How’s that for a self-explanatory post title? Anna Maria Horner’s Loulouthi Needleworks prints are so cool you have to hardly do anything to them to turn them into something pretty and useful. Just sew up the sides and cut a boatneck like did for a cute new shift dress!

I followed our Exposed Waistband Skirt instructions but left out the pleating for this one.

The added twist was that I used black mini-ball fringe to trim the hem! Seemed to add to the gypsy feel of the skirt without being too crazy.

I dare you to try it with regular sized pom pom fringe. Not really. Wait, there probably is someone who could pull that off without looking silly. Just not me.

Of the few things I take very seriously, my sleep is one of them. My bed has such a heavenly mattress that I love it a little more than a person should love a thing.  And of course, my comfy bed has got to be pretty too. (I totally believe that the aesthetics of our environments affect our mood.)  So the transitioning of the winter comforter to the summer comforter was the perfect time for a bed makeover.

For me the simple, right-sides-together duvet cover has become the go-to when I want something for my own bed but there’s not enough time (or I’m too impatient) to make a new quilt. When you have a large print to show off it’s especially perfect. I had been dying to get my hands on the the huge-scale prints in the Loulouthi collection in particular. The tricky thing is, a queen duvet cover requires 2 widths of fabric, and with prints this big they had to be matched. It turned out much better than I anticipated, only needed about a foot of extra fabric and I just pinned before sewing. Barely noticeable!

And since I like to change things up a lot, the back has a contrasting print so I can flip it if I’m in a more purpley mood.

The fabric particulars:

• duvet front fabric: Summer Totem in Grapefruit
• duvet back fabric: Framed in Shadow
  • 4 3/4 yards for each side of a full/queen duvet
• pillowcases: Stockings in Twist
  • 1 yard per pillowcase

My duvet cover sewing tips:

• Don’t bother squaring up until after you’ve sewn the two sides together. When I square up first, by the time I’m done sewing the sides and top together, the bottom don’t match up anyway so I have to square up again before hemming.
• As in making pillow shams, if you make your duvet cover slightly smaller than the duvet, the corners will stay put and be nice and full.  My duvet is 82″ square, and I usually make my duvet covers about 81″ square.
• Closing the bottom a foot or two in from the sides helps keep everything in place too, plus there are less ties to tie and there is still plenty of room to fit it over the duvet. I usually do this by hemming the bottom, then sewing it closed near the sides with the same seams that I sew my ties on with.
• If you’re lazy like me, use narrow twill tape instead of making ties.  I prefer ties just because once I had duvet cover buttons that would not stay done up.  For this project, it looked better than the grosgrain and satin ribbons I had on hand and saved lotsa time.

If you’ve got duvet cover sewing tips too, please add them in the comments!

I hope our little teaser didn’t make you think we actually reupholstered that chair ourselves because we certainly didn’t. We did scavenge it from the Deseret Industries ourselves. But all the real work was done by John Hart & his dad at in Logan, who we enthusiastically recommend, btw.  What a transformation!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

We had them change the oh-so-80s ruffle to a more modern box pleat. And boy are we so in love with this chair now! (I think the husbands in the shop like having a soft seat to hang out in as well.)  It took about 3 yards of Lovesme Lovesmenot in Leaf from Anna Maria Horner’s Innocent Crush home dec collection.  Free Spirit, who makes AMH’s fabrics, does such a good job with their home dec weight stuff. They use soft heavyweight sateen that would be pretty awesome for a sturdy bag but isn’t so heavy or rough that you couldn’t just put it in a quilt.  But we’re having visions of EVERYTHING recovered in fabric now that we’ve got a good upholsterer. Watch out!

scarf #1 barely finished

I made the first one with Lovesme Lovesmenot in Golden Velveteen on one side and Mixed Signals in Cornfield Voile on the other side, especially for my friend Ali on her birthday. Before wrapping it up I had to try it on and I almost couldn’t let it go.

Ali models hood style

I promptly made another just the same for myself.  But of course I needed another combination…  This one features Maybe in Memory Velveteen and Shattered in Sun Voile.

scarf #2 all for me

Then Erica conconted this combo with Woodcut in Crimson Velveteen & Designer Solids in Water Voile for another gift, which I’ll be needing to make for myself as well, of course.

We love them so much, and have had enough requests, that we’ve cut kits for these scarves.  Each one takes a length of 2 yards each of velveteen & voile, but doesn’t use the full width of fabric, so cut into kits this project much more affordable than having to buy the yardage.  We have made our scarves slightly more narrow than AMH’s, which cuts the cost a bit more, but still keeps the scarf plenty full.  These 3 combinations are available now, with more to come soon (and/or as requested).

The kits are cute enough that you wouldn’t even have to sew it up before giving it as a gift, give them the box and they can make it themselves!

Check out our scarf kit selections, and visit Anna Maria Horner’s blog to learn how to make the Figure 8 scarf. And if you make one, show us how you style it to make it your own! Take of photo modeling your scarf and add it to our Flickr pool!

Two amazing friends and their kids were about to move across the country (Miss you, Mylers!), and I just kept thinking of those hours in the car, and what they might want to listen to. So I burned some cds and made these little sleeves for handy keeping.

I chose fabrics from Alexander Henry, Anna Maria Horner’s Good Folks, Art Gallery’s Filligree, & Tufted Tweets and loved how they just went together.

Thinking I might want to recreate them sometime, I started taking notes, but this is as far as it got

because it was pretty simple, really. For each cd envelope, I used heavyweight fusible interfacing inside & made 2 identical 5″ pockets that I just slipped inside each other and sewed closed around the top. I quite liked the result and may be making more of these for little gifts, and for the cds that get tossed around my car.

Then there was a package to send to California for my dear friends who always act as home when I just need to get back there for the beach and some good shopping.  These new Kaffe Fassett prints (Ombre and Radiation) in the Pastel colorway were just calling to be made into something for them, as they could go with all the vintagey pastel kitchenware they have.

I ended up making 16″ square napkins and 4″ square coasters. It was a simple right-sides-together-turn-inside-out-and-topstitch kind of project. The coasters have some heavyweight interfacing for sturdiness too.  Looking at them does kind of make me want to have a picnic at the beach.

Been making any hand-sewn gifts lately? Show us in our Flickr Pool!

You’ve spent all that time crafting a totally personal, unique, handmade gift. So why not wrap it up in one-of-a kind handsewn gift wrap too? Or if you didn’t quite have time for handmade gifts this year, this is a quick way to spiff up that present with just a touch of handmade care. Not to mention, it’s a great way to recycle paper grocery bags and other paper around the house.

Let your creativity run wild and try whipping up some custom stitched gift wrap with instructions at our Stitched Holiday Wrapping tutorial.

As the shopping days left till Christmas wane, we are still finding more decorations to put up and trying to finish those last handmade gifts, not to mention scrambling to get in our online shopping before the shipping deadlines. If you feel like we do, and don’t have an extra moment to dream up the perfect gift, consider some suggestions.

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1 - Amy Butler Softwares : $29.29 : for the techie sewist
With over 22 fun projects & patterns in Amy’s modern style, we find this pretty irresistable.

2 - Kaffe Fassett’s Quilt Romance : $24.95 : for the book snob sewist
This is Kaffe’s newest book, with breathtaking photos and quilt patterns that will go straight to that must-do list.

3 – Kinkame European Taupe II Quilt Kit : $55.10 : for the world-travelled sewist
Soft colors to pacify any room with this wall-hanging sized quilt kit including fabric and pattern.

4 - Sweet Harmony Handbag Pattern : $12.95 : for the trendy sewist
The latest and greatest bag pattern from Amy Butler, best of all, this bag definitely won’t have that “home crafts” look (you know what we mean).

5 – Mother Earth & Her Children Puzzle : $18.95 : for the game-loving sewist
This puzzle is based on the award-winning quilt that will amaze long after the puzzle is finished.

6 – Rouenneries Jelly Roll : $35 : for every sewist
French General’s Rouenneries fabric collection has pleased young and old alike. Here we have every print in a sweet little bundle.

7 – Paper Dollies : $16 : for the young-at-heart (or just young!) sewist
Just because you’re grown up doesn’t mean you can’t play with toys on Christmas morning!

8 – Liberty Of London Tana Lawn : $36/yard : for the sophisticated sewist
For someone who won’t indulge on themselves but should, 2 yards of a Liberty print can become a runway worthy blouse or skirt.

My mom has a rule: no shopping for yourself before Christmas. I haven’t quite adopted that rule myself, and with stuff like this around, how could I?

Just remember, orders must be placed by Sunday, December 20 to arrive by Christmas Eve with Priority Shipping.

One of our local Preston creatives, Abby Chase Designs, had contrived an handy travel toothcare kit out of our Anna Maria Horner oilcloth, which you can check out on her blog.  We have been drawn to this extra-wide laminated fabric and thought of using it to make lunch bags, makeup bags, tablecloths, and coaster, and there’s another great idea!  Has anyone seen or come up with some other good uses for oilcloth?