Hello everyone!
I'm excited to announce that our fabric club, Pressed Seam, is open for sign-ups today! As a member you will receive 6 fat quarters each month, shipped on the 1st of the month! Memberships are available in 3 and 6 month subscriptions, and this month, as part of our Holiday Stitch Exchange blog series, we have a special offer: ALL new subscribers will receive a free gift with their first shipment!
This club is a great way to build your fabric stash with great prints and blenders, as well as specialty textiles, unique hand-dyed fabric, and hand-printed fabric that you might not have picked for yourself!
In anticipation of sign-ups being open I worked up this little quilt. All the fabrics I used have been part of shipments in the last 6 months, and to complete the quilt top the minty green solid is the only fabric where I used more than a fat quarter. I wanted to illustrate how this club is a great way to have a library of materials you can draw from to make a last minute project or gift, without a trip to the store.
I'm a big fan of having a stash of supplies to pull from. I'm sure it comes mostly from growing up 50 miles from the nearest fabric store! But I love being able to wake up, brainstorm my project and start on it straightaway. I also like having pieces in my collection that I didn't actually pick out for myself but got from a friend, family member or other trusted source. I keep a large collection of fabrics I inherited from my grandmother and I pull from it often. Sometimes I end up using something I would never have picked out at the store for myself, and it ends up being my favorite element in the project.
I encourage people to sign up for Pressed Seam for the fun of getting the package every month as well as the adventure of having materials you may not otherwise have thought of using! Here is one more look at my little lap quilt and some basic directions if you want to sew one up for yourself!
Finished quilt:
33" x 40"
Materials:
4 coordinated fat quarters
1 yard of contrast for background
1 yard of fabric for back
1/2 yard of fabric for binding
Directions:
Sew all seams with 1/4" seam allowance.
1. Cut 6x 4.5" inch squares from each of your 4 fat quarters.
2. Cut 24x 4.5" squares from the contrast fabric
3. Sew each of your fat quarter squares to a contrasting square, resulting in 12 half-square-triangels from each of your fat quarter fabrics (48 half-square-triangles total). Click here for 2 different techniques to make half-square-triangles.
4. Play with laying the squares out and establishing a graphic pattern that you like, and sew it up!
5. Add a 5.5" border out of contrasting fabric all the way around.
6. For quilt back use one solid piece, or piece together scraps from fat quarters.
7. Bind the quilt, and you're done!
Happy sewing!
Tasa