BubbaChic

Binding a Quilt

Although this project is not strictly a quilt - the technique for binding it is exactly the same as that when finishing a quilt.

Cut enough binding strips to go around the entire quilt - and sew them right sides together perpendicular to each other (as shown above)

Sew at a 45 degree angle and trim the excess, leaving just a 1/4" seam allowance - repeat for all binding strips.

Iron a 1/2" flap at start of binding, to give a finished edge, then iron the whole length of the binding in half

Place the raw edge of your binding along the side of your quilt, pin the end in place and start sewing about 8" from this pin - the photo above illustrates where my start is and where I started sewing.

When you get to a corner, stop sewing about 1/4" from the edge - backstitch to finish.

Fold the binding back on itself, as illustrated above.

Then fold the binding down, to allign with the other side of the quilt

Start sewing at the very edge of the quilt and continue down this side of the quilt - repeat for other three corners.

When you get back to the starting point - finish sewing about 8" from the pin that marks the folded end of the quilt

Place the left side of the binding over the finished edge of the binding (where you started)

Flip the binding over, so that you can now see the starting crease of the finished edge you ironed in - mark with a pin - this is where you will sew the binding to make it continuous.

It is much easier to sew the binding accurately, if the quilt is folded in half at this point, as illustrated above.

Sew down the crease - right sides together. Cut seam allowance to 1/4" and press seams open.

Sew the finished binding down onto the quilt...now for the fun, relaxing part - this next step can take a little while, so put the kettle on for a cup of tea, and plant yourself in front of a good movie!

You now need to fold over the finished edge of the quilt, over the raw edge - and hand stitch the folded edge of the binding onto the back of the quilt.

When you get to a corner, continue to hand stitch until you get the machine sewing line

At this point fold the other edge over to make a neat mitred corner

Continue sewing the rest of the binding, until:

Voila! One finished edge!

Felt Needle Holder Tutorial

I wanted to make a needle holder for a sewing kit for my friends birthday and came up with this really simple pattern.

I am a fan of any sewing project which takes just 15 minutes and which uses up cute scrap fabrics.

...and be something handy and functional.

Simply cut one rectangle of felt 8" x 4" for the outside and another two sized 5" x 2" which will be the inside needle holders. Sew a button hole on the right hand side of the larger rectangle.

Fold the two smaller rectangles of fabric in half and iron gently. Folder the larger piece as shown above. You can judge the placement of the fold, based on the where the buttonhole is placed - iron this also.

Sew the fabric onto the front - using a straight or zig zag stitch

Line up the centre creases of the inside of the holder and the two smaller rectangles of felt and sew down the middle.

Use a seam ripper to open up the button hole

With the flap folded under the front of the holder - use a fabric pen to mark the centre of the button placement - sew on button...

et voila! a cute addition to your sewing kit!

Making a playdress from a baby blanket

I got hold of this cute mermaid baby blanket in the hopes of turning into an item of clothing for Mads - who is mad on mermaids right now (or wormaids as she calls them!) So here is a sew-a-long to show the process.

The dress is based on the Simplicity 4437 pattern. But I am omitting the zipper down the back because of using knit fabrics that will stretch. This also means that I don't have to cut the back skirt panel out of two pieces of fabric - it can be one continuous piece.

Take your blanket..

Separate the top and bottom layers - leaving the binding on the edges

Use one side for both skirt panels

and other side for all bodice pieces

Sew bodice front to bodice back at shoulders - for both outer and lining pieces

Sew bodice right-sides-together at armholes and all of the front section (see location of pins - click on image to enlarge)

Fold pieces out to the right side and match up armholes - sew down both inner and outer arm holes in one

Close up of pinned armholes ready to sew.

Turn bodice right side out - and try it on your model...if the armholes are too big (and they do tend to run big in this pattern) simply repeat the step above

Measure where the cross needs to be when the bodice is on your little girl and then mark this - use basting stitch along the bottom of the bodice to hold it in place and top stitch around the whole neck - this will then keep the front sections in place.

Prepare the skirt panels - I adapted the pattern here - as I only needed one panel for the back, because of omitting the zipper - so I sewed the front and back pieces together - into one long skirt piece.

I then attached the skirt to the bodice - right-sides-together, following the directions on the pattern - with the front piece (with mermaid applique) matching the cross over in the top. Here is a photo of the front (wrong side) of the skirt attached to the bodice

and another view of how the bodice (right-side) is attached with pins to the skirt front (right side)

When I was happy that the front of the skirt was pinned in place I pinned the other crossover part of the skirt (from the back panel) over the top of it (without any gathers) and sewed it all on the sewing machine - with a basting stitch.

When I was happy that the skirt fell right - I used the serger to sew the bodice and skirt together.

and Voila! Finished play dress ala blanket

One last step - unpick label!

There are lots of modifications which you can do to this pattern - depending on the look you are going for. The skirt on the pattern is very full - so you could definitely use less fabric on the front and back skirt panels to get a more streamlined skirt.