Victoria Bryant: June 2008 Archives
Chef Bubba is in the kitchen cooking that cobbler. It sure smells good. I believe that he has some barbecue recipes to share with you next week. I have been placed in charge of decorations.
A great start is the centerpiece. Since we will be eating on the patio, I grabbed an old watering can and filled it with white daisies, red zinnias and blue salvia. Tuck in some miniature flags. This will make a very pretty flower arrangement. Toss some red and blue pillows on the furniture. This makes a great start to creating the mood.
I have created some easy placemats to make. This is a great way to use some fabrics from your stash or some novelty fabrics. Everyone one has some leftover batting. I used patriotic novelty fabrics to make napkins.
Old Glory Placemats:
Tools:
Rotary Cutter and mat
Ruler
Sewing machine
Thread
Red fabric
Blue fabric
White fabric
Batting or flannel
For each placemat:
You will need a total of 7- 2 ½ "strips of fabric and 1- 6 ½ "blue square
1 backing measuring 19 inches wide and 14 inches high
1 batting measuring 19 inches wide and 14 inches high
Instructions:
- Cut two red and white strips 2 ½" wide and 19 inches long.
- Cut one white strip and two red strips 2 ½" wide and 12 ½ inches long.
- Cut one 6 1/2 "square of blue fabric.
- Cut batting and backing to measure 19 inches wide and 14 inches wide.
- Seam allowance is ¼".
Beginning with the red strip from #1, sew a white strip to the red right sides together. Press the strip to the dark side. Keeping the red on the bottom, add a red strip to the white strip. Continue until you have a strip set of 4 strips of fabric- red, white, red, white. Sew a 2nd strip set of 3 strips measuring 12 ½" wide beginning with red and ending with a red. Press to the dark side of fabric.
Sew the 6 ½" blue square to the left side of the strip set. Sew the 1st strip set and 2 strip set right sides together on the long side. This is your top.
Layer the backing and top right sides together. Add batting to the top of the sandwich. The batting will be on the top when you sew the sandwich together. Sew around the edges ¼ "leaving an opening for turning right side out. Turn and press. Slipstitch opening together. You may quilt top as desired. This is very fast and easy.
If you wish to make napkins- cut 2 squares of patriotic fabric in 19" square. With wrong sides together, sew in 1" from the sides. Trim edges with pinking shears or wave rotary cutter. You are done. When is that cobbler going to be done?
There is no denying that our customers are the best! They are cheerful, creative and willing to share their ideas with us. Even though many of us at Fabric.com sew or craft, no one person has expertise in everything. While we are talented, I am constantly amazed at what our customers make. I enjoy their emails telling me of special events going on in their lives. One of our most creative customers is Eileen N who lives in New Mexico. I do not know how Eileen finds the time to sew because she has six children. She is also involved in many activites and makes her own bread. I have accused her of churning her own butter! She denies this. It is not unusual for Eileen to be directing a group of young men on the art of making 200 burritos for a school event and sewing all of the outfits for a formal wedding! I do not know where she finds the energy!
During the summer, Eileen contacted me about some camouflage knit fabric. She wanted to make curtains for an ROTC unit. Since this was a knit fabric I tried to discourage Eileen from this project because after a few months I believed they would stretch out of shape. Being the inventive person she is, she departed from the "normal" way of making curtains. She made several small curtains, used no weights in the bottom, no buckram in the top. In her own words, it was 'Quick and Dirty". The commander and the ROTC were thrilled with the curtains. Here is the picture for her "knit" curtains.
Here is a picture of her daughter, Steffie, in a beautiful yellow linen dress she made for her. Isn't she beautiful!
Currently, Eileen is sewing outfits for a wedding that is scheduled on July 27, 2008. Hopefully she will be able to finish the Mother of the Groom's dress in time of the wedding. I helped her pick a lovely fabric with embroidered dragonflies on it.
While Eileen is preparing for this wedding, I received an email last year from Kate whose mother made her wedding dress. I was thrilled that she had the time to share her thoughts with us. I kept her email because I wanted to share her thoughts with you!
"Hello, I purchased some of your silk shantung fabric for my
> wedding dress last spring. My mother made the dress
> - it was fabulous! The
> fabric was so beautiful, my simple design never would have turned out
> had it not been such perfect quality, thank you! Everyone loved the
> dress, and our photographer thought it was the best she'd seen all
> year. You can see a picture of the dress online, as our wedding was
> recently featured in a Seattle bridal magazine. The link is below.
> Thank you! Kate Kappel Haba
I was unable to download the pictures, but if you would like to see the lovely pictures you may check at Bride & Groom. Kate's wedding was absolutely joyful. It was a beautiful dress and wedding!
As you can see, all of our customers are talented people and we learn a great deal from them. If you would like to see more, please check out the photo gallery!
School has only been out a few days, but soon mothers will be looking for ideas to occupy their children. I agree with the Fabric Maverick that the flip-flop is a staple of summertime. This humble shoe can be bought as cheaply as $1.99. It has no ambitions of lasting a long time not even through the summer. Everyone wants to personalize their flip-flops. This is perhaps the first time a young girl begins to think of accessories! The good thing about flip-flops is that they are not gender specific. My 6 year old consultant was not available to test these projects but I believe these would rate 2 thumbs up!
The first project can be done by anyone who can tie a knot.
Supplies:
1 pair of flips-flops
2. Scissors
3. Fabric scraps
4. Rotary cutter (wave is nice) and mat
Instructions:
An adult should cut the fabric into 1/2 inch fabric widths.
1 The fabric strips should measure about 7 1/2 inches long x 1/2 inch wide. These can be estimated. Only adults should use a rotary cutter and mat.
2. Divide strips into colors.
3. Tie each strip around the thong center and knot.
4. Trim the strips to the length that you want.
Voila! You are done. Repeat with the second flip-flop.
Prpject 2
Supplies:
Flips-flops
Different size yo-yos
Fabri-tac
Glue
Fabric measuring at least 5 inches square
Thread
Scissors
Instructions:
Using 5 inch squares create yo-yos according to instructions.
Layer yo-yos in a pleasing pattern (See picture)
Attach with Fabri-tac (Adult should handle glue)
Attach each yo-yo to thong section of flip-flop in a pleasing manner using a glue suitable to attach fabric to plastic.
As you can see yo-yo's come in several shapes and sizes. Let your imagination go! For my fabric selections, I used Michael Miller fabrics from the Mix and Match collection and Michael Miller Stripes!
For full instructions for the second project, I refer you to the Michael Miller website.
