Author: thelongthread

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Stitch by Betz White

Betz White recently sent me some of the beautiful fabric from her new line of organic cotton for Robert Kaufman. The fabric is GOTS certified organic quilting cotton. I was impressed by the thickness of the fabric and it has a great feel as well, which you don’t always find in organic quilting fabric. This fabric is perfect for quilting, apparel or home decor projects. And of course I love the geometric shapes and playful stitching motifs.

I decided to make another quick zipper pouch and really wanted to use the hexagons that were just begging to be cut and used as appliqué. I just cut 1/4″ around the shape and sewed them on by hand, overlapping them. I lined the pouch with the zig-zag fabric. If you find that you can’t get enough of chevrons lately, you’ve got to get some of this fabric. Next I plan to make some skirts for my girls. And I think the hexagons would make a fun pillow with reverse appliqué. Just place some fabric over the hexagons and hold it up to a window, trace around the shapes, stitch and cut out to reveal the pattern beneath. And of course you could make a cheater grandmother’s flower garden quilt with this fabric.

You can see all the designs and find out where to buy Stitch here. And be sure to check out some of Betz’s projects with the fabric, as shown below. Plus, you can share photos of your own creations in Betz’s Stitch Flickr group.

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Etsy Finds Friday

Vintage Baby Sweater, $12 from Bondplace Vintage.

Vegan Bag, $170 from Milk and Honey Handbags.

Japanese Cotton Fabric, $8 1/2 yard from Talktothesun Supplies.

Pillow Cover, $30 from Lynne’s This and That.

Doily Lace Ikebana Vase, $30 from Ken’s Garden Pottery.

Chevron Ring, $30 from Magasin.

Hand Dyed Cotton Floss, $8 from The Rainbow Girl.

Cambrian Blue Clay Soap, $6 from Rocky Top Soap Shop.

Nani Iro Fabric, $10.40 for approximately 1/2 yard from Kicoli.

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Fat Quarterly Issue 8

I recently ordered the latest issue of Fat Quarterly as I was excited to see an issue on paper piecing, so thought I’d share with you. Foundation paper piecing is simple with great results, but I’m afraid that many people are reluctant to try it simply because it’s difficult to explain. Here, you’ll find helpful instructions as well as many projects to try out your skills. You’ll also find instructions and projects for English paper piecing and freezer paper piecing, other helpful techniques for piecing quilt projects with accuracy and efficiency.

Featuring some fantastic contributors, the issue contains a variety of projects. Pictured are: Robot Softie by Jenny Novinsky, Cozy Cottage by Charise Randell, Kingdom Courtyards Quilt by John Adams, Apple Pie Pillow by Tacha Bruecher, Quilter’s Clock by Sylvie Roussel, and Teapot Fancy Block by Kerry Green (this one has instructions for both the freezer paper technique as well as foundation paper piecing).

When I have more time to sew for myself, I look forward to trying out that clock project. The issue is just $8 and you’ll find it as a downloadable .pdf, which is quick and convenient. With 125 pages featuring instructions for quilts, pillows, blocks and other projects, I think it’s a good deal. You can read more about the issue here.

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Tattoo Valentines

And here are the ones we made with my seven-year-old. She drew the designs for these tattoos and we printed them on tattoo paper.

I ordered this Silhouette tattoo paper after reading the reviews on amazon, but you don’t need to have any special cutter to use this paper. Just an inkjet printer. I scanned my daughter’s drawings, reversed them (important!) and printed them on the paper. Then you have to wait for it to dry (which took almost an hour) and then ever so carefully apply the adhesive paper on top, and finally rub any air bubbles out. I was nervous since I only ordered two sheets, but it turned out fine and we were able to get 40 tattoos on two sheets.

So I took her drawings and added some typed text as I wasn’t sure how legible her writing would be on a small tattoo. Then of course she wanted to attach candy to the cards, and knowing how much parents love their kids to eat a teaspoon of colored sugar, I acquiesced and bought Pixy Stix, cut some slits in the card and my daughter attached one to each card. The heart paper clips came from Paper Source and were a bit of a splurge for me. As you can see below, the quality of the tattoo is just OK, but about what you normally see with temporary tattoos.

If you’d like the printable for this one, you can download the .pdf file here.

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