Summer Giveaway ~ 30's playtime fabric + Berry Basket Pattern

Hello!  The Fat Quarter shop is celebrating its 11th anniversary.  In celebration they are generously donating a F8 set of Moda's 30's playtime fabric from Chloe's Closet. It is the entire set of the prints!  You can find the fabric [here] and see all the beautiful prints.

Since it works so well with my new Berry Basket pattern I will add my new pattern as well!
You can find my new pattern in my Etsy and Craftsy shops!

The give away is open until Thursday July 3rd at 9:00 p.m. pacific standard time.   Please let let me know what you would you would make with the Fat Quarter Shop's anniversary bundle.
Give - away is open to domestic and international commenters!

Good Luck!
xo
Charise

a few finishes during a crazy, beautiful summer ; )

It has been a wonderful summer so far!  The weather has been beautiful and I've been spending lots of time in the yard gardening.  We even made it to the beach on Wednesday - I love Seattle in the summer!  With the boys out of school, and the distractions of summer, I have not been sewing as much lately.

But there is a bit of Progress ~ I have mailed some bee blocks!  It is so nice to be caught up!  We just started round 2 of the Cocorico - the sewing machine is for Erin and the berry basket is for Melinda.
The dress is for Penny in the Ringo Pie bee.
You can find patterns for the sewing machine and the strawberry basket in my Etsy and Craftsy shops!

I have found some time to create a larger version of my twelve patch pouch - it is made with 3 1/2" squares so it measures a nice and large 8" x 12".    You can find the tutorial for the smaller version [Here]

 I added the small tabs to attach a shoulder strap or wrist strap.

This project is a request from my mom for a smaller bag that she can use to carry her wallet for walks to nearby shopping destinations.

I put together this stack of fabrics while organizing my stash - they just look so yummy and summery! 

I'm thinking a parasol quilt - umbrella blocks similar to one adorning the bag I made for Stitch Magazine last Spring.  Or a simpler half square triangle quilt to show off the beautiful fabrics.

Have a lovely day!
xo
Charise  

Sponsor news - FQ Shop 11th Anniversary Shipping Sale

The Fat Quarter Shop is celebrating their 11th anniversary with a shipping sale!  Head on over and see the wonderful selection of fabrics!

I love the new line by Bari J for Art Gallery Fabrics.  Wouldn't this print be cute in a summer shell top?

Have a lovely day!

xo

Charise

RJR Supreme Solids Winner - RosieGMA!

We have a winner for the RJR Supreme Solids blog hop - RoseGMA who said "I would make a mariner s star table runner....".

Thanks everyone for entering the drawing!

Have a lovely day  : )

xo
Charise

Berry Basket & Sponsor News

Today I took some time out for fun sewing!  Melinda in the Cocorico Bee asked for Farmer's Market bee blocks.  I re-designed my Berries in a Bowl pattern and put the berries in a basket!  

It was a fun block to make and I used some of my favorite fabrics.

Fabrics used:

Left Berry - Atsuko Matsuyama, Center Berry - Atsuko Matsuyama, Right Berry - Daiwabo Fabric by Ayako Kugimaru, Background fabric - Flower Sugar by Lecien, Berry Basket text - Bake Sale by Lori Holt Riley Blake fabrics.

As luck would have it, Becca at Sew Me a Song carries the Daiwabo and some fruit themed Atsuko Matsuyama Print Fabric!
She is running a flat rate sale on shipping through June 15th.
$ 2.50 US
$ 9.00 Canada
$12.00 Everywhere else 

No minimum purchase required.
No coupon code needed. 

Have a lovely day!


xo 
Charise   

RJR Supreme Solids Blog Hop & A Give Away! Pinwheel Coaster Tutorial, Too!!!

I am delighted to be a part of the RJR Supreme Solids Blog Hop.

My original design is the quilt pictured made with half square triangles.  The colors graduate from dark to light with the motifs fading at the edge of the quilt.  I used the quilt design as inspiration for a table runner and coordination coasters.    

I think the colors are perfect for summer.  Read through this post and you will find a simple tutorial to make your own set of summer coasters at the end of this post!

RJR Supreme solids cottons are a lovely quality with a beautiful hand and saturated colors.

The colors I used pictured in the pinwheel coasters from Left to Right, Top to Bottom are :

Rio #311, Lemon Chiffon #182, Cornflower #94

Crimson #108, Custard #265, Celeste #102

Background Fabric - French Vanilla #111

Colors used in the table runner:

Background: French Vanilla #111, Center Star - Crimson #108,  Right and Left Stars - Rio #311, Yellow Border stars - Cornflower #94l

RJR Supreme solids can be found at Pink Castle Fabrics [Here]

All the swatches for RJR Solids can be found on their site [Here]

A link to the Facebook page with all the beautiful projects can be found [Here]

RJR is giving away a FQ set of all the solids used in my projects!

Please leave a comment on this post and tell me what you would make with the FQ set of RJR Supreme solids.  Give away is open to US and Canadian residents.

Commenting is open until June 12th, 2014, 9:00 p.m. PST.

Good Luck  : )

Now for the Tutorial!!!

Pinwheel Coasters Tutorial

Supplies (for one coaster):

1 - 4" square background fabric - French Vanilla #111

1 - 4" Square Solid fabric - As listed above

2 - 1 1/2" x 4 1/2" strips print fabric

2 - 1 1/2" x 6 1/2" strips print fabric

1 - 6 3/4" batting

1 - 6 1/2" square solid or print fabric for backing

Matching Thread

Rotary Cutter and self healing mat

Acrylic ruler

All seams are 1/4"

Step 1

Place the 4" squares of the solid and background fabric right sides together.  Pin in place.

Step 2

Stitch around the perimeter with a 1/4" stitch.

Step 3

Cut the square diagonally, corner to corner creating 4 triangles.

Press seams open.

Step 4

Arrange the pinwheels as shown.  Stitch the top row together.  Press seam open.  Stitch the bottom two rows together.  Press seam open.

Stitch the top row to the bottom row.  Press seam open.

Step 6

Stitch the 1 1/2" x 4 1/2" strips to the top edges.

Stitch the 1 1/2" x 6 1/2" strips to the side edges.

Press seams toward the outer edges.

Step 7

Place the finished coaster top on top of the batting square.

Quilt in the ditch along the diagonal pinwheel seams.

Trim to 6 1/2" square.

Step 8

Place the backing square right side to the front pinwheel top.

Stitch around the perimeter leaving a 2 1/2" opening.

Clip corners.  Press seams open.

Turn right side out.

Slip stitch the opening closed.

Stitch in the ditch around the pinwheel square through all layers.

Enjoy!!!

xo

Charise

  

Sunday Stash

Kei Honeycomb Dots from Sew Me a Song

Happy Sunday everyone!  Thought I would share some of my favorite fabrics this week!

Kei Geo Dot from Sew Me a Song

Sew Me a Song has some beautiful dot from Kei by Yuwa Japan.  Love the Honeycomb Dots and the Geo Dots!

Becca is also carrying Jen Kingswell sewing patterns!  I Love The Gyspy Wife pattern.  Some day, when I have a bit less on my to do list, I'd love to try one of her patterns.

Apparel Fabrics From DryGoods Design.  Left: Ditsy Floral Cotton Floral, Right: Cotton Voile Salmon Pink

I am always in search of apparel fabrics. Luckily I live 15 minutes from DryGoods Design in the lovely Seattle neighborhood of Ballard.  I picked up these two lovely cotton voile fabrics and cannot wait to cut into them!  You don't have to live in Seattle to purchase these fabrics.  Kelli has an online shop with an amazing section of apparel fabrics and quilting cottons!  If you "need" any of the apparel fabrics, don't wait, they sell out fast!  Believe me - a few I wanted are already gone : (

Have a lovely day!

xo

Charise

Umbrella Prints & Necessity is the Mother of Invention!

One of my favorite blog reads is MikoDesigns.  I love her cute doll patterns and she blogs about the cutest food styling!  Recently, she made doll clothes with some Umbrella Prints 

Well.......I headed over to the Umbrella prints web side and I fell in love with the prints.  I ordered a scrap pack and couldn't resist the OASIS Floating Wild Grasses Print as well.  

I knew exactly what I wanted to make with the prints - my 12 patch pouch.  Well .....I started cutting away and did not realize I was short on fabric until it was too late - I did not have enough for the bottom row of the pouch.  Ugg!

The saying "Necessity is the mother of invention" is so true!!!

I have some suede skins and thought the prints would be perfect with a little suede trim.  
So I used suede for the bottom strip cut at 8 1/2" x 2 1/2".
I also added a removable wrist strap.

I love the way it turned out.

Not much fabric left from my Umbrella Prints Trimmings Package  :)

Umbrella prints is having a little competition.  The person with the most comments on their pinterest pic of their Umbrella Prints project wins a prize.  If you like my design,  You can find it [here]

Umbrella prints will be hosting all the projects at their Pinterest page [Here] starting May 30th.
You can vote until June 5th : )

Happy Sewing!
xo
Charise

Work in Progress Wednesday

Happy Wednesday to you!  Hope the day is treating you well.

I have a few projects I have been working on today and a few I have completed.  

We have started Round Two of the Cocorico Bee!
This bee started my love of foundation paper piecing.
Melinda asked for farmer's market inspired blocks.  I have a pattern on my Etsy site that I tweaked a bit - Strawberries in a Basket!  I'm looking forward to sewing this block.

I have been working on a short sleeve version of my Anna Blouse.  The top pictured is made from a mystery fabric I found at a garage sale.  I was hoping it was rayon but turned out to be polyester.  If you have a mystery fabric, check out this fabric burn chart from Threads.  You can easily test for fiber type with a thin strip of fabric and a lighter or match.

The sleeves are just a wee bit tight around the hem so another muslin I will make  ; )

Deer and Doe is a French pattern company with adorable designs.  They recently released a free pattern for a t-shirt - The Plantain.  I gave it a try and am pretty happy with the results.  I made mine in a size 40 because I wanted a looser fit at the bottom.  I also shortened the cap sleeves to
4 3/4".   The top portion and shoulders are a bit large so I will make the top a 38 and leave the bottom as is - it has a slightly swingy effect!

Link up over at Freshly Pieced and share you works in progress!

xo

Charise

Cotton + Steel at Pink Castle Fabrics available for pre-order

Cotton + Steel Mustang Collection

Just in case you haven't heard, The new Cotton + Steel line was just released at Quilt Market.

The fabric is designed by five talented artists lead by Melody Miller.  

The fabrics are fabulous and come in a variety of base cloths including cotton lawn and light weight canvas.

Detail from Modern Hexagon Bag by Charise Creates

Hexagon Handbag in Stitch Spring 2014 by Charise Creates 

I love Melody's fabric and have used them for bags and small quilting projects.
Sew Me a Song has some of her older fabrics {here}

Metallic Arrow in Coral

Metallic Sparkleflower in Multi

Palm Springs Lawn in Blue

Pink Castle Fabrics has the fabrics available for pre-order!  The link is [here] 

I am always on the look out for garment fabrics and the line has some lovely ones.

I've shared some of my favorite prints pictured above.

If you just can't wait ........

Jones and Vandermeer has a few FQ sets available for purchase now  : )

Happy Sewing

xo

Charise

Sponsor News - Fat Quarter Shop 2014 MEGA QUILT MARKET SWEEPSTAKES

The Fat Quarter Shop is sponsoring a Quilt Market Sweepstakes!  The contest runs from May 23rd to June 30th.

The total value of the give away is over $6300 and is divided into twelve different prizes. The prizes range from fabric bundles and books to notions and many more quilting essentials. All of the prizes are shown in the Sweepstakes video on the Fat Quarter Shop YouTube channel, so be sure to watch!

Go to the link [HERE] for all the details!  Good Luck!!

xo

Charise

My *Must Have* Dress Making Tools for Marking and Cutting

I have been working away on my Anna Blouse Pattern and am so excited to publish it!  It is coming soon!

While I have been sewing prototypes of the blouse I thought it would be a great time to share my *Must Have* dress making tools.  I started as a home seamstress sewing my own clothes starting in junior high school. (I actually started sewing at the age of 6 - hand sewn clothes for my dolls!)   In my early twenties I attended apparel design school where I learned about professional tools of the trade that I'm excited to share with you!  

These are the tools I use for marking and cutting.

* TAILOR'S CHALK ~ I  prefer to trace around my pattern pieces and to do this I use tailors chalk.  My favorite brand is from Clover.  You can find versions of this chalk at your local dress making fabric shop.  I keep a few different colors on hand - Red and Blue for light color fabrics and Yellow for dark fabrics.

* FABRIC SHEARS ~ You will also need a good pair of fabric scissors.  I have a couple pair of gingher shears that I just love.  I only use my fabric shears on fabric - cutting paper with them will dull them!

* MUSLIN ~ Invest in enough muslin to make a test fitting garment.  This can either be actual muslin or a less expensive fabric that is similar in weight and drape to the final fabric your garment will be sewn out of.
I always have a bolt of muslin on hand to sew up an initial garment for fit.  If you sew lots of garments it is worth it to make the investment.
I buy my bolts of muslin at JoAnn Fabrics when I have a 50% off coupon.

Making a test garment (or muslin as it is called in the apparel industry)  is so incredibly important.  Even if you follow the measurements on a pattern you may want to tweak the pattern a bit.
Don't make the mistake of cutting into that expensive final fabric without sewing a test garment first!


~ OPTIONAL TOOLS ~ 
These tools are great to have if you sew lots of garments.  They are a bit of an investment but definitely worth it!

NOTCHER - I love this tool and learned about it in design school!  Use it to mark the notches on your patterns.  You can find one [here].
You can also use a pair of paper scissors to cut your notches if you are not quite ready to make the investment.

BUTTONHOLE CUTTING SET - These are great tools to have as well.  The circular cutter is for cutting keyhole buttonholes but I learned to use the circular cutter to mark the end of darts and tucks on my patterns.
You can see the holes at the bottom of the tucks pictured above.
If you cut the hole in the pattern you can mark the garment using chalk or a marking pen or pencil as pictured above.  You can find the buttonhole cutting set [Here]

Ok...off to work on the Anna Blouse.  Cannot wait to share the pattern with you!

xo

Charise

Beautiful Bedrooms

About a year ago, I received a call for submissions for Stitch Magazine's Beautiful Bedrooms. The editor was looking for six new projects to add to the "best of" projects from Stitch Magazine past issues.  Fast forward a year later and you can find two of my projects in the book!

The Kimono Wrap is a feminine kimono style robe.  I designed it with an inside tie and elastic smocked waistline.  It is currently at Quilt Market but will hopefully be home soon.   I'm looking forward to wearing it this summer!

The second project I designed for the book is the Sweet Dreams Nightie.

  

This is an incredibly simple project with shirred elastic detail at the neck and shoulder ties.  

You can find the book in the Sew Daily shop [here].
It comes complete with a full size pattern insert and clear concise instruction and illustrations for each project.

Happy Sewing!

xo

Charise