Pretty Tissue Cover

Another easy gift 'I've made for my Paducah girls – a fabric tissue cover that can be carried in a purse or bag.  This was such an easy gift to make and I used the same fabrics that I used for the eyeglass   cases.  I got the pattern from this website, Stamp, Stitch, Swizzle Sticks  I made my tissue cover/case pretty much like the directions on that site with a few chages.Cut one backing piece 4” x 5 3/4”, cut 2 pieces the same size (4” x 5 3/4”) and press in half with wrong sides together,  Cut 2 pieces of the same or contrasting fabric that are 4”x4” and press in half wrong sides together.Lay out the 4 folded pieces of fabric like the photo above.  The folded edges are placed towards the center.  This configuration reminds me of when you are trying to close a box with flaps where parts of each flap are tucked under the one of another.Lay this piece on the backing fabric piece with the right side of the backing facing the overlapped pieces.  Stitch with a 1/4” seam around the 4 sides and I rounded the corners a bit so when it is turned right side out there will not be a lot of bulk in the corners.  After stitching the seam I zig zagged around the edge to keep it from raveling as it is used.  You could also serge this seam to prevent raveling.

The last step is to turn it right side out, pushing the corners out and fill with folded tissues or one of the small packages of tissues.  Here all 6 of the tissue covers that can be carried in your bag and look pretty too.  I am not kidding these are super easy and fast to make.  Even kids could make them, they are that easy.  Rounding the corners makes them turn so much easier than the square corners and all 4 corners look the same this way too.

When you read this I will be enjoying myself in Paducah – am hoping it is warm so I can finally wear my spring clothes. 

Until Later,
Lynn

Fabric Eyeglass Cases

This was a really quick to make eyeglass case.  I made them for my whole Paducah group – 2 sisters, niece, and 2 friends, plus one for myself so made 6 total.  I found the pattern on this website (Wranglers and Ribbons.)  I followed the directions from the website that had lots of photos to help explain .
These are easy to make with just one little bit of a  tricky part.   Here are my photos of the construction and my comments on how I made them.Cut three pieces for each eyeglass case using the pattern from this webpage (About.com)  One fabric for the outside of the eyeglass case, one for the lining and a piece of thin batting.  Make sure you flip the pattern to get two pieces that will fit together when stitched.  It doesn’t matter if they are the opposite as the opening will slant down the opposite way.  I purchased this dogwood fabric last year at Paducah so is the perfect choice.Layer the three pieces with the bottom layer being the batting, outside fabric face up  is next and the lining piece facing down onto the top of the stack.Stitch 3 sides with a 1/4” seam starting at the flat bottom, up the side, across the curved top and down the other straight side.  Backstitch at both ends.  Trim the seam to approximately 1/8”. Now this next part is the tricky part.  Push the seam from the short side over to the other seam on the long side.  Push the two seams tightly together.Fold it flat and pin through all the layers including the pushed in seam.  Stitch approximately 1/8” deeper seam from the top to the bottom, backstitching the start and ending of the seam.  Make sure you are catching the seam you pushed to the inside.Trust me this will work, even though it is confusing right now.Clip the top corner at an angle to help reduce the bulk before turning .Grab the lining fabric and turn the entire piece inside out using a sharp point to push out the top corner.

 

Smooth out the open bottom and pin closed.  Make sure there are no pleats in the two fabrics or batting before you stitch across the bottom with a 1/4” seam, backstitching at each end of the seam.  Clip the corners to reduce bulk then zig zag the edge to prevent it from raveling as this seam will be exposed on the bottom inside of the case when it is used.

Turn the entire sunglasses case right side out pushing out the corners.  They won’t make an exact square corner because there is so much bulk there but do the best you can.TA Da – all done..  Isn’t that sort of magic the way the seams connect with lining and the top fabric all at one time!  Here are all the cases, each a little different from the one next to it but all similar.  The reason some are open from the opposite side is the way the pieces were cut.  Must have laid the pattern down on the fabric on some of them one way and some the other way.  Doesn’t matter at all though.Am excited to present these so have had to keep this a secret and not post about them until now as we left for Paducah today for another fun filled trip.

Lynn

Machine Quilting With Mettler Metrosene Thread

Today I am showing you an example of another general purpose thread you might have purchased for sewing clothing.  It is Mettler Metrosene Plus, a 100% polyester thread.  It is marked 100/3 so am assuming it is 100 wt. or that might be a texture number and that it is a 3 ply thread.  It feels like a medium to light thread and doesn't have much lint.  It comes in many, many colors so getting one to match a quilting project would not be hard.I feel like a broken record here – stitched on Bernina 730 (old model not the brand new one) with BSR – stitch length 2.0 (Bernina Stitch Regulator).  Bottom Line thread from Superior Threads was used in the bobbin  plus the information on the type of batting is missing.  Another of those unlabeled scraps but think it is some sort of cotton batting by the way it feels.

For this sample I used a size 14 Quilting needle and had to adjust the tension a bit up to 4.5. 

This thread stitched out nicely and shows some backtracking but it doesn’t look too heavy and the color of thread would make a difference on the density of the backtracking too. 

Not much more I can say about this sample but I would not hesitate to use this thread again for quilting purposes. 

Lynn

Machine Quilting with Gutermann Polyester Thread

Today’s post is Quilting With Gutermann Polyester Thread.  This is just a general purpose thread that I am sure I purchased to stitch up some clothing and has been stored away waiting to be used again.   This is a 100% Polyester thread and from what I can figure out from the website it is 100 texture which is not the same as weight so can't give you that.  I have not found the ply on the website but from unwinding it I believe it is 2 ply.  This information would be nice to know so that is an improvement that Gutermann could make to it's labeling and to the website. This thread is described as a general purpose sew-all thread.I used Bottom Line by Superior Threads in the bobbin like I have in all the samples I have made.  This Gutermann Poly thread had very little lint and stitched pretty well.  I used a #14 quilting needle and had to adjust the top tension a bit to tighten it some.  Again I used my Bernina 730 (not the newest model) and my BSR foot (Bernina Stitch Regulator) with a stitch length of 2.0.

I don’t know what the batting on this sample was but it looks like some sort of cotton.  Again one of the unmarked scraps in the scrap bag.  I must remember to tag or label my leftovers from now on.

I had never thought about using some of the spools I had stored away from clothing sewing for machine quilting before and found that they do work well for quilting too.  Now that about any thread can be used for quilting it is fun to think I can use up a lot of these threads and they come in so many colors too.

This thread quilted pretty nicely through the layers and didn’t leave real heavy lines where I backtracked.  It stitched out pretty well but it did take a lot of tweaking of the tension which could be due to several factors – batting and pairing it with a thread different than itself for the bobbin.

I would not hesitate to use this thread again for quilting so if you have spools left from other sewing projects just go ahead and give them a try on a quilting project and see what you think about it for this purpose. 

Lynn