Most projects in this book call for some basic sewing items that every crafter should have on hand. Instead of repeating the list again and again, I’ve grouped them into what I’m calling Your Sewing Box. So whenever you see Your Sewing Box, you’ll know you need these items listed below. In fact, put them in your sewing box now if they’re not already there. These are really the absolute minimum tools you need for sewing anything. Anything additional is listed separately in each project under Supplies.
• All-purpose polyester thread that matches your fabric
• Assorted hand-sewing needles
• Large safety pins
• Sharp scissors reserved for cutting only fabric
• Small, pointy scissors for snipping threads
• Straight pins and a pincushion
• Tape measure
• Yardstick or ruler
• Iron
• Pencil with eraser
Patterns, when called for, can be found in the Patterns section. When a pattern is not overlapped with another, it can just be cut out and used by pinning it to the fabric, according to the project instructions, and cutting around it. When a pattern is overlapped with another, or if you want to keep the original pattern sheets uncut, use large sheets of tracing paper (tape the tracing paper together if necessary), lay it over the original pattern sheet and trace the pattern using a pencil, and then cut out your pattern piece. Or use a clear shower curtain and a thin permanent marker to trace the patterns. This has the advantage of being sturdier and longer lasting than tracing paper. Once the pattern is cut out, pin it to the fabric according to the layout guide for that project and cut around the pattern.
Some of the projects ask you to “transfer marks” from the pattern to the fabric. Once you’ve used the pattern to cut out your fabric, you then need to place the pattern on top and, using a pencil, copy the pattern markings onto the fabric by lifting the pattern and approximating the markings as accurately as you can. Where the project says to transfer “dots,” you can simply poke through the paper pattern or tracing paper with your pencil where the dots are and make a mark onto the fabric.
A few of the projects in this book use templates. Photocopy or simply use a sheet of paper to trace the template before cutting it out and pinning to your fabric.
Most of the projects in this book, except the knit projects, use cotton quilting fabric that is between 44" and 45" wide because it’s affordable, washable, easy to work with, and readily available. This is light-weight woven, as opposed to knitted, cotton fabric. There has been a design revolution in the fabric industry over the past few years, and fabrics that in the past were used only for quilting are now being used for clothing, bags, curtains, slipcovers, and much more. Long gone are the days when quilting fabric meant tiny patterns and muted colors. Large-scaled patterns, vibrant color, and a huge variety of designs ranging from “new vintage” to very modern and contemporary are now available from local fabric stores and thousands of online retailers.
Short of using the type of fabric the project calls for, there really are no rules when it comes to choosing fabrics. Choosing fabrics that appeal to you is the fun part of sewing and where you can really express your own unique aesthetic. What you like should be your primary guide when deciding on fabrics for a particular project. That said, there are a couple of things that I keep in mind when choosing fabrics.
woven fabrics: Choose quality, 100 percent cotton, quilting fabric. Most quilting fabric, sold through independent quilting stores, have a thread count of at least 60 by 60 or 68 by 68. This just means the number of threads per square inch woven vertically and horizontally to create the fabric. Lower quality fabrics that you might find from a discount store can be tempting, as they are less expensive, but have lower thread counts and are often not 100 percent cotton. They’re thinner, tend to pill more, and have less strength and durability.
Pay attention to whether the design of the fabric has a direction and make sure you cut out your pattern appropriately. For example, if you’re using fabric where all the flowers are printed in one direction as opposed to scattered and you are making a skirt, you’ll want to make sure that fabric pieces match and the flowers end up with the bloom on top and stem on the bottom.
In general, it is nice to use fabrics with small-scale designs for small projects and larger-scaled designs for larger projects. If you use a large-scaled design for a pincushion, for example, you won’t be able to see much of the actual design. Larger projects like bags or home decor items can make more of an impact when large-scaled motifs are used.
When deciding what designs and colors to use for a project that is pieced, meaning to sew small pieces of fabric together to form a larger piece of fabric, it is obviously completely personal and subjective. However, I’ve found that a cohesive look can usually be achieved by choosing three to five fabrics of different scales and color that all share at least one dominant color, or to use fabrics with different colors but with similar hues or shades.
knits: Knits come in various weights, widths and with different amounts of stretch. There’s a primer on sewing with knits, but when purchasing knits I look for single knit cottons with two-way (also known as four-way) stretch. Knits can be a bit trickier to work with, but I find cotton knits to be fairly easy to sew with and, unlike some synthetic knits or blends, cotton knits are washable.
