Saving the universe one project at a time!
We are getting ready to start school next week. I thought this pillow would be a fun back to school decoration or even a thoughtful gift for a teacher. My tutorial is over on the Therm O Web Blog! I used Heat n Bond Lite which made the appliqué a snap! 
I think I could add pom poms to ever project I make 🙂
I know most of the stores have their fall and even Christmas decorations out on the shelves, but we still have one more week of summer vacation left and I am embracing every minute of it! Summer is my favorite! I love being with my children all day and just being FREE!!!!! I had to get in one more summer sewing project. I decorated my family room with a few nautical pops here and there and my couch was begging for some nautical pillows! These sew up in a snap!
Sea Critters Pillow (20″):
Don’t you just love this fabric from Dear Stella? We love sea critters at our house!
Cut the sea critters fabric 13.5″ x 20″
Seersucker Twist Red from Blend fabric 7″ x 20″
cotton batting 21″ or larger
20″ navy blue lace trim
2 yards navy fringe trim
20″ square Denim for the back
20″ or longer Zipper
accent fabric 4.5″ x 20″
20″ pillow form
Spray n Bond for basting
Sew them together using 1/4″ seams. Using Spray n Bond basting spray, baste the pillow top to the batting.
With the two pieces basted you can quilt as desired. Straight lines would be cute, I was impatient and free motion is faster for me 🙂
Trim off the excess batting
Add the navy blue lace trim
Sew the navy blue fringe to the right side of the pillow. I found it easier to use my walking foot. Curve the corners.
Prepare the back of the pillow. I have found this is the fastest way to finish a pillow. For the tutorial on how to do this, click HERE. I cut the back 20″ and then cut 3″ from the top for the zipper placement. The chevron piece is cut 4.5″ and then folded in half.
Now that the back is ready, place the right sided together, with the zipper open, and sew all the way round the pillow using 1/4″ seams. Turn and insert the pillow form.
I Heart Whales Pillow (20″)
This is very similar to my pink I Heart Whales pillow found HERE. Follow those directions for the Heat n Bond Applique.
Cut the solid white 10.5″ x 20″
Cut (2) Seersucker Twist Blue from Blend fabric 5.25″ x 20″
“I Heart” pattern click HERE
Whales from Blend’s True Blue fabric line
Prepare the appliqué pieces (directions HERE). Iron the pieces to the solid white fabric. Sew the blue fabrics to the white fabric using 1/4″ seams.
Using Spray n Bond, baste the pillow top to the cotton batting and quilt. Instead of appliquéing the images on before quilting, I sewed around each image in navy thread during the quilting process to give the pieces a little pop.
I finished this pillow the same way as the Sea Critters pillow with the same navy trim.
I love the backs of the pillows!
If you know me at all, you aren’t surprised that a whale zipper pouch would be apart of “Whale Week”! I have gotten so much use out of my 1/2 yard of True Blue Whales fabric by Blend!!! I love the little anchor charm I found to use as the zipper pull. The lining of the bag is super cute with lifesavers and anchors on it!!
This tutorial is more of an overview, if you want extra details and you are new to making zipper pouches, check out My favorite zipper pouch tutorial.
Supplies:
Fat quarters or large scraps for the outer bag and lining
scraps for zipper tabs
Medium or light weight fusible stabilizer
Heat n Bond LIte
zipper
scrap of ric arc
Cut the denim outer bag, bag lining and stabilizer 8″ x 11″ (2) of each. Fuse the stabilizer to the wrong side of the lining fabric.
Iron the heat n bond lite to the wrong side of the desired whale. Fuse and cut the whale out. Position the whale as pictured below. Sew an accent piece of ric rac.
Cut 2 zipper tabs 1.5″ x 4″. Pres the ends under 1/4″ and then press in half.
Here you can see the 2 zipper tabs. (Sorry about the lighting, it was 11:00 pm).
Measure the zipper and the tabs so you have 1″ on each side of tabs (there will be extra). Sew the tabs to the ends of the zipper. Again, click HERE for more details on this process. Cut the folded piece of the tab and cut out the excess zipper. The goal with this is to reduce bulk in the seams.
Flip the zipper over and match with the top edge of the whale piece. Place one of the lining pieces right side down and align all the edges. Don’t worry about the zipper tabs, we will even them up in a minute.
Sew using a zipper foot. Press and do the same thing to the other side of the zipper so it looks like this:
Top stitch 1/8″ along the zipper. Trim the excess tab fabric. Match right sides with right sides and pin all the way around. MAKE SURE ZIPPER IS OPEN Sew using 1/4″ seam leaving a 2.5″ opening on the side of the lining fabric.
After you’ve sewn all the way around cut a 1.5″ notch out of each corner of the bag.
Match bottom seams and sew a 1/4″ seam:
Turn right side out and top stitch side opening. Yea! It’s done!
It’s the perfect little pouch to tuck inside a beach bag with all the little stuff that might get lost.
After I ironed the whale to the T-shirt, I top-stitched around the whale twice. Sally needed a complete whale outfit (I am pretty sure if I had enough fabric I would have sewn myself a whale skirt!!)
I used skirt “A” from the pattern book Little Sassy Skirts.
I have made these skirts over and over. The patterns are easy to follow and everything is done with rotary cutter measurements (a quilters dream!). This skirt is fun because you don’t have to have a lot of yardage, I only had half yards of the True Blue prints and I love the 4 prints all pieced together!
We had such a fun day at the beach! It was beautiful! I love summer and I love whales 🙂
Do the men in your life LOVE bacon? The ones in my life do 🙂 Bacon themed items are super popular and what I love most about the bacon trend is Jim Gaffigan’s comedy bit about bacon – if you haven’t heard it -click HERE … you will laugh so hard!! This week at Jedi Craft Girl has been all about the fabric line Ribs & Bibs and Father’s Day
. I love this zipper pouch because it is “manly”. I used a light weight black denim on the outside, a chunky metal zipper, and the taupe utensil fabric on the inside. I used white house paint to stencil the word “Bacon” on the bag. Therm o Web fusible stabilizer gives the bag more stability. This zipper pouch is my new FAVORITE!!!
Here’s how you can make one:
Supplies
fat quarters of outer lightweight denim fabric
fat quarters of lining – I used taupe “grill master”
fat quarter “open pit” for pig motif
Therm O Web Fusible interfacing, medium weight
Heat n Bond Lite fusible applique
White paint
Zipper
Letter stencils or cutting machine
Cut (2) lining pieces (2) denim pieces and (4) interfacing pieces 8″ x 11″
Begin by preparing the stencil I used some extra vinyl I had laying around (that’s why it’s pink) and ran it through my Cricut. I used the font “Playbill”, weed the letters to leave the outline.
Using a masking strip to adhere the stencil, place the Bacon word on the center of the denim piece.
Using a stencil brush, stencil with white paint. I literally used the trim paint from my house.
Let it dry then peel off the stencil. I love how it turned out!
Here are the pieces you should have cut 8″ x 11″
Iron the interfacing to the wrong side of both the lining pieces and both the outer bag pieces – 4 total. Iron a piece of Heat n Bond to the wrong side of the pig fabric. I liked the red pig the best. Cut out around the pig leaving a little white boarder. Stitch around the pig in white thread. Press the front of the bag, heat setting the painted letters.
Now you are ready to construct the bag. Follow this tutorial here. A word of advice if you are using a chunky metal zipper…..It was my goal to not break my needle. I was super careful to hand move the needle when near the zipper – that way the needle can find it’s way around the zipper teeth. I thought I was in the clear and then resumed with the pedal and snap – the needle broke – darn! I bet you can do it without breaking the needle 🙂
I just love this project to pieces! I might need one for myself – my kids all want one too!!
I am so excited to be participating in the Riley Blake Designs Quilted Cotton Blog Hop.
Today is my day for the blog hop so WELCOME and thanks for stopping by! I can’t tell you how in love I am with Riley Blake’s new quilted cottons. They come in a variety of patterns and colors. I choose the black chevron which has polka dots on the reverse side. I love giving hand made baby gifts but sometimes it gets a little challenging to create a new quilt from scratch for every baby gift; as much as my heart wants to. The quilted cottons are perfect for sewing for baby: I appliquéd some flowers, added extra wide binding and it’s an adorable play mat or changing mat or quilt for baby.
I also used what was left of the quilted cotton to make a diaper change zipper pouch. It holds all the essentials: diapers, wipes, sanitizer, etc. Continue reading for the instructions….
Supplies:
1 yard Riley Blake Quilted Cotton
6 fat quarters flower appliqué fabric
3/4 yard fabric for wide binding
Therm O Web Spray n Bond basting spray.
Download the flower patterns HERE (for large flower, you will have to enlarge on your computer – it measures about 10.5″ across)
Cut the quilted cotton 35″ x WOF (Of course you can cut whatever size you want)
Cut the 3 sizes of flower and flower centers out to make the pattern.
Pin the pattern pieces to the fabric and cut out.
Spray the Spray n Bond to the wrong side of the fabric appliqué pieces and place on the quilt. It is a bit of a challenge to appliqué on such a large piece of fabric – there was some pushing and pulling involved. I found it easier to spray baste the flowers after finishing sewing the one before.
Stitch around each flower and flower center 2 times using black thread.
To make the extra wide binding…. cut 4 strips 5″ x WOF. Sew together and press in half. Continue as you would with regular binding, only line up the raw edge of the binding 1″ from the edge of the quilt like this:
I machine sewed the binding so it would hold up nice in the wash. I am hoping this will be used more as a changing mat or crawling mat so it will be getting laundered often! I love how it turned out! This could easily be changed up for a boy – the navy and white chevron would be cute with anchors or fish!!
Of course I needed to sew a matching zipper pouch. I like the idea of having all the diaper change stuff in one handy pouch. I used one of my favorite tutorials from my good friend Jennifer. I changed the measurements from 9″x11″ to 8″x11″. The rest of the tutorial is exactly the same.
Cut (2) quilted cotton pieces 8″ x 11″
Cut (2) lining fabric pieces 8″ x 11″
Applique the smallest flower from the quilt pattern above to the side of one of the quilted cotton pieces. Then follow the rest of the tutorial.
I need one of these for myself!!
They make such a darling set! I can’t wait to give this to my friend who is expecting her very first baby!!
Thanks for stopping by! I can’t wait to see all the projects on this fun Blog Tour!!
I found this pattern for making a girls skirt out of a men’s button front shirt in this book, Never Been Stitched. The book is full of fun new sew or low sew projects. Great for involving kids!
Essentially you get a men’s shirt and cut it up, creating a skirt. I bought a size XL shirt and it made a size 8 girls skirt.
Sally wasn’t too thrilled about the idea until I made this cute whale shirt to go along with it. I used some of the left over fabric and used Heat n Bond EZ sheets that you run through the printer. Click HERE for the whale pattern.
I even used the existing front pocket from the shirt to be a high side pocket on the skirt.
They are so cute, and did I mention I love bunnies? They are the cats of Easter 🙂
I am sooooo excited to share this tutorial with you! It’s on the Therm O Web blog today!! I have been working like crazy to get it done! We are ocean lovers at my house. In fact the octopus is my daughter’s favorite animal! This tote bag is made with heavy canvas and accents of Blend quilting cottons. The blue fabrics have the feel of water. This project uses Therm O Web’s Spray n Bond, Fusible Fleece and Heat n Bond Lite.
I am so in love with these fabrics from Blend. Being a California girl who loves the beach, when I saw these beautiful shades of blue I immediately thought of the ocean! This is the perfect tote bag for a day at the beach – it’s made with sturdy canvas so it will really hold up! Let’s get started!
Supplies:
1/8 yards 5 assorted prints (can use jelly roll cuts 2.5″)
1/2 yard for octopus applique
1 yard canvas or duck cloth – mine was 60″ wide
HeatnBond® Lite Fusible Applique
SpraynBond® Fusible Adhesive Spray
Download the octopus pattern HERE
Instructions:
Cut 5 strips 2.5″ x WOF from the assorted prints
Sew them together lengthwise and press to one side, using 1/4″ seams
Cut the strip set in half resulting in 2 identical pieces. Align the strip sets and sew together forming a larger strip set of 10 strips. Press seam. Trim the sides (lengthwise) about 1/4″ off each side so the strip set measures 20″ across.
Cut strip set the following increments – cut carefully there is no excess!
Cut (2) 2″ strips and (2) 8.5″ strips.
Cut the canvas accent piece (2) 9.5″ x 20″
Complete the bag front and back…..
Lay the strip sets out like this – you will need to make 2
Sew the pieces together using 1/4″ seams and press away from the canvas.
Cut the Fusible Fleece (2) 19″x 20″ and fuse to the WRONG side of both the bag pieces.
You can add quilting or topstitching to your liking. I sewed 1/8″ straight lines next to each seam.
Time to appliqué the octopus!
Download the octopus pattern HERE. Since it is larger than a piece of printer paper, you will have to print off all the pieces and then tape them together. Draw the octopus image on the Heat n Bond® Lite.
Iron it to the wrong side of the octopus fabric. Cut on the lines of the octopus pattern – it’s a little tricky and takes some time. I wanted some of the tentacles to wrap around to the back of the bag. To accomplish this, position the octopus as shown and heat set the appliqué leaving about 2″ from the side seam. We will come back to this later. To reduce bulk, I stitched around most of the octopus leaving the last 2 tentacles for later.
Pin the floating tentacles out of the way like this:
Place the bag front and bag back right sides together and sew only the one seam where the octopus wraps around. Use 1/2 seams on this part. Press the seam open.
With the side seam now sewn, you can finish the appliqué process. I like to straight stitch around my image at least 2 times. This balances out any imperfections in the stitching and looks “sketchy”. I think 3 times would have been best, but I didn’t have it in me to sew another round!
When the appliqué is complete, put right sides together and sew the opposite side and the bottom seams (1/2 inch seams again), making sure to keep the top open. I also found the walking foot to be very helpful.
Cut a 3.5″ square out of paper or scrap fabric to use as a pattern. Cut 3.5″ “notches” out of both sides of the bag bottom
Open the notched area and match the seams and sew 1/4″ seam along raw edges.
For the bag lining, you will use the same technique.
Cut the canvas (2) 20″ x 19″ . Sew the sides and bottom leaving the top open. Make sure to use 1/2 seams (I use a slightly larger seam just so my lining isn’t larger than my outer bag). Use the same “notch” technique as with the outer bag. Finish the bag bottom the same way also. Now you should have 2 exact shape bags – and outer bag and a lining bag.
Make the handles
Cut canvas (2) 4″ x 28″
Fold right sides together and sew a 1/4″ seam lengthwise to both pieces. Turn right side out and press. Press the seams in the center, they will be covered by the accent fabric next.
Cut a (2) 2″ x 28″ pieces for the accent piece on the handle. Press each side under 1/4″ lengthwise.
Use Spray n Bond® to hold the accent piece to the canvas handle. Top stitch about 1/8″ from the fabric.
Position the handles 5″ in from the side seam of the bag. Tack the handles on by sewing a seam 1/8″ from the top. Make sure the fabric part is facing toward the bag.
Turn the lining inside out and place the outer bag inside the lining. Match up the side seams and pin all around the top edge. It should be right sides together. Sew 1/4″ around the entire bag.
Unstitch about 4″ in one of the side seams. Turn the bag right side out. Top stitch the opening closed with matching thread.
After you turn the bag right side out, you will need to press the top edge to get the lining to lay flat. Press and pin in place. Top stitch 1/8″ seam around the entire top of the bag. In this photo you can see closer stitching detail:
I love the back – it’s cute even plain!
