That's right. I'm now teaching! Daniel and I were in our local JoAnn's a few weeks ago shopping for some fabric to bind a quilt, when the Education Coordinator asked if I quilted often. Well... yes.
She then asked if I'd be interested in teaching since their previous teacher just called and quit. Well, I suppose I could give it a shot...
Now imagine having a job interview for a job you hadn't considered before 3 minutes ago while keeping a 17 month old boy who is due for his nap any second from destroying the entire store. Yes, you imagined that correctly... it was not the way I would have planned for a job interview to go, but I guess it worked out.
I've taught two introductory quilting classes so far and it's gone well! It's actually kind of fun. I definitely have learned a lot. Who knew that teaching newbies to use a rotary cutter was an hour long process. I did not see that lesson coming my way. :)
I thought I'd mention it on here in case anyone in the Kansas City area reads our blog and would like to come take a class from me. I have two new classes coming up soon.
First one is Quilting 201: Hexagon Pieced Pillow. It's a really fun project where you'll learn how to machine piece hexagons and do a free motion stippling quilting pattern. It's a 2 part class that runs July 2 & July 9, 6-9pm.
Second class this Diagonal Wave class. It's a 4 part class that runs July 3, 10, 17, & 24, 6-9pm.
Please excuse the terrible photos, I forgot to get good ones of them before I brought the projects in for samples.
-Jessica
I mentioned in the last post that Fabri-Quilt is going to have/might have it now printed minky to compliment this fabric line. I had intended to have the striped print on one side of these and the printed minky on the other side.
The thing about doing things with BRAND NEW, HOT OFF THE PRESS fabric is that it might not make it to you before you need to sew with it. That was the case here. So, instead of the coordinating elephants, it's a SUPER soft bright green minky.
He's such a big helper.
I was going to make another one of these blankets (one for each of the three groups: elephants, monkeys, & bears), but there was only enough of the green minky to do two.
This pattern went together really quick. The secret is ironing. If you sew the binding down on one side, iron it really well and pin it, it's a piece of cake. And I like cake. :)
Pattern: Fuzzy Wuzzy from Sweet Booties!: And Blankets, Bonnets, Bibs & More by ValerieVan Arsdale Shrader
Fabric: Mystic Forest by Fabri-Quilt
-Jessica
Fabri-Quilt kind of went all out with this Mystic Forest fabric line. The whole line is going to be available in regular old quilting cotton. Most of the prints (I believe) are going to be available in flannel. The dots are going to be available in PUL. There are a few complimenting prints that will be available in minky. And they have these cute little panels on a heavier weight cotton.
I backed these and put a binding on them. At the top, I added a tube and a loop for hanging at the top. In the tube, I inserted a dowel for a fun look and to help keep the panel open. Fabric things like this have a tendency to flop closed when you don't support them well.
Is my little guy adorable or what? I hung this up on the wall to snap a quick photo of it and he runs over to point to the bear and say "RAWR!" We're still at the stage where he says the sound the animal makes instead of what the name of the animal is. It's cute. We have arfs (dogs) , rawrs (bears, lions, tigers, etc.), vrer (elephants), qua (ducks), and a few others I can't think of right now. It's such a fun age.
But, back to our regular scheduled programming... These were a panel that I turned into a growth chart, so...
Pattern: No pattern used.Fabric: Panel from Mystic Forest by Fabri-Quilt
And I side note if you plan on making something similar to this growth chart... I got an adorable panel like these with sheep standing on top of each other for my little guy. I quilted the heck out of it and put it on the back of his door. My husband then decided to measure it. Crap! It shrunk about 2 inches. So, a word to the wise... Quilting shrinks things. Quilting shrinks things A LOT. If you plan to quilt something to make it a growth chart, perhaps it would be wise to add the measurements after quilting.
-Jessica
We are on again, off again cloth diaper users in this house. I love putting cloth diapers on my baby. I love how cute they are. I love how we save money by using them. I love how we aren't using icky chemicals on some of his most sensitive parts. I don't really mind washing diapers. I LOVE how convenient disposable diapers are. That's pretty much the gist of it. If I could buy my ideal stash of diapers and not worry about forking out a small fortune for them, we'd do it full time, all the time in a heart beat. But, because we are a budget-conscious family, we cannot fork over our body limbs to pay for baby undies. I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY love the fluff, though.
And Fabri-Quilt is coming out with a new printed PUL that they let me make some cute diaper covers for them out of. They have this dot print on a variety of colors. I made three diaper covers in three of the new colors.
Are they adorable or what?! Super easy to make, too! If you're a fluff-aholic and want to make your own covers, I love this pattern. I made it in a small for Daniel when he was a little bit teensier and it fit really well over a prefold with snappi.
Pattern: Diaper Cover from Cloth Diapers Made Easy by Babyville Boutique
Fabric: Mystic Forest in PUL by Fabri-Quilt
-Jessica
Have you ever tried to photograph a bath robe? It's hard. Have you tried to photograph a bath robe on a toddler? It's hard to.
When you try to photograph hard things, this is what happens. Blurry photos of a toddler excited about wearing something new while running through the house.
But, that's besides the point. The point is I made a bath robe. I think it's adorable. It's out of white terrycloth with orange cotton on the inside. Have you made a bath robe? Why are the two layers separate at the bottom? I looked at my bath robe after completing this project (that called for the two layers to be separate at the bottom) and I got curious. I didn't end up finishing that way because I felt like the two layers were hanging kind of funky together, so I ended up folding them over and top-stitching them together, but it made me wonder... why are they like that?
Pattern: Little Lounge Around by Favorite Things
Fabric: White Terry cloth & Mystic Forest by Fabri-Quilt
-Jessica
If you're not familiar with Anna Maria Horner, yet, you should be. She's a fabulous designer and an awesome pattern writer. I love, love, LOVE her style. Her book, Handmade Beginnings, is another book you should probably have in your library if you sew for babeis a lot. Or maybe even if you sew for babies sometimes, but really like to and want to own some awesome patterns.
This little jacket is from Anna Maria Horner's book. I've made it up a few different times and it is always such an easy thing to make.
My little guy likes it, too.
I wish instead of buttons, the closures were a zipper. It's easy enough to change, but buttons are kind of hard to do up on a little guy who is constantly running at 592 miles an hour with very little pit stops along the way.
I really love this jacket. It fits well. It's easy to make and the directions are crystal clear. If you haven't made one already, you should. I'm sure you'll love it as much as I do, too!
Pattern: Baby-in-the-Hood from Handmade Beginnings: 24 Sewing Projects to Welcome Baby by Anna Maria Horner
Fabric: Mystic Forest by Fabri-Quilt
-Jessica
Is this dress cute or what? I unfortuately don't remember what the pattern was that I followed to make it. It was pretty easy to follow, but it was very slow going . It takes (at least for me) a while to sew something with gathers and layers like this.
And the bloomers with it were really stinking cute.
Pattern: I didn't think to write it down, but I want to say it was maybe a Vogue pattern
Fabric: Mystic Forest by Fabri-Quilt
-Jessica
This is another of my very favorite sewing projects for baby. It's the Quick Change Pants from Anna Maria Horner's book. These pants are adorabe with the contrasting butt of the pants and the large cuffs on the legs. They're reversible, so if you get tired of one fabric being the main print, flip them inside out and you can see the opposite fabric for a while. I love the fit of these pants on my little man. They're easy, fun, and fast to sew. The instructions are well written and I just love the finished project.
Pattern: Quick Change Pants from Handmade Beginnings: 24 Sewing Projects to Welcome Baby by Anna Maria Horner
Fabric: Mystic Forest by Fabri-Quilt
-Jessica
If you sew for little babies often (especially baby girls), the book Sweet Booties might be one for you to consider adding to your sewing library. I've only sewn a few things out of this book, but there are a lot of really adorable projects in it for babies.
This Oh, Kimono pattern was easy to follow and went together nicely. I didn't love the way the button-with-elastic-cord closure on the inside stayed closed, but it is probably better on a tiny human than on a plastic hanger. I also prefer a bigger hem on the bottom, but that would be something easy to change in the future. Other than those minor, nit-picky preferences of mine, I really liked sewing up this pattern.
And don't you just love the elephant print? I think this might be my favorite from this line. It's so bright and happy.
Pattern: Oh, Kimono from Sweet Booties!: And Blankets, Bonnets, Bibs & More by ValerieVan Arsdale Shrader
Fabric: Mystic Forest by Fabri-Quilt
-Jessica
I've made these pants before, too. They are simple little britches to put together and look adorable in super cute just about any sort of fabric. The book shows them in a striped fabric, I've made them in flowers and rain drop prints in the past. I think this subtle blue polka dot looks pretty cute, too!
As I mentioned in the previous post, I really like Heather Ross's book. Her patterns are so well written and are really easy to follow. I think these pants took me around an hour to make, start to finish.
I'll say it again, just to drive my point home... If you don't already own Heather Ross's book "Weekend Sewing", you should. It's a great book filled with awesome, useful patterns that real life people would actually use. It's a great book to add to your sewing library.
Pattern: Huck Finn Pants from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross
Fabric: Mystic Forest by Fabri-Quilt
-Jessica
I love Heather Ross's book Weekend Sewing. If you don't already own it, you should. It includes patterns for an awesome bag, baby pants, adult clothes, and this amazing dress. There's also a whole bunch of other things, too, but those are just the few projects that stick out in my mind. I love the way the projects are illustrated in this book. Sometimes hand drawn illustrations just get the point across a whole lot better than computer drawings. There's just something in the quality of a drawn line that seems to make a lot more sense to me than reading a perfect computer drawn diagram. (That's saying something, since my last "real job" was as an architectural draftsman/technician/CAD monkey/whatever you'd like to call a girl who draws architectural stuff on the computer all day.)
This dress is a super simple project to sew up. It is four identical pieces for the bodice (2 for the inside, 2 for the outside), 2 straps, and 2 rectangles for the skirt. It's adorable sewn up and goes together so quickly.
Pattern: Flowergirl Dress from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross
Fabric: Mystic Forest by Fabri-Quilt
-Jessica
I love little boys' clothes. Yes, little girl clothes are adorable and fun to sew, but little boys' clothes just seem to be used. I like it best when things I make are going to get some love. This little romper was fairly simple to sew together. I wish I would have thought a little bit more about it because I think the alternate neckline included in the pattern probably would have been better suited for this fabric. The fabric is just a basic quilting cotton, so it's not really intended for things like this. Probably nobody is ever going to wear this little outfit, so it's just more to show off this cute monkey fabric line that Fabri-quilt is just releasing this month. Can you tell the neckline lays a little bit funny? Well, that's because clothes like this shouldn't really be made out of non-stretchy materials. They should be able to stretch over your head and then shrink back to fit your neck nicely. One other problem I had with this was snaps. I hate doing snaps. I had to pry three of the five snaps off of this and do them again because I smashed them with the hammer trying to get them in. Thank goodness for my kind husband who was willing to come to my rescue. Other than those two mistakes on my part, this pattern went together easily. It included a lot of photos to help you along the way.
Pattern: Austin Lee Coverall & Romper by Fishsticks Designs
Fabric: Mystic Forest by Fabri-Quilt
-Jessica
This little dress was a breeze to sew. The binding on the inside of the neck and arm holes through me for a bit of a loop. I think if I would have understood where they were intended to go, I probably would have done them out of the same fabric as the top of the dress. That'll teach me to read the whole pattern before beginning, right? No... probably not.
After I made the dress, I thought since the "pocket friend" didn't take too much extra work, I'd add that to the dress, because really, what little girl wouldn't need a little pink polka dotted monster attached to the bottom of her dress's pocket?
Pattern: Simple Sewing for Baby by Lotta Jansdotter
Fabric: Mystic Forest by Fabri-Quilt
-Jessica
I have long been a fan of the Oliver + S designs, but until recently had yet to stitch anything of their patterns up. For this year's spring quilt market, Fabri-Quilt let me use some of their Mystic Forest fabric to make a pair of hats to be displayed in their booth.
These hats went together pretty easily and I think they're adorable.
Pattern: Reversible Bucket Hat by Oliver + S
Fabric: Mystic Forest by Fabri-Quilt
-Jessica
I've been sewing up a storm lately. Quilt Market is coming up very soon and I sometimes sew things for Fabri-Quilt for them to display in their booth to show off their latest fabric lines. This time I mostly sewed baby things from the new Mystic Forest fabric line they have, but I also made three quilts from the Marblehead - Global Brights line.
I'm not sure if I've explicity mentioned it on here before, but I'm a fan of a lot of the work from the modern quilting aesthetic. I like the clean, crisp use of solid fabrics or minimal prints. I like the bold colors. I like the intentional wonkiness. I was really excited when Fabri-Quilt asked if I wanted to come up with a design using this fabric because it spoke to me. I came up with about two dozen different designs and sent them off. Well, instead of picking just one design for me to make, they picked three. Woohoo!
The quilt above is my favorite of the three. It's titled "Sunset Boulevard". I love how it flows. I developed a strip piecing rhythm to do it, so the piecing was really fast. I think it's beautiful.
I quilted it in swirls within tiles... another of Angela Walter's quilting designs.
I found a new favorite place to photograph quilts, too! How fun is this little orange truck? My little guy loved playing on it while I snapped away. I think the photos are cute with him running through them.
The quilt above is titled "Library Stacks". It's quilted with a simple all-over meander. Nice and simple for a kind of complex-on-the-eyes piecing pattern.
This quilt above is titled "Dresser Drawers".
I quilted it using Angela Walter's wood grain pattern. Easy to do and it looks cool, too!
If you'd like to read more about these quilts, Fabri-Quilt interviewed me about them and featured them on their blog yesterday. Check over there to read about my inspiration and such for these three quilts.http://inspiredbyfabric.blogspot.com/2013/05/playing-with-marblehead.html
I have posts lined up about various projects I did for quilt market sewing from now until sometime in June, so be sure to check back often. I made some really cute things that I'm sure you would like to see.
-Jessica
