.

 

 

September is National Sewing Month! Sewing is a wonderful hobby and a very useful skill. If you’re a crafter and have seriously considered getting into sewing, I four reasons why you should:

1. It’s a small step from crafting to sewing.

The crafting and the sewing brain are similar. It’s about taking things and putting them together to make them useful and aesthetically pleasing. If you love to craft, odds are you’ll love to sew.

2. It’s cheap to learn.

Unlike other skills, most sewists learn from family and friends. Plus there are lots of free online videos to help you get started! AllFreeSewing’s YouTube Channel makes it possible to see how to complete projects step by step. They even have basics like how to thread your machine and wind a bobbin. Also there are lots of bloggers (like myself) that offer free patterns and sewing tutorials online so you can try sewing with minimal cost!

3. It’s a small investment with big potential.

Etsy.com has grown by leaps and bounds, and handmade is now “cool”.  A small investment in a sewing machine can provide big profits to dedicated sewists. I know several sewists who have made money making this Baby Car Seat Cover and selling it.

4. It’s a blessing to those around you.

Food, shelter and clothing are the three fundamentals of human life and comfort. Sewing provides one of these fundamentals. Being able to provide clothing to friends, family and charities that have fallen on hard times blesses those around you. Some easy patterns like children’s fleece pants, this fleece hat with ribbon, or this fleece flapper headband are great for keeping warm in winter.

If you’re ready to get started I recommend that your first project be simple and easy! Don’t try to overdo it – or you might get discouraged. This Easy Ribbon Pillow is cute and a great place to start. Want something a little more advanced? Try this Ruched Pillow. From there the sky’s the limit! So are you ready to get started? Sewing is a wonderful skill, but like many worthwhile things, it takes time. So be patient with yourself! My last piece of advice: keep the seam ripper handy. Even a seasoned sewist needs to unpick every now and then!

 

If you already sew, why do you do it? If you don’t, do you think you’ll give it a try?

 

 

 

National Sewing Month 2012: Foundation Paper Pieceing Tutorial

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There are only a few more days left in our special National Sewing Month blog series. Today’s post is awesome because you’ll learn a new technique and be walked through each step along the way! If you’re interested in winning our mystery grand prize, all you have to do is leave a comment under any of the posts that include National Sewing Month 2012 in the headline. That’s it! We’re choosing a winner this Saturday and trust us, you want it to be you so comment away.

 

To learn more about Jennifer and to find her entire project list, visit her designer profile.

 

 

Hi! I’m Jennifer Mathis of Ellison Lane Quilts, and I’m excited to be guest blogging at Fave Crafts Blog today! Since it’s National Sewing Month, I’m  sharing one of my all-time favorite techniques with you today.

Yep, that’s right- foundation paper piecing. Come on, you can DO it!
It is super easy and once you give it a try, you’ll totally agree.
Why paper piecing? Well, it is easy, fun and helps you create complex blocks with ease.

Ready to give it a shot? Let’s get started!

For this block you will need to print a copy of the pattern. You can find the pattern here.
Supplies needed: 
  • pattern
  • rotary cutter
  • cutting mat
  • fabric
  • ruler (I love the Add-A-Quarter ruler but a regular quilting ruler will be fine.)
  • fabric glue stick such as Lapel Stick
This pattern creates a 4″ finished block.I print my patterns on cheapo copy paper. If you use a 1.5 stitch length then you won’t have any trouble tearing away your paper after you finish.
The biggest thing to remember when paper piecing is that your fabric needs to be bigger than the pattern on all sides.  The fabric needs to have at least a quarter inch seam allowance of overhang on all sides.
When foundation paper piecing, you sew right through the paper along the solid lines.
Fabric selection: For your center fabric, choose something fun, something you can fussy cut.
1. Hold your pattern to the light or window with your center fabric behind the pattern. Center your fabric as desired and dab a bit of glue stick on the back of the pattern (wrong side) on top of the #1. Place your fabric wrong sides together with the pattern.
Placing your fabric face down on the mat, line up your ruler and trim the corner off your fabric leaving a 1/4″ seam allowance.
Lay your pink rectangle fabric underneath the center fabric, lining it up with the corner seam allowance. You are going to sew the pieces together through the paper and flip the pink fabric over the corner of the pattern. You must make sure your fabric covers the pattern with enough overhang to have a 1/4″ seam allowance.
Tip: It is always better to use bigger pieces of fabric. You don’t want to come up short!
Place your pattern, print side up and fabric underneath, on your machine, unfold the corner and sew through the solid straight line between sections 1 & 2.
Be sure to decrease your stitch length to 1.5!
Start just inside the seam allowance and sew along the solid line. Do not backstitch!

 

Press your fabric. (Don’t iron back and forth. Just press.)
This is what you should have now.
Now, fold the pattern again, this time along the line between sections 1 & 3.
Trim the corner, again leaving a 1/4″ seam allowance. Line up your pink fabric and center fabric and sew through the top of the pattern, along the solid line.
This is the back. You are sewing on the printed side of the pattern. Your fabric is beneath the paper.
Repeat the process for corners 3 & 4.  This is what you should have now!
Trim your pattern and fabric, along the dashed lines.
Carefully tear away the paper, holding steady to your stitches as you pull the paper off.
Ta-da!
Once you’ve made this simple block, you can easily make the spinning star block below. (6″ Pattern here)
You could make this too! All the blocks in this quilt were paper pieced.
Now that you have your 4″ block, you can create more to make a mini quilt or turn that one block into a mug rug as I did.
Untitled
There are lots of options with foundation paper piecing. I hope you’ll give it a try!
I’d love for you to check out my blog and my other tutorials too. Happy Sewing!

National Sewing Month 2012: Yoga Pants Tutorial

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As our National Sewing Month series continues on, I hope you’ve found our guest posts and tutorials to be inspiring and fun to read! Remember, our series comes to a close at the end of this week which means you only have a few more chances to enter to win our mystery grand prize. Simply leave a comment under any (or all) posts that include National Sewing Month 2012 in the headline to be entered to win. Today’s post is brought to you by Katy, from the blog Sweet Verbena.

To learn more about Katy and to find her entire project list, visit her Designer Profile.

 

 

 

Today’s post is perfect for a Monday. Is there anything more comfortable to wear than yoga pants? And since Mondays are hard enough, it’s best to be as comfortable as possible. Plus, we all do a little damage to our bodies over the weekend (OK, I didn’t need that second chocolate chip cookie last night) but Monday is a fresh start to get in some exercise, maybe take in a yoga class. That’s why I’m checking out Katy’s tutorial and then heading to the gym….maybe.

 

 

You tell us: What do you love or hate about Mondays?

 

 

National Sewing Month 2012: Stuffed Bats for Halloween Tutorial & Video

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It’s day 8 of our special National Sewing Month blog series. We’re so excited to share another great guest post with you! Remember, leave a comment at the bottom of this post (and all of our series blog posts) for your chance to win our mystery grand prize. Trust us, you want to win this one! Find all of our National Sewing Month blog posts here and good luck to everyone!

 

Today’s post is written by Maureen Wilson, from the blog Made by Marzipan. To learn more about Maureen and to find her full project collection, visit her designer profile.

 

Hello, crafters! Maureen here from MadeByMarzipan.com. I’m excited to celebrate National Sewing Month with you! Since Halloween is right around the corner, I came up with a fun holiday decor project to share. These stuffed bats look great fluttering in the breeze, or, you can make them into a bat bunting to haunt your home. Here’s how to make your own..

Supplies:

  • Bat Template (click to download from MadeByMarzipan)
  • Black felt
  • Black thread
  • Ribbon
  • Poly-fill batting
  • Rhinestones & glue

How To:

1) Begin by printing out the Bat Template. (Margins are included in the pattern, so there’s no need to scale it when printing.) Cut out the bat using craft scissors.

2) You’ll need black felt for this project. It’s important that you use felt because it doesn’t fray, so there’s no need to finish our edges. I got 18 bat shapes out of a half yard of felt, for a total of 9 bats. You can fold the fabric in half to cut out two shapes at a time.

3) Pin two bat shapes together. This will be the front and back of your bat. If you want the bats to hang, insert a ribbon through the center of the bat and pin in place. Leave the top of the ribbon long for pinning, or you can loop it and tuck the end between the layers for hanging.

4) I added three bats to my ribbon, but you can add as many as you’d like. Cut the end of the ribbon short so that it’s tucked inside your final bat.

5) Sew the front and back of the bat together, topstitching with a 1/4 inch seam and black thread. Leave the long side of one wing open for stuffing.

6) Fill your bat with polyester batting. Use a pen to poke the stuffing into all of the corners. Then pinch the opening together and sew shut. Repeat for the remaining bats.

7) Once all the bats are sewn, you can add eyes. Googly eyes will make your bat look friendly, whereas colored rhinestones will make it look spooky. I’ve chosen clear rhinestones for a more sophisticated look.

This string of bats looks fantastic hanging outside, where they flutter in the breeze. If you’d rather, you could use this pattern to make a bat bunting…

1) Cut out the bats, then insert a length of ribbon to one wing of two bats.  These will be the first and last bats in your bunting. Sew those two bats, remembering to leave part of a wing open for stuffing.

2) Now sew the bats that will go in the middle of your bunting. (I’m only putting one in the center, since my fireplace mantle is small. But you can make yours as long as you’d like.)

3) Once the bats are sewn, attach them by overlapping their wings slightly. Sew them together by topstitching directly over your previous stitches.

4) Finally, add stuffing to each bat and sew the openings shut. The bat bunting looks great strung across a fireplace or over a mirror.

 

 

What’s your favorite thing about crafting for Halloween?

 

National Sewing Month 2012: Reading Pillow With Pocket Tutorial

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It’s day 7 of the National Sewing Month blog series and today’s post is so much fun. This reading pillow packs everything you need for some serious “me” time. Not to mention, it’s going to make your relaxation session much more comfortable. Before we get to it, I just want to remind you that along with these wonderful guest posts and tutorials, we’re giving away a HUGE prize at the end of our series. We can’t tell you what that prize is just yet. But we can tell you how to enter. Simply leave a comment at the bottom of any of our series posts (any with National Sewing Month 2012 in the title) and you’re entered to win!


Here’s today’s special post, created by Melissa Mortenson from the blog The Polka Dot Chair. To learn more about Melissa and to find her entire project collection, visit her designer profile.

 

 

Hello Fave Crafts Blog readers! I am soooo flattered that they asked me to be a part of the celebrations here for National Sewing Month. I love to sew, it is truly one of the great pleasures in my life. When I’m not sewing you can find me busily blogging away at The Polkadot Chair, or stalking Pinterest for new things to pin (I may be slightly obsessed!)

I thought a lot about what to share with you guys today. I decided on a revamp of some pillows I made for my nephews a few Christmases ago. I did them quick (like in an hour) and always thought that I could have done a better job. Regardless my sister says that her boys took them to bed every night and kept all kinds of treasures in the pocket. I gifted the pillows with a flashlight, because there is something charming about a little kid staying up late to read at night.

Here’s how to make the pillow:

You will need:

  • 3 Fat Quarters (the measurements leave little to no waste of these fat quarters, so if you are nervous about your cutting abilities buy 4 so you have an extra just in case).
  • 2 yards 1″ wide ribbon
  • Fusible Fleece
  • 1 package piping
  • Letters- I cut mine out of fuzzy fusible vinyl with my Silhouette machine… if you don’t have one, don’t worry you could also appliqué the letters on or buy iron on letters at the craft store.
  • 18″ pillow form

Cut one Fat Quarter to 18″x 18″ for the pillow front, then cut the scrap from this piece to 2 1/2″ x 18″ for pillow back

Cut one Fat Quarter (the navy blue dot for the pocket) into 2 pieces each 18″ x 11″

Cut another Fat Quarter for the back into 2 pieces each 18″ x 9″

 

Attach fusible fleece to the back of the Pillow Front piece (18×18) and the pocket front piece (11×18)

Iron “READ” onto the front pocket piece.

Using a piping foot attach 1 piece of piping to the top of the pillow. The raw edge of the piping will match up with the raw edge of the pocket piece.

Place pocket lining piece (your 2nd 11×18 piece) right sides together with your pocket front piece. Stitch along the top seam, along the same stitching line you just used to attach your piping. This will ensure that your piping looks good on the outside of your pillow.

Turn pillow pocket piece right side out and press.

Pin pocket piece to Pillow front piece. Baste pocket to pillow front. Set aside.

Place about 12″ of ribbon in the center of one of your pillow back pieces along the 18″ edge. Stitch in place. Take your scrap piece from your pillow front and sew it to this same edge of the pillow back piece. (as shown in the photo above) Turn under edge 1/4″ and hem.

Take your 2nd 9″x18″ pillow back piece and turn under the seam 1/4″ and sew in place. Sew another piece of ribbon to the center of this piece.

Attach a piece of ribbon about 10″ long to your pillow front at the top. Each end should be 3″ in from the side of the pillow.

 

Using your piping foot attach piping to the edge of the pillow front. Raw edge of the piping flush with the raw edge of the pillow front.

 

Pin the 2 pillow back pieces to pillow front piece. The ribbons should be matching in the center and the piece with the extra piece sewn onto it should be on top (the photo is wrong, learned that one the hard way *wink*).

Using your piping foot sew pillow front to pillow back along the same stitching line you used to attach your piping.

Clip corners, turn right side out and you’re done!

What’s on your reading list this season?

 

National Sewing Month 2012: 4 Step Apron Tutorial

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It’s day 6 of our National Sewing Month blog series. I hope you’ve been enjoying our special daily posts. I know you’re going to love today’s tutorial for a 4 step apron. We’re all busy and anything that can actually be completed in one sitting is fine with me! Remember, we’re not just sharing fun tutorials during our National Sewing Month series. We’re giving away a mystery grand prize as well. All you have to do is leave a comment at the bottom of any our posts (any with “National Sewing Month 2012” in the title) and you’re automatically entered to win! Now on with today’s fun post.

Today’s post is written by Robie Kaye Dodson from the blog So Sew Something. To learn more about Robie and to find all of her projects on AllFreeSewing, visit her designer profile.

 

 

Hi AllFreeSewing readers! I cannot begin to describe how much I love and have learned from AllFreeSewing.com. I check this website just about every week; whenever I’m in the mood for something new to make, and the projects never disappoint.  So, I am ridiculously honored to be a guest blogger today in honor of National Sewing Month!

For today, I’ve created a very special tutorial for those of you who like sewing EASY and CHEAP projects (like me). Head on over to my blog to learn how to make a 4 Step Apron using nothing but scraps and bias tape. The entire project will cost you no more than $3 … and take probably about 15 minutes. Seriously. I wouldn’t lie to you!

 

Have you ever sewn an apron before? What kinds of quick sewing projects do you like to make?

 

National Sewing Month 2012: Finishing a Quilt

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Welcome to Day 5 of our special National Sewing Month blog series. Today, our friend Melissa Corry from the blog Happy Quilting is here to share a video series on how to finish a quilt after you’ve pieced the top. After you’ve watched her tutorials, leave a comment below the post for your chance to win our mystery prize! Remember, you can enter to win each day of the series so keep coming back to see what’s in store for you!

Here’s your special post created by Melissa Corry. To learn more about Melissa and to find more of her quilting projects, visit her Designer Profile.

Hello FaveCrafts readers! My name is Melissa Corry from Happy Quilting, and I am so excited to get to be posting  here at FaveCrafts to celebrate National Sewing Month.  Now, by my blog name, you can probably guess that I am a quilter :).  So I thought today I would share some basics in quilting . . . well that is, in finishing quilting.

See, whenever you get to the end of a quilting pattern or tutorial it will normally say something along the lines of “Finishing your Quilt – Baste it, Quilt it, and Bind it.”  If you are not a longtime quilter, you might need a little more direction :).  So that is where today’s post comes in.  I have put together a three-part video series on finishing your quilt: the basics of basting, quilting, and binding :).  I hope you find these videos helpful on your quilting journey.  (And if you laugh at some of my silly stumbles or tripod filming that is great too :))

BASTING YOUR QUILT

(Just remember, always smooth from the center out :))

QUILTING YOUR QUILT

(Practice makes perfect, just keep stitching :))

BINDING YOUR QUILT

(Yup, a little bit of math :))

 

I hope you enjoyed the videos and found some helpful information in them. And by the way, the quilt that I was working on in the videos is called Spinning or Spiraling.  I have a step-by-step of how to make this quilt top on my blog, just in case you want to make one of your own :).

Thank you again to FaveCrafts for having me here today.  Until next time, Happy Quilting!!!!

Do you have any tips for finishing a quilt? Share them below!

Crochet

Jewelry

Knitting

Paper

Sewing

Thrifty