Slip-over Coasters for Wine Glasses

What a great idea from Half Yard Home by Debbie Shore. These will keep the condensation off your tabletop as well as provide a fun way for your guests to remember which glass is theirs, if you make them all from different fabrics. Any glass that has a wine bottom type will work.

First measure the diameter of the base. Add 1-2" to get the diameter you need to cut your circles, and find a glass or coaster that is that size to serve as a template. You may need to make one or two samples to make sure it will fit over the glass bottom.  You need two circles for the top, one for the bottom, and one of batting or felt.

Take the two top circles and press in half. If you desire to add a strip of lace or ribbon, lay on top, and sew close to the folded edge. To assemble for sewing, place felt circle down, then add bottom fabric or oilcloth right side up, and the two halves right side down on the very top. Pin together and sew completely around the outside edge of the circle. Trim to 1/8", turn, and press.

Add a button, ribbon flower, or other adornment to one side, if desired. Or before assembly, you could monogram one half circle. Have fun!

Fabric Wall Flower Project

WALL FLOWER

This project was in Adventures in Fabric, La Todera Style.  It is made by creating circles using three different fabrics, which are then sewn together in a pie shape and then the top petals, which that creates, are sewn together. Sounds confusing, I should have pictured the process. It was tricky turning the circles and getting a nice smooth edge after sewing them together. Fusible web is inside the circles to aid in the crispness of the petals. On top I put a yo-yo made with a button in the center.

BAG FROM REPURPOSED SHIRTS

From this snap front Gap shirt I found at Salvation Army, I made a bag utilizing the snap opening as a pocket on the front of the bag. I used another SA shirt for the lining.
The outside shirt fabric has Pellon Thermolan Plus fleece fused to it to strengthen the bag and to protect the contents. I used one of the cuffs to make a snap closure at the top for a little bit of security.

The inside has a long pocket on one of the gusset sides, a zippered pocket on one side, and a small pocket on the other side at the bottom. The outside back has two small pockets at the bottom, and the front, along with the pocket made with the snapped placket, has four small divisions/pockets, with two on top of each other at the ends making six pockets.

I embroidered a floral motif on the back in orange thread. The handles used the button plackets of the floral shirts backed with the other shirt's fabric. The Gap label is sewn onto one of the straps.

Red and White Quilt from Kansas City Star

The Kansas City Star published patterns, a block a month, in 2013 for this quilt called "Rubies, Diamonds, and Garnets, Too..." designed by Bernadette Kent of Calgary, Alberta.  This is my second attempt at piecing, so I am happy with the outcome. Those 36 sashing strips took me weeks to do as there are 864 half triangle pieces to cut, sew two together, trim, and then sew in a strip. If I had known at the outset how time consuming those would be, I probably would not have started it. But they do add a lot to the overall look. The blocks were pretty quick to piece together; even the center star was not too bad.

Almost all of the white fabrics are from blouses from Salvation Army on their 49 cent day. The red checks and plaids are from shirts. The polka dot was a skirt. The rest of the fabrics had to be bought at a fabric store since it was hard to find red on red and red on white prints. This block to the right was from a bought fabric that had the illustrated sewing stitches fussy cut (cutting out a motif to be centered).

The center block was not what was originally published in the paper. They had to print a retraction for some reason and offered a download for this star.

If anyone wants these instructions I cut from The Star, I will be happy to mail it all to the first person I hear from.

Now I have to figure out how to quilt this 68" square. This will be my first quilting attempt, and I don't want to do it by hand. Perhaps I will practice free motion quilting and try doing that.  Those four white corners of the center block should get a special treatment. Any ideas?

Decorative Backing for old TV Armoire

 This beautiful armoire had a gaping hole in the back to accommodate the old huge TV we used to have.  I pieced together a bunch of squares made from a skirt and a jumper found at the Salvation Army, and laid that and some batting on top of a big piece of foam core. Remember to add a couple of inches to the overall fabric piece so it will lap around the board on all sides.

To attach it to the foam core, I used office clips to hold the batting and "quilt" at the edges and took yarn threaded onto a needle and sewed back and forth across the back, catching the top and bottom edges first, then the side edges. After that was completed, I added button "tufting" at each corner of each piece, bringing the thread through the foam core and tying off the ends.

close up of fabric quilt for back of armoire

Casserole Cozy

I just wanted a little blanket for my casserole to keep it warm and be able to handle it a little easier when hot.  With some quilted double-sided material (of course, you could make your own) I cut out enough fabric to come up to the top of each side and a little extra on the ends to act as pot holders.
Then to get it to hug the dish, I sewed two darts on each corner,--

--using pins, just make darts as if fitting a dress to a mannequin. I basted mine first since there is no pattern to follow and pulled out a couple to restitch.

After trimming around the top to make it all symmetrical, I made some bias tape trim and applied to the edges for the finished look.




I just turned the darts towards each other on each end and made that my inside.

Then when serving, tuck the ends down to keep food from getting on them. This particular dish has "handles" which it works well on.

A straight sided dish would not need the longer ends.

Custom Bedspread, Shams & Pillow

After seeing this fabric at Joann's Fabrics, I just had to have it for our newly painted master bedroom. It is made from two lengths that lay crosswise, and I joined them matching the patterns by meticulously pinning and hand sewing at spots to assure accuracy, then finishing on the machine. The other side is a bottom weight black cotton, and it is finished off with a black rope cording sandwiched between the two.

 On a trip to Mackinac Island, I purchased a dozen pieces of Frette linen with the Grand Hotel logo on them at a great price. Why not make shams with them? But they are stark white, so I tea dyed* two, which made them the perfect color. I added red strips of fabric to the sides to make them king size and added black braid over that seam (an idea from Eastern Accents shams). Leftover bedspread fabric was used for the back of the shams, as well as to cover cording for the edging. 

I felt it needed one more pillow, so I took an embroidered part of a blouse from Salvation Army, embellished with buttons and beads, added quilt fabric, black cording, and a ruffled edge.

*Tea dying instructions:
Boil water in a pot large enough for your fabric. For every cup of water, you will need one tea bag. Drop in tea bags; let steep for 5 minutes. Wet down your fabric (natural fabrics are best) before immersing into the tea bath. Push down on the fabric making sure it is completely covered and let it set for 10 minutes. Rinse out the tea completely and even give it a bath with a squirt of dishwashing liquid to be sure to remove the tannins. Remember it will dry a shade lighter. Repeat if necessary for a darker color. 

Flavored teas may give it a slightly different color; like, cinnamon, would be more of a red, etc. You can alway try coffee, too.