Appleton Dance

This project was inspired by a coin purse fashioned from a cardboard juice box that my friend Robin brought back from Merida this spring (above). It will also hold business cards, credit cards and/or gift cards. Materials: One 12-1/4 by 7.5-inch piece of lightweight top fabric, such as a cotton print One 12-1/4 by 7.5-inch piece of lightweight inside fabric (or two pieces of the same fabric, if desired) One 12-1/4 by 7.5-inch piece of fusable web (such as Heat & Bond Lite iron-on adhesive) Cut a pattern as indicated in the diagram below. Directions: 1. With iron, fuse web to wrong side of top fabric. Peel off paper. Place inside fabric, wrong side down, on top fabric. Fuse. Place pattern on fused fabric. Outline pattern on fused fabric with pencil or chalk. Cut out along marked outline. 2. Top stitch, zig-zag, or decorative stitch, around entire perimeter of fabric. 3. Crease each side flap from top to bottom; press, and topstitch along crease. 4. Using a ruler and X-acto knife, cu...

Scott Tilley of Lawn Monster (810-923-6217) raised the mower deck up to 5.5-inches and gave the labyrinth a haircut. I had no idea this would be possible and he solved my problem of how to trim the labyrinth up without going down on my hands and knees with a hand clipper. The labyrinth looks very elegant, now. The lawn patch I used to repair the bare spots will come in soon, I hope. I have to water tonight since we haven't had any rain. Before haircut (above)

I made this shopping tote by simplifying a bag from Cindy Taylor Oates’ Slouchy Bags booklet number TMB-162. This is the "Taylor Made Bag" made quick! This bag is about 9x12x6-inches when packed. The drop on the handle is about 18-inches making it very easy to pack and unpack. The booklet has six or seven easy bags with many variations. You have to trace the full-sized patterns provided in the booklet. I thought the directions were pretty good; I’d say you need a little sewing savvy to follow the instructions, but not a lot. The thing that intrigued me about the bags in this booklet is they are all well-proportioned, useful shapes and the variations and embellishments are interesting. The book cost $15 and was published in 2006 by Oates' company, Taylor Made Designs, P. O. Box 31024, Phoenix, AZ 85046. I bought the booklet last year while on a shop-hop of southeast Michigan quilt stores at The Quilt Patch , 112 N. Evans’ St., Suite #5, Tecumseh, MI 49286. The shop is ver...

This is a very good scrap project courtesy of my sister-in-law, Susan! 1. Cut 4.5-inch square of solid color cotton. 2. Cut 4.5-inch square of thin cotton batt, or old tea-towels or other absorbent fabric. 3. Cut one 4.5-inch square of each of four different cotton prints. 4. Fold each print square in half – wrong sides together -- and press. Set aside. 5. Stitch solid square and batt together – stacked wrong sides together -- with stitching centered vertically and horizontally on the fabric. 6. Stack with batting on the bottom and layer the folded squares on top of the solid square that is already stitched to the batting, as shown below. 7. Layer first folded print with fold running vertically down the center of the solid square/batt and raw edges lined up along the right side of the square. Pin in place. 8. Layer second folded print with fold running horizontally across the center of the solid square/batt and raw edges lined up along the bottom of the square. ...

I wasn’t sure what I’d find when the snow melted last month. I trudged around in the mud a little and it seemed like there might be enough information left in the labyrinth, that I wouldn’t have to start over from scratch. I never anticipated that I’d be able to re-use the layout from the year before, but it seemed like it might be possible. By this past weekend the ground had dried enough so I could get out there and take a look around. I got out the little 18-inch push mower and thought I’d just start at the beginning and see if I could mow a path through the leaves and debris. Hopeless confusion soon put that idea to rest. Since I didn’t want to risk cutting across grass path boundaries, I put the mower away and decided I needed to mark what I could see of the paths and go from there. I bought some paint at Home Depot. I meant to buy inverted marking paint, but I purchased striping paint instead. The only difference, I think, is that the striping paint has a type of nozzle made to u...

This classy zippered clutch was inspired by a cute, free bag from Clinique cosmetics that turned out to be a perfect size and shape for taking to the opera. The clutch is eight-inches wide and six-inches tall with a two-inch wide, squared-off base. The shape tapers to a point at the top and features a zipper set-in one inch from the top of the clutch. The clutch is constructed similarly to the pyramid pouch in that a zipper is used to form a tube of fabric and the bag is formed by shaping the tube with seams. A lining is constructed in the same fashion as the bag, without the zipper. The lining is hand-stitched in place. Beading embellishment may be added before the lining is inserted. I attached a beaded toggle to the zipper pull on this bag. Materials: 12 x 16 inch upholstery, decorator, or heavy weight dress fabric for bag 12 x 16 inch medium weight interfacing 12 x 16 inch lightweight fabric for lining 12-inch zipper to match fabric thread to match fabric beads and beading thread f...

My daughter saw this cute pyramid pouch in a store and liked it, so when I saw a pyramid bag mentioned on the Craftster site I wanted to try to make one for her. Directions were also available as Teepee bag from Marie's Sewing Center online. I tried making the bag several different ways in several sizes and decided I didn't like making the bag any smaller than 6.5 inches on a side when finished. That size is made with a 7.5 x 15-inch piece of cotton and uses a 7-inch zipper. After following directions for making the basic bag, I made a lining by sewing a second pyramid with coordinating fabric, didn't install the zipper, and inserted the lining separately by hand with a running stitch along the zipper tape. Installing a lining was fast and easy and made the pouch both sturdier and prettier.