Clutching on to Summer!

My weekly sewing class ended and the group decided to move the classes to my house each Wednesday. How fun is that? We had such a great group and wanted to continue to use the time slot to work on our projects.

I wanted to try something a little different from the apparel I've been making. In my mind I wanted something quick and easy. After reading a bunch of blogs I decided upon a fold over clutch. The end result wasn't exactly a fold over clutch that I was envisioning but that's okay because it makes a perfect beach clutch!

There was even enough fabric left over to make a case for my sunglasses. Summer 2014 I'm so ready for you!

Gorgeous in Green

In continuing along with my new found passion of sewing I set out to make a skirt. I browsed so many really great blogs out there to find a fairly easy pattern along with a tutorial I could follow along with.

The minute I saw this skirt I feel in love. I actually fell in love with the entire blog. There are so many cute tutorials available. In addition to the pinwheel skirt I have two more projects I've bookmarked and am ready to try. You need to check it out! 

http://www.elleapparelblog.com/2010/08/pinwheel-skirt.html

 

Here's my version:

 

Not too shabby. I'm going to wear it to work this week. I’ll be praying that my stitching doesn't come undone. Maybe I should pack a pair of backup pants just to be safe =)   

Here's a picture of my materials before I started. I printed out the tutorial but actually ended up referencing the blog on my iPad so I could enlarge the pictures.

A ruffle cape for Christmas

Here are some quick pictures of a cape I made before Christmas. I purchased the pattern from Seamingly Smitten Patterns on Etsy and I absolutely am in love. You can also check out the Seaminglysmitten blog which is pretty neat.

For this cute cape I chose a linen blend fabric in light pink along with a sheer polka dot lining. Here's hoping for an early spring!

It was a fairly easy pattern to follow especially for a beginner such as myself. 

The hardest part was creating the ruffle and then attaching it to the cape. I found a ruffler presser foot attachment my my sewing machine at Amazon for about $10. Once I figure out how to actually use it I think it will make gathering a little more easier. 
 

An early Christmas present to myself.

Inside of my cape has a sheer polka dot lining

My First Rag Quilt

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great holiday and took time to rest and relax before ringing in the 2014.

Today I am sharing my rag quilt that I made in December. I read a bunch of online tutorials and jumped right in!

Up close

Front

Back

 

First order of business was to pick out colors and a pattern for the rag quilt. I chose four colors and decided on a solid back with a small center square of color. I cut my fabric into 9"x9" squares and played around with them until I found a pattern I liked. 

 

After I decided upon my my pattern  I sandwiched the front square, batting, and back square together like a sandwich. Then I stitched them together by sewing a large X through the middle.

I'm glad I had some many great tutorials to review for this project. I learned that the batting needs to be 1" smaller than the square to allow room for to to fray the ends. My math and cutting skills aren't great so my batting was closer to 1.5 - 2" smaller. The great thing about rag quilts are they don't have to be accurate (yay). The fraying ends allow for not so straight lines or not so even squares. It's a great first sewing project.

 

Once I had all my sandwiches I lined the quilt back up on the floor and pinned it together. I sewed them in strips (starting at the bottom so my pattern would stay in tact). Once I had all my rows sewed together I began attaching each row together. It was important to note that when sewing the squares together you must leave yourself at least an inch allowance to cut the ends for fraying. I tried to sew as close as I could to my batting to allow plenty of room for cutting the ends. 

 

Once my quilt was all attached I cut into the squares every 1/2" or so to create the frayed look. Once I went around the entire quilt I threw it in the wash on gentle. I wasn't 100% convenience that it would survive the washer. Surprisingly it did and it came out great.

I had enough squares left over at the end to whip up a quick little matching tote.

 

Here are some links to the great tutorials I found. 
http://www.imperfecthomemaking.com/2012/01/easy-thrifty-pretty-rag-quilt-tutorial.html
http://www.knitandtonic.typepad.com/SimpleRagQuilt.pdf
http://www.knitandtonic.typepad.com/SimpleRagQuilt.pdf