Gone To Earth

Psst...

I wanted to share this with you.  Look at these lovely charm squares;  Rooftop Garden by Moda and Modern Workshop by Liesl Gibson of Oliver and S.

Judith over at Rags to Bags is having a giveaway as a celebration for passing a 100 followers.  She's really excited and you may be excited about the possibility of joining in ?  It's open until Monday the 17th October so why not visit?

 

Whilst you're there have a good look around as there are so many gorgeous sewing ideas and it's dripping with pictures of bags and quilts.  Bet you stay a while :)

Speak soon,

Julia x

 

Jenaveve and a litle giveaway

Jenaveve is a gorgeous fabric line designed by Valori Wells.  It's a blended fabric made from 45% cotton and 55% linen and is a massive 54 inches wide. So, you get the benefit of cotton and the delicious texture of linen.

Let me introduce you to a few of the designs.

This is Tribal in Merlot in deep pinks and burgundy background. Valori has just taken part in a Library show featuring her fabrics so take a look at her pictures to see the scale of this richly coloured fabric.

 

This is Leaves in Merlot which has a burgundy tending to brown background.  These pretty leaves are in pink, peachy pink and tangerine in colour and measure approximately 7.5 centimeters in length with each individual leaf being about 1.5 centimeters in long.

 

 

Pebbles in Merlot has pink and orange coloured petal shaped marks picking out this floral yet geometric pattern.  Take a look at the Martha Stewart website to see this one in action. (How to make a Reversible hat - feel tempted to make one?)

 

 

Pebbles in Merlot

Pebbles in Teal is just as beautiful in a gorgeous blue teal.

 

All of them are brilliant for all kinds of sewing....clothes...bags.....cushions... all kinds of things.

But. perhaps you'd like to try some?  If you do then just leave a comment on this post to enter my little giveaway consisting of one fat quarter of each of these fabrics (four fat quarters)., which is 1 metre of Jfabric for some lucky person.  A fat quarter of this fabric measures a hefty 50cm by 70cm - that's a lot of small bags !  I'll use the random number generator to select a winner next Friday. (September 9th).

 

Speak soon - Jx

 

Fabric weight ....

(Fabric packs of quilt weight (medium weight cotton fabrics) from Amy Butler's Soul Blossoms range.)

If you're fairly new to buying fabric, it can be thrillingly exciting... so many different designers, so many mouth watering colours, and amazing patterns.  So, far so good.   But then something complicated starts to happen and you begin to see words such as 'medium weight', heavy weight, home decor weight and then the mist starts to descend and you really aren't quite sure what it is you want.

Basically fabric weight is a term used to describe the thickness of the fibres which make up the fabric weave.  

The fabric weight determines how the fabric behaves in terms of drape. Will it hang nicely, if my design has a lot of gathers will it still look soft and not all bunched up and stiff.

Heavier fabrics have a denser weave, think denim or corduroy as being a heavier weave. Therefore these are best suited to projects where they are likely to get 'heavy' use  and least suited to sewing which require nice soft pleats and flouncy gathers.

(From Amy's site - some pretty floor cushions in home decor weight fabrics)

Home decor/heavy weight fabrics are good for those places in the home which get a lot of use such as upholstery, cushions, covering dinning chairs, jackets, bags and purses because they tend to be more hard wearing. 

So how do you decide which weight of fabric you need?

There more questions to ask here than just fabric weight but generally when you're buying fabric you have a sewing project in mind.  If you're planning to make clothing with pretty gathers, tucks and pleats then you will achieve better results with light weight/medium weight fabrics which will be more inclined to flow around body contours and curves, rather than bunch up unattractively. So, think about how important the that is to the overall look of the garment.

(From Amy's s - pretty bag in Paradise Gardens in Midnight) 

If you're sewing garments where this isn't such a consideration, designs with a lot of structure for example such as A-Line skirts, bags or jackets then the heavier weight or home decor fabrics may be perfect.

(From Amy's site - The Sandlewood Jacket made with Sandlewood in Ivory Fabric)

Heavy weight fabrics or home decor fabrics come in some beautiful and colourful designs.  Just feast your eyes on these beauties.

Pretty aren't they?

Plodding along...

How is everyone?  I feel that I've been 'missing in action' for a while.  

Do you remember my post about joining in a quilt-a-long without really owning up to it?

Well I'm still plodding along, getting bits and pieces done.

I've cut all the fabric out now.

(A few cut out pieces...)

I've definitely played around with laying fabric side by side.... 

I've been sewing blocks together..... it's such a simple but effective block pattern.

I love the way the fabric looks in this little layout.... When I first saw Good Folks I thought it quite a dark collection but over time I've changed my opinion.  I think it's the golden yellows, tangerines and intense pinks that make it sing.  That yellow is quite exotic... very warm.

 

 
As I've sewed more blocks I've begun to relax a bit about which fabrics go together because there doesn't seem to be an 'awful' combination... but there are definitely some that sing particularly loudly. 

I should point out that I need 80 blocks to make the complete quilt... and I have about 20, but that's a 1/4 of the way there isn't it?  I don't want it in a hurry, which is really just as well. Making this quilt for me is really just about enjoying the process.  I'm wondering if perhaps I should settle for a throw sized quilt.

(A few blocks laid out on the table... just to admire the colour)

Instead, I'm focusing on my piecing.  I'm trying out Elizabeth Hartman's suggestion of pressing the seams open instead of pressing them to one side as is more usual in patchwork. (The traditional pressing of the seam to the side is supposed to make a stronger seam by protecting the stitching from wear and eventual splitting.) Elizabeth's method ensures that a block which is intended to be six inches in size actually ends up as a six inch block. Providing of course you've sewn an accurate seam allowance :) 

Others I know argue for using a 'scant' 1/4 inch seam, to ensure your blocks end up the size you wanted them to be.  This means that you have to make allowances when piecing for the fact that pressing a seam to the side actually takes up the width of the thread. (Multiply those thread widths over an entire quilt and it can add up to make a surprising amount of difference. But I suspect that loads of us have made up that difference in the border.... Who me?)  

Elizabeth's method is certainly simple enough but I'm wondering what will happen when I actually quilt it.... we'll see.

Speak soon.... I should have a few more blocks by then.

Some new Anna Maria Horner sewing patterns

Since my lovely frothy, tissue and anticipation filled parcel has been rescued from the Customs Man, who had kidnapped it off into the wilds of Lecestershire .... where it consequently got stuck in snow. I've now been able to add some new Anna Maria Horner sewing Patterns to the shop.

This is the Proper Attire skirt. There are two Options; one with a bias cut yoke, pockets and soft pleats and the other with a sailor style yoke, buttons, knife pleats and piping.  Quite a pretty combination.

This is the back of the pattern sleeve which shows the differences in design between option A and B more clearly.

The other is the Gathering Flowers quilt.

The quilt comes in a sizes from crib through to King sized and uses two flower blocks. 

 

 One block is a flat, pieced flower and the accompanying block is gathered and twisted into a rosette for a little textural interest.  Lighter weight fabrics are recommended for this block such as Anna Maria's Little Folks cotton voiles which will take the gathering beautifully.

The third pattern design, fresh from Anna Maria Horners' studio, features a set of four cushions/pillows. 

 

The back of the pattern sleeve shows the different styles a little more clearly.




Gorgeous aren't they ?  These are the Flower Patch Pillows... round ones and square ones ... little bits of trimming and different style of scallops.  All details to add a little charm and to have a sewing fun with.

I hope you like them....

Jx

Amy Butler's Style Stitches

This is what I've been reading in the car over the past week whilst I've been waiting in the car for the children to get out of school.  

Amy Butler's Style Stitches - 12 easy ways to 26 wonderful bags.

 

It wouldn't be very friendly of me not to share this book with you, especially as just now it could probably still make its way onto your Christmas list.   I really think that if you like creating and making bags then this is a wonderful book.

It's spiral bound which makes it a lot easy to work from, as it will lay flat whilst you read the next set of instructions.

Inside though there's magic. Just add a little fabric, interlining thread and enthusiasm and with all these beautiful designs to inspire you, I can't help but think you're in for a treat.

There's a tote bag Reversible Everyday Shopper.

This has big pockets... handles designed to be comfortable in the hands and you can't argue with the fact that it looks pretty good.  So, much nicer than a plastic store bag.

There's a set of pouches to make.  Instructions are given for six different sizes to suit almost any purpose from organising cosmetics, pencils or sewing bits and bobs.  Make them to keep or to give away.  I like the little tab on the side... nice touch.

All the designs can be made in different sizes too and the 'Perfectly Pleated clutch' is no exception to this.

There's a more everyday style of bag with the option of making a small purse to go with it in a matching centre pleat.

 

This is the Teardrop Bag and Key Keeper coin purse.

If these are just a little too tame for you, then this one is definitely a statement bag.

 

'Fringed Hobo Bag'

 
Again, this bag comes in different sizes but this large one with it's opulent fringing says student to me.  The perfect bag for making a statement about who are.

The bag designs are are shown in Amy's beautiful fabrics.

 

Miss Maven Ruffled Handbag.  I love the Bliss Bouquet in Teal and Sun Spots in Tangerine fabric combination.  Really zingy.

 

Take Flight Handbag/shoulder bag.  A great design for overnight stays or as a flight bag.

This last one I'm going to show you, is my favourite little handbag.  The Blossom Handbag/shoulder bag.

I really like this little bag, the handle design, it's rounded shape, the interior details.  Gorgeous.

I've put a lot of pictures into this blog post but I haven't shown all the designs in the book.  All of the bag designs can be made in different sizes and all of them are lovely but what makes this book stand out for me is the attention to the detailing in the designs.

The interiors of the bags are full of nice details that take making your own bags to another level. There are  pockets, zipped pockets, slip pockets, little compartments.  There are interesting handle designs designed to be comfortable to hold and which attach in different ways.  Amy uses, pleats, ruffles, buttons, trims and of course beautiful fabric to make the bags look special.  There's nothing ordinary about any of them.  None of them rely on Amy's fabric alone to look good and let's be honest even the most ordinary of tote bag designs would stand out and be deliciously different and beautiful in her fabrics.  

I think you'd love this book, I know I do.

Colour...

One thing that many people find difficult, me included, is combining colours, achieving a happy balance where certain colours get emphasised and others are given a less important role to play in the whole piece. 

Some people seem to be able to do this instinctively, others find it a lot more difficult. I think it's a skill that can be learned by paying attention to the colours and combinations that you see around you on a day to day basis.  Really it's an ability that needs exercise, just like weak muscles do, until it becomes 'instinctive. It is something you have to work at and is probably something, again me included, that you always need to be exercising/'taking notice' of, being alert to new possibilties and seeing colour combinations afresh.  

(Quiltmaking for Beginners by Lynn G. Kough)

There is always colour theory, to fall back on as guide, or even as a place to start, but where else can you/do you get your colour combining inspiration from?

Something that's freely available to all of us is the world around us; the natural world with it's grand landscapes and urban centres with large, historic parks and buildings. They can both provide us with examples of how to use colour successfully. Successfully here really just means that you happen to like it.  

 

At the moment of course, autumn is definitely underway. You tend to notice the change of the seasons when you live with fields behind the house.  There's a kind of quietness that descends as if the urgency has gone out of everything. The small mammals and birds become more involved in finding food than setting up home.

Autumn just has to be the most fantastic time for colour.  Great explosions of deep, tantaslising colour.

Nature is a great source for finding colour combinations that work, that look good together.  Gardens, natures tame counterpart, along with gardening magazines and gardening books provide brilliant examples where colour and texture have been used to great effect.  Gardeners whether they realise it or not, are just as moved to work with colour and texture in their bedding and landscape designs as anyone who works with textiles.  Happily therefore, we can unashamedly plunder both natures and gardeners best ideas, make them our own and translate them into fabric.

When you read about the designers whose work fascinates you, many of them acknowledge gardens and the natural world as being part of their inspiration.  Interestingly, Jane Brocket is one of these and Amy Butler is another.  Kaffe Fassett has designs that draw on urban landscapes that he's experienced on his many journeys around the world.

(Simple Shapes Spectacular Quilts - Kaffe Fassett - Inspiration from many sources resulted in this piece. )

Predominantly just now, there's a great deal of orange, yellows, deep, dark greens and splashes of red through to dark purples.  As autumn progresses all this colour will develop into a more intense palette of muted colours mixed with bright splashes of yellows, golds and scarlets to please the eye.

 
See how intense the black makes the orange look.  (Night Dot, Scattered Lantern Pods,Candy Corn, Dogwood in Spice, and Climbing Vine in Spice.)

Orange turns up in the leaves, in the pumpkins and in flowers that are hanging on against the cold weather. The colour goes all the way from a pumpkin orange through to a kind of burnt spice colour that isn't quite brown.

 The yellows at the moment tend to be more golden, such as in this echinacea plant..

but there still are splashes of that more acid yellow hanging on in flowers in more sheltered spots and odd leaves here and there.  Once the beech trees start to turn, you'll find golden leaves sprinkled across forest/wood floors like golden coins glinting in the low sunlight.  Beautiful.

 

 

Golden yellows in Erin McMorris  Flower Shower in Gold, Anna Maria Horner's Filigre in Gold and Kaffe Fassett's Lake Blossoms

The reds I can see around me today are more muted than the scarlets of summer although I expect deeper more intense reds and russets to appear as this very pretty season progresses. Reds are in the flowers, in leaves and the berries and I mustn't forget the deep purples of blackberries and sloes.

 

 
Deep reds of Kaffe Fassett's Milliefiore and  Paper Fans designs with Sandy Gervais' Berry in the middle.

Everywhere still has a great deal of green... in the grass in the shrubs and and the trees.  But this isn't the fresh, young greens of spring.  These are darker, deeper greens ...

... you still do see odd splashes of almost lime green.

A mix of greens... Sunspots in Olive, Forest Floor By Basic Grey, Welcome Road by Heather Bailey and Puzzle pieces - Paisley.

Obviously, there's a great deal of brown around, brown in the earth, brown in the trees and shrubs and as all the leaves disappear this will only become more apparent.  Giving way eventually to the more stark looking landscape of winter, which has a different kind of beauty.  

Brown is always so present that you almost fail to notice it, which suggests one thing to me, that it's probably quite a good neutral colour to use as a back drop to anything which uses an autumn inspired colour palette.

 

Some browns and tans (Amy Butler, Park Fountains, Denyse Schmidt Prairie Rose,Kaffe Fassett Miliefiore,Jeanean Morrisson Vesta, Berries and Marbles in Saddle)

 One of the greatest pleasures of an autumn walk just has to be running through scrunchy, leaves and watching them fly up into the air and fall back down .... and then back home for a cup of warming soup.

So, much glorious colour...

What's happening with the colours around you this autumn?  If you go for a walk this weekend why not take a camera with you then you can use the glorious colour combinations you see as an inspiration for your sewing.

 

Boring? And a giveaway remedy, just in case....

I had a visit from a fabric rep the other day and there was a mention of 'boring fabric', it kind of crept into the conversation.  The idea that there is boring fabric is eating away at me...

A rainbow of 'plain' fabric.

Where or what is this boring fabric....?  I can't think of any fabric I find boring, not even just 'plain', solid, monochromatic fabric.... there's so much you can do with it.

I know we all get inspired by different artist's, patterns, colours and probably there are colours and designs that don't excite you ...  so you don't buy or own those.  I'm not a great fan of gingham for example, nor do I particularly like lemon yellows but I know a lot of people do.  I wouldn't describe those fabrics as boring, they just don't do anything for me.

Some recent fabrics that have appealed to me..(Spirit by Lila Tueller.. Fandango by Kate Spain... and Pure by Sweetwater)

If 'inspiring' is the opposite of 'boring' in this instance, what is is that inspires you? 

What do you do when you're looking for inspiration?  Do you look at fabric ? Or do you think about what you'd like to make and then think about what you'd like to make it from?

 
A quick fix for inspiration?

I think I start from being inspired by things I see that I'd like to make.  I get inspiration from blogs, books, magazines and then there's things you need around the house, so I get prompted to make .... new cushion covers.... fabric coasters.... place settings... hot pads for the kitchen... rice bags for aching shoulders and it gives me pleasure to see things around the house that I've made, which in turn inspires me to keep making.

I think 'boring' is a state of mind, it's a bit like the children when they shout 'Mum... I'm bored....', as the terror recedes, you know it's time to break out the paints, or go to the park... just change something so they can be stimulated by something different, something new.  I think it's the same with fabric or anything creative actually... sometimes you need to spice things up a little.

Sometimes, you need a change just to recapture the excitement that sewing/creating gives you.

 If your sewing 'muse' (there probably is one) has left you, what do you?  Do you blame the fabric or do you something useful and make some changes, do something different, try something new?

What works for me is a trip around my favourite blogs, searching for some new ones.... visiting the craft section in the library.... going for a walk looking at the colours I see around me.  This is a fantastic time of year for colour.  

To help things along a little I thought I'd have a giveaway.  This is a book full of surprises, 'Sewing Bits & Pieces' by Sandi Henderson.  If you've not come across her before she's a talented fabric designer for Michael Miller.

There are some gorgeous projects in here, some quite small items such as this pretty pincushion.

Some really cute projects such as this wonderful bunny,

and just as cute...look at this lovely little owl.  

 

 

These party lights are really different.

 

And many of these projects use small pieces of fabric so it's a good way of using up all those scraps that get left behind from larger projects, such as this Story Time quilt.

If you'd like to join in with this giveaway, then please leave a comment on this post by the 3rd November and I'll use the random number generator to select the winner.  

But, no! I really don't see a time when I look at fabric and find it 'boring'.

Speak soon 

Julia x

I've been sewing cushions...

I've been making a few cushion covers... 

Did I show you this one?

This is Amy Butler's Trumpet Flower in Pink from her Love home decor fabric range.  I've made the back out of Sunspots in Grass.

 

I've also made another out Vine in Ivory which is part of the Leanika fabric collection by Dena Designs.  I made the back out of Ticking in blue.

So, together with the one I made out of Paradise Gardens I'm getting to have quite a pile of cushions.

 

What do you think?

Sssh! Don't tell .....

With any spare minutes I've had over the last few days I've cut myself a 'jelly-roll' out of what I have in the shop of Anna Maria Horner's Good Folks collection.  It's quite a soothing pursuit actually cutting 2 1/2 inch strips, especially when it's mingled with a little satisfaction because it's turned out rather well!

 

Why am I doing this ?  Well, I've think I've taken 'lurking' to a whole new level for me.  I've joined in a quilt-a-long (which I found here ) without actually letting anyone else know.  That's a bit naughty really, 'cos everyone needs to know that what they're doing (ie organising a quilt-a-long) is getting a response.   I will own up at the end.  Time is just so pressured at the moment that I didn't want to give myself anything else to fret about. Worrying that I wasn't keeping up with everyone else.  I just wanted to enjoy the process... the putting colours together.  Laying out the pieces to make up the blocks, stitching it all together and enjoying the results.

 These are the blocks that are being made.

(photo from Fat Quarterly Ezine)

I've cut out some of the squares;

... and some of the rectangles...

I'm getting two 'block's out of one strip which is pretty good.

At the moment I'm planning to use patterned centre squares with 'plain' (perhaps I should say more plain) 'logs' and 'plain centre squares with patterned 'logs'.

Small Gathering in Azalea with Filligre in Sun

(Auditioning potential candidates already you see.)... or another variation ... 

The thing with large patterned fabric is that you can get so many different effects from one fabric design.  I always find that fascinating.  I'm going to have to mix the fabrics carefully so as not to lose the shape of the blocks in the fabric patterns and to ensure that the outer edges really do 'hold together as a square surrounding a square.  I've already said that I'm using the Filiigree fabrics as 'plains' and if I find I'm repeating those too many times I might just introduce Denyse Schmidt's four patch design which I think goes really well with the Good Folks designs and colours. I guess I won't know exactly whats needed until I start putting it together.

I'll let you see how it goes...

What are you sewing at the moment?