Yoga Mat Bag Tutorial

My sister asked me to make her a Yoga Mat Bag out of her favorite Scarlet Fig fabric, Wing Chairs...the one with the yellow chairs on the grey background. So while I was sewing, I made myself one out of Comfy Couches in red AND I wrote a tutorial. You can download it here (it's a PDF file):

Yoga Mat Bag Tutorial

The instructions are long, but it is NOT hard. I promise! I just wanted to take lots of pictures along the way. Have fun!

For the love of laminating machines

I've been a busy bee working on new fabric designs and on some consulting projects, but I was able to carve out a few hours this last weekend to make something fun with my fabrics!

Since I moved from NY back to Austin I've been living in this tiny lilliputian sized apartment. And since my dining room table is now cutting/sewing central, I eat a majority of meals sitting on my couch using my ottoman as my dining surface. (I know, very classy!) So I've been meaning to get some of those plastic placemats to keep things neat and tidy. And I have these great lacquered trays that I wanted to line with something pretty. And then I realized...Hey! I can make my own placemats and liners and use my Birdies on Chairs and Comfy Chairs fabric! It was easy peasy!

For 4 placemats:

-Cut (4) pieces of front fabric 11" x 17-1/2"
-Cut (4) pieces of coordinating back fabric 11" x 17-1/2" (I used a Kona cotton in Cactus which is a perfect coordinate for the greens in my fabric
-Cut (4) pieces of fusible webbing 11" x 17-1/2"

Follow the directions on the fusible webbing to attach it to the wrong side of the back fabric. You'll be ironing it to the wrong side of your back fabric.

Then put the front fabric on top of the fusible webbing and iron that down. You should be laying the wrong side of the front fabric ontop of the fusible webbing.

You should now have a 3 layer sandwich that's all fused together. (See...told you it was easy!)

Trim everything to 10-1/2" x 17" so all 3 layers are squared up. When I made mine, I wish I had put some simple decorative stitching around the edge to give a little something extra to the project. And I probably would apply some Fray Check to the edges as well... I had some thread escapees.

Now...carefully transport everything to the laminating store. Make sure you take some little scissors with you so you can trim away any little loose threads.

Feed your fabric sandwiches into the laminating machine. Trim away the excess plastic, leaving a 1/2" edge to make sure everything stays laminated. If you can get access to one of those guillotine cutter things you can cut a nice, neat edge. Ta da! Super cute, super easy! And super tidy!

Tip: Instead of taking your placemats to Kinko's (who charge a few $ for each sheet), find a teacher's supply store. Mine here in Austin only charged $.80 per linear foot. For all 6 of my pieces, I paid less than $6.00. Love that!

And many thanks to Margaret for letting me shoot my placemats on her nice sewing center-free dining table. ;)

Dressing your wee ones in Scarlet Fig fabric

How adorable is this dress from Jenn at peppermints and petticoats? See the Scarlet Fig Birdies and Chairs fabric next to the strawberries? Super cute, huh?!? All of Jenn's dresses are one of a kind so if you see one you like, make sure you snap it up. I can hardly get over how precious they are. And the sweet little buttons! Hmmm...maybe she'll make me one in a bigger size!

Giveaway winners, FINISHED eye pillows & passport covers for sale, NEW fabrics in the store

Thanks so much to everyone for the great suggestions for stores I should approach about selling my pillows. You were a huge help and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. I've started reaching out to the places you recommended and I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

So without further delay, the two lucky winners of Eye Pillow Kits are:
Amy at the Fabric Bar
animegirlie

And I've added some new products to the Etsy site!
Finished Eye Pillows -If you'd rather just have me sew the pillow for you! All 4 colors are available.

Finished Passport Covers
Finished covers are available in both colors.

I've added two new yellow and grey fabrics to the store!

And the last bit of news...I've been working on some new fabric designs and have some color swatches on order. So stay tuned...Brand new designs coming soon...And this time there's an elephant in the midst...

It's giveaway time!!!

I'm really excited about my new DIY Craft Kits and I would love to get your help with getting wider distribution and sales! I need your thoughts and suggestions on which stores in your area might be a good fit for me to contact about carrying my kits.

As a thank you for your ideas, I'll draw the names of 2 lucky winners and each winner will receive:
1) Couch Potato Lavender DIY Eye Pillow Kit - These feature exclusive Scarlet Fig designed fabric
1) Wing Through Customs Passport Cover DIY Kit - These feature Anna Maria Horner designed fabric and a hand stamped passport label with my design

Here's what I think in terms of what kinds of stores I should target, but I'm anxious to hear what you think...
-Independent home goods / home accessories boutiques. They probably carry indie designers.
-Small fabric or crafting stores.
-Online fabric/supplies stores might also be a good fit.

Here's how you can enter:
Post a comment with your store suggestion = 1 entry
Make sure you include the name of store + city/state
International suggestions are welcome!

Sign up to be on my mailing list = 1 entry
Just enter your email address in the top right corner of my blog

Post about my giveaway on your blog = 1 entry
Make sure you leave me a comment with your blog URL

I will randomly draw the 2 winners at the end of the day on April 30 so make sure you leave me a way to contact you. Can't wait to hear your ideas and thanks for your help!


See the kits in my Etsy store


See the kits in my Etsy store



See the kits in my Etsy store

New Kits

The new kits are available for sale in my Etsy store! And in the next few days, they will also be availble on Curlin's site. I just love the way they turned out and am super excited to see how everyone likes them. They take less than 20 minutes to sew and I think they are really fun. Let me know what you think!! And stay tuned...the Pippingtooth Table paper products will be available in the next few days. It's going to be a busy weekend here in Austin! :)

Couch Potato - DIY Eye Kit Pillow
Comes in 4 color ways - Aqua, Green, Blue, Pink and features my own Scarlet Fig couch design. The kit includes fabric, an easy to follow pattern and 2 heaping tbsp. of lavender you can use to mix with buckwheat or rice.







Wing Through Customs Passport Cover DIY Kit
Comes in 2 patterns - Yellow and Ivory. The kit includes laminated cotton fabric from Anna Maria Horner and a hand stamped "passport" label from Scarlet Fig. The kit includes the fabric, an easy to follow pattern and the label.

New pattern

Pooped after a long day here. :) But wanted to share one of the new designs and share the new color palette I'm playing with. I think this may be my favorite design yet...

And in the next week or so I will have 2 new kits available for sale. So, stay tuned for more infor on them and on the paper tabletop stuff Curlin and I are collaborating on. Happy weekend!

New, new products!!

I've got so many exciting things in the works, I can hardly sit still!

Curlin Reed Sullivan from Pippingtooth Studio and I have been collaborating on some new products and we're rolling them out this weekend at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at their Wildflower Days event.

So if you're in Austin, make sure you come on out and visit us THIS Saturday 9-5 and Sunday 12-5. And if you're not able to come drop by face to face, stay tuned! We'll get the new products posted online and available for sale on our sites in the next 1-2 weeks.

But I'm too excited to make you wait, so here's a sneak peak...Curlin and I have combined both of our designs together and created Pippingtooth Table, a line of cheery, affordable tabletop decorations. We both love to set a gorgeous table and I hope these will make you *swoon*. Paper décor you can assemble yourself, adorable ceramics and one of the designs coordinates with Itty Bitty Chairs fabric. How much fun is that? And did I mention that it was affordable?

Here's a few pics from our photoshoot today. Yipee!!!

A mixed bag

I have 3 fun things to share, but they're all unrelated, so today's post will be a bit random! Randomness aside, I hope you enjoy. Have a great weekend! Spring has sprung here in Austin so I'm really looking forward to a nice weekend outside. All the trees have started to bud and the flowers on the trees look just glorious.

Here's a nice posting from Whip Up about Spoonflower that includes a picture of my fabrics. So fun to see my fabrics get noticed.


I got a sweet note from Katy from What Katy Did about a little birdie purse she made. She covered hers with PVC plastic and then top stitched the birdie so it would stand out. How adorable is that? I would LOVE to make one like that out of my couches. Oh...if there were only more hours in the day.


And finally, Maira Kalman posted a new series illustrations on her blog about good old Abe Lincoln. I find her talent truly mind boggling! Do your self a favor and spend a few minutes enjoying her perspective. Here's a few of my favorites.

Scarlet Fig fabric on the Etsy home page

What a lovely surprise to see when I opened Etsy today. Jennifer Ladd, who makes really adorable bags, purchased some of my Birdies on Chairs fabric a while ago. And the folks at Etsy featured Jennifer's clutch on the home page this morning. Isn't the bag adorable? So fun to get to see what everyone is making with Scarlet Fig fabric!

Help if you can

Part of what brought me back to Austin was this amazing community. Although I don't know this family, I was incredibly touched by their story and how the Austin community is rallying around them. And boy, oh boy, could they use a hand. If you can swing it, even a few dollars could really make a difference for them. You know how it can all add up...If you can't donate, help spread the word if you can!

The stash

It's Fat Quarter Month over at Sew Mama Sew and I wanted to play along. In my book, there's almost nothing better than better than getting to play with my fabric stash...So here we go!

What do you usually sew?
I love to sew anything patchwork. Pillows and quilts are my favorites but I have been known to obsessively sew aprons and journal covers.

When you shop for fabric, what size cuts do you usually buy? (i.e. If you see something beautiful, but you don’t have a use for it right away, how much do you buy?)
I used to buy fat quarters but found that they ran out too quickly so I try to buy halves as a minimum instead. But if I really, really love it I'll probably get a few yards.

Do you buy on impulse or do you go out looking for something you need?
I generally go out for something I need and then buy 10 more things on impulse. Fabric shopping with me is an activity not for the feint of heart and it's really rough on my wallet.

Are you a pre-washer? If you are, do you wash your fabric before you need it, or only when you’re ready to use it?
I am not a pre-washer. I know it's going to bite me one day, but I just can't make myself take the time.

Do you iron it?
I love crisp, fresh looking fabric. I iron all the time while I'm sewing.

How do you sort it? (color, print size, collection, etc.)
I sort by size and by color.

Do you have any special folding techniques?
I fold like they do it like they do it in clothing stores. I use a ruler to roll my fabric around so it's all pretty much the same width on the shelf. It makes me a little crazy to have the fabric messy...My car on the other hand can be a wreck! For yard or larger pieces I use a 6 inch ruler. For 1/2 yard or less pieces I use a 4 inch ruler. Anything smaller than a fat eighth is sadly squished in 2 Ikea boxes. Those are the boxes I always head to first though!

How do you store your fabric?
Since I have recently downsized into a 1 bedroom apartment (yep...it's pretty cozy in here!), where a dining room usually would be, you'll find my studio. I have 2 book cases filled with fabric and supplies. The pics are a bit dark, but you get the idea!



What tips do you have for building up a well-rounded stash?
Buy a range of pattern sizes. Small, medium and large. And really only buy fabrics you really love. I think it's super fun to buy fabric when I travel.

When do you say enough is enough?
Is there such a thing???

What are some of your favorite stash-busting projects?
Applique pillows. They are a great way to feature some of your favorites in a fun project.


Do you have a current favorite print in your stash? Let’s see it!
I'm going to use this moment for shameless promotion and show off some of my own designs!