Showing posts with label Amy Butler Fabric. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amy Butler Fabric. Show all posts

Announcing the Mystery Sew Red Sew-a-long!

by : Jenn
Now that the Royal Baby Quilt Sew-a-long has wrapped up, we are excited to announce a project that we've had in the works for quite some time: a Mystery Sew Red Sew-a-long!

Jimmy Beans Wool is hosting a "block of the month" style Mystery Sew Red Sew-a-long in which the finished product is a red-themed quilt to raise awareness of heart disease in women. Your favorite designers from the Sew Red book will will be submitting block designs of different shapes and sizes, and we'll be releasing block instructions every few weeks. Since the blocks won't all have the exact same dimensions, quilters who participate in this sew-a-long will likely choose to assemble them in different configurations. This is where the mystery comes in… no one will know what the finished quilt will look like until the very end!

Every few weeks from now through April 2014, we will release the fabric requirements and the instructions for a block in the quilt. Some are really easy and a few are more advanced, with most blocks falling in the intermediate skill range. So, no matter your skill level, there are blocks for you! If you don't feel up to the task of the more advanced blocks, you can always repeat some of the easy ones so you still get a good sized quilt!
Kristen's cowl design from Sew Red

We will be kicking off the Mystery Sew Red Sew-a-long next week with a block from Jimmy Beans' own Kristen Ashbaugh-Helmreich on her personal blog-- Marinade Designs. But don't worry! We'll be sure to post links to her blog (and each of the others) here as well.  Stayed tuned for blocks from Kay Whitt of Serendipity Studio, the talented sisters Barb and Mary from Me and My Sister, Amy Butler, David Butler (also known as Parson Gray), Kaari Meng of French General, SUEDE (of Project Runway fame), and many more! (We don't want to spoil the surprise!)

Once the Mystery Sew Red Sew-a-long ends in April 2014, we will assemble our quilt from the original blocks from the designers themselves. At this time, we will also start to accept donated, finished quilts from sew-a-long participants (that's you!). If you choose to donate your finished quilt to our cause, it will go on tour with our master quilt throughout the U.S. and will be featured at various quilt shows from June 2014 through February 2015. Once the quilt have finished touring the country and raising heart-disease awareness, they will be donated to a hospital or charity focusing on heart disease, and our master quilt will be auctioned off.

We sincerely hope you'll join us in crafting to help raise awareness of the number one killer of women in the U.S., heart disease, and the Stitch Red campaign!

 Did you know that 1 in 4 American women have heart disease? Join us in "Sticking it to Heart Disease!" by checking out our Stitch Red campaign!! You could save a life, maybe even yours!

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Sewing Tutorial: How to Make an Easy Project Bag

by : MarinadeDesigns
Happy Friday Everyone!

I've been really excited lately about these easy cloth bags that I've been making, and I wanted to share them with you and include some simple instructions. I've taken some photos to go along with it, so I think with my written instructions and photos, you should be able to figure it out. They are super simple after all!

(I will apologize in advance for the slightly grainy photography and messy yarn piles in some of the photos. I am in the process of cleaning out my sewing room and it's getting messier before it gets more organized.) :)


I love these bags and use them for all sorts of things besides just toting around knitting projects (although they get used for that too)! Some other potential uses for these cute cloth bags:

1) Produce bags at the grocery store
2) Gift bags any time of year.
3) Pack a few extra when you travel for dirty laundry
4) Use as a beach bag in a pinch when traveling
5) Use different prints for different kids when going on car trips to carry toys and games for entertainment.

The possibilities really are endless for these, and if you cut out a bunch at once, you can make one in about 10-15 minutes! I made two in about 30 minutes last night using a couple different Amy Butler Sale Prints. Here is what you need to get started:

Materials:
-Basic sewing tools- a sewing machine, scissors, thread, measuring tape.
-1/2 yd or more of a fun fabric. (You can make these in any size. You can get two 9"x13" bags or one 15"x18.5" bag out of 1/2 of a yard of fabric. If you get a full yard of fabric, you can get three 14"x16" bags which are perfect medium sized project bags. You can also make these with fabric scraps from other sewing projects. Go wild!)
-At least 1 yd of Ribbon or Cord per bag (You can also use up scrap yarn by making i-cord or crochet chains to use as the drawstring. Whatever you use, just make sure it can withstand being tied over and over.)
-A 1.5" or larger safety pin.

Instructions:


Step 1: Wash and iron your fabric. Do me a favor and don't skip this step. Please. Your fabric needs to be washed to pre-shrink. You don't even want to know what your bag will look like if you don't do this and then you throw it in the wash. It's not pretty.

Step 2: Cut out your fabric whatever size you want your bags to be. If you can get away with cutting the whole thing as one long strip that you will fold in half so that you don't need to sew a bottom seam, do it. Otherwise, you'll just have to sew the bottom seam. No biggie. :)


Step 3: With the print facing in, sew the side seams (the two longer sides), and if necessary, the bottom seam (one of the shorter sides). Leave a 2.5"-3" space at the top of each long side to fold down later for the drawstring casing at the top of your bag. When you sew the sides, use a 1/2" seam allowance. If you have three sides to sew, start at the top of the one of the longer sides and work your way around. Be sure to back stitch at the beginning, corners, and end of your seams to reinforce the stitches.


Step 4: Trim the edges of your bag if they look a little rough. If you have a serger, you can serge the edges to keep them from fraying. If not, I like to use pinking shears which cut little zig zag edges and also help prevent fraying.

Step 5: Turn your bag inside out and iron your seams flat. You may have to stick your hand inside the bag to push the seams forward as you iron them.

Step 6: Iron down the 1/2" edges on the top side flaps of your bag.


Step7: Then iron down the top edges 1/2" so that your seam has a smooth edge on it.



Step 8: Iron down the tops another full inch and stitch down both sides separately using a 1/4" seam allowance. You should now have two little tubes at the top of your bag on both sides of your opening for your ribbon.

Step 9: Cut two lengths of ribbon for your drawstrings. Each piece should be twice the length of the bag opening plus 4"-6" depending on the size of your bag.


Step 10: Attach the safety pin to the end of one ribbon and use it to guide the ribbon through both tubes. When the ends meet, tie a knot. Then attach the pin to the other length of ribbon and guide it through the tubes the opposite direction. You now have a super cute project bag!!!


Extras and Advanced Techniques:

- Use a French Seam on the inside seams to make them look super nice and not fray. Directions on how to do a French Seam can be found in a number of sewing reference manuals. You can also check out these directions here on Burda Style.

-Make a cute square bottom on your bag by opening the bottom corners and sewing them across anywhere from 2"-4" wide. Cut the corner off once you've made the seam.


-Piece together different fabrics for a patchwork bag.

-Embroider or applique onto your bags.

Any way you make them, you are sure to love how fast and easy it is to make these bags. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Please feel free to let me know what you think by leaving a comment! Or, if you've made these types of bags, leave us some of your tips!

Hope you all have a great weekend and happy sewing!
Kristen

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Spring Knit-along and Sew-along- Week 6 check in!

by : MarinadeDesigns
Hi everyone!
Almost ready to separate the sleeves!
I hope that you are all making progress on both your Goodale cardigans and skirts (if you are sewing as well)!  I’ve been admittedly remiss about knitting my Goodale due to some other work-related knitting that has been going on. As in-house designer here at Jimmy Beans, I often have to set aside less deadline-oriented knitting for designing. I don’t mind because designing is super fun, but it sometimes means that other projects sit on the needles a little too long! 
You'll notice my Goodale update picture to the right. I am two rows away from dividing for the sleeves and will probably do that tonight. You can’t really tell from this picture but my sweater already measures 10”! I’m not sure how the gauge became so off, but it’s probably ok if I have some extra length anyway. I was just surprised when I measured it the other day. I’ve followed the pattern exactly, but I think it’s just the gauge. In any case, I think I am going to get a ton of wear out of this once I am finished!

I ironed my fabric like a good girl.

Step 1 of french seams, sew the
sides together with the printed
side of the fabric facing out!
I also began work on my skirt just last night. I only had a few minutes before dinner so I cut and ironed the fabric (Amy Butler Twilight Peony in Azure) and sewed the french seams. French seams have to be my new favorite thing when it comes to sewing. They are by no means a new technique, but I recently fell in love with the amazingly neat and smooth inner seam they create. And they are SO simple too! You just place the fabric together with the printed side facing out and sew. Trim the edges down to about 1/8-1/4 of an inch, and turn inside out and iron down the seams. Then sew another seam with the printed sides of the fabric facing in. Now you have a nice clean seam on the inside that won’t fray! 
Sewing the inside seams-
Step 2 of French Seams.
Brett goes more into this in her book and in her video online that I shared in last week’s post. I highly recommend trying it if you haven’t already! I have a decent size stack of fabrics that I’ll be making into more of these skirts for summer in the coming weeks. I think they are becoming a new wardrobe staple! After I make a few more of those, I am planning to make a whole bunch of new pillow cases for my bed using the french seam technique. Brett gives a simple pattern for pillow cases in “Sewing in a Straight Line” as well. I have really been bit by the sewing bug!
Ready to go for the next steps!
I’ll finish my skirt in the next couple of days and I hope that you are all well on your way to finishing your new spring outfits! I would love to post some pictures of you wearing your finished outfits if you’ll let me! Feel free to e-mail photos directly to me at kristen@jimmybeanswool.com and I will include them in next week’s wrap up post in a gallery of FO’s! If you made both the sweater and skirt, I’d love to see them modeled together. If you just made one or the other, that’s fine too! Please send them along! I can’t wait to see what you all have created these past six weeks!
I hope you all have a fun and productive Memorial Day Weekend and I’ll look forward to showing off some of your FO’s next week!

Happy knitting and sewing!
Kristen

Pssst! Have you ordered your copy of Knit Red yet? They are here and ready to ship immediately! Yay! 

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Quilting Fever Hits JBW!

by : MarinadeDesigns
A couple of months ago, Jeanne posted about the quilting lessons that she and Sandy have been giving the staff here at Jimmy Beans. When we started carrying fabric last fall, many of the beans were anxious to learn how to sew. Some had never sewn before and others had learned at a young age and not kept up with it. In any case, it was a great opportunity to learn something new!

Jeanne and Sandy patiently led their students through the process of learning to choose the right fabric, matching prints and colors, washing and cutting, following instructions, how to works the machine, sew a straight line, and all of the other steps associated with quilting. The finished quilt tops are just beautiful so I wanted to share a few of them here. I’ve got pictures from Laura, Erika, Sharon, Lianna, and Sandy. Each quilt, although they all used the same pattern out of Joel Dewberry’s “Sewn Spaces” book, is beautiful and unique in its own way.

First is Laura’s stunning yellow and grey quilt. She used a mix of Joel Dewberry prints from the Aviary 2 and Heirloom Collections with some Mark Cesarik Calypso and Amy Butler Midwest Modern thrown in for good measure. In regards to her fabric choices she told us, “I chose these fabrics because I liked the way the yellows and grays worked together. The combo was relatively modern, but not too wacky!” Choosing fabrics that she liked was key for Laura in order to motivate her to learn to sew in the first place. She recommends picking colors and a project that you love and then you’ll be inspired to finish it.

Next we have Lianna’s gorgeous quilt! She used a wide selection of prints ranging from Joel Dewberry Heirloom and Modern Meadow to Valori Wells Wrenly, Amy Butler Lotus, Heather Bailey Freshcut and more! Basically little bit of everything. This was her first sewing project and she made this quilt as a gift for her cousin's wedding. Her fabric choices we selected based on the colors in her cousin’s wedding registry, that way it could be used in any area of the home. Such a neat idea! Lianna said that she had a lot of help from her mom on this project since she has been sewing for many years. Her mom ended up loving the pattern so much that she is now making two more quilts. Thanks Lianna for sharing your lovely project with us!

Erika took a slightly different approach to the making of her quilt. She absolutely fell in love with the Gold Rose Bouquet Print from Joel Dewberry's Heirloom collection and based the rest of her quilt around that. She tried to choose prints that would compliment it but still allow that print to stand out among the rest. This was also Erika's first sewing project and she was the speediest sewer in the group finishing her entire quilt before anyone else. We think it turned out so pretty and we love how prominent her favorite print is!



Sandy, our most experienced quilter, used several of Kaffe Fassett's gorgeous prints as her inspiration. She settled on a mix of pinks and cranberries with touches of turquoise and blues. She hadn't quilted in a while, since knitting is her favorite sport, but she was really excited to dust off the old sewing machine and stretch her legs a bit. She loved how simple this quilt pattern was. The perfect small quilt to get back in the game with! Since this project, she's been planning all kinds of other sewing projects to keep her busy through the summer! Don't you just love these colors?



Lastly, we have Sharon's bright and wild quilt! As vibrant as her bubbly personality, this quilt is a mixture of prints and colors. Even though each of these prints are so different, they do work together really well. Basically, Sharon just picked every bright print that she liked and found a way to make it work in the design. We would expect nothing less out of our ever-exuberant Customer Service Lead. After she finished this quilt, she was so pumped that she grabbed a Jelly Roll of the Berenstain Bears prints and started on a cute log cabin kids quilt. We'll share pictures of that one soon too, promise!

We hope you've enjoyed seeing these photos of our most recent new hobby! We've been so excited to share them with you and hope that you will join us in this new journey into the land of fabric. And if fabric isn't your thing, never fear, we still have many, many fun knitting and crocheting projects to share with you in the coming weeks as well!

We hope you all have a great weekend and happy making!

-Kristen and the JBW Team

PS. Did you know that Heart Disease is the #1 killer of women in America? Find out more about how you can help us and the Heart Truth create more awareness at www.stitchred.com.
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