National Sewing Month Is Coming Up - Who Knew?

Hello, my sewing friends!  Since I have been getting back into sewing I started wondering, for some odd reason, if there was a National Sewing Month and guess what?  There is!  There is a month for everything else so why wouldn't there be a month for sewing?

I found this great infographic over at Craftsy.com that gives some fun tid bids of information about sewing that I thought were interesting. Who knew the history behind the expression, "The whole nine yards?" Not me!

On September 21, 1982, President Ronald Reagan, at the request of the American Home Sewing Craft Association that supports the sewing and crafting industries under Proclamation #4976, declared September as National Sewing Month “In recognition of the importance of home sewing to our Nation.” 

Over the years there were other Proclamations naming September as National Sewing Month and those Proclamations stated that “Tens of millions of Americans sew at home. Their efforts demonstrate the industry, the skill and the self-reliance which are so characteristic of this Nation.”  Way to go, you dedicated seamstresses!

If you are spending some time behind your sewing machine or serger today or doing any kind of craft that involves sewing, good for you! When I am sewing, I am relaxed and oh so happy and I could certainly use a little more relaxed in my life!

Happy Sewing! 

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The Easiest Pinwheel Block You Will Ever Make - PERIOD!

In the past when I have made pinwheels I have made them the traditional way but I just learned a new method, at least it is new to me, to make pinwheels and it is super fast and SEW easy!  Pinwheels are a very traditional quilt block to make and I love how they look so I am going to try my hand at this new process and see how they look.  In a few weeks I am going to show you how to do the Disappearing Pinwheel quilt block and that one is really easy and quick too - but for now, on to the Pinwheel Quilt Block!

Don't forget to wash and press your fabric before starting any quilting project.  This assures that all your cuts and seams will be even and straight so that when you are all done, everything lines up perfectly!  

To start this quilt you are going to need squares that are 5" X 5" in a few different colors or if you want this to be even easier you can use Charm Packs (squares that are pre-cut in 5" X 5" squares and packaged in batches) that you can purchase from any fabric store or Walmart has them as well.  They usually come with several different fabric patterns so you can make something really colorful and fun.  At Walmart they run about $7.99 per pack of 32.

Take one of your patterned blocks and lay it face up with a

solid block laying face down on top.  I have some here that have the edges pinked (that zig zaggy edge) and my solid color blocks are exactly 5" X 5".  When I sewed my seams, I measured by the white block since I knew its edges were exact.

Sew a 1/4" seam all the way around the two blocks

YIKES!  Don't look at how dusty and dirty my sewing machine is.  I will clean it right after I finish these blocks.

pivoting at the corners.

This is how it should look.

Place your quilting ruler diagonally on the block from corner to corner on the block you have just sewn the 1/4" seam all the way around on and cut all the way through from corner to corner.

Leaving the two pieces together on your cutting board, place your ruler on top going the other direction and cut right down the center again from corner to corner.

This is what you now have.

Take the four triangles you now have to your ironing board and set the seams by pressing flat and then pressing them open.

Do this with each triangle.  When setting your seams and pressing them, always press toward the dark side (no, this is not a Star Wars reference) like the picture above.

Lay the 4 squares out now into your pinwheel pattern by placing them in a box shape with the opposite colors touching like the picture above.

Pick up the top two squares and put them faces together and match up the seams so that they are nested together.

Sew the top 2 squares together by sewing a 1/4" seam down the side.

Then do the same with the 2 bottom squares using a 1/4" seam.

Take your top and bottom pieces and press the seams to opposite sides.  Now you are going to sew the top and bottom rows together using a 1/4" seam by putting them faces together and nesting the seams.

This is what your blocks will look like and it will take you just a few minutes to put one together.  Isn't this one so cute?

Here are my first 8 blocks and I am so happy with the way they turned out.  Now I just need to put together the other 24 blocks and then I will be ready to show you how I put the whole quilt together.  But that is for another post.

If you have experience in sewing pinwheels, I would love to hear from you.  Are you already using this method or do you prefer the traditional way?  If you haven't tried these yet, you must!  They are really fun to make.

Happy Sewing!

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9-Patch Quilt Top Continued - YAY!

Last week I posted a tutorial detailing how to make 9-patch quilt blocks out of Fat Quarters.  Today I found some scrap material that I thought would work as a border and backing for this quilt top.  

I apologize for lighting in some of these pictures.  Night-time sewing is fun but the lighting is horrible.  Sorry!

I also found a piece of batting for the fill so I pulled that out of my stash as well.

Here is a close up of the material.  I just love polka dots, don't you?

For the strips that connect the blocks, I used 2 1/2" strips and sewed them together and then cut 2 1/2" strips for the top and bottom and sewing them on as you can see above.

For the backing I just cut it so that there was a 2 inch edge all the way around and then folded it over once placing the fold at one inch.

And then folding it a second time at the 1 inch marking to create the binding.

And after sewing the edges, that was it.  So simple and now I have a lightweight and cute blanket for a brand new little baby girl that just happens to be on her way to my family in the next week or so?  You can also either tie the quilt of machine quilt as this is a small quilt and will fit through most sewing machines.  She will love it!  It was the easiest quilt to pull together and I can't wait to see her wrapped in it.

Happy Sewing!

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Simple 9 Patch Quilt Blocks From Fat Quarters

Over the last few years I worried about what I was going to do with my life once my kids were all grown and out of the house.  Well, almost all of them.  Elizabeth is still here and I am oh so grateful for her. She just lights up my life and I dread the day she leaves but I know she is ready to go.  Anyway, I had seen some cute sewing projects on Pinterest (that evil time sucking webpage that can take over your life - you know what I'm talking about) and decided to start looking into some fun and easy projects to do to fill my time.

Unfortunately, I found so many things I could probably quit my day job and just sew my life away.  I can't do that but I have taken the time to be thoughtful about what I want to do and I found this sweet project I wanted to share with you.  It is called 9 patch from fat quarters.  If you don't know what fat quarters are, don't worry.  I will explain and you will see how easy this is.  Hopefully you will find it as enjoyable as I have!  Here is where you start:

To begin you will need 2 fat quarters.  Fat quarters are pieces of fabric that are cut approximately 18" X 22" and using these measurements you will end up with eight 9 patch blocks.  If this doesn't make sense now, it will soon!  Keep in mind that all your strips will be cut 2 1/2" wide and when you cut those strips, you will be measuring 2 1/2" cuts as well.  Your seams will all be 1/4" seams so when you take 1/4" off each side of your blocks, that leaves you with a 2" block.  That's why in some of these pictures the blocks don't look the same size.  They will be once all the seams are sown.  Just thought you should know before we get started.

I always wash and iron my material before using it so that there isn't any shrinkage after I have made my project so if you haven't done that yet, I would do it now before you start this project.

Fold the 2 pieces of material in half with the selvages meeting and lay on top of each other to cut your 2 1/2" strips.  You will need to cut 5 strips of your darker colored material and 4 strips of your lighter colored material so make sure that you lay your darker color on the bottom and the lighter color on the top.  After you have cut the 4 strips of the lighter colored fabric and the darker colored fabric together you will lift away the remaining piece of lighter colored material and make your last cut of your darker material.

Trim the edge of your material that you plan to use for your end piece before you start cutting your strips so that your cuts are even.

Since your lighter material is positioned on top of your darker material, but four 2 1'2" strips.  Then lift the extra lighter colored fabric off of your darker colored fabric and cut one more 2 1/2" strip of your lighter fabric.

After cutting your strips, take a strip of your darker material and lay it face up.

Now take a strip of the lighter colored fabric and lay it on top of the first strip facing right sides together.

Sew a 1/4" seam down one side of the strips.

Press the seam toward the lighter strip.

Lay another darker colored strip on top of the lighter colored strip right sides together and sew a 1/4" seam down the side to join them together and press the seam toward the darker strip.

This strip will be your darker/lighter/darker strip of fabric for blocks with this design and you will need to make two of these.

Now you are going to sew strips that will be make the blocks with lighter/darker/lighter patch blocks.  Take a strip of your lighter colored fabric and lay it face up and lay a strip of the darker color laying face down. Sew your 1/4" seam down one side joining the two pieces together and press the seam toward the darker strip.

Lay a second light strip on top of the darker strip and sew a 1/4" seam down the side joining the pieces together and press the seam toward the darker strip.

Now you have 3 sets of strips that are ready to cut!

Lay the sets of strips down on top of each other.  They don't need to be exactly on top of each other because you are just cutting these into strips again but you are trying to line up the sides so that you can trim the edges so that you have a straight edge to measure off of.

Cut the edge making it straight.

Cut your first 2 1/2" strips.

Now, pick up this first stack that you just cut and lay it out as in the picture above. You have your first block!  Go ahead and cut 2 1/2' strips with the rest of this fabric.  This set of strips will be enough to make 8 blocks.

Now you are ready to sew a block together.  Pick up one of the strips that has the two darker blocks on the outside and put it face to face with a strip that has two lighter colored blocks on the outside and sew a 1/4" seam to connect the two together.

Press the seam to the side and you now have your first blocks sewn together.

Pick up another row of strips with the darker blocks on the outside and sew it to the strip with the 2 lighter blocks on the outside that you just sewed to the first strip.  Press the seams out.  You now have your first completed block!  Yay you!

Now you need to pick up a strip of your lighter/darker/lighter blocks and lay it face up and put a strip of your darker/lighter/darker blocks on top of the first way faces together.  Sew a 1/4" seam and press the seam to one side.  Take another strip of your lighter/darker/lighter blocks and put it face together with the darker/lighter/darker blocks and saw a 1/4" seam and press the seam to the side.  You now have a quilt block that is opposite from the first block you made.

Continue this process until all of your strips have been sewn together and when you are done you will have 8 blocks from the 2 fat quarters you have used.  You should end up with 4 blocks of each configuration.  I used 4 fat quarters since I had the extra material so I ended up with 16 blocks.  Aren't they so cute?

You can used these for a runner, a quilt, a shoulder bag, a baby blanket a wall hanging or anything else you might come up with.  Give this simple quilting pattern a try and I promise, you will be hooked!

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Five Minute Block Quilting - Super Easy Pattern!

Cute, cute, cute is all I can say about this material!  I am excited to try out this great pattern for Five Minute Blocks that I found and this material is going to make a beautiful runner or quilt top.  Actually, I have just decided that it is going to be a quilt for my daughter Elizabeth.  She will love it!  Here is what you need to do:

Cut 5" X 10" strips from each of your three coordinating fabrics.  (The pictures in this tutorial show one of the strips being  5 1/4" X 10".  This is just another method but lets stick with the 5" X 10" for these tutorial instructions.  You will be making several squares but to start out, lets just make one!

First lay face up one of your 5" X 10" pieces of fabric.

Fold the piece of material in half width wise that you want to be your triangle shape as in the picture above and place at the bottom of the first strip you laid face up.  In this picture you see that the middle piece of material is a little wider than the first coorinating fabric.  Try not to notice that please!
 

Lay the third coordinating 5" X 10" strip of coordinating fabric on top of the other two facing down or right sides together and sew a 1/4" seam along one of the long sides.

 
The edges that match up are going to be the side you sew your seam on.

After sewing all 3 pieces together, open it up.

 

Press the whole block open making sure that the pocket at the bottom is pressed open so that you now have a triangle at the bottom.  Mine is a red triangle!

Ta da!  This is what your blocks will look like after you have pressed them open.

After you have made your desired amount of blocks you can start piecing them together.  Lay your blocks out in the desired shape you want to sew them together in on the floor.  Start picking up the blocks from left to right keeping the first block on the top.  Pile up each row.

Take your first block and the second block and lay them faces together making sure that the triangles, edges and seams your are going to sew match up.  Pin the edges together and sew a 1/4" seam to connect the two squares.  Continue sewing your squares together until you have completed your first row and then move one to the next row by picking up the first and second blocks and repeating the steps above.

Now pick up your first row that you have just sewn together and put it face together with the second row (the row that you want to be connected to the first row!)  Pin the two rows together matching up the seams so that when you open it up, everything is lined up properly.  Sew a 1/4 inch seam. 

This is what you have when you are all done.  Isn't it so cute?  Now you can lay your blocks in different shapes before sewing making a pin wheel pattern or various other patterns.

You can also give your triangles a little curve by rolling the top of the triangle on one side back just a little bit and iron it well and then do this on the other side of the triangle as shown above.

Sew the two sides of the triangle down and now you have a nice "cathedral" shape on your quilt piece.  Isn't that cool?

This is a super easy pattern to throw together and I plan on finishing this office with a nice 4" border around the ends and then a nice binding.  Elizabeth will love it!

Happy Sewing!

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