Make Your Mark
I am so excited about the package I just sent off to my nieces, Regan and Quinn. It contains a belated Christmas gift that I hope they’ll love. It’s late because I was having issues with my Featherweight (glitter issues from Halloween) and I was really backed up on quilt orders. This created the perfect storm for getting behind on the one handmade gift I intended to get finished!
Anyway, I saw this project on the Moda Bake Shop, and instantly thought of my nieces. I think they are so cute! They are “flat” dolls. Kind of like paper dolls, but made with fabric so that the can withstand hours (and years!) of play! (click to enlarge photos)
I was afraid they would be a little “weird” without an actual face, but I got a lot of compliments on them when I took them to the Atlanta Modern Quilt Guild for show & tell, and everyone thought that added a little charm to the dolls.
The method of making them is kind of like raw edge applique. The raw edge is one of the things I liked most about them. You use fusible fleece and fuse it to the front and back pieces of fabric on the dolls, sew the two layers together, sew a 1/8″-ish seam around the inside of the doll pattern, then cut out the dolls. Same goes for the hair and clothes.
To adhere the clothing to the dolls, velcro is used as underclothes.
I made a few sets of clothes for each doll, and intend to make a few sets now and then to send to the girls. It was a great use of scraps! I have so many that would make cute clothes!
Here’s a shot of both sets of dolls:
I also made bags for the dolls and their clothes. They seem a little plain compared to the bag in the tutorial, but for one, the bag seemed gigantic in proportion to the dolls, and also, I wanted one that could double as a “bed” for when they play:
You can find the tutorial for these dolls here. I think the tutorial was very comprehensive and easy to follow. I do have one complaint about the tutorial. It’s kind of big in my mind, but not really because it’s fixable. When I go to the Moda Bake Shop for a tutorial, I am looking at patterns that are the best use of that product (charm packs, jelly rolls and layer cakes). This was filed under the Layer Cakes section. Okay, I see how a piece of the layer cake is great for making clothes. But a layer cake has 42 squares (usually), and who wants to bust open a $40 pack of fabric to use just a few squares.
I wish they’d mentioned somewhere that it’s a good use of leftover squares. The dolls are made from Bella yardage, too. Anyway, everything I used to make this project came from my scrap bin except for the bags, which I made with fat quarters.
I do hope to have leftover squares from the Good Fortune by Kate Spain layer cake so that I can make some more clothes. I think that would be so cute!
Good morning! Not only is supposed to be a 10 on the weather meter according to our local meteorologist (keep in mind it’s January), but I am also excited about posting my first challenge of the year!
I randomly chose this as my first challenge. I remember pinning it about a week or two ago, and it’s been stuck in my head ever since. I took an hour and a half yesterday while Aaron was napping to put together the block from this tutorial, and it was so liberating! I felt kind of naughty, doing something frivolous while there were so many other things to be done.
That means this challenge is already working : ) After I finished, I felt a little uplifted and recharged, which allowed me to accomplish more in an afternoon and evening than I normally would.
This weeks pin comes from Holly DeGrout’s blog, Bijou Lovely. Clicking to the link of this tutorial was the first time I’d stumbled upon her blog, and I’m so glad I did. She is indeed very lovely, and I love her crafty style!
This is called the Herringbone Block, and the full tutorial is available on her website. It’s fairly easy – it only took me so long because of the fabric I was working with. I love her tutorial style – plenty of pictures to demonstrate how to do each step. Here’s a picture of her completed Herringbone Block (click to enlarge photos):
I had the perfect fabric in mind when thinking about this block. It uses 2.5″ strips, so it’s perfect for leftover Jelly Roll strips or long scrappy strips.
Back about two years ago, when I first learned what a “stash” is and that I needed to have one, I was still buying fabric from JoAnn’s in limited quantities, inexpensive stuff I liked that I could use for practice or classes or whatever. They used to sell their equivalent to jelly rolls, called jellies, but they were smaller than a Moda Jelly Roll. I believe the fabric line or band is called Fabric Central, and it contains 22 strips, each 22″ by 2.5″.
This particular Jellies that I bought, well, in spite of it being a low-grade quality of fabric, I LOVE the prints. Seeing this block immediately made me think of this little roll of strips and how it would pair perfectly with some Coal Kona.
The block calls for 14 strips, each 11″ long. I tried to randomize the strips as much as possible. Let me tell you, after having worked with Moda Jelly Rolls for quite some time now, it’s really hard to go back to poorly cut fabric. This fabric is a pain to work with. Most of the strips were very wavy, not cut straight at all. But because I love the print so much, I’m willing to do the extra work. Here’s how I laid them out:
Basically, you sew the first three strips together, then the last three strips together, and stagger them. Then you turn your staggered block on point, and cut to create the diagonal. I didn’t have a 6.5″ x 24″ template handy, so I improvised by doing it the old-school, ghetto method of laying out what you do have and making it work : ) Template patchwork, so-to-speak. However, I enjoyed this block so much, I ran out this morning to buy the template so I can make more.
Here’s how the two sides of the block turned out:
And finally, my finished block:
I don’t know what it is about the print that speaks to me – it’s a little bit tame for my taste, but I find it very soothing. And I love it with the Coal. I already cut the rest of my strips into 11″ pieces so that I could make more of these on my “free time” at sew-ins and what not.
Please go over to the Bijou Lovely blog and check out Holly’s beautiful work.
Have you jumped into your creative challenges for 2012 yet?
