Rainy day pillowcase-style dress

Don't you love it when you finally get to cross something off your to-do list? This dress was one of those things for me. I bought the fabric something like four months ago always intending to make up a dress for Abner. Perhaps it's the raindrops on the fabric reminding me of rainy Vancouver, but I think it is just the sweetest fabric. The other day, I wound up chopping into it and using some to make a wee skirt for a little friend's birthday. Luckily there was enough and motivation leftover to whip up this little pillowcase-style dress. Here are some quick instructions if you want to make your own:

DIY Rainy Day Pillowcase Dress

You will need: fabric, thread, 3/4" elastic, double fold bias tape, scissors and a marking tool.

Cutting
For this dress, you’ll use the full width of fabric from selvedge to selvedge. Determine how long you’d like the finished length to be; then add 2 1/2" to that measurement and cut the fabric that length from selvedge to selvedge.

Side seam
Fold the fabric in half, with the right sides together, and align and pin the selvedge edges. Stitch the pinned edges just outside the fabric's selvedge edges (i.e. you don't want the selvedges to show once the dress is turned right side around). Press the seam.

Hem
Fold the bottom edge 1/2" to the wrong side and press all the way around. Fold the edge 1/2" again creating the hem. Press. Edge stitch along the folded edge to secure the hem all the way around. Press.

Armholes
Place the fabric flat on your cutting table with the wrong side out, the hemmed edge at the bottom nearest you, and the seam running along either the right or left side (it doesn't matter which).

Measure and mark a spot approximately approximately 3" in from each side edge along the top of the fabric. Measure and mark a spot approximately 4-5" down from the top along each side edge (one will be on a fold, the other will be on your stitched side seam). Mark a curved line joining the two marks on each side to make the outline of the armholes. Cut along marked line.

Neckline
On both the front and back of the dress, fold down the top edge 1/2" to the wrong side. Press. Fold down the top edge 1" to the wrong side once again and press to create a channel for the elastic.

Cut two lengths of elastic slightly shorter than the distance between your child's armpits. You can use one of their t-shirts to measure if your child doesn't want to cooperate.

Thread your elastic through the channel using a safety pin. Make sure the elastic does not get pulled into the channel at either end. Use pins to secure both ends in place even with the edges of the fabric. Stitch them in place staying fairly close to the edge of the fabric.

Ties
Cut approximately 30" of double fold bias tape for the each tie. Fold each length in half to establish the middle point.

Align the middle point of the bias tape with the centre of each arm hole (where the side seam is on one side and the fold is on the other). Pin the bias tape in place with the dress fabric simply tucked into the centre fold of the bias tape.

Stitch the bias tape in place using a zig zag stitch. Be sure to keep the dress fabric securely in place within the bias tape, especially at the elastic ends which are a bit harder to sew over. Start and finish your stitches just past either edge of the dress (i.e. don't zig zag the full length of the bias tape, just where it contains the dress fabric).

Finish the dress by tying knots at the ends of the bias tape ties.

DIY: Quilt-as-you-go Christmas stocking tutorial

My patchwork group got together recently to make up some quilt-as-you-go Christmas stockings. I've been wanting to try quilt-as-you-go for ages and now that I've tried it, I'm going to be doing much more of it. It's so quick an easy and is a great use of scraps!

Here are some quick instructions for you to make your own quilt-as-you-go Christmas stocking. If you've never tried this technique, even if you've never made a quilt before or even if you're new to sewing, this tutorial will be easy to follow.

DIY Quilt-As-You-Go Christmas Stocking

All seam allowances are 1/4" unless otherwise noted.

You will need:

• Stocking pattern (use any pattern you like or draw your own - this is one instance where size doesn't matter)
• Batting slightly bigger than your stocking pattern
• Strips of fabric wide enough to extend past the edges of your pattern
• Coordinating fabric for back and lining which is tall enough to fit the length of two stocking and wide enough to fit two stockings side by side.
• Thread and the usual arsenal of sewing equipment for a basic sewing project

Making the front of the stocking:

Using your pattern piece, cut one stocking shape from the quilt batting. I used one of our family stockings as my pattern.

Dry fit your strips by laying them out as a test before sewing. Make sure they're going to cover the batting entirely.

Beginning at the bottom of your batting stocking, place the first strip right side up so the edges of the fabric extend well past the edges of the batting.

Lay a second strip on top of the first with right sides together and the top edges aligned.

Sew along the aligned edge (going through both fabrics and the batting).

Fold the second fabric up to lay flat on the batting. Press.

Repeat steps 3-5 until the entire stocking is covered.

Turn the stocking over so the batting is facing up.

Trim away excess fabric following the contours of the batting.

Cutting the back lining and backing of the stocking:

Fold a piece of your coordinating fabric in half so that the fold runs along the top edge of your fabric.

Lay your stocking front on the coordinating fabric with the top edge approximately 1/4" past the folded edge of your fabric.

Cut one stocking piece on the fold.

You'll wind up with what looks like two boots joined at the top...like this:

Making the front lining:

Lay your stocking front on a single layer of your coordinating fabric with the toe pointing the opposite way as your stocking (i.e. place right sides together). Cut out one stocking piece.

Place your stocking front and front lining pieces right sides together. Stitch along the top edge and turn the piece right side out. Press the top edge.

Open up the newly assembled stocking front and lining and lay it right side up.

Making the loop:

From your coordinating fabric, cut a piece 2.5" x 6". Fold the piece in half lengthwise with right sides together and stitch along the long edge opposite the fold. Turn the piece right side out and press with the seam centred down the middle.

Assembling the stocking:

Fold the loop in half with the seam on the inside and position it at what will be the top back of the stocking (i.e. where it makes sense to hang the stocking from).

Open up the stocking back/lining piece and lay it right sides together on top of the stocking front/lining.

Pin the edges.

Stitch all the way around leaving a 3" opening on the sole of the foot on the half without batting.

Clip the curves.

Turn the piece right side out and sew the opening you left in the sole closed by hand.

Carefully push the lining into place and press.

You're done.

Here's the one I made with my patchwork group. I didn't use a sewing machine at all on this one. That's 100% handmade, baby.

Children at Play improv quilt blocks

Dear reader, these blocks are the result of several hours of playing. No rules. No design in mind. Just a heap of fabric and a rotary cutter in hand.

The jumping off point for these blocks is the Children at Play fabric by Sarah Jane. I am in love with Sarah's illustrations and colour combos. She has lots of other drool-worthy goodies over in her shop. Do check it out! But I digress...as I was saying, with a jumping off fabric to start, I picked through my stash and found a surprisingly large selection of fabrics that seemed to go well. Then, I just started cutting...and cutting...and cutting. One block at a time, working my way toward a fun little quilt for some lucky baby.

It's been a great exercise in trying a few things that I'd only read about and never tried, like my first string block (third picture down, top right). Working quickly on what is essentially a different project with each block has also highlighted a few problems with my sewing (and my machine). Turns out, I am a puller and my machine feeds through the top and bottom fabric at different rates. This means I get stretched out or bunchy seams if I'm not careful. A good thing to know! My solution is to become very good friends with my pins. Use the pins. Stab the pins. Love the pins.

My question to you, dear reader: to sash, or not to sash*? I still have a few more blocks to sew up, so have a think on it, and do let me know what you think I should do. As is, the blocks will finish at 12" so it'll be a decent sized baby quilt even without any sashing.

*For those of you not in the know, sashing is the strips of fabric that go around a quilt block essentially creating a frame for each block.

The Grasshopper

Have you ever had the fortune of sewing on one of these bad boys? It's an Elna 1 - more commonly known as the Grasshopper. My aunt has one (picked it up for a song at a thrift store, I believe) and she let me try it out a few weeks back.

What you can't see from this picture is that instead of a foot pedal like most of us are familiar with, to make this machine go, you have to press on a metal lever with your knee. Yes, not only were women of the post-war era expected to cook, clean, raise the kids and look pretty - they were also expected to be ultra-coordinated so that they could properly operate their sewing machines. I had a heck of time for the first little bit but eventually even I got the hang of it. I've asked my aunt to be on the lookout for another one for me!

Tutorial: Go bind yourself, Quilt!

Self binding is not my usual approach to finishing a quilt, but when I found myself without enough coordinating fabric* to do my usual double fold binding, I decided to give it a shot. I have no idea if this is how other people approach this technique, but it seemed to work beautifully for me. Here's what I did if you'd like to give it a try:

Step 1:
Prepare your quilt sandwich the way you normally would making sure your backing fabric is at least 1" larger than your quilt top and batting on all four sides. For the record, your quilt top and batting need to be exactly the same size. I found it easiest to trim them to size before placing them atop the quilt backing. Be sure the quilt top and batting are perfectly centered on top of the backing fabric.

Step 2:
Baste the layers together using pins or spray adhesive - whichever you prefer.

Now, here's where things start to deviate a bit. Normally, this is where you would begin the quilting process. You would either machine or hand stitch a pretty little pattern all over that quilt top of yours. But, with self binding, you need to do one more step first before we get to the quilting stage.
 
Step 3:
With the layers of your quilt sandwich well secured so that they won't shift, stitch along all four sides of the quilt top using a 1/2" seam allowance, like so:

The backing fabric outside that line of stitching is now your binding fabric.

Step 4:
Now, you can go ahead and quilt your quilt. Just make sure your quilting lines stay within the confines of your stitching from step 3.

Step 5:
Along one side, fold and press the raw edge of your backing fabric in to meet the raw edge of your quilt top, like so:

Step 6:
Fold and press that edge over again so that the folded edge of your backing fabric just covers your stitching line from step 3, like so:

Step 7:
To turn a corner, make a 90 degree fold toward the side of the quilt you'll be moving on to next. Press the living daylights out of that corner.

Step 8:
Repeat steps 5, 6 and 7 along the remaining sides of your quilt. Your corners should look something like this:

Step 9:
Normally, you would hand stitch your binding to the back of your quilt. But with a self bound quilt, you need to hand stitch the folded edges of your binding to your quilt top instead. Here's what the finished edges and corner will look like when all is said and done:

From the back, your quilt will look like this with just a simple line of stitching about 1/2" inside each edge.

*Confession time: Remember that old adage "Measure twice. Cut once." The truth is, I had enough fabric when I started. However, when you cut your strips a full inch wider than you intended, you're gonna wind up with fewer strips than you need to make it around your quilt.

DIY: Holiday gift bag

My love/hate relationship with gift wrap is quite well known so I won't go into it again here. Suffice it to say, I am all over the idea of wrapping gifts in something other than paper. Perhaps you are too?

If you'd like to learn how to make your own gift bags with encased seams, read on. As long as you can sew a straight-ish line, you're good to go. As an added bonus, you'll be able to brag to all your friends that you know how to make French seams. You'll sound so fancy!

Step 1: Select your fabric and cut it to size.
You can pretty much use any kind of fabric you want at any size - the process is the same for all. To start you need to cut your fabric into a rectangle. Figure out how tall you want your bag to be in the end and double this measurement and add on about 4 inches to get the long edge of your rectangle. The short edge will be the desired width of your bag plus an extra 2 inches or so.

Step 2: Sew up the sides.
Fold your fabric in half WRONG sides together using a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Trim the seam allowance down to 1/4 inch if you happen to get carried away in any spots.

Step 3: Turn your bag inside out and press the seams.
Your seams should look something like this now. You're now working from the WRONG side of the fabric.

Step 4: Attach the ties.
Cut a length of ribbon approximately twice the width of your bag and fold it in half. Use a pin to secure the folded edge of the ribbon to one of your seams from what is the inside of your bag at the moment.

Pin on the WRONG side of the fabric holds the ribbon in place inside the bag.

Looking into the bag with ribbon secured with a pin.

Of course, thinking back now, it would have been smarter just to pin and stitch the ribbon in during Step 2. D'oh! Why don't you go ahead and do it that way instead.

Step 5: Encase the seams.
With the bag still inside out, stitch up both sides - this time with a 1 cm seam allowance [yes, I did just switch to the metric system mid-pattern...I like to keep you all on your toes!] It's important to use a wider seam allowance on this step to ensure the raw edges of the seam will be completely encased.

Voila! You just made a French seam! Go ahead and remove that pin that was holding the ribbon in place. It should be nice and secure now.

Step 6: Hem the opening.
Turn down the top edge of the bag opening approximately 1 inch and press.

Turn down the top edge of the bag opening another inch and press before stitching the bottom edge of the hem in place. This would be a good spot to use a decorative stitch if you're so inclined.

And....you're done. Here's one of my finished bags. Pretty cute, non?