My brother has two little boys, and when the first one was born, I knitted a blanket for him. He was born in late March, so I had plenty of time to knit this blanket. I am not the best knitter, so it took quite a while to finish. My second nephew was born in late June...right in the middle of crafty season (the picture above was taken when he was 5 days old...he was awake and ready to meet me!) I was busy making soap, lotions, etc., so knitting a blanket was not possible. Just not enough time to get it done, so I decided to make a quilt. This is not really a tutorial, but more of an inspiration for you to try something new. If I can do it...anyone can!

I have never made a quilt before, but I was determined to make a nice keepsake for my little nephew. I scoured the internet, and found some basic instructions. Traditionally, quilts are made with different squares of fabric pieced together. But, for my first try, I decided to keep things simple. I purchased 4 yards of a colorful fabric and another 1/2 yard for the trim, I also purchased some crib size quilt batting.

First I cut and measured the fabric and batting, then pinned them together (right sides facing each other.) I sewed them together and turned the fabric right side out. I passed a light iron over the whole thing to smooth out any wrinkles.

After I had everything assembled, and sewed up all edges, I used a fabric pencil and marked off 12" sections. I then ran the whole thing under the sewing machine to "create" the quilting. I must admit, the lines were very wonky, but not that noticeable.

Using a bias tape maker, I made a 2" trim for all 4 edges of the blanket. I pinned the trim in place, and sewed three of them in place.

Before sewing on the last piece of trim, I decided to embroider his name on it....just to personalize it a bit more.

Here it is....the finished quilt. I was able to give him the blanket when he was two weeks old. I was so proud of my efforts! Maybe with the next quilt, I will get a bit more fancy, and try to piece different squares together.

Until next time....happy crafting!

Nordea

nordeasoaperie

While looking for inspiration I scrolled through recent blog posts published by Etsy NY team members on their personal blogs, when this post by Tracey, one of our own contributors, caught my eye.

In her post Tracey shows us a number of different uses of bias tape like the panel trim on this little dress. Binding tape basically consists of strips of fabric that are sewn together until they are long enough to go around the item you want to decorate. There are two types of binding tape:

Bias tape where the fabric is cut at a 45 degree angle to the grain of the fabric resulting in a stronger binding that easily adjusts to curves; and
Straight-grain-cut binding where the binding is cut parallel to the grain resulting in a less durable binding that is, however, easier to cut and handle than bias tape

Making your own binding is pretty easy especially when you have one of these handy bias tape makers that look like this:

This is my 1/2″ tape maker.

You cut up your fabric to the requisite width, feed it through the tape maker and it comes out perfectly folded on the other side. You then fold the tape in half and iron it flat. I used this tape to decorate an upcycled cardigan

and a cashmere throw

Amy Karol still has the best and funniest instructions on how to sew on bias tape. Check out her video here:

So, what will you do with your fabric strips?

Simone

groundsel.etsy.com