Strip Quilted Pouch

I've meaning to post this for awhile now:

This is a little pouch that I made for a friend of my mom's.  She's legally blind and has a guide dog.  She doesn't like to carry a purse.  I've made her several Crazy Quilt cellphone pouches over the years but this time I thought I'd make her a larger pouch so she has room for her keys, phone, rosary and wallet.

I strip quilted the pouch on a muslin foundation, then top stitched lace over the seams.  I appliqued the rose embroidery (from a vintage hanky) on top using heat and bond to hold it in place while sewing it down.  Then I added the trim around the outside.

A few embellishments gives it some sparkle.

I put it all together and then hand crocheted some trim for the bottom with some fancy yarn. 

The chain is removable.  I use the little lobster claw clasps which I hand sewn on and then added the chain.

It's a nice quick gift if anyone is looking for some fast Christmas ideas!

In other news, there's a contest over at Fans Of Kitty And Me Designs Facebook group!  The prize is one of my cross stitch patterns.  Hop over and check it out!

Strip Quilted American Flag Pillow

Last week, I saw the cutest American Flag pillow on Facebook.  It was really screaming at me so I decided to make one.  It took me all day yesterday but it's all finished:

When I started on it, I decided to take photos of each step and post it on Facebook.  Everyone seemed to enjoy that so for today, I'm going to put the tutorial together here.

To start, the finished pillow is 14 inches wide X 10 inches high.  Using a ruler, I marked out the pattern on muslin.  I always work on a foundation when I do strip quilting.

My stripes are 1 inch.  I didn't measure the blue patch.  I just eye-balled it.

Using my 1930's reproduction prints, I cut strips 1 1/2 inches high by however long I needed them to fit the flag pattern.

When I mark my foundation fabric, I use a black permanent market.  The point of this is so I can see it through the back of the foundation.

I started at the bottom, sewed down the first strip and then worked my way up.  I should have taken more photos.  I actually line my strips up and then sew on the line on the back.  Then I flip the strip, pressed it and sewed down the next strip until I got to the top.

The next step was to top stitch narrow lace over the seams.  This gave the "flag" a softer, more vintage look.

Here, I cut a piece of blue fabric.  Added fusible web to the back and ironed it in place.  Then I top stitched that on the edges.

Over the edges of the blue fabric, I top stitched some lace and then a row of blue ric rack.

For the "stars", I hand sewed on some vintage Mother Of Pearl Buttons.

Now for finishing.  I trimmed my edges making sure the flag was squared up.

I always cut my backing fabric larger than my actual stitched or quilted piece. 

With right sides together and starting at the bottom, sew the front to the back leaving about 6 inches open at the bottom for turning right side out.  Trim the excess fabric.

Turn right side out and press the seams so that the pillow is flat.  Stuff firmly with polyester fiberfill and blind stitch the opening closed by hand.

And that's all there is too it!

Saving The Past

I think most of us have a fondness and appreciation of old things.  Especially things that are handmade.  Years ago, I found this little piece of an old appliqued quilt in an antique mall:

It was in pretty good shape at the time.  I brought it home, washed it and sewed a back on it.  I stuffed it with polyester fiberfill and called it a pillow.

Over the years it of course has continued to age.  Time is not always so kind to vintage textiles.  It was time for another good cleaning and some repairs.

I washed by hand in my kitchen sink and replaced the missing french knot for the birds eye.  It had a few tiny tears so I tucked a tiny piece of fusible web beneath the tears and ironed those in place.

Finally, I added a piece of lightweight iron-on interfacing to the back and squared it up.

I pulled a few of my 1930's reproduction prints out, soft shades of green and yellow:

I decided to do a border on the top and bottom of the vintage piece using strip quilting which I do on a foundation:

When I finished up the strip piecing, it kind of screamed "new fabric" against the vintage piece.  I didn't want to "olden" it by tea dying or running through my washing machine a bunch of times so instead, I pulled out some of my cream colored laces and sewed strips of that down over or next to the seams:

This definitely softened the look of the new fabrics also adding a feminine quality to it.  Once I completed that, I squared up my "sheet of fabric":

It was at this point that I realized I had made a much bigger piece than what I needed!  I really just wanted about 3 inches on the top and the bottom of the vintage piece.  That's okay though.  I'll save the rest for something else.

Here is the finished pillow:

This now sits in my living room in an antique spindle chair that my father in law gave me.