Finally–Sew Together Tuesday is back

It’s our third week live from the new Kansas City studio, but it was our first episode with a full sewing project and man, did it feel good to be back at it. The set looks good. The new Baby Lock Chorus sews like a dream. The viewers are there and commenting. And the Lovey Love (pattern by Melly & Me) went swimmingly.

Today’s project was a sweet little toy, perfect for folks wanting to try sewing with Cuddle®, but aren’t quite ready to jump into the deep end of stuffed animals with me. The head is only three pieces and requires some careful sewing, but the rest is so simple there is nothing to keep anyone from being able to create it. Plus there were a few fun extra tips that I got to share and it all went really well, I think.

Last year was an adventure, for sure, getting to meet so many shop owners, sewists, and quilters out there on the road. But there’s something really good about being in one place producing sewing tutorials. The continuity of space, not to mention internet, cannot be overstated. For everyone who supported the Sew Together Tuesday: On the Road series, I cannot say thank you enough, for their patience, acceptance, cheerleading and hospitality.

We’ll be taking a break next week and getting ahead of the next few projects, but I’ll be back before then. Until then…

Happy sewing!

How to Sew a Little Chick Pillow [Sew Together Tuesday]

This week’s Sew Together Tuesday for Shannon Fabrics is the Chick version of the Barnyard Buddies Jelly Bean Pillow pattern. The pattern is from McKay Manor Musers and it’s a favorite. All the designs are super cute and they have a wide variety: cow, chick, Yeti, unicorn, dog, werewolf, etc. You can see them and download your own preferred pattern on their site.

If you want to make your own Chick pillow, you’ll need:
* 1/2 yd. Luxe Cuddle Rose White
* Scraps of Cuddle 3 in Black, Scarlet and Canary
* McKay Manor Musers’ Barnyard Buddies Jelly Bean pattern
* Poly-Fil from Fairfield

You’ll notice a few tools that I really love: the Precision Stiletto from ByAnnie.com, flower-head pins from Clover and the BabyLock Crescendo sewing machine with a Schmetz 90/14 stretch needle.

Happy sewing,

Road to California 2020 Recap

This marked my third year teaching at Road to California and it was the best by far. I had four classes, Thursday through Sunday, focusing on fabrics that many are intimidated by: minky, double gauze and knits. I’d spent hours and hours over the last few weeks prepping kits and samples for the classes and it was all worth it.

On Thursday, we made Ellie Elephants using the pattern from Funky Friends Factory and Luxe Cuddle Heather Fog from Shannon Fabrics, along with a couple of solid Cuddle minky fabrics.  They turned out so well and everyone was so happy with their elephants! I saw a couple of students walking the show floor with them later and it was adorable.  Look how pleased they were!

Road2CA students with their stuffed elephants

Continue reading “Road to California 2020 Recap”

Behold the Creeper

If you’ve got a kid anywhere around the tween age, you probably know all about Minecraft. My kids were all gung-ho into it more than a year ago, but the phase was relatively short-lived. For others, it’s lasted much longer–including for my friend’s son who is still going strong with the Minecraft love.

I’ve known this for quite a while, but making the leap from knowing what game he likes to coming up with something I could make related to that … well, I needed some help with that. Thankfully, the daughter (same age as his son) came up with this awesome idea. A Creeper stuffie!

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I used Mary Fisher’s fabric, but if you want to get super-realistic with it, you could patchwork the whole thing. I was satisfied with quilting it to give it the ‘made with cubes’ look.

Here’s what you’re going to need to do it my way:

Head: Five pieces of green fabric that is 4-1/2″ x 4-1/2″ square and five pieces of iron-on batting that is 4″ x 4″. Mark quilting lines, centering the first block and working outward so that the quilting is 3/4″ apart. Using black cotton (with fusible adhesive already attached), cut out a piece that is 1-1/2″ square of the black fabric and cut out the parts to make it look like the Creeper face. I did this by folding it precisely then cutting. Iron onto green fabric and stitch around the edges. [You can see I forgot to do the stitching on until after I’d sewn up the edges. Oops.]

Sew sides together , starting and ending 1/4″ away from ends. Use a 1/4″ seam allowance on all seams. Sew on top and bottom pieces, being careful at the corners and leaving a 2″ gap for turning on one edge.Trim corners, turn, stuff it nice and full with batting, then hand-stitch it closed with a ladder stitch.

Body: Cut out two pieces of green fabric that is 2-1/2″ x 6-1/2″, two that are 4-1/2″ x 6-1/2″ and two that are 2-1/2″ x 4-1/2″. Iron on pieces that are cut 1/2-inch smaller each direction. Quilt these the same way, making sure that a block is centered on the side. This will help you line it up when you are assembling the little guy and make it look a bit better than random quilting. Stitch them the same way, leaving the 1/4″ loose at the ends, stitching on the end pieces, trimming, turning, stuffing and closing.

Legs: This is where it starts getting monotonous and becoming way less fun to make. Maybe you should start with the legs and then doing the head would be an exciting way to end the project rather than the drudgery of the little legs finishing it off? Either way you are going to need 15 pieces of the green fabric that is cut 3-1/2″ x 2-1/2″ and eight pieces that are 2-1/2″ squares. And the same in the fusible batting, but half-inch smaller each direction. And again with the stitching, trimming, turning, stuffing and stitching.

The only thing I did differently with the legs is that I poured in two tablespoons of short-grain rice into each leg to give him some weight and also in hopes that I could mold it enough to make him stand. It totally worked.

Once everything is stuff and stitched closed, you can sew the pieces together. I used tight small stitches since this is a child’s play thing and kids are rough on their belongings. I started by sewing the body to the head, aligning it in the center of the head (from front to back); they are the same width.

The legs prove to be a bit of a pain since there’s no clear marking on them, but let them overlap the body about 1/2″ off the front and the back, and let the legs overhang from the body about 1/4″ on the sides. Check out the picture if I’m not clear. Start stitching it to the body on the edge of the leg and stitch the inside/bottom parts first, then around the outside edge where it is easier to get to. Believe me–this will save you anxiety and pin pricks.

Wham, bam, you have made a Creeper. If you’re just not up for it, let me know and I might be willing to make one for ya.

P.S. He totally loved it.