Fat Quarter
My blog has a bit of an identity crisis. Am I a craft and garden and recipe blogger. Or am I a kid and family and homeschool blogger. Or, on the intellectual side, maybe I am a book review blogger or a contemplative Bible studier blogger. Or perhaps, I just blog to keep family and friends updated on my little life.
All of the above and probably a few more, too.
This week, I have sewing on the brain. I planned an "enrichment activity" (AKA a sewing project) for my Texas-friend who had never used a sewing machine. We happily sewed away an afternoon and a morning. We made a simple potholder using a few different sewing techniques and tools.
We made a potholder like this one. Which, by-the-way, I made when my Colorado-friend was visiting. In that scenario, she was the one teaching me. So we are all learning and sharing and paying-it-forward in a crafty sort of way.
We sandwiched a square piece of batting between 6 - 8 layers of coordinating fabric. Diagonally, from corner to corner, we sewed a line of stitching, adding another row of stitching every 1/4" or so.
Then using this handy-dandy slash cutter (or cheniller), we sliced through the outer layers of fabric between each row of diagonal stitching.
We added a binding-style boarder and ended up with a product that looked like this.
On the flip side I used different colors, so it looked like this.
After washing the raw edges that were cut with the cutting tool will fluff up and give a nice chenille look. Not to mention a nice fluffy pot holder.
How did we decided on the original red colors? I pulled them from my stash of scraps.
Never-the-less it is a common "complaint" when working on sewing projects. "How do I decide what colors to use?" or "How do I know what looks good together?"
Let me inroduce you to a Fat Quarter.
A bolt of fabric typically found at a craft store is sold in widths of 42" - 44". If you request a yard of fabric, you end up with a length of 36" (a yard) and a width of 42" - 44". If you request a quarter of a yard you will get a 9" length of fabric. You can see this in the bottom of the diagram below.
A Fat Quarter is still a quarter of a yard of material, but in a different shape. As you can see in the diagram, a Fat Quarter is wider and is therefore useful for applique designs and other small projects.
My favorite part about Fat Quarters, and the reason I bring them up, is that they are often sold in bundles...bundles that match or are complementary or just happen to be beautiful together.
I found this batch of pink and blue combined with pretty browns and decided they would make a nice fabric bowl. The bowl is a project we've done before, but with different colors and a slightly different shape it takes on a different look.
Last week I found this bundle on sale.
All nicely coordinating, they often have combinations I would not have made on my own, and it saves me the trouble of standing at the cutting counter with five bolts of fabric and then saying, "I'll take the smallest length you can cut...a quarter of a yard?!"
I've had this lunch sack/gift bag project in the back of my mind for a while and decided to use the happy red fabric with the coordinating denim blue.
Sometimes you just need a little push in the right direction to get those creative synapses firing and I think that Fat Quarter bundles often do the trick.
Are you inspired?
How do you choose fabric combinations?
And, if you were a crafty blogger how could you ever resist posting Christmas presents?!
All of the above and probably a few more, too.
This week, I have sewing on the brain. I planned an "enrichment activity" (AKA a sewing project) for my Texas-friend who had never used a sewing machine. We happily sewed away an afternoon and a morning. We made a simple potholder using a few different sewing techniques and tools.
We made a potholder like this one. Which, by-the-way, I made when my Colorado-friend was visiting. In that scenario, she was the one teaching me. So we are all learning and sharing and paying-it-forward in a crafty sort of way.
We sandwiched a square piece of batting between 6 - 8 layers of coordinating fabric. Diagonally, from corner to corner, we sewed a line of stitching, adding another row of stitching every 1/4" or so.
Then using this handy-dandy slash cutter (or cheniller), we sliced through the outer layers of fabric between each row of diagonal stitching.
We added a binding-style boarder and ended up with a product that looked like this.
On the flip side I used different colors, so it looked like this.
After washing the raw edges that were cut with the cutting tool will fluff up and give a nice chenille look. Not to mention a nice fluffy pot holder.
How did we decided on the original red colors? I pulled them from my stash of scraps.
Never-the-less it is a common "complaint" when working on sewing projects. "How do I decide what colors to use?" or "How do I know what looks good together?"
Let me inroduce you to a Fat Quarter.
A bolt of fabric typically found at a craft store is sold in widths of 42" - 44". If you request a yard of fabric, you end up with a length of 36" (a yard) and a width of 42" - 44". If you request a quarter of a yard you will get a 9" length of fabric. You can see this in the bottom of the diagram below.
A Fat Quarter is still a quarter of a yard of material, but in a different shape. As you can see in the diagram, a Fat Quarter is wider and is therefore useful for applique designs and other small projects.
My favorite part about Fat Quarters, and the reason I bring them up, is that they are often sold in bundles...bundles that match or are complementary or just happen to be beautiful together.
I found this batch of pink and blue combined with pretty browns and decided they would make a nice fabric bowl. The bowl is a project we've done before, but with different colors and a slightly different shape it takes on a different look.
Last week I found this bundle on sale.
All nicely coordinating, they often have combinations I would not have made on my own, and it saves me the trouble of standing at the cutting counter with five bolts of fabric and then saying, "I'll take the smallest length you can cut...a quarter of a yard?!"
I've had this lunch sack/gift bag project in the back of my mind for a while and decided to use the happy red fabric with the coordinating denim blue.
Sometimes you just need a little push in the right direction to get those creative synapses firing and I think that Fat Quarter bundles often do the trick.
Are you inspired?
How do you choose fabric combinations?
And, if you were a crafty blogger how could you ever resist posting Christmas presents?!
Comments
- your TX friend :-)