Easily Distracted...

When a big project like the Farmer's Wife 1930s quilt-along comes to an end it does feel like a loss.  I was making two blocks a week for the last year and although I need to set the blocks and sew them all together, this does not have the appeal of the weekly puzzle of making two new blocks.  So, I find myself distracted, procrastinated and itching for something shiny and new despite needing to complete some age old projects.    I'll admit, for me it's all about the block, when it comes to sewing them all together, I start to lose interest.

It started with Maribel (Annabel Wrigley for Windham) arriving at M is for Make, plus a discount off sale items so the Flight Map Quilt pattern (Anna Maria Horner) snook into my basket.   I've had my eye on this pattern for ages, years even.  It's a 16-block design using clever variations on a colour theme with different prints.  It's not the most straightforward pattern and it does take some puzzling out so I decided to draw out the block in Touchdraw so I could colour in and work out which fabric was which and match up the quantities.

I haven't made a pattern where you cut everything at the beginning and then complete the same block X number of times for a considerable time but this one has a lot going on to maintain my interest.  The logical part of me questions whether an house-hold of three with only two bedrooms really needs more quilts, but my heart rules, colours in and gets ready to order what I need to make this a reality.  The colouring in really helps to understand the colour placement.  There are 20 different fabrics so I've made a grid so I'll know what is what.  Eternal Maker are stocking some of the Maribel range too and I'm mixing in some of my stash and a scrappy element to make it a little more me.  

June at Village Haberdashery

My theme for this month's vista to Village Haberdashery is 'substrates'.  Its a word I don't remember hearing in my Needlework and Textiles O'level, nor when I did a HNC in Fashion in my late 20s- I suspect it is more of an American term when applied to textiles.  I think of Anna Maria Horner as queen of the substrates with her quilting cottons, cotton voile and velveteen.  With the release of her 'Pretty Potent' collection, she's added a few more in the mix and they have just arrived at Annie's shop.

The Echniacea print is the stand out of the collection, the one that I imagine will sell out and people will spend the future In Search Of with ISO pics on Instagram.

 

This is the 'Outloud' colour way in quilting cotton.  Here is the same print but a different colour way and substrate:

This time the 'Echinacea' print is in 54" wide voile and the colour is 'Sparkle'.  Voile is lighter weight, a looser weave than similar lightweight fabrics like lawn although sometimes the difference is hard to tell.  Anna Maria Horner voiles have a slight sheen to them and a silky buttery quality which makes them lovely to wear and colours seem to be more saturated on voile and remind me of boiled sweets and stained glass windows.  The Little Folks voiles were a big favourite of mine and I have used them in clothing (see here and here) and quilt blocks: I have an ongoing Swoon in voile and Kona Snow.  The School House tunic would work well in voile:

As would the Victory Roxanne pattern with its multi pleat collar detail:

And the newly released as a paper pattern, Mathilde by Tilly Walnes would be very cute in voile.

This is 'Preppy' the green voile colour way:

And this beauty is the rayon challis substrate in 'Float'.  

Rayon challis is a beautiful dressmaking fabric.  it pours onto the body and has a magical drape quality where it will hang artfully.  It is tricky to sew- think of it as a sensitive child that must be treated gently and keep styles relatively simple.  It is great for long flowing garments like the Sewaholic Gabriola (although it would need careful handling on the bias areas) or a maxi length ByhandLondon Anna dress.  Rayon challis is used in the cover pic for the Date Night dress by April Rhodes. 

There are more variations in the quitling cotton/rayon and voile Pretty Potent substrates- find them here.

Other multi subtrate collections include Arizona by April Rhodes for Art Gallery- you will find voile, knits and quilting cotton in this mini collection all on pre-sale  so you can order now.

Jungle Avenue by Sara Lawson for Art Gallery has the same mix of quilting cotton, voile and knit.

You can sign up for notification when this arrives.

Nani Iro prints feature a variety of substrates and there are some new prints just arrived. There is a linen cotton blend featuring a delicate version of the Pocho print- Pierre Pocho in Mother of Pearl Cloud:

The whites are shimmery in a lovely contrast to the linen.  This would make a lovely A line skirt- Colette Ginger maybe, with a lining. 

You know I love double gauze, (more on double gauze later this week).  Another new Nani Iro print from the Spring 2014 collection is Mountain Views, this version in neon hues is called Ibuku

Double gauze works best in simple shapes.  There is a great free scarf tutorial on the Village Haberdashery blog by Fiona of Poppy Makes and I have one on here too- the perfect way to buy a little fabric and create a big impact. 

Enjoy!

Feb at Village Haberdashery

A couple of monthly sponsor posts back to back as there are a couple of offers at Village Haberdashery and Eternal Maker that are only applicable for a few days and I want to share!

Starting with Village Haberdashery.  Annie has posted details on a how to make an easy strip quilt Snow and Ice  and there are a big stack of strips left over (around 2 metres of fabric) up for grabs-click here- and visit the post to be in with a chance of winning.

Koi Canvas is in stock- great for bags, cushions- especially the back of a cushion with a pieced front and other items that need strength and a bit of structure.

For Anna Maria Horner fans there are two new ranges available.  My immediate favourite of these is Dowry and it looks like it has been popular.  Echoes of older collections with new elements added.

I love the Tangle print: great colours and I love the mix of illustration with the background print..  

Some of these prints have already gone so if you are keen, you may not want to leave it too long!  Build a bundle is here.

There is also a stash builder style range called True Colours

You can see how it co-ordinates beautifully with Dowry as well as her older ranges- Field Study etc but the patterns are more geometric and symmetrical and the prints stick to a smaller range of colours and tones.  Build a bundle is here.

New indie pattern companies are always of interest.  This is Mortmain by Gather, a London based pattern company.  It is a cute dress that is relatively simple especially the sleeveless option.  It uses an exposed zip as a design feature and these are a lot more forgiving to fit in a dress.  There is also a sleeve/cuff option included

I haven't seen many example of this dress made up but it is a cute style, I like the definition of the waistband and I think side seam pockets could easily be added.

My vintage antennae was alerted with these new Nancy Mahoney prints, Urban Classics. I haven't seen these elsewhere so nice choosing Annie! 

Great colours and I love the 1930s feel but without too much whimsy.  These two are my top picks.

'Sparkle Punch'- love the teal colour, love the drama of the design.

'Square Dot' in grey, a great basic for binding and background. 

Enjoy and I'll be back with more offers later!

Anna Maria Horner is a Genius

What is it with Anna Maria Horner, she is a creative genius.  Her collections have a bohemian melting pot quality, they never look mixy match and she makes me like things I usually can't abide- even leopard print.  Field Study is simply stunning.

I have already ordered my favourite prints from Annie at Village Haberdashery.  She is doing her build a bundle option just like she did with Flea Market Fancy as well as a colour way packs which are the pictures you can see here. 

Anna Maira Horner has a great selection of free patterns on her website, Katy Jones Imagingermonkey is just kicking off a Spinning Starts quilt a long and if you want a foundation pieced option for this quilt pattern rather than templates, I drew one right here to download for the quilt a long.

I think I am going to make the Feather Bed quilt, simpler than it looks with a strip pieced method for the feathers, genius design!  There are more fabrics to come in this range, velveteens and I am hoping for voiles too- fingers crossed.  I know from past experience, my favourite AMH prints can disappear whilst I sit and admire but don't get round to buying so I wasted not time for this collection.  If you just want a taster and want to save your pennies there is a 6" charm square pack of 30 prints, and a little can go a long way!

Wanties

It is hard not to have a bad case of the wanties.  Some big fabric ranges are just being released and i am itchy to get my hands on some.  I have been looking at Village Haberdashery's Coming Soon section over and over again to plan combinations and see how far I can stretch my new purchases!  I want as many patterns, prints and colours as I can for my pennies.  Top of my list has to be Anna Maria Horner's Field Study.  There is such a mix in this collection, colour, scale, punchy bold pattern and delicate ethereal dreaminess.  It pairs rather beautifully with Chicopee, the new Denyse Schmidt collection.  And I added one other print, the centre orange floral  is Sundress in Tea Party from Ladies' Stitching Club by Liesel Gibson

For an even more dramatic combination, take a look at Field Study with Liberty Lifestyle Bloomsbury Collection and Chicopee.

I already have plans for all of these ranges.  Clothing in Chicopee corduroy, paper piecing tiny things in  Bloomsbury and quilting with Field Study.  They are all rather autumnal but I can welcome that now, the colours looks so folksy warm and inviting!  Annie is offering an early bird offer on the Liberty, find out more here.  I made my collages using Pic Monkey, very handy for testing different ranges together! I am intrigued to hear what your favourite new range is?  I always try not to get suckered in on new real eases, only to find I am still obsessed by a collection months later when it is scarce and I can't find all the prints!

Sew-a-long Fabric Choices

What a great response!  Thankyou!  It is so much more fun to sew with others.  You can grab the button in the side bar, the code is below it.  Or grab the pic in the last post. And I have added a page where all the posts will be for easy finding.  Don't forget the Wiksten Flickr group if you want to share photos.

So you've bought your pattern and now you are thinking fabric.  I thought the best way to look at this is to  use picture of Tovas that show a range of prints and fabric weights.

Quilting Weight

Jenny Gordy has made lots of Tovas in different fabrics.  This dress version is in a Katie Jumps Rope print with a contrast for the panel.  I know a lot of you will have lengths of quilting fabric at home.  Some quilting cottons are thicker than others, I would plump for a lighter feel.   The benefit of quilting cotton is the Tova will not be see through, the downside is if the cotton is a bit thick the gathers on the panel at the front and the sleeves could get a bit bulky.  I have some white Echo Little Flourine print and I will use that for one Tova, I am already thinking multiple versions.

Plaid/Check

Kate at Harmony and Rosie made a lovely flannel plaid version.  What I like about this choice is that the fabric looks the same on both sides, so if the collar falls forward the inside looks like the outside. With any patterns, you do need to consider that you will need to match sections, I can see how Kate has matched the panel and the side sections of the shirt so they all blend together.  You could also cut the panel section on the bias with diagonal plaid- no matching to so and it would look great.  Flannel is a great choice for colder weather.  It does tend to cling to other clothes-something to consider if you are making the dress version, and thicker flannel like Anna Maria Horner's flannel fabric would be too bulky,  Kate is designing and selling clothes herself and has just opened a very pretty shop- check it out here  

Liberty Lawn

Ashley from Film in the Fridge has just made these beautiful Liberty lawn Tovas and I know some of you are thinking of cutting into your treasured Liberty stash.  I think this is a perfect fabric for spring/summer.  Lightweight, crisp and easy to handle and sew and not so flimsy as to be transparent.  Perfect!  There are other lawns too, Rita has made this beautiful Lisette lawn Tova

Rita has also made a maternity Tova with a few alterations to the basic pattern

I think it looks incredibly stylish, especially for maternity wear.

Voile

I have voile sitting and waiting for this, I know it can be a b*tch to sew at times but it is so silky and floppy and shimmery, it is hard to resist.

Leila's looks so pretty and soft, I can imagine wearing a voile version in the summer.  Voile is often a little see through, OK if you are planning to wear it over your cossie at the beach as a cover up or with a little vest, not OK to show everyone your bra at work when you thought you could get away with it.

I am intending to make two Tovas, a quilting cotton Lotta print and a Anna Maria Horner Little Folks pastry voile in water. 

 These are different widths so check your pattern for your fabric width as the length needed varies according to width.  On the voile version will be attempting to used a balanced layout for my stripes so they are centred on the Tova and cross cut fabric for the panel so the stripes run the other way.  

What ever you chose, consider making a test version first.  From reading others' experiences many say they didn't have to make alterations but the seam allowances are small in this pattern, 3/8 inch in most places so you may not want to cut into that expensive Liberty lawn before you have had a test run with a bit of cheap cotton.  Bust measurement is the deciding factor to work out the best size for you and there is a size chart on the pattern that relates bust to size.  Check your chest measurement at the fullest part and use that as your guide.  Sleeve length and garment length is easy to change, width across the shoulder and bust is harder.  Once you have chosen your fabric, prewash it just incase it shrinks a little and press it ready for cutting out and transferring marks Wednesday 21st March.   Don't forget thread- good quality general sewing polyester thread like Gutermann Sew All or Coats Duet.  These are polyester and they have more strength than cotton and a little stretch.  If you plan to zig zag or finish your seams on your machine buy two spools, if you are using separate threads on a serger/overlocker, one will be fine.  Get your pattern taped together and either trace the size you need onto more paper or cut it out from the print out.

 I will answer any sew-a-long questions in the comments reply so others can see or you can email me direct kerrykit(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk or on Twitter as @verykb I don't have all the answers but someone else in the sew-a-long might so dive in and reply to someone's comment if you can help!

Spring Swoon

So yesterday was cold but sunny and my little pot of hope started to flower...

there is a little more light in the day.  This week I have been working on Swoon block 2 and I went for spring colours, fresh light prints. I used a mix of Amy Butler Soul Blossom voiles and Anna Maria Horner Little Folks.  The cream is Kona Snow.

I also bought a big A2 industrial cutting mat from Creative Grids.  I was a little nervous buying this online, I had one very badly mailed in the past but this one arrived well packaged and is excellent quality!  I also ordered the mini ruler you can see in the pic above, perfect for adding 1/4 seam to little pieces when freezer paper piecing.  I cannot recommend Creative Grids rulers more highly, they grip the fabric so reduce slippage when you cut, easily my favourite rulers.

Today, there is no sun just rain and cold but even late in the afternoon it is light enough to take photos .  Swoon is a bit of a palette cleanser for me, all I have to do is systematically follow instructions, arrange pieces into piles, chain pieces and make assembly lines.  It all fits together like magic

Half term next week so a week off work, time for us all to get over colds, coughs and laze around.  And whilst lazing, finish a quilt for my sister, make a dress for a wedding invitation and make a few bee blocks, plus a few other things to design and plan.

Enjoy your weekend!

I Swoon, you Swoon, they Swoon, we all Swoon

At last I found a little window of time to make my first Swoon block.  All the support and inspiration you could even need is in Katy's Swoon Quilt A Long group on Flickr.  This project would never have started without it.

I have to be very disciplined to sew a big block like this successfully.  A series of assembly lines is needed, stacks of half square triangles waiting to be sewn.  I used a Frixion pen for all my lines and a walking foot for sewing the slippy sliding Little Folks voile

Pins are definitely needed with the voile.  Along the way I must have 'lost' a square here and a piece there a 100 times.

I enjoyed this a lot more than I ever imagined I would.  The block design is simple but very effective and is just what I was looking for with the Little Folks- I know many of you suggested Swoon when I asked what I should make with these fabrics.

Cutting does take ages but I am working only one block at a time so it is easily manageable.  It is a whopper, a mini quilt in itself, 24.5" x 24.5.  I am going for the full 9 blocks but slowly, slowly.

Pressing the seams open is worth the extra effort and made joining a lot easier.  The thiness of the voiles really helps and they have a lot of give, handy when I am trying to match up points.

I am actually bursting to make another but I I have promised my sister a quilt for her birthday, end of February so more Swooning will have to wait.