How to make an Outlined Letter

I recently made a quilt for my cousin's daughter.  It was her second birthday gift from our family.

 

Her mother, Nicole, really like it.  She's getting ready to switch everything over to her "big girl" room, since she now has another bun in the oven.  So she asked if I could make a few decorative pillows.  And she mentioned she would like one with the letter A on it.

Since I didn't want to use the same material that I made her name with, instead I used a lot of the materials from the circles.  

But to start, I printed out a nice, big letter A using PowerPoint.  I went through and chose the font I liked then chose to print the outline only, so as not to waste more ink. Don't forget to then draw a 1/4 inch seam allowance around your letter.

Next I sewed strips onto the backside of the paper using the paper piecing method.  If you have questions, feel free to ask.

I didn't take a picture of it, but after I sewed the fabric on, I turned it over and cut out the letter A, including the 1/4 inch seam allowance.  And this is what's left:

Now I wanted to outline the letter with a small black strip.  And I also did not want any raw edges showing for the letter, so here's what I did.

I cut a 1 inch strip of black fabric (above), then I ironed it in half, just like you would do for binding. (Shown below.)

Next, pin the black to the letter, raw edges out.

After you've sewn both sides, press them, and they should fold over nicely, leaving you with no raw edges on the outside.

Sew the black onto the top of the letter.  Make sure that you leave about 1/2" on either side, so that you can fold it back and create a nice finished edge on the end. (see below)

Then fold both over and pin in place.  Go ahead and press it, and that will help keep them where they're supposed to go.  Pins will keep them where they should be until you sew the letter down onto the other fabric.

The next part was trickier.  I sewed on the small pieces of black onto the legs of the A.  Then I had to fold them back, out of the way.  In the picture above, you can see that when I was sewing on the center black, I folded the end, so that there would be no raw edges.

Once all three sections are sewn on, you can press them and then pin them into submission.   The pressing helps out, but whatever is not in the exact place as it should be, will be taken care of when you sew it onto the other fabric.  So pin away and then you'll sew it down later.

For the last pieces on the bottom, go ahead and do the same as you did on the top, making sure to leave extra black hanging off the end so that you can then fold them under and pin.

And here's the finished A.  No, I did not do this for the small opening of the A.  I really wanted to and tried for a while, but decided to just applique a small triangle there instead.  It made life a lot easier.  

I am going to sew this down onto a pillow.  I will sew along in the ditch, where the pink and black meet.

I hope this helps you create a special little something for the ones you love. . . at least the ones who's name starts with an easy straight edged letter like A or T.

How to make a Mitered Border

My Summer Sampler Series quilt top is finished and I thought that I would do a little tutorial on my border.  It's different from anything that I've ever done.

Here's a picture of the mitered corners. 

I wanted to make the border a scrappy mosaic type of border.
I think it turned out nice.  

And I decided to leave all the white in the middle of the quilt to bring your eyes to the center, where all the hard work was put in!

So here's how you make a tiled, mitered border. 

First decide how wide you want your strips to be, then cut them half an inch wider to allow a quarter inch seam allowance on both sides.  Mine will be 1 inch finished, so I cut them 1.5 inches.  

Then sew them together in one continuous line.

To decide how you long your strips should be, use this formula, taken from Quilt University.com

For a  mitered seam, you must add another 2" on EACH side for the miter.  If your main quilt is 36" and the border is 2" wide, the math would look like this:

miter + border width + body of quilt + border width + miter + seam allowance

(the seam allowance is 1/2", which is 1/4" on each side and needs to be added only ONCE for the entire piece)

2" + 2" + 36" + 2" + 2" + 1/2" seam allowance = 44 1/2"

 There are two ways you can do it from here.  Cut your strips to the length you need, based on the math above, then sew them together.  I ended up doing 3  rows of 1 inch strips.  Once you have them sewn together, you can then sew them to the quilt body, making sure to leave the correct amount of fabric free on each side of the quilt for the mitered corners.  In the example above, you would need to leave 4 and a quarter inches on each side. 

Or

You can do it the way I did.

 

I started with one strip at a time.  I added the first trip to  the body of the quilt and left 3 inches hanging off the side, to allow for my mitered corners.

Don't forget to leave the same amount at the end of the strip.

I continued to add strips.  This is what it looks like with one side done.

Now it's time to turn the quilt and sew the strips onto the next side.  See where the pin is pointing?  This is where you will begin sewing.  Do not sew the other border strips to this strip.  You will sew the two together later, when you miter the corners.  I did a back stitch here, just in case. 

Here's the next strip on the second side of the quilt.  

Make sure you hold the other border strips away from the needle.

Once you have two sides done, you can begin mitering them.  

Fold the quilt so that the edges of the two borders line up.  

The edges in this picture are down next to my pinkie.

Since my border has different strips, I needed to make sure that the strips are matching up in a straight line, so that when I sew it, it will look like one continuous line. 

Pin the fabric in place, so that the lines will not shift.  

Then line a ruler up along the folded quilt body to the end of the border.  

Mark with a pencil, erasable pen, or a sharpie like I did, just make sure that you know that part of the sharpie will not be seen.  (I just didn't have anything else dark enough to see the straight line.)  

Sew. Begin where the two borders meet at the quilt body and sew out.  Start your stitch and make sure you lock it with a back stitch.

After you sew, check your corner to make sure that everything lines up correctly and that it lays down flat.  If it doesn't lay down flat or puckers, you'll probably have to try again. 

Once you're satisfied, go ahead and cut off the excess on the corner, just make sure that you leave a good seam allowance.  I made mine half an inch.

That should be it! I hope that your mitered corners give you no problems along the way.  

There's always a learning curve, but it was fairly easy for me, even though it was my first time! 

Please let me know if you try it.

And don't forget to enjoy the view from your sewing machine!

Here's mine :)

How to make a Lemon Squeezy Hexie

Here's the finished product.

First you need to cut out your hexagon. This type of hexie will probably work better with a larger hexagon.

Next I marked a spot on opposite sides of the hexagon, at the same width.  So for this hexie, I counted four and a half triangles in and marked a spot for reference.  This is where you'll line up the top of your bowl or cup for the half-circles.

I used a small bowl to create the circles.  Make sure that the same (or close to) amount of triangles run along the bottom of each half circle, (ie. 9 triangles along the bottom, etc.)

To add the two other half-circles, line up the bowl so that it is touching the two half-circles that are already there, then mark.

Your hexagon should look like this.

Cut your shapes out, but be careful to make sure that they stay in the same place.  So when you're cutting, place the shapes exactly as they are in your hand.  These are not exact measurements, so if they are not in the correct place, they may not fit.
TIP: If things get mixed up, use the triangles on the paper to line things back up like a puzzle.

All cut up.

You're going to baste all paper.  It is probably better to baste using the "through the paper" method when basting curved pieces.  When you're ready to begin sewing, sew according to the picture.
In row 1 and 2, line up the straight edge on the half-circle to the straight edge of the little end piece, then sew.

When the three "rows" are sewn together, then sew row 1 to 3, then row 3 to 2.  It just makes things flow easier this way. 

I hope you're enjoying the hexalong.  I know I've never done anything like this before, but am enjoying the process of making these little things.  I don't quite have a plan as to how I'll put them together, but I like each one.