Fresh quilt start!

It feels like there has been a lot of writing and organising going on here the last few weeks, and not so much sewing! I was determined to change that this week and took myself to my stash to pull fabrics for a new quilt. Then, last night and this morning I got cutting and did a little piecing. Oh, there is nothing nicer than a fresh rotary blade in your cutter and miles of lovely fabric to cut!!!

This is a baby boy's quilt. The person I am making it for wants blue, yellow and white. I love the combination of colours - so fresh and gorgeous! I had to order a number of yellow fabrics as I'm not strong on these in my stash, but I had lots of blues. With the limited colours, I wanted to have lots of interest in shades, prints and values and I think I assembled a nice mix in the end!

Then I trialled a couple of blocks. Pinwheels, I just love them. So simple, so classic but just lovely with the right fabrics because there is so much movement in them.

Do you hear that satisfied sigh? That's me, all ready to get chain piecing tonight when the kids are gone to bed! Now, time to go off and do what I've been avoiding all day: tidy up, put away the shopping, spend some quality time with the kids and supervise the homework (that doesn't fall in the quality time category....maybe I will leave that job to Himself when he gets in from work!).

Hope you're having a good day! I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.

Scrapy Pack Giveaway Winners

Wow, what a brilliant response to the launch of {Sew} Get Started! I am flattered and delighted in equal measure and hope everyone enjoys!

I did the draw this morning for the scrap pack winners and they are:

 Who is Millie: 

The second winner is:

who is Paskiaq:

  

Congratulations to both of you, I will be in touch with you via email to get your addresses. The third winner over on the Facebook competition was Emma Corcoran. I will get those packs in the post before the end of the week so you have them for next Thursday's tutorial!

Thanks for entering everyone, and pop back tomorrow for the 1st tutorial on Sewing Basics!

{Sew} Get Started: Sewing Classes

I'm really thrilled to introduce you to Fiona who runs the great information site The Sewing Directory. Not just a directory of sewing related suppliers, services, courses and groups, it also has projects, how to guides, inteverviews, competitions, sewing news, offers, sales and workshop listings. The Sewing Directory is currently running Sewing Blogger Awards where people can nominate their favourite sewing blogs of 2011 so you should definitely pop over and check that out!

This tutorial is part of the {Sew} Get Started Series. Full list of tutorials and links can be found here.

Sew What: Finding a Sewing Class by Fiona @ The Sewing Directory.

There’s a great amount you can learn from
books, blogs and websites to help you in your quest to learn to sew. But sometimes it’s easier to learn face to face, with someone there to guide you and who you can ask questions of as you go. There may be a technique you just can’t master from written instructions, or something you really want to make but don’t even know where to start.

Luckily here are new sewing schools and sewing teachers popping up all over the place and they are all competing for customers by offering a diverse range of sewing classes as well as good value for money so now is the ideal time to try a local sewing class.

The majority of modern classes do aim to get you making a full project, not just a sample and want to make it something you will actually use. If dressmaking is the area that interests you there is a lot more options than the ‘make a simple skirt’ available, you can be walking away with a whole new wardrobe of clothes - fully tailored jackets, trousers, pyjamas, dresses, even clothing for your children. There are also classes which teach you to repair and alter your clothes or how to upcycle or customise your clothing to make your wardrobe unique.

Another class of growing popularity in the
dressmaking area is pattern cutting; learning to
draft your own patterns means you can make
clothes perfectly tailored to your own body shape. Underwear is also a popular subject, with knicker making classes proving a great idea for hen nights, there are also classes on bra making and corset making too.

For those of you who want to sew for the home, you can of course make a range of different
cushion covers if you so desire but you can also learn how to make curtains, roman blinds, and throws plus textile art or embroidery to display on the walls. A new course that has appeared at a few venues lately is making fabric covered lampshades, a great way to add your own unique touch to a room.

Quilting classes also vary greatly from the sample quilt/cot quilt to making quilted bags, cushions, purses and gifts. One venue in London recently ran a course on making a Mod Mood Quilt, you choose the colours each session based upon your mood (remember the Mood rings of the early 90s?). Often quilting classes will run over several sessions to enable you to not only learn a few different techniques but to take away a full size quilt at the end of it.

Furthermore there are a lot of classes for making
various accessories, a range of different bags,
purses, fabric jewellery, make up or sewing rolls,
corsages and other embellishments. These are all
fairly quick projects, ideally suited to beginners that can be made in a 2-3 hour session a great place to start if you are daunted by the idea of going straight into a big project. Seasonal classes can be a good place to start as well, there’s a great sense of pride in making your own Christmas stocking, advent calendar or gift for a loved one.

Many sewing teachers offer one to one sewing lessons, which although often more expensive than a class mean you can focus on exactly whatever it is you want to learn. If you are mainly learning online or through books then that can be an ideal way to get someone to help you with any problem areas.

A few tips before you start booking up classes:

• Check what equipment/supplies you need to bring with you. A lot of places will provide fabric & a sewing machine but some don’t, others prefer you to bring your own so you learn to handle your particular machine. Some places add an extra charge on top of the class cost for materials so do read the small print.

• Check what sewing ability you need to take part in the class, some of the classes require you to have a certain level of experience before attending, so do check if you are unsure.

• Groups v individual tuition – Many places will offer individual tuition as well as group classes. If you like a lot of one to one guidance that could be the better option for you. Also if you want to make something specific that is not covered by one of the classes the personal tuition could again work out better.

• Shop around. Many locations now have more than one venue offering sewing classes so have a look at all your local ones and compare prices, timings, offers, reviews etc.

• Follow your local course providers on Facebook & Twitter, you can often pick up discounts or reduced price last minute bookings if you do so, as well as getting details of new classes they will be offering in the future. Some of them run competitions offering free classes too so worth keeping an eye on.

If you want to find a sewing class provider close to you why not look on The Sewing Directory? We have over 65 different course providers offering 1,000s of different classes every month. You can find our monthly highlights on our workshops page. Do follow us on Facebook & Twitter to be kept updated with course discount codes from our customers.

Images kindly provided by The Make Lounge which runs contemporary sewing and craft classes in
London.

January Bee Blocks

 

This month in Sew Bee Blissful, Christine gave us a lovely block to work on - this garden fence block.

As yesterday's post was so long, this is going to be very short.

Aren't they gorgeous? I loved working on them and ADORE her fabric choices. These are going to make an amazing quilt.

Next month I am Queen Bee - I'm still freaking out about my block choice because there are just too many gorgeous blocks out there I want to make quilts from - if you have any recommendations, please send them my way!!

{Sew} Get Started: Sewing Supplies and Resources

So, I hope that you are all excited about getting started sewing! Don't forget, you have till Monday to enter the giveaway for the 3 packs of scrap fabric to get you started - just pop over here and comment to enter. This post is part of the {Sew} Get Started Series.

Today's post is all about getting ready, what supplies you will need and recommendations for resources you will definitely find useful! Those of you who sew already will probably have a good range of supplies, and will be familiar with the online resources etc that I am going to discuss. but if you have any recommendations to add, please do in the comments section as that would be brilliant.

There is no way I could possibly cover everything in this section - in particular, I just don't have time or space to, for example, advise on buying a sewing machine or recommend fabric stores online etc, as there are just so many variables. However, if you do have specific questions on sourcing supplies, e.g. if you're not familiar with buying fabric on Etsy and want some help, or need some assistance choosing a first sewing machine, please post up the questions by starting a thread in the Flickr discussion group and I will do my best to answer (and please, if you are an experienced sewer or quilter and you have an opinion, jump right in with your advice too!)

Supplies:

I did a guest post for Sara back in August of 2011where I went through the basic supplies necessary to start sewing. There was quite a bit of information in it so I'm going to send you over to that post to find out what you need to get started and I gave a little advice there about buying the various bits and pieces. In summary, you will need:

1. Sewing Machine
2. Iron
3. Fabric Scissors - keep for fabric only and never use for cutting paper!
4. Needles for your machine and some handsewing needles
5. Seam ripper (usually come with your machine)
6. Pins - good quality pins are essential!
7. Safety pins
8. Thread - buy good quality thread. Gutterman and Aurifil are both excellent.
9. Tape measure
10. Water soluble pen/tailors chalk for marking fabric
11. Spare bobbins for your machine
12. Old knitting needle/chopstick/point turner

and of course, fabric. Lovely, gorgeous, beautiful fabric that you can't take your eyes off! More about that in a moment though :-)

The list above should be enough, in general to get you started. You will, of course, need particular items for each project, but they will be listed in the tutorials. In the supplies post, I also talk about quilting supplies and additional extras so do go have a look.

You also should think about starting to build up a collection of buttons, embroidery skeins, ribbons and other trimmings - adding a few bits here and there will soon leave you with an impressive collection. And don't pass up the opportunity to build your collection of supplies by recyling and thrifting items. I cut the cute buttons off my kids clothes and keep them. I keep scraps of ribbon and other trimmings. I keep worn out clothing if I love the fabric and cut out the useable bits. You'll be surprised how quickly you acquire a stash!

  
Fabric

I am a fabric addict. There is no getting away from it, I just love it. I have *quite* a nice collection at this stage, although I am trying to wean myself off buying fabric just because it is beautiful, rather than with a project in mind. But I'm not doing very well. See why?

My gorgeous Echo fabric

There are lots of different types of fabric out there and I will go through some more detail on fabrics in the Sewing Basics tutorials next week. However, for today I just want to talk a little about buying fabric (my favourite thing!) for peeps who don't know where to start and are not familiar with the joy of fabric purchasing :-)

There are lots of ways to buy fabric, whether in a specialist quilting store, a general fabric shop or online. I like to use a little of everything, but I buy most of my fabric online because the range and selection here in Cork is quite limited, and very expensive. There are hundreds of fab online stores out there and it's impossible for me to recommend any kind of definitive list here. But if you are looking for fabric online, you could do a lot worse than browse through some of the great sewing blogs out there as a lot of bloggers will say where they bought their fabric, and many fabric sellers advertise on blogs. You will also find lots of adverts for online fabric stores in sewing and quilting magazines. I buy a lot of fabric through sellers on Etsy (mostly based in the USA) and find my fabric is delivered usually within 4-7 working days to Ireland, which is pretty good, and I love how most of the sellers on Etsy have a lovely personal touch. If you need help buying fabric online, feel free to post up questions in the Flickr group and I will do my best to answer them.

What you do need to know when buying fabric is the following:

• Fabric is sold by the metre or by the yard, depending on where in the world you are. American stores sell by the yard, UK and Irish by the metre (I'm not sure about other areas).. Most quilt patterns are written in inches. Some general sewing patterns are written in metric measurements. Be sure, when reading fabric requirements that you know whether you are working in Imperial or Metric measurements and adjust your quantities for buying accordingly.
• Check that you are buying the type of fabric you want. I make most of my projects using quilting cotton, but you might want to buy home decor weight cotton, or fleece, or minky so always search in the right category. Never buy polycotton in place of cotton - its very slippy and hard to work with for a beginner, and cotton has a much nicer quality.
• A lot of quilting cotton is sold pre-cut rather than cut from the bolt. The most common measurements are fat quarters and half yards/metres, and many shops sell bundles of coordinating cuts which is a great way of building your stash. Other precuts include layer cakes, charm squares and jelly rolls. These are bundles of all the fabrics from a particular line, precut to specific sizes. A layer cake is made up of 10" squares, a charm pack of 5" squares. A jelly roll is strips 2.5" long x width of fabric. These types of precuts are great and really easy to use, but can be a little bit limited in use due to the small size of the cuts. Fat quarters and half yards are really versatile cuts of fabric - I usually buy FQs where I can - enough fabric for lots of projects at a good price, although half yards give much more versatility. Elizabeth did a great post earlier this year about different cuts of fabric which is a great reference point if all this is new to you.

Terrain charm pack

• Scale of print and colour can be hard to tell on screen. If in doubt, ask the seller. I often have a discussion with sellers about particular colours I want, particularly for solid fabrics, as its so hard to distinguish shade variations on the internet. Most are really great to help out!
• Fabric lines are limited and are updated constantly through the year. Make sure you buy enough for your project because if you don't, it may not be there when you go looking for more. This is particularly true of really popular fabrics.
• When you are buying solid fabrics (i.e. plain coloured cottons with no print pattern), make sure you buy enough for your project from the same bolt. All fabrics have dye lots and minor differences in colour on different bolts can become very obvious in a finished quilt.
• Buy what you love. Seriously, buy what you really LOVE, what reaches out and grabs you and what you can't wait to get your hands on. Never, ever buy fabric that you feel ambivalent about - you will inevitably not want to work with it despite the fact it was great value or it should work in your project. If you don't use it, it will get consigned to the back of your stash and in 5 years time you will find it and wonder how you ever bought such ugly fabric!
• Don't be afraid to experiment with colour and fabric.  Its all about pleasing yourself and discovering your own taste. You have no one looking over your shoulder judging - this is about having fun and enjoying what you're doing. If you love what you're doing, then be happy!

A fat quarter bundle

Books

It is not strictly necessary to buy any sewing books but I am a book person, and I love having them to flick through for inspiration as well as making projects from books. I have found some great sewing books in the last few years. Some I own, some I have borrowed from the library so definitely check out your local library before buying anything.

 The above are a few of my favourites!

Top of my list as a reference book  would be Sew It Up by Ruth Singer. It is my go-to book for any technique I am not familiar with and has good processs photos.

For a general beginner sewing book with achieveable projects, I have recommended Sewing in No Time by Emma Hardy to a lot of my friends.It is one of the first books I bought and it has lovely, simple, pretty projects. Simple Sewing by the fabulous Lotta Jansdotter (see her Echo fabric in the picture above) and Sew by Cath Kidston are in the same vein with similar types of projects, but each with their own distinct aesthetic.  Making Childrens Clothes by Emma Hardy has some gorgeous little makes - they are quite simple in structure and shape and not hugely fitted which is fine by me for kids clothes - but is almost exclusively girls clothes.

For newbie quilters, The Practical Guide to Patchworkby Elizabeth Hartmann of Oh, Fransson! is a great book to learn the basics, but it has some fab projects for more experienced quilters too. Material Obsession by Sarah Fielke and Kathy Doughty is a constant source of inspiration to me (so much so, Santa brought me Material Obsession 2).

I could go on and on, but I won't! Please don't rush out and buy a heap of books. Don't even buy one till you see what you can find in your library, and what is available to you online. But if you love to use books as a reference point and want to pick up something, they are a good place to start.

Online Resources:

There is an absolute wealth of resources out there for people wanting to sew and quilt. Wonderful blogs, fantastic websites, great tutorials, hundreds of free pattern and lots and lots of patterns to buy from talented people.

I have been blogging for a year and a half and reading blogs for years before that, and am still discovering new blogs and sites every week. So I'm just going to point you in a few different directions to get you started on your journey of exploration.

First up - YouTube is an amazing resource for videos of various different sewing and quilting techniques. I first realised it looking for help with a crochet stitch, actually and soon realised the wealth of information on there. From threading your particular model of sewing machine, to sewing curved pieces, you can pretty much find videos to cover everything.

Next, some great great sewing sites -

Sew, Mama, Sew! - brilliant site for free tutorials and beginner basics, great blog and fabric shop
Moda Bake Shop - Free tutorials and patterns for using precut fabrics
Oh, Fransson! - One of my fave blogs, with great quiltmaking basics and lovely free tutorials
BurdaStyle - lots of resources for people interested in dressmaking in particular
!Sew We Quilt! - free tutorials themed by month
Craftgossip.com - links to interesting blogs and tutorials and not just for sewing and quilting!
Fat Quarterly- EMagazine for modern sewist and quilters with blog, newsletter etc
Riley Blake - Cutting Corners College - online sewing and quilting classes
The Modern Quilt Guild - all about modern quilting and links to local guilds
U-Handbag - great site for people interested in making purses and bags.
The Sewing Directory - great UK based site with oodles of information!
One Pretty Thing - links to free tutorials with updates every day!

Amy's Creative Side - great quilting blog with quilting basics tutorials
Back to Sewing School Series - great series of tutorials on sewing and quilting techniques

I'm sure that I've left lots of great sites out, but there's enough there to get you started!

And of course, the hundreds of great blogs out there.The best way to find blogs is to check out what other people follow - most bloggers have a list of other blogs they like on their site. So, go check out the blogs of the fab ladies contributing tutorials (list here) and then see what they like to read. You'll soon be hooked! Add them to your Google Reader and you'll always be able to find them. And have fun searching them out!

Lastly, don't forget Flickr and Pinterest.

Flickr has lots of sewing groups, swap groups and quiltalong groups for you to browse for inspiration - some of my favourites are Fresh Modern Quilts, I Love Sewing, and Sew, Mama, Sew!  Pinterest is also a great source of inspiration - if you need an invitation to join, email me at fairyfacedesigns (at) gmail (dot) com and I will do  my best to oblige! Once you join up, find people to follow (I am here) and browse through the different categories. There's a good search facility too. I highly recommend you join both!

Phew, that was a bit of a long post - I hope you made it to the end. I promise the rest won't be as text heavy and hope you found it useful! Check back on Tuesday for Fiona's post on finding a sewing class.

{Sew} Get Started!! Launch & Giveaway

I am delighted to launch my {Sew} Get Started: Beginner Sewing Tutorials series! I hope that you enjoy all the projects and learn lots along the way! I posted some background to this series in Tuesday's post so if you want to find out a little bit more, pop over and have a look.

This series of tutorial is aimed at people who want to learn to sew and to make beautiful things with gorgeous, modern fabrics - who are new to sewing or who sewed in school but haven't done anything since. It will also have lots of nice projects for people who have a little (or a lot) sewing experience - I am really looking forward to trying some of the tutorials myself!

There will be quite a few posts this week and next to get us kicked off and then they will generally be posted on a Thursday although some weeks there may be an extra post for particular things.

I have a fantastic, super talented group of ladies who kindly agreed to write a tutorial each for this series - go and check out their blogs for lots of sewing and quilting inspiration! The tutorials list is:

1.  05/01/12  - Project Launch, Giveaway & Master List - Sarah @ FairyFace Designs
2.  07/01/12  - Resources & Supplies - Sarah @ FairyFace Designs
3.  10/01/12  - Sewing Classes - Fiona @ The Sewing Directory
4.  12/01/12  - Sewing Basics Part 1 - Sarah @ FairyFace Designs
5.  14/01/12  - Sewing Basics Part 2 - Sarah @ FairyFace Designs
6.  19/01/12  - Pincushion & Needlebook - Sarah @ FairyFace Designs
7.  26/01/12  - Simple Napkins - Jennifer @ Ellison Lane Quilts
8.  02/02/12  - Baby Burp Cloths - Irina @ El Petit Taller
9.  09/02/12  - Simple Pram Blanket - Sarah @ FairyFace Designs
10. 16/02/12 - Scrappy Cushion/Pillow - Karen @ Lisnaweary Quilts
11. 23/02/12 - Notebook Cover - Cindy @ Fluffy Sheep Quilting
12. 01/03/12  - Tote Bag - Leanne @ She Can Quilt
13. 08/03/12 - Stencils with Freezer paper - Lindsay @ Craft Buds & Lindsay Sews
14. 15/03/12 - Zip Back Cushion/Pillow - Judith @ Rags to Bags
15. 22/03/12 - Simple Girl's Skirt - Ceri @ Inspired by Felix
16. 26/03/12 - Introduction to Quilting - Easy Mug Rug - Sarah @ FairyFace Designs
17. 29/03/12 - Patchwork Potholder - Sheila @ BluePatch Quilter
18. 05/04/12 - Fabric Wallet - Sarah @ Narcoleptic in a Cupboard
19. 12/04/12 - Round (Wonky) Potholders - Felicity @ Felicity Quilts
20. 19/04/12 - Zipped Wristlet/Pouch - Jenna @ SewHappyGeek
21. 26/04/12 - Quilted Table Runner - Susan @ Canadian Abroad
22. 03/05/12 - Garment Making Basics - Sara @ Sew Sweetness
23. 10/05/12 - Mini Quilt - Kirsten @ Gemini Stitches
24. 17/05/12 - Applique & Machine Embroidery - Sarah @ FairyFace Designs

What do you think? Some really great projects in there! I hope you will find lots to interest you. I may add some further tutes as we go along depending on how it progress and who else I might persuade to join in the fun!

I know that many people who read blogs and who may follow these tutorials will not have a blog - so I have set up a group on Flickr where you can upload photos of projects you make from these tutorials. Joining Flickr is free and it's a great resource for sewing and quilting people. The group is here - pop over and join. There is also a discussion forum in the group where questions can be asked or general chat. It would be so much fun to see what you make from these tutes and how people interpret each project with their fabric choices.

To kick-start your sewing fun, I have a little giveaway.  Yes, a giveaway!

One of the big problems I had when I started sewing first was gathering enough of a selection of scrap fabrics to play with. My first few projects were quite limited until I bought a couple of scrap bags from Ebay and then once I started to make things, I generated quite the selection of scraps! So, I have put together 3 little scrap packs to giveaway today from my overflowing scrap baskets. All are roughly the same, content wise and contain a mixture of sizes, colours and shapes of cotton fabrics (mostly quilting weight, some poplins), along with some felt scraps for the needle book project and some varied size scraps of batting too, for when we move onto quilting. There should be enough there to get you started and to help out with some of the projects which might require a selection of fabrics. I am happy to send these anywhere - international entries are welcome!

I am giving away 2 packs from this post - just leave a comment on the post to enter. Any comment will do - tell me why you want to get started sewing or why you love sewing! You do not have to have a blog to comment - if you don't, just click the "anonymous" option in the comment box and anyone can leave one. Please make sure to leave your email address in your comment in the following format: fairyfacedesigns (at) gmail (dot) com. The giveaway will remain open until Monday 9th January at 9pm (Irish time). I will announce the winners next week using Random number generator.  If I can't get in touch with you by email I will have to redraw.

The 3rd pack I will give away from my Facebook page. Head over there for details of how to enter. You can enter on both competitions to maximise your chances but there will only be 1 pack per winner, so if the same person wins in 2 places, I will redraw for one of the prizes.

I do hope that you will join us and have some fun while you learn. Please feel free to leave questions or comments on the posts as we go and I or the guest poster will do our best to answer.

Enjoy!

*** This giveaway is now closed.***

Want to Get Started Sewing?

Do you read sewing blogs, look at the pictures of beautiful projects and wish you could sew? Is learning to sew, or sewing more, one of your New Year's resolutions? Is there a sewing machine sitting in your attic that you haven't used since your school days? If so, you might be excited by my new project!

I am thrilled and delighted to be hosting a series of tutorials aimed at beginners and newbies to sewing. My {Sew} Get Started tutorials start this week and will run up to May. I am incredibly lucky to have large group of my blogging friends who are helping me out, and are providing a tutorial each in the series.

I learned the basics of sewing in a night class - but it was mainly focused on garment sewing and it was only when I started to read craft sewing blogs that my interest and love for sewing really took off.  It is a brilliant hobby, and I hate when people tell me they are afraid to try or they don't know where to start. So I thought it would be good to run a series of tutorials that sewing newbies could follow along each week to learn to sew, all in one place, to build up their skills and try a range of different projects to discover what type of sewing they really like. And to experience the fun of the online sewing community by getting to know some of the great bloggers out there - one of the very best parts of following & participating in the blogging community.

This series of tutorial is aimed at people who want to learn to sew and to make beautiful things with gorgeous, modern fabrics - who are new to sewing or who sewed in school but haven't done anything since. It will also have lots of nice projects for people who have a little (or a lot) sewing experience - I am really looking forward to trying some of the tutorials myself! For the next 2 weeks to get us started, I will have a number of posts with information about resources, additional info, supplies etc and after that, I will have 1 tutorial a week on a Thursday with a project to make from beginning to end. We'll start small - with a simple pincushion and needlebook for your sewing space - and each week, a new project will teach you new skills and leave you with something pretty to show for it. You'll learn how to make a bag, how to put in a zipper, how to use interfacing, and how to quilt on a small scale.  In the process, you'll make some lovely (and useful!) things for your home and your kids. The tutorials are mostly focused on craft sewing but there will be a couple of posts on garment making to kick start anyone interested in that area.

Are you excited? I absolutely am! So, get out your sewing machines and dust them off. And pop back on Thursday for the full list of tutorials, and a little giveaway of some packets of scrap fabric to get you started!