How about some luscious felt? Three palette packs of our designer wool-blend felt in Reds/Pinks, Blues and Oranges/Yellows
for today's giveaway—perfect for accessories and embellishments,
embroidery and applique. In my opinion, everone should have a rainbow of
glorious felt at her disposal. Let's get you all set up! A $32 value.
My day has gone to school meetings. Elijah switched high schools this
year and we're working to get him established at a school one mile from
our home. We were driving him 25 minutes away each day, back and forth
for the last two years, often several times a day and this really put a
pinch on our time at home as a family.
This year, Elijah volunteered to change schools. He and his dad both
seem okay with it. I'm still resolving my own feelings. He not only has
no friends there yet, but the school is in a different school district
and runs quite differently from what he is used to. And he had to leave
behind one of the state's top marching band programs (the reason he had
insisted on that school in the first place).
hate that he's switching halfway through high school. Ug. I wish I
would have pushed more strongly for this close-by school two years ago.
I'm working to feel at peace with the mid-stream change. Today's
meetings helped with that quite a bit. We brought in a list of things we
felt would help Elijah transition well and the response was, "This is
what we, here, call good teaching. This will be no problem at all." Just
what we needed to hear! I liked his last school a lot, but the
administration at the new school made a great first impression today.
I'm one step closer to parental peace.
Additionally, with the high school only one mile away now, I can get
more involved and still keep my other two children on track. I'm
hopeful, but I'm still holding my breath nonetheless.
to say, my giveaway to-do list hasn't shed any pounds today while I've
been out parenting. It's approaching evening time and I still have this
giveaway to post and a number of winners to select. So, on with the
show!
With a $35 value, today's prize
is a set of THREE Heather Bailey sewing patterns—Claira & Clancy Pig Dolls, Full Bloom Roses and the Daily Spice Apron—a variety of projects you can make for yourself or as gifts. Get an early start on the holidays. Or give the patterns as gifts.
For more information on my piggie doll pattern (my personal favorite of the patterns we've published), click here. For my first preview of the Daily Spice apron pattern, head back seven years to this post. (It sounds like driving Elijah around was a part-time job even back then. Boy, how long have I been blogging now?) As for Full Bloom Roses, we may have only announced that pattern by newsletter originally, so get the details here.
Comment to enter today's contest. Be sure to include your email
address
so we can contact you if you win. You don't have to type your email
address into the body of the comment if you entered it in the email-address
field on the comment form. One entry per household.
Today's giveaway will close at noon PST on Wednesday 8/21/13. Watch for the winner to
be announced within the week at the bottom
of the post. For more info on my big ol' August giveaway party, click here. Please
share the word. Check back every day.
Good luck!
xo—Heather
My daughter Charlotte should write a book. I've never seen a more prolific eight-year-old. She is a craft-making machine.
Her favorite stuffed animal is an Airedale Terrier. So, this week,
she decided that all of her arts and crafts would be Airedale-Terrier
themed. Today, she is finishing up this incredible little felt pillow
and then I'm on board to teach her how to cross-stitch—another Airedale
Terrier.
If you follow my feed on Instagram, you'll know I'm trying to be more
organized about my kids' summers this year, and break the time up with a
number of planned projects and activities. We'll see how that goes.
But, as for the down time in between, I have to say that a big bin of
felt, some thread and a needle sure come in handy.
I'm heading to Denver tomorrow to tape an episode of Sew It All for PBS. We're making baby bibs. I don't know when the episode airs, but I'll keep you posted. Should be fun!
If the fates allow, there will be time left to bake cookies with my
kiddos tonight before I go. And time for sleep—that's always nice. I'm
terrible at sleeping before a trip. Even a quick little one-day
appearance.
In my ongoing quest to cute-up the dull, it’s time to attack the wrist pincushion. Who wrote the law that wrist pincushions must be ugly and uncomfortable? Did it begin with the red-plastic snap-on variety of my mother’s generation; in our excitement for the advent of plastic, did we take things too far?** Or were we torturing ourselves long before then?
True, there have been some commercial attempts to add personality to the plain old pincushions of the past: gingham hearts, lavendar daisies and so forth. With a lack of alternatives, I might prefer painful-to-wear over painful-to-look-at.
I’ll take a stab at pretty.
Here, I’ve taken my new free pattern, Spring Violets (announced in our May newsletter) and adapted it to the cause. For the wrist band, I cut two rectangles of felt, 1.5″ x 7.25″ and 2″ x 7.25″. (Measure your wrist to make sure this works for you — allow overlap for a velcro closure.)
With hot glue, I attached a thin circle of wood at the center of the wider felt band and pinked the edges of the felt. I then layered the smaller felt band on top, enclosing the wooden disc. I edge-stitched the bands together around the perimeter, then attached velcro at each end as a closure. Lastly, I whip-stitched the Spring Violets in place above the wooden disc. The flowers are attached to a small, stuffed tuffet (see pattern) which is perfect for pins. The wooden disc keeps your wrist whole-not-holey. (Check the woodcraft section of your local craft store.)
Click here to download the flower instructions. Let me know if you have any questions. Looking for felt? We’ve got plenty of that.
** However uncomfortable, I am totally nostalgic for those clamp-on red pincushions. Even though my mom usually kept pins between her teeth, she always wore a ratty red wrist-cushion covered with a rainbow of threaded needles.
Thanksgiving is coming right up.
To get into the autumn groove, try stitching up some fall decorations with our designer felt, glitzy thread from DMC, and few glass beads. With a full table to set, these playful napkin rings pack a big bang for little buck.
Trimming up the acorns is my favorite part. Aren’t they fun? And Charlotte is always game to help embroider — she likes to the pull the needle through, then hand it back to me. This is a much slower process, as you can imagine, but I love her.
To share the fun, I’ve put together a tutorial and a free pattern download…
I'm feeling
appropriately patriotic. If you have a chance to watch The Story of Us series on the History Channel, do.
I've watched several episodes over the last two days. It's had me
choked up on more than one occasion — the struggles and triumphs of our
country's past (and present). The series is intelligently paced. It
ties in the technological advancements of each era as well, and shows
their impact on historical events. It's just good.
So now LA
Ink is on while I type. I go high-brow, I go low-brow. I'm
strangely relating to this episode. The main tattoo chick is
interviewing for two new employees while absorbing their duties in the
meantime. I'm hiring for two positions right now too. Sorting through
resumes took an entire day by itself. Tattoo chick, I feel you.
I'm
not too busy to celebrate Memorial Day though! The BBQ brigade is
coming to our house today. We have a new backyard to christen, after
all. And it's gorgeous out. For now.
Hug a
soldier, hug a veteran, hug the free earth beneath your feet!
God
bless America.
You asked for it. Felt palette packs are now available for faster and easier shopping.
Five palettes: Reds/Pinks, Blues, Greens, Oranges/Yellows, Neutrals — and a limited-edition Holiday pack. The five staple palettes cover 25 of the available 40 colors, so don't forget to check for other felt you may want to add on. All colors continue to be available by-the-sheet as well.
I'm heading out to dinner in a bit with a gaggle of girlfriends, then over to the movie theater for an 8pm showing of New Moon. It's a special-screening of
some sort. I haven't read the book yet, but I do love to go to
dinner & a movie with friends. And it's for a good cause.
Till then, it's clean the studio, play with my nephews, and design, design.
Today I'm heading over to the NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City for a live interview & some crafty kibitzing on KSL's Studio 5 with hosts, Brooke & Darin. We're making fast, fabulous, fabric flowers. Fashionable too — and friendly.
The
spicy flower above turned out perfectly for the red & olive reverse
of my red Marlo Bloom bag (shown on the cover of the Marlo Bloom sewing pattern). It takes my handbag right into Fall, all wooly & frayed, with felted houndstooth leaves and raw silk at the center.
I
also played around with some of my favorite vintage buttons &
millinery supplies, such as these green ceramic flower stamen. On the
show, we're making medium-sized flowers, but as I couldn't stick to one
size for the samples, I'm listing measurements for the large purse
flower and the small, blue headband flower as well. Of course, make
whatever size flower you wish & stitch it where you like.
I say everywhere.
Pop Garden Scrap Flower Tutorial
Medium Flower
1. Tear a strip of printed cotton fabric 3" high by 20" wide. Pop Garden works.
2.
With wrong sides together, fold fabric strip in half, as shown. Stitch
long, gathering stitch along matched torn edges, through both layers.
(For a torn-edge flower, stitch along folded edge, through both layers.)
3.
Gently pull stitches as you sew, to gather fabric into a circle. Fasten
fabric circle at center with a couple of stitches. Secure & trim
thread.
4.
Of felt, cut three tiered circles — 2" wide, 1.75" wide, and 1.5"
wide. Notch edges of large & small circles. Remove all 'hanging
chads' of felt — we'll have none of that. Stack felt circles as shown.
5.
Onto gathered fabric flower, layer stacked felt circles and a
decorative button or brooch. Stitch layers together at center several
times through button to secure. Conceal gathered edges at back of
flower by whip-stitching a circle of scrap felt to the back of the
flower. Then, attach a sew-on pin-back, hair clip, ponytail elastic, TT
headband, bobbypin or barrette. And that's it. Easy-peasy.
For
your reference, the following chart shows the measurements used for the
other flowers featured in the photos above. The large flower is made by
stacking a folded piece of silk on top of the folded cotton print with
folds aligned. Gathering stitches are sewn through all layers, near the
fold. And the large flower spirals into several layers, unlike the
other two shown.
I'm looking forward to meeting many of you at Friday's Start-up Princess event. If you're interested in last-minute registration, I've got a present for you — use code STUDIO5 for $10 off the registration fee. Or tune in to the show today, as two viewers will receive free tickets on air, valued at $99 each.
Also, there is an all-new category at The Heather Bailey Store.
See if you can spot it. I'm eager to post more, but need to rush off to
the station. Let's just say the new category ties in perfectly with
this tutorial and with more projects to come. I'll spill the beans in
my next post.
