Scott and I picked up an unfinished dresser from Ikea for the nursery recently and decided to dress it up with a little paint and fabric. This project was pretty easy, taking just a few extra tools and materials to transform a plain piece of furniture into something more unique. Here's how we did it.
Upholstered Ikea Tarva Dresser
You'll Need:
1 Ikea Tarva Dresser (with hardware and necessary tools)
2 sample size tubs of paint (We had ours mixed at Lowes)
Water
Rags for whitewashing
About 3 yards of fabric
A staple gun (with plenty of heavy duty staples)
Fancy knobs (optional)
A few notes on the materials:
When you pick out a fabric, try to choose something fairly thin. The fabric we used was a little too heavy, which caused the drawers to stick together. Then again, you don't want to use fabric that is too flimsy, or it could rip and tear during use. I'd recommend a light canvas or thin upholstery fabric.
You can pick out almost any paint color you want at a home improvement store like Lowes or Home Depot, and order it in a sample size. One sample tub is enough to coat one three-drawer dresser, but it is good to have an extra tub on hand, just in case. You can always return it if you don't end up using it.
I think adding fancy knobs did a lot to enhance our dresser, but it was the most costly part of the addition for us. Knobs range from $3 to $10 a piece, so getting six can add up quickly. The original dresser comes with unfinished wooden knobs. If you are on a tight budget, I would recommend just painting those to match. By the way, we got our knobs at World Market for about $6 each (before a coupon).
Directions:
Lay out the pieces of the dresser on a large tarp or piece of cardboard. (We used the packaging from Ikea as a work surface.)
Mix one tub of paint with an equal amount of water, then use a rag to rub the color onto the bare wood. This technique is called white-washing, and you can learn more about it here. Paint all of the wooden parts of the dresser, then let them dry. To darken the color, repeat with a second or third coat of paint.
When the paint is completely dry, lay the fabric beneath one of the drawer fronts. Lay the fabric right-side down, and the drawer front inside-up. Use a pencil to trace the shape of the drawer front onto the back of the fabric, and mark the knob-holes with the pencil as well.
Set the drawer front aside, then cut the fabric about 3 inches outside of the lines traced from the drawer front. Repeat this with the rest of the fabric, cutting one panel for each drawer. Punch small holes into the fabric for each knob hole.
Set the drawer front back onto one of the panels of fabric, then use the staple gun to adhere the fabric onto the drawer. Fold the fabric under before stapling to avoid fraying. Be careful not to cover any of the grooves or holes in the drawer piece. You'll need those to be accessible during assembly.
Assemble the dresser according to the directions from Ikea. If you are using fancy knobs, simply install those instead of the wood ones when the time comes.
If you end up with drawers that are too thickly covered, they will stick. You can fix this, but it's kind of a pain in the butt. You'll need to remove the fabric from the bottom of each drawer front, then sand down the bottom edge of the drawer by 1/4 inch or more. Then, re-attach the fabric and try fitting them in again.
As our budget gets pulled tighter and tighter, and Babeleo's arrival creeps closer, I'm being forced to rethink a few things when it comes to decorating our nursery. I had a truly lovely list of gorgeous handmade decorations going on Etsy. Several months ago, purchasing those pretty things seemed totally reasonable. Now, however, reality has reared her obnoxious head, and is making me realize that we just can't afford to blow a bunch of money on prettying up a baby room.
I had a "waaaaaah" moment there, but soon remembered that I am a very crafty person. Why on Earth would I need (or even want) to buy those things from other artists when I could make similar versions myself? Most of the things I had my eye on were very simple, after all. Beautiful, no doubt, but also totally re-creatable.
The first thing I decided to tackle was prayer flags. I'd had my eye on these, and these. So pretty! But how would I add words or pictures to my flags? Screen printing? Hand painting? Fabric stamps? After a quick look through my crafting stash I discovered three sheets of printable fabric. Hallelujah! This stuff is PERFECT for this kind of a project.
I hopped on InDesign and whipped up six little flags to print out on the three sheets of paper. I "borrowed" some illustrations from the internet, then downloaded two pretty handwritten fonts from Dafont.com (I used Dawning of a New Day and Sunshine in My Soul.) If you are looking for a good resource of Buddhist artwork, check out the Buddhist eLibrary.
I combined each picture with one of my favorite Buddhist prayers and quotes from the Dalai Lama. You could easily customize this project to suit any kind of sentiment or spiritual belief you like though. Bible verses, song lyrics, or famous quotes would all work nicely on prayer flags.
Next, I rummaged through my fabric stash to find six small pieces that looked nice together. I picked a few different quilter's cottons, and one random green knit. I also used some satin ribbon, a handful of jingle bells, and a little bit of embroidery floss.
I started by printing out my fabric. I used InDesign to make printable PDFs, but you could use any kind of Word or document program that you are comfortable with. Just make sure your page is formatted in a landscape position so that you'll have enough room to make two flags on each sheet. You can download a copy of the PDF I used here: Download Prayer Flags
After you print the fabric, cut out each flag individually. Try to make sure each one is well centered on its little rectangle.
Now it's time to cut the fabric for the back of the flags. Each flag needs two layers of fabric. I cut each flag at about the same size, a few inches wider and longer than the flags I had printed. Give each flag an extra two inches on the top so that it can be folded over later. I cut each of my flags into 8" x 11" rectangles.
Use an iron to adhere the printable fabric to the top panel of your cut fabric (according to the instructions that come with your fabric). I used the cotton setting with no steam to attach my printed fabric. After they cool, run a zig-zag stitch around the printed fabric to make sure it's totally secure. Using a contrasting colored thread also makes the flags extra pretty.
Lay the top and bottom panels of fabric for each flag together, wrong sides in, right sides out. Use the zig-zag stitch (or a serger, if you are so lucky as to have one) to bind them together. Again, I like using a contrasting thread for this part. Stitch all the way around all of the outer edges.
Fold the top edge over by about an inch, with the folded fabric on the back of the flag, the straight stitch across the bottom edge of the fold, leaving a good sized hold for you to thread a ribbon or cord through the top.
Get yourself a nice long piece of ribbon or flat cord, then thread it through the top of the flags. Run an inch or so of straight stitch over where to ribbon sits inside each flag. This will help stop them from moving around on the ribbon. Leave at least few inches between each flag, and be careful not to let the ribbon twist.
It would be even prettier with more rustic bells. Of course, these were all I had in my craft stash at the time.
After all of the flags are attached, cut four six-inch lengths of embroidery thread. Use the thread to tie the jingle bells in the spaces between the flags.
Now hang your flags somewhere lovely! Here they are in Babeleo's room. (...which is coming along nicely. Don't you think?)
Our second bedroom has been used as my office and craft room since we moved in. About a year ago, we had a roomate move in to our third bedroom, so this room also started serving double-duty as a guest room. The room is changing purpose once again, and will soon become a nursery. I'm pretty excited about its current transformation, so I thought I'd share some of our plans and progress up to this point.
After our roomate moved out at the beginning of last month we started shuffling things up to make room for Babeleo. My office moved to the loft/den upstairs, and the guest room returned to its old home in the third bedroom. Moving all of this out and re-organizing it elsewhere was no small task, but we were fueled by nesting instincts and made pretty short work of it all.
How We Picked Our Flooring Material
We were left with a fairly bare room painted in grayish blue with a cream-colored carpet. The carpet had seen better days, and considering that this will be the child of two allergy-prone people, we thought swapping out the floor for wood would be a good idea. Which kind of wood flooring to use became quite the debate. Seeing as I knew pretty much nothing about flooring before this project, this was mostly a debate between my husband and himself, though I was often called in to mediate.
Having grown up in the Northeast, Scott and I both love wood floors. As pretty as they are, they can also be really expensive and somewhat difficult to install. Besides looks, another benefit of a real wood flooring is that you can refinish it in the future. When you consider the lifetime value of real wood, it might actually be a better investment longterm. However, if you are on a tight budget, like we are, that might not be an investment you are prepared to make!
After some serious deliberation, we went with a floating laminate. Specifically, we used Allen & Roth Laminate Flooring from Lowes. These are basically particle board slats topped with wood veneer. They lock together, and come pre-padded, which saved us a bundle on glue and padding, which we would have had to purchase with other kinds of laminate floors.
We waited around for a good amount of the stuff to go on clearance. Flooring gets returned pretty often, and it's frequently damaged. By seeking out damaged boxes we were able to save about 30-40% on the cost of the floor. Of course, we had to buy extra boxes of flooring to account for the damaged boards in each pack, but even with that cost in mind, the numbers landed in our favor.
Preparation
Once we had our flooring we were ready to get to work. The first thing we needed to do (after cleaning out the room) was to remove the old carpet. In some parts of the country you can pull up an old carpet and find original wood floors beneath. This doesn't happen very often in Texas, and certainly not in houses that are less than thirty years old. We weren't surprised to find a bare concrete floor beneath the carpet and padding. That being said, I highly recommend checking before running out to buy a bunch of laminate. You never know.
After removing the carpet, Scott Bobleo used a couple of huge levels to check the floor's shape. If your floor is too un-level, you may need to pour down a special base to even it out. Luckily, our floor was level enough to skip that step. One step we couldn't skip, however, was giving the flooring forty eight hours to acclimate to our home's humidity. It's a good thing that Scott knows what he's doing, because I never would have guessed that such a thing was necessary. Apparently, if you don't give the flooring time to expand or contract to your home's climate it can cause the floor to buckle, crack, and junk up after installation. That could be a very expensive mistake.
How We Did It
On Sunday we were finally ready to start laying the floor. Before I describe that process, here's a quick list of things you need when installing a laminate floor:
Enough flooring to cover the square footage of your room, plus an extra 10% for waste
Matching wood trim to cover the door jam
Primed trim for the walls (one piece for each wall, the length of each wall)
Matching paint for your wall trim (should match your existing wall trim)
A tablesaw (you might also need a special blade, depending on the type of flooring)
An undercut saw
Plastic sheeting (more than enough to cover the square footage of your room)
Masking tape
Spacers
A mallet
A pull bar and block
We started by sweeping out the room really well, making sure not to trap a ton of dust and lint under the flooring. Next, we rolled out a tarp of plastic sheeting to cover the concrete floor. This stops moisture from seeping out of the concrete and into the wood. Draping a huge piece of plastic across a floor sounds easy, but getting it flat, cut properly, and sized properly was no piece of cake. I highly recommend using masking tape to anchor the plastic in place as you spread it out. You'll want to push the plastic up the wall by at least an inch on every side. (You'll cut it down to fit behind the trim later.)
Once the plastic was down, Scott started in on the biggest part of the job, laying down the boards! He placed spacers against the wall, laid down a board, and then used the mallet, spacer bar and block to tap each board firmly into place. Leaving those spacers is another important step that may not be obvious. Wood expands and contracts with changes in humidity, so it's important to leave a small space around the edge of the floor to allow for those changes. The gap gets covered later by trim. Who knew!
Scott spent all day tapping in those boards. As he went along he had to cut boards down to size with his tablesaw to make sure everything fit just right. He also used his undercut saw to make extra room under the door jams and door trim, another step I didn't see coming! As Scott went along it occurred to me that laying a floor is a lot like solving a jigsaw puzzle. Only with a floor it isn't very easy to go back and fix your mistakes. It's important to think ahead and create a strategy for how you will cut and lay each board, especially around closets and doors.
Gracie made herself a nice bed out of the extra sheeting. Oh, simple dog, you're so easy to please.
With the boards all in place, Scott cut away the extra plastic sheeting, removed the spacers, and installed the trim. A quick coat of paint later, and the floor was finished!
How Much It Cost
All in all, this project cost us a little over $200 including materials, tools, and extras. If you are thinking about laminate flooring, there are less expensive and more expensive types out there, so be sure to shop around and find the kind that suits your home and budget best. There are even types of laminate that can be refinished!
What's Next?
We are actually getting pretty close to finishing this up. You can see in that last photo that I re-painted the wooden shelves using a white-washing technique. We've already collected most of the furniture we need. We scored a great big blue Ikea Dresser and a pretty white glider from Craigslist. Scott's sister gifted us a crib (thanks, Jenn!), we bought a small unfinished dresser new from Ikea to paint, and just this weekend we picked up a chindi rug for 50% off at World Market.
We still have a closet to hack into a changing station and some touch-up painting and patching to do on the walls, not to mention adding all the little decorations that will make the room more special. My Mom has offered to make us some curtains, and I have been racking my brain on the easiest way to create an ottaman for my nursing chair. (Ottamans are expensive, y'all!)
I shared some of my design plans and inspiration recently on my baby blog. You can check out that post if you are curious about where we'll be going with the room. I'll also be updating this blog with our progress as it all comes together. It's a good thing we have two more months before Babeleo arrives!
I've been on a real tear lately. I can hear my sewing machine panting for breath, begging for a break. Not a chance, Husky. It's time you earn your keep! Besides, sewing has been a lot of fun recently, what with all the cute patterns and pretty colors that I finally have a good reason to work with.
The only trouble with my recent pace is that I'm starting to run out of things to make. A child can only have so many play mats after all, and there is certainly such a thing as too many stuffed animals. The kid hasn't even been born yet and their collection of toys might be reaching capacity. (We're gonna need a bigger box.)
You can see here Exhibit A, a trio of fabric beach balls that I made using a free downloadable pattern on the Purl Bee. These little cuties were very quick to sew. I stuffed them with hi-loft fiberfill and fashioned homemade jingle balls inside each of them. I was very proud of how this project came out, but Scott Bobleo was less enthusiastic.
"Our kid is gonna have some weird stuff.", he says.
What a piece of work.
He repeated this irritating sentiment after I showed him this little pair of baby shoes I made. Aren't they cute? Comfy looking too (a factor which I feel is mega important when it comes to baby clothes). I made these little shoes using a pattern from Meet Me At Mike's by Pip Lincolne, one of my favorite recent library finds.
Have I mentioned how incredibly awesome the Austin Public Library is? It's like a big 'ol bottomless treasure chest. If you don't have a library card, you are missing out big time.
And here's a little peak at what is surely the last play mat I will make for a while. I swear I'm done. Scout's honor. I just couldn't resist that dinosaur fabric. In a moment of weakness I bought a yard at JoAnns, resulting in what is this baby's umpteenth fluffy blanket. This kid is in no danger of ever being cold or directly on the floor.
If you didn't notice, this blanket's theme is a nod to Dr. Who. Dinosaurs in outer space!!!
Looky what happens when you sew too much. Rouge bobbins get tangled up in your car keys.
I made Babeleo a gift on Valentine's Day, the first of what will probably be many many stuffed toys that this little one will recieve from their Mama. I may not be great at making clothes, but I'm pretty handy when it comes to stuffed creatures. It's been a while since I took on a serious 3D project like this one. I'd almost forgotten how tricky it can be to get everything lined up just right.
Besides a few puckers here and there, I'm pretty proud of how little Chubsy Whale came out. I stuffed the heck out of him so that he'll be nice and huggable. (Tested that out a few times already.) I also installed three jingle bells inside of him to make him just a little bit more fun. I've been meaning to order some real noise makers for stuffies, like rattles and jingle balls.
For now, I've been making due with regular jingle bells and Easter eggs. By stashing the bell inside the egg, it keeps it ringing at full strength. If I were to put a naked bell inside the stuffy it would mute the sound quite a bit. Pro tip: tape the egg shut to help make sure it doesn't crack when it gets played with later.
I used a pattern from Akiko Kunst. You can find it here, but be warned that the pattern does not include directions. It took some head scratching for me to figure out exactly how to put this guy together. Luckily, the author has a few finished whales in her Etsy shop. I used these guys as clues, and with a little luck I managed pretty well.
I've been keeping the librarians busy lately by checking out copies of every cute baby sewing book I can find. This pretty little project came from Handmade Beginnings by Ana Maria Horner. I didn't go with a jingle ball for this stuffy. Instead, I filled the bottom of the chicken with bean-bag filler, giving her a nice hefty seat. My favorite thing about this stuffed animal is that it's interactive. Lift the wings up, and you'll find six tiny chicks that attach with velcro wings.
Pretty darn cute, don't you think? I suppose a chicken isn't the cutest or most exotic animal out there, but they are plenty lovable in their own right. You could certainly make this pattern cuter by choosing more whimsical fabrics. I went with batik in an attempt to keep things gender neutral. The pattern itself was very easy to follow, which made what might seem like a daunting project relatively easy. I added the little red bit on top of her head myself. Like the wings, I quilted the piece with a piece of scrap batting to give it some sturdiness.
You can see a little peek of the nursery coming together in the background in these photos. We scored a big blue dresser off of Craigslist which fits our ever-growing collection of second hand baby clothes very nicely. We've got a ton of 0-3 month clothes, a good amount of 3-6, and then a sparse collection ranging from 6-18 months. After our shower next month I think we'll have pretty much everything we need.
As for everything we want, well that's easy: ten fingers, ten toes, health, happiness, and an easy delivery.
Whitewashing is a really easy painting technique that allows you to apply sheer color over bare wood. Before you get started on your project, make sure that the wood you are painting is as naked as possible. You may need to sand the wood down before you start painting.
Any water-based paint will work for whitewashing, but when it comes to furniture, I like to use latex paint with a satin finish. This is the same kind of paint you would use to paint the walls inside your house, and it comes in a rainbow of colors. I usually purchase sample sizes of paint from Lowes for these kinds of projects.
Which colors work with whitewashing?
While the traditional color to whitewash with is white, you can use this technique with pretty much any color of paint. Bright colors will give you a more sheer effect, while whites and pastels will provide a little more opacity. Dark colors need to be watered down very well in order to achieve the desired effect. Experiment with different colors on different projects to get a feel for how each color performs.
You'll need:
Water-based paint
Water
a container and stick to mix the paint with
a clean rag
Drop cloths or tarps to protect your work area
How to:
Make sure the surface that you are painting is totally naked (free of paint or stain) and clean (free of dust or dirt).
Start with a ratio of about half water and half paint. Mix this well, making sure to break up any clumps.
Paint a test piece of wood first, if you have one available. It's important to check out the color after it has been watered down. You may need to add more paint, or more water to achieve the right look.
Fold the rag over, smushing it into a little knob. Dip the knob into the paint, then brush it over the surface of the wood. For a more scattered look, brush small amounts of paint onto the wood, following the grain. For a well-covered look, brush a generous amount of paint onto the wood, painting in slow circles.
Let the first coat dry, then go back over the wood with a second coat if you'd like the color to be deeper or cover more thoroughly.
You can learn more about whitewashing, and learn about alternative techniques by checking out the following blog posts:
This throw-sized quilt was a gift for my sister, Heather, for her bridal shower. Now that I've gifted this beauty, I've reached a personal goal, making quilts for each of my sisters. First was Caitlin's Giant Squid Quilt, then Sarah's Fox Quilt (though technically that was for my baby nephew - still counts though). I had been meaning to make one for Heather for a while now, but I hadn't really been inspired fabric-wise.
That was until I wandered into the quilt shop one passing afternoon and laid eyes on a shelf full of Collage by Carrie Bloomston. This letter-peppered fabric totally screamed Heather's name. I wasn't sure exactly what kind of quilt I would make from it, but I knew it was meant to be something special.
I sat on the project for a while, considering what approach to take pattern-wise. Eventually I remembered the Herringbone technique that I'd spotted on Bijou Lovely a ways back. Inspired, I set out to cutting strips and sewing blocks. Of course, in true Me style, I missed a vital step of the tutorial. Instead of creating alternating diagonal blocks I just made a whole bunch of same direction blocks. Whoops.
I almost called this the Almost Herringbone Quilt, but then thought better of it. Who wants their hard work memorialized by silly mistakes? Certainly not me. Better to name it after what it became, which was diagonal, still a great leap for someone who has only ever sewed straight lines into a quilt.
I really love the backing fabric on this quilt. It reminds me of modern art. I wish I had been more fastidious and written down the maker of this piece for you. I was in such a passion while making this baby that I totally forgot to do that. Let's blame preggo brain, ok?
There are some very fine advantages to having your sister baby up just before you do. Besides letting me cuddle her own cute, chubby-cheeked little guy, she gives me to scoop on what kind of gear comes in handy most often. As you have probably figured out, I really like making blankets. After making little Babeleo his/her own patchwork quilt and play mat, I figured I had filled my quota in the baby blanket department. I mean, how many blankets can one baby use anyway?
I have to admit that the thought of finishing my project quota so quickly was a bit of a bummer. When I mentioned this to my sister, Scissorina, she quickly set me straight. Apparently, one can not have too many play mats and blankets. Kids pee and spit up on them all the time, she says, so it's nice to have several on hand.
Oh good. Now being sufficiently turned loose, I began work on yet another blanket project. Babeleo will now be the recipient of not one, but two sushi themed play mats. Kids love sushi, right? I know my nephew does, and he's not even old enough to eat it yet.
Look at that crazy kid.
Anyway, here are my two mats. These were very, very simple to make. I used two one-yard pieces of fabric for each mat, and stuffed them with a double layer of hi-loft batting. This makes them extremely puffy, perfect for tummy time, and general floor-level horsing around.
Just put the two pieces of fabric together, right-sides facing in, then sew around three edges. Turn the piece out, stuff it with batting, then sew the last seam closed. Quilt by sewing through the blanket. This keeps the batting in place and gives the mat some much-needed structure.
I have this cat, Mr. Pickles, who really, really loves blankets. He insisted on taking part in this photo shoot, so here he is, in full prarie-cat burrowing mode.
This mat involved a little bit of patchwork, actually, since the white sushi panel I had in my stash was just short of one yard. I patched in a few inches of Maneki Neko cat fabric on each end, which made up the difference nicely.
I scored the sushi fabric in a craft swap many years ago. My Dad brought me back the Maneki Neko fabric from a trip to Japan. I begged him to buy me some fabric while he was there, any kind at all, and was rewarded for my harassment with this lucky cat pattern, an adorable pufferfish print, and a strange, but pretty dragon fabric.
My next mat was more of a sushi roll. I attached two pieces of flat, woven elastic to one end, along with a pair of big, fat buttons. I sewed some awkward button holes into the end of the elastic and huzzah! The play mat can be rolled up into a cute little tube. Now it reminds me of a maki.
So what's next on the agenda in blanket land? I just finished up a secret project for another one of my sisters, which I can't wait to share here. A photo shoot (sans cat?) will be taking place sometime soon. As soon as the star is gifted, I'll give you a peek at my very first quilt using diagonal patchwork. I know, it's very exciting.
In addition to my thrift store conquests, I have a few handmade goodies in my baby clothes stash. I am not the greatest seamstress, but I've attempted a few baby projects over the years. Not all of them were sold or gifted, so I have a few things to use with my own kiddo, which is pretty cool.
Sushi bloomers! I made a pair for my sister before Fox was born, and these were the test run. They are pretty imperfect, especially around the tricky leg holes, but I still like them anyway.
These onesies are leftover from an Etsy shop I had going once upon a time. They aren't exactly gender neutral, but I should be able to use at least one of them.
These sad little things are my latest attempt at handmade baby clothes. I have a massive stash of jersey in my craft room, so it's kind of a bummer that I can't get this project quite right. I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but one leg is much, much bigger than the other. Plus, if I'm being totally honest with myself, it's pretty ugly. Poor Babe-leo. He/She's gonna get laughed out of the playpen in these pants.
I've never been one for following directions. I love to sew, but patterns make me snore. When I'm getting my creativity on, it's freedom I crave, so it might seem strange that quilting has become my favorite fiber art. Most quilters are all about precision. My favorite quilt gurus, The Sometimes Crafter and The Happy Zombie, seem to thrive on carefully trimmed angles, methodical planning, and flawless stitchwork. What they do is amazing, especially to someone like me, who never quite got the knack of coloring inside the lines.
When I quilt, there is little to no planning whatsoever. I find a few piles of fabric that look pretty, then I start chopping them up. I try to chop in uniform pieces, like rectangular strips, or mostly square patches, but really, I'm just going for it. Once I have cut up a decent sized pile of fabric, I start thinking about how I'd like to piece it all together. I imagine how the pieces might fit together in order to create a big square or rectangle. Sometimes, I even pull out a piece of paper, and scribble down my thoughts.
Then, I start shuffling the pieces to randomize the pattern that I will sew them in. Usually, I've ended up with an uneven amount of pieces in each color, so shuffling is the only way to go. I don't let myself get hung up on the order. Instead, I embrace the chaos, and keep my eye out for too many obvious repeats.
When my piles are sufficiently shuffled, I start to sew. The trick to sewing together a bunch of badly cut pieces is to keep one side of the panel straight at all times. The other end of the panel will be jagged and uneven, but that won't matter in the long run. You see, once my panel is finished, I'll just cut all of that uneven fabric off. Once I've created all the panels I need to create the quilt top, I sew them together, then trim the edges of the top again, making sure that all four edges are fairly straight and smooth.
So that's pretty much how I tackle the patchwork. Since this method sometimes results in quilt that is not quite standard-sized, I may have to do a little more patchwork for the quilt bottom. Oh well, such is life. Pinning the top, batting, and quilt all together is a real "B" too, but I suspect even the most fastidious quilters hate that part of the process.
One technique that really lends itself to my flexible approach is applique. I have a monstrous stash of fabric scraps that I keep on hand for this. I have no idea how applique is meant to be done. I have a feeling that my method is again, pretty weird. I start by ironing double-sided interfacing onto the wrong side of a whole panel of the fabric I've chosen to work with. I use a pencil to sketch out shapes on the paper backing, (keeping in mind that I'm drawing backwards) then I cut them out, and iron them onto my quilt.
I stitch the edges of the ironed-on fabric either by hand or machine depending on how I want it to look, and how much detail there is. Hand stitching lets you work in much finer detail than the machine, but it also takes forever. For mult-fabric images, like the fox quilt I made for my sister, I use the cut pieces like stencils, creating a big, puzzle-pieced picture before ironing anything onto the actual quilt.
As for the actual quilting, (the process of sewing all three layers together) I prefer to do this freehand whenever I can. I've sewn a few quilts that were just too big for that, and in those cases, I like to use a free-motion presserfoot while machine sewing.
I always, always, always sew the binding on by hand. Since my edges tend to be a bit wonky, this gives me the chance to hide those imperfections with slow, careful stitching. It takes a long time, but then that is sort of the nature of a quilt, isn't it?
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, giving her a nice hefty seat. My favorite thing about this stuffed animal is that it's interactive. Lift the wings up, and you'll find six tiny chicks that attach with velcro wings.
