Sew Fun

Ask Sewfie... advice for the sewing obsessed, because you know you need help. E-mail "Ask Sewfie" today!

Dear Sewfie,

I have WAY too much fabric. It’s cluttering up my house and life. I can’t find fabric that I’ve previously purchased. I’ve even resorted to re-purchasing fabric I knew I had, just because I couldn’t find it! I want to go on a fabric diet. How can I shed those extra yards?

- Packing an extra 100 (yards)

Dear Packing,

Diets are really pretty simple: burn off more than you consume. Simply buy less and sew more. Let’s start off by focusing on the buy less part of that equation. Just like Coke and Wendy’s French fries, you can cut back on fabric too. Starting today, tell yourself you will not buy any NEW fabric if there is a perfectly suitable alternative already in the house. (For those of you who are Extreme Fabric Dieters, you can preclude yourself from acquiring any new fabric while there is any fabric at all available in your house… good luck with that.) And that means, no, you can’t go out to your Local Quilt Shop to get that one little fat quarter in the perfect shade of purple to finish a project … even though you already have 10 other purples in the house which you deem not quite the right match. You’ve already proven you can’t be trusted to go into that shop: you will buy the one fat quarter, and probably $40 worth of other fabric that, although beautiful, fills no immediate need in your sewing queue. And, no, seeing how pretty it looks on your shelf doesn’t count as filing a need.

You know you have so much fabric, that you could meet all of your sewing needs for months (or years) without the need to buy more. You already know this to be true, so just try it. Being forced to use what you already have in your stash is actually an exercise in being creative. Instead of just buying pre-matched color ways from some collection, you will give yourself the opportunity to pick from different designers, different lines and even mix and match between modern and vintage. The results will be truly unique. And just like those pesky Pilates, all that stretching may hurt a little at first, but after a while, you will start to enjoy it and soon you will be appreciating the results.

Sewfie always practices what she preaches. On that note, here is an example: a lovely baby quilt she is working on – entirely from her stash.

The two plaids and the animal print are from a Daisy Kingdom collection (from 1994!), originally designated to be a toddler dress. The intended recipient is now 14, so that ship has pretty much sailed.
The calicos are leftovers from a holiday Dress-A-Doll charity sewing project for the Salvation Army. Sewfie made Colonial styled doll outfits, way back 8 or 9 years ago when she was mad for sewing for 18”dolls. And the brown fabric is leftover from the cover model of the Sew Fun Baby Sand Castle Quilt. This fabric was called Pumpkin & Spice, but it looked just like sand to Sewfie.

:: What can you sew from your stash? ::

Warm Stitches,

No related posts.

Ask Sewfie... advice for the sewing obsessed, because you know you need help. E-mail "Ask Sewfie" today!

Dear Sewfie,

I can’t bring myself to throw any any scrap of fabric, no matter how small. I’ve even gone through the trash after my kids clean up from a sewing project (shocking but true… they sometimes do clean up), re-claiming even the tiniest swatch that may be “still good for something”. As a result, every work surface in my sewing room is drowning in a sea of scraps… my sewing machine table, my cutting table, the book cases, even my knick-knack shelves… all covered in piles of scraps. What can I do with all of this without throwing them away?

- Scrappy

Dear Scrappy,

This easy, fun project will justify your obsessive frugality AND will make a whole stack of fun little gifts and craft fair fodder!

Table Scraps Coasters

Supplies (to make 4 coasters):

• random fabric scraps from your cutting table, totaling about 12″ square
• 12″ square fabric for backing (or 4 different 6″ squares)
• 9″ square of heavy weight interfacing such as Timtex or Pelon Peltex
• masking tape

Tools:

• 6″ wide acrylic quilting ruler
• rotary cutter
• cutting mat
• sewing machine
• iron

Instructions

Collect your scraps

Pick different colors and prints. Don’t be afraid of combinations you may think “don’t go together”.

Trim scraps

Using rotary cutter, trim the edges of your scraps. You don’t have to make perfect squares: try uneven strips for that “scrappy” look.

Sew Together

Stitch scraps together until you have an assembly at least 4.25″ x 4.25″ or larger. Press.

Line up template

Make a 4.25″ x 4.25″ template by marking your quilting ruler with masking tape.

Cut to size

Using your taped “window” as a guide, position your template over your fabric. Experiment with different angles. Cut your fabric to a 4.25″ x 4.25″ block by cutting one side, then rotating template 90 degrees. Repeat to cut all four sides. This is your coaster top.

Stitch to interfacing

Cut the heavy weight interfacing into four 4.25″ x 4.25″ blocks. Using a long basting stitch, machine sew coaster top to one square of interfacing using a scant 1/4″ seam.

Self-binding

Cut backing fabric into 5.75″ x 5.75″ squares. Place backing fabric right side down. Position coaster top right side up in the center of one backing square. Pin. Finish by self-binding with mitered corners. Click here for complete illustrated instructions on Self-Binding and How to Make Mitered Corners.

Enjoy!

This Table Scrap Coaster is working hard at a U.S. Army Nanotechnology lab, keeping its owner’s desk dry and looking stylish to boot!

Warm Stitches,

Enjoy these related posts...

1. How To Make Perfect Fabric Baby Blocks
2. Scared to Sew? Tips on Reducing Sewing Anxiety

Apple Picking 2010 inspired these Apple Pickin’ Potholders: a simple Monkey Wrench quilt block with a little extra batting in between the layers. This is one of my favorite quilts blocks because its easy and I really like the symmetry. Wouldn’t these be so cute for Teachers’ gifts? I think I see a bunch of these popping up in my sewing basket this holiday season.

If you look closely, you can see those are green apples hiding in there… Mutsu to be precise. Beautiful and delicious!

What is inspiring YOU today?

No related posts.

What to do when you run out of quilt backing fabric… oh, the dilemma. You could make a trip back to the quilt shop. But, that takes time and the baby is sleeping now. Plus, you know if you set foot in that place you are going to end up spending another $50 on some adorable, albeit unnecessary, fabric that you simply couldn’t live without.

Our friend Andi solved this problem uniquely when she stitched up our Baby Sand Castle Quilt.
She only had about a yard of what would have been an otherwise perfect backing fabric – except that the pattern called for at least 48″. So, she made an extra Castle block inside a strip of contrasting fabric. She cut the one yard of backing fabric that she did have into two different sized pieces and inserted the “castle strip”. The result is a quilt that looks as charming on the back as it does on the front.

And didn’t she do a beautiful job on the quilting, too? Look at the “waves” traversing the blue border strips. Thanks for the great idea, Andi! Please say “Hi!” to her at her blog, Laundry on the Line. Andi writes thoughtfully about “living simply in a complicated world”. This is why she didn’t get stressed out when she ran out of fabric. I hope you enjoy this excerpt from one of my favorite posts, Finding Rest in the Every Day (Shucking peas on the porch):

And my chores don’t seem like chores any more, but opportunities to rest and unwind my mind. Hanging laundry on the line is a chance to pray…doing dishes is an opportunity for meditation…weeding the garden is time to bask in the sun….

And shucking peas is a chance to breathe deeply and enjoy…..

Who knew there could be such wisdom in peas?

No related posts.