How to Make a Snail Frog Closure - Threads

Here is a technique that you might want to try. Kenneth King is so creative and his instructions are easy to understand. How to Make a Snail Frog Closure - Threads

Sewing Savvy

Yesterday, I had a chance to run into town and stop at the library for a bit. As I usually do when there, I check out all the magazines that have been donated and are up for sale. I managed to snag 8 copies of the 2008-2009 issues of Sewing Savvy magazine. I'm sorry to say that this publication has ceased publication at this point. I did a quick flip through and when I have time I will be reading more of the articles in the magazines. They have an impressive amount of projects for embellishing clothing, kids clothes, kitchen and home projects, aprons, and seasonal decorations. Rather than focus on one type of sewing, they would give tips on what to do if you, say for instance, don't have an embroidery machine how to make the featured item anyhow. They also used lots of fancy stitches when appropriate. I especially love books and magazines that can help me imagine the possibilities of all the decorative stitches on my machine. I know I am going to get lots of ideas from these magazines, and the best part? They were only 25 cents apiece which I managed to scrounge the $2 total price out of the coins in the bottom of my purse!

For those that have hobbies and want to thin out their stash of magazines, etc. don't forget your local library or thrift store -- never, ever the garbage. Most are happy to take donations. I know I personally am always ready and willing to take any kind of needlecraft magazines off of any one's hands. Free of course being the best price LOL! I use them as the equivalent of picture books on the days I'm especially not feeling well as it takes my mind off the pain. So many thanks to whoever donated these particular magazines to the McCord Library in North East, PA! I've gotten some great magazines there during this year.

Tulips and Heather

I would love to introduce to you a fairly new blog called Tulips and Heather This is my most amazing daughter-in-law's blog. She is one of the most talented, smart, beautiful young women I know. The moment Ron brought her home to visit us, even though it was  past 11PM at night, it was like the sun came out in the house and it didn't set until she left. Because of the distance they are from us, visits will be very rare and most precious, so I am especially pleased to see bits and pieces of their lives by way of her blog. You might enjoy seeing some of her great ideas as well!

National Sewing Month

September is National Sewing Month! I'd like to invite you to our store, Moonwishes Sewing and Crafts to shop for your sewing pattern needs. We have been listing like crazy the last couple of months and have close to 7800 different patterns in all styles and sizes listed at this point. We have a great selection of costume patterns for the upcoming Halloween and also patterns for church Christmas pageants and choir robes. Yesterday I was busy restocking our Women's Plus size patterns and if you check in the Unisex Pattern category of our patterns you will find even some larger extended size patterns if needed.

We work hard to maintain a large selection of patterns so our customers have a broad choice all in one spot. I also enjoy comparing patterns from current times to those in the past. Some are uncannily the same and others show styles that come around every couple of decades. I've noticed that peplums are coming back in style and the latest Threads Magazine, issue 163, ran an article on designing and adding a peplum to your garment. Peplums were very popular in the 1980's and we have many patterns that feature peplums that you could use for inspiration and a pattern itself, only watch out for the shoulders on these garments! Nothing better than to mix and match pattern pieces and come up with a great outfit. My favorite summer dress is a combination of a Vogue jumper and Simplicity flutter sleeves.

Shop with us any time!

Project Linus Quilts

I was given a big batch of fabric, batting, pre-cut squares and pre-sewn blocks several months ago. I decided to try to make some quick Project Linus quilts with the pre-sewn blocks. I try to make 1-2 quilts for this charity yearly, but find myself rushing to get them done by the official drop off date although they can take them any time of year.

So I sorted through the pre-sewn blocks and found that I had plenty of purple with a purple flower print 9 patch blocks. Problem was I didn't have any of the opposite blocks. With some of the pre-cut squares and making some squares myself, sometimes by picking out and disassembling some blocks to move the fabric into new locations, I had enough blocks to make 2 baby quilts. While they both have much of the same fabric, they coordinate but don't exactly match. It was fun to be able to make them without a lot of cutting and now I have already been able to turn in the quilts and am on to other projects. To quilt the quilt, I used a serpentine stitch down each of the seam lines with my even feed foot attached. I've found that doing a stitch that isn't straight helps to cover up seams that don't quite match!

One of the things that I do while making Project Linus quilts, is practice new techniques and currently I'm working on preparing to bind the quilt and the actual binding. I haven't been happy for years with how my binding looks. I was able to see a Nancy Zieman show (after the quilts were finished) that showed how to make an EASY mitered binding and so with what I trying and the advice she gave, I think my next quilt will have binding to be proud of!

Reversible Apron

I've gotten a bit behind in posting about my sewing projects as life just seems to zoom by the older I get! My daughter in law had a birthday last month and I made her another apron as she likes them and had asked me to make them for her. This time I tried something new. I made a reversible butcher apron so she could use whichever side fabric that she wanted or would go with her clothes.
I used McCalls Pattern 5174 (also sold as 0682) as the basis for her apron.

While this particular pattern is now out of print we have bunches of other apron patterns for sales at our store Moonwishes Sewing and Crafts. Just click this link to see them.

I used the butcher or carpenter's apron. Shown in light and dark blue. I tried to pick two different fabrics that would coordinate and also be in the color range that Savannah wears. I cut out two for each pattern piece except for the tie as it needed two of each fabric. The neck strap normally calls for making a tube of fabric and turning it inside out and then edgestitching. Instead I sewed the two different fabrics right side together and turned them inside out and edgestitched. For edgestitching, I use my stitch in the ditch presser foot as I have found it to be the best presser foot for this task.

Instead of the straight ties that were recommended for the carpenter apron, I used the fuller ties that ended with a 45 degree point. Next time I would make them longer though as they were meant for the aprons that reach around the body more than the carpenter apron. One thing I was very careful of, especially when making the points is that I got the left and right side ties made correctly. With the ties made I made pockets and embellished them and attached them to the front of their respective side of the apron. Pockets can be placed at whatever location would be convenient and do not have to be placed exactly where it shows on the pattern tissues.

Once I was done with the ties and pockets, I positioned side on of the apron right side up on my work table, then placed the ties in position and then laid down side two with the right side down. Pinned it all together and took it to the machine to sew up and around and then back down the sides. DO NOT sew down the hem at this point. I then turned the apron inside out, pressed it all carefully and then edgestitched all around the sewn sides of the apron. I turned the bottom of the apron up inside the two layers and then sewed the hem down through both sides. I would think that you could also allow the hem to be hemmed up on each individual side and let it hang loosely or be embellished with trim or a ruffle. I loved the way the apron came out! Modeled by Annabelle the dummy. Note that I got brave and made a rounded pocket on the one apron side.

Bra-Making Basics - Threads

Bra-Making Basics - Threads  If you ever wondered about making your own bra, you can download the instructions now and see if this is a sewing challenge that is right for you. Let us know if you found it easy to make or not and what was the most challenging aspect? Measuring and getting the size right? Or perhaps it is finding the bra making basics? Please share with your sister sewers.

How to Make Beaded "Berry" Buttons - Threads

How to Make Beaded "Berry" Buttons - Threads You can download the simple instructions for making these buttons. It seems to me that with some tweaking, they could also be made into brooches to match your garment's fabric.

How to Create a Beautiful Lace Top - Threads

How to Create a Beautiful Lace Top - Threads  This video looks like a super simple lace top for either practicing sewing on lace or just making one of this year's fashion basics!

Simplicity Pattern 9124

We love it when customers send photos of the garments or projects that they make from patterns they buy from us. Linda from Hawaii just sent us some great photos that we want to share. She used Simplicity Pattern 9124. Checkout what the patterns envelope shows and what Linda did. She added some extra fabric in the front of the dress as her daughter needed a bit more room and made a pleat in the back. We hope that these photos give you some inspiration in your sewing endeavors. Be sure to send us photos of your projects so that we can post them as well!

Blackwork Embroidery

I was sitting last night looking though some craft magazines when I came upon a small article on doing blackwork embroidery in issue 173 of Cross Stitcher Magazine (from the UK). I've seen numerous examples of blackwork in other magazines and embroidery books, but have never attempted it myself. Thanks to the fact that I have all my embroidery supplies in a rolling cart near the couch, I was ready on a moments notice to stitch. Of course, I didn't have the right size fabric, but I didn't let that stop me. I did have a piece of Aida cloth that someone had already used threads to make the design ready to stitch.

Since the design was a strawberry, I decided to use red embroidery floss. Part of the design was in one strand of floss and others parts in two strands. The instructions were minimal, but I did figure most of them out and had to change some stitches because of using the wrong type and size of fabric. After the first few stitches I realized that I would have some trouble following the chart as it was too small to see clearly, so David very nicely blew the chart up for me and printed it out in color so I could still follow the color chart. I did find that at the beginning since it was new to me, that after 2-3 stitches I would cross off those stitches to be sure I was keeping the right count and was stitching in the right place. The one place that I did have trouble was the beginning and ending the thread, especially with the single strand of thread as the back of the stitching didn't  have the same type of set up to bury stitches like regular counted cross stitch. If I do this again, I will have to see if my other books have instructions or perhaps some one reading this could leave us all an explanation.

In the end after around 2 hours of 'work' I had a nice little design that I will eventually us for something. It was fun and I enjoyed myself. Here is my little strawberry design.

Embroidery Library Christmas Club

Be sure to sign up today for Embroidery Library's Christmas Club. You will get FREE desgins, Christmas projects and credit on your purchases towards more free designs, plus more! At signing up today I got three Free designs in two sizes each.

Nursery Rhyme Quilt

Secrets of Embroidery has many designers products at their site. Currently, if you visit there and check out Kreative Kiwi's site, you can get all the designs needed to make an adorable Nursery Rhyme quilt -- for FREE!. I don't know how long this will be available for free so stop in as soon as possible here.

New Machine Embroidery Freebies

Embroidery Library has come out with some great designs just in time for the 4th of July that you can pick up for free through June 30th. You can also download June and July's free designs if you have not downloaded June's yet, this is your last chance. Our printer had run out of ink and I was waiting till I could print out the color chart in color to download them. All told and with the two sizes available for each design, I downloaded 12 new designs a few minutes ago. I just love this company for their generosity and their great designs. I've never had a bit of trouble with a single one. Visit Embroidery Library to stock up your designs.

Just thinking about the 12 designs I just got, I remember when the first home embroidery machines came out. The designs where incredibly tiny and a disc with designs on ran around $100! Free designs were not something that anyone ever imagined, but of the great things we managed to do with those machines, but I still like my Janome 300e.

Holiday Knitting Boutique

I would like to introduce you to a great book of knitting projects that I was asked to review by the author. You might like it too.

Holiday Knitting Boutique by Mary Jean Daigneault if a full color book, ISBN 0615478751 puclished by Praxis 2012. Here is the review that I wrote for Amazon:

I was asked to review this book by the author as not only I do book reviews, I am heavily into needlework crafts and have an on line store that sells sewing patterns, so anything having to do with needlework is something I want to read about. Even though I am not a knitter, I love reading about knitting and seeing great projects and that is what you will find in this book. Great projects! While being called projects for holidays, most of the designs with a color change could be used for holidays and occasions other than Christmas.

The author is an interior designer as well as a knitter and this shows throughout the book. Her items are lovely and things that can be lived with, not those tatty, cheap, make in 15 minutes nonsense. Through lovely yarns (which I wanted to reach onto the page and touch) and an artist’s eye you will find some great three dimensional items unlike anything I have seen in any knitting book, such as large snowmen, pillows, wreaths, trees, etc. The closest you get to a 'same old stuff' in the book is the beanie hat. Otherwise all the designs looked fresh and original.

The only reason that I gave this book 4 instead of a 5 is I felt that some of the project information at the beginning of each project was lacking enough detail. While I didn't read and can't comment on the actual knitting directions, I did read the 'ingredient' list and blurbs of the need to know information, and it didn't seem to me to be enough for good follow through on the projects unless the knitter is more experienced. Perhaps that is just because I'm not a knitter.  Also, while the book has lovely color illustrations of the completed projects, there were no intermediate illustrations or diagrams on how to put some of these projects together. Some crafters really do need clues on how to put things together even if they have knitted it correctly especially these large 3D projects.

All in all though a really terrific book with some great ideas.

I certainly hope for the sake of knitters, that the author continues with designing new knitting projects and writing books about them.

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Embroidery Delight

Secrets of Embroidery has welcomed a new machine embroidery merchant called Embroidery Delight. They have many interesting designs from floral to children's animal appliques. They also have several Freebies posted at this point. Stop on in to Secrets of Embroidery by clicking here.

I Won a Prize!

Last Friday, June 1, 2012, I got a letter in the mail. You know snail mail, that makes you curious wondering who wrote you and why. Opened it up to find out that I had won a prize of a Work Station Ironing Board through a Vogue Patterns Magazine giveaway. It arrived on Saturday. Let's just say I was thrilled. I have it attached to the left of my trusty Janome Horizon 7700 so it makes a great work surface. I have a travel iron that has been packed up for years, and I will try to find it for the next time I'm piecing so I don't have to keep getting up and down. Anything to make sewing easier for me at this point in my arthritis is terrific. Yes, that is my messy sewing spot and the stool I have to sit on now that my sewing chair broke and then threw me off a few months ago.

You too can get one of these Work Station Ironing Boards . I find it to be well constructed. The leg is adjustable although because I have an old fashioned sewing table built for smaller ladies in a different era, hubby had to cut off a bit of the leg. It even came with a full sized pattern to make an iron board cover for it in case of burns, glue desposits and all the other nasties that collect on ironing board covers. They are produced by Ohana Creations, a small American company. Check them out here.

Thank you so much Vogue Patterns Magazine and Ohana Creations for giving me this great gift. Of course, that also prompted me to go double checked that I had submited entires for all the other contests I would be interested in winning!

Vicki's Fabric Creations

By way of Kenney Kreations, I have found a most interesting blog called Vicki's Fabric Creations. I'm not sure when Vicki sleeps but she has some amazing machine embroidered quilts and other sewing projects on her blog. If you like to machine embroider, make quilts, sew garments, etc. this is a blog you need to visit and bookmark.

Deco Mandala Designer

I was offered this fun toy to review through the Amazon Vine program. Every once in a while, I hit the jackpot and get offered something truly fun like this. I also get a lot of books to review and have found that my library trips have decreased significantly over the last few years since I've been doing this. I've also read a lot of lousy books but many good ones as well!

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This product is for kids 6-12. Well I'm a lot older than 12, yet I had a very fun time using it while watching TV last night. I was offered this product for review, but wasn't quite sure what it would do, but as I'm seriously into crafting I wanted to try it. Apparently there are more stencils that are available separately, but the ones included here were pretty much girly ones and since the designer itself comes in bold pink I would assume that it is meant for girls. Boys I think would also enjoy this in a different color and with more 'boy' type stencils.

I did post a picture of my first attempt at using the machine. There are all sorts of designs that you can make. It comes with one black fine point pen. I think a variety of other colors would have been great to include with the machine. I had some Sharpie fine point markers here at home and I used those for different colors and they worked very well in the stencils but any pen point much larger probably won’t work. You can however draw the designs with the black pen and then color them in when you take your paper out of the designer. If you didn't want to make designs in the circular format, you can also use the stencils on a flat surface. I'm thinking up ways that I can use this machine in my own crafting and quilting.

They didn't make these sorts of toys when I was a child and I can see where I missed out on some fun. Everything seems very well made, including the butterfly 3-D punch. The ink stamp took very little pressure for the stamp to work. Instructions came in German, French and English. It did need 4 AA batteries to work to turn the circle and there were no glitches at all and everything moved smoothly. I can see where those who are heavily into scrap booking would also like making designs on this machine to add to their scrapbook pages.

All in all a very fine toy that could be used in a car trip, in a hospital bed for a sick child (being sure to have extra pen colors, crayons and paper in a separate tote, the machine itself has carry handles), at a slumber party, and any time you have a girl that wants to be creative and artistic but doesn't yet have the fine motor control for drawing--something I still have problems with!

Sherlock Holmes Embroidery Project

Today, April 11, one of my embroidery projects is being featured on Embroidery Library!

Started laying out a new quilt project last night for Project Linus.