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Baby Quilt Panel

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If you have been a fan on Craft Passion Facebook’s page, perhaps you already knew that I just bought a Bernina quilting sewing machine. This trapunto baby quilt blanket is the first project I did with this superb machine I have ever owned.

Before decided on Bernina, I have been eyeing for a good quilting sewing machine with long arm space and durable for my kind of usage, where, I sew from thin to very thick fabric. My departed sewing machine might not heavy duty enough to go through my torture, it gave ways and died on me when I was just started with this baby blanket. I was disappointed and up-set because I need to haul off at this early stage of my new interest. With desperation, I went for a test drive on my friend’s Bernina and when she showed me the Stitch Regulator (BSR), I fell in love with this little gadget the moment I tried on free hand motion with it. Wow… that’s amazing, I never thought that free hand motion can be done so smoothly with so little practice. The stitch is so perfect that I can’t hardly archive it with my retired machine. Immediately, I called up our local Bernina and they sent up a B 550 QE to me 3 days later. I was so happy as I was able to continue with the baby blanket for my distant best friend who is expecting a baby boy [If you are in Malaysia and would like to know more about Bernina, contact me for reference.]

If you are curious what’s so special about this baby quilt, I used trapunto technique to quilt this baby blanket. The trapunto makes the prints on the fabric “pop up” or inflated to make it looks more dimensional. The technique is quite easy but required more steps and works. See the sun that “float out” off the blanket at the photo below, that’s the effect trapunto quilting is giving. I wish I can show you the before and the work in progress photo, but stupid me, formated my camera’s SD card before knowing that I haven’t transferred them to my computer. Hope that my descriptions are clear enough for you to understand, otherwise, I will make another detail tutorial when I finished my kids’ blanket.

{Get full details on next page.}

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Sewing: Onesie Applique Pattern & Tutorial

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Difficulty level: Easy

Material:
1. Onesie or romper or any garment you would like to have the applique on.
2. Fabric scraps
3. Fusible web or heat ‘n bond
4. Pencil
5. Embroidery floss & needle
6. Erasable fabric marker
7. Fray check (optional, use with sewing machine’s option)

Tools:
1. Sewing machine (optional)
2. Iron
3. Scissor
4. Small embroidery hoop, I used 4″ dia. size.

Download the garden bug applique pattern (consist of Bumble Bee, Lady Bug & Caterpillar) in pdf format. {It will either open in new tab or open a small window asking you to save it as file. The default folder normally is under “/downloads”}
The pattern is in letter size paper, don’t scale the printing if you want the exact size like the one I made.
{If you can’t download the pdf pattern, probably you don’t have acrobat reader, download the latest version for free, here.}

Trace the applique pattern on the paper backing of the fusible web. You don’t have to mirror these patterns since they are in symmetrical shapes.
Choose your scraps for colors and sizes that suit the pattern.
(Now, you know why I seldom throw small little scraps away after each sewing projects and keep them all in my fabric scrap container when I did my craft room organization & storage They are indeed are my treasured trashes.)
Set iron to medium heat. Place the traced fusible web with rough side (adhesive) down onto the wrong side of the scrap.
Glide the warm iron on them to melt the adhesive of the fusible web and thus bond it to the fabric scrap.
Check the bonding after it’s cool and make sure the adhesion is good.

If you use sewing machine for the satin stitch, do this step now. If you hand embroidery the satin stitch, you can do this step later during the embroidery stage.
Set your sewing machine to the widest zigzag stitch (about 3/16″, 5mm wide) and near to zero stitch length (normally use for buttonhole). Try on your other scrappy fabric to test it out before the actual work.
Satin stitch 3 rows of black stripes on the bumble bee body, extend slightly out from the pattern’s outline.
Drop 1 – 2 drops of fray check on the satin stitch that intersect with the pattern’s outline. Leave it aside to let them absorb and dry for a few minutes.

Cut the patterns out from the fabric, preferably using a pair of small sharp tip scissors since the pattern is small.
Peel off the fusible web paper backing. Position the pattern on the onesie. Iron with warm iron to bond the pattern on. Again, check the bonding after it is cool.
Repeat the cutting and ironing for the bumble bee body after the fray check is almost dry. If the thread ends start to ravel after the cutting, add a few more drops of fray check on them.
Unscrew the embroidery hoop to its maximum, and put it on to the onesie. Don’t pull and try to straighten the onesie inside the hoop, this will stretch the knit of the onesie and thus cause the bonding to break and pattern to go off position.
Mark with fabric marker and embroidery the pattern as shown in the pdf pattern sheet.
If you use hand to embroidery the satin stitch instead of sewing machine, please do it now.

Lady bug has a satin stitch on its body too. If sew by sewing machine, either slowly decrease or increase the zig-zag width as you work your way from one end to another. Again, use fray check to stop the ends from raveling.
Caterpillar design is slightly wider than 4″. If you use 4″ embroidery hoop, you will need to do the embroidery by sections.
Besides the garden bug designs, you can personalize the onesie with letter or symbols.
I did it with double running stitch about 3/16″ apart.
A quick way of doing an applique is by cutting out the outline of the prints from fabrics. Then, embroidery the outline of each part to disguise it like the real applique.
Another quick way, see how the stem stitch on the ear give an impression that it is from another fabric stick on the puppy’s head.
By the way, the word “adorable” comes with the onesie and please don’t ask me how to do it

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velco_0

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Below is the tutorial for a velcro bib extender, just adapt the method for your fastening type.
 
To make a 3″ extension, cut 4 ½” length of 1″ grosgrain ribbon (¾” fold back) or extension + 1½”.
Lightly burn the raw edges of the ribbon to stop them from fraying.
Fold and press ¾” from 2 ends.
Cut 1″ length from a pair of 1″ velcro.
{For snap button – fold the raw edge gain to hide it inside the ribbon}

Sew the hook and loop of the velcro to the ribbon with 1 facing up and 1 facing down. Take note on the hook & loop side from the bib that you are making the extender for.
{For snap button – install the stud and socket with it respective ring and prong with appropriate tool or pliers.}

Attach the bib extender to the bib and you will have a bigger neck hole for the kids.

Make a few with various colors and lengths and you will be able to use the same few bibs through out the growing age of your baby.
Happy Sewing!

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Crochet Basket Weave Afghan Baby Blanket

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Often, I received feedback from readers asking me where to get the yarns I used for my crochet and/or knitting projects. Frankly speaking, I bought most of my yarns from the local yarn shops around here and I do understand that it is hard for many of you to get the exact one. This time, to make my pattern more yarn-search-friendly, I used Lion Brand, a well known yarn company where you can order online or buy them from shop if they are available.

This blanket is made from cotton medium worsted yarn, the basket weave pattern makes it warm and cozy in cold weather. If you need a very warm version for snowy winter, change the yarn to wool. The dimension is for baby blanket, you can always blown it up to make a bigger piece. Each weave square repeats at 6 sts, so, to add width to the blanket, just add multiple of 6 sts to the width.

Get the crochet pattern & picture tutorial on how to crochet this basket weave baby blanket after the jump:

{Get full details on next page.}

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Sew Chenille Cut Bib

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Chenille? Chenille Cut? Slash Chenille? Heirloom Cut Chenille? Faux Chenille? Fake Chenille? What ever the name is, it is basically slashing a few layers of flannels between the parallel stitching lines, fray the raw edges to make the “caterpillar” piles that give the warm and smooth look that we want to touch and feel. Making chenille is fun and looking at how beautiful the raw edges fray is exhilarating!!! Imagine how we used to hide our ugly raw edge by overlocking it and/or hem it with various kind of seam techniques…. Now, we expose it and feel proud of it!!!!

Initially, I planned to make chenille blankets for my kids but after seeing a drooling baby, he really needs a super absorbent wonder bib urgently, so, I adapted the chenille technique into the bib and made some for him I used cotton flannels (flannelettes) so that it is not so warm, yet, able to absorb ounces of saliva.

Get the details on how to sew this chenille bib after this jump:

Materials (to make 1 bib):
(Pre-wash all fabrics before sewing)
1. Top fabric (cotton) (10″ x 14″)
2. White Muslin (10″ x 14″)
3. 3 pcs. of coordinating color cotton flannels/flannelettes (10″ x 14″), I used 2 white and 1 blue
4. Snap button or Velcro fastener
5. Bib pattern

Tools:
1. Sewing Machine (best with 1/4″ presser foot)
2. Matching color sewing thread
3. Sewing essentials
4. Chenille Cutter or Slasher (able to slash on 1/4″ slot), or blunt point scissors

Trace your own bib pattern from your kid’s favorite bib or print this letter size pdf pattern. Don’t scale the printing otherwise the size may not be right. The size is suitable for baby 6-12 months (the drooling age).

Stack, pin and sew the following (from Top to Bottom):
1. White muslin, draw a 45º diagonal line (top left to bottom right corner) at the center as a guide
2. White flannel,
3. Blue flannel,
4. White flannel
Sew parallel straight lines diagonally across the pile, 1/4″ apart (use 1/4″ presser foot as guide). Accuracy is not very important but don’t get them too close to each other otherwise your slasher can’t go in.
Insert the slasher into the “tunnel” with 3 flannels on top and a muslin at the bottom, since we are only going to slash the flannels and not the muslin.
Hold the corner firmly and push the slasher along the way to cut through the layers of flannel.
Repeat until you have finished convert all “tunnels” into “canals”.
Carefully clear your slasher’s blade if there are excessive lints caught in there.
A closer look on the flannels after the slashing. If you don’t have chenille cutter or slasher, you can always use a pair of blunt point scissor to cut.
If you wonder how a chenille cutter or a slasher looks like, they are similar to rotary cutter but with a protruded guide attached to it. Use the guide to slot into the “tunnel” and slash whatever is above the guide. Or click here to view the product.

Trace the bib pattern onto the wrong side of the top fabric. Remember to flip your pattern to the back if you are tracing on the wrong side with fabric erasable marker.
Now, place your top fabric onto the chenille with right side down.
Pin and sew. Leave a 2″ opening at the bottom for turning the bib right side out.
Trim the bib with about 1/4″ to 3/8″ seam allowance. Clip curve (snip on concave and notch on convex).
Turn bib inside out through the opening. Stitch up the opening.
Smooth out the curve and seam line. Press.
Top stitch near to edge. Install snap button or velcro fastener.
Throw the bib into washing machine, wash and fray it!!!! The caterpillar look chenille is formed. You may need to wash another 1 or 2 times to reduce the lint produce from the fray.

I made some and given away to my friends. It is the one of the quickest gifts I have ever made and it is great as baby shower gifts too. As you may have noticed, I have made some with binder edge too. I am hoping to come out with the bias binder tutorial soon. So, stay tuned!

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Skeleton Costume With Sock Skeleton

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Running out of time to sew a Halloween costume for your kid? Don’t worry, here is a quick way to transform a footed pajama into skeleton suit…. If you can get a black color footed long sleeve body-suit, it is even faster because you don’t have to dye it into black color like I did

Want to make it spookier, add some glow-in-the-dark powder in the white acrylic and your kid will sure “boooo” in the dark!!!!

I even prepared the skeleton stencil artwork for you, just print it out onto sticker papers or freezer papers (the non-waxed side), cut it out and stick onto the black footed pajama, and you are ready to paint it up. If you are using freezer paper, you need to iron with the wax side down and stick it on the pajama. It is fast and easy to do! Get the how-to with photos for stenciling method after this jump.

By the way, there are few more photos above, take a look by clicking the “next” button. Also, if you wonder how to make the sock skeleton in the photo, click here.

{Get full details on next page.}

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Learn to sew Piggy Pillow

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As promised, I have completed the tutorial and the pattern for the “Be My Valentine – Piggy Pillow”, which was published 3 weeks ago. This time I made a pair for my kids, they love it.

You may not be able to do it in time for this valentine but as I said, if you have love in you, everyday is valentine. Hope you sew some for your loved ones no matter if it is Feb 14.

Besides as a pillow, you can use this pattern to make into other things, for example, pin cushion, smaller softy as gift, or a piggy back pack for little children. Just change the size by reducing or enlarging and modify it to fit into your design. You can even put a magnet on the nose to make them kissing each other, remember to reverse the polarity so that they attract to each other (Thanks to Jackie who left a comment to suggest this). Be creative, the upshot are endless!!! Love it

Material you need:

1. Soft body towels 27 1/2″ x 55″ (70cm x 140cm) – 2 pcs. of contrasting color (enough to make 4 piggy pillows)

2. Cotton fabric 27 1/2″ x 23″ (for 1 pillow) prefer higher thread count or quilting quality fabric

3. Embroidery floss (black or dark brown)

4. Poly-fill (you can get it from a pillow if you can’t find it in the store)

5. Pencil

6. Sewing essential

Print out the PDF pattern of the piggy pillow. Enlarge it 4 times to get the size I made (12″ x 10″).

Use a pencil and trace the pattern onto the cotton fabric.
Top -1
Ear – 1 + 1 (reverse the pattern for the other side)
Nose – 1

Sandwich the towels in between 2 fabrics.
Use contrasting color for the nose and 1 layer of the ear.
You can choose to have same color for the tail but I would suggest to use the same color as the body, it looks nicer.

Sew it up on the sewing line, it can be from sewing machine or hand stitching.
Trim out the shape with about 1/4″ seam allowance (nose – 3/4″).
For body, sew from point A to A, and for ear, sew from Point B to B, leave an opening for turning the work inside out.
Clip near the sewing line about 1/2″ next to each other, so that the curve is smooth after turning inside out.
Sew the border of the nose with the largest pitch of stitches. Pull the thread as show so that it gathers and shrinks to the size of the dash line of the pattern.
Look at the pink tail, I later changed it to blue as it looks better with same color.

Turn body, ear and tail inside out.
Trace the position of the eyes and ears on the body, nostril for the nose. Flip over the body and trace the bottom sewing line.

Tie a knot at the tip of the tail as shown, mark a length of 4″ from the tip.

Turn the body outside in and position the tail on the top part of the body.
Stitch up the opening only on the top part.
Slit an bigger opening at the bottom to the newly traced line.
Turn the piggy inside out again.

Embellish the body with a heart. Slip stitch it into position. Stuff some poly-fill before complete the sewing.

Stuff the piggy with poly-fill to the fullness you prefer.
Hand stitch up the bottom opening by using whip stitch.

Sew the nose onto the body.
Stitch the eyes with 4 strands of black or dark brown embroidery floss.
Start from the marking of the ear, needle in. Needle out at *2, stem stitch follow the line till *3, needle in. Needle out at *4, the upper end of the nostril and needle in at the bottom end.
Stitch the other nostril and eye, and end the stitching on the other ear.

Sew the ears on. Cover up the knots of the brown or black floss on the embroideries.

Fold the ear toward the nose and stitch the whole stretch especially both ends to secure it.

Mission completion!!!! Hope you like it as much as I do

I did some appliques on my baby new footed-pyjamas after being inspired by Lollychops and her lovely bunny templates. I downloaded this, this and this from her blog where she gave us free for hobby use. Thanks Lolly, they are so adorable!!!

I was working on them over the weekend and thought that I should finish them very fast. I was wrong, absolutely wrong in my estimation. I ended up spending 4 days to get them done, part-time, 4 hours a day, total 16 man-hours (or woman in my case …. Getting the picture appliques done is quite fast, slightly more than a day will do. I thought that they were too plain as a baby pyjamas as I always like to think that baby garments should be colorful and cheerful. So I thought to add things around them.

I started off with the Bunny pyjamas, thinking of adding a few embroidery alphabets will be great. I began to embroider “baby bunny” onto it, ohhhh… it is so hard to do. First , I can’t put an embroidery hoop onto the pyjamas to stretch out the material. Without the hoop, it is difficult to get the precise sewing point. Then, the material of pyjamas is problematic as the tension has to be right. I have to redo it a few times. I told myself that it is a good experience and no more embroidery done on stretchy textile.

I moved on to the Bird pyjamas and this time no more embroidery, instead I did alpahbet appliques on it. “Tweet Tweet” was the first words in my mind and some melody notes jingling around will be lovely as well. This particular one was the most time-consuming among the appliqueing on the pyjamas. Look at the perimeter along the alphabets I have to work on….. It really is no joke that we need to exercise a lot of patience when come to craft, and it can easily lead toproject abandoncy :p

The outcome was favourable to what was on my mind, the time and patience spent was worth it. I love the look of the Bird Pyjamas than Bunny Pyjamas as it is more colourful and joyful though it took a little longer to finish it.

I did the same to my Mushroom Pyjamas. I love the two butterflies flying around the colourful mushrooms. I got them together with the mushroom templates downloaded from Lollychops’s blog.

I bought the pyjamas in slightly bigger size. Now, all I have to do is wait until my baby is big enough to put them on Weekend is approaching again!!!! Sigh, time is really flying fast!!! My baby is 6 month-old and is about to taste his first solid food.