Sewing – CraftilyKori

Over the last two years, my husband and I have been renovating our house and have kept the color scheme to grays and whites for the majority of the rooms. Calm and cool, yes, but I live for a pop of color. I found some electric blue barstools on Amazon and inspiration hit. Project: Knitted Throw Pillows was underway.

I really like the shape of our current pillows and my husband has settled into a nightly routine of arranging them a specific way (read: manly-pillow fort), so I decided to base the pattern around the same pillow forms and just reuse them (upcycle?). As most of my projects begin, I headed to the local JoAnn store to gather up the fixin’s.

My trip to the store was a success:
Blue chunky yarn – Check
Matching blue zippers – Check
Snazzy fabric for the backside – Check
Used a coupon – Check!

Now, for the most important question…what stitch should this pillow be?

I discovered a herringbone stitch technique while working on another project and just fell in love. I’ve been really wanting to use it again and thought of it for this pillow. Also, this type of knit stitch comes highly recommended for cushions and pillows since it creates such a tight fabric. Sounds like a winner.

Admittedly, it took a few times to figure out the gauge and how many stitches to cast on. I first used size US 15 straight needles (14 inches long) and came up short. I switched over to circular needs and had a better result with 58 CO. Even then, I made the fabric a little bigger than needed so the pattern could use even more adjusting.

Now, the fun part! Sewing the pillow.

So fun, in fact, that eight months went by before I got to this step. Eh, life happens, right?

I washed and finished the edges of the many, many yards of fabric using a serger (I have no idea why I bought that much, remember it had been eight months…) and then ironed it all. To fit the existing pillow form, I needed two pieces of fabric – one 15″ tall x 19″ long and one 15″ x 20″ (extra for the zipper). I always forget how to do zippers, so I dusted off my trusty Stitch by Stitch book by Deborah Moebes for a quick refresh. Then, pinned both fabric sides to the knitted fabric. Even though I had extra yarn hanging out, I was happy that the addition of a garter stitch border seemed, in concept, to work out well.

Okay, okay, this part really was the exciting step. I was finally able to use my Juki industrial sewing machine! I had bought this off of a woman who owned a leather saddle business almost eight years ago to make seat belt purses. I still haven’t finished those WIP, but I will get there…(are you catching on to my too-many-projects-at-one-time problem).

What! Scissors…cutting….knitted yarn….??? Yes!

It’s a technique that I had stumbled upon a while back, known as steeking. It is traditionally used as a shortcut for knitting garments in the round and then adding an opening afterwards (think cardigan sweater). I’m still a little nervous when I go to actually wash the pillow cover, but I made sure to use two passes of the Juki and think it will stay for quite a while.

And there you have it. Or, well, I have it actually. A blue knitted throw pillow to match the barstools! I almost gave up a few months ago and bought store pillows, but I am really happy I finally finished it.

What’s next? Three more pillows, of course. I am going to use a different stitch for each pillow just to add some variety but will keep the same yarn and fabric.

I’m thinking the cluster stitch will be my next pillow attempted, stay tuned!

Happy Crafting!

~Kori

Well, the holidays have come and gone, and the New Year is upon us. Luckily, before time got the better of me, I was able to score an awesome black Friday deal and picked up a brand new Singer sewing machine! What a better way to try out my new precious then to take on a simple project – an apron!

Let’s face it, simple isn’t really my style so even though I meant to take on an easy project I ended up with quite the undertaking. Over the last two months, I was able to flex my seamstress and embroidery muscle, picked up some great tips, and even added to my craft room supplies (thank you, Amazon!).

Once I unpacked the sewing machine, I headed over to the local JoAnn’s and searched through their pattern books. One of my favorite things to do is plop down, drink a vanilla iced latte, and just flip through the pages of the pattern catalogs…someday, I think to myself, I’ll be able to make these…but for now, let’s try an apron. I landed on Simplicity 2272 and the girl with the yellow apron and bright orange flower caught my eye. Pattern D. Let’s do this.

I decided to go with a different fabric then was pictured. I picked up 2 1/2 yards of the flowers and three fat quarters – gold, dark brown, white for the applique accent. Sewing is a game of patience and process, so no matter what – take the time to serge all the raw edges and wash/dry all your fabric first. It is worth it.

Once I had a chance to review the pattern instructions in detail, it was time for another trip to JoAnn’s. There was a lot more going on with this pattern then I initially thought. I snipped a few sample swatches and headed back.

Extra items needed – matching thread, button, bobbins

Okay…items needed – check. Fabric washed – check. Now to the fun part! Eh, not quite. More of the process and patience. Pressing.

Pressing the fabric in important, this step ensures the pattern lays precise. Some even recommend pressing the pattern paper. Admittedly, I skipped this step, but for a more serious project, I would have done it.

Now, for the cutting! For the flowers, I went ahead and cut four layers – the three different colors and the fusible interfacing. Since I wasn’t following the picture exact, I wanted to make sure to have options. The larger pieces were pretty simple, just follow the lines that were previously highlighted.

The pattern called for the flowers and pockets to be worked on first. I got to play around with my new sewing machine for this part. Experimenting with all the stiches, I landed on a very short zig-zag stitch to outline the appliques flowers.

So, I kid you not – this part took at least a month and a half. Again, I thought – oh, simple apron, but the addition of embroidery meant a few extra YouTube videos and some hunting around for my embroidery hoop. Add in the holidays, New Year, and now we are well into January.

On to the next steps, the ties and the apron body.

The next step was to encase. Yah, I had no idea what that was, so a few Google searches later, this apron was encased! I had heard of bias tape before, even dabbled in making my own, but I was all for store-bought on this one. I will say, I got a little too excited with the scissors and messed up the edge, but I think it turned out okay.

People, we may have ourselves an apron finally! The finishing touches were to add the buttonhole and button. I was super excited to see the perks of having a new machine for this step. The special buttonhole foot had you place the button into the foot, and the machine was able to determine the size of the hole on its own, I just had to press one button and wha-la! Buttonhole! I found a video online that recommended to add embroidery thread for added weight, and it seemed to work great. After that, the last step was to trim the edges. You could either zig-zag, serge, or use pinking shears to make sure the fabric doesn’t fray. At this point, I opted for the pinking shears.

Yes! At last, an apron. But what to do with the pattern? I found a few videos online that simply said to press and fold it back into the envelope. That paper must be magical because it worked like a charm and fit snuggly.

This was a great first project to try out the bells and whistles of my new machine. I’m so happy for my black Friday purchase!

Happy crafting!

Kori

Knitted Herringbone Pillow for the Living Room

Sewing an apron – Simplicity 2272 Pattern