Rustic Romance Pincushions

Look at this gorgeous new fabric line Rustic Romance from Riley Blake Designs. I had several ideas of what to create with these beauties and I finally decided to make pincushions.

My most favorite fabrics are these. I wanted to come up with the designs to showcase them better. I created small and large pincushions. I created a downloadable PDF for the hexagon in case you need it.

* Small Pincushion

1. Download the PDF and cut out the template. It would be great if you have thin plastic sheets to make the templates, but if not, you could still make the pincushion. Cut out 2 hexagon pieces for the top and the bottom and one 2"x 8" strip (seam allowance included).

2. Sew the strip to the hexagon pieces. Leave a small opening for stuffing. Slip stitch to close.

3. I added beads, ribbons and buttons to embellish the pincushions, but this step is totally a personal preference.


* Large Pincushion

I thought I would play with the hexagon for a little more and created this large pincushion.

1. Cut out 6 hexagon pieces, one 2 1/2"x 23 1/2" strip and 2 large circles for the top and the bottom. Again, you can use the printable PDF I have created.

2. I did paper piecing method for this one, so cut out 6 hexagon papers without the seam allowance.

3. Piece the hexagon side by side.

4. Place the pieced hexagon onto the circle piece and pin. The fabric I wanted to use for this wasn't wide enough, so I came up with the design and pieced it, but it will be much easier to do one solid piece for this. Stitch the hexagon pieces to the fabric.

5. Leaving an opening a few inches wide, sew the long strip to the top and the bottom circle pieces. Turn the fabric inside out and stuff. Slip stitch closed.

I think it would be fun to make a bunch of small ones as a gift for your sewing/quilting friends. With different combinations of fabrics and embellishments, you can totally make them unique. Thank you for visiting, and I hope you enjoyed the tutorial!

Blue Summer Dress

I don't know about you, but I love dresses and skirts. Especially light and airy Summer dresses made out of cotton. I found this blue cotton fabric a few years ago for really cheap (I believe it was around $3 a yard) with the intention of sewing a Summer dress and I finally did it. I guess the hardest part for me is finding a pattern that I love.

I looked through my pattern bins and nothing caught my attention for this particular fabric. I started going through my old sewing pattern books I brought from Japan. If I remember correctly I bought the book 20+ years ago. Does that qualify for being called "Vintage"? Anyways, I found a dress made out of small floral prints in the book. I loved the shape of the dress, the pleated skirt, lots of buttons from top to bottom in the back, and the manipulated pleated front!

Measuring and creating the pleats was definitely more work than I normally do with other clothes making, but it was fun. I couldn't be happier with the results. I know I am going to wear this dress a lot this Summer.

Whatever you are working on right now, happy sewing everyone!