sewing – Daily Fiber

Japanese Knot Bag

Posted on May 7, 2024May 7, 2024 by Laura Kate

Having recently finished a wall quilt, I found myself with various pieces of fabrics left over. Instead of stuffing them into a box and shoving the box under a bed, I decided to cut the fabric into strips for the purpose of sewing them into a project bag.

Back two years ago, I became interested in the Japanese art of stitching, aka sashiko and boro stitching. There was a pattern for a knot bag in this book by the Shibaguyz.

I did a post about it on Jan 5, 2022.

To make the bag, I would need fabrics for the base and lining, along with my strips of fabric. Fortunately, I had both. My daughter gave me some yardage of sturdy cotton flannel and my friend and co-worker Scott Perkins gave me a sample of raw silk.

Here is what I came up with using one quilt block made of a circle in a square. I then sewed strips of fabrics around it to cover all of the base and raw edges.

Fabric selection included bits of three men’s shirts. (The dark red and dark green strips, and the blue chambray behind the first circle.) All three of these fabrics had been worked into the Shell Lake Story quilt. So, I am using scraps of scraps!

My next step was to sew up a lining using the same pattern as the base.

A cellphone pocket in the lining.

Adding the hand stitching took a few weeks. I marked all the stitch lines with a chalk pencil. Using white Sashiko thread I worked a running stitch in straight lines on the strips and circles around the circles.

And here is the front and back of the bag after all the top stitching is in place.

Finally, the seams of bag and lining are sewn up, the bag inserted into the lining with right sides facing and the U-shaped top edges are sewn together. This last step took me two tries, btw, so seam ripping happened.

Turning the bag to the outside, the only remaining steps were to close the strap side seams and top-stitch the opening.

To use the bag, the long handle is threaded through the short handle.

A quick look at the lining before it is turned to the inside. I love the look of the silk, and it is pretty easy to handle. Fraying was the only thing that gave me some trouble. The next time I sew with silk, I will zigzag the seam allowances

Here is the completed knot bag, filled with a knitting project.

Front of bag as it hangs from a coat rack.

Back of bag.

This project was great fun (except for the seam ripping) and I would enjoy making more of these nifty bags. A larger size would be handy for bigger projects. And what a good way to use up scraps.

quilting, sewing

Here’s what came today

Posted on April 6, 2024 by Laura Kate

Earlier in the week, Quilting Gail had let me know that my name was randomly selected to receive a door prize for participating in this year’s Stay At Home Round Robin quilt challenge. I was thrilled to learn that the prize was Aurifil thread! Of all the gifts that were sponsored this year, the thread was the one I had my eyes on. I’ve been wanting to try this superior brand of thread for several months now, ever since a certain big box store discontinued offering its line of quilting thread – I’m pointing at you, Hobby Lobby!

The Necessities House Collection includes four neutral shades ranging from white to black. For piecing one’s quilt, this covers all the colors that one would need to get the job done. I can’t wait to try it out in my Bernina machine.

So here is my shout out to Gail and her cohorts for organizing the challenge.

And here’s my shout out to Aurifil for its generosity in sponsoring SAHRR 2024.

To see the quilt I made for the SAHRR 2024 challenge, click here.

knitting, quilting, sewing

First Friday Finishes in 2024

Posted on January 12, 2024January 12, 2024 by Laura Kate

I’ve spent the week productively, finishing my quilted border curtains and also a Seaglass hat. Finish 3 is the off-the-grid mitts that I gave to H at Christmas. All three projects are stashbusters ( a desirable trait likely to carry on with me in the new year.)

It’s been many years since I constructed curtains The only thing I had to buy for the project was lining fabric. The trick for this project was marrying the patchwork border with a king-size cotton sheet. I did this by attaching wide binding strips to both edges of the curtains. Was it a fun project? I would say mixed. Making that border was great fun. Wrestling with yards and yards of fabric, getting everything lined up correctly and stitching it together was not fun. But the result was very worth it. In addition to having an attractive surround for the large bedroom window, the lining I chose has insulation properties. This came in very handing with temperatures plunging. Our bedroom is now draft-free.

Henry happily received his off the grid mitts. They work beautifully for extra warmth over gloves, and, worn on their own, they keep his fingertips free to use his cellphone while wearing them. I was pleased.

At the last minute I decided to make a pom-pom for the top of the child’s Seaglass hat. Now that I have some practice with the 1 + 1 technique and understand how to work my gauge swatch, I can cast on the Seaglass sweater in confidence.

What are you working on this week? Oh, and how do you feel about it?

sewing

Stash-Busting Border

Posted on December 8, 2023 by Laura Kate

I’m onto a new project that, I hope, will enhance my home while using up a ton of fabric scraps that are stacking up in my studio. It all started when I got tired of looking at the naked drapery rod over my bedroom window.

So I did what any practical woman would do. I browsed images in Pinterest to find out what is trending in home decor these days. Here’s what grabbed my attention:

I like the look, but wasn’t too keen to make this curvy pattern. Instead, I seek to emulate the look of slate mosaic, like the tile border in my shower.

Settling on a pattern of 1-inch squares surrounding a 2-inch center, I pulled all the gray, beige and white fabric left over from my past quilt projects. Next,I sliced them into 1 and 1/2 inch strips, then sewed these together in twos, and fours.

The white strips will serve as sashing between blocks.

Strip sets on the work table.

Attaching the strips to the center, cutting back extra.

After three sessions, I have 25 blocks made with low volume, neutral colors. My estimate is that I will need about 30 for the two borders, depending on how long my draperies end up.

Time to lay out a few to see how the border might look.

Gosh this would be easier if I had a design wall (sigh.) Maybe I’ll have room for that in the next house.

sewing

Finished Object Friday: Binding

Posted on August 26, 2022August 25, 2022 by Laura Kate

This elaborately embroidered art quilt is not mine. It was made by my mother Jackie – one of the last pieces she worked on before being abruptly retired from sewing by a stroke last January. Her right side and her speech functions were seriously impacted. Recovery has been slow in coming.

This quilt is so dense with embroidery that it is stiff and heavy from the massive about of thread added. She completed it all but the binding. Now our mother cannot tell me or my sisters anything about the pattern, materials, or work involved. We know only that it was embroidered on the Baby Lock Destiny II.

So that it can be used by one of my sisters, I volunteered to add the binding.

I thought that it would be a simple matter to match the green, but it was not. Eventually I chose a Moda fabric in color Emerald.

It reminded me of a prom dress I made for myself. The skirt was sewn from satin in a shade just about this color. Working on this binding gave me a flash-back to my then-boyfriend and the moment we posed for a photograph at the dance – I think it was sometime around 1969. I seem to have lost the photo.

Actually, sewing this binding on took all my concentration. With all that weight and stiffness, the quilt resisted my efforts to manipulate it through the machine. It felt like I was arm-wrestling a tent.

Finally finished.