How I Paper Piece

I have had several of my friends ask how I paper piece, and how I do it so fast. I am not sure that I do it any faster than the next person but I do make patterns so this may be to my advantage. I wanted to help those who are new to paper piecing and those who want to learn new tricks or maybe just a refresher on how to paper piece.

I created a few videos to show you how I foundation paper piece.

Foundation Paper Piecing Part 1 This is the video of how I piece the fabric on to the paper.

Foundation Paper Piecing Part 2 Time-lapse of the rest of the pieces.

Foundation Paper Piecing Part 3 Time-lapse of the rest of the pieces.

Foundation Paper Piecing Part 4 Time-lapse of the rest of the pieces.

Foundation Paper Piecing Part 5 This is the time-lapse video of me trimming the edges of each section with my ruler at 1/4.

I line up the solid thick line with my ruler at 1/4 inch, I then trim the extra fabric and paper. If you have an old blade on your rotary cuter, now would be the time to put a new one on. Do this all the way around on each piece. This way you know each piece now has a perfect 1/4 inch and when you sew and line everything up it will be perfect.

Foundation Paper Piecing Part 6 This is the final stage of piecing each section together.

Make sure to follow the patterns order of piecing, as this will help you sew the pattern together in the correct order. In the video I am working with my own pattern and simply know the order of how it should go.

Please leave a comment with any question you may have.

You can also check my Craftsy and Etsy pages for easy patterns, more intermediate and also many advanced patterns. I do have free patterns but those can only be found on craftsy.

Cathedral Window Pillow

I saw on pinterest a few of these cathedral quilts and pillows. I had been working on our master bedroom decor and wanted to add an accent pillow or two. I thought, well the cathedral pillow would be a great idea. So, I found a great tutorial on how to make cathedral windows without any hand sewing. (There is a part two, so be sure to check that out too.)

The tutorial is super easy to follow and I really enjoyed making this pillow. I hope you find this pillow inspiring as well. Thank you to House of A La Mode for the great tutorial.

Once you do a bunch of ironing you will have the desired amount of windows. I feel like the ironing was the hardest part.

The tutorial shows you how to sew all the windows together by machine, and it goes pretty fast. I had all the windows together with in minutes. I then cut out all the squares, and left a few holes for the green fabric (which I needed to buy more of).

Once I had all the fabric I began machine sewing all the window flaps. It was probably the hardest part. I tried extremely hard to make all the flaps even, but it is harder then it looks.

Once all the windows are in place, it looked great. Some windows are off but once I turned it into a pillow it was definitely harder to see.

Trimmed all the extra material and ready for the back part of the pillow.

The pillow put together and stuffed. I then showed my neighbor and she said buttons would make this even better.

So of course I listened, and added some buttons. She has a great designing eye!

This accent pillow is perfect for the bedroom, and I love how big and bold it is!

When I was done with the pillow, I really thought "how does anyone make a quilt like this!?" I mean the amount of work that goes into this type of quilt would be exhausting. I give everyone major kudos for making a quilt with cathedral windows. Especially, if they did it by hand, which I hear is what they use to do!

Decorate Today,
Sarah

DIY Ironing Board Cover

I needed a new ironing board cover, as the one I had was a hot mess. I was tired of getting my iron stuck on it and it sticking to my fabric, etc. It was one that was clamped on by metal, so I couldn't wash it. I decided I would just make one to match my new room decor. I then cut off the strings from the old iron cover and used the cover as a guide.

The old ironing board cover.

 I then cut a bunch of strips and large squares of fabric, and sewed them together to make one long piece. I then laid the old top on the fabric and cut it out.

All the fabric sewn together.

 I then used the pad that was on the ironing board to cut out extra batting. This batting was getting really thinned out and I needed a little more padding to help with all the pressing I do with quilting.

Be sure to cut the fabric with a little extra on each side (about an inch or two).

I then cut out 4 extra layers of batting. This has helped out so much. I no longer get the grates through the ironing board!

I then iron/pin the edge a half in over. This is where I am going to slide the string to tie the ironing board cover on. Be sure to leave a hole about an in or two.

Stitch as far to the left as you can.

Take a safety pin and pin the string or rope that you are using.

Using the hole you have in the fold you just sewed on, slide the safety pin into the side, and push it all the way around until it comes back out through the hole.

Then pull the string or rope, leave a decent amount on the ends.

Place the padding you have and the extra you cut out on the grates of the ironing board. Then add the cover and slowly and carefully pull both ends of the string. I had to sit under the ironing board and kind of shimmy the cover and strings around. Finish it up with a knot or two, or 5!

Stand back and love on your work...

Or your fabric!

I also covered a piece of cardboard with some of the matching fabric, so I could use the wire shelf that was below the ironing board. It works well!

Its just that easy! If you have like 2 or 3 yards of fabric, and are only using one piece of fabric, all you have to do is use the old cover to make the new one, and add the hem and put your string through it. That would be even faster.

This is a great weekend or an hour or two kind of project. I think it took me about an hour and a half or so, as I was sewing a bunch of strips together, and wanted it to be cute.

Time to Press Some Fabric,
Sarah

Mitered Corners Tutorial

I made a quilt top a few weeks ago and had a ton of quilters ask me how I made my mitered corners in my sashing. I figured I would make a video so all those wonderful quilters could see how simple it really is.

The things that you will need is a ruler, 1/4 inch sewing machine foot (or a mark on your machine), a washable fabric pen, and scissors.

To get started cut your strips but make sure to add the extra on both ends. I explain the math in the video, so watch it and you will understand. Another way, is to cut the sashing, sew them together in one long line and then just sew it on, and cut it when you come to the end of each side.

Please feel free to share this video, and link back here. Leave a comment and spread the word!!

Thanks For Watching,
Sarah

Binding Tutorial

I hate that kind of binding where you have to measure, sew, and measure, sew, etc. then some how hope you did it all correctly so you don't get any puckering. Yeah no, not me. I just sew. Want to know how? Read on:

I was putting binding on a quilt at my Mother-in-laws one day, and she came over and asked me how I did my binding. I showed her how, and she liked it so much she went on to use it on her quilt. I find that the way I do my binding is just simple, fast and easy. Not only that but it looks great and you don't have to do any measuring!

Thats my extremely easy binding video. I hope it all makes sense, and I apologize for the rough video. I was out of town when I made the video, so I had to use my iPhone. I apologize.

Finishing the binding by hand.

 Please feel free to share this video, pin this post, and be sure to come back and see more tutorials and posts about my everyday sewing and crafting life.


Quilt and Bind Freely,
Sarah

Nautical Themed Birthday Outfit

I always loved those birthday kids that have the matching themed outfit for their special birthday party. I also know how to sew... of course I made my little boys birthday outfit!

The theme was nautical, and I loved the idea of blue, white and orange. I had purchased some nautical fabric awhile back and never used it. I kept it in the "I want to use for Jared" pile, but never found anything to make for him with that fabric. I then decided it would be perfect for his birthday outfit. I purchased some coordinating orange chevron fabric to go with his navy blue shirt and bib material.

To make the bib:
1) I printed out the letter J and the #1 from a font I liked on my word document.
2) I then traced them onto freezer paper, and cut those out.
3) I ironed the freezer paper cut outs onto the fabric, and traced with a washable pen.
4) I then carefully cut out the letter and number
5) I used double sided fusible interface (heat n bond makes one), ironed that onto the wrong side of the letter and number and cut that out.
6) I then removed the paper backing from the double sided interface, and ironed the J and 1 into place.
7) I appliqued with coordinating thread, and appliqued the "is" on the front of the bib.
8) I then sewed the front of the bib, to the back of the bib (right sides together), left a small hole, flipped the bib inside out, ironed it, top stitched and finished it off with a snap.

To make the shirt:
1) Using the same stencils as I used for the bib, but I enlarged them a little more.
2) I traced them onto freezer paper and cut them out.
3) I ironed the freezer paper cut outs onto the fabric of choice, and traced them onto the fabric with a washable pen.
4) I then cut out the J, anchor and 1 carefully.
5) I used double sided fusible interface and ironed it onto the wrong side of the fabric cut outs.
6) I then cut out the interface, took the paper backing off and ironed the J, anchor and 1 all into place.
7) With coordinating thread I appliqued the anchor first, stopping where it over laps.
8) I then appliqued with coordinating thread, around the J and 1.
9) I finished the shirt off with the "is" applique.

I then used the orange chevron fabric to make shorts for his outfit. You can see a tutorial on how to make pants HERE, just cut them shorter for shorts.

The finished outfit was soooo perfect, I loved it so much. He will be wearing this outfit for months, until I can't get him in them anymore.

The shorts are not that tight, he is sliding down my moms knee.

Please pin, or share this link.

Applique On,
Sarah

DIY Baby/Toddler Carrier

My first son was very independent and never wanted to be held or picked up much. He was walking at 9 months and hasn't stopped since. So, when I had my second child, I was shocked at how much he loved to sit with me, cuddle with me, and wanted me to hold him. I finally got tired of picking him up and only having one hand to do everything else. It was time to look into some type of carrier.

I research every carrier I could think of, and studied how they looked, were made, the style, and the measurements. I finally decided on how to make one. I told my husband I needed to head out this weekend and look for some large and small buckles for the carrier. He mentioned he had an old military backpack that I could use the buckles, straps, and anything else I wanted off it. I was wondering what he meant, but then he brought it to me and I saw clearly what he was thinking.

I seam ripped the shoulder straps off the back pack, and even removed the waist belt buckle off it as well. I then did the following:


I cut out 2 panels of fabric (large enough to hold my 1 year old and 2 year old), you might need to do some measuring of the kids from shoulder to under their bums. Add a few extra inches to the bottom so the waist buckle can connect to. I simply measured the waist buckle and added that many inches onto my two fabric panels.

I then place both shoulder straps inside the two fabric panels. Both fabric panels were right sides together. I then serged the shoulder straps and the top of the fabric panels together. I then had something like this:

I then serged around the lower half on both sides (again right sides together) and the bottom. Leaving two holes on the sides where your shoulder straps will attach (under your arm pit).

I then took the waist buckle (which, once it was removed was actually two pieces), I needed to sew the waist pieces together. I used a zig zag stitch back and forth a few times, to piece the waist buckle together. I tested it out by pulling on both ends with my own strength. It held, so I continued on.

This is a close up view:

Of course, no one wants to see that hot mess; so I took some left over military fabric and covered it up.

I then placed it on the outside of the carrier and pinned it to the fabric panels.

Again using zig zag stitches I attached the waist buckle to the carriers main fabric panels. I again went over the waist buckle SEVERAL times with my zig zag stitch. I did enough passes to break a needle!

I then tried it on, and pinned the shoulder straps under my arms where I wanted them to rest.

I then zig zag stitched them inside the open holes I had on each side. I folded the fabric inside to leave a nice clean edge.

I then had the carrier! Almost done!!

After I tried it on and put the kids in it, I grabbed a small buckle off the backpack (which had about 100 buckles), and attached them on the shoulder straps (along my chest area). The shoulder straps already had hooks for the buckle pieces to loop through, you might have to make some or simply loop them around the shoulder straps and sew them on.

I also re-enforced the connection where the shoulder straps meet with the top of the two fabric panels. I only serged the inside, so I went along the edge and added more zig zag stitches to help keep the kiddos safe.

It even worked as a front carrier when little man needed extra snuggles.

Yes I went hiking with it!

He passed out!

At a party, and he needed a nap! (NOTE the zig zags on the shoulder straps where they are inserted into the two fabric panels... re-enforced).

My two year old after being crazy upset and cranky in target, I strapped him in and he fell asleep instantly!

In the end I spent $3 total to make this carrier. I used the straps and buckles from the old backpack, I used an old military blouse (from my husband) to make the military panel, I had the mink on hand from a previous project, and the $3 was spent on buying matching THREAD!!! Yep, I could have easily skipped that purchase but felt it would make the carrier just that much more professional looking!

I have been stopped several times while out wearing it, and have been asked where I purchased the carrier. Once I informed them that I simply made it, most of them said I needed to sell them. I am instead, posting the tutorial. Hopefully then, someone will be able to spend less then $5 on a carrier.

Good Luck and Share Your DIY Carriers,
Sarah