All things Fabric, Fiber and Quilting
Friday Night Sew In!Posted by Brye Lynn on February 19, 2010
Tonight I am participating in a Friday Night Sew in. I have my comfy clothes on and a fresh cup of coffee; Morgan is at grandma’s, Dustin in hiding out in his room and Rick is on the Xbox. I have the living room to myself.
Join me! Check out the details at http://www.handmadebyheidi.blogspot.com.
Do You Save Your Selvages?Posted by Brye Lynn on February 18, 2010
On a recent blog hopping journey I came across several blogs on how to make quilts with your selvages. Check this out. www.selvageblog.blogspot.com They made skirts, dresses and upholstered furniture with it too! It is wild how the manufacturers markings become part of the design.
The look of the selvage made fabric is very interesting. I like it, but it raises a lot more questions. What does it feel like? Is it stiff? How does wash? How long does it take to make? How wide are the selvage pieces.
I am very curious. I think that I will start saving my selvages and try it out.
Using a Bias Tape MakerPosted by Brye Lynn on February 16, 2010
This week’s podcast was about making your own bias tape. Today I will show you how to use the Clover Bias Tape Maker. You can win one of these, by sending me a picture of you making a continuous bias strip (see yesterday’s post for directions). The drawing will be held on March 1st, so get me your pictures before then.
On the podcast I mentioned a great video I found on folding the fabric to make your bias strips. Here it is.
Fast Tube by Casper
Read the instruction on your bias tape maker. Find out the maximum width your strip can be to fit into the tool. These tools come in a variety of sizes from 1/4″ and larger. The one I am using is a 3/4″ one.
This is what it looks like from the end. See the grove that the fabric will go into; a kind of “U” shape.
Stuff the fabric in, right side down into the bias tape maker. You may have to push, use a stilleto or pin in the top groove to move it or to pull it out the end. I used a long pin to dig it out the other side. This part is a bit difficult, but once you get it through, the device slides effortlessly along the tape.
See how it comes out all ready folded?! Wonderful. Slide it out a little and pin the end to the ironing board to secure it.
Pull the bias maker along the strip and press the folded fabric coming out. Remember to go slowly to give the iron time to properly press.
You can turn the iron to put as much surface space as possible on the strip. But do not line up the tip of the iron with the center line. I found that it “unfolded” the strip slightly.
Of set the tip of the iron. You get as much surface space but still maintain the fold.
I found that if you lifted up the bias tape maker off the ironing board slightly it created a better fold coming out.
Making a Continuous Bias StripPosted by Brye Lynn on February 15, 2010
This week’s podcast was about making your own bias tape. Today I will show you how to make a continuous bias strip. You can win a Clover Bias Tape Maker, by sending me a picture of you making a continuous bias strip. The drawing will be held on March 1st, so get me your pictures before then.
Start off with a perfect square. I am using a 10″ square for demonstration purposes, but you could make your square 44 inches.
Set it on point and cut it in half; corner to corner.
You now have two triangles. Place them next to each other, short sides together. It makes a parellelogram type shape.
Fold one down so that right sides are together. Stitch using a 1/4″ seam.
Press the seam open.
Mark your cutting lines, the width of the strip you want to make. I did 1 1/2″ for my Bias Tape Maker. ***Note – my pictures show me marking the right side of the fabric. I found it is easier when you mark the wrong side of the fabric.
Put the two short sides of the triangle together, right sides together, matching the cutting lines; but off-setting by one line. See how the end of each piece of loose.
Stitch seam and press open. You now have a tube.
Cut along the cutting line. You will see that you are cutting in a spiral and have one continusous bias strip.
The only downside to doing this s that some of your seams are close together and they go in different angles. Also, you are using scissors to cut the strips, so it is not as acurate. But these strips are great to put through the Bias tape maker (tomorrow’s post).
Episode 37 ~ Make Your Own Bias TapePosted by Brye Lynn on February 14, 2010
Listen to the podcast of this postThis week we talked about how to make Bias Tape. I ent over how to cut out the strips and sew thrm together. How to use a bias tape maker and how to make continuous bias strips. I have too much info to put all the pictures and notes on one post, so check back over the next two days for the other related post.
Thank you so much to Patricia for sending me a sample of English Paper Piecing. I will difinately try it soon.
Specail thanks to everyone who donated towards the podcast and left comments this week. Donations allow me to offer giveaways.
Gloria, Kathleen, Diane, Tiffany, Ellen, Vanessa, Kelly Grace, Pat, Emily. . . . . . Sorry if I missed anyone.
Toni’s new podcast is up and running. Check it out SillyChickDesigns
You can now call me and leave your comments: (352) 505-BRYE 2793
Finished embroidering the blog logo – much better huh?
This is the fabric I bought at the Heartfelt Quilting Shop
Lay out your fabric flat. I recommend ironing it before hand. You need to fold it on the bias. Take the top corner and fold it down so the selvages are even. This is too big to cut, so you need to fold it some more to make it more managable.
Fold the bottom corner up, matching the folded edges together. Still to big to cut, so onto more folding.
Fold the top corner down, matching the fold lines.
Fold the little extra flap under if you have one.
Square the piece up. Adjust your folds if necessary. Make sure the entire piece is flat with no wrinkles. Trim off the folded edge; just a tiny bit.
Cut your bias stips to your desired width. I used 2 1/4″; this made a sigle fold bias of 1 1/8″ or a double fold of 1/2″.
You are left with large triangles as strap.
Each cut makes two strips with angled edges.
Trim off the edges to square.
Lay one piece down, right side up, horizontal position. Lay your second piece on top vertically. Square up the top and side edges.
If you need to, you can pin it in place and mark the corners.
Stitch from corner to corner.
Trim the seam to 1/4″. Continue sewing all your seams until one long strip.
Press the seams open.
Fold the strip in half lengthwise and press.
Unfold strip.
Using the fold line as a guide. Fold in one edge to the center fold line and press. Do one side fo the strip at a time.
Fold the other side into the center. You now have SINGLE fold Bias tape.
To make DOUBLE fold Bias Tape, fold it in half again, along the first fold line, and press again. Be sure to match up your edges.
Step 4 – Storing Your Bias Tape
Instead of throwing it in a bag or crumpling it up, try wrapping it around a toilet paper tube. Wrapping it up correctly will maintain the ironing and creasing. You could also wrap it around a stiff piece of cardboard (like you would get it in a store).
Make your own continuous bias strip (see tomorrow’s post for directions) to be entered into a drawing to win a Clover Bias Tape Maker! Email me your picture before March 1st to be entered.
Thinking about ScissorsPosted by Brye Lynn on February 13, 2010
As I sat here tonight as my sewing machine, I happened to look down and saw that I had several of my scissors out. I looked to the left and on the side table I had a few more out. In the drawer in front of me I had my rotary cutters and another small scissors. What struck me, was how much I use all of them.
Each pair of scissors has their purpose. I would never grab my fabric cutting scissors to snip a thread or my applique scissors to cut out a shape in thread. My embroiderly scissors are primarily used when I embroider and my tiny scissors are used when I am winding bobbins. If I can’t fing the particular set I want to use to cut something, I will go out of my way to look for it instead of grabbing something else that would do the job (I am not very good at putting things back where they belong. They usually sit where I last used them). Because of this, I am motivated to buy more scissors so that I always have the ones on want within arm’s length.
I am very possessive of my scissors, too. NO ONE in the house can touch my scissors. If they insist they need them. I have to see what they are cutting, hand them the right ones, and oversee the whole operation. It is a running joke in my family about my sewing supplies. They are the one thing in the house that is all mine and no one else’s. I don’t want to share.
It just struck me as funny how I have such a small sewing space, but I had to have 4 pairs of scissors out at one time. On top of that, all of them were in use.
Is it just me? Do you feel the same way?
Coffee Cup CozyPosted by Brye Lynn on February 12, 2010
Tonight I made a Coffee Cup Cozy. I used a cardboard one from a local gas station as a template.
When I started, I choose some junk fabric I had in the drawer. My intention was to make it quickly, to not spend much time on the draft, and just work out the kinks. In the end I would make a “real” one. But, it is green; and my favorite shade of green. So I could not resist finishing it.
I will get the pattern together and posted next week. I have to wait until I am back in the office to scan the pattern. But basically this is what I did:
I does not have velcro or snaps. It is sewed to a circle that you can flatten to store away. The only problems I encountered were that the patten was a bit small, I need to make it about 1/2 inch longer and the decorative stitch I chose looks messy. I will choose somthing better next time, or maybe I will leave that space blank from the free motion quilting; this was the decorative stitches will show up more.
No Podcast this WeekPosted by Brye Lynn on February 8, 2010
Sorry – no podcast this week. Here’s the story:
I really did not do much this week. I worked on my sock; got about 80% of it done. I am really psyc’d to start on a new knitting project, so I am working quickly on that. I also worked on my embroidery software, trying to digitize the podcast logo and my company logo. It really is A LOT to learn that software and make it stitch out nice. Right now, it is just s0-s0; not perfect.
So that was it. I probably could have still gone on with the show……if, I had a topic. But it didn’t.
A lot of the week was spent researching vacation spots on the internet and going back and forth with my husband about where to go. Planes, hotels, tourist attractions….. my mind was spinning and by Saturday, I could not stand to be at the computer another minute.
Forgive me. In the meantime, I uploaded the United States template I made for my DC Quilt. If you want to make something similar, this may come in handy. Enjoy!
DC Quilt – United States Block
We will talk again next week.
Any topic ideas?
Call Me!!Posted by Brye Lynn on February 5, 2010
352-505-BRYE (2793)We now have a voicemail number for comments! It is through Skype – you can call me through Skype if you have an account or just dial the number above and my Skype voicemail will answer.
I thought this may be easier for some people. I find that I listen to a lot of podcasts while I am driving. It is hard to comment and hard to remember to comment . But…….it is easy to stop and call (yes, I did say stop – no calling me while you are driving – that is the safety girl in me talking).
Give it a try. I might even use your message in the podcast.. . . . . . . as always, if you don’t want me to, just say so in the message.
Thank you to all the donaters that have made this possible. I hope it work out and helps make the podcast even better.
Button CraftsPosted by Brye Lynn on February 4, 2010
Today I received some buttons from WONDERFUL listeners. Thank you so so so soooooooo much. I am so excited to get started on my button quilt project. I could still use some more. If you are able to donate a few buttons or a bag full – email me! I am looking for a wide variety of shape, size, or color. Whatever you have, I can use.
Receiving this today got me thinking about other things that can be done with buttons. So I went website and blog surfing. Here is what I found.
Which one is your favorite?
