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Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Figment Reversible, Double Purse or Bag

Finished, with the light side out

Finished, the dark side out

Showing the double sided bag

fBag cut out, pieced top

Stitching in the interfacing and darts

Putting it all together

Putting it all together - 2

Making the bag 2-sided

Stitching and turning

Continuing the 'Build'

Getting ready to add the strap/band

Wednesday, November 24, 2021

Tee-Shirt Quilts - so many ways to make them!

There's more than one way to make a quilt

Making a tee-shirt quilt, (I have to admit, something I never wanted to do) requires some thinking about just how you want to go about it! Using the whole front of the shirt in the top, including the sleeves for a layered look or just squares the image on the front, a sort of 'meme quilt'? Individual squares fluffed up with batting? Individual block quilted or whole quilt quilted, as well as the usual 'where will this be used? Does it require batting or just a layer of cotton sheeting?

Use the whole front, layered?

Just use a portion to make 'meme's'?

Which ever way you choose, to keep the tee shirt portion from stretching, you will need to back them, perhaps with a muslin like fabric. Another option is that you could use an iron on interfacing, but consider how that leaves the fabric feeling a bit stiff, and determine for yourself whether, once completed, that might effect how your quilt will lay and feel. Neither option are right or wrong, just different.

I think that I would be using a fabric, were I to make one, so that I can 'stuff' area's of the image with a high loft batting or even a little bit of pillow stuffing. For instance, in the image above, I might outline the cat using a black thread and straight stitch along the outside and along the white lines, and 'stuff' the cat before closing the last line, making it 'stand-out' from the rest of the image.

Sunday, November 15, 2020

Three "Take Along" Doll Houses

I created 3 different take along doll houses (see the handles?) The houses are similar, only the way they were made is different. The first, the pink house, is entirely made of covered plastic canvas.

The second, the grey house, is made of individual walls and floor that are covered foam core and a plastic canvas roof. The second and third house walls and base were constructed using foam core, which gave both more stability, and allowed the fabrics to lay smoother on the construction material, as you can see from the photo's below.

The last, the beige house, is made of the same covered foam core, but not individual walls. Each has points in it's favor, and things that might be better. Here's the path I took.

I saw something somewhere that gave me the idea of creating these Christmas gifts. In my mind, plastic canvas seemed the perfect medium. Each sheet is 10.5x13, which I cut in half to make 10.5x6.5 sheets. Now, with a wall size, we can begin.

First, the exterior and interior wall and carpet fabrics must be chosen, and any embellishments to those walls added before you can begin construction (flowers, windows, doors...)

Once those are added to what will be the inside and outside, it's on to construction. For the first two houses I made, each wall is constructed individually, other than the base and 4th side, which are constructed together.

This meant that there was a lot of hand stitching, especially to the first house. by the time I devised the plan for the third house, hand stitching was only needed for the roofing. Each wall fabric was cut out at 11x7", the end two stood on end, and the foam core evenly cut from 6.5 to 10.5 into a triangle to make the top of the wall and the place that the roof would rest. The fabric was not cut, but left square, and sewed to the roof support (plastic canvas) to give extra support to the roof. I made a handle for the first, the second two I used button holes and cord or shoe strings to create a handing carrying handle to each of the houses.

Carpet and walls built	Where I began	First house with flap up under roof
First with flap down, lots of work...	Putting the roof cover on. Lots of work	Roof and walls are all hand stitched.
Pink house, flap up, held up by the roof	Pink house with door and windows on it	Adding flowers to house fabric
Fabric from the other side	All the pieces ready for construction	first interior walls stitched then the exterior
Starting on the roof supports	One side roof support finished	Sewing on the other side ...
Roof cover in place, button holed	Added handle, hand finishing roof	Beige, one piece surrounding
Beige sewing walls to carpet	Beige adding walls on carpet	Beige base/wall to carpet
Biege, adding foam to structure	Beige form core in, to roof	Beige ready to start roof

Tuesday, August 18, 2020

Poinsettia Wall or Door Hanging

I saw something similar, years ago, that's been percolating in my brain. Though it doesn't have to be a door hanging, could be a table decoration, however.

I looked at some poinsettia's and then started creating the leaves from the green and blue foam. I used the top from a 'cake take, to make a big circle a couple of inches or so from the end of the foam, and then a serving dish a couple inches from the other end, and a ruler to bring them together, for one petal. Another, I used only the 'cake take' circle, and a ruler to make straight lines to the end. These are for general shape, as no two leaves are exactly the same in nature. I made a smaller set using other bowls. The heavy white canvas is for the back, and various reds, including flannel and cottons/mixes will make the leaves. I thought the canvas might be stiff enough to hold the leaves up, but it's not, so I am working on a plan to make them stiffer.

I cut out 8 large leaves and 4 small. each of the small are also cut out of a mesh with sparkles, of reds and canvas. Laying right sides together and a 1/4 seam (leaving about 4" open on a straight edge), I put them together, clipped the seams and trimmed the point, turned and top-stitched along the edge. Using a cup, I cut out a small circle in green, covered it in two layers of gold mesh with sparkles which was cut about 1/2" bigger, turned the gold under and zig-zagged it onto the green along the edge. I cut out leaves from the small pattern, in different greens, and when the rain ends, I will finish those.

I'm making several of these, each will probably be made differently, as I work to the build the optimum process and materials, and I will update when I have finished.
Note: on the 2nd attempt, I put batting in the petals, a pocket for a dowel rod in the back, and sewed in place only by sewing down the center and the small petals (the center seam and the bottom half around the edge.) See photo's below.