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 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!

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!