Tag: Cotton +Steel

Posted on in sewing

Two Everyday Totes

Goodbye 2017 and thank you for the many lessons over the past year!

One of my goals is to be busier and I wanted to make something special for my Aunt, a person I admire greatly from her loving and proactive spirit. After puttering around their website, I found Purl Soho’s “Everyday Tote” pattern.

I made my own binding using Cotton + Steel’s “Fiskers” in lavender.

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The pattern calls for some beautiful cotton webbing handles, but I decided to use some of the extra canvas to make handles. I also put binding on one tote’s handles, and really like the look.

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The sewing took under an hour for each bag. I used a combo of Aurifil thread and Gutermann.

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Cricket loves the camera.

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The contrast between the gold corduroy and the blue canvas is one of my favorite parts of each tote.

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I ran out of the Cotton + Steel binding and found some of this extra binding, and though why not? I’m pretty happy with the pop of color and how it adds more to the tote’s character.

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I highly recommend this, and any pattern, from Purl Soho!

Thanks for stopping by all year. It has been a monumental year for Brambleton Threads. This year we not only became an LLC, had our first gallery showing, but also completed a successful Kickstarter.  We are grateful for the continued support on the blogging communties, Twitter, and from Kickstarter.

For any new eyes stopping by, thank you and enjoy!

Have a calm and safe end of the year.

 

Posted on in Improv, Quilting, sewing

Sweet Baby Quilt

I’m loving making crib quilts right now.

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This is the twin to the last quilt I made. I used pink Aurifil thread and some extra grey Cotton + Steel fabric on the backing.

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The batting is wool, and I like that. It adds a nice layer of puffiness.

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I think this Cotton + Steel print is sweet and perfect for a tiny baby girl.

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The quilting here is a bit more random, but I stuck with the basic X and straight lines to create a pretty and consistent movement.

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I hope everyone has been well.

Posted on in Quilting, sewing

Crib Quilt

This crib size baby quilt is 54″ x 41″ and has a cotton batting. We aren’t sure if our friend’s baby is a boy or a girl, and not knowing that allowed for me to play a lot with color and some prints. I pieced together the top earlier this year, of course using Aurifil thread. The binding are batiks I had left over from another quilt.

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This quilt reminds me of watching the sunrise over the Atlantic ocean, something I’ve been able to enjoy pretty often lately. The quilt backing fabrics are both Cotton + Steel. I love the pink’s lushness.

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I used a deep gold thread to machine quilt this. In all spots that looked like a square I made an X and filled in the rest of the quilt with lines. The ocean often has pockets of smooth water on the surface and I thought of those spaces while I was making X’s.

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A thank you to my husband for holding up the quilts!

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I find machine quilting on cotton batting to be a lot smoother and quicker experience than with wool batting. The fibers in wool are much more like a bramble. Cotton typically settles down with itself. What do you like to use for batting?

Thanks for stopping by!

Posted on in Appliqué, Free-Motion, Quilting, sewing

Arcs + Free Motion Quilting

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The Free-Motion quilting bug caught me! Carolyn Friedlander’s awesome pattern Arcs  waited patiently to be quilted and with the new Janome now here I was more than happy to start quilting. The sun came out strong yesterday, perfect to sit down and sew by.

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Speed and stitch length are two of the things I am thinking about while quilting. It takes strong hands and arms to move the layers quickly under the needle. Sometimes I have a gap, but others I don’t move enough and the stitches are tiny. I am staying present! If my mind wands the needle wiggles! Quilting gloves may be helpful in this department by making sure for a more steady grip. Have you tried quilting gloves?

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The design translated prettily from the front to the back. My husband said it looks like an ancient calendar, and it certainly does! The scale was an easy and the most fun shape for me to make, with a swoop-away-and-back towards me. The thread is gold Aurifil, and didn’t break at all. For the background fabric I used Sarah Watts’ Honeymoon. Earlier I mentioned the front of the piece felt like a sunrise to me and this background fabric felt like night and how light time feels around those hours.

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The trees are blooming. Awhile ago I noticed this tree was shaped like a heart from growing around the powerlines and thought it would be magnificent in Spring. Here it is! The blooms aren’t in entirely, but this is a sneak peak.

What is blooming near you? Have a great weekend!