Quick Baby Blanket...

Do you have babies in your future? It seems with the change of season there always comes new life on the horizon. Here is a super quick gift for that mom to be! If you need a kit we have them on our online store. There will be a link below...

What you will need... 

• Two pieces of fabric. One 30 x 30 inches and one 40 x 40 inches.
• Rotary cutter and mat
• Straight pins
• Ruler
• Marking tool

Let's get to it!

Lay your 40 x 40 inch piece of fabric right side up. Then lay your 30 x 30 inch piece on top right side down.

Next you will need to find the middle of each side of your square and pin the two pieces of fabric together. Do this on all four sides.

Next pin 1/4 inch from each corner. You will now have 8 pins in your blanket.

Then sew from the middle out to your 1/4 inch pin. You will be sewing a 1/4 inch seam as normal. Be sure to leave a small opening on one of your sides.

Once you have all your sides sewn, you will need to mark your "bunny ears". Place your ruler edge on the fold and draw your line. That will be your sew line. This will make your mitered corners. NOTE: be sure to flip your corners out before you cut the "ears" off to ensure you have your miter and not a box. :)

Once you have all your corners sewn, flip out your blanket and press. Now all you have to do is do a zig zag top stitch of some sort to close your opening and finish your edge and you're done! Easy peasy!!

There you go! Once you make one you can whip them out and all those babies in your life will be covered! Happy sewing and may your bobbin always be full!

Need a kit to make one now? Click here to order now!

Aprons!

Are you an apron person? Some people find them old fashion, but they can be cute and make great hostess gifts, etc. With Valentines day just around the corner an apron may be a great thing to give your Valentine. You may also want a new one for that Super Bowl game or that nice Easter dinner coming up. I know we just had Christmas and Easter may seem like a ways off, but if you get it done now you'll be all ready!

Here at the Parish we all wear aprons when we are working in the shop and this year will be changing our aprons each quarter. I will be posting the pattern here with a quickie tutorial. For the full directions call the shop and we can set you up! Here's this quarters apron.

It's a 1920's reproduction and has a feminine scalloped edge.

One of the girls made pattern pieces from the pattern. It made it much easier to lay out.

Once I got everything cut out... just need to begin putting the pieces together. I goes pretty quickly.

I first put the pockets and ties together and pinned them to the body.

Then sewed the scalloped border together and attach it to the body. Now just sew, sew, sew!

Once you have all the pieces on, all that is left to do is the top stitching and your done!

Here are a couple other versions, including a child's one. Enjoy! May your bobbin always be full!

Quick Little Wallet

Need a last minute quick gift? These quick little wallets make great stocking stuffer! Add a gift card inside and have a complete gift that is sure to bring a smile!

You can use some scrap fabric or some fat quarters. Here are the dimensions you need.

The cover measures 8" x 6", largest pocket 4.5" x 6", middle pocket 4.25" x 6, bottom pocket 3.75" x 6".  You will also need a piece of fusible interfacing that measures 8" x 6" and some snaps.


So here we go...

I cut a template out of template plastic. After you make one, you'll want to just whip them out! You can't make just one.

Once you get your fabric and interfacing all cut out you will need to fuse the interfacing to the largest piece. This will create your outer part of the wallet. You should have two pieces of fabric for each part of the wallet.

Then you you need to sew the top of each of the pockets. Then press them.

 

Do this for each of the three pockets. Then you will layer each pocket on top of the largest piece that you fused your interfacing to.

 

 

 

Be sure to line up all your pockets so that the bottoms are all even. Once you have everything layered you will place the other large piece right sides together on top of your layered bunch. Stitch them all together leaving an opening on the side to turn your wallet out.

 



 

 

Once you get them all sewn together using 1/4 inch seam, trim the corners so you can poke them out to get a nicely finished edge.

 



 

 

Lastly press your wallet and then top stitch the top of the wallet. Add your snaps and you're done. If you'd like to use riveted snaps you'll want to attach them before your sew your pocket sandwich together.

 



Aren't they cute? Great last minute gift! Happy stitching and may your bobbins always be full!

Quick Scarf Tutorial...

Looking for a quick gift? We've got you covered. I was on the Moda Bakeshop website the other night and found this fun and easy scarf pattern. It takes one charm pack and 20 inches of flannel (WOF). Here's how mine turned out...

First you take your charm squares and mix them up and pair them so you can zip through chain piecing them. YES, I said mix them up! Put away your OCD for now, believe me it'll be great! After I paired up my squares I just stacked them up and started stitching.

Once you get all your pairs stitched then press them open. Be sure to press half one way and then the other so when you stitch your four patches they will nest nicely. Then pin your seam so you will have nice corners. When you press your four patches, to avoid have that bulk of fabric in the middle of your block snip your fabric and then press. Be sure NOT to snip your stitching!

Then just continue adding to your scarf. Repeating the process of pinning and pressing. I used all but two charm squares. Once you get all your patches sewn together, press and cut your flannel into two strips 9 1/2 inches by WOF. You'll need to sew them together end to end RST. Then lay your flannel strip RST with your patchwork and even them up, pin and stitch 1/4 inch seam around the outside leaving and opening on the side to flip out your scarf.

After I turned out the scarf I stitched another 1/4 inch seam around the edge to close it up and give it a more finished look. There voila' you have a lovely scarf!

 

 So what do you think!! Easy and fast! Send us your photos if you make one! We'd love to see how they turn out! Happy stitching and may your bobbins always be full!

Quick Gifts!

Now that fall is just around the corner and kids are back in school are your thoughts turning to the holidays? In our home fall means the beginning of birthday season and ends with the holidays, so I'm always in gift making mode this time of year.

I'm hoping to do some segments on 'Quick Gifts' and 'Gifts for $30 or Less' over the next few weeks as we all begin planning our gift giving and holiday decorating! So stay tuned for upcoming posts!

Today we are making our '10 Minute Table Runner'. This is a great gift for a friend or hostess! It's inexpensive and quick! What could be better? I made this one for a friend that loves Halloween. She goes all out and always vying to be the 'best' house so always give standard size candy bars, etc. She really gets in the holiday mood! I thought this candy and vintage fabric would be great for her candy table. So here we go!

10 Minute Table Runner

For this project you will need:

• sewing machine
• rotary cutter and cutting mat or scissors
• cotton thread (we used 50 wt)
• straight pins
• Best Press (Mary Ellen's Starch Alternative)
• 1/2 yard piece of fabric & 1/3 yard piece of fabric

Step 1. PRESS

The first thing you need to do with any project is to 'Best Press' and press your fabric. I'm using the word PRESS because you should do just that, press your fabric. If you iron your fabric, you're apt to stretch the fabric and you won't get a nice laying runner.

Step 2. Square Up

You want to make sure that your fabric is even. If you're not sure how to 'square up' see my past post on 'Pillowcases'. Then cut your fabric to size. The outer piece should measure 18 inches x wof and the inner piece should measure 11 inches x wof.

Step 3. Layout

Now that your fabric is nicely pressed and 'squared' you can lay out your pieces right sides together and pin the inner piece to the edge of your outer fabric.

Step 4. Sew

Now you will go to your machine and sew a 1/2" seam down the side of your runner. Press your seams away from the center and then pin the other side and sew again.

Step 5. Pull Out

Now that you have your back and center sewn together, you should now have a tube of fabric. Next you will pull your fabric 'right' side out and even up your borders and press.

 

Step 6. Making the Points

You are now coming into the home stretch! Next you're going to make the points to finish up your runner. Take the end of your tube trim it, if the ends aren't even. Then fold you runner in half and sew up the ends. Do this for each end. Then flip out the points, press and sew down the ends.

 

 

Step 8. Press and DONE!

After sewing down your edge of the "envelope" you can just press and rejoice in a COMPLETED project! Quick and makes a wonderful gift!!

 

 

Hope you enjoy your project! Happy sewing and may your bobbins always be full!