The Cloth Parcel

I've mentioned that I have been working on a fun new business with my mom, and it's finally up and running!  The Cloth Parcel is our new quilting and crafting website.  We have cute fabric, original patterns, craft and quilting kits, and so many fun notions.  All of the patterns were written by my mom or me, or both of us together, and are available to download right when you buy them.

I designed this Chenille Burp Cloth Kit, which features Riley Blake Woodland Tails flannel, in both pink and blue.  These make stunning baby shower gifts, and since they are much smaller than a blanket, it's not a huge ordeal to make the chenille.  We even have Olfa Chenille Cutters available, which make this project so quick and easy.

We have put together nine different baby blanket kits, also available in burp cloth size, which come with super soft Shannon Cuddle fabric for one side (also known as minky) and a variety of flannels for the backs.  The flannels come from Moda and Riley Blake.

How cute is this little wind-up bear?  We scored these Japanese Tokotoko Wind-Up Felt Doll Kits after we saw them at Quilt Market last October.  The kits come with everything you need for the dolls, including the wobbly wind-up mechanism.  We have seven different dolls: Red Bear, Orange Cat, Pink Rabbit, Alice in Wonderland, Snow White, Pinocchio, and Red Riding Hood.  You have to see all of them!

We have so many fun things that are still in the design stages, so keep checking back.  I will still be putting my own projects up on here, so don't think I'm going anywhere.  Today is my day to finish the binding on my zig zag quilt (it's about time)!  Also, don't forget that the Lifestyle 50% off promo is running this whole week.

Catch Up and Fabric Dye

Don't know if you noticed, but I've been away from the blog for a few weeks.  During that time, we went on our first family vacation since our youngest was born, I ran my 10K, and we've been back for a few days getting back into real life. 

Right now, we are doing some serious yard work to better accommodate the backyard playset.  I've also been doing fun decorations for my ward's girls camp that is coming up next week.  Needless to say, I haven't had a lot of time to work on my other projects, but I did get the chance to try using some clothing dye on an outdated curtain panel and a new t-shirt a couple of days ago.  First, I tried the sink method.

My kitchen sink is big, but it definitely wasn't big enough for the amount of fabric I had in there.  Everything on top looked great, and I thought there was plenty of room for the fabric to move around, but when I took the fabric out, there were still some lighter, and even undyed, spots in the middle of the bunch.  Since I still had some dye left, I threw everything in the washing machine and tried that method.  I was able to cover my mistakes enough that it isn't terribly noticeable, and unless I am dying baby clothes or sewing notions, I will most likely use the washing machine method from now on.

This is the shirt.  It started off as a super-light pastel pink, which is one color of t-shirt that I don't believe I will ever wear.  Fancier shirts, sure, but not t-shirts.  In real life, the color is much brighter and warmer than I could get it to photograph.  Another touch that I actually really like is that the thread didn't dye, so now I have the contrasting look going on.  You can sort of see it on the bottom hem, but it is really noticeable along the seam on top of my shoulders.

And this is the curtain panel.  It started off as a darker khaki color, so the color that it came out was a slightly muted version of the t-shirt.  The red stripes didn't change color at all, which was totally unexpected.  Regardless, I think it will bring a lot to my (future) laundry room makeover. 

I love trying something new, and I'm glad to be able to add dyeing fabric to my crafting skills arsenal.

"A Day in the Field" Fabric

I've been back at designing fabric again.  The theme for this design was to be inspired by pen and ink/watercolor drawings.  I did a larger scale than I normally do, and I really like it.  I learned some new things about Illustrator, which is always a plus.  I don't know if these flowers exist, since I made them up as I went.  I'm sure there is something that looks close to them out there somewhere?

Another thing I tried differently was the random pattern (which I have done before) with some white space in there to keep it from getting too busy.  Wouldn't this make a great over-sized tote or purse?

Houndstooth Sophia Carry-All

Do you recognize that fabric?  It's my brown and black houndstooth!  My mom used it in part to make this bag, the Amy Butler Sophia Carry-All. 

Of course, the bag turned out great, since my mom is awesome at this kind of stuff.  It's so fun to see my fabric turning into actual things.  Making something out of fabric I have designed is officially on my to-do list, again, but this time I'd like to design the fabric with a specific project in mind.  Ideas?

Sweet Scallops and Christmas Bells Fabric Swatches

Sweet Scallops (Boy)

These are the rest of the fabric swatches that I got in my last order from Spoonflower.  It's always so fun to see how my designs print up.  The scallop fabric turned out particularly well, in my opinion.  I tried two different colorways this time around, boy and girl, thinking that they would make great baby prints, but they could definitely work for older kids and other projects.

Sweet Scallops (Girl)

I also finally got a print of my Christmas Bells fabric.  It turned out as expected, which is always a good thing.  I'm not sure what to do with it, besides make a holiday quilt.

I Heard the Bells

This morning, I finished the zippered pillow I was talking about on Tuesday, so I will be able to post a new tutorial for it next week.

Houndstooth Fabric Test Swatches

I love getting mail from Spoonflower.  I designed a simple houndstooth pattern for my mom, so we could do custom colors of brown and black.  I also printed a fat quarter of the pattern large-scale on linen canvas to make either a pillow for my couch or a new wallet, or both if I am lucky.  I also tried out a few other fun color combos in small-scale.  Two of the color combos had to be tweaked, so I don't have the samples of them yet.  However, the Orange Dream version turned out really well the first time:

This is an 8"x8" test swatch on the new Kona cotton.  Love it!

This last photo is the brown/black combo in a full yard printed in the small scale.

I am really excited to get started on some projects with my new fabric!  These designs are also available to the public for order.  You can get brown/black large scale, brown/black small scale, orange/white, jade/grey, and aqua/butter.  I also got some other test swatches that I'll be showing off early next week.

New for the Fabric Stash

I got some new kinds of fabric at Joann's yesterday for some new kinds of projects- apparel!  I haven't made many clothing items yet, and especially not for me.  So, in the spirit of trying something new, I bought a couple of red tag prints on apparel fabric and a couple of basic knits. 

I am starting to have a sort of fabric problem, but it hasn't been going on long enough to classify it as an obsession quite yet.  The top fabric is a beautifully soft cotton lawn, the green and brown print is a light poly linen, and the grey and black are both nice-quality knits.

The plan is for most or all of these fabrics to turn into skirts or dresses for me.  I'm anticipating a bit of mistake-making with these, but I have a few ideas and patterns, and one day soon I will get started on some clothes!  As it turns out, my new place mats are quite popular, so I am already doing another run (I'm currently in the midst of sewing them together, my least favorite part) and working on a new design for kitchen towels and place mats.

Kite and Feather Fabric Swatches

I got my fabric samples that I ordered from Spoonflower's 2-for-1 fat quarter sale.  I love having a little bit more fabric to work with than just a test swatch.  I'm thinking that I need to find a good coin purse or makeup bag pattern to use these on.  It's so fun to see my designs in real life!

The orange on the kites fabric is a little bit brighter in person than in the photos.  This would be great for a spring-themed project.

I was pleasantly surprised with how well this feathers fabric printed up.  The colors are perfect!  The scale of the pattern is a bit bigger than I imagined, but I like it a lot.  I'm thinking I'll be doing a lot of fun sewing projects after the holidays hit!

I Heard the Bells Christmas Fabric

For the small-print bells fabric contest at Spoonflower, I designed this Christmas fabric.  I used lyrics from the song, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day".  I am anxious to see how this prints up, since I used my color swatch fabric to choose the colors, and they seem a lot different on my screen than they did on the fabric.

I love how the banners turned out, and the holly berries.   I'm excited to see how the voting on this contest goes.  If you'd like to vote in the contest, click here and follow the link on the right to the contest.  Voting ends next Wednesday, 12/21.  There are a lot of fun entries!

DIY Kindle Sleeve

I got a Kindle Touch for my birthday a couple of weeks ago (yeah!).  When I looked at how much a protective sleeve would cost, I was surprised to see that they ran anywhere from $20-35 (boo!).  I discovered this Laptop/Kindle/iPad Sleeve Tutorial on The Cottage Home.  What I loved the most about this tutorial was that you can adjust the size of your pattern to fit whatever rectangular gadget you want.

I did tweak the pattern a tiny bit, using fabric with fusible fleece interfacing and flannel instead of just fabric and fleece, which meant I had to decrease my seam allowances for the outside layer.  I sewed my first buttonholes by machine, which wasn't as scary as I thought it might be.

I wouldn't try to make a sleeve much smaller than this one, which is about 6"x8".  It was a little bit tricky to maneuver at times.  One of my favorite parts of this sleeve is the flannel print I used on for the lining-- black and white skeleton keys.  I didn't know what I wanted this fabric for when I bought it, but I love it and was so happy to use it!

The yellow buttons also make me happy.  Time-wise, this project took me a couple of hours, if you don't count unpicking time.  I am really pleased with the result, and I love that I can just toss it in my purse without worrying about hurting my Kindle.  Plus, I was able to use materials that I already had on-hand, so this cost me nothing!  If you are in the market for a protective sleeve, seriously check out the awesomely detailed tutorial that I used.

Linked up: Tatertots & Jello

A Windy Day- Kites Fabric

This colorful kite fabric is one of my most recent additions to my design library on Spoonflower.  It isn't for sale yet, since I haven't ordered a swatch yet, but I entered it in the Fabric of the Week contest last week.  I didn't make the top ten, but I was very, very close with my best finish so far- I came in lucky #13!

I am having a lot of fun learning about designing patterns, and I think I am getting a much better grasp of it.  I am very confident with designing the components of the pattern, but I still feel like I have more to learn about the overall flow of the design.  I just wish I had a little bit more time to work on my patterns.

I do have a really fun advent calendar that I have been working on over the last couple of weeks, which you'll get to see tomorrow.

Another Set of Swatches

Autumn Acorns

I love getting mail from Spoonflower!  This time around, I ordered a fat quarter of Autumn Acorns, a new test swatch of Firework Show, and an upholstery twill test of Pretty Birds (with the design scaled down to 2 inches square, 288 pixels/inch).

Firework Show

I'm not quite sure what to do with the acorns fabric.  It may have to stick around in my closet until next year.  It was fun to see what the upholstery twill is like with a design printed on it.  I can see a lot of potential for future projects there.

Pretty Birds

Note that in order to get the design this size, you will need to change the size of the design to 2 inches by 2 inches.

Shark School Fabric Swatch

I have had this test swatch of my Shark School fabric for a while.  I decided I ought to finally share how it looks printed!  I really like how it turned out.  I think it would make great fabric for a little boy's quilt, a fun shower curtain for a kids' bathroom, or a cute beach tote.  You can purchase it here on Spoonflower.

I am ordering a retest of my Firework Show fabric, and first test of my Pretty Birds and Autumn Acorns fabrics, so I'll share those when they arrive.

Autumn Acorns Fabric

I love autumn!  Which is why I couldn't resist designing an autumn-themed fabric for the weekly contest on Spoonflower.  The last couple of contests have had great themes.  This contest also had a restricted palette, but I got to choose all the colors, plus I had white as a freebie "color".  I feel like I am really getting the hang of this stuff, and I'm excited to start dreaming up some fun projects to make with custom fabric.  Maybe an upholstered armchair for the master bedroom?

Pretty Birds Fabric

This is my newest fabric design.  I entered it in the weekly fabric contest on Spoonflower, with a birds theme.  The colors were restricted to black, white, and the darker blue, plus another color of your choice.  I chose the lighter blue.

I have to say, this is my favorite design to date.  I did it all in Illustrator and was very pleased with the results.  I did do some sketching first, but I didn't scan the sketches in and trace them, I just used them as a reference.  I really think this may be the method that works best for me, and it wasn't nearly as time intensive as my shark fabric, although I still like that one, too.  Which reminds me, I got the test swatch of the sharks a few days ago.  I will have to post a picture of it later this week.

Shark School Fabric

 
Hey all!  I've been busy working on a lot of little projects lately, but none of them are completely finished yet, except for this.  This fabric is a design I created to enter in Spoonflower's weekly design contest.  The theme for this week was Sharks, and the contest opens for voting this Thursday.

I put a lot of time on this one, just ask my husband.  This time around, I tried a different method than I have used on previous designs, which is usually to do some sketches by hand and then use the sketches as inspiration for computer-only drawings.  I drew everything by hand first, then scanned the drawings and basically redrew them in Photoshop.  I had to pull out my drawing tablet for this one, and I got a lot better at using it.  I like the hand-drawn feel this design has, but I'm still not sure which way I prefer yet.

On my next design, whatever it may be, I will try doing the drawings by hand, then trace them in Illustrator and see how those turn out.

So here's where I ask you a question.  What kind of fabric designs would you like to see?