Did you know that most fabric companies constantly put out free patterns? That you can download online? Maybe you did, I know you’re super savvy. They do it to feature their new collections, but of course you can use any fabrics. I’ve been meaning to compile a list of where to get these patterns, so I thought I share it.  Keep in mind that the quality of free patterns can vary and sometimes you get what you pay for. You may find occasional errors, though some of these sites have an area for corrections. We’ve used many with good luck, especially from Moda, Clothworks, and Michael Miller. There are tons of online tutorials and project ideas for quilting and sewing, like at Moda Bake Shop and many other blogs, but that’s for another day. Here we have a list of the websites where fabric companies offer free PDF downloads. Have fun with it!

• Andover free patterns
• Benartex free patterns (only some available for download)
•  Free Spirit free patterns
• (click on “new free projects”)
• Hoffman free patterns
• In the Beginning free patterns
•  Lecien free patterns
• Marcus free patterns
• Maywood Studio free patterns
• Michael Miller free patterns
• Moda free patterns
• Northcott free patterns (only some available for download)
• P & B Textiles free patterns
• Red Rooster free patterns
• Riley Blake free patterns
• RJR free patterns
• Robert Kaufman free patterns
• Timeless Treasures free patterns
• Windham free patterns

I’ll admit it. I’m lazy. Maybe that’s why I like the exposed waistband skirt project and have made so many. Though it was inspired by a skirt from Anthropologie, it’s fast and simple.  My friend Elin and I both own the original and wear it all the time, so we got together to recreate it. It’s got pleats for kicky fullness and an exposed elastic waistband that looks great worn a bit high-waisted. Wear it with a tee for comfy running around, or dress it up with a blouse and cardi.  We’ve included instructions along with some ideas for variations right here.

Speaking of quilt shows, I can’t believe it’s nearly time again. Each year the Preston Piecers, one of the local quilt guilds, hosts a show and next Thursday it all starts again. This is a free show and we want to encourage everyone nearby to visit. The details:

Preston Piecers’ HomeTown Quilt Show, 2011

Thursday, October 13, 10am-6pm
Friday, October 14, 10am-6pm
Saturday, October 15, 10am-2pm

Larsen-Sant Library Conference Room
109 S. 1st E. Preston, Idaho

Free admission
Non-judged

Vote for your favorite quilts to win prizes,
and pick up a coupon to Suppose good for the days of the show!

We would also LOVE to see our customers’ quilts represented in the show, because they deserve to show off! Anyone in Preston and the surrounding areas is eligible to enter up to 2 quilts (or 1 quilt & 2 wall hangings), and this year they are trying something new. There will be no formal judging, but 3 Viewer’s Choice prizes will be given and awarded cash prizes, as well as Suppose Gift Certificates.  If you’re interesting in entering, download this info sheet & entry form for the full details, and bring your quilt to the Library next Tuesday, October 11 between 4-7pm, or Wednesday morning from 8-10am. See you there!

The Saturday before last I had a chance to visit the quilt show at the Utah Quilt Guild Festival in Provo. This crazy quilt-covered VW bug was at the hotel entrance to build buzz for next year’s festival, themed “Catch the Quilt Bug.”

I wanted to show you a few of the quilts I was drawn to at the show.  There are yet more up on Flickr (where you can also see all the quilters’ names).  The quilts on display represented a whole variety of styles and skill levels, which was really nice to see.

Loved that this was clearly Native American but also very modern.

Lots of impressive hand quilting and hand work to be seen, like this Cathedral Window quilt.

A modern sampler by a first-time machine quilter.

Amazing applique.

This scrap quilt blew my mind, because there is no regular block size or shape. You can hardly tell how she sewed it together! And it was only her 2nd quilt. I recognized many newer fabrics, as well as vintage ones–even the same Christmas fabric that we had in pillowcases when I was a child!

Like my mom, I am drawn to tiny tiny pieces. I stuck my fingers up so you could see the scale of this quilt. Insane!

I would love to tell every quilter I know to enter a quilt in this show next year. For all those reasons you think you shouldn’t, I’ll say: you underestimate yourself, other people do want to see your quilts, and you can handle the judge’s feedback. Recognition can be really nice, and constructive criticism from a judge can be useful, but all of that doesn’t  have to be the final word on what is right or beautiful. Just be proud of what you create and share it, whether or not you care about–or think you can–win a ribbon!

Oh boy was September a busy month. Least of all because the many different guild meetings have started up again. Here we have the show & tell from the September Suppose Creative Guild. Disclaimer: if any have official names, these probably aren’t them.

Leanne’s Sunflower Applique:

Leanne’s Strips & Daisy:

Leanne’s Purple Parasols:

Leanne has been calling this her ugly quilt for ages, but isn’t it sweet!

Lona’s Totes on Bolts bag:

Joyce’s Cat in the Hat quilt:

Jo’s Children at Play quilt top:

Evelyn’s Botanica quilt top:

If I can be quicker this month, we’ll have more show & tell in just a few days.

It’s about time for a little show & tell.  For your visual pleasure, here are some recent projects our customers have created.

Brandi’s strip quilt with Amy Butler fabrics:

My sister Rosie’s first Jelly Roll Quilt featuring Anna Maria Horner’s Innocent Crush collection:

Teresa’s improvised Dr. Seuss quilt:

and E’s thread doodling from our class:

Love it all. Bring your finished project in to show us and you can be featured too!

We were doing a bit of research yesterday, specifically needing to know what that metal thing on top of a pencil is called, (answer=ferrule) when we came across this essential piece of factory education.

And here is where I confess what a total nut I am for factory videos. It all started with the crayon video from Sesame Street (Mr. Rogers had a similar too). And notice the music; am I just nostalgic or is it totally saying “ooh you don’t even know what kind of magic awaits in these tiny wax cylinders!”

I get really sappy about that video. As a kid, watching it made my fingers tingle as I imagined the texture of the wax. And seeing those colors lined up perfectly made me itch for a brand new box of untouched 64 Crayolas. I still love new crayons, and in a way every time I gather fat quarters for a project, I get the same feeling as opening a fresh box of crayons and possibilities. Now that I think about it, that’s exactly why we named our shop Suppose. When you begin to suppose, it’s the moment when you first dream about what you can create with all the colors. You’re the master, your tools are ready, and you are about to transform raw color into something unique. We just LOVE those moments.

It was just at Spring Quilt Market that Jess and I were saying, “I wish Lotta Jansdotter had quilting fabric!” And lo and behold, Windham Fabrics will be sending her first collection, Echo, this Fall!

Let me back up a minute, in case you’re not familiar with Lotta Jansdotter. She is a Swedish printmaker and textile designer who is based in Brooklyn (formerly San Fransisco).  We’ve long loved her simple, organic style which is often in the form of stamped designs inspired by botanical shapes. You may have seen her papers and other goods in stores like Anthropologie over the years, not to mention her sewing books, Simple Sewing and Simple Sewing for Baby, which are favorites round here.

Get to know Lotta in in which she gives a tour of her studio. Isn’t she adorable? And you can bet we’ll be squealing with excitement when Echo arrives in November!

This is how I look after work most days, trying to hustle home as much fabric as possible.

I knew the minute I saw Heather Bailey’s new fabrics from Free Spirit at Quilt Market that I had to make a bag with them. Garden District is a collection of wide, heavy canvas that’s just asking to be tossed around and treated roughly. It screams, “I can take it and look good too!” I wanted a big bag to show off the large Nouvelle Rose print, so I chose Heather Bailey’s Saturday Market Bag pattern.

I’d somehow never made a Heather Bailey pattern before this, but it was just as easy to follow as I expected.  And I actually started and finished it in the same day, so I avoided some unfinished project guilt there. The pattern includes several versions of the bag, and I made option 3, without the bow or contrasting sections. I decided to go for the reversible option, so didn’t put any pockets in either. The pattern calls for lightweight canvas for an interfacing, but since I was already using heavy canvas for both the outside and lining, I left the interfacing out. And am glad I did. Another benefit of this canvas is that it’s extra wide at 58″, so even though the pattern calls for 1-1/8 yards each of outer and lining fabrics, in the canvas it only takes about 3/4 yards each.

I love how simple, pretty, and BIG it is. It’s named right, because I’m so ready to take this thing to the farmer’s market Saturday! Because I intended to use it as a shopping bag and I know I’ll be filling it to the max, I didn’t put in the optional snaps that let you contract the sides. So since I left out bows, pockets, interfacing, and snaps, the bag was a quick sew. From cutting out fabric to the last topstitching it probably took at most 4 hours.

The one cheating moment I had was to machine stitch the straps closed instead of hand sewing them. I figured since I was topstitching anyway, it wouldn’t look any worse to have a seam there.

This photo also gives you a bit of a sense of the texture of the canvas. It’s substantial weight gives it a more professional look. We’ve had the Free Spirit home dec weight sateens in the shop, but this heavy canvas is new. I’m very happy with the quality of it and I think it will be quite useful.  I’ve got a backpack in mind for my next canvas project. For now the Saturday Market bag is on display in the shop, and kits are available for this very version.

We’ve been working hard developing some new class curriculums around here, and we’re pretty exited about it. The first two classes in September are my own newest, Clothing Construction 101 and Thread Doodling, which both came about after some sewing projects that I ended up loving and thought you guys might too.

A few months ago I made the Roundabout Dress pattern by Anna Maria Horner…

but the blouse version…

which looked like this on me…

but only when I wasn’t making this face…

Anyway, all the while I sewed, I kept thinking what a great beginning pattern it was.  It’s clearly written, so it will be great for learning how to read and understand patterns.  It has pleats and gathers, great techniques for beginning clothing sewists to learn. It doesn’t have buttonholes, zippers, or set-in sleeves, which can be saved for the post-beginner clothing class. Other elements of this blouse give us the chance to teach about bias trims, cuffs and waistbands, and basics of custom-fitting a pattern. Not to mention that it’s just a really great shirt!  You’ll actually like to wear the first piece of clothing you sew.  I can’t say the same for the first shirt I sewed, in a class my freshman year of college.  It was a white button down, and looked like an oversized janitor’s uniform. It went missing long ago. That will not be happening with the Roundabout. My blouse was made with Triflora voile in Mermaid (notice my note about voile on the supply list if you sign up). Class stars September 6. Follow the link for Clothing Construction 101 for all the details, including supply list and how to register.

Thread Doodling all started when I made a little zipper pouch, which I posted previously.  It combined machine applique and free-motion machine embroidery. I found the technique irresistible and did some more…

I called it thread doodling, because there was no pre-planning or marking lines, no fixing mistakes, and it had the playful feel of the doodles you probably did all over your notebooks when you were a student.  You don’t have to be a good drawer or have an impressive vision. I like to start by remembering what kinds of things I used to doodle as a kid, and go from there…

These flowers became a throw pillow, which is one of the options for how to use your thread doodle in our class.
Once we go over how to prepare your materials and practice the free-motion technique, the project will be very freestyle. It can take on endless incarnations depending on who’s doing the thread doodling, so I’m really looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with in class.  Thread Doodling takes place in exactly one month on September 16.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. We’ll feature more of our classes here on the blog soon, in the mean time check out our entire Fall class line-up. And I hope you’ll join us in the classroom!