Karin Jordan Studio

What are you doing for Selfish Sewing Week?

 

 

I was psyched when I heard about Selfish Sewing Week, a great idea conjured up by Imagine Gnats and Made with Moxie. At first, I was at a loss about where to start; I don't make clothes for myself, and things for the house are just that — for the house. Annabel and Colton are always sources of inspiration, and I love making things for them. They're doing pretty well with 'made with love by mom' stuff. So. What am I up to?

 

First Selfish Sewing move: Order fabric. Sunnyside by Kate Spain for Moda is on sale at Vintage Fairytale (mine!).

Then on to Robert Kaufman's solids for 2013 (sold!).

The Summer Salad Blogger Bundle from Pink Castle Fabrics is gorgeous (yes, please!).

I also found a few random things at the Pink Castle Fabrics Skinny Bolt Sale...

The last thing I added was In from the Cold by Kate Spain for Moda, because Christmas is inevitably creeping up on us as usual, and I'm lacking red and green.

Second Selfish Sewing move: Sign up for online sewing classes and take them. Creativebug is having a September sale: For just $9.99 a month you can take as many classes as you want (sure!). You can lock the rate in and keep going at that price per month. I just finished Quilt Making 101: Patchwork by Liza Lucy and Quilt Sandwich by Sue Nickels. It was great to brush up on some things I already knew, and see firsthand how an experienced quilter does Y-seams, for example. Next up? Mod Stripes Quilt Top by Heather Jones and Flying Gosling Baby Quilt by Anna Maria Horner. Oh, and I think Heather Jones has a new Jelly Roll quilt workshop. I'm also planning on a Craftsy class or two. I'm loving the way you can stop and start as need be. Have five minutes and don't feel like unloading the diswasher (no problem!). It's amazing that taking the time to learn something new and exciting can feel selfish, but the kids are clean and fed and not swinging from the ceiling fans, so why not?

Third Selfish Sewing move: Learn how to use new Sizzix Big Shot Pro to cut 2 1/2" squares for my first official quilt! Okay, so it's not entirely selfish as Annabel will be four next week, and she's getting an A.m.e.r.i.c.a.n. G.i.r.l d.o.l.l. (shhh!). So my first quilt is a doll quilt. Cat's out of the bag. Actually, cat's on the quilt pieces that are arranged on the floor. Good thing I took a picture so I could put them back in place. What is it with cats and fabric?

I'd come up with a fourth Selfish Sewing move, but I'm going to have a glass of pinot noir and start my third Creativebug class instead because that's selfish. One could get used to this; I'll keep you posted.

xo Karin

PS - I realize I haven't actually sewn anything yet, but it is only Friday, and I've learned a lot!

 

        

 

Wonky Triangle Pattern Release by Owen's Olivia + Fabric & Pattern Giveaways!

I am in love with paper piecing and triangles after pattern testing this for Nancy from the super cool blog Owen's Olivia. She has created this wonderful pattern of 'wonky' triangles in three sizes. They can be used to create pillows, bags, quilts or anything you'd like. I repeated and reversed the medium-size pattern (easy to do on vellum!) and made this 20 x 20" pillow. I chose five fabrics from Jenean Morrison's Beechwood Park line for Free Spirit, and Robert Kaufman's Essex with Aurifil 50. 

The pattern is  available on Craftsy and Etsy for $1.99!  

To celebrate the release of Wonky Triangles, there are giveaways galore! The best part? There will be TWENTY winners! Cool.

Here's what you can win:

Fat Quarter Shop: A $20 gift certificate

Maze & Vale: An extra large Sample Pack valued at $30

Poppyseed Fabrics: A large 2 lb. bag with great fabrics - approx 8 yards valued at $50

Tactile Fabrics: 10 fat quarters from the Zen Chic's Barcelona collection

Mina Prints: A beautiful scrap pack bundle & two panels of her hand printed fabrics

All 20 winners will receive the pattern from Owen's Olivia!

CLICK HERE TO GO TO OWEN'S OLIVIA TO ENTER AND WIN!!!

Giveaways will close October 3rd at 11:59 PM EST. International entries are okay!

Look who snuck into the photo as I was finishing up. The other day I tweeted that I'd subconsciously started to choose clothes that match the projects I'm working on. I guess Annabel is now doing it, too!

Congrats to Nancy for designing and releasing her first paper pieced pattern. Who knows, maybe triangles will be the new hexagons!

xo Karin

PS - I recently started a new Pinterest board called "Quilts" (needs a more catchy title, yes?). I've separated it from sewing and have been pinning modern and patchwork quilts like a madwoman. Check it out when you need some color and fabric eye candy!

        

 

And the 1, 2, 3, Quilt Giveaway Winner is. . .

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway for 1, 2, 3 Quilt by Ellen Luckett Baker. The lucky duck chosen by Rafflecopter is entry #121, Emily Thompson of Sew E. T! Be sure to check out her blog; it's pretty cool. 

Emily, I'll be in touch via email.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

xo Karin

        

 

Hot Pads / Oven Mitts: a Tutorial for Sew Mama Sew

I created this tutorial for Sew Mama Sew. It involves three of my favorite things: patchwork, embroidery and Zakka style. When we moved last summer, we chose to use the dining room table that doesn't have a pad to use under tablecloths. I'd been using funny-looking squirrel and nut hot pads on the table and wanted to make something more suitable and fun (not that squirrels aren't amusing!). With a back pocket, these hot pads double as oven mitts. They were inspired by Colton, who says, "Hot Hot Hot" at dinner when the food hasn't cooled down yet. For the full photo tutorial and materials list please visit the Sew Mama Sew post here. 

I had a great time designing and making these. It was interesting making two identical pieces; that rarely happens in my studio. Many thanks to Sew Mama Sew for having me!

I've extended the giveaway for 1, 2, 3 Quilt by Ellen Luckett Baker; it ends September 20th at 8:00 pm EST. Click here to enter!

xo Karin

PS - And there's a HUGE sale going on at Craftsy through the 21st. Click here to sign up: Craftsy Sale: Up to 75% Off All Courses, Fabric and Yarn! They're celebrating quite an achievement — two million members! Mind-boggling. I honestly can't decide what to take first. 

        

 

Body Pillow with the Let's Pretend 'Make Believe' Panel

I finished the body pillow for Annabel over the weekend in my newly cleaned studio. You may remember the pile of fabric from my fall cleaning post the other day. The moment Sarah Jane Studios announced the 'Let's Pretend' fabric line, I knew what I wanted to do with the 'Make Believe' panel. Using the tutorial I wrote for Colton's personalized body pillow, it didn't take much time. 

It can be nervewracking following one of my own tutorials. I worry I'm going to run into a major boo boo in the pattern or measurements and realize that everyone has been too kind to point it out! In this case I had to make a few adjustments to the pattern; I had a 38" panel and the pattern calls for 42". I'm happy with how it turned out (and that I didn't need to make any edits to the pattern!).

There's a great tutorial here on the Sarah Jane Studios blog on making a standard-size pillow sham with the same panel I used. You can't help but smile at it! I used part of the fabric to make this journal cover, too.

xo Karin

PS - I can't believe it, but it took a total of TEN hours to put the flat file together. It's a beast, but I looooove it. It's as though it was built for the space. Ten hours and a few minor scrapes later, we were all super happy to recycle the huge instruction packet!  

        

 

Cooking with Kids: Pillsbury Grands! Biscuit Mini Pizzas

Meals on school nights can be difficult; daddy sometimes gets home late and the hour before we sit down to eat is often stressful. The kids run crazy laps around the house while I try to make dinner. Annabel and Colton are at their best then they're being good helpers. In the spirit of, "if you can't beat 'em join 'em," I let them participate in food preparation whenever possible. We all love pizza. We use Pillsbury Grands! refrigerated biscuits to make mini pizzas. There's always a can in the fridge so any night can be pizza night. 

Annabel helps me flatten the eight precut biscuits into 6" pizzas. On the pan liner, we spoon on the pizza sauce, mozzarella and toppings — in this case pepperoni. You can download the recipe here. We also make veggie pizzas with whatever is in the fridge — favorites are red peppers, olives and I sometimes sneak in a few mushrooms. There's also a recipe booklet of other things you can make with Pillsbury Grands! Biscuits. It includes recipes for chicken pot pies, taco melts and other quick and yummy meals. These pizzas take only a half an hour from start to finish.

The best part is that if they help make it, they're more excited to eat it. There's usually a bit more mess to clean up, but it's better than them jumping on the couch while I'm cooking!

xo Karin

        

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective. The content and opinions expressed here are all my own and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of General Mills. Compensation was provided by General Mills via Clever Girls Collective.

Fall Cleaning for Physical (and Mental) Spaces

It's been an odd couple of weeks. I've finished a few projects, but I've also been in cleaning, organizing and planning mode. Maybe it's due to the start of school, or the change in weather, but I've felt the need to get ready. Ready for what? I'm not exactly sure, but slowing down and getting my ducks in a row the past few weeks has renewed my excitement and given me energy for upcoming projects and ideas. For a while there I was worried I was headed into a bear-like hibernation for winter. Okay, it was more fear than worry. 

My studio got messy over the summer — piles here, there and everywhere. Patterns strewn about, fabric in disarray, heaps of embroidery floss unhappily taking up desk space. Every day this week, I've taken time to clean, straighten, de-clutter, organize, file and throw out a crazy amount of stuff. I consolidated bins. I wound embroidery floss around paper bobbins, and now they're cute in their little boxes. I filed my patterns in binders with plastic sleeves. There are three binders — one has purchased patterns, one has free patterns and the third has my designs. 

I looked at the studio tour that was on the blog over the summer and was horrified by the clutter. And it was on DwellingGawker. I packed random things up, and they're now in the basement or packed away in these suitcases. There are fewer baskets on the floor — no piles, no disarray. I'm ready. 

 

 

Stacks of newly purchased fabric are eager to be attended to. Needles are sharp. Rotary cutters have new blades. There's room for the Sizzix Big Shot Pro that my husband encouraged me to buy, possibly because I tend to swear at my rulers, but more likely because he's a nice, supportive guy. And Overstock.com had a really good deal. 

In addition to all the cleaning, I've been reading — actually reading, and more than one sentence at a time. I'm enjoying books that don't even rhyme or have a catchy verse. Yes, they have pictures, and I'm greedily eyeing them all up.

I still need to finish putting the flat file together that was a birthday present (in February), but the light box on a stack of cardboard boxes isn't bothering me at the moment. The best part about all this? I'm now excited about fall. I'm ready to design and make things, and let the studio turn into a wonderfully creative mess. Six sewing projects are lined up on top of this cabinet!

Colton's fortune cookie yesterday summed it up: "Before the beginning of great brilliance, there must be chaos." Definitely applies to a two-year-old boy, don't you think?

Oh, and don't forget to enter my giveaway for 1, 2, 3 Quilt here!

xo Karin

        

 

Book Giveaway: 1, 2, 3 Quilt by Ellen Luckett Baker

Hi and thanks for visiting (or revisiting)! I'm excited to host another book giveaway. 1, 2, 3 Quilt by Ellen Luckett Baker recently arrived on my doorstep. To celebrate my joining the Seacoast Modern Quilt Guild (woot!), I'm giving a copy away to one lucky duck. 

This book is different in that it's spiral bound and organized by shape! If you're hexie-crazy, go to that section. If you're feeling square, that's okay too — there's a chapter for that. I have a thing for circles.

What I especially like about this book is that it's about quilts and quilting but it's also about quilted objects that are great primers for anyone who has threatened to make a quilt but needs smaller projects along the way. A coaster is certainly manageable, for example. A turtle with a patchwork of hexagons on the back? Check. His name is Hexie, in case you were wondering. 

For this giveaway I'm using Rafflecopter; it's easier for me and allows you to have multiple entries!

This giveaway will be open for an entire week; comments and entries will close at 8:00 pm EST on Friday, September 20th. 

Click here to enter! 

Did I mention there's an envelope full of patterns on the inside front cover? 

Good luck!!!

xo Karin

PS - If you're new here, please poke around to see what Leigh Laurel Studios is all about! I have quite a few free sewing and embroidery patterns and tutorials, as well as ideas for crafts with kids. 

Here are a few of my favorites:

 

Embroidered Pillow Child's Family Portrait

Monogrammed Felt Needle Book

Embroidered & Appliquéd Fish Pillow

Super Simple Hand Towels

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

        

 

Duck Embroidery Pattern & Mini Pillow Tutorial

I've turned another one of my sketches into an embroidery pattern! Each one of these little pillows has used a slightly different technique. So far, I've had the most fun with this one; I switched from appliqué to filling in the embroidery with colored pencil. Fabric paint would also work, and is preferable if you want to wash the finished piece.

You will need:

-Download and print this pdf
-5 1/2 x 5 1/2" squares of plain linen or other fabric (cut 2). I cut it after I did the embroidery.
-Embroidery thread; (I used DMC colors 517, 720, 726, 762)
-Yellow and orange colored pencils
-Stuffing

Optional supplies:
-Sulky Fabri-Solvy Stabilizer (or you can transfer design directly onto fabric). You can print directly onto the stablilzer, but I tend to trace small designs by hand so as not to waste it. I save even the smallest scraps.

 

Step 1: Trace the embroidery pattern onto the Sulky Fabri-Solvy or directly onto the linen. 

Step 2: If using the stabilizer, peel off the backing and adhere the duck to the linen, leaving enough room for an embroidery hoop and keeping in mind that the piece will be cut to a 5 1/2" square. 

Step 3: Using a backstitch, embroider the duck. There are two tiny French knots on the beak. When the embroidery is complete, wash the stabilizer off carefully with cold water. Allow to dry.  

Step 4: Lightly color in the duck with colored pencils. I've been happily using the same Berol Prismacolor colored pencils since college.

Step 5: Center the duck and cut a 5 1/2" square. Cut a plain 5 1/2" square for the back. With right sides facing, sew around the square leaving a 1/2" seam allowance. Be sure to leave a 2 - 3" opening on the bottom. Clip the corners.

Step 6: Turn, press and stuff. Use a ladder stitch to close the opening. Finished size is 4 1/2 x 4 1/2".

There is now a duck, a pig, a dog and a tree. For the pig pattern, see this post. The dog can be found here and the tree here. I've included the strip of grass on the duck pattern in case you'd like to continue with green lawn instead of (or in addition to) the scarf.

QUACK!

xo Karin

P.S. If you're from Oregon or are a U of O fan, GO DUCKS!!!

        

 

Tutorial: Hand Printed Coffee Cup Sleeve

For ages, I've been pondering those disposable mug holders you get when you buy a cup of coffee, feeling bad about the waste. When Annabel was younger and we traveled a lot, I'd take them off the cups from our early-morning flights and turn them into superhero-style bracelets we could easily decorate with washable markers on the airplane. My favorite things to craft combine two methods, in this case hand printing and sewing. If you'd rather embroider the mug holder, there are many possibilities. Patchwork would be fun, too!

For this project you will need:

2 fabric scraps, washed and ironed
Fabric paint in grass green. I mixed a bit of yellow into the green I had.
Freezer paper
Sharp X-Acto knife
Self-healing cutting mat
Small foam paintbrush
 4" of thin elastic or a hair elastic
Button 
Thermal lining. I use Insul-bright; you can also use fusible fleece. 
This downloable pdf

Step 1: Print the template on a piece of 8 1/2 x 11" freezer paper, making sure to leave the shiny side blank. Print a second template on a piece of plain paper. 

Step 2: Take the template on the plain paper and cut it out along the dotted line. Set aside. With the X-Acto knife, cut the grass design out of the freezer paper. I cut further down than the solid line so that the green section would go into the seam.

Step 3: Place the freezer paper (shiny side down) on a plain piece of fabric, in this case linen. Press to adhere. 

Step 4: Using the foam brush, paint the grass design onto the fabric. You will want to put the fabric on a piece of plastic (I used a plastic bag) because the paint will likely bleed through. Allow to dry thoroughly. Remove freezer paper. Note: Check manufacturer's instructions; some recommend ironing the dried paint to set before washing.

Step 5: With the paper template, cut out the two pieces of fabric, making sure to flip the template before you cut the second piece. 

Step 6: Trim the paper template along the solid line. Trace the pattern onto the thermal lining. Cut the thermal lining slightly smaller than the pattern (this will ensure that it will fit inside the fabric without bunching.  

Step 7: Place and pin the thermal lining on top of the wrong side of the backing fabric. I basted it to keep it in place, leaving the knots outside the fabric so I could pull it out later. If you have fusible fleece, basting is not necessary. 

Step 8: Remove the pins and leave the basting. Right sides facing, pin the two fabric pieces together. The thermal lining will be on the bottom of the three layers. Turn the pile so the thermal lining is face up. Stitch around the thermal lining so that you sew the two fabric pieces together without catching the lining. Be sure to sew around only three sides; leave the end with the curve unsewn.

Step 9: Carefully turn the piece right side out. The basted lining will be a bit awkward, but if you go slowly it'll be fine! Press flat. (Note: In this photo, I left the opening on the straight side. If I were to make another one, I'd leave the curved side open as directed in step 8.)

Step 10: Fold the elastic in half and tie string around it so that you create a loop. Insert the loop into the open end of the holder. Pin into place. 

Step 11: Topstitch around the edge, making sure to start and stop with a few backstitches on the elastic. Sew slowly as you're sewing through three layers.

Step 12: Sew the button roughly 1 1/2" in from the edge. You might want to try it out on a coffee cup to be certain you're getting the placement you want. Don't make it overly tight but the elastic should fit comfortably around the button to hold it firmly on without tugging too much. 

I know it's fall, and I chose a green grass pattern for this project, but I'm hoping a bit of green will be cheery through winter!

Enjoy switching from iced coffee to hot!

xo Karin