pillowcase

I have been promising my friend Bridget a large pillow and pillowcase for years now.  I made her two small couch pillows a couple of years ago and she requested a larger pillow to match them.  A friend had given me a large used pillow, so it seemed like an easy project to promise her I’d get around to.

I finally got down to actually making the pillowcase while I was sick at home last week.  I haven’t yet done the hand-stitching, but I have until next Friday to get that done.  Why Friday?  Because its Bridget’s 40th birthday.  Perfect time to get her that pillow I’ve been promising her!

I had a bit of the flannel fabric I used to make the two small pillows with, so I used that as a starting point for the larger pillowcase.  Using all turquoise and dark brown cotton fabric, I made up an interesting patchwork design and sewed it up.

The result:

patchwork pillowcase

I think all of the fabrics are by Robert Kaufman and Michael Miller.

 

cloth napkins

For the Blim market on Easter weekend I made three new sets of cloth napkins.  Here is the first set, made using Robert Kaufman’s Forget Me Not II in blue and red, and a Moda polka dot for the reverse.

The napkins are 14.5″ squares and top-stitched in dark brown.

 

fabric stash

The second of my fabric shipments has arrived!  I really am incorrigible… I don’t need more fabric, but I just had to have it all!

skully

forget me not

monkey around

Much to my chagrin, I had to pay $14 duty for this shipment.  I’ve never had to pay duty before – does Customs just randomly decide to levy duty on packages?  Or is there some rhyme and reason behind this particular shipment being charged?

 

fabric stash

Well, now I’ve gone and done it!  I have added even more fabric to my already over-stuffed cupboard.  My fabric stash has yet again grown exponentially.

I had better get those sewing machines tuned up and get on making new projects to use up some of the fabric.  I have a show coming up on April 24th, so I definitely need more product.  Now I just have to make time and equipment line up properly with inspiration!

So, what did I buy?

From the Alexander Henry Folklorico line I got a yard each of the pink and turquoise mini calaveras…

pink skulls

turquoise skulls

and 2 yards each of orange and black of the azucar, or sugar skulls…

black azucar

orange azucar

and of the Freespirit los sanctos line, I bought a yard of the turquoise Virgin of Guadalupe…

los sanctos

and finally, from Robert Kaufman’s Forget Me Not II line, I bought a yard in each of the spring, crimson and chocolate colourways…

crimson

chocolate

spring

Sigh, I can’t wait until it all arrives and I can fondle and oogle it.  But I also know I have to do some rearranging before it arrives or there will be nowhere for it to go!

 

napkins (2)

This next set of cloth napkins features Robert Kaufman’s “new tradition” print in green and pink on one side, and Free Spirit “lollipop” on the reverse.

robert kaufman and free spirit

I love how the colours look together, and that both sides feature florals.  One side is a more sedate print, the other is totally playful.

floral cloth napkins

I didn’t have the correct cut of fabric to make my usual 15″ x 15″ cuts, so I went with 15″ x 13″ this time.  Finished, they measure 14.5″ x 12.5″.

cloth napkins

 

more more scarves

In procrastinating to avoid the 800 things I have to do around the house, I finally took photos of the scarves I finished last weekend.  Here they are in all their glory!

the rose tattoo

The above scarf as made from Alexander Henry’s the rose tattoo cotton fabric on the one side, and plain black flannel on the other.  I used crazy fringe I found at the discount fabric store for 49 cents (it had no tag, so I have no idea what its made out of but I’m pretty sure it ain’t a natural fibre!).  The scarf is 192 cm or 75.5″ long.

the crazy fringe

I think this print may be my favourite ever… and is definitely in my top 10.  I’d love it in upholstery weight so I could cover my couch in it!  I prefer the colourway with the pink roses and black eyes to this one though.

the rose tattoo

More from Alexander Henry, I made two scarves in red and black skull prints on the front and red plaid flannel on the reverse, both edged in red and black fringe.

skullfinity

skulls + bones

The fringe is very short, but I think any longer and it would have taken away from the tough aspect of the skulls.  My photos don’t show it off to perfection, but the reds of the Alexander Henry prints are the same as the red in the plaid flannel.

short fringe

These two scarves are 207cm or 84″ long – so they’re wrap around you twice sorts of scarves.

Next is Robert Kaufman’s Bad to the Bone fabric in red.  This scarf is a little bit longer at 210cm or 85″ and is unembellished.

bad to the bone

The last scarf is one of jolly rogers and the red plaid flannel.  I don’t know who designed the fabric, but its definitely not the superb quality of Robert Kaufman or Alexander Henry.  It is fun though!

jolly rogers

This scarf is also 210″ or 85″ long, with red rick-rack one one end.

rick-rack embellishment

All the scarves are 16 cm or 6.25″ wide.

Now I just have to list them in my Etsy shop.

 

mad for plaid

I didn’t get as much accomplished on my sewing day as I had hoped.  Perhaps it was unrealistic to think that I could sew all 8 of the scarves I cut the session before, but I certainly had hoped to get more than half way through.  Alas, I only finished three of the scarves.

This first one, for my sweetie, used one of the shorter pieces of red plaid flannel for the backing, and plain black flannel for the front.  Because the red plaid fabric was wider than the black, the cut piece ended up several inches longer.  Rather than cutting off the excess, I sewed the two ends together first, then folded the red plaid over onto the black side to make a sort of cuff on the ends of the scarf.

flannel scarf

The scarf ended up being 6.5″ wide and 84″ long, with the fold over cuff measuring 2 3/4″.

The second scarf I finished is the “Bad to the Bone” Robert Kaufman print.

bad to the bone

The colours in the photo don’t look like they match very well on my screen, but again that’s just the lousy photography.  In real life they look quite nice together.  I decided not to turn the excess red plaid over from back to front on this scarf.  Instead I sewed two diagonal rickrack rows on one end.  I think it adds a little something to what otherwise might have been a rather boring scarf end.

rickrack detail

Bad to the bone measures in at 82″ long.

The final scarf I managed to finish is the insanely long skull patchwork scarf.  I cut patches of various cotton skull fabrics to match the 92″ length of the red plaid flannel piece, making a finished scarf of the whole 92″ long – enough to wrap around a neck twice with plenty of length left to dangle in front and/or back.

patchwork skulls

The patches are made from prints by Alexander Henry and Robert Kaufman, featuring skulls, roses and some flaming dragons – chosen because they all feature the colours red and black, and all but the dragon print are all about skulls – yummy!

end patches

middle patches

I’m pretty darned pleased with all three scarves, and my sweetie is thrilled to be the recipient of the black flannel scarf.

The other five scarves will have to wait until March to be finished, as I’m off to Mexico for the month of February, lucky me!

 

scurvy scarves

I very much enjoyed my sewing afternoon with my guru – and got a fair bit accomplished.  Only one project got finished this session:

pirate treasure scarf construction

I started and completed a pirate treasure scarf.  The front side is a Timeless Treasures cotton print and the backing is a brown remnant that may or may not be wool.  The backing is pretty soft though, and should make for a cozy and comfortable garment.

The remnant was an odd shape, approximately 26″ wide at one point and closer to 30″ at another.  Rather than cutting two identical pieces at 7″ x 26″ to join together to form the backing, I decided to cut one a little longer than the other so as to add a little length to the scarf (finished size of 6 1/4″ x 53 1/2″).  I cut two pieces of the pirate ship fabric to the same dimensions so that the middle seams match.   And when its on, you can’t tell that the middle seam is not actually in the centre of the scarf.

pirate treasure scarf

Overall I’m very pleased with how the scarf turned out.

both sides of pirate scarf

In addition to the finished pirate treasure scarf, I cut the pieces for seven other scarves, featuring this lovely flannel plaid:

plaid flannel

The flannel was a remnant I’ve had kicking around for at least 10 years.  It was a sizeable piece of 92″ wide fabric, approximately 58″ in length and I had been saving it to possibly be part of a duvet cover or quilt backing.  But for those 10 long years it did nothing besides sit in my stash, so into soft scarf backs is has been cut.  A few small pieces had been cut from one of the sides, so not all the pieces will be the full 92″ length, some are closer to 84″.  I don’t think that will be a problem as all of the cottons for the front sides of the scarves are 42″ wide fabrics so will only be approximately 84″ when doubled.  I am also considering folding some of the flannel over to the cotton print side on a couple of the 92″ pieces to form a border on the front side of the scarves.

scarves in progress

I cut six single prints for front sides: the Jolly Rogers shown above, Alexander Henry’s “skullfinity”, “skulls & bones” and “the rose tattoo”, plus two Robert Kaufman prints called “Bad to the Bone”.  The seventh scarf will be a patchwork of the Alexander Henry prints, one of the Robert Kaufmans plus some flaming dragons.  The eighth scarf is currently frontless.  I believe that one will be a custom scarf for my sweetie.

skullfinity detail

skullfinity

skull & bones

the rose tattoo

bad to the bone

My work for my next sewing afternoon is literally cut out for me!