Memorable Shower Gift

Photos all trimmed

     I had a call a few weeks ago from a woman that wanted a special wallhanging as a gift for her son's shower.  She wanted to use nine photos of the couple as they were growing up to present day.  We spent several hours on the phone going over all the details of what she needed to get for me to be able to do this project.

Adding the side pieces

     After some false starts, we finally got everything together.  The photos were originally all going to be the same size so I was planning on just cutting sashing strips and a border and putting it all together.  When I got the pictures from her, they were all different sizes.  They were all printed on 8.5 x 11" sheets of fabric but some had more white than others.

All trimmed to a 12" square

     I didn't think that would make for a nice looking wallhanging so I trimmed them all to have just a quarter inch of white showing after applying the fabric.  I measured each one and then sewed on side pieces and trimmed to be 12" in width.  Then I added the top and bottom pieces and trimmed it to a 12" square.

Pinned and ready to quilt

     I then sewed them together in a 3 x 3 grid.  I cut backing and batting and pinned it all together.  I then stitched around each photo, about an eighth of an inch from the edge.

Quilting around the photos

     Then I trimmed it all up and it was ready for the binding.  I cut my binding strips 2.5" wide.  I pressed the strip in half and then matching the raw edges, I sewed it to the back side of the quilt.  I then brought it around to the front and stitched it down close to the fold of the binding.

Applying the binding

     The client had wanted me to make a loop of the fabric to hang it on the wall.  That wasn't going to work without some support in the top to keep it flat.  I opted instead to sew three small plastic rings to the back instead.  Now they just have to put 3 small nails in the wall and it will hang nice and flat.

Finished wallhanging

     The client did report back to me that the wallhanging was the hit of the shower.  I was so glad I could help her make this very special gift.

Ironman Pillow

A pillow for a friend doing Ironman this weekend

     A friend that I train with is doing Ironman Wisconsin in Madison this Sunday.  It is her first Ironman competition.  In case you don't know what this is, it consists of a 2.4 mile swim followed by a 114 mile bike and then a 26.2 mile run.  A long day and lots of training.

Stitching the front

     Most people I know, decide about a year out that they are going to do this race.  Once the holidays are over in December, training starts in earnest.  It is a long journey and setbacks occur.  I felt my friend could use a little encouragement for those bad days.

Lining marked

     I saw this great quote at Urban Threads, and felt it would be the perfect pick-me-up.  I had volunteered last year at this race and had a T-shirt from doing so.  I used this for her pillow.

Back cut, you can see the marks from using the template

     First I cut apart the shirt and applied stabilizer to the back.  I use Pellon's ShirTailor.  I then embroidered the saying on one piece and her name and the year on the other.  After doing the embroidery I used my pillow template from Rowley to cut lining and the shirt pieces to size.  I added just a regular dress zipper in the bottom.

Pillow back

     I'm hoping it helped to keep her going.  The best of luck to Susan and all my other friends from The Fitness Pursuit that are racing this weekend.

Banded Valances

Banded box pleat valance

     I had my designer come to me with a new project.  Her client wanted a simple valance for in her kitchen.  The client wanted to use the striped fabric that was elsewhere in the home but the decorator wanted to introduce some new fabric also.

corner detail

     We decided on a box pleat valance with contrasting pleats but also wanted to highlight the striped fabric a little more.  We decided on a flat band around the top of the valance.

Back of center pleat with band sewn in place

     I measured everything carefully and constructed the bottom part of the valance making sure to match the pattern at the corners and center front.  I folded in all the pleats and test fit it to the mounting board.  With the pleats all pinned in place, I sandwiched the pleated part between a band of lining and a band of the contrast fabric.  I sewed it all up and then turned in the side hems.

side hem

     Turning in the side hems was a little tricky due to the way I sewed on the band.  But with some pressing and adhesive it was all held in place nicely.  It then got stapled to the mounting board and the dust cover applied, carefully matching the stripes.  This also reduced the bulk when stapling to the board, always a nice thing.

Matched stripes on dust cover and band

     A simple but elegant looking valance incorporating two coordinating fabrics.  I love how it turned out.

Detail of corner before stapling on the board showing pattern match