Gumdrop Pillow

I recently finished a gumdrop pillow designed by Amy Butler.  http://www.amybutlerdesign.com/products/patterns_display.php?id=31

I like it, but I’m not completely thrilled with it because I don’t feel like it has enough contrast. I really wish I would have picked fabrics that didn’t match so well. But, it still looks good.

The pattern comes with two sizes. I made the smaller one in the pattern, and I’m glad I did. That big one is huge. The one I made measures approximately 12 inches high & 18-20 inches across.
And holy cow does it use a lot of batting! It was like a bottomless pit. My mom made the large one & I think she said she put 8 pounds of batting in hers. I used a wee bit over 5 pounds for mine.

I love Amy Butler’s designs, but whenever I sew one of her patterns, I seem to think that there has GOT to be an easier way to do something than the way she describes it. I almost always change some of the way I put things together. I sometimes wonder if she actually sews a whole lot because some of her directions seem overly complicated. But maybe that’s just me & my need to change pattern directions.

The boy likes the gumdrop pillow, the cats like it, and it is pretty comfy under the feet. It’s going to get some decent use in my house.

Camera Strap Tutorial

I've been without a camera strap for quite a while. While attending Quilt Market last spring & fall, I had to keep my camera in my rolling case. So every time I saw something I wanted to take a picture of (which was often), I had to find a place to stop that was out of the line of traffic, unzip the case, find the camera, take a picture, put the camera back, and zip up the case. WAY more trouble than it's worth. I decided that this year, I definitely need a neck strap for my camera.

Lots of quilters have cool looking straps, so I didn't want to buy a boring black one, and I set off to make one instead. There are tons of tutorials online on sprucing up your camera strap.  But they are ALL assuming that you already have a strap & didn't somehow lose yours many moons ago. Most tutorials are for how to make a cool cover for your existing strap. Since I really didn't feel like going to buy a strap just to cover it, I had to figure out a way to make my own.

Most camera straps use 1/2 inch nylon webbing looped through metal loops on the camera, held together with adjustable slides. I didn't have 1/2 inch nylon webbing in the house, or those little plastic slides, so I did some improvising. The downside is that my strap is not adjustable, but I can live with that.

To make my strap I used:
16 pieces of fabric 4 1/2 by 2 1/4 inches
1 piece of fabric 3 by 2 1/4 inches
2 pieces of batting or fleece 32 by 2 1/4 inches
2 keyrings
grosgrain ribbon

Start out by sewing your pieces together into two long strips. Press seams open to eliminate bulk.

Sew the 3 inch piece onto one of the strips, then trim the piece on the other end so that the strip is 32 1/2 inches. This will offset the strips so that your seam allowances don't fall in the same places in the front and back. That way you can be lazy & not worry about matching seams up. Plus you want as little bulk as possible around your neck.

I used a scrap of a bee fabric from Tina Givens that I love love love. It is the very last piece of this fabric that I have, so I wanted it to be in a prominent spot.

Place your strips right sides together along with batting or fleece. I wanted my strap to be squishy, so I used two pieces of fleece inside mine.

After sewing all layers together, turn right sides out, press, and topstitch the long sides.




Cut two pieces of grosgrain ribbon 8 inches long. Fold the ribbons in half, and insert one loop into each end of the strap. Stitch across the bottom several times to secure it. I went over mine 5 or 6 times, plus I stitched an X over the end of the ribbon. This is the biggest stress point on the strap, so you want to make sure that it's secure and your stitches won't have a chance to get loose. Put one keyring through each loop.

 

Cut two more pieces of grosgrain ribbon, 8 inches long. Burn the ends to keep them from raveling. These are the pieces that you'll use to attach the strap to your camera. Then fold the ends over to form a smaller loop. Stitch to secure, going over it 5 or 6 times. Insert the larger loop portion of the ribbon through the small metal loop on your camera.

 

Then insert the small loop portion through the large loop and pull tight to secure. Finally, put the small looped ends through the keyrings & your strap is attached to the camera, ready for some at-a-moment's-notice picturetaking action.

 

Sunglasses Case Tutorial

I've been sewing lots of little travel-type things to take with me on my trip to Houston this Friday. I sewed a cute case for my sunglasses today. I always just toss my sunglasses in my purse and they end up getting scratched. So I decided I needed a case to take with me. It was super easy and literally took 15 minutes to make.

I have lots of tiny tiny scrap "strings". I don't like to throw them out because I think they just look cool, even though I have no idea what to use them for. I decided that this small project would be great for using the scrap strings.

I started by ironing them & laying them out in a pleasing arrangement. In order to keep them together, iron a piece of freezer paper on top of them. That will allow you to pick the whole piece up.

Then iron a piece of fusible webbing onto the back and peel the freezer paper off of the front.



Trim the two long sides and iron it onto a black square. I cut two 7 inch squares for this project. After fusing the strings to the square, trim the excess off.

Lay it on a piece of batting & quilt the two layers together. I did some stright line quilting on mine to hold the strings in place. At this point, I thought it was looking pretty cool. We are having a potholder swap in my Modern Quilt Guild next month. For half a second, I wanted to keep this as a potholder for the swap. But since I have a whole month to get another potholder done & I need a sunglasses case ASAP, I forged ahead.

Lay the quilted square on top of the other cut square, right sides together, and stitch around all four sides, leaving a small opening at the top for turning. Trim the corners, turn, and press.

Stitch along the entire top side really close to the edge.

Fold the square in half, and stitch along the side and bottom and you're done! Very easy, and easily customizable. Any two 7 inch squares will do. You can use just two pieces of your favorite patterned fabric, two 7 inch squares made of patchwork, solid fabric with applique, or whatever you can think of.

Share pictures with me if you decide to make your own!

Little Wallets

I have been getting tons of compliments on my little card wallet that I have been using lately. It's so cute, useful, and super easy to make.

Next time, I will definitely not use a button. Buttonholes are just more work that they're worth. Plus, when I'm standing in line at the register putting my money away, it always takes a few extra seconds to button the button. And I feel guilty during those few seconds making the person behind me wait a little longer. The next ones are definitely getting snaps.

The hardest part about making these is choosing which fabrics to use. The pattern only calls for 2 different fabrics, but you can use up to 5 fabrics. I used 4 in mine. I had a terrible time deciding, so I made three wallets. They are so fast to make, and they would make great gifts.

These little beauties come from the "Little Wallet" pattern by Valori Wells. I've just added this pattern, plus a whole lot more in my store. Check them out at The Fabricologist. I'm still planning to get more in the near future. All of my patterns ship for free through the end of October! What other types of patterns would you like to see me carry? Let me know and I'll do some research.