Faux chenille blanket

So, I decided to try the faux chenille tutorial from Aesthetic Nest.  I had some Michael Miller on hand and a bunch of white flannel so I gave it a whirl.  I will be trying out the chevron blanket very soon!

Sewing the diagonals 1/2 inch apart was tricky because I had a little helper.  Things got wavy.

I used the Clover Slash cutter to make the cuts.  I thought about the Olfa, but I have Amazon Prime and there was no free shipping love on the Olfa.  It was extremely easy to use, but since I used 505 to hold my layers together instead of pins, it got a bit gummy.  I also departed from the original tutorial in that I squared off my fabric before cutting.  I did one row before squaring off and realized it would be easier if I were catching all 3 flannels at once.

I did the binding with some plain black bias tape I had on hand before throwing it in the wash.

Fresh out of the wash, it fuzzed up perfectly!

My little guy was set on stealing the blanket, but it was destined for baby Marek.

Simple placemats

I cut some "I do too" and "Dandy damask" by Michael Miller into 12x17 rectangles, 3 of each fabric.  Then I cut some leftover batting to be just smaller than the fabric.  I layered one of each fabric right sides together with the batting on top and sewed 1/4 inch all the way around leaving 3 inches for turning.  Once turned, I pressed my seams and topstitched close to the edge.  Then going the opposite direction to avoid curl, I used the edge of my presser foot against the topstitch as a guide and made another lap.

Back side

Front side

Close up of border

Shower baskets

Following the tutorial from 2 little hooligans, I sewed a few baskets up last night.  Instead of for a baby shower, they will be used to display dish towels and other things for my little sister's bridal shower.  The shower is this weekend so I will post an updated pic with them all filled up and stacked.



Michael Miller fabric

Baskets all sewn up, waiting to be filled with goodies

Fun with my Brother SE 400

I started sewing around Christmas with a very basic machine that my husband got me for Christmas.  This summer I treated myself to an upgrade for my 30th birthday.  Here are some flour sack towels I've been working on for part of my sister's bridal shower gift basket.  Most of the designs came from www.urbanthreads.com.  These are from the Kitchen Collages and Kitchen Engravings design packs.  I just ironed the towels (ok only the area I was working on), put some tearaway stabilizer on the back with some 505 to keep it in place and went at it.  Maybe at some point, I'll get motivated to take pictures with my real camera of the finished towels AFTER I've cut the threads away.  Maybe.

Work in progress

 

 

Finished product


 

Another from the same set

 

From the engravings design pack
 

Another from the engravings pack