Invisible Zipper Pillow Tutorial

Now that I'm working on my book, I won't be working at the Stitch and Sew Studio as much during open sew hours; however, I will still be teaching classes there on the weekends. :) During my time there (almost 7 months!), I've met some really great people and made some wonderful friends.  They've learned sewing tips and tricks from me, but I think I've learned the most from them! Here's a super easy and fun invisible zipper tutorial that I learned from Teresa and Meg. Thanks gals! ;)

Materials:

• Fabric for the front and back of your pillow. the fabric will need to be 1 inch bigger than the pillow size. Example: To make a cover for a 21 x 21 inch pillow, you will need  two 22 x 22 inch squares cut from your fabric. 
• Zipper - should be at least 2 inches shorter than the finished pillow length. Example: If you're sewing a cover for a 21 x 21 inch pillow, get a 19 inch long zipper.
  
• Optional: Lightweight interfacing such as Fusi-Bond Lite. Iron this stuff on any quilting cotton weight fabric to achieve a home decorating weight fabric. (It's like an iron-on muslin).

1. Prepare both sides of fabric for the front and back of the pillow. In this tutorial I made a pillow cover for a 14" pillow, so I cut two 15" squares from my fabric. I also ironed on lightweight interfacing to make my cotton fabric more of a home dec weight.

2. Take your prepared fabric, and align them with right sides facing together. Pin to keep the layers from shifting. On one edge, mark 2 inches from the top and bottom as shown below.

3. Along this edge, sew a 1/2 inch seam allowance. When doing so, use a regular stitch within the 2 inch markers, and then use the longest stitch length in the center (this is where the zipper will be). Make sure to back-stitch at the start and end, as well as before you begin a new stitch length.

Click to Enlarge.

4. Press the seam open with an iron. Take your zipper and unzip it half way. You can use a thin strip of tape to help keep the unzipped part closed.

5. With the zipper facing down, align it on the center of the seam where your longer stitches are.  You'll have about 1/2-1 inch of the tail ends of your zipper hanging past the 2 inch marks.  Tape to keep everything in place. You can place tape at the 2 inch marker to help give you a visual of where you need to sew. 

Use a zipper foot and sew a rectangle around the zipper as designated by the dashes below. When you get to the tape, peel it back so you don't sew over it.  When the little zipper pully gets in your way, stop sewing with the needle in the down position, and then zip up the zipper so it's out of your way, then continue sewing. Start and end your stitches with back stitches.

6.  Here's the satisfying part. :) Flip the pillow cover right side up and use a seam ripper to tear open the long stitches you sewed from step 3. This will unveil your zipper.

7. Next, make sure the zipper is at least half way unzipped and then align your fabric once again with right sides facing together. Pin to keep the fabric from shifting. Sew a 1/2 inch seam allowance around the perimeter (as designated by the dashes below) except where the zipper is. clip the corners to get rid of extra fabric bulk.

7. Turn the pillow cover right side out through the zipper opening. Last but not least, make lots and lots of beautiful, cozy, bright and cheery pillows!

Working on a Book!

I have exciting news! I'm thrilled to announce that I'll be writing a book on my Quilt as you Go technique. You may recall me posting several pictures of some quilts that use the technique (here, here & here). I also teach classes on it at the Stitch and Sew Studio in Seattle. It's a modern and fresh take on Quilt as you Go that's really simple, and best of all, super creative. My book won't have cookie-cutter quilt patterns with precise cutting measurements; rather, I'll be teaching the technique and illustrating how it can be applied so that you can create a one-of-a-kind quilt that's all you. Think of it as 'quilting-outside-of-the-box.' :)

Spreading creativity and showing that quilting can be less daunting than it seems have been my goal as an artist, and the whole reason I started my blog. I am absolutely ecstatic to be writing this book so that I can further spread this creative and fun technique.

My book will be published through Stash Books for C&T Publishing. I've been a huge fan of their books, including the ones below (all of which I own). Stash Books are really easy to understand with beautiful photographs of fabulous quilts. These books have always given me so much inspiration. I never get tired looking at all of the beautiful photos and pretty fabrics. You can read more on the many different Stash Books at their blog.

My book should be available next year, which means I have to write my manuscript in 3 months and make all 15 quilts in 4 months. Yup, no kidding.  That being said, I better get to work...!

Happy Quilting ;)

Meet Paige, my #1 Fan

Meet Paige, my number quilt fan. As soon as I lay a new quilt down for a photo, she rolls right on and makes herself comfy.

 My faithful furball stays up with me during my late night power quilting sessions.

And is always the first to test a new quilt out.  I think she approves of this one.

Happy Quilting!

p.s. if you're in the Seattle area and are interested, I'm teaching this class at the studio. :)

A Layer Cake tutorial, plus a sweet treat

Just a quick post to share a tutorial that's being featured on Moda Bakeshop today. Click the image above, or click here to see it. You can also find a printer friendly version here.  This quilt was made using a Layer Cake from the Boho fabric collection by Urban chiks for Moda.

If you love the quilt, the West Seattle Fabric Company (one of my fave and local fabric boutiques!) is selling Boho Quilt Kits that use my tutorial.

And here's a sweet treat...if you enter the code bakeshop at checkout, you'll get 10% off all pre-cut and kit purchases.

Recognize the pattern? I've used it a number of times;) It's a fast and fun pattern, so grab a Layer Cake and make something beautiful this weekend!

Happy Quilting!

My First Garment!

It's official...I can say I'm a garment girl now! For the last 6 years I've been a quilter, but never have I touched any kind of garment pattern until now. Three weeks ago I took this washi dress class at Dry Goods Design in Ballard and came out with this beautiful dress. After taking this class, I feel like I finally understand how to properly read a pattern now. The class was so much fun! It was taught by Keli (owner of Dry Goods) and I learned so much from her.

You can find the pattern here and here if you're interested. There's options to alter the pattern if you wish. I decided to make mine sleeveless with a scoop neck and I brought up the hem (the length is usually past the knees).

For those of you that follow my Facebook page, you might recall the above post I made asking for your opinion on which fabric to use. Thanks for all your feedback! Out of 50 comments, 37 voted for the top print. The print is by Reshida Coleman, Washi collection called Petals and Leaves. It's an older collection, but I managed to find it here.

 Here's some close ups. I learned to make a bodice with darts (a sewing term I never knew existed until now!), as well as pleats and how to attach facing to hide all the raw edges.

I also did shirring on the back of the bodice to make it stretchy so that a zipper is not required. It looks complicating but honestly it was the easiest part. Among all these new techniques I learned, I also learned to properly hem. Yup, I've never hemmed a garment. My friends know that I sew so I've been asked several times if i can hem their jeans, etc..but i always reply with "I only know how to quilt." Period.

Anyway, just wanted to share with you this new milestone in my 'sewing world' ;)I'm so happy with my new dress. Whenever I look at it i think 'did i really make that?!'

Happy sewing!