home is where my story begins...

80’s Party

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In addition to the Flintstones costumes I was working on, last week, I was also sewing up a little 80’s attire.  I made stirrup pants and a very, very, large hair bow for myself, to accompany the Goodwill sweatshirt with extra large shoulder pads and Liz Claiborne handbag.  You can see my lovely handbag in the collage below… You know you totally had one of those in the 80’s!
I live in the best neighborhood.  These people are hilarious!
Happy 80’s… like totally.
(Read with Valley Girl accent please!)

Yabba Dabba Doo – Flintsones Costumes

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Yep, we’re the, “Modern Stone Age Family!” 
This was the second weekend in a row that involved costumes, friends, and lots of laughs.  I’ve spent the last week sewing costumes for Fred, Wilma, Barney, and Betty.  My hubby’s sister and her husband agreed to join us, to truly round out our modern stone age family.  (You know you have the theme song running through your head now!)
Just to prove that we’re not the only freaks who go all out on costumes, here’s a sampling of our friends’ costumes.
Happy Halloween!

Rocking Chair Pillow

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I was browsing through pictures and ran across a few photos from my classroom. I don’t think I’ve ever shared these on my blog before.  A few years ago, I decided that my classroom needed a makeover.  My mom recovered my pillows for me and I had lots of fabric leftover.

I decided to make a chair pad for my rocking chair.  I tried a few things that I hadn’t done before, like adding a little trim, machine quilting, embroidery, and working without a pattern.  

Not too bad, considering I was totally winging it!

I used the scraps to make a few floor pillows for my listening center too.

There’s just something so heartwarming about seeing little people feel like they’re “home” when they are in the classroom.  It’s truly a happy place for these little guys!
Happy sewing!

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Fabric Lemonade Stand

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All Summer long, I saw the cutest Lemonade stands popping up on Pinterest.  Most of them were made of wood, painted, and made my heart go pitter patter.  I’m not a woodworker and although I love to paint furniture, I can’t say I’m artistic enough to do any decorative painting. 

But, I can sew! 

I sketched up a simple lemonade stand that I knew I could make out of pvc pipe and fabric

I’m in love with chalkboard fabric!  It sews like oilcloth and wipes off like a chalkboard.

I even made a simple bunting to go along the skirt. I made the stand the same width as our card table.  The kids set their goodies up behind the stand, on the table.


I had grand plans to stage this with pink lemondae and really cute sugar cookies.  Sadly, I never got that far.  My kids did, however, spend several summer afternoons selling chocolate chip cookies and Smucker’s Lemonade from Costco.
 
Fall is in the air and it’s time to put the lemonade stand away for the year.
Happy end of Summer, friends.
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Quilt Binding 101

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Last winter, when we were snowed in for a few days, I decided to get to work on a quilt.  The fabric had been sitting on my sewing table for quite a while and I really had no plans for it, so a quilt seemed like a good choice.  I wanted something simple and mindless.  I wasn’t in the mood to think too hard about measurements and fabric placement.  I just wanted to sew.  I came up with a VERY simple quilt top, which I figured I’d try free motion quilting on.  I wasn’t too excited about the free motion quilting part of that idea, so the quilt tops sat there for about half of the year.  Last week I decided it was time to get these quilts out of the craft room and into the family room.  While I was at it, I took pictures of the quilt binding process.

If you’ve ever wanted to learn to bind a quilt, here’s the step by step tutorial.  If you really don’t care, please don’t waste your time reading this, because it’s very picture heavy.

I use 2 1/2 inch strips when I make quilt bindings.  I use a cutting mat, rotary cutter, and quilting ruler to make sure my strips are perfect.

 

Once the strips are cut, it’s time to join them together.  I place two pieces (right sides together) and sew from corner to corner.  I overlapped a little on the ends of each piece because I knew I’d cut that part off.  You can draw a line to follow if you’d like, but I just eyeball it.


Cut off the extra fabric.

When you open in up, it looks like this.  Press the seams to one side and then keep adding more strips in the same way.

Next, you need to iron your fabric.  In the past I would fold my fabric, wrong sides together, finger press it down, and then iron it.  It’s not hard and it’s not too time consuming, but then I spotted this cool contraption on a quilting show on PBS. (There I go again, admitting that I spend my spare time watching sewing shows on public television. Nerd alert!)  This is a binding maker from Singer.  It is so cool! It folds, presses, and spits out perfect quilt binding in about 2 minutes. 


It comes out of the machine perfectly pressed.  That little piece on the end is the iron. It has a little roller in it so everything is automatic.  If you sew, you know how cool this is!  It even makes piping, although I haven’t tried that yet.  Ok, so if you don’t have this cool machine, just fold the fabric in half and iron.  That’s the way I have made it for the past 15 years and it works just fine. 

Just one more picture of my fun new toy doing its thing.

Ok, maybe just one more.  See how it fold the fabric for you before going into the iron.  You can get that tip in other sizes too.  It’s “sew” much fun!

When you’re done pressing, you’ll have a pile of quilt binding.  Get ready to sew.

The first thing I do is trim my starting edge at an angle.

Then I open it up and fold it back.

When you close the fabric back up, it gives you a clean edge.

To start binding my quilts, I usually don’t start at a corner.  I just pick somewhere in the middle, at the bottom, and line my binding fabric up.  You’ll notice that I have the raw edge of my quilt lined up with the raw edge of my binding fabric. The over hanging fabric is my quilt batting, and you can’t see it but the backing fabric is there too.


Line the presser foot up along the edge of the fabric, backtack a few stitches and then start sewing a straight line.
 

When you get just about to the end, maybe a quarter of an inch away, backstitch about an inch.

Pull the binding fabric back on top of itself, so it folds into a 45 degree angle.

Then, fold it back on top of itself, lining the edge up with the next side you need to sew.

I know that’s kind of tricky.  Let’s try that one more time.  I’m close to the edge.


Backstitch an inch.

Fold.

Fold and line up with the new side.

Then, you can lift your presser foot, turn your quilt, and get ready to sew the next side.
 

When you get to the end, turn the fabric under again, like you did at the beginning.  That gives it a nice clean edge.


Finish sewing the binding down. 

Hey, look at that!  Someone got a pretty new cutting mat!  I really needed a new cutting mat and found this one in red.  I’ve never seen a red cutting mat before, but I’m loving it!

I use my ruler and rotary cutter to remove the extra batting and backing fabric.  I line the quilt ruler up along the edge of the binding fabric and cut.  This still leaves that 1/4 inch seam allowance.  Don’t cut that off, because it’s what makes the binding fluffly.

When you’re done trimming, the quilt will look like this.


Flip the quilt to the back side, roll the fabric around the edge and pin.  I really hate pinning, so I only do it when I really have to.  The first couple of times you bind a quilt, you’ll want to pin.  After that, just hold it with your fingers and go for it.

When you are sewing the binding down, you want to get REALLY close to the edge.  See how my needle is right next to the edge of the binding fabric.  I want to go right along that edge.  It takes some practice.
 

When you get to a corner, you’ll need to fold the fabric.


It makes a nice mitered corner. When you get to the point, put the needle down into the fabric, and turn the quilt so you can keep sewing.

Keep going all the way around the quilt.

Here’s my finished quilt.  I can’t say I’m in love with it.  I love the fabrics, but I’m a little bored with the finished product.  I guess that’s what happens when you do a project that you don’t really want to think about and can’t get out of the house to buy the supplies you are wishing for.

I did get to try my hand at machine quilting.  I made the swirly patterns in the big squares, which is something I’ve never done before.

I made two of these quilts and put them over the chairs in my family room.  They add a little color and I’m happy about that.  If you’re working on a quilt of your own, I’d love to see it.  You can email me a picture at homeiswheremystorybegins@gmail.com.

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Sewing Camp for Grown Ups

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Two weeks ago, I hosted sewing camp for my daughter and nieces.  I plan to have a few girls over for Sewing Camp Part 2, and I know a few of my daughter’s friends want to join us too.
Well, several of my in-real-life-friends asked if I would host a Sewing Camp for Grown Ups.  Sounds like fun to me!  So, what type of projects would you like to make if you were new to sewing and really wanted to learn?  I know my Blogland friends won’t be flying to Seattle and joining us in my living room, but maybe I’ll do some video or photo tutorials to post on the blog.

What do you want to learn to make? Check out my Pinterest page on sewing ideas to see some possibilities.
Thanks for your help!

The Light Table and The Quilt

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Last winter, when we were snowed in for a few days, I decided to piece together a quilt with some fabric I had on hand.  I didn’t have a pattern and I didn’t want to spend too much time thinking about it.  I just wanted to sew.  I knew I wanted large squares in the quilt, so I could try some free hand machine quilting.  Well, I finished two quilt tops, but never got around to the quilting part.  Isn’t that the story of a crafter?  We finish a project, half way, and then move onto something else.

Yesterday, I decided to work on the quilting that I had been procrastinating.  The problem I had was that I didn’t have a template or pattern for the actual stitching.  Over the weekend, I was watching Quilting Arts on PBS and the host used a light table to help with a project.  (Yes, I just admitted to Blogland that I watch shows like Quilting Arts on PBS television. I’m kind of dorky that way.)  My daughter has a light table that we use for art projects, so I decided to give it a try. I found an image online that I thought would look nice in my quilt blocks.  I enlarged and printed it, then taped it to the light table.

Next, I placed my quilt over the top.  See, you can see the pattern right through the fabric!  Those ladies on PBS are so smart.


I used my disappearing fabric pen to trace the image onto the fabric.

I layered my backing, batting, and quilt top together and then I was ready to sew.  I used a low loft, fusible batting for these quilts.  I really hate pinning when I sew, so this is a perfect choice!


This is only my third attempt at free hand quilting, so it certainly didn’t turn out the way I had hoped.  I used a dark brown thread, because I love to see the contrast between the fabric and the thread. 

Note to self:  Use a thread color that blends into the fabric until you become a better quilter.

I plan to bind the quilts today and then I’ll show you how they turned out.

Happy sewing!

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Sewing Camp Day 1

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My little campers had so sew much fun at Sewing Camp today.  My daughter and my neice have matching sewing machines and I told them that we’d do a few projects this summer, at Auntie Becca’s Sewing Camp.  Last week, I set out all of my sewing books and let the girls choose a few projects they’d like to make.  Then, we took a trip to the fabric store and started shopping.  The girls decided that they’d each make a pillow, a stuffed owl, and a toy for a friend.  We started with pillows, since they are only straight lines.


They cut their own fabric, learned how to pin right sides together, and learned how to use their sewing machines. They wound the bobbins and threaded the machines, learned about backstitching, and were even able to sew pretty straight lines!

Two more neices stopped by too, so they started sewing along with us.  My son even made a pillow for his room, after a little encouraging.


Two of my little campers kept on sewing.  After the pillows were done, they made stuffed owls.  It was a combination of machine sewing and hand stitching.
 

Honestly, they had a lot more fun than I thought they would!  I figured they’d get frustrated and wouldn’t want to finish.  Well, once they finished the pillows (which was before lunch time) they were ready for project #2.  I was REALLY impressed!  I think a good day was had by all.

Now, I just need to think of a good camp counselor name for myself.  Any suggestions?

Happy sewing!

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Quilt Binding 101

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Last winter, when we were snowed in for a few days, I decided to get to work on a quilt.  The fabric had been sitting on my sewing table for quite a while and I really had no plans for it, so a quilt seemed like a good choice.  I wanted something simple and mindless.  I wasn’t in the mood to think too hard about measurements and fabric placement.  I just wanted to sew.  I came up with a VERY simple quilt top, which I figured I’d try free motion quilting on.  I wasn’t too excited about the free motion quilting part of that idea, so the quilt tops sat there for about half of the year.  Last week I decided it was time to get these quilts out of the craft room and into the family room.  While I was at it, I took pictures of the quilt binding process.

If you’ve ever wanted to learn to bind a quilt, here’s the step by step tutorial.  If you really don’t care, please don’t waste your time reading this, because it’s very picture heavy.

I use 2 1/2 inch strips when I make quilt bindings.  I use a cutting mat, rotary cutter, and quilting ruler to make sure my strips are perfect.

 

Once the strips are cut, it’s time to join them together.  I place two pieces (right sides together) and sew from corner to corner.  I overlapped a little on the ends of each piece because I knew I’d cut that part off.  You can draw a line to follow if you’d like, but I just eyeball it.


Cut off the extra fabric.

When you open in up, it looks like this.  Press the seams to one side and then keep adding more strips in the same way.

Next, you need to iron your fabric.  In the past I would fold my fabric, wrong sides together, finger press it down, and then iron it.  It’s not hard and it’s not too time consuming, but then I spotted this cool contraption on a quilting show on PBS. (There I go again, admitting that I spend my spare time watching sewing shows on public television. Nerd alert!)  This is a binding maker from Singer.  It is so cool! It folds, presses, and spits out perfect quilt binding in about 2 minutes. 


It comes out of the machine perfectly pressed.  That little piece on the end is the iron. It has a little roller in it so everything is automatic.  If you sew, you know how cool this is!  It even makes piping, although I haven’t tried that yet.  Ok, so if you don’t have this cool machine, just fold the fabric in half and iron.  That’s the way I have made it for the past 15 years and it works just fine. 

Just one more picture of my fun new toy doing its thing.

Ok, maybe just one more.  See how it fold the fabric for you before going into the iron.  You can get that tip in other sizes too.  It’s “sew” much fun!

When you’re done pressing, you’ll have a pile of quilt binding.  Get ready to sew.

The first thing I do is trim my starting edge at an angle.

Then I open it up and fold it back.

When you close the fabric back up, it gives you a clean edge.

To start binding my quilts, I usually don’t start at a corner.  I just pick somewhere in the middle, at the bottom, and line my binding fabric up.  You’ll notice that I have the raw edge of my quilt lined up with the raw edge of my binding fabric. The over hanging fabric is my quilt batting, and you can’t see it but the backing fabric is there too.


Line the presser foot up along the edge of the fabric, backtack a few stitches and then start sewing a straight line.
 

When you get just about to the end, maybe a quarter of an inch away, backstitch about an inch.

Pull the binding fabric back on top of itself, so it folds into a 45 degree angle.

Then, fold it back on top of itself, lining the edge up with the next side you need to sew.

I know that’s kind of tricky.  Let’s try that one more time.  I’m close to the edge.


Backstitch an inch.

Fold.

Fold and line up with the new side.

Then, you can lift your presser foot, turn your quilt, and get ready to sew the next side.
 

When you get to the end, turn the fabric under again, like you did at the beginning.  That gives it a nice clean edge.


Finish sewing the binding down. 

Hey, look at that!  Someone got a pretty new cutting mat!  I really needed a new cutting mat and found this one in red.  I’ve never seen a red cutting mat before, but I’m loving it!

I use my ruler and rotary cutter to remove the extra batting and backing fabric.  I line the quilt ruler up along the edge of the binding fabric and cut.  This still leaves that 1/4 inch seam allowance.  Don’t cut that off, because it’s what makes the binding fluffly.

When you’re done trimming, the quilt will look like this.


Flip the quilt to the back side, roll the fabric around the edge and pin.  I really hate pinning, so I only do it when I really have to.  The first couple of times you bind a quilt, you’ll want to pin.  After that, just hold it with your fingers and go for it.

When you are sewing the binding down, you want to get REALLY close to the edge.  See how my needle is right next to the edge of the binding fabric.  I want to go right along that edge.  It takes some practice.
 

When you get to a corner, you’ll need to fold the fabric.


It makes a nice mitered corner. When you get to the point, put the needle down into the fabric, and turn the quilt so you can keep sewing.

Keep going all the way around the quilt.

Here’s my finished quilt.  I can’t say I’m in love with it.  I love the fabrics, but I’m a little bored with the finished product.  I guess that’s what happens when you do a project that you don’t really want to think about and can’t get out of the house to buy the supplies you are wishing for.

I did get to try my hand at machine quilting.  I made the swirly patterns in the big squares, which is something I’ve never done before.

I made two of these quilts and put them over the chairs in my family room.  They add a little color and I’m happy about that.  If you’re working on a quilt of your own, I’d love to see it.  You can email me a picture at homeiswheremystorybegins@gmail.com.


Happy quilting!
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Sew Your Own Camera Strap – Tutorial

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I met so many nice people at the BlogHer conference.  One of the things people commented on the most was my cute camera strap.  A few blogger friends had cute straps, but almost everyone had the standard black strap that came with the camera.  I started explaining how to make the camera strap a few times, but then just said, “Oh, it’s on my blog.  Check out the sewing tab and you’ll find it.”  Here’s a repost for my new friends who are coming to find the tutorial.

I promised a tutorial on how to make a camera strap cover, so here it is!  This is probably the easiest sewing project ever.  If you can sew a straight line, then you can make this.

Let me start by saying that I have a standard Canon camera strap.  It’s just the basic strap that came with the camera.  Depending on your camera strap, you may have to adjust the length or width of your pieces of fabric. 

I chose two complementary fabrics.  One fabric will be for the inside of the strap and one fabric will be for the outside of the strap.  I also bought some fusible fleece, to add a little structure and padding.  Fusible fleece is just what the name says.  It’s fleece that is fusible on one side.  It feels a little rough on the fusible side, and it’s easy to tell which is which. 

Cut 1 piece, from the main fabric, that measures 2 1/2″ x 25 1/2″.
Cut 1 piece, from the complementary fabric, that measures 2 1/2″ x 25 1/2″.
Cut 1 piece, from the fusible fleece, that measures 2 1/2″ x 24 1/4″.  (Note:  I cut my fleece 1 1/4″ shorter than my fabrics.  If you are using a different length strap, just subtract this amount from your length.)

Fold the ends of the fabric pieces over 1/4 inch and press.  Only press the short ends of the fabric.  I sewed  these ends down, once they were pressed.  You could use a zigzag stitch, two parallel lines, or a decorative stitch.  I chose to do two parallel lines.

Then, you’re ready to add your fusible fleece.  Take the fabric that you want for the inside of the camera strap and lay it face down (wrong side up) on the ironing board.  Lay the rough side of the fusible fleece onto the fabric.  Follow the directions that came with your fusible fleece.  Mine said to iron on the fabric, not the fleece, so I needed to flip the entire piece over once I had it centered the way I wanted. (Remember, you cut your fleece slightly shorter than the other pieces.)

Here, you can see that I flipped the fabric/fleece and I’m ironing on the right side of the fabric.  The fleece is underneath.

Now, you’re ready to pin and sew.  There are very few projects that I actually take the time to pin  This is one project that I needed to pin.  I just didn’t want anything to shift as I was sewing.  Place the two pieces of camera straps RIGHT sides together.  Your fusible fleece will now be attached to one of your pieces.  RIGHT sides together means that the pretty sides of the fabrics are facing each other. Using a 1/4″ seam allowance and a straight stitch, stitch down the long edges of the camera strap.

Ok, here comes the hardest part of the whole project.  Your fabric will be sewn into a tube, open at both of the short ends.  You need to turn the fabric so the pretty sides are on the outside.

Once you get it turned, press it and get ready for the last step.  To give the camera strap a more finished look, I used a straight stitch and ran all the way down the length of the strap.  I used a 1/16″ seam allowance, and did this down both sides.  I like the look of a contrasting thread, so I used white thread.

In this picture, you can see the two parallel lines, across the short ends, that I sewed in a previous step.  You can also see the straight stitch down the left side of the camera strap.  The 1/16th seam allowance is really tiny, but just sew slowly and it’ll be great!

Just like that, you’re all done!  I’ve made a couple of these straps now and have one suggestion if you are new to sewing.  If you are not confident in precise rotary cutting or perfectly straight stitching, I’d cut your pieces slightly bigger.  (Maybe 1/16″ or 1/8″ bigger.)  I’d hate for you to get finished with your camera strap cover, only to find that you can’t actually fit your camera strap inside of it!

 I hope you’ll give this project a try!  Let me know if you do!

Happy sewing!

Linking to these fabulous parties!

One Artsy Mama