Guest Tutorial: Pyramid Bags

I was at a Roz's the other day doing a little friendly arm-twisting over a guest quilt tutorial and it turns out she was hiding all sorts of interesting  craftiness. 


Stemming from the need to keep one's top draw in order these delectable little storage pyramids are perfect for a collection of all sorts of little things.  I fancy doing a really big one as a hide-away for Lala's sizeable soft toy collection (note - I have never bought Lala a softie, I have made a few, but nevertheless they appear to be breeding!!)



These are really quick and easy to make.  I have a few to store my 'small' items of clothing.  They dovetail easily within a drawer.   Think children's fabrics too for storing all their teeny bits and pieces!

Cut two rectangles of fabric 8 inches by 16 inches.  

You can vary the size - the trick is to have the length twice the width 

Place right sides together and stitch quarter inch seam along both short ends

Turn right side out and iron these short edges - these form the opening to the bag

Fold in half  by placing the two seamed edges right sides together 

Stitch a quarter inch seam along one of the raw edges  (right hand side of the photo)

Take opening edges and re-position them to the halfway point of the un-stitched raw edge

Pin and stitch along the edge with a quarter inch seam

Neaten edges with zigzag

Turn right side out and hand-stitch a loop in top corner 

Add embellishments of your choosing

My Creative Space: Its in the mail

How is everyone going with there scrap swap?

I'm working on a tutorial for an envelope clutch which looks like, well an envelope.  I had hopes to post it today  but I've had a stoopid virus and have been feeling yucky for over a week.

As my own boss I have given myself the week off work, but I still need to keep my hands busy in the brief moments between unconsciousness and coughing fits.  I might get it finished this afternoon, but maybe tomorrow.

 

Meantime, I got my scrap bag in the post today.  And huzzah!  I received my own parcel of scraps yesterday.  Thanks to Kerry-Anne.

 

I sat on the sofa last night and cut some little birds - the link is up there under Scrap Bag Tutorials.  Addictive wee things that they are :)

I think I'm going to make some hexies with some more of these scraps.  I have a guest tutorial coming up from the lovely Lost Seamstress involving hexagons - can't wait!!

Linkin' up with more creatives here

Red Strippy Quilt - part two

Do you remember seeing this quilt on my blog last week?  Today Roz shares in part two how to make the top:

This is my No Fuss Quilt as you Row Technique, mentioned in last weeks Red Strippy Quilt Post, which enables machine quilting of smaller, more manageable pieces, before they are finally joined together to complete a quilt of any size.  As a bonus left over pieces of batting and scraps of fabric, lace and ric-rac can be used.

The below instructions are to make a quilt like my Red Strippy one of size 90cm by 115cm, however feel free to adjust any of the measurements to your liking.

METHOD: 

Rotary cut strips of scraps anything from 1½ to 3 inches wide 

Rotary Cut five strips each of batting and calico 8 inches wide by 45 inches long

Use the underside of your cutting board for cutting batting to prevent fluff build up 

Layer batting onto calico to create a foundation row and place first fabric strip to the top of foundation 

Stitch  second fabric strip along one edge of first strip through all layers (stitch length 3 and using a walking foot)

Fold strip out and press seam open (either with iron or the edge of your thumb nail)

Continue adding strips to foundation rows until they are covered – do not worry if edges become untidy

Trim the 'unruly edges' of the five foundation rows with a rotary cutter

Machine stitch trimmed foundation rows together using a wide serpentine (or zig-zag) stitch and a walking foot.

The edges do not overlap they simply sit alongside each other. I find I can easily hold them together as I feed them through the walking foot (pinning does not work).

Strips of iron on interfacing ironed along the join to the wrong side of the foundation strips will hold the raw edges together if you prefer to add this step before serpentine stitching.

Next week I will explain how to add the frill and cover the joins to complete your quilt!