Category Archives: Hand Crafts

Fabric Friday – Scraps

For Fabric Friday this week, I want to talk about one of my favorite kinds of fabrics… Scraps! Scraps come in all shapes and sizes. They are they leftovers, consider tossable by many that sew, scraps are my preferred palate for many projects, including paper piecing and a fun technique I’ve been enjoying lately passed on my by friend Osie and the book, It’s A Wrap.

Purple scraps became a gorgeous tote that I made for my best friend, Jewells’, birthday.

Many of these fabrics were purples used in the quilt I made for a previous birthday gift for Jewells.

Another type of scrap I’ve become increasingly fond of is selvage. Selvage has been turned into all kinds of things and there’s a whole blog dedicated to it! I saved mine up, with the help of my quilty friends, and made a bowl.

So, for Fabric Friday, rethink your scraps…there is treasure lurking in there, if only you’re willing to look for it!

See photos from the It’s A Wrap class I taught this week!

Happy crafting!

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SEWHOOKED SHOP |SCHEDULE | SEWHOOKED FB
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Fabulous Fanciful Fairies

Wand Weirdos, I mean Wielders

Way Back Craft: Knitting Bag

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The friend’s daughter that I made this for is a teenager now, so wow, it’s been a while! I’ve made several of these bags since, but have never created a pattern. It’s my favorite go-to tote bag style!

I have no idea if she still enjoys knitting. I’ll have to ask her mom!

original post, September 30, 2007:

Hot off the sewing machine for my friend’s daughter! She’ll be 11 next month and is a brand new knitter. She told her mom she’d like a knitting bag and I jumped on the chance to make something special for her.

I didn’t have a pattern, just dimensions and sketches I did before starting my project.

Made with denim for the outside. The purple fabric is something I had in my stash. I’m not sure what it’s made of, but it’s pretty heavy and feels like it could be upholstery fabric. I used some unattractive corduroy in place of interfacing.

The straps are made as one continuous piece, like a big loop. They hold the pocket down. The pocket was sewn top and bottom, right sides together then turned. It goes all the way around, but I sewed stop lines just above the fold line for the bottom. 2 pockets on the inside, too.

I’m really pleased with the finish product. I may have to make another one!

I made the buttons for her too. They’re various manga characters she likes, as well as a personalized and knitting button.

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SEWHOOKED SHOP |SCHEDULE | SEWHOOKED FB
JEN FACEBOOK | TWITTER | FLICKR GROUP

TTMT 78 – Faerie Tale

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Grab a cup of coffee and have a seat. I have a short story to tell combined with some very long overdue Show & Tell.

Sunbonnet Sue’s Magical Friends (set 1) – Monster Madness
Rock Creek Quilts
Shae’s Random Musings
Cat’s Etsy

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SEWHOOKED SHOP |SCHEDULE | SEWHOOKED FB
JEN FACEBOOK | TWITTER | FLICKR GROUP

Carpool Dishcloth

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printable pattern

Recently, I’ve been working on dishcloths for a dishcloth swap among my friends on Livejournal. While digging through my patterns, I found a scrap of paper from around 2000 that had instructions I’d scribbled for a dishcloth.

Once I worked the pattern up, I realized it’s not just a dishcloth, but one of the favorites I’ve been using in my kitchen for years!

I’m naming this easy-peasy project “Carpool Dishcloth” because I can make one in it’s entirety as I wait for my two kids at their two different schools. I sit in my car with my windows down and crochet while I wait. If you follow me on twitter, you probably have seen my carpool craft photos!

Made using Peaches and Creme cotton yarn – the pink/black/white dishcloth is Black Cherry, the other colorway is Sunflower.

Carpool Dishcloth

Size H Hook

worsted cotton yarn

ch 36

Row 1: sc in 2nd ch fr hook; ch 1, sk 1, [sc in next ch, ch1, sk 1, sc in next ch] [across]

Row 2: ch 1 turn, sc in 2nd ch fr hook; ch 1, sk 1 [sc in next ch, ch 1, sk 1, sc in next ch] [across].

Repeat row 2 for pattern until dishcloth is approximately square.

To add a border, continue the pattern around, making a sc, ch 1 sc in each corner and making sure to skip rows as you work down the sides, work pattern in the back side of sc on the foundation row and up the other side. Finish off.

Happy crocheting!

Add your Sewhooked-related photos to my flickr group and you might be featured in a future post!

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Like A Grindylow Needs Water

Fabric Friday

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I’m using a tiny bit of this in my current project. It’s almost gone and I wish I had about a zillion yards of it. It’s so perfect for so many projects!

It’s Bigger On The Inside

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Free TARDIS paper pieced pattern, designed by me
and tested (as shown) by the ever awesome Shae.

Oh, fandom quilting, how do I love thee?

Bigger on the inside, that’s how!

In a fit of I Am A Fan, I made this a highly detailed TARDIS. I designed this pattern to be a 6″ block, but I would recommend enlarging it even bigger to work on, just for sanity’s sake. Shae made her’s 6″ and it worked out beautifully.

TARDIS Pattern

Why is the pattern purple? No idea. I drafted it back in May of 2009 and then it got lost amongst my files. When I unearthed it a couple of weeks ago, I realized it just needed numbering and separating. My guess is I had some really good wine and thought the purple was blue…

Need more Doctor Who?

How about a Dalek quilt block?

Sample pieced by Stephanie T

Or a fandom tee?

More hardcore fan, you say?

Tardis Door Mural

Need even more DW? Check out crafty_tardis on Livejournal and the Doctor Who crafts flickr group.

Happy crafting!

Add your Sewhooked-related photos to my flickr group and you might be featured in a future post.

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Electric Amish

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Electric Amish, 55″ x 73″

Some days are better than others. The day I finish a big project is always a good day!

I pieced this top in early 2006. Then, in a moment of complete insanity, I decided to hand quilt it.

I’d only been quilting a couple of years and I thought, for reasons I can’t even explain myself, that I needed to hand quilt a project in order to be considered a “real quilter.” Do I believe that now? Absolutely not.

Had I ever hand quilted anything? No, no I had not. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, what kind of thread to use, needles, anything. I just jumped in with both feet and started stitching.

I picked up and packed away this project more times than I care to mention. Dozens of other projects (mostly paper pieced!) were completed while this one waited patiently in its big red bag. To put it in perspective, I lost a pair of glasses for a whole year because I accidentally put them away with this quilt. It’s been on vacation to New Mexico to visit my BFF, sat with me through many movies, lots of sci-fi and true crime shows. It collected cat hair sitting on the arm of my chair.

The pattern came from an old magazine that I still have floating around somewhere. It’s a Storm At Sea pattern, set on point. I had never made a quilt this complicated at the time and had no idea what “on point” really meant. Part of that experience was chopping off half the blocks all the way around. If I remember correctly, I almost had a panic attack when I made the first cut.

I kept all those cut blocks. Earlier this year, I turned them into a small quilt for The Linus Connection, which I dubbed Baby Storm. Finishing that quilt gave me the impetus I needed to get this project out again and get it finished! If you’ve been following for a while, you might remember this was on my UFO Round Up for 2010.

One of the most special things about this quilt for me is what it represents. All bright and batik fabrics were gifts to me from my Bee friends. I pieced this top on my very first quilt retreat with those same ladies. It’s my first hand quilting project and my first big project that made for myself start to finish. 4+ years (really, almost 5!) and it’s done. I could not be happier.

Electric Amish was named by my friend Linda when I first started piecing it. Linda, do you remember?!

Tackett, helping me quilt (obviously!)