Thursday, April 12, 2018

April designs and a tutorial...


When only a small amount of a particularly beautiful fabric remains my heart is tempted to fold it carefully, place it gently upon the fabric shelves around eye level, and leave it there to gaze at lovingly for the next however many years. 

But my head tells me something else. Use it. And the past year or two I have tended to listen to my head more often than not.
(hope you're not one of those people who hates it when someone begins a sentence with 'and' or 'but'...I used to be like that but now I write how I speak...so I'm forgiven, right?)

The floral fabric inside my new needle/thread/scissor keeper, or as I officially call it, a sewing supplies folder, is one that very much held my heart for quite a while, which is why it needed to be displayed in a forever home. So I made this folder with a 'home' on the cover! 

Inside there are roomy white-lace trimmed pockets which can hold larger things than the average needle-book. 




So I wonder, do you have a precious bit of fabric you really should take off the shelf and use?

Might this be the next project for you? Mmmm...??

The house design on the front cover is available HERE in my Etsy shop but the folder itself can be made with any embroidery or even fabric alone.

Gather these supplies...

·         One fat quarter floral fabric
·         9” x 14” rectangle of medium weight fusible Pellon
·         Two, 2 ½” x 40” lengths of red/white spot fabric
·         A completed stitchery measuring 7” wide x 8 ¼” (or fabric the same size)
·         24” x 1 ¼” length of white cotton lace
·         ¾” x 14” length white lace

From the floral fabric cut-

·         One, 7” x 8 ¼” rectangle
·         One, 8 ¼” x 13 ½” rectangle
·         One, 10” x 13 ½” rectangle

From the 24” x 1 ¼” length of white cotton lace, cut –

·         One, 9” length
·         One, 14” length

Let's Sew!

Making the outside of the sewing supplies folder –

Sew the 7” x 8 ¼” rectangle of floral fabric to the left side of the trimmed stitchery and press the seam open. Lay the 9” length of white cotton lace over the seam and sew it in place along the side edges of the lace. 




Make the inside of the sewing supplies folder –

Fuse the 8 ¼” x 13 ½” rectangle of floral fabric to the Pellon and machine or hand quilt. I did simple straight lines along the top half, leaving the bottom half un-quilted as that section will sit behind the pockets. Trim away the excess Pellon.







Make the pocket –

Fold the 10” x 13 ½” rectangle of floral fabric in half to give you a 5” x 13 ½” pocket.
Sew the ¾” x 14” length of white lace along the fold (this will be the wrong side) so that most of it peeks out of the right side. Sew the 14” length of the wider lace about an inch below the fold on the right side.







Lay the pocket along the bottom of your quilted lining and pin in position. Score a line down the centre, and two more lines 3 ¼” to the left and right of the centre line. I use a Hera Marker which leaves an indent in the fabric and you sew along it.





Sew along those lines to create your smaller pockets, and sew the sides and bottom of the larger pocket to the lining with a scant 1/8 inch seam.






Assemble and finish…

Lay the front of the sewing supplies folder on to the pocketed lining, wrong sides together. Sew a line down the centre of the lace spine to join the front and lining together. The sewn line should cover/reinforce the centre pocket line we sewed earlier.





Make a length of quilt binding from the strips of red/white spot fabric and attach it around the edges of the sewing supplies folder as you would a quilt with a ¼” seam.

Press the binding away from the folder.




Turn the binding to the inside of the folder and slip stitch in place.
All done! Fill with your supplies and it’s ready to use.





You can see why I love that floral fabric, yes?
I also love the spotty binding and fortunately still have a fat eighth of that left for another project.

The floral is a print from Brenda Riddle's 'Windermere' range for Moda and honestly, I confess to loving all her fabrics. She's also the sweetest gal and she loves Jesus. 
10/10 all around for me.




Need another tutorial to empty your scraps bucket?
How about a fabric basket? Follow along here.




Well, I'd best get back to work and prepare some new designs for coming months, plus I have to pack for our mini holiday/road trip this weekend, give the house a general once-over with the dust cloth and prepare a nice meal to freeze that we can enjoy upon returning late at night. I'm hedging towards lasagne at the moment as we can have it for dinner tonight and have the leftovers when we come home.

 After time away I love to open our front door to a home that is clean and welcoming, with fresh sheets on the bed and soft towels in the bathroom, a meal that can be easily heated up and lots of ice in the freezer for iced de-caff coffees before bed.

As much as these short and rare times away are good for us, Mr E and I do enjoy coming home again.
What about you? 

have a blessed day,

hugs


15 comments:

Lace Faerie said...

I can see why this fabric is dear to your heart! I love rose prints, too! Do you remember the manufacturer or fabric name?

Thank for sharing your talents and tutorial!

Ondrea said...

Beautiful work and fabric. Hope you have a wonderful time away.

Little Penpen said...

A pretty project and a nice tutorial... thanks! No grammar police here.... I'm the worst. I tend to write the way I talk, too.. yours is way better!

matty said...

My goodness, how sweet! Jenny, you have an astounding gift for creating lovelies! I am so glad I found your blog and your beautiful ideas! <3

Brenda said...

Hello Jenny; Do not worry one little bit about me ever judging you on anything! I know how !times in my writing that I make mistakes, because of my memory and not remembering the proper "procedures" any more. I do try and use new words "to me" as often as I can. My husband gave me his gigantic dictionary to use when we first got together and I was always asking the spelling of words I could not remember, so after awhile I took it a step farther. I do love and enjoy all of the projects you share with us on your blog journey! I have a special folder with your name on it in my email section, just for these type of posts and other special ones that just made me smile or touched a special place. I am very slow at my hand work and will never achieve getting them all done that I so want to, but I am so grateful that you are willing to share your spectacular artistic talents with us and gift us free projects on your blog. It makes me so happy that you and your love will be having this great time together and that you make everything so special for your return home. You inspire us all to be better to ourselves and to our lovely husbands! Have a terrific weekend Jenny!

françoise said...



Merci Jenny de nous rendre la vie belle .
Merci pour vos réalisations
Thank you of FRance

Anonymous said...

What a beauty that needlebook is. I have a whole folder just of Jenny needlebook tutorials. =) Yes, I generally enjoy coming home again, though getting away is awfully nice. I don't know how long I'd stay gone if I had more money. LOL But I admit (did you see what I did with the start of that sentence?), I'd also have a maid if I had the money!

Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful designs and your ideas. That is a lovely fabric, and I would have tagged it as a Jenny fabric anywhere. I do have some beautiful pieces, but I, too, don't save them any more. There's always another beautiful piece to fall in love with in the stash or in the store. I simply LOVE fabric. Yes, not like. I love it. After God, Jesus, children and friends. LOL

Karen said...

Brenda is a 10/10! BUT you dear Jenny are a 11/10! Ha! Enjoy the mini break - I vote for lasagna too! Blessings

Susie said...

Thank you Jenny, this is so lovely. I can always do with more needle keepers and associated notions as I would dearly love to have one for each project I'm working on (I try to keep each project in a plastic container - there are a few around at the moment too). Thank you.

Allie-oops Designs said...

Love that fabric and project!!! Hm, I have some tiny amounts of favorites that need a home....gorgeous issue as always, dear heart!

Createology said...

Very sweet sewing kit and the fabric is divine. Yes, we should be using “the Good Stuff” so we can enjoy it and smile each time we see it. I agree it is always so good to go away and then return home...which is what my Mr. and I just did. A lovely short 3-day weekend visiting our Son and Daughter-in-Love. Thank you for always sharing so generously. Creative Stitchery Bliss...xo

KingsailK said...

Thanks Jenny a beautiful design x

Tammysueb said...

I just found your blog!! Love your tutorials and inspirational ideas

Sandy said...

I always wonder how you create your beautiful designs. Do you sketch them out first? Do you then cut little patterns for the fabric pieces. I bet you always have new designs floating around in your head, that you need to draw. You have amazing talent!!!

Jenny of Elefantz said...

Hi Sandy :-)
Yes, lots of sketching, lots of revisions...sometimes one design can take two days to sketch and refine to the point where I'm happy to trace it on to fabric.
hugs
Jenny