Super Quick Pillow Sham Tutorial

You can make this pillow sham in an hour or less.  How long it takes depends on how much time you spend  centering the pattern or matching stripes from front to back.  The sewing is quick and easy!

You will need:

48 inches of fabric (if a solid)

For patterned fabric allow extra fabric to match the design front to back (especially plaids) or to allow you to play with the placement of the pattern on your sham.  It is always nice to center the largest part of the design in the center of the sham.  If your fabric is really expensive, I would use it only for the front and use a coordinating, less expensive fabric for the back.

Coordinating thread for topstitching the sham 

Cut your fabric:

                1 rectangle 30 ½ by 24 for the front

                1 rectangle 14 ½ by 24 for the smaller back flap

                1 rectangle 23 by 24 for the other back flap

1.      Determine the inside edges of your flaps by laying your two back flaps side by side (matching the 24 inch sides) with both patterns laying in the same direction.  Put a pin in each of the two sides that are touching.  These are now your inside edges.

        Finish the inside edge of the back flaps with a double folded hem – approx. ¼ and another  ¼  inch. I just eyeball it.

2.       Lay the sham front right side up.  Lay the larger back flap right side down matching the raw edge to the outside edge of the front piece.

3.       Lay the smaller back flap right side down matching the raw edge to the outside edge of the pillow front and overlapping the inside edge of the other flap.

4.       Pin around the entire perimeter of the pillow sham.  Sew a ½ inch seam all the way around.

5.       Turn right side out.  Press. 

6.   Topstitch 2 ¼ inches from the edge all the way around the sham.  Make sure you backstitch over the edges of the flaps to reinforce those seams as you work your way around the pillow sham. 

7.       Stuff with a standard sized pillow. (I used a Laura Ashley pillow from Tuesday Morning in the example - great place to buy pillows.)   It looks a little tight now but the pillows are brand new and I bought really puffy ones.  Shortly they will look just right.

I made two of these shams for my mother's guest room.  It is amazing what a difference they make!

Cheap vs. Thrifty: Cleaning Services

Being sick in bed gives you a new perspective on dust.  I spent Wednesday either in bed or on the couch and I saw different surfaces I don’t usually see during the day.  Sunlight has an amazing way of highlighting dust – and cat hair.  So while I was lying there observing the dust that sparkled in the sunlight, I contemplated once again about my motives for not having a cleaning service. 

The main reason I give my husband is that I don’t like to manage the cleaner(s).  It was a consistent pattern to have them start off like gangbusters and do a really great job.  Then each week they stayed a few minutes less and did a little less until they were cleaning my house in an hour and a half (and charging me for 4) and I really couldn’t tell the house was cleaner.  Finally I would get frustrated and let them go because I could do what they were doing for free so why pay for it? 

Managing other people requires confrontation when the job they do starts going south and I am  just not good at it.  I become friends with them and chat while we work.  Yes, I said we because another problem I have is sitting around while someone else is working.  I tried reading magazines once while they worked but that felt terribly wrong.  There have been two people that always did a wonderful job but they quit to go to college or change careers. (I know what you are thinking, but we were friends and they really did go to college and did change careers.)

So, another option is that I am cheap vs. being thrifty.  I have been accused of this before so this is not a new revelation but one I need to look at a little closer.  A friend of mine from Brazil once told me that even cleaning people in Brazil have other people clean their houses.  She said that it is impossible to clean your own house efficiently because there are too many distractions and being a tad ADD I can appreciate the distraction part.  FLYLADY is a cleaning program designed for perfectionists and easily distracted adults.    But like any self-help program we slowly think we can handle it on our own or get busy with an all-consuming project like costuming a show and Flylady goes right out the window.

Once my house was the cleanest it has ever been and it was totally free!  A good friend moved across town so we decided that we would get together every Tuesday and visit while we cleaned together.  We had only one rule and that was that we never cleaned each other’s bathrooms.  I was doing Flylady at the time and my house was getting better every week.   My husband was in heaven!  But it started to get harder and harder for both of us to schedule the trips across town.  Sick children, school commitments, her part time job, it just fell apart.  We are still very good friends, we just get together for a glass of wine instead of Windex and paper towels!

I still do not have an answer to my dilemma.  Should I hire a cleaning service or light a new fire under myself with Flylady and renew my resolve to keep up with the house?  I don’t have an answer today but I do know that since I am feeling better, I am tackling a few dust bunnies while I ponder this some more.

Bargain or No Bargain?

When you need a Gryffindor Harry Potter tie the day of the party, where do you go?  Goodwill?  Well think again.  The day before Halloween was a madhouse.  Our Goodwill had the emptiest racks I have ever seen!  There were only 6 ties left in the store and none of them were an option.  My daughter and I decided to look for anything we could make into a tie and I came across a bag of “yarn” at Goodwill. 

The yarn looks more like ribbon than yarn and it is made of polyamide and acrylic.  I have to admit I had to Google polyamide and discovered that it is another name for nylon.  There are 6 skeins with 75 yards per skein.  (There were also 2 small skeins of a sparkly silver yarn that will not be included in the Bargain or No Bargain debate and are free to anyone who might like sparkles or has a special someone who does.)

 One of the most important characteristics of this knitting material is that it was made in France.  Just look at the label – Lainiere de Roubaix.  I love just about anything from France!  I bought it solely because the label was in French even though I did not know if I could ever use it.  (I am a beginning knitter but thought it might also be used for ribbon embroidery.)

$5 for six 75 yard skeins of variegated 88% nylon/12% acrylic (acrylique in French) yarn-type thread – what do you think? 

Bargain or No Bargain?

Repurposed Plate Rack

A $5 black iron plate rack from a local charity flea market makes a perfect display piece for patterns.  McCall’s and Butterick patterns are just the right size, but Simplicity patterns are almost too tall.  I think this will be a fun find!

Sewing Buddy Inspired Sewing Basket

Whipstitch sewing blog began organizing The Sewing Buddy Project in the summer of 2010.  I just happened upon it and entered in the last hour of the last day!  Buddies were assigned using their favorite number and color.  I was extremely lucky and was matched with a talented quilter, knitter and hand embroiderer from Germany.  Being a translator, her English is very good and we are able to communicate well.  She is a lovely person and answered many tedious questions as I started my nephew’s (and first ever!) quilt.  She helped me with the design and I used one of her quilts as an inspiration.

I always enjoy the emails from my sewing buddy, especially the ones that detail traditions specific to her region of Germany.  So when I saw this German sewing basket (according to the tag) I had to snatch it up!  I immediately sent a picture to my buddy and we renewed our correspondence which had slacked off.  As we are busy mothers, we are both bad about letting our blogs and other communication languish.  Strangely enough, from across the globe, we have both started our blogs again!

If you have an opportunity to participate in the Whipstitch Sewing Buddy Project, I highly recommend it.  You never know where your sewing buddy might be from – around the world or around the corner!

First you Crawl…

My goal was to take several classes at the recent Quilt Show because I have a very important quilt I would like to finish and I need some quilting confidence.  Unfortunately I missed the online deadline for the show and the preregistration discounts.  I decided to take just one class and chose one which would help me get another step closer to finishing my first quilt. (It was supposed to be a Christmas present for my nephew - last Christmas.) 

The name of the class was Walk Before You Run:  Walking Foot Machine Quilting.  Well, I must have been crawling at first because all I heard was that I needed to speed it up!  The teacher could not have been any nicer or more patient with me.  She was especially patient with those who came without a walking foot!  Imagine taking a class and not knowing how to put on the foot you are going to be using or not having one at all.  We had the same problem when it came to the free motion quilting segment - no darning feet and feed dogs that they didn’t know how to put down.  And these classes are not cheap even with the early registration discounts!  The thrifty part of me was appalled.  Paying so much for a class and not making the most of your time - and I have to admit wasting my time - made me a little nuts.  I hope I hid it well.

Below are my practice squares.  The teacher advised me to practice more before I start on my real quilt.  I have speed issues that need to be addressed.  Next time you look at a machine quilted project, remember that hours of practice went into making those machine stitches uniform.  Free motion quilting is a skill and is very different from your regular machine stitching.  I know revere and respect machine quilting and see it in a whole new light. If you have beautiful even stitches when you machine quilt, I admire your skill and your ability to run!

Kelly Rae Roberts’ Artwork – Not so Thrifty (For Me)!

Before I restarted my blog, I was reading and journaling with Kelly Rae Roberts’ (KRR) wonderful book, Taking Flight.  It is a fascinating journey of creative self-discovery.  Her questions encouraged me to look closely at many of my unfinished projects – including my then defunct blog.  Needless to say, I found her book inspiring!

Spending so much time with KRR’s book created a connection to her paintings and the stories behind them.  On vacation this summer I was thrilled to find her artwork at a local boutique.  When I returned to the same city later this fall I was determined to buy at least one piece.  I painstakingly narrowed it down to 3 choices, but knew I could not fit the largest and my favorite in my carry-on bag.  The clerk mentioned that all KRR’s work was available from the boutique’s website (with free shipping!)

When I got online to purchase the piece when I got home, KRR’s collection was not on the shop’s website.  Through KRR’s blog I found her online shop.  I was pleasantly surprised when the small canvas piece I purchased was $1 less at the boutique.  I was horrified to see that I overpaid $16 for the other piece!  And if I had purchased the third piece, I would have more than doubled KRR’s price!! 

With today’s technology and the fact that I had been planning to buy the artwork for several months, not knowing the online price was ridiculous.  I only overpaid a total of $15 (approx. 25%), but I learned some important lessons:

**If you know you want to purchase an item on vacation, check it out online before you leave. (Not only because of price, but because you also have to haul it home.)

**Visit the artist’s blog anytime you are interested in their work.  You will feel even more connected to the artwork and you will find further inspiration. 

**And most importantly, when purchasing artwork, try to buy directly from the artist first!  Even if it costs more (I know you can’t believe I am saying that!) supporting artists just feels right.