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Category Archives: Fabric & Sewing

superbuzzy + everkelly: Back to School Sewing

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[Don't miss the free download at the bottom of this post!]

Last week, I hinted at a special collaboration I have been working on with one of my favorite fabric people.  Today, I am super excited to announce that I have been working on some fun tutorials with Kelly of superbuzzy!  As many of you know, I have been a huge superbuzzy fan for a long time, so I was honored to be able to create some free tutorials for all of you Japanese fabric fans.  (Of course, any project where the postman shows up with a box full of Japanese fabric and accessories is a dream project in my book!)

For our first collaboration, we came up with an adorable Zakka Lunch Kit.  The tutorial includes all of the instructions to make a bento bag (above) and a sandwich wrap that folds out to a place mat (below).  The projects are beginner-friendly, but we’ve included some nice finishing details so that they will hold up against rough-and-tumble little ones and frequent trips through the washing machine.  I know a lot of us are thinking green these days — so I love that these fabric bags and bento boxes help cut down on all of the lunch time trash.  (It doesn’t hurt that the projects are seriously cute, too!)

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After you sew up these projects, you may want to take a look through the superbuzzy shop.   I am loving these mushroom clips and magnets!  (I also heard a rumor that there might be some new Echino goodies!)  Maybe you’d even like to try your hand at making cute bento-style lunches.  superbuzzy has some cute bento books (in English!) that show you how.  I was inspired to give it a try too.  Here’s my little hedgehog sandwich:

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We had so much fun putting this one together that we’re going to be making this a monthly thing.  So I hope you’ll visit us again to see what we have in store for Halloween!

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Click here to download the Zakka Lunch Kit tutorial!

And you can always find the free superbuzzy patterns right here on the free pattern page.  We hope you enjoy!

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DIY Picnic: Part 6 (The Blanket)

Picnicquilt

I finished it!  The picnic blanket is done.  I am wrapping up my last two projects for the DIY Picnic for Two.  I have just one more project to share with you, and then we’ll call it complete.  I am planning to savor all of this hard work this weekend, soaking up some of the lingering warm weather with a nap on the grass.  I thought about all of the nice quilters I know as I worked on this project, and I kept wondering how they stay awake long enough to finish.  Several times the blanket just looked so enticing, I wanted to nap instead of sew.  (The pins kept me alert.)

As I wrestled through the final steps of this picnic quilt yesterday, I thought back to how casually I had put “sew patchwork picnic blanket” on my list.  This project was not hard per se, just time consuming as these things can be.  The finished blanket is 56″ x 64″.

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I am not going to share any advice on doing this project since there are more qualified people to do that.  I consider this one to be more of a show and tell.  However, here are the specs for the curious: The finished squares are 8″ wide, and the back is a black fleece.  Since this is a picnic blanket, I did not use any batting.  I decided to use the backing as a wrap-around binding as well.

I ran into all of the problems you might expect with the fleece stretching and generally misbehaving, but I think it turned out ok.  I think it will be just perfect for days at the park.

More soon… Hope your week is going well!

Filed under Fabric & Sewing, I Made This. Tagged with , , .

Leave a light on…

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Oh my, I can’t believe how late it is.  I had planned to pop in here much earlier, but every project I picked up today took 8 times longer than I’d expected.  Isn’t that how it goes sometimes?  Anyway, I just wanted to say Hi.  I’m still here – working away.  If you want, you can pretend that these are the pictures of the finished picnic blanket I planned to show you today.  If I squint my eyes, I can almost see it.

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Unfortunately, I’ve already made plans to sit on this picnic blanket tomorrow, so I may have to just keep on working.

Wishing you the best of weekends.  Take care, Kelly

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Work in Progress: Picnic Blanket

Picnicblanket4

First of all, I wanted to say a huge welcome to those of you coming over from Creature ComfortsEz posted a link to my DIY Cuckoo Clock project. Thank you so much for stopping by!  I hope you’ll find some other things around here to enjoy.   I also wanted to let you know that I’ve been really touched by the kind comments and e-mails.

As some of you know, I’ve been working on a project that I’ve been calling the DIY Picnic for Two.  It’s a little bit fancy, a little bit French-inspired.  This week, I am finally tackling the picnic blanket.  Right now I’m working on the step which I call: putting squares of fabric on the floor and then moving them around.  Right now, I am thinking I need more black fabrics.  I hope to get to the second step today, as well.  It’s the one we refer to as: cleaning up squares of fabric off of the floor before husband gets home.

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I’ll be back later this week with an update on the blanket.  Wish me luck!

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DIY Picnic: Part 5 (Free Embroidery Patterns)

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Hello there and welcome back for our next installment in the DIY picnic project.  Last week, I etched some glass canning jars.  I think they looked lovely, but a little plain.  This week, I created an embroidery pattern to decorate the lid top.  Yes, it’s possible that I’m procrastinating on sewing the picnic blanket (the next craft on the list), but if you’re looking to procrastinate, I think embroidery is a perfect activity.

Now, I know that not everyone wants to embroider French phrases, so for this free download you have two options.  There’ s a PDF of the pattern in English and a second PDF in French.  You may have your pick.  (Scroll down to the bottom for the download.)

I was having so much fun putting this together that I drew a few more pictures to embroider.  I haven’t had a chance to stitch these yet, but wanted to include them anyway.  I might need to make a little fabric menu.  Here’s a little sample:

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I didn’t make too much of a fuss over the embroidery.  However, I thought it might help to show how I transferred the design onto the black fabric.

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I printed out a copy of the pattern making sure it was the correct size for my jar lid.  On a protected work surface, I layered the pattern, some Wax-Free Tracing paper in white (color side facing down), and the fabric.  Pressing firmly, I traced the design with a pencil.  While the pattern didn’t transfer perfectly, there’s enough there that I could follow the design.  (All that extra white mess comes off with a damp cloth or fabric eraser.)

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After I back-stitched the lettering and outline in white and filled in the cat with satin stitches, this is what the design looks like (below).  Now, I was ready to trace around the lid top and cut out the fabric.  I also cut out some felt to layer underneath (batting would work too).

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I tied a ribbon around the top for a punch of color.  Now, I’m ready to fill up my jar with treats for my picnic.

Here is where you can get a copy of the embroidery patterns.  First, we have the French:

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Next, we have the English version:

Englishbutton

If you have any problems with the download or have a question (or some comments on my French!), please send me an e-mail at kleecreel at everkelly dot com.

I hope you have a wonderful, relaxing weekend.  All the best, Kelly

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Filed under Fabric & Sewing, I Made This, Tutorials & Downloads. Tagged with , , , , .