Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Wool Flower Bouquet Bag


Hello everyone! I am so excited for the chance to work with beautiful wool by Penny Rose Fabric. I made them into wool felt first, then I was ready to make something fun with them...

Look at these beauties!


Here are the supplies to make the wool flower bouquet bag:

{You will need}

Print out the flower petals and leaves from the pdf file.

Blue Wool 36" (width of the wool) x 16" long after felting process(remember, when you do the felting process, wool shrinks)
Cream, pink, red,Brown, green, dark green Wool
Cotton fabric for lining if you decided to do so
Matching thread for the blue wool for your sewing machine
DMC floss -- Cream, green

{How to make the bag}

1. Fold the blue wool in half and trim off the top and the bottom to make it 15" long. Then, cut 3" wide strips on the side to make handles later.

2. To make the honeycomb smocking, take the bigger blue wool piece and measure 2" from the bottom and draw a line all the way across. Fold the fabric exactly on the line and sew 1/8" from the folded line. Then, draw 7 lines 1" apart parallel to the first sewn line. Fold the fabric on the lines, sew and repeat the process to make 8 sewn lines.

3. Measure 1/2" from both sides: that will be your seam to sew them together later. From that line measure and mark every 2"on the very bottom sewn line. Where you marked the bottom line, sew the bottom line to the sewn line above it. Do the same with the 2nd and 3rd line but offset them from the bottom line by an inch. Repeat this pattern as you move up doing the 3rd and 4th line, then the 4th and 5th line and so on until all eight lines are connected.

4.Pin one side of the wool onto the ironing board then stretch the wool a bit. Press with the iron to set the texture you made: make sure your iron is set to wool.

5. Fold the wool right sides together and sew on the side and the bottom with 1/2" seam. Make sure all the sewn lines on the bottom match up. Open and press the seams. Sew the lines together on the seam to repeat the honeycomb smocking pattern on the side.

6. Fold the bottom corners to make a boxed bottom. Make sure the seams line up perfectly for a nice finish. The line measures 1" from both ends to the middle, so it is 2" long when it's finished. Do the same to the other bottom corner.

7. Fold 3" x 15" strips. Bring both long edges to the middle, press with the iron and fold it in half, then press with the iron again. Sew the seam with 1/8" to 1/4" seam.

8. I will not go over the steps to make the liner, but if you decide to do so, make the same size bag with cotton fabric. Make a boxed bottom too, so it will line up and fit nicely with the wool bag.

9. Put together the wool bag and the liner right sides together. Measure 3 1/2" from both edges and slide in the handle up side down and pin all around. Leave 4" opening for turning; sew all the way around. Turn the fabric inside out and fold the opening edges and pin.

10. Sew all around it with 1/8" seam.


{How to make the flowers}

* Cream flower

1.Cut 10 cream petals, 1--- 1 1/4" Brown circle (clip all around it), 1--- 1/2" dark green circle

2. Pinch the bottom and sew.

3. Sew 5 petals together. Make one more of this and layer them together. Make sure the bottom layer flower petals are showing from between the flower petals on the top layer.

4. Add Brown and dark green circles on top of the flower and stitch some french knots in the middle. Make two flowers.


*Red flower

1. Cut 4 1/2" circle.

2. Start cutting from the middle in a continuous arch pattern.

3. Start rolling from the middle and keep rolling to make a nice flower shape. Stitch the back so it won't come undone. Make three flowers.


*Pink flower

1. Cut 1 1/2" x 4" strips. Fold it in half and make cuts from one side to the other side.

2. Start rolling it from one side to the end. Stitch the back so it doesn't come undone.


*Leaves

Cut out 19 leaves from green and 5 leaves from dark green.


{Assembly}

1. Cut 1--- 1/4" x 2 1/2" stem and 2--- 1/4"x 4" stems and lay them out with the green leaves. Stitch them up to the bag with DMC floss.
2. Sew cream flowers to the bag. These will be the main focus, it is important to find the right balance.

3. Stitch the dark green leaves.

4. Sew red flowers on to the bag.

5. Sew pink flowers to the bag. This helps to balance things out or to hide odd openings too. With cream color DMC floss stitch groups of french knots in a few places.

Then all you need to do is to enjoy the bag!

I can't get enough of the honeycomb smocking!


I hope you enjoyed my tutorial today! :)

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Make it Yourself Magazine Feature


The newest issue of "Make it Yourself" is now on magazine stands... and guess what? My ruffle shirt is part of the cover of the magazine! EEK!
I was asked to create the shirt and do a painted shoes project a while ago and it was so hard to keep it a secret.

I think the pastel color shoes with flowers really brings a springy feel. I love her beautiful smile in the photo.

If you are at a book store or at a grocery store and see "Make it Yourself", please check it out!


Yours truly,
Sachiko AKA Tea Rose Home :)

Used with permission from Make it Yourself magazine. ©2016 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Announcement ~ Wool Love Blog Tour



Hello everyone! I had my routine procedure last Monday and finally it feels like I am slowly getting back in to normal activities. Even though I had an "activity trey" with some hand stitching projects I could do while I was in bed, it is so much nicer to be in the sewing room and start working on projects.

I have a fun announcement for you today!

I am part of the Wool Love Blog Tour at Penny Rose Fabrics and get to work with these fantastic wool!

There are many participants throughout the month of March. I can't wait to see what the others are coming up with! I kept changing my mind on what to make, but I finally started working on it. My posting date is the 29th; I can't wait to share my project with you! :)

March 14: Mdm Samm of Sew We Stitch

March 15: Cori Blunt of Creativity Amongst Chaos

March 16: Deonn Scott of Quiltscapes

March 17: Darci Schipnewski of Pastthyme Patterns

March 18: Crystal Delaney of The Clever Quilt Studio

March 21: Carol Swift of Just Let Me Quilt

March 22: Amy Smart of Diary of a Quilter

March 23: Penny Rose Blog

March 24: Riley Blake Designs Blog

March 25: liZ Evans of Simple Simon and Company

March 28: Remona Gopaul of The Stitching Scientist

March 29: Sachiko Aldous of Tea Rose Home

Saturday, March 5, 2016

Book Review ~ American Heroes Quilts


Who is your hero in American history? Do you like quilts? Do you like reading historical books?
If you answer yes to any of these questions then American Heroes Quilts ~ Past & Present" by Don Beld is for you. All my answers to the previous questions are "yes".

I grew up in Japan and learned very little about American history, but I am always fascinated by reading about the people before us... that, mixed with stories about quilts! I was very excited to start reading the book.

American Heroes and Quilts, Past & Present contains 400 color and black-and-white images. It explores 55 American Heroes that quilters have honored through the centuries. Included are such familiar names as (even for me), George Washington, Charles Lindbergh, Abraham Lincoln and more. There are others that I have never even heard of, but their stories are so intriguing; it really brought them to life! Do you know the story of Thomas(Stonewall)Jackson? For his high ethics and moral character, he is one of my favorite American heroes now. There are so many other stories that I couldn't put the book down.

With over 100 quilts and close-up photographs of all 112 patterns I was visually entertained as well. They gave me a lot of ideas for future quilt designs. Let me share some of my favorite quilts.

This quilt is called "Washington's Puzzle". I love the simplicity of this quilt. Don't you think it looks modern?

There are many quilts named after George Washington's wife Martha. One in particular caught my eye; "Martha's choice" made in 1900. This quilt went on my "To-make" list instantly!

One of my favorite blocks, "Orange Peel", is actually called "Lafayette's Orange Peel": named after Gilbert Du Montier, the Marquis De Lafayette. The story is so interesting!

I. LOVE. THIS. QUILT!!! Yes, without a doubt this one also went on my list of quilts to make someday. Isn't it so pretty?

Let me share one more (there are many others, but you need to look for yourself. :) ). A quilt block in the fourth row, second block from the left is called "Lincoln block". I love the blocks in this quilt and the use of colors. It is so fun to look at.

I thoroughly enjoyed American Heroes Quilt, Past & Present and highly recommenced it.


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