sewing

Customize Your Kitchen Towels!

March 31, 2013 by Wendy Cohen 2 Comments

Have you ever wanted to use some of your adorable quilt fabric in your kitchen, but didn’t know how? Maybe not! But, if you do, I have a simple and cute way to use it!

First, track down some nice and absorbent kitchen towels that are cost effective. I usually grab this four pack of towels at Target for $3.99.

I then take two strips of fabric (3″, 4″ or 5″) that are about 1.5″ longer than the width of the kitchen towel. The strips of fabric can be as wide or shallow as you would like. I then sew the strips together and press the seam.

Then, you fold each edge in and press in place. You will want to measure up the fabric strip to your towel at this time to make sure that the fabric is just slightly smaller than the towel.

Then, fold in and press the rest of the fabric so that it looks like this. You will have each edge folder over and pressed in so that you have no raw edges. The edges are usually pressed in about 1/2″ to 3/4″.

Place the fabric section onto your kitchen towel and place exactly where you would like. Start at one corner and using the blanket stitch sew around the entire section of fabric.

I do not pin anything usually. Be careful as the dish towel is a bit stretchy so just make sure you keep everything aligned as you sew. Of course, you could pin it.

You will also notice that I even blanket stitched across the seem where the two fabrics are attached. It adds a nice touch.

Here are all four completed towels ready to go.

Side view of the towels.

These towels were a gift for my mom so I wrapped tied them up with some cute red ric rac.

And, placed them in this cute bag.

I have a few sets of kitchen towels available in my Etsy Shop. You can find them here and here.

Enjoy your week….follow me on facebook – see the link in my sidebar >>>>>>>>>>>>>

Filed Under: color, craft, create, etsy, home decor, sewing Tagged With: Baking, chili pepper, chili pepper dish towels, chili pepper towels, Cooking, dish towels, fabric, kitchen towels, quilt, quilted dish towels, quilted kitchen towels. custom kitchen towels, quilting, sewing

2 Comments

Camera Strap Cover

January 20, 2013 by Wendy Cohen 2 Comments

I have come across these great camera strap covers on Etsy and have put many of them in my shopping basket, but never actually finished the deal. Why?

Because, I can make it myself! And, I finally did.

There are many tutorials out there for these camera strap covers and I looked at many of them. And, even tried one tutorial only to find out that I didn’t like it and tossed the end product in the trash. I ended up going with this tutorial here on LBG Studio that was very detailed and informative. For detailed instructions, please go to the original post by LBG Studio.

First, select your fabric and cut it out. You need a piece for the front of the strap and a piece for the back plus a small piece for the lens pocket. Yes, a lens pocket!!

Line the pocket with a small piece of fusible interfacing. Roll the edge over 1/2″ and then a 1/2″ again and stitch across two lines to make for a nice finish. Pin the pocket down to the right side of the fabric that you want the pocket on.

Stitch the two long strips together lengthwise using a 1/2″ seam allowance and press open the seam then trim to 1/4″. Then, line with a fusible fleece or thicker interface to give it some padding. Cut out the lining to be about 1/2″ less wide than the outside fabric and about 1″ at the ends. Fold over the ends 1/2″ and then a 1/2″ again making two stitch lines on each end similar to the pocket.

Fold the strap lengthwise right sides together and stitch all the way down with a 1/2″ seam. Trim down the seam when you are done to about a 1/4″. Now, turn it inside out! The hardest part by far!

Top stitch 1/8″ from the edge on both sides all the way down. Start and stop at the pocket. Now, press and press and press to get it all nice and pretty.

Now feed the camera strap through the cover…it takes some work to get this done, but be patient. Here’s the finished product.

How great is that lens cap!

Please reference the original tutorial for specific directions and dimensions. She did a fabulous job and she deserves all the credit!

Have a great day!

Filed Under: color, craft, create, Gifts, photo, sewing, Tutorial Tagged With: camera, camera strap, camera strap cover, decorative camera strap cover, photo, photography, picture, project, sewing, sewing project, tutorial

2 Comments

Labor of Love…Baby Memory Quilt

January 13, 2013 by Wendy Cohen 14 Comments

A year ago, my sister gave me a bag of my oldest nieces baby clothes so that I could make a quilt out of them. They sat there for almost a year; not because I was procrastinating. But because, it took that much time for the inspiration to come to me and for the gumption to cut up these precious clothes that are loaded with sweet memories.

A few years ago, I made a quilt for my husband, his mom and sister with old shirts from their dad / husband respectively who had passed away. It was so hard to get started on this quilt as it represented so much more than a piece of fabric or a quilt. I had the same experience here.

I first picked a color theme and went to my favorite quilt shop…Fat Quarter Shop in Vista…to pick my base fabrics. Take a look at these sweet pale pinks and lavenders. I purposely chose very simple fabrics with minimal patterns and prints.

I want to take you through the steps of this quilt so that you can see how it goes together. First, you will want all of the clothes washed and ready for cutting. I sorted through the clothes first and picked out what I thought would work best for the quilt. I had many choices…

I then took a fabric stabilizer cut in squares slightly larger than I knew the fabric would be cut to the back of the fabric. I used a pellon iron on stabilizer.

I then fussy cut each piece of clothes so that the focal point of the clothing was in the center of the block. I used 6 ½” x 6 ½” blocks in general, but some were slightly different.

Once I had a pile of clothes cut out and ready to go, I started bordering them with varying fabrics cut in 2 ½” strips. Some of my strips varied depending upon how I thought they would look best.

I then laid out all the blocks onto my design wall and spent a few hours fussing over the layout. I didn’t want the blocks perfectly lined up so I spent some time adding fabric and cutting until it was just right.

Then, I pieced it all together. After that, I added a 3” border and then a 5” border. I chose really sweet young fabrics for the front so I thought I would do something a little more grown up for the back. I used a Heather Bailey brushed cotton for the back that is just beautiful and timeless with a strip of pale pink shock cotton.

You then create your quilt sandwich (I use the spray basting method you can see here) and got it ready to quilt. I did large meandering quilting over the top so that the focus still remained on the cute fussy cut clothes.