Last Minute 'Uber-Quick-Really-Great' Gifts to Make

Yes, it is almost Christmas, but hang on, I've got some great projects you still have time to make. Scroll through these quickly then head for your nearest store and get going!

Fabulously festive fabric buckets to hold your gifts now and use for years! The Make Life Merry pattern comes with three iron-on lables to finish off your stitching in style. From Sweetwater Designs, it's available at all our stores except Outlet on 4th.

Gotta Grandma? Or an Aunt or anyone else who loves pictures? The Quilted Brag Book pattern from Hedgehog Quilting is quick to make and delightful to give. You'll find this wonderful pattern and the extra photo inserts you'll want at all our stores except Outlet on 4th. Pattern includes vinyl for front pocket and inserts for one book.

The Cash 'n Carry pattern from Atkinson Designs is a great way to give a bit of handmade re-usable love along with cash or a gift card. Best of all, we've made up 'ready-to-grab' kits of just the right amount of coordinated fabric ready for you. You can buy one kit and a pattern for under $15! Look for Cash 'n Carry, the kits and a 'sister' pattern (Snap Happy) at all our stores except Outlet on 4th.

Here's another easy-peasy way to stitch up a handmade package for a gift card! Little Wallet Sewing Card from Valori Wells is just $2.99 and so much fun, you'll want to make one for everyone. The Card, a little fabric and the promise of a sewing lesson would make a great gift, too! Available at all our stores except Bremerton and Outlet on 4th.

Purses, Bags and Totes are easy to make and a great solution for the 'problem child' on your gift list. You know - the one that's REALLY hard to shop for?!  Style Stiches from the always fabulous Amy Butler offers you 12 basic patterns and enough variations to make 26 unique looks. Something for everyone and the book on it's own would make a great gift, too! Available at all our stores.

Okay, Elfin Stitchers - ready, set, sew!!!

~ Annette

Really Rapid Ruffles!

The holidays are looming ever closer, and whether you are looking for a quick gift or a bit of feminine fabulousness for holiday parties, I have just the thing for you!



Rizos makes neat rows of ruffles



Triana is lacy, loopy, and lovely!



Arriving today in our stores are two amazing new novelty scarf yarns from Katia.  Triana knits up into a frothy boa of lace - it's fun to work with and lovely to feel.  Rizos knits up into dense layers of ruffles, a little warmer and equally fun to explore. Both could be used for trims on garments, but are really designed to be scarves  - one ball makes a generous scarf, and each comes with a free pattern sheet showing you just how to knit them up. Best of all, they knit fast, and at only $12.99 apiece, these could be the answers to your holiday gifting woes! I snuck a ball of Triana in white from Bremerton last night, and my scarf is already almost finished and truly spectacular.  These yarns are to be found at all stores but the 4th Ave Outlet - some colors were sold out, so we'll have even more choices come February!



ChaChaCha! Even the selvages are pretty!

 Want to wrap your friends (or yourself) in ruffles, but not into knitting?  Never fear, ChaChaCha is here!  Remember Dianne's awesome flapper dress for her granddaughter?  It was made from the ChaChaCha ruffle, which comes in red with black stitching, white with black stitiching, and black with white stitching.  Ellen, the Block of the Month leader and quilter extraordinaire at our Everett store, made the cutest skirt from the red one - it shimmies in the most delightful way, is totally adorable on her, and she said making it was a cinch - one width of fabric, a bit of elastic, and NO hemming, and it 's a sweet skirt!  If that's too complex, though, ChaChaCha makes scarfmaking even simpler - just get 1/2 yard, fold it in half lengthwise, sew the cut edges together, trying not to catch any of the ruffles in your stitches,  and it is a flirtatious and fashionable scarf - we have seen scarves at certain upscale department stores that begin with N that are identical - and retail for $60.  ChaChaCha is available at our Everett, Bellevue, Northgate and Puyallup stores, and is only $12.99 a yard. 

 - Anna-Beth

Fusible Piping - a speedy way to create!

File this under 'what will Nancy Zieman think of next'!

I enjoyed the Northwest Quilt, Craft & Sewing Festival last weekend and found our dear Chris Claus demonstrating this incredibly cool stuff! Wrap 'n Fuse Piping designed by Nancy Zieman for Clover makes piping and gifts super quick and easy!

Chris used a Bias Tape Maker, another of our favorite Clover tools, to make the bias strips she used to cover the piping. How did she put it all together? Watch my little video below!

See - easy! And just to round out our list of Clover products we love, Chris uses Clover's Mini-Iron to do the pressing because it fits the small space so well. Thank you, Clover! And when you're done fusing your piping . . .

You can coil and stitch it into these cute coasters or hot pads! You'll find all of these wonderful Clover products at all of our stores - just in time for Thanksgiving hot pads and great for gifts. (Watch for more videos. I had great fun 'filming' Chris at our booth at the show!)

~ Annette

(Chris "Claus" is well known for her part in our Christmas in July events and being the queen of demos at our Sewing & Stitchery Expo booth. In between demo engagements, you'll find her at our Everett store where she is the Assistant Manager.)

Outlet Staff Spotlight: Sew Easy Fat Quarter Gifts

From time to time at the Outlet on 4th, we pick a book, product or pattern, all make our own projects and put them up for display. It's really cool to see what everyone does and it always inspires me to make more things when I see someone else's ideas.

Right now our display focuses on the Sew Easy Fat Quarter Gifts book. Stuffed full of 64 projects, at $19.95 it's just right for holiday present making. I'd like to share our results with you! 

Our Manager, Janice chose the Petite Purse from page 100 and the Sew Special Gift Bag from page 109. On the right you can see the Color My World crayon apron from page 36 made by our sewing teacher Ann.

Loretta made the On The Go Bag from page 96 and added amazing button bouquets to it! Be sure to come into the store to see the Mini Gift Boxes that Brenda made from page 167, too.

I stitched up the Baby Announcement Board (left) from page 16 and used it to announce the birth of Annika, our buyer, Anna-Beth's new baby girl. Then I made a boy and girl version of the Sweet Baby Quilt (right) from page 13.

There's more, too and they were all so quick to make using fat quarters. Come on into the Outlet on 4th and look for this display! It will be up for a couple more weeks. You'll find the book at all our stores (except Northgate) right now, too.

~ Mary

(Mary works at the Outlet on 4th and leads the Block of the Month Club. She is a skilled, avid quilter and kntter.)

There's still time to make this super quick Rustic Pumpkin Runner!

With Halloween just around the corner, it might seem that there isn't any time to create a festive seasonal table that speaks to the season. Don't despair, though! Northgate's own Wendy has designed a fabulous quick runner that can be made up in less than an hour, and is super cute!

Wendy's Rustic Pumpkin Runner is made of Burlap, cotton, and a bit of trim, and is made extra quick with the wonders of fusible adhesive (I heart Heat-N-Bond!)

You can download a free pattern here, pick up what you need at any Pacific Fabrics store, and have your table all decked out before you can say "Boo!"

Thanks Wendy, and Happy Halloween to all.

~ Anna-Beth
 
(Wendy is the Assistant Manager at our Northgate store. She is a phenomentally talented seamstress, specializing in Bridal and costume wear.  She is also the mother of adorable Aiden, who she has made many incredible Halloween costumes for - he was a flying monkey one memorable year!)

Tuesday Tip: A Time Saving Tool for this Holiday Season

I have been sewing and crafting since I was 12 years old and making quilts for a few years now. It makes me embarrassed to admit that I had never used a tool that many others would consider so basic. It is a bias tape maker! They have been around for years but I never thought of using one until this summer as I was preparing our Christmas in July presentation and now I can’t live without it!


I was making a fabric Christmas ornament called “The Coiled Fabric Snowflake Ornaments” by Designs to Share with You. The pattern mentioned using fabric strips with the bias tape maker and Steam a Seam fusible tape to create these beautiful snow flakes. By guiding the fabric through the bias tape maker it was so easy to press the fabric and create the perfectly folded strips to coil into the snowflake shapes.

Coiled Fabric Snowflake Ornaments

I was so impressed with my new found tool that I then used it to complete some placemats I was making. Instead of merely using “ready-made,” packaged bias tape, I bought coordinating fabric and made my own bias tape to bind my placemats. What a difference it made in the finished look of my project!

The Bias Tape Makers are made by CLOVER and come complete with instructions in five sizes; from ¼ inch to 2 inches (I now own them all!). I am using them for all my Christmas gifts that call for bias tape or binding, everything from quilts to pot holders. What a time saver during this busy time of year, my only regret is that I didn’t discover them sooner!

Clover Bias Tape Makers in all 5 sizes

~ Chris
(Our Asst Manager at the Everett store, resident Demo Queen and company spokesperson)

Easy Costume Idea - Bee's Knees Flapper Dress

Are you scrambling for a costume idea? Dianne, manager of our Bellevue store, stopped by to show us the adorable costume she made for her granddaughter. Dianne says "Mom said no, but Grandma said yes; so I whipped this up". This one is for an elementary schooler, but it could easily be adapted for anyone. Take a look!

She used the new ChaChaCha ruffle fabric that just arrived! It comes in black, white and, of course, red and is available at Everett, Bellevue, Northgate and Puyallup. (You'll find a few other color ways exclusively at Northgate, too.)

Close up of the ChaChaCha ruffle fabric. 

Dianne stitched up a one seam 'tube' for the body of the dress, added some sequin trim for the straps and a head band, then a black fur trim scarf and quickly had a darling costume. We have some very cute dress up accessories to finish off this year's Halloween costume or to add to the dress up clothes trunk. Wouldn't some elbow length black gloves just look amazing with this outfit?!



Close up of the top of the dress with accessories.

We're hoping for a picture of the fabulous dress on the sweet granddaughter later, but in the meantime, here's the finished costume. Just needs the gloves and she'll be ready to gather treats!

The finished dress. Ready for a roarin' good Halloween!

I hope this has inspired you! If you have more ideas for quick costumes you can sew, leave us a comment so we can all share.

~ Michelle

Spidey Table Topper: A Must for Halloween!

When this pattern came in to the stores I just had to try it. It was just too cute to refuse not to!


Spidey Table Topper Pattern


I went home and got out some of my Halloween fat quarters, black cotton and a left over piece of batting and off I went. This table topper went together so fast and easy; it is quilt-as-you-go making it a great project for quilters and non-quilters alike.



Finished Spidey on a web of Creep Cloth



I think my Spidey is going to live on the coffee table with a dish full of Halloween candy. It would also be really cute spread across the center of your dining room table with a black table cloth and some Creep Cloth (available at all of our stores).



This project would be a great addition to anyone's Halloween decorations and it is so fast and easy you'll have it ready in no time!

**The Spidey pattern is available at all of our stores except the Outlet and if you are in our Northgate store check out the great model on display.

Happy Halloween,

      Michelle

Fast and Easy Quilt with an African Beat!

A couple of weeks ago Annette told you about a new line from Hoffman Fabrics called African Beat… well I absolutely fell in love with this line. All the browns, rusts and greens are just perfect and the amazing giraffe allover is the icing on the cake.

Now the only problem was… What am I going to make out of all these beautiful fabrics? I went online to the Hoffman website and downloaded the free quilt pattern for African Beat, bought the required fabric and set to work cutting and sewing.

The vertical lines of this quilt are perfect for this fabric and it went together really fast and easy. My only recommendation is to trace all the circles on the fusible web, iron it to the uncut fabric and then cut the circles out rather than all the steps the pattern describes.

I stitched around each of the circles using
a variegated thread and zigzag stitch.

When I got the top all put together, as shown in the pattern, it was beautiful but was lacking a little something. I decided it needed an outside border; so I bought another yard of the brown leaves and added a five inch border. This really made the quilt pop and helped finish it off.

The finished quilt... isn't it beautiful!

I then brought it to our custom quilter who helped me piece the back and then did an amazing job quilting it with a leaf pattern similar to those in the border.

Close up of the amazing quilting.

TIP: Matching the Back-

• On the first panel iron one edge over, wrong sides together, and line the design up with that on the other panel.
• Unfold the edge and sew along the crease.

This gives you a perfectly matched back and a nearly invisible seam. For this quilt I used the giraffe allover making the back almost as amazing as the front especially with the gorgeous quilting.

Everyone was so impressed with how this quilt turned out that we decided to make it into a kit which should be arriving in the next couple of weeks at a store near you!

Happy Quilting!
Michelle

The probem with being a fabric buyer...

...is that I want all of the fabrics in our stores.


For instance, today I went into our Northgate store on business, not planning to buy anything.

But then I see these fun new arrivals from Robert Kaufman. Owls, whales, lime greens and hot pinks - these are a few of my favorite things! So I have fat quarters cut from them. (Did you know that our stores will cut you fat quarters of pretty much any quilting fabric you want?)

But of course, there are other fabrics that match these so well, I need to get fat quarters of them, too. So I leave, an hour later, with 17 fat quarters. 

SEVENTEEN!  Aren't they so pretty, though? So now I'm looking for the perfect project for these.  I'm thinking of the "Magical Mystery Tour" Quilt.

It requires 20 fat quarters, though.  I guess I'll have to head back in for more!

 - Anna-Beth

Quick Quilt! Lilly Pilly from Down Under

I just finished sewing the binding on this exuberant, whimsical little beauty of a quilt, and I just had to show it off! The quilt is "Lilly Pilly," one of a few adorable patterns we have picked up recently from Australian company Don't Look Now.  I did all of the applique using Steam-A-Seam, so the whole quilt top took me one afternoon (with my dear quilting friend Becci holding my baby to let me cut and fuse in peace - Thanks Becci!) and then I just had to quilt it.

I absoloutely LOVED this project - it will one day be over my little Annika's bed - but I have a great tip if you are thinking of doing it (which you so should.)  If I had it to do over, I would quilt the entire background, then fuse on my appliques and stitch around them - adding all of the textural quilting around the birds and leaves was way more difficult than just doing large open spaces. The designer instructs you on how to do that swirly quilting, and it's a great chance to practice your machine quilting. It's not hard, and it was fun to do!

This pattern is in stock at PacFab Everett, Northgate, Bellevue, Puyallup, and Bremerton.  Highly recommended!

~ Anna-Beth