Fat Quarter Bundle Tutorial

I thought I'd post this, even though it's Saturday. It makes up for last weekend's post being late.

This week I worked on more fabric bolts, but I also started doing something with all the mini fat quarters I've been accumulating.  Some friends of mine were over and one of them came up with a cute idea for using the fat quarters.  I thought I'd share for those who might be interested.

You will  need:

- a set of 4 to 6 coordinating miniature fat quarters (for measurements, click here to go to the earlier post)
- glue and a tooth pick
- a clothespin
- a thin scrap of fabric or a piece of pearl cotton

 Step 1: Run glue along the longer side of the fat quarter and fold in half.

 Step 2: Put a dab of glue on one end of the fabric and fold in half again.

 Step 3: Put another dab of glue on one end of the fabric and fold in half again.  You might wish to put a dab of glue inside the folds of the cut ends, to help the whole thing stay folded.

 Now you have one folded fat quarter.  Whilst you're folding/gluing the other fat quarters, you might want to stick this on in the clothespin for safe keeping.

 Step 4: Arrange your folded fat quarters in a stack and secure with the clothespin.

 Step 5: Tie your fabric scrap/pearl cotton around the stack, knotting tightly.

 Step 6: Trim the excess from the ties and also snip any loose threads that might be lurking.

 You now have an adorable bundle of fat quarters!

 As you can see, my handsome assistant was present whilst I worked.  He likes laying on the clothespins.

I hope you enjoy making your own bundles of fat quarters.

A Mini Tutorial and Two Stitching Updates

I've been putting together a tutorial for minis to share with some friends.  I thought I'd share it here because it's lots of fun and it was a creative project.

First I'll get the stitching photos out of the way.  I'll link to the previous week's images in the name for easy comparison.

Black Bear is coming along nicely.

I did get the background trees in the middle of the piece going this week.  I also finished a chunk of clouds in the sky and started on the tops of the foreground trees on the right side.  The bear's face got filled in too... because I got tired of seeing a faceless bear.

The Aragon Blackwork did get the lower right motif outline in place this week, and its surrounding crosses.  I also stitched the right side pattern, started the upper left motif, and purchased a larger frame to make it easier to work on.

Now for the tutorial!  Here's how to make mini bolts of fabric and fat quarters.
You will need:

- pieces of thick cardstock, I used the backs off legal pads, cut to 7/8 of an inch by 2 inches.  I painted the ends of my bolts white, but that's optional.
- strips of appropriate fabrics 4 inches by 22 inches; if you're cutting from a fat quarter, just cut a 4" piece the length of the fabric.
- scissors for paper and fabric (a rotary cutter and mat would make things go faster)
- a ruler
- tacky glue
- clothespins for clamps

 Fold your fabric strip in half, wrong sides together, so that you have a rectangle 2" x 22".  Put some glue on your bolt .

Press one end of your fabric to the bolt and begin tightly wrapping fabric around the bolt.

 When you've reached your desired thickness, trim the remaining fabric off (save it for cutting fat quarters!), fold over the cut end, and glue it to the bolt.

 Clamp in place with clothespins.

As a note, if you have a light fabric and don't care for the dark card showing through or didn't want to bother with painting ends, use a white piece of card instead.  I had a small white piece that came folded inside a real life fat quarter, but only one piece.  That's why I opted to paint the ends of brown card.

For the fat quarters, neatly stack your leftover ends from the fabric bolts.  Cut two inch strips first.

Then cut 1.5 inch pieces off of those strips.

 This way to can create multiple fat quarters at once!  It saves time.

 Another note, I folded one mini fat quarter into a small square, like they come at JoAnn's and some other fabric stores.  You could also fold the fat quarter in half, roll it, and tie it with a piece of thread.

 Maddie and Nugent decided they would pose with some finished bolts.  If you poke the photo, Nugent is peeking out from around the bolts on the left.

I have many more bolts to make since I've got a mini quilt shop in mind.  There will also be baskets to display folded and rolled fat quarters in eventually.

I hope you've enjoyed the tutorial.  It was nice to play with minis again... it's been too long.  See you next week!

Interlude Project - Serenity's Nursery

A friend of ours had a baby last month and it's taken me this long to find the right gift bag to build a miniature in for her.  I started this yesterday with the intention of finishing it for the blog post, but said friend brought the baby over to play in the afternoon.  A surprise visit even.  Needless to say I was sidetracked.

For anyone unfamiliar with making a room inside a gift bag, there is a fantastic tutorial over on my friend, Fay's, website.  Please go there for the details if you're interested in trying one for yourself.  I learned this from her.  If you'd live to peek at her miniature work, follow this link over.  You know you want to!

The following picture-heavy post contains no measurements.  If you want to try this, please visit Fay's tutorial. (link above)  In fact having these pictures and her tutorial open together might be helpful if, like me, you relate to pictures better than text.

First I cut a hole in the bag.  (I found the bag at a Hallmark store.  They had blue ones too.  I think I'm going to go back and grab a few more of each for my stash.)

 

 Then I measured everything and cut a piece of foam core to fit.

 

 Note the foam core is all one piece with "hinges" cut to allow the sides to fold.

 

 Then I started papering the walls.  I used scrapbook paper that I sprayed ahead of time with a matte fixative spray and left to dry.  This helps protect the paper.  I used spray adhesive to glue the paper down.  A water-based glue like Yes", Alaine's, or Elmer's would warp the foam core.  The middle section was papered first, with some overlap on the sides.

 

 Then I papered the sides.

 

 The floor is just a piece of Styrofoam that I cut to fit inside the walls.  It's also covered with scrapbook paper that I sprayed beforehand.  However I just used tacky glue to glue in place.  Incidentally the two patterns of scrapbook paper were from the same "baby girl" themed collection, so they were already coordinated for me.

 Here is the walls and floor in place.  I used T-pins to hold them together while the glue (regular tacky glue again) dries.

 I painted the baseboard ahead of time (along with the intended furniture) and put it in place next.

 I still have some work to do today, but here is a shot of some of the things going inside the room.

 

 I'm off to finish this up and then get back to the Porch.  My order from miniature.com won't be here until Monday but I can at least finish the stonework and maybe ponder a new roof.

See you later!