The Tilly Skirt

Sewing Mama RaeAnna has just released her latest pattern, The Tilly Skirt!  Since we are good friends, she gave me a sneak peek of the design and pattern before it was released to the public.  I couldn't wait to sew one up for Ella, and it was one of the quickest projects I've made in a while!

I made this skirt back in late April, and Ella has certainly enjoyed wearing it over and over again since then. In fact, I desperately need to make her another one!  Maybe I'll do that this afternoon since it only takes about an hour.

A sewVery Simple Fabric Gift and Storage Bag Tutorial

I never seem to have the right size or style of gift bag when I need one, or when I'm packing for a trip, I'm always needing a bag to put extra shoes in so they don't get my clothes all dirty.  Well, no more!

I've sewn up a bunch of great fabric bags in varying sizes and fabrics to use for gift wrap as well as any type of storage you can image!  You can make up your own collection, too, using my sewVery Simple Fabric Gift and Storage Bag Tutorial below!

For all my fabric gift and storage bags, I used pieces from a half yard bundle of Anna Griffin's Grace collection.  This particular bundle of fabric includes some beautiful floral prints ideal for women's gifts and a less feminine gray/yellow print that I think is suitable for a man's present as well.  These fabrics are great quality and will hold up well as these bags are used time and time again.

Using a few fat quarters and half yard cuts as well as a spool of gross grain ribbon, you can churn out a variety of bags in no time at all!  Ready to get started?!  Let's go!

A sewVery Simple Non-Slip Machine Mat Tutorial

For today's project, I'm pairing up with Craft Buds and Anna Griffin to share with you A sewVery Simple tutorial for making a Non-Slip Machine Mat with pocket storage and a detachable pin cushion.

For a while now, I've been wanting to make myself a new mat to use under my serger.  The old one I have is small, made of fabric that just isn't my style, and doesn't have a place for a pin cushion.  So, when Lindsay (my friend from Craft Buds) asked me if I wanted to make something using these cheerful and bright Maisie by Maude Asbury fabrics from Anna Griffin, I knew just what to make!

Disclosure:  The quilting fabrics used for this post were provided free of charge, but all opinions expressed in this post are my own.

Want to make your own non-slip machine mat with a matching pin cushion?  Here's how!

Supplies:

2 fat quarters of quilting cotton
1 - 12 1/4" x 18" piece of grip stop fabric (I purchased mine at Joann's)
1 - 4" long piece of 1" wide velcro
1 yard of light weight Pellon interfacing (I used Pellon P44F, but Pellon 911F would work great).
Batting or Fiber Fill
Scissors, Ruler, Marking Pen, Pins, Iron, Thread, Sewing Machine

Cut:

From one fat quarter:
3 - 5" x 18" pieces (1 is the pocket front, 1 is the pocket back, and 1 is part of the mat back)
2 - 3" x 4" pieces (for the pin cushion)

From interfacing:
1 - 18" x 18" piece
1 - 5" x 18" piece
2 - 3" x 4" pieces

Assembly:

Start by fusing the 18" x 18" piece of interfacing to the wrong side of the remaining fat quarter. Next, fuse the 5" x 18" piece of interfacing to the wrong side of the pocket front.

To assemble the non-slip machine mat, follow the instructions in the photographs below:

To construct the pin cushion:

And there you have it!  A sewVery Simple Non-Slip Machine Mat!  I wish I made a new one sooner. The non-slip backing is perfect for keeping the mat in place and preventing the machine from vibrating close to the edge.  Plus, the pockets are ideal for storing my scissors, cleaning brush, extra needles, and the allen wrench I use to unscrew the needles from my machine.

The narrow pin cushion with velcro on the bottom keeps the pin cushion in place while I sew instead of it vibrating off the table.  Plus, I have the option to remove it and take it to the ironing board or to my cutting mat when I need it.

I have very limited space in my sewing room, so my sewing machine and serger both sit on the same table but at right angles to one another.

My sewing machine has a knee peddle for raising the sewing machine foot, plus, my table has a drawer right under the machine.  Also, my sewing machine is made of all metal and very heavy, so it does not slip and slid around on the table like my serger, making the non-slip mat unnecessary. But all my sewing gadgets and tools seem to pile up to the right of my sewing machine (which is just left of my serger) making it cluttered and messy and sometimes difficult to find things or sew on the serger.

This is the first glimpse into my sewing space that I have ever posted!

So, I decided to make a smaller companion non-slip mat to sit to the right of my sewing machine. It also has a detachable pin cushion and two rows of pockets.

Since this smaller mat does not have a heavy machine to sit on it to keep it secure, I decided to hand stitch it to the edge of the non-slip serger mat where the edges meet.

I'm so excited to now have such pretty organization mats to use at my sewing table.  Now I think I'll make a couple of machine covers to match using the Maisie by Maude Asbury fabrics from Anna Griffin.

Here are the fabric details and links for the prints I used to make these sewVery Simple Non-Slip Machine Mats!

Mat Front:  Ma Maisie Floral Platinum

Front Pocket, Back Piece, one side of Pin Cushion:  Ma Maisie Stitch Grape

Back Pocket and one side of Pin Cushion: Ma Maisie Clover Grape

Fabric Collection:  Maisie by Maude Asbury

Want to win some of your own Maisie fabrics plus some other fun sewing stuff?  Then be sure to enter my 1,500+ Facebook Fans Giveaway going on now HERE!  

Also, be sure to visit my friend, Lindsay, at Craft Buds to check out all of her amazing projects and tutorials and to see the Pretty Petals Pillow she made with her Anna Griffin fabrics!  

Have fun sewing!

sewVery 1,500+ Facebook Fans Giveaway!

Thanks to all of you--my wonderful fans, friends, and supporters--my sewVery Facebook page has recently exceeded 1,500 Likes!  Whoo!  Hoo!  That's definitely cause for celebration.

And as a big Thank You, I've decided to have a giveaway!

I've been putting together a variety of fabric, books, magazines, notions, trims, and other goodies, plus several of my friends have contributed pdf patterns!  I'm giving everyone (both US and international fans) the chance to earn 8 entries using the Rafflecopter widgets below.  The contest will run through Saturday, March 15th, and the winners will be selected and announced here the following day.  Keep reading below to see the exact prizes and how the giveaway will work!

So what am I giving away?  Two prizes actually.  One prize for US sewVery fans and another prize for International sewVery fans!  Everyone will have a chance to win!

Here's how the giveaway will work:

If you live in the United States, you may enter the giveaway for Prize Pack #1 full of fabrics, magazines, notions, and whatever else I decide to throw in the box!  Your gift will be mailed out to you as soon as the winner emails me back with her/his address!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you live outside of the United States, then you may enter the International giveaway for a chance to win Prize Pack #2 which includes pdf sewing patterns from my friends at

Blank Slate Patterns (affiliate link)

Go To Patterns

The Sewing Loft

Sewing Mama RaeAnna,

and

Sew Like My Mom  

Once the international winner has emailed me back to confirm their email address, I'll forward the digital pdf patterns on to you!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
I hope that this style of giveaway will make all of my fans sewVery happy!  I value the support and friendships I have made from my many faithful followers all over the globe, and I want to make sure that all of you have the opportunity to win something in my sewVery 1,500+ Facebook Likes Thank You Giveaway.

Plus, I greatly appreciate the support and generosity of my talented pattern designer friends who have provided prizes for this giveaway!  Thanks, too, to Free Spirit Fabrics and Anna Griffin for supplying the fabrics.

This has been a great journey for me so far, and in the next few months, I think it is going to get even better!

Be sure to keep following sewVery for more pattern reviews, sewVery Simple Tutorials, and some exciting new adventures I'll be taking!

Sign up to follow by email (in the sidebar), Bloglovin', Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter!

Thanks again to all of you, and most importantly,

Have fun sewing!

Veronica

Philomena Fox Mini-Pillow

Unless you live in a bubble, then you know foxes are all the craze right now.  I'm always so slow at hopping on board such fun trends, but I've finally done it.

Virginia at Gingercake recently asked me if I'd like to try out her re-released Max the Owl pattern which now includes Philomena the Fox!  I knew this was my opportunity to contribute to the fox fad!

Disclosure:  I was provided this pattern and fabric for free in exchange for my honest review.  As always, all opinions in this post are my own.

For my version of Philomena Fox, I decided to print the pattern out at 50% of its original size to make a mini-pillow.  Like me, my children love things in miniature, plus I knew I had enough of this Anna Griffin Maisie by Maude Asbury fabric left over from another project to make a tiny version.  

First, I cut out the front and back pillow pieces using the Ma Maisie Stitch Grape, the face and pocket pieces in Ma Maisie Pearl Watermelon, and the eyes and nose in Ma Maisie Clover Grape.

I just love the colors used in this line of Anna Griffin fabric.  All three colorways are so bright and cheerful and make me want Spring to be here right now!

Instead of cutting out two more main pieces to make a lining, I decided to use some light weight Pellon 44F Fusible Apparel Interfacing to give the fabric a little more structure.  I also used Heat-n-Bond Lite to secure the face, eyes, and nose in place before stitching.

The pattern has simple and clear instructions and lots of tips on how to play around with the construction of the pattern to make it a unique item.  Plus, since the pattern has just been re-released, it now includes instructions for making both Max the Owl and Philomena the Fox!  

For my mini-pillow, I found some tiny vintage baby ric rac in my trim drawer and sewed it to the edges of the face.  I love the little extra detail and texture that the ric rac adds.  

And instead of sewing buttons on top of the eye pieces, I used the print from the fabric as the iris and highlighted the piece by zigzag stitching around it multiple times.

I chose to add the pocket to the back because I thought it could be used for two different things:

     1. to put cute little notes in it for my son and daughter as a game of "what does the fox say?"

         or

     2.  to use it as a tooth fairy pillow (my daughter is now old enough to start loosing teeth)

I also thought about just keeping it for myself and using it as a pin cushion to match another project that I recently finished.  Here's a sneak peak of it.  But as you can tell, I already made a pin cushion (actually 2) to use with that yet to be blogged about project!

So, if you are looking for a fun, fast (took me only an hour to make this cute mini-pillow), well-written project, then I highly recommend you try out the Gingercake Max the Owl and Philomena Fox pdf sewing pattern.  

Have fun sewing!