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

 

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.

Half-Square Triangles and Quilt Designs

Scroll down to A Quilt I haven't Made Yet, to see where I'm going with these. I was finishing the squares, to set aside for later, but decided to go ahead and finish the quilt(s) after all...

Drawing the lines to sew around	Sewing around the lines drawn	Stack of sewn lines, I'm half-way
Finally, all the lines are sewn	Now begins the cutting of the lines	Blocks are now triangle squares
Squares still have a long way to go	Trimming every square...	Boxes are all trimmed to 3 1/2 or 4"
Building off the pin wheel	Building it one row at a time	The storm is nearly built
The quilt top, that's all	Can you see the chain around it	Next top 1/2 square stars
First one sewn with ripping to do	A handful of stars made	Storm Chained Finished
Hidden Patterns Done	A Heart in Stars	Patriotic Snowman
Building Blocks	First Finished Block	First Finished Block
1st Similar Top in Halves	2nd Similar Top Ready to Sandwich

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