Some of you (hopefully most of you, actually) are familiar with Nancy Zieman, of Sewing With Nancy fame. (That’s the longest-running craft TV program in the country – it’s been on PBS since 1983.) Nancy has a new line of Tablet Keeper products with Clover, and she offered me a chance to try them out. Having seen Nancy demo some of her other template products at CHA last year, I was excited to see how this one worked.

I was also excited to have such a nice use for the fabrics I’d ordered from Daisy Janie. I love how they look together here!

The Tablet Keeper is essentially a clear plastic template that guides you through the process of making fabric covers for electronic tablet devices or good old pads of paper. Used by itself, the template is awesome (more on that in a moment), but you can combine it with a few other products for an even easier experience, like the fusible Create A Strap interfacing shown above.

I’d recommend watching this excellent video Nancy made, showing how the Tablet Keeper system of products work. The whole process is very easy, and I love, love, love Nancy’s ability to make these extremely-simple tools that create perfect results.

I’m pretty measure-phobic and genetically inclined toward wonkiness. But with this template, you just keep re-applying it to your project at crucial moments. It’s your pattern for cutting the fabric. It’s your placement guide for the strap and Velcro pieces. It’s your guide for placing the inside spine.

…And what I ended up with was a level of precision that I’m not usually able to create myself. The written/illustrated instructions that come with the template are very clear and detailed, and walk you right through the process. It took me maybe three hours from start to finish.

One tiny caveat: I did have to cheat the measurements a little to fit my Kindle Touch.

The Tablet Keeper will make covers in three sizes: Large, for large paper pads, Medium, for iPads and similar devices, and Small, for Kindles and other e-readers. But after reading through the instructions and watching the video above, I noticed something odd: the Small size seemed a little too tall for my Kindle Touch. You can see what I mean below – the pink lines denote the Small template size.

So I went here and learned that different Kindle models have different dimensions. The Tablet Keeper, it turns out, is sized for the Kindle Keyboard and the Kindle Fire, which are a little taller than my Kindle Touch.

No problem; I just cut my fabric a little shorter than the template indicated (7 ¾” high, for those who are curious). The template, luckily enough, has a totally unrelated mark on it (shown below) that I was able to use as a guide line, and with that, my cover turned out just fine.

(For the record, I checked our iPad, and saw that the medium size dimensions for the Tablet Keeper do fit perfectly. But there’s no way K will let me make a girly cover for his iPad!)

I also opted to put some iron-on vinyl on my fabrics, as we’re in that interminable season here in Portland where everything in your bag tends to get a little bit wet. And, although you can get buckle hardware in the Tablet Keeper product line, I discovered that this little buckle, which has lived in my stash for 12 years, was just perfect for this project.

Which should remind all of us that it is completely okay to never, never throw anything away. :-)

I was curious about what kind of process goes into making a tool that simplifies a project to this degree, and Nancy was nice enough to elaborate:

“I have a bin of Tablet Keeper prototypes! My guess is that I personally made 12-14 prototypes, then my ace stitcher, Sharen, made another 8-12 tablet keepers before the design, size, details (snap, Velcro, and elastic placement) were finalized. When we have achieved the final design, photos are taken of each step, which I use to write the instructions. Most generally during the instruction-writing step, I’ll streamline the process and then make yet another sample!

As a side note, the initial prototypes did not include the Pre-Cut Tablet Keeper Shapers. That product concept came to mind when I was sewing — the Tablet Keepers were not secure enough to house an expensive e-reader! Clover agreed to pre-cut the heavy plastic. What a terrific finishing touch to the Tablet Keeper.”

(That’s true – those fairly rigid plastic sheets do give the finished Tablet Keeper a nice sturdiness. I was able to cut mine down to fit my altered size very easily using a utility knife and a cork-backed metal ruler.)

So, my Tablet Keeper has been out and about with me several times now, and I’m loving using it. It definitely gives my Kindle lots of extra protection in my bag, and makes it more comfortable to hold. And I might just make that girly iPad cover, and use it in secret. :-)

If you’d like to check out the Tablet Keeper template, take a look at Nancy’s website.

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For the past week, I’ve been in Houston. First, I had a visit with Rachel and Kristin, and then I was working with Clover in their booth, demonstrating the Kanzashi Makers at Fall Quilt Market.

Fall Quilt Market (a wholesale show) is unimaginably vast and more than a little overwhelming. Since I’m not a quilter myself, there was a fair amount of it that sailed over my head, but the firehose of gorgeous fabrics and quilts will have my head spinning for some time.

Quilt by Diane Whittier

What I’d like to write about instead is the giant quilt exhibit that accompanied the show. It was actually a whole bunch of smaller exhibits, representing regional quilt guilds and creative challenges, combined into one deeply inspiring space. Whether you quilt or not, you have to respect the artistry of these makers.

Quilt by Mary Pal

I loved the mix of quilting styles in this show. There were many traditional quilts, but I was more drawn to modern and art-quilt styles. Like this one. It’s hard to see in the photo, but this portrait of two homeless men is rendered in white thread. Goodness.

Quilt by Caryl Bryer Fallert

The intricacy of the quilting here boggles my mind.

Quilt by Emily Nie

Here’s a more traditional quilt. I love the way Emily Nie cut all those florals and re-arranged them slightly in a kaleidoscope style.

Quilt by Frances Holliday

This one caught my eye from across the room. When I got closer, I was intrigued by the fabrics and the contrast with the shiny metallic bands. Turns out, the artist printed these fabrics with Spoonflower! The imagery comes from her photos of beautiful old hardware on the Texas state capitol building.

Quilt by Kathy Johnson

I was also drawn to things with dimensional flowers (naturally). Loved the riot of shapes on this one.

Quilt by Keiko Morihiro

I realize that I ended up photographing mostly bold quilts, and that doesn’t represent the whole show at all. There were lots of elegant, subtle pieces like this one. Look at how precise the quilting patterns are within each section of this design! Gorgeous.

Quilt by Deborah Kemball

This is all applique, my friends.

This is a good moment to talk about something I talked about after Spring Quilt Market. I was again really impressed with the depth of the craftsmanship in all of these quilts. Seriously intricate and perfectly-executed work – the kind that requires many, many hours of practice to achieve.

I feel like, in our neck of the crafting woods, we’re less concerned with this level of expression and more concerned with simplicity and actually getting a project or two done amidst the swirl of our lives. That’s a totally valid approach to crafting, of course, but there’s no denying that being in the presence of deeply-accomplished crafting like this is both inspiring and transformative. And I can’t help noticing that this show was a rather perfect illustration of Elizabeth’s post about the creative value of limiting your internet time.

Image by Anne Michelle Settle

Then there’s this strip-pieced quilt – impressive in its intricacy, especially near the center, right?

…Well wait, there’s more! That quilt is about 12″ x 12″. Those fabric strips making up that design are about ¼” wide. Gotta respect the ninja-like skill there.

Quilt by Cathy Miller

Just because it blew my mind, here’s another tiny quilt, this time made of fabric hexies. I think they were about 3/8″ across. I cannot imagine working that small.

Back to macro, then, for a section of the show I especially enjoyed. Twelve by Twelve is an international art quilting group that’s based online. Every month, all twelve members make a small art quilt based on a designated theme or color palette. These small quilts were stunning in the breadth of different techniques they incorporated, and in the way they were displayed in groupings, so you could see how each person interpreted the theme.

Quilt by Maureen O’Doogan

Here’s more amazing applique. I just loved the subtlety of the curving leaf stems against the bold pop of the flowers. I’m getting bitten by the applique bug, hard. Maybe I should abandon my Gene Kelly plastic canvas project, which is giving me no end of grief, and applique something instead.

Quilt by Anna Faustino

Ack! This post is getting ridiculously long. I’m sorry – and rest assured, I haven’t shown you all of it! Here’s one last piece, which is made of woven fabrics and ribbons. I know, right?

If for some reason you haven’t had enough photos of amazing quilting, you can pop over to my Flickr set and see some more.

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OK, I’ll start with a disclaimer/apology: I saw Quilt Market at pretty high speeds. I snapped as many pictures as I could of the amazing things I saw, but I did a terrible job of getting the pertinent details. Chalk it up to a brain that’s trying to process thousands of new pieces of information at once these days.

Anyway. Quilt Market – Wowee! It was huge (800 exhibitors)! And I had a great time demo-ing the new Kanzashi Makers from Clover. People loooooooved them. I had the gratifying experience of seeing people’s faces light up over and over again. And I can now say authoritatively that it’s possible to make Kanzashi at top speed, upside down, while talking.

The product is making its way through the distribution chain right now, and will likely be hitting your local craft stores within the next 30 days or so. When you’re there, look for the free Clover project sheets – I designed one of them!

…And check out this art quilt, which uses Kanzashi petals as dimensional elements. Absolutely stunning.

Another highlight of the Clover booth for me was meeting Nancy Zieman, of Sewing With Nancy fame. She’s releasing an awesome new quilting template that helps you do supersized versions of several traditional quilt block patterns. It’s crazy-easy, and the results are gorgeous. Check out these giant hexies:

(For you quilters, Nancy’s template allows you to easily strip piece this design – no Y seams!)

From here, my details are fuzzy so I’m just going to show you pretty things and share what they made me think about. My sincerest apologies to all the uncredited artists here. You deserve much better treatment than I’m giving you.

Will someone please, please, please, please make me one of these for Christmas?

I thought this little handbag block was really adorable, and I especially love the spiral quilting pattern between the blocks.

…Speaking of totally amazing quilting! Apparently this piece was quilted and then color was added with colored pencil and artist’s medium on top.

I was struck, looking at these incredible works of craftsmanship, with the idea that this is what comes of focus. So many of us in this community are dabblers, as am I, but I was moved to appreciate the heights of quality a crafter can reach if they stick with one thing and practice a lot over time.

This piece combines applique (all those triangles) with ribbon embroidery. And again, the quilting pattern is so beautiful! Look at this stuff up close, and you can’t see a single flaw.

I remember taking Home Ec classes in high school (because that’s how dang old I am), and being taught to sew seams over and over until I could get them perfect. These days, we’re a lot less about perfection and a lot more about joyful experimentation. Both avenues of making are wonderful and important, of course, but it’s a real treat to stand in the presence of a piece like this.

And I like thinking about the fact that it will last for years and years. I wonder how long many of the things I’ve made will last.

Actually, there was a lot of embroidery on the quilts I saw at the show. I love this trend! In this piece, the appliqued flowers are edged with stitching, and the basket is made from a series of fabric strips, woven together and appliqued. The flowers are velveteen, which adds a pretty contrast.

…And lastly, I loved this graphic black and white quilt. What a gorgeous mix of patterns!

Whew. Next stop, Maker Faire, this weekend!

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These, my friends, are brand-spanking-new Kanzashi Makers from Clover! They aren’t even in craft stores yet – they’re in the process of launching right now!

And lucky me, I get to accompany the Clover team to Spring Quilt Market in Salt Lake City this weekend. I’ll be demonstrating these bad boys throughout the show.

If you’ve ever tried Clover’s yo-yo makers (and you should – they’re amazing), these Kanzashi Makers work very similarly. You fold the fabric inside the plastic template, and then follow a series of numbered stitch holes. Remove the template, pull the thread, and BAM! Petal!

The templates neatly solve the two biggest issues people have with the method in my book, namely: the backs of the Round petal style popping out when you assemble your flower; and the potential for stringing petals facing the wrong way.

Here are a few flowers I’ve made with them recently, so you can see the three petal styles at work. In fact, all of these will be on my person at some time or other at the Market.

(That’s a trade-only event, but if you’ll be there and you read this, I’d love to say howdy in person!)

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So, earlier today I had an email from my Mom. The subject line read:

Do me a favor. Sort of an order.

Well, you know that when your Mom gives you an order, even “sort of,” you should listen. Here’s what she asked me to do…

“Since you just came out of a very intense week of re-directing your blog, and you’re now embarking on a more personal style that makes you happy, I think that sometime today, you should get a personal project, go outside, and just enjoy a little crafting-for-you time. Then take a picture and share that with us.”

Those Moms, Man. They always know what’s best. She was totally right.

Happy Easter, and Happy Weekend, everyone!

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While I’m cleaning house and making food ahead today, I’ll just pop in and share this new tutorial I have over on CRAFT.

This Potluck Dish Cozy was inspired by my Mom, who always wraps her potluck dishes in old towels so they stay warm in transit. So this is a padded envelope made from a felted sweater and a felted blanket. It works great, and sews up very quickly. (Especially if you aren’t compelled to hand-sew felt shapes all over the front.)

Click over here for the how to! And have a lovely Thanksgiving, U.S. folks. I’ll see you on Friday, plate of leftovers in hand.

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I teased this tutorial quite a while ago, but then I got an idea that made it a lovely Thanksgiving craft. So I waited.

You can make one of these quilted cards for every person at your Thanksgiving table. You can write each of them a personal message (on the back), thanking them for something nice they’ve done for you. Or, you can make each person several blank cards, and they can send thank-yous to people in their lives.

Before we get into how to make ‘em, here’s another shot that shows the back. I also love this project because it’s a great way to play with quilting without having to wrangle a whole quilt!

So, the basis of this card is Friendly Felt, which is a stiffened acrylic felt made from recycled fiber. I love it because it’s lightweight and just rigid enough, and you can sew through it with ease. I routinely find this in the kids’ section of my local Jo-Ann store, and you can also get it online (try a search on Etsy).

If you don’t have access to Friendly Felt, you could also use lightweight chipboard, though the sewing may be tougher going.

Anyway. Cut a piece of Friendly Felt to the size you want your card to be. Here, I’m sizing mine to some envelopes I have in stash – 6 1/2″ x 4 1/2″. (The card will “grow” in thickness, so make sure it’s 1/4″ smaller on all sides than your envelope. Or, skip the envelope.)

Next, you’ll want to play with some fabrics and decide on a patchwork configuration. I did a really simple combination of one print fabric and one linen fabric, but you could do all kinds of different things here.

You’ll need to end up with a patchwork piece that’s about 1″ bigger on all sides than your Friendly Felt piece. While you’re here, cut a piece of cotton quilt batting that’s the same size as the Friendly Felt.

Next, stack everything up in this order: your patchwork, face down, on the bottom; the batting centered over it; and the Friendly Felt centered over the batting.

Incidentally, you can pin these layers together – just use long pins and pin shallowly so you don’t warp the Friendly Felt. With the design I’m doing here, I like to pin things so I can keep that one seam in my patchwork parallel to the edges of the card.

So let’s anchor these layers together. Head to your sewing machine and “stitch in the ditch” right along that seam line. (If your patchwork is more complex than mine, you’ll probably want to sew along all your seam lines.)

Now, head over to the ironing board and press all four corners to the back, as shown here.

Then, carefully fold all four edges to the back and press them, too.

Pressing Friendly Felt, by the way, is interesting. I recommend that you always keep a layer of fabric between your hot iron and the Friendly Felt. The felt will actually get quite soft when you apply heat, so be careful not to warp it when it’s in that state. It’ll quickly cool and get rigid again.

With the edges pressed, go ahead and stitch close to all four edges to anchor them in place.

You know, if I were a better quilter, I might have made nice, square corners. But since I’m not, I made rounded corners part of my design and moved on with my wonky-quilter life.

Now, it’s time to start quilting. I’ll just mention quickly that there are approximately one bazillion ways you could quilt these cards – you could hand quilt, you can machine quilt, you could embroider them, Sashiko, Trapunto and so on. I decided to quilt a design on the linen that mimics the print of the fabric.

If you like, you can draw your quilting lines onto the card ahead of time with a water-soluble fabric marker. Preferably one that’s not on its last legs like this one is.

From there, you can pop this back on your sewing machine and quilt away. I like to use two or three colors of thread. For these cards, in addition to the quilted design I did on the linen, I also quilted along parts of the design of the printed fabric.

Now, as I do this quilting, I don’t start and end my seams by reversing my machine and back-stitching (like you might do in a garment-sewing project). I find that, with so many small seams in a tight space, all that back-stitching looks messy. So instead. I leave thread hanging from the start and end of each seam. Just keep moving the threads out of your way as you work.

Here’s how I deal with all those hanging threads. First, any threads that are hanging from the inside of the card, I thread them one by one on a needle and pull them to the back side. There, I just trim them to about 2″ long. I don’t bother knotting them, because they’ll be glued in a moment.

…And here’s where I’m going to cause several accomplished quilters to spill their coffee. Wherever my quilting seams run off the edges of the card, I simply gather them, pull them to the back side, and tape them down with masking tape.

I know, right? Tacky! But the thing is, I spent well over an hour on one prototype, pulling all the edge-threads to the back and carefully knotting them. And the result looked exactly the same as this quicker-and-dirtier method did. So, there you go.

(Keep that masking tape at least 1/4″ from the edge of the card, by the way.)

Now, cut a piece of card stock to match the size of your nearly-finished card. I made a simple one with my computer’s word-processing program, printed it, and cut it out, rounding the corners to match the quilted card.

Then, apply a light coat of tacky glue to the back – and be careful here. Too much glue can cause the card stock to warp and wrinkle.

Apply the card stock to the back of the quilted card…

…And quickly place it under a stack of heavy books. (Preferably excellent books like these.)

And that’s it! Once I had the process down, I was able to turn one of these babies out within 30 minutes. You could do it in less if you did simpler quilting.

If you make some of these, I’d love to see them in the CraftyPod Reader Projects Flickr Pool!

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A lot of the garment-sewing coverage in our crafty blogosphere seeks to simplify the process. Which is sometimes too bad, because there’s so much beauty to be had in older, more ornate sewing techniques like pin-tucking, lace mitering, and sewing with entredeux.

What’s entredeux? It’s a very fine eyelet trim that’s used to join two pieces of material. Want to see how it works? Check out this video from Sew Beautiful Magazine, hosted by editor Kathy Barnard:

(There’s a Part Two to this tutorial, which you can see here.)

Sew Beautiful is hosting a cool blog tour to celebrate these heirloom sewing techniques. It’s traveled around the blogosphere, and if you visit the stops, you can learn a series of beautiful details for handling lace, trims, and tucks. And all these techniques are collected in this pretty camisole project, which is featured in the September/October issue of the magazine.

And then, to further celebrate heirloom sewing, Sew Beautiful is also letting me do a pretty sweet giveaway. Here’s the prize package they’ve donated:

• A complete kit needed to make the Vintage Inspiration camisole, from sizes XS (2-4) to 3X (26-28)
• A copy of Sleepwear Especially for You (which contains the basic tank top pattern suggested in the instructions)
• A copy of the new issue of Sew Beautiful
• A June Tailor Heirloom Stitcher’s Shape ‘N Press board

That Shape ‘N Press board is super cool – take a look:

(As the name implies, those guides are designed for pressing trims and fabrics into various shapes with precision. OOh!)

Anyway – to enter your name for this prize package, leave a comment below and tell me which of Sew Beautiful’s heirloom sewing techniques you’re likely to apply to your own crafting, and why. (Sorry, but due to the size of the items, this drawing must be restricted to US entries only.)

I’ll draw a winner at random on Friday, August 13th. (For no other reason than the ability to make it someone’s lucky day for a change.)

Want to see the rest of the blog tour? look here.

Congratulations to Jean Babbage, our winner!

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Interweave was kind enough to send me a preview copy of a really interesting digital-publishing adventure they’re launching. It’s called Quilting Arts In Stitches, and they’re calling it an eMag.

I’m all about innovations in publishing (I may have mentioned this at some point), so I was excited to check this project out. Here are some of my impressions…

First, delivery is different than you might expect. This is not a PDF download. It’s a software application that you download and install on your computer. And it’s pretty good-sized, at over 300 MB. It takes a little time to get it up and running.

An article with an embedded video tutorial.

…Not that this should freak you out! Because this eMag is a very different animal from your usual online magazine. There are videos embedded in each article. There are downloadable tutorials tucked in. There are photo galleries with zoom capability. There’s an embedded search engine. So there’s a ton of content-value here.

All in all, the eMag contains a full hour of assorted video content, ten articles with seven full tutorials, one studio tour, nine artist profiles, four downloadable PDF projects, and five “reader challenge” creativity prompts. And it’s all presented with a beautiful user interface that lets you skip to any point in the content, page or scroll, and zoom in and out on any page.

So far, so cool.

An artist gallery. That slider bar on the right lets you zoom in on each image.

Here’s why I think Interweave has really made this idea sing – the content of Quilting Arts In Stitches is deeply focused. The quilting techniques presented here will appeal to art quilting aficionados – they’re all on the advanced side. This is awesome, because how many times have you paid for pages in your books and magazines that cover basic techniques you already know?

(Not to mention, you can get basic techniques for free online anywhere these days – which is one reason so many print magazines have had trouble. But the more advanced stuff, because it’s more challenging, still has value.)

If I’m an art quilter, this hybrid magazine/software product is something I can revisit again and again as I learn and practice the techniques. I think Interweave has very smartly focused the eMag heavily on how-to material, because that tends to have a long “shelf life.”

The retail price point may seem high at first – $14.97. But, when you consider that full hour of video, and compare it to the price of your average craft DVD, we’re definitely in the ballpark. Also, remember that this eMag has no ads in it. When you buy a print magazine, much of the production cost is subsidized by ad revenues. So this is a whole new pricing model – and it can’t fairly be compared to print.

Click on any artist’s picture, and it opens a full bio window.

I think this is an awesome and meaningful step into Magazines 2.0, and I totally applaud Interweave for taking this bold step into new-media content delivery.

If you want to score a copy, you can do it at the Interweave online store. Oh – and keep an eye out for future eMags covering knitting, fiber arts, and jewelry-making. Mmmmmm…

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Yippee! We’re the second stop on the blog tour for Whip Up Mini Quilts, the new book from Kathreen Ricketson of Whipup.net.

(Some disclosures: that’s an affiliate link, and Chronicle Books sent me a review copy.)

I’ve been really excited to see this book, because I love the art of quilting, but my living space and ancient sewing machine could never accommodate a full-size quilt project. I adore the idea of these smaller projects, turned into decor or household items.

In terms of educational quality, Whip Up Mini Quilts offers text-based instructions with some nice illustration. The initial sections cover piecing, applique, and various embellishment techniques as well as backing, basting, quilting, and binding. All the pieces are here to complete the book’s projects.

If you’re a beginner, you may need more visual reference, but anyone else should have no problem with these instructions.

For those wanting to reproduce the projects in the book, there’s a set of full-size templates for all the designs, bound into a handy envelope inside the front cover.

I love the diversity in this project set! It’s an inspiring mix of techniques and visual styles, grouped by themes:

• Romantic
• Playful
• Modern Folk
• Modern Elegance
• Geometric
• Punk, Pop, and Politics
• Memories and Storytelling

(This piece, by Sarah Steedman, uses applique and simple embroidery to great effect.)

Lizette Greco‘s treasure map quilt makes me very, very happy.

I love that the book offers quilts-as-toys, quilts-as-pillows, quilts-as-placemats, and quilts-as-wall art.

Here’s a great simple quilt by Shannon Lamden – I love how the bold fabrics carry the design.

This is another of my favorites – Victoria Gertenbach‘s grasshopper design. The quilting is done with hand embroidery, which adds some interesting dimension – and I love the addition of the buttons.

Okay – just one more. Kathreen designed this simple nine-patch shibori sampler. What a great project for playing with fabric-dyeing techniques!

There’s a nice glossary of quilting terms in the back, and, because it’s from Chronicle Books, a very useful spiral binding.

Whipup Mini Quilts is a great inspiration book to get you thinking about quilting in new ways.

What about that giveaway?

Oh, right. The nice people at Chronicle have donated a copy of this book for a giveaway! To enter, leave a comment below and tell me how you’d like to use a small-quilt project – as art? As tote? As runner? Some other way?

You have until noon PST on Friday, June 4th. Good Luck!

UPDATE: Congratulations to Shae, our winner! This drawing is now closed.

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We’re busy this week getting ready for How to Host Your Own Blog, so I thought I’d share some crafty I’ve done for other people lately.

Over on CRAFT, I did this tutorial for an oilcloth garden tool caddy as part of their Bloom garden project series.

…It unfolds to reveal pockets for your tools, and you can use it as a gardening mat! Also, cherries and gingham FTW!

And then for Earth Day, I had this how-to for a recycled newspaper vase in The Oregonian. (For you locals, I used a whole FoodDay circular to make this.)

You can see the tutorial online over here, and get more detail on the reed-rolling process over here.

And while I’m here, I freaking love you guys for your kind responses to my first video blog. Seriously, you rock!

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So instead, I’ll share tutorials for three Easter baskets I did last year…

This paper basket is based on the traditional woven paper heart. The how-to is over at CRAFT.

Take a look at the pretty version Tethered2Home made!

(Incidentally, have you ever seen what happens when you put Peeps in the microwave?)

These baskets are made of two fabric circles, placed back to back and then dipped in stiffener and formed. You could easily glue in a stiffened ribbon handle. The how-to is over at CraftStylish.

…And this basket is woven from cardboard packaging. Very sturdy, and the graphics add lots of visual texture. You could always paint them, too. The how-to is also over at CraftStylish.

Enjoy! And don’t forget, Craft Social is tomorrow!

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This design showed up in my sketchbook a long time ago, but I resisted making it because I really don’t need another pincushion. But I do have a pretty serious yo-yo habit, and finally broke down when I couldn’t resist playing with my yo-yo maker any longer.

So, this project begins with 6 to 8 yo-yos. I used my beloved Clover Yo-Yo Maker in the 1 3/4″ size. If you prefer to kick it old school, then use Heather Bailey’s gorgeous tutorial for making them from scratch.

Warning! Math-y Bits!

So, let’s figure out some sizing for your pincushion. I promise, being very math-challenged, I’ve tried to keep this part as painless as possible.

Lay your 6 to 8 yo-yos out side by side, and measure the length of this group, as seen here. You can see that my six 1 3/4″ yo-yos measure 10 1/2″.

Now all we have to do is take that 10 1/2″ and find out what size circle it makes. You could use complicated mathematical formulas for this, but for pete’s sake – this is why we have the internet! So go to the Circle Solver Calculator.

The 10 1/2″ we measured earlier will be the circumference of our finished pin cushion. So put that number into the calculator and click the magic button. That’ll give you the diameter of the finished pincushion – 3.34″.

Now, take a deep breath and make some tea. We’re nearly done math-ing.

To make my life easier, I popped into my page layout software and drew up a circle with a 3.34″ diameter. (You could also draw one by hand.) Then, I added a 1/4″ seam allowance all the way around that. (I’ll be using this piece as a pattern to make the base pincushion in a moment.)

Next, you’re going to need one big yo-yo for the top of your pincushion. In fact, you’ll need a yo-yo that’s also 3.34″ in diameter. To get that, cut a circle of fabric that’s twice that diameter, or 6.68″.

I used Heather’s tutorial to make this big yo-yo.

See? When finished, that 6.68″ diameter circle makes a 3.34″ yo-yo. And here ends the math-y bit!

So now, you just need to cut out the pieces for the base pincushion. Use that paper pattern we made earlier to cut two circles – one for the top, and one for the bottom. Then, cut a strip for the sides of the pincushion. It should be 1/2″ taller than your yo-yos, to allow for seam allowance. And make it about an inch longer than the length we measured in Step 1.

(For my pincushion, the strip is 2 1/4″ tall by 11 1/2″ long.)

Okay, so let’s sew this puppy together! Pin the side strip all the way around the edge of one circle, right sides together.

Sew all the way around the circle, using a 1/4″ seam allowance. Then, clip into the seam allowance at intervals, like this. (This helps the curved seam keep a nice, round shape.)

Next, you can sew up that side seam. I added some extra length to the side strip, just to give us some leeway. So, just make the seam wherever the two ends of the fabric meet up against the circle. You want to end up with it looking like this.

Now, pin the second circle to the top edge of the pincushion.

(Dang, guys – I promise to apply some hand lotion before I shoot my next tutorial.)

Sew along the edge of this circle, also with a 1/4″ seam allowance. Leave about a 2″ gap in the seam. Go ahead and clip into the seam allowance as you did before.

Turn the pincushion right side out and stuff it medium-firmly with some fiberfill. Then hand-sew that opening closed. (It’s looking rather cheerful at this point, don’t you think?)

Time to add the yo-yos! Take the big one and place it on top of the pincushion. I like to tack it in place by sticking some pins into it, like this. Just be careful as you’re hand-sewing that you don’t squeeze the pincushion too tightly, or – ouch!

Sew the yo-yo to the pincushion with a tiny whip stitch. I like to use that seam around the edge as my sewing guide.

When you’re done sewing, remove all those pins.

With that done, it’s time to join your small yo-yos together in a strip. Place two yo-yos back to back, matching up all the edges. Then, thread a needle with single thread and tie a knot in the end. Pass that needle through the top yo-yo only, as shown here.

(Incidentally, that will hide the knot beneath the yo-yo. Tricky, eh?)

Whip stitch the two yo-yos together, using only about 6 to 8 stitches. Knot the thread at the back.

Repeat this process to join the rest of the yo-yos until they form one long strip.

Wrap this strip around the side of the pincushion, and tack it in place with pins. (Same warning as before – don’t be squeezing!)

Whip stitch the top and bottom of each yo-yo to the pincushion – again, you can use those seams as a sewing guide.

When I’ve finished stitching one yo-yo down, I just pass the needle through the pincushion and bring it out where I need to start stitching the next yo-yo.

Lastly, stitch the two end yo-yos together at the side. Remove all those pins.

(Man! My hand-sewing starts to look pretty wonky in the macro lens. I assure you, at actual size, it’s much less embarrassing.)

Now, we’ll sew a nice, big button to the top of the pincushion. This helps squish it a bit flatter and give it a cuter shape.

Thread a needle with doubled thread, and tie a nice, big knot in the end. Pass the needle through the pincushion from bottom to top, squishing it a little to help the needle reach through.

Next, thread a button onto the needle. Pass the needle back down through the button, as shown. Make several stitches through the pincushion and button like this, pulling them fairly tight, so the shape of the pincushion gets compressed a bit.

Lastly, tie a nice, secure knot in the thread at the bottom of the pin cushion.

If you make one of these, will you please, please upload a picture to the CraftyPod Flickr Group? I’d love to see it!

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

I love Joan Gorman’s blog, NiniMakes, so I was super excited when she sent me a copy of her new ebook, Stitch Village.

And it’s utterly charming, just as I thought it would be. Joan came up with the idea while looking through her collection of vintage needlecraft booklets, and you can see the vintage influence in her designs.

Stitch Village is the first in a planned set of ebooks (yay!), each showcasing a collection of original patterns. This group is based on Joan’s own studio, and gifts she’s made for her family.

I love this project set so much! You can see all the pieces in the photo at the top of this post. There’s an iPod cozy, a Gracie Doll (complete with dress), these adorable mushroom storage containers, a charming Lykke Horse embroidery pattern, and a recipe binder.

Joan’s design eye is so wonderful, and the book’s layout and photography are top-notch. This ebook looks for all the world like a professionally-produced print book.

What’s really great is, every project comes with full-sized pattern pieces, stitchery templates, and photo instructions. This is excellent instructional quality. And the ebook is built with internal links to resources, and also to sections of the book itself. It takes true advantage of the possibilities of the digital format.

You can see a few sample pages, and learn more about this project, at Joan’s blog. And you can order a copy at her online store. They’re £7.75, which is about $12.00 US. Joan is donating a portion of every sale to the British Red Cross for their Haiti campaign.

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

I should say: I’m not much for Valentine’s Day itself, but the crafts are always pretty. I was playing around with felt recently and came up with this simple, non-frilly sachet. Easy to whip up if you need little gifties.

You might have everything you need to make these in your stash: two 6″ squares of woven fabric, and some felt scraps. I made mine with seven colors of felt, but the design would also be cool if all the layers were the same color.

You’ll also want a water-soluble marker and some good fabric scissors. And a heart template – I made mine by folding some card stock and cutting a heart freehand. You could also trace around a cookie cutter.

So first, you’ll want to cut some hearts out of your felt. And these hearts need to be graduated in size, so the hearts get a little smaller with each layer. I figured out a nice, lazy way to do this.

Start by tracing the full-size heart onto the first color of felt, and cutting it out. This will be the bottom-most heart on the finished sachet.

Then, you can fold your template in half again and cut away about 1/8″. You can do this freehand – the hearts don’t have to be perfectly-sized.

Once you’ve shaved this bit away, open the template back up and trace it on the second color of felt. Cut that one out.

…And then repeat these two steps with the rest of the felt colors. Each heart will be slightly smaller than the one before it.

Next, take the smallest heart – this is the one that will be on top of the stack in the finished sachet. Use a ruler and a water-soluble marker to draw a line down the center. You’ll use this line as a stitching guide in a moment.

Stack all the hearts up on one of the fabric squares. Arrange them so they’re reasonably centered on top of each other, but don’t worry too much about it.

Center the stack of hearts on the fabric.

Take this to your sewing machine, and place all these layers under the presser foot. (You might need to press the felt down with your fingers to help it fit.)

Before you begin stitching, take a moment to make sure your hearts are still stacked in a fairly centered stack, and that they’re centered on the fabric square.

Sew your way down the center of the heart, following that line you drew earlier. Be sure to backstitch a couple times at the start and end of the seam.

Next, pin the two fabric squares together, with right sides together and the hearts to the inside.

Head back to the sewing machine and sew around all four sides, using a 4/8″ seam allowance. Leave a nice, big opening in one side, because you’ll need a lot of room to turn those hearts to the outside! Notice how I sewed just enough around those two bottom corners so they’d be nice and sharp, but I left most of that side open? That’s the way.

Clip off the four corners.

Turn the sachet right-side out. Poke a chopstick into the corners, so they’re nice and sharp. And then turn the raw edges to the inside and press them.

Fill your sachet with something nice, like dried lavender, dried rose buds, or cedar shavings. Don’t fill it too full! The sachet should lay pretty flat even when stuffed.

With the sachet filled, slip stitch the opening closed.

If you like, you can sew a contrasting zig zag around the edges of the sachet. Try to press the filling material out of the needle’s way as you sew.

(You could also embroider a design around the edges.)

And finally, use a moistened cotton swab or washcloth to remove that stitching line.

Give the hearts a little “fluffing.” You might also want to trim their edges a bit here and there, if they need it.

And that’s that! Hope you like!

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!