Single boy quilt - continuous circular quilting - a quick tutorial

I finished piecing my 'Single boy' quilt the other day and basted it in preparation for some intensive circular quilting.

The way I do circular quilting is as follows:

• Take a round object about 3" in diameter and draw with tailor's chalk a circle around it at the point where you wish to start quilting (this does not have to be the middle of the quilt, see here and here for off-center examples)
• Then draw from anywhere on the circle a quarter circle toward the center
• Then draw another quarter circle towards the outside. This acts as your guide for the continuation. You now have instead of a circle a spiral and that is exactly what a continues circle is

• Start sewing at the point where you drew the quarter circle towards the inside  (see red arrow) and NOT at the start of the drawn circle. This smaller piece is difficult to sew with the machine and inevitably always ends up looking somewhat square as you have to stop and readjust your quilt every tow stitches or so. To avoid this I simply stitch this little tale by hand. And I do this separately for the top and bottom as decorative stitch that only catches two layers rather than quilting through the three layers. This way it almost looks machine stitched. I make sure I have enough length of thread when I start machine quilting to finish the tale by hand after I have ran out of bobbin thread the first time (because that is the first time you can actually take the quilt of the machine)

• From the start of your machine quilting process ensure you frequently adjust your quilt so you are actually going around smoothly. It helps if you keep your needle in the down position so the quilt doesn't move. Don't force the quilt around, instead sew 10 stiches or so, stop, adjust quilt, sew again 10 stitches and so forth. This will go on like this for a few rounds and soon you realize that you can stitch longer without having to adjust the quilt quite as often as the circle has grown larger. 
• At the point where the chalk circle has finished (the outer tale so to say) use either the edges of your walking foot as a guide or the guide tool that comes usually with it. It depends on how far apart you want your circle stitch lines. For this quilt I am choosing the edges of my walking foot as I want dense quilting.

• The first 10 rounds of circular quilting are still awkward even if you do the tale by hand. I generally don't worry about this. None oft the circular quilting I have done is 100 % circular at first. There are always a few jagged lines. This is after all a handmade object and not quilted by a programmed machine. 
• Circular quilting requires a VERY well basted quilt as the constant movement through the machine puts a lot of strain on the quilt.

Alternative start:

• You can also start the quilting by using a darning foot or free motion foot if you don't wish to do the hand stitching. But I only recommend this for quilters who are actually familiar with free-motion quilting as this will otherwise go horribly wrong. Once you have done the first few rounds you an switch to the straight stitch walking foot. 

Serpentine stitch on the Janome Horizon 7700

You may have read on my last post that I used a serpentine stitch for a few rows on my latest quilt.
Over the past few weeks I have on occasion seen that quilters used a serpentine stitch on their quilts and I realized I really like it as an alternative to a straight stitch.

Unfortunately all the examples I saw were sewn on Bernina machines. I tried to find the same stitch on my Horizon but only found stitch 19 under the Utilitiy section and although it has the same shape it isn't as nice because the stitch length on the curve peaks are smaller then on the rest which gives the stitch a somewhat untidy look in my opinion.


Rather frustrated with my machine (which is the first time actually) I googled for serpentine stitch and Janome Horizon and came upon a great tutorial on a website called 'Online Sewing'. The tutorial can be downloaded here and is written by Diane Stutsmann.

At first I was a little confused by the repetitions in the instructions but then decided to follow the instruction to the tee and voila a few minutes later I had the most wonderful Serpentine Stitch.

In the image below the top stitch is no 19 and the bottom stitch the programmed serpentine stitch.

Thanks you Diane Stutsman and 'Online Sewing' !

I will anchor this post on my 'Tuts Tips and Templates' page on my blog for future reference.

Oxford border wtih hidden zip - a tutorial

First of all thank you for everybody's kind comments on my linen oxford pillow or as Hadley called them "big comfy tea bags"....

So here is the promised tutorial and you will see that it really isn't difficult at all. After I finished my first I had a bit of an aha moment indeed.

Let's say you want to make a bordered cushion for a cushion pad of 14"/35 cm then you will end up with a cushion cover of 18"/45 cm. Of course if you wish you can make the border even wider but I think it should always we proportional to the size of the cushion itself and I found these measurements perfect.

Cutting instruction:

1 square  19" x 19" linen
1 square  19" x 21" linen
1 zip 12 "

Optional:
1 sq  19" x 19" interfacing ( I prefer the woven kine, Vilene G-700)
1 sq  19" x 21" interfacing


I like to use Vilene G-700 interfacing as it is woven and gives the fabric both stability while retaining flexibility. If you use a heavier home decor fabric you may not need or want interfacing. Although the linen I use here is fairly heavy it needed a little bit of stability for the oxford border to stand properly.

Step 1: If you are using interfacing then iron it onto the wrong side of the fabric (WOF) of both squares.

Step 2: Then take the larger of the two squares and cut it in half across the width of the fabric giving you two panels of 19" x 10.5".

Step 3: Optionally overlock or zickzack stitch the edge before folding it over by about 0.5 ". Press to the WOF. Do this for both pieces.

That's how it looks from the front.

Step 4: Now join both pieces.

Put both pieces right side of fabric (ROF) together. Pin along the length of the fold for about 3 1/4" from the side edge on either side as demonstrated in the images. Mark the 3 1/4" point with a needle so you don't sew over it in the next step.

Step 5: Sew along the pinned seam from the side edge to the marker pin on either side. Secure the end with a few backward stitches. You are left with an opening in the middle into which you are now inserting the zip.













 Step 6: The zip

Take your zip and start pinning it into the opening from the ROF.
Start at one end by inserting the end of the zip through the opening just under the sewn seam. Place the fabric so that the edge of the fabric is level with the teeth. You can actually place the fabric just a smidgen beyond the edge of the teeth towards the other side of the zip. 

Do this on both sides. The zip should be completely hidden once it is pinned in place on both sides.  The fabric edges should be very close together. In fact they should nudge each other a little bit (see image below). When the cushion is inserted, the fabric will open a little bit and if you pin the zip snug between the two fabric pieces you will keep it well hidden even with the cushion pad inserted.

The inserted zip should look like this from the WOF.

Step 7: Sewing of the zip


Sewing in the zip works best with a zipper foot but you can also use a normal foot. Start in the middle of one side and do a few back stitches to secure the stitch. Sew close along the zipper teeth using the zipper foot as your guide. You can pull the other side of the fabric slightly open if you want to see the zipper while sewing.

Keep sewing until you get to the end and stitch one or two stitches past the opening. Keep needle in the down potion, turn the fabric around, sew a few stitches back and forth and then sew along the other side. When you reach the zipper, pull it out the way so you can sew evenly and easier.

The finished cushion panel should look like in this image:

Step 8: Finish
The rest is fairly easy and pretty much the same as with any other cushion.
Open the zip (very important !) Put both cushion panels right sides together and make sure they are still the same size. If not then square them off. Then sew all around with a good 1/4" seam allowance.

Back with hidden zipper

Turn the cushion inside out through the open zip, pull out the corners with your favorite pointy tool (chop sticks, Hera marker are mine). Now press the cushion well and then sew all around with a 3" seam allowance (or border), insert cushion pad and you are done !

P.S I like a double seam here and go around a second time leaving an 1/8 " gap between the two seams.















One could argue that it would look better if the zipper wasn't on the horizontal (or vertical) in the middle of the back panel. I did argue that point with myself (!) but ended up putting it in the middle after all. If you are making an oxford border cushion then you are very likely to use the same fabric for both sides and in that case it really doesn't matter. Besides one can always only look at one side of a cushion. However if you wanted to move the zipper further towards the bottom then that is of course possible and the technique remains the same just the measurements for the back panels change.

Front without zipper

I hope this helps and please let me know if you have any questions or don't understand something.

Cushions - bordered

...or as they are called correctly, cushions with an Oxford border. Sounds all rather posh, don't you think ?
You may remember that I bought some months ago this fabulous home decor linen at the Cloth House in Soho.

It was always my intention to make cushions with this fabric but I hadn't gotten around to do so over the past months. I also wanted to make them double sided using the same cloth and also knew right away I wanted an Oxford border.

I think the Oxford border gives the cushion that little something, given that it is not quilted. So it really should shine through the use of its fabric alone. I had been looking all over flickr to find a tutorial or some instructions on how to make the borders incorporating an invisible zip but didn't find much. Somehow they don't seem to be fashionable in the quilting world.

But I like 'em and think they work a treat here. So in the end I managed to work out how to make them curtsey of several tips and hints and thought I write up a little tutorial on how to make Oxford borders with a hidden zip if anybody is interested. I took the images and if enough people would like a tut then I am happy to write it up.

And here is a little stack of vintage inspired cushions made from gorgeous linen, available in my shop.

Advents calendar stocking tutorial

I had a few people asking for a tutorial for my Advents calendar stockings . So I thought I oblige as we are nearing Christmas in alarming speed !

Few important points up front:

• This is an excellent way to use leftovers from past Christmas crafting ventures, though I am using a fat quarter set of Michael Millers's 2011 Christmas collection (as I didn't have enough leftovers)
• My stockings are lined but I don't think that this is strictly necessary - I just like them to look neat
• The individual stockings aren't particularly large as they are just meant for small little somethings through the time of Advent but I have created two template sizes as I want to make 4 stockings that are larger for the Advent Sundays.
• I choose to make each months 4 (or 8 every two month as I tend to forget !) but you can easily make a little production line and get it over and done with in one weekend

Material:

• patterned cotton scraps from past x-mas or a fat eights or fat quarter set of a new collection (that is plenty and will give you enough to make other bits for the festive period)
• leftover wadding
• solid cotton scraps for lining (but you could also use patterned here if you prefer)
• cotton thread for piecing
• cotton thread for quilting
• Template(s) can be downloaded here (The smaller one is to be used for 20 stockings and the larger one for 4 as I want to have a "larger" present for the Advent Sundays

Take a piece of fabric and fold it over from left to right as in the picture. This is important when you have a directional print as you don't want to end up having one half of the stocking upside down.

Download the stocking template, cut it out along the line and pin it onto the folded fabric. Then cut out the first stocking. 1/4 inch seam allowance is already included in the template !

You will end up with two stockings like this where the directional prints go into the same direction.

Then repeat the same process with the wadding and the lining (though you don't need to worry about print direction here). You should end up with 3 pair of booties like in the image below.

Next take your print booties and your wadding booties, pin them together and quilt in which ever pattern you prefer. I have chose to do diagonal lines that form a diamond pattern. I have not marked any lines here and just started to quilt from the top left corner to the bottom right corner and then set the quilt guide on my machine to a 3/4 inch distance and kept this for the subsequent lines. When have you done this with both stocking halfs it should look like this.

Now cut 2 strips of contrasting fabric that are each 4 x 2 inches.

Turn the strips right sides down and press the long edges a 1/4 inch toward the wrong side.You can either finger press this or use and iron - I am using an iron.

Then turn the strips around, place them on the stocking halfs a 1/4 inch below the top edge thereby taking care that the folded and pressed edges are turned in. Then top stitch along the top and bottom edge to secure the strip to the stocking.

It should look like this (sorry for the blurred photo):
The reason why I am doing these sort of fake cuffs is to minimize bulk. There are tutorials around for stockings with great cuffs but these are for large stocking and not for tiny ones likes these that are made into an Advent calendar.

Cut the excess fabric off to get a clean edge.

Take both booties, put the right sides together and stitch a 1/4 around the whole stocking with the exception of the opening at the top !

Now take both lining stocking halfs and sew them together in the same manner.

Almost there. Now we put the patterned stocking and lining stocking together.  Take the patterned stocking and turn the wadding side inside and the patterned side outside (the way it should look finished) and simply put the lining stocking with the wrong side outside (!) over it.

Stitch a scant 1/4 inch along the top leaving a large enough area open to turn the stocking around. Make sure you stitch over both side seams  (see black arrows in photo) which means you would leave the area between the side seam on one side of the stocking open to turn it around. The reason why I am asking to do this will become clear in a moment.

Turn the stocking inside out. You will end up with this. The stocking will be almost finished with the right side on the outside. Tuck the lining into the stocking make sure to push it right into the corners.
The only thing that is now left to do is close the opening you have used to turn the stocking around with a few hand sewn stitches. And it is much quicker to close this if you don't have to do it over the somewhat bulky side seams.

Done !

 And in no time you have a bunch of these:

And yes I am behind again. By the end of this month I will have to have produced 16 in total.....better get on with it then.

Please let me know if something is not clear, wrong or confusion. This my first big tutorial and I would be grateful if you could  give me honest feedback as only then I can learn from mistakes.