Juicy Bits

161: glamping bohemian style

Have you heard of glamping?  Probably not.  Everyone seems to go "huh?" when I say it, so I'll enlighten you.

It's camping but with style. i.e. glamour camping.  And if you know me, you know that styling a campsite isn't really a stretch.  Everything is better when done with a little flair, right?

So, you've gathered it's not exactly "roughing it".  In general, when we go camping I have rules:

1. Queen size air mattress

2. Wooded campsite

3. Campground must have flushing toilets

4. Campground must have hot showers

I think for most, glamping is about bringing a level of refinery to camping.  Real dishes.  Bed linens, not sleeping bags. Extra furniture. Etc.

For me it was about creating a look.  And if you remember, I've been lusting after the look of a gypsy caravan.  Very bohemian and colorful.  That's what I went for here.  

How'd I do?

Now, please don't be fooled by these pictures.  Our campsite looked like this for about 15 minutes total.  Then the rain came, and the trying to cook for 9 people (we went with my parents and some friends), and the kids playing in the mud... but the color was always there.

This was the "living room" tent which was useful when it was buggy, rainy, or we didn't want the kids playing in the dirt.  Sadly it collapsed from the weight of the rain on the roof after a few days and was no more.

If you were wondering, we went camping at Half Moon Pond State Park, VT.  It was a lovely quite campground with a nice smallish pond.  The big drawback was it was far from anything, and with 3 kids under 6, we really wanted to go "do something" more than just hang at the campsite.  We did go to Burlington which was cool.

It was a fun trip, but I think once a year camping with the kids is my limit.  The packing and unpacking is just too much...

JT

145: i *heart* cookies

Yum, yum, yum!  

The day before Valentine's Day we had a Cookies and Milk party for some friends and family.  As I mentioned before, really it was for no other reason than I love to bake and I love to style parties.  So, fun!

Ever since I saw this post, I've been wanting to have one of my own.  One of my favorite details was the retro paper straws from Kikkerland.  I baked probably more than 700 cookies so there was plenty for everyone to take some home with them. 

The kids decorated their own heart sugar cookies.  

 

And I made a matching hostess apron to wear.  It was loosely based on the Flirty Skirty pattern.

 
 I cannot tell you how many I ate that day and the week following.  But, I could totally eat more.  Like a lot more.

The favorite of all the guests was Martha's Carrot Cake Sandwiches from the Cookies book.

But the infamous NY Times Chocolate Chip ones were also very popular (and really a meal in and of themselves).

JT

 

142: peaches and cream party part two: the day

And now on to the events of the day.

First came set-up.  It was a total scramble since I had so little time.  It was definitely a treat to have the party on a farm, but I will hesitate to have another away from home because it took so much advance planning.

You can see the tent area we had.  It was really nice that it was a separate fenced area since the farm was crowded that day.

I mentioned we were so lucky to have a nice sunny day, but, man, it was windy.  Everything had to be tightly secured down.

When the guests first arrive the could feed the animals carrots or do some coloring of farm pictures.  Guess how much coloring was done?

Next it was time to go peach-picking.  While waiting for the hay ride, there was much silliness and some rousing games of ring-around-the-rosy.  Then we loaded onto the hay wagon and enjoyed a scenic ride around the farm.

There was a little instruction on which peaches were ripe and we were dropped off in the peach groves and got to roam about filling our little baskets.  With a little help from the moms and dads, the kids had a great time.

 

 

We had a little wait until the hayride came back to get us, so the kids did a little tree climbing...

 

Then we headed back to the tent for food and treats.
 
 
 
 There were a variety of sandwiches, fruit kebobs, and snacking stuff.

 

The yellow jackets turned out to be a huge problem.  They were everywhere.  We couldn't put out the food until the last second and they swarmed the sweet stuff.  I had planned on peach lemonade in a big punch bowl, but we quickly had to nix that idea because they would go crazy for it for sure.  Luckily, I had back-up juice boxes.  The idea of the bees eating the food didn't gross me out (you can see the little holes they ate in the candy below) but I was worried one of the kids would get stung because they're so aggressive.  We lucked out and no one did.  Had I thought of it ahead I would have brought sugar-water traps to put out and lure them away from us...

 

Candles were hard to keep lit...

But we pretened.

The cupcakes had little versions of cakeballs like the cake pops I made based on Bakerella's apple design.  The pops were adorable, but seriously time consuming.  Luckily my baking sister was in town to help me out.

The ice cream was another snafu.  We rented an ice cream cart and I called ahead to reserve the dry ice and they said don't worry just come by and get it that morning.  Well, I went by and they were out!  And no on else was open on Sunday.  So we had to make do by keeping the ice cream in the farm's freezer then just using regular ice.  It was pretty melty.  That was me trying to be relaxed about the details and I learned I'm just better off obsessing and forcing them to take a reservation.

After the food, the kids got to enjoy all the activities.  The farm was having it's fall festival and we bought wrist bands for all the guests.  That meant as much hayriding, tractor "train" riding, pony riding, hay pile climbing, bouncy house jumping, and corn kingdom playing as they wanted.  Theo would have ridden around on that "train" all day if we'd let him.  And Aurora loved the ponies.

 

 


 Then we just let the party peter out.  We took down the decorations and packed up, but a bunch of the families stayed as long as they wanted.

My two kids were totally exhausted but very happy by the time we got home.  (So was I, now that I think of it...)

JT

 All photos are by Christianne Ebel.
 

141: peaches and cream party part one: the details

 

Here at long last are the details of Aurora's 5th birthday party.

 

The theme: peaches and cream

The location: a farm

The activities: peach picking, eating ice cream, and much more.

 

I'm happy to report that we were blessed with gorgeous, sunny (if somewhat windy) weather.  That's the totally stressful part of planning an outdoor party away from home.  I had all of 1 1/2 hours to decorate the tent.  Not pretty.  Thankfully I had some helpful family around.  The tent had giant peach paper lanterns strung up with felt leaves.

I also made some fabric garlands that ran across the support bars with mini peach lanterns hanging down.  Totally didn't anticipate the amount of wind so it was hard to get a decent picture, by my friend Christianne did it again.

The yellow jackets dug all the sweets I made: cupcakes, fruit bouquet, peach shaped cake pops (a la Bakerella), and take home candies.

The tables were covered with plastic (stapled because of the wind) and then fabric runners.  I love all the different peachy fabric I was able to collect for this party.  I used them for the runners, for garlands, for the buffet tablecloths and to line the baskets.  I wanted it all to have a patchwork-y feel so I used a lot of different prints.  I think I could cut up the tablecloths and made an adorable quilt someday.

 The centerpieces were wooden boxes (my dad made them) that I painted and put chunks of wheat grass in.  I originally saw the idea here.  I love that they were fresh and green but not floral arrangements that would be expensive and have to be made the day before.  The flowers are made from Raffia with little looms that I first saw from Cathy of Cal.

The peach picking meant everyone got to go home with their own fabric-lined basket full of peaches.  

And since my daughter loves it so much, we had an ice cream cart (a whole issue, read part 2) with cone wraps to match the color scheme.

 

I designed the invitations and all the signage myself.

 

Please tune in soon for Part 2, run down of the events of the day...

JT

All photos are by Christianne Ebel.

140: I won and so can you

I entered a little party planning contest and won third prize.

Over at Creative Hostess they had a Most Adorable Kids Party of 2009 contest and someone suggested I enter.  Why not?

 

And Theo's birthday came in third place.  

Anywho, The prize I won was an adorable printable birthday set from Parties by Hardie.  Aren't they cute?

  

And, I'm passing it on to you!  All you have to do is leave a comment and tell me what theme you're planning for your next kids' birthday.

I'll pick a winner on Feb 10th at midnight, so enter before then.

And I promise my next two post will be of Aurora's birthday which was way back in September.

JT

138: under the sea nursery

Hey, that rhymes!  I'm a poet and I didn't even know it.

This is Theo's room before the "big boy bed".  It was really designed as a nursery in the true sense of the word.  He slept in our room for over a year, but I loved to sit in the rocker and nurse him.

 

 

This before shot is how the previous owners had the room.  

 

Of course I made lots of things in the room.  I've shown you the quilt and numbers collage before, but here are a few more:  

Pillows, roman blinds, a turtle and two fish, covered lampshade, and, of course, the border mural. 

Instructions and all the supplies you might need for blinds can be found here.  There's a bit of math involved, but they're really not that difficult.  The turtle and fish are from patterns by Rumpled Quiltskins.

The border was another of my past-the-edge-of-sanity projects.  

Truly.  

It's painted from a stencil, but instead of using one color for the waves and one for the background, I felt the need to make it more like actual tiles by painting each square individually with a range of blue hues.  And no, one coat wasn't enough.  They all needed 2-3 coats.  Do you have any kind of idea the kind of time that takes?  Well, I do, and it's no picnic.  100s of hours.  

And this is how I spent the nesting energy of my second pregnancy.  About 1/2 way through I wanted to quit, but I can be plenty stubborn when preggo.

Here's hoping Theo develops a love for fish.  Right now it's all trucks, race cars, and trains.  I really don't want to have to change this any time soon.

JT

136: in print

So, if you happen to be perusing the pages of Fon's and Porter's Love of Quilting this month,

 You'll come across this on page 63:

 

That's my very own magazine ad for Timber.  Aw yah.

I'm getting so excited, it won't be long now until it hits stores.

And, yes folks, my husband and I did carry our couch into a field so I could take pictures.  

JT

126: construction party part 1: the details

Can we fix it?  Yes, we can!

Can we build it?  Yes, we can!

Theo is crazy about Bob the Builder.  It isn’t even really the character, so much as all things construction.  Whenever he sees any kind of construction vehicle, he says “Bob, the builder, BOB THE BUILDER!!”

So I knew that was the way to go for his birthday this summer.  And, despite the stress of having to leave town and get back the night before the party, everything worked out perfectly.

Since I have so many gorgeous pictures (courtesy of my good friend, and amazing photographer, Christianne Ebel again), I’m going to split this up again like I did for Aurora’s monster party.

Get ready for a ton of photos.

So as you can see right away, the colors I used were brown, orange and yellow.  Or more descriptively, chocolate, pumpkin, and mustard.  Remember we started off with these invitations.

When people first arrived they had a little hint at what was to come.  I made the barricades by painting over some wooden sawhorses we had.

I used lots of fabrics (big surprise...) for decorations.  The Be an Man collection and some Tot Town from Michael Miller (as well as a few other construction-related ones I had) added to theme.  

The food table had a giant runner-style cloth that was super easy to make and had quite an impact.

Some other details to the food display included: nuts and bolts, a dump truck full of pretzels, color coordinated m&ms, and my cute little "dig in" signs.

 

And lets not forget the sweets.  The cupcakes had little toppers with graphics I designed.  

And then the oh-so-frustrating-to-make-at-the-last-minute-but-undeniably-delicious tool cookies.

The kids' tables were set outside on the deck.  

Again I used graphics I designed to decorate the cups and the napkins/silverware.  I put a nut and bolt in each bowl to prevent any wind issues (turned out there were none).

Each child had their own personalized hard hat.  

There was a sand table for lots of digging fun.

The deck was decorated with big balloons and traffic cones.

And I made (with lots of help from my mom) a fabric caution tape garland because I couldn't bear the thought of a plastic one.  

You'll read more about it in the next post, but we had a visitor.  

And there was coloring.

We put out all the tools and trucks etc. we could come up with.

Each child when home with a bucket full of goodies.  

 

It included A construction site sticker book, matchbox vehicle, and a small wooden construction puzzle (which Theo is currently obsessed with). 

And a thank you dump truck cookie.

Stop by in a day or two and see just exactly how the day played out.

121: consider this

your official invite.  If you'll at Quilt Market, come meet me.  I mean it.  I'll be hanging at the Windham booths.

Life's crazy with all the prep, but I had a little fun today.  I actually got to drive out and visit the Windham offices and warehouse.  I guess I'm a total fabric geek, but it was thrilling for me.  Seeing all those bolts stacked up, and inside seeing all the different storyboards and swatches...

I can't wait to see stacks of my own fabric. 

JT

***Notes: 

The bag hanging on the chair is made from the Catalina Sling pattern by Pink Sand Beach Designs.

The Dress is the Gracie pattern from Sandi Henderson.

The larger bag is Black Forest by Melly & Me.

116: can you dig it?

If you were wondering if we had a big "do" for Theo's birthday, well, of course we did.  I tried to restrain myself, because, after all, he's only two.  So simple but stylish was in order.

I can't share all the details yet, since I don't have the pictures to show you yet.  But as you can tell from these invites, it was a construction theme.

I didn't design the invitations myself.  They are from Tinyprints.  So adorable!

And I decided since I wasn't doing the work myself, I needed it to be a complete set with thank yous and even address labels.

I promise more soon...

JT

113: at last

Well gosh, it seems like eons have passed since I started working on these designs, but finally I get to show and tell.

So here she is.  My first fabric collection, Timber.

OK, it's not exactly ALL of her yet.  I'll try to get up a post with every print in the next few days (I hope).  For now you can enjoy that little title drawing and here is an electronic version of a free quilt pattern we'll be offering.  It has every print in it, so if you squint, you'll get to see it all.  :)

If you're a shop owner, the collection is ready for order from Windham Fabrics right now!  Woo hoo!  And if you're just a regular shopper like me....well, you'll still have to wait until late fall.  Sorry.

JT

99: Quilt Market part 4: more of the same

So, at Quilt Market I was so lucky to meet some really fabulous people.  It's amazing how quickly you can instantly connect when you share one big common interest.  

On Saturday night I went out to dinner some fun ladies that I didn't know before, but now feel like I'm good friends with:  Mirynda (Fabric Hound), Renee, Kristen (Gocks's Frocks), Jamie (Maricopa Fabrics), and her mom Lori.  We went to this really nice restaurant up on hill looking out at this view:

Food was delicious and we even had a a free bottle of champagne sent over to us by the Seven Islands guys (who import Echino) because apparently Mirynda did a lot of shopping with them that day!

We rode down a incline tram thingy afterwards.  Some of them thought the giant foot long pencils were too cool and brought them back for the kids.  Things got a little funny later with the "knitting" with them...

Anyway, I've got a ton more booth pictures to share, so here we go:

Indygo Junction Patterns (the tunic Myrinda was wearing above was so in demand I couldn't even get a copy)

Vanilla House Designs.  

Check out their cute baby "activity" mat.

Lecien.  Those adorable bags are a free pattern by Melly and Me.  I'n sure I'll be making one in the near future.

Loved these pinwheels at Lakehouse.

This is Amy Hamberlin's Kati Cupcake booth.  Too cute.

And while we're looking at patterns, we can't forget Favorite Things.  I especially love the coat.

Art Gallery Fabrics had a really beautiful vibe.

And, of course, the yumminess over at the Seven Island section.

Heather Ross had a book signing, but sadly I missed it.

Oliver + S always has such a beautiful clean aesthetic. 

It was sad how few pictures I got of the Free Spirit section.  Just a couple quilts.  the first is Dena Designs new collection, Monaco, for which Scott Hansen designed/made the quilt.

And Erin McMorris's new collection, Wildwood.

OK I'm almost done with the Market stuff.  I have some shots of the beautiful quilts on display that I'll share next time.

JT

98: Quilt Market part 3: getting busy

I feel like this Quilt Market coverage is dragging on a bit.  But then again I've only been home a week.

Friday and Saturday were actually pretty busy for me.  I was peddling my fabric line wherever I went!  To share a bit about my experience doing that, since some people have already asked, it was well received.  I was VERY well prepared and met with plenty of companies, and I must say that everyone I spoke to was nothing but professional, courteous, and even encouraging.  Even if they weren't interested.  I know that's not the experience everyone has had, so I was grateful.

So, today I'm going to work on showing you more of the booths (in no particular order) that I actually got photos of:

Bari J., and her beautiful new Full Bloom line.

And Genvieve's Flower Bucket.

Lila Tuller won best new exhibitor for her booth.

The adorable Pink Fig Patterns.

Taylor Made Designs...love the robes.

A little section of the Moda Home stuff.

The soothing and elegant Sweetwater booth in the Moda section.

Serendipity patterns.  I couldn't resist the Wonderland trench coat (you can't really see it) and had to buy the pattern.  I'm sure you'll be seeing my version soon.  :)

This is Brandon Mably sewing in his and Kaffe Fasset's booth.

Well, that's it for tonight.  I'll be back with more later.  Hope you're having a great holiday weekend.

JT

97: Quilt Market part two: tweet tweet

Yes, there was a bit of tweeting going on a market.  And yes, I succumbed to peer pressure and signed up for Twitter when I got home.  Soon I'll figure out how to add a little button on my sidebar, but for now, I'm jessica_levitt if you want to follow me.

So, I realized that on my last post, I forgot to share my "most embarrassing moment at market" story.  Why do I tell you this, you ask?  I dunno.  Because I guess I feel I've got to be able to laugh at myself.  Anyway, it's not a huge big deal.  I'm walking over to the hotel for the fake Fabric 2.0 party (wearing the not-comfortable-but-cute shoes I wouldn't have worn had I known I was walking) when I realized my shirt was on inside out!  Now it was a mesh material that looks the same on both sides and has a sort of "deconstructed" look anyway, so since the tag was hidden under a cardigan I'm sure no one noticed.  (I excused myself to the bathroom right away to remedy the situation.)  But here I am meeting all these great designers face-to-face for the first time and I nearly did it with the stupid hanger ribbon thingys showing.  Brilliant.

OK, now I'll start showing you some of the actual booths.  I didn't get pix of them all (impossible) but I'm discovering I have a lot so it might take quite a few posts to get through this all.  :)

I'll start with Amy Butler since she's the biggest celebrity there.

I didn't actually meet her.  I could have, but then I just felt like she talks to hundreds of people and why does she need one more?  But I did buy her new software.  If nothing else I'll use the fabrics that are loaded in on EQ6.

Next up is the lovely Paula Prass.  I got the opportunity to speak with her on several occasions and she is as gracious and fabulous in person as you might imagine.

As you can see, her booth really "popped" because of all the bright colored fabric.

Next to her (the Michael Miller designers each had one of the 4 corners at the ends of their "section") was Patty Young.  And I even got my picture with her!

It was her birthday on friday so you can see a few balloons peeking out.

On the other end of Michael Miller was Laura Gunn's fabulous both.  Her gorgeous paintings translated so well into fabric and I cant wait to get my hands on some.  Plus, she was just as sweet as can be!

And rounding out the MM designers was a quick look at Pillow and Maxfield's Whimsy.

Alright, that's enough for tonight.  I'll be back with more later...

JT

95: the glitz and the glam

In keeping with the theme of some of the more "retro" sewing I've done, here's a little look at the glitzy world of ballroom gowns.

I've mentioned before that my husband and I dance.  In fact, that's how we met.  Anyway, we used to do it a lot more before we had kids.  We took several lesson a week.  Did some shows and a little teaching.  And even competed once.

But to do a show right, you need the right look.  And it's showy for sure.  Lots of rhinestones. 

And the dresses cost a ton.  Thousands of dollars.  Not exactly in the budget...but I'm always up for a sewing challenge.

So, I set out to learn about the construction of such dresses.  It's not easy because they're all stretch material and you really have to consider how they move etc.  And don't get me started on the rhinestones.  There are literally thousands of them on there.  And each one put on individually by hand.

That's why I'm in awe of Dancing with the Stars (No, I don't watch it anymore cause really who has 4 hours a week to dedicate to one show?).  They churn those costumes out so quickly and they are NOT easy.

Anyway, these two gowns are 2 of the ballroom ones I've made.  Maybe someday I'll show you the latin ones (a bit racier).  They're both my own design adapted from parts of patterns here and there.

The blue one I actually won a contest from the big name in couture ballroom - Chrisanne.  I painted the design onto the dress with fabric paint.  Considering it's not really intended to be stretchy, it's held up remarkably well.

Here's an action shot of me actually dancing the gown.  I wish I had more good ones (this is scanned and I seriously need Photoshop to revamp it a bit) to show you but really most of them pre-dated good digital cameras.  Just sitting on the dressform doesn't really show you how much volume and movement they have .

Well, folks I think I have to sign off until after Market...I promise to come back with my creative juices all revved up!  Hopefully I'll take some of that inspiration and translate it to actual projects...

Ciao.

JT

93: saying it out loud

OK, deep breath... 

Here I go.

I’ve designed a line of fabric.

 

There I said it.  Now you know.  Notice I said I did it, not “I’m trying to do it”.

Now, the trick is to sell my designs to a manufacturer.  So I’m off to Quilt Market in a few short weeks.

I’m being honest with you, even though it’s putting me on the line a bit.  It’s a real possibility that I’ll come back having heard a lot of “it’s just not what we’re looking for right now”.  I thought about waiting to tell you all until I have a contract in my hand, but I do believe that saying it “out loud” makes it more real. 

I believe in myself and I believe that my designs are good and are something lots of you would like to buy.  (Well, most of the time anyway).  So, even if I don’t get a contract, I will share them with you and hopefully I won’t feel like a failure.  I wish I could show you now, but I don’t think I’m supposed to.  :)

But, one thing this means is: I get to go to Market!  Yay!  I am so excited to meet some amazing people and be inspired by all the overwhelming creativity.

So, who else is going?  Seriously, I don’t know anyone who will be there.  Who will I hang out with?  Who can I say “Oh my God, did you see THAT?” to?  Don’t you want to be my new friend?

Whoever you might be (designer, fellow blogger, or occasional reader), if you’d like to get together and meet and hang out a little (admittedly I won’t have gobs of free time), just drop me a note.  If you’re not going, I promise to take lots of pictures and report back on all the details…it will be just like you were there!

 

And while I’m discussing career stuff (and I don't want to leave you without a picture), here’s a birthday crown I custom made and sold to a very nice mom who found my blog.  (If you’re new to my blog, check out the tutorial to make one yourself)  I get a lot of  “you should sell those” from family and friends…so, yay, I actually did!

 

JT

90: easter goodies

This was my easter creation for Aurora.  I guess you can ignore all my comments about not sewing clothes for the kids much.

I really love this dress, particularly because I could use lots of my favorites from my stash.

She had quite a few compliments on it, and it's funny because she's come to expect that.  She told me that people had better make a fuss about how pretty her dress is.

   

I created my own pattern for this dress.  The inspiration is this dress from Chasing Fireflies.  As you can see it's not really the same style, just shares the ruffled back.  By the way...I love the kids clothes at Chasing Fireflies, but they're SO expensive. 

I'm wondering if this is something others would like to buy a pattern for.  It's not the easiest dress ever.  The actual sewing level isn't that high, but it's time consuming making all those ruffles.  I already have some modifications in mind, but I wondered if it was too intimidating for anyone to want to buy.

You're my market research, so speak up if you're interested...

I didn't make an outfit for Theo, but of course, he looked darling.

Here's the whole happy family:

So, I'm wondering....didn't it used to be warm for Easter?  I have all these pictures of me outside in short sleeves and I know my dad would have made me suffer through the cold like I did to my kids, but I really don't remember that.  I should probably just make my kids do a photo shoot like 2 weeks after Easter on a nice day.

Oh, and I ordered these awesome bunny cookies from cakebox cookies and they really rocked.  I mean so delicious, and I'm really picky.  I wanted to test them out as a potential source for party favors and I will definitely order again.

JT

88: sweet ruffles

Happy Easter to all who celebrate.  And, Happy Spring to everyone in this hemisphere!

This is a little preview of the easter dress I made for Aurora.  It's my own pattern and you will see it in it's entirety very soon.   I have to process the tons of pictures I took today.

It doesn't have the high twirl-a-bility factor that her Xmas one did, but what it lacks in that department, I think it makes up for in poofy ruffles.  Tons of 'em.

It was fun using some of my favorite girly fabrics from my stash.  I think I only bought 1 yard of fabric for the main body of the dress...

Have a great day...

JT

87: do you spoon?

I actually think that spoonflower itself is becoming a verb: to spoonflower.  Much to my delight, I finally spoonflowered some fabric.  But, alas, it was just a boring color test. 

 

It does look kinds pretty though, doesn’t it?  Maybe I’ll make something out of it anyway…

 

Now, for those of you who don’t know what Spoonflower is, well, where have you been?  No, really, I think I have a few family and friends type readers who aren’t deep in the crafty world who might not have heard of it.  So, it’s this awesome company that takes whatever design or picture you want and prints them onto quilter’s cotton fabric.  Sweet, huh?  And it only costs $18/yard.  So now anyone can be a fabric designer.

 

Of course I’m wondering if this adds another level of complexity to quilting since I can now design a quilt and if I can’t find the exact right fabric…well, just get it printed.  Hmmm, I’m not really sure this is a good thing….

But it will be very exciting to see my own designs on fabric, and then make something with them.  The colors did indeed come out totally different, so I’m glad I took the time to do the test.

 

Oh, and those of you who have spoonflowered fabric before…what did you do with it when you got it?  Did you wash and press it?  It feels a little stiff and kinda icky to me right now, but I’m wondering if this goes away with washing.  I think I’m afraid to wash it because it feels like the color will just wash away (I know it won’t, but try telling that to my sometimes irrational brain).

JT

84: baby blanket gift set - part 1

I've decided to do this tutorial in two parts, because I have a feeling I'm going to get pretty wordy and I don't want it to be "the post that never ends."  So this first part is how to make the blanket and part 2 is how to make the bib, burp cloths, and onsie.

I think this makes a really great baby shower gift.  It's personal and homemade, but still elegant and doesn't take as long as a whole baby quilt.

There are, of course, a million different ways this could be done...I'll give you my reasoning as I go along and you can decide for yourself if you agree.

This gift set consists of:

1 large baby blanket (about 34" x 38")

1 reversible bib

2 burp cloths

1 embellished onsie

I chose the size of the blanket to maximize the use of the fabric and because I think it's a nice size since it's larger than many receiving blankets and can be used well into the preschool years.

Materials:

* 1 yard of quilters cotton for blanket front

* 1 yard of quilters cotton for blanket binding

(I'll warn you right now that I designed this project to minimize waste and it's just barely enough fabric.  If you don't like to live that close to the edge and like a little more wiggle room, you might consider getting 1 1/4 of the binding fabric or omitting that burp cloth)

* 1 yard of plush minkee dot fabric - 64" wide (this is enough for 2 blankets)

* 3/8 yard nice thick terry cloth (you can buy a towel on clearance or wherever and use this.  It shows on the burp cloths so it's nice to have pretty colors)

* 1.5" of velcro

* onsie in the size of your choice (I recommend 3-6 or 6-9 months)

* Coordinating thread

* Pattern for bib

Instructions:

1.  Prewash and all fabrics and press the cotton.

2.  Cut the minkee fabric in half widthwise (so you have two pieces that are about 32"x36").  A good idea is to use the dots as a line so you cut straight.  Also straighten the store cut edges the same way so your pieces are squared.   Set aside one half for your next blanket.

        

3.  Layout the minkee fabric and your blanket front fabric one top of each other, wrong sides together.  It's important to line up 3 edges as close as possible so all the leftover fabric is on one side (instead of centering them).  

4.  Pin frequently around all edges.  (It's important to pin a lot because the minkee might stretch as you sew)

5.  Trim the cotton fabric so it fits the minkee.  It's possible you may have to trim 3 sides a little (or even trim the minkee down) depending on how accurately they were cut in the store.  Leave them pinned together until the binding is sewn on.

6.  Next, using the pattern, from the binding fabric, cut out one bib piece.  Make sure to cut it close to the selvege edge, wasting as little fabric as possible.

7.  Cut out a rectangle 9" x 16 1/2" below the bib, also near the selvege (so the longer 16 1/2 runs along the selvege).  Cutting these first allows you to use every last little piece of the remaining fabric for the binding.  If you don't want it to be so close, you can omit the rectangle and make the gift set with just one burp cloth.

8.  Cut the remaining binding fabric into five 6 5/8" strips.  You should get one full length strip (42" long) and 4 shorter ones (about 33" long).

(I designed this blanket with a 1 1/2" double fold binding.  The reasons were that I like the look of the thick frame around the edge and it makes the blanket slightly bigger because it goes off the edge of the minkee etc.  I did it double fold since it was going to hang off the edge and I felt it needed some body.  You could use less fabric by making it skinnier or single fold.)

  

   

9.  Next, join the binding strips.  I do this on the diagonal.  Lay the ends of two strips together perpendicular and right sides together as shown.  Mark the diagonal across the top strip and sew on this line.  When you open you should have one long strip.  Trim the seam allowance and press them open.  Repeat with the other strips until you have one long strip.

  

10.  Press the binding in half down the entire length.  Fold in one short edge towards the wrong side about 1/2" and press.

(Normally, I would do this part of a binding on the diagonal as well, but actually there isn't enough fabric.  If you bought extra, you might want to do it that way.)

11.  Start sewing the binding on in the middle of one edge.  Open up the binding and pin the bottom raw edge of the binding along the raw edge of the blanket on top of the cotton side.  Sew through only this one layer of the binding for about 3".  Use a 1/4" seam.

12.  Close up the binding and begin sewing through both layers at about 2 1/2".  (This leaves a little flap of the top layer open to tuck the other end in when you get there.)   I don't really pin the binding as I sew along, so it can stretch a little as I go.

   

11.  Next up, your first corner.  This is the hard part, brace yourself.  :)  No really, its not that bad.  First mark 1/4" from the end of the edge you're sewing with a pin.  Sew up to that point and stitch a few stitches in place there (or backstitch).  Lift the needle and foot and pull the corner out from under the machine a little bit (I don't cut the thread, but you can).  Now measure 2 3/8" off the edge of the blanket and mark it on the binding (with a pin or marker).  (NOTE, you are measuring from the edge of the blanket, not 1/4" in where you stopped sewing.)

   

12. Fold the binding out to the right so it forms a 45 degree angle down towards the corner of the blanket, as shown.  Now fold it back down along the new edge, lining up the mark with the corner of the blanket.  The binding will hang off the end of blanket a little as shown.

13.  Turn the blanket and start sewing the new edge 1/4" down from the mark.  If you've done this right it should be exactly where you stopped sewing on the last side.

14.  Sew the sides and repeat the corner process for all 4 sides.

15.  As you near your starting point, trim the binding so it overlaps where you started by about 2 inches or so.  Tuck it into the little flap you made before so you don't see the unfinished edge anymore.  Continue to sew right over the flap through all the layers (the picture shows me holding back the edge so you can see), until you overlap your initial stitching.  Now the binding is secure all the way around.

16.  Next press the binding out so that the seam allowances go towards the binding.

17.  Now topstitch close to the edge of the little flap you made at the start.  This stitching goes across the thickness of the binding and it closes up the little flap.

18.  Fold over the binding and pin it in place, starting in the middle of one side.  How I pin is to stick a pin about 1/8" in on the edge of the binding and then through the seam.  This way you have just the right amount of overlap.  If you fold it over too much or too little you're going to have problems, especially with the corners.

(NOTE: I'm sewing the back of the binding by machine.  I usually do this even on my quilts, but I understand most people do this part by hand.  That's fine if you want, but really I don't know how it's going to hold up just sewn to the minkee.  I assume it should be fine, but no guaruntees. )

 
I usually just pin and sew one side and corner at a time.  This way I'm no holding a blanket with a million pins.  After I get around a corner, then I pin that next side.

   

19.  To pin the corner, keep pinning up the side and the biding will naturally make a 45 degree angle as shown.  Make sure that the little excess flap of fabric all goes up into that angled part...I've shown a little peek.  This is important because if it stays tucked under the first side, you'll still be able to make the corner, but your front and back miters won't be in the same exact place and when you go to stitch them it won't work.  This seemed funny to me at first because it makes one half of your corner thicker (more layers) than the other, but trust me, it's best.

20.  Now fold down the next side so you get a nice mitered corner.  Your angle should end in about 1/8" from the edge of the first side of binding.  If that doesn't make sense, don't worry too much, just try to make a nice pointed corner.  You'll probably have to play with it and adjust it a bit, because it's really easy to get a corner that's "cut off" or not pointed like this:

With a little fussing you should be able to get it fairly pointy.

21.  Now you're going to sew on the front side of your blanket (cotton side).  You will "stitch in the ditch" where the front is joined to the binding.  That just means sewing right along the seam so that you almost don't see it.  You've really got to take your time as you do this and every once in a while check that you are catching the back of the binding in this seam.  If you didn't pin well it's possible to run off the edge on the back and you'll have to go back and fix this.  When I am sewing this I am able to actually feel through the blanket and feel that the binding is overlaping the seam just the right amount.  If you press your fingers along the seam you'll feel a ridge where the binding ends on the back.  Just make sure that's in the right place.

22.  Stop sewing when you get all the way in the corner and turn the blanket.  Continue down the next side.  You'll want to check the corner as you go, because this is the easiest spot to accidentally go off the edge.  It might seem difficult at first and you may have to go back and fix some spots, but I promise it gets easier with practice and if you take your time, you'll be fine.

23.  Since I only pin one side at a time, after I get around a corner, I'll pause and pin the next side and corner.  You want to repeat this for all four sides of the blanket until the binding is secured all the way around.

24.  Now you're almost done!  On each corner you want to go back and sew down the miter.  Topstitch close to the diagonal on the side that is thicker (has more layers of fabric).  Now press the whole binding and your blanket is complete!

I hope that makes sense to you all, and remember, please send me pictures if you make one.

Next up, the bib, burp cloths, and onsies to finish the gift set.  

JT