Blog Crush...

I don't know what it its, but since I changed my name, and made the big move over to this new blog, my luck has been stupidly good.
Today, the luck just kept on coming....
My giraffe print dress:



Was chosen as a Wardrobe Remixer 'O The Week , over on Tricia's Blog!

Now lets take a moment to talk about Tricia. I've been reading her blog for ages, it was one of the first blogs I came across, and I've loved it (and her) ever since.



Tricia has the most amazing sense of style and colour, she puts together outfits that defy conventionality, plus she's a talented seamstress, fashion designer, knitter, and thrift shopper.

Don't believe me? Check out her Flickr page for proof!

As founder of Wardrobe Remix, she has tapped into a niche in the fashion commentary market: the fact that women everywhere (and men too!) think about fashion in a different way to what you read in magazines. That there are people out there who look and dress fabulously, entirely from the Op Shop, or in clothes that they have made or refashioned, or by putting together things in a way that defies the social norm, embraces individuality, and bites it's thumb at mass produced, homogenous fashion dictatorships.

What more could you want?

So thanks Tricia, this Blog Crush is for you!

xxx

*Please note that the above photo of Tricia is taken from her Flickr photosteam, and all rights belong to her, of course!

Flashback Friday...

Today's theme is music, over at Flashback Friday......



This is me with my trusty ukelele, around about 1986. I'm guessing I'm about five in the photo.
Gotta love that red tracksuit, and the bowl haircut.....I had that haircut 'til I was about ten, courtesy of the magic hairdressing skills of my Mum.....

xxx

More Exciting Stuff....

Just to add to the fabulousness, my Wardrobe Remix photograph got picked as a Thrift Star of the Week, over at Painfully Hip...Thanks so much Amber!

Yep, so hip it's painful......no idea how I managed that...most of the time I feel as though I am deeply uncool, which I like, and think it's kinda cool in it's own way....

Anyhoo...

I also recieved this cute package in the mail from Sakura Kitty...there's a vintage celluloid ring, plus a little pack of owl magnets....



Her Etsy shop is filled with all sorts of little cutenesses...

And I've ordered a TON of fabric online, for some more of these:



Now that all their friends are off to Melbourne:



I'll be adding some more Nongs to My Shop over the next few days, so keep your eye out!

I'm playing around with some new patterns, and going crazy on the linen lately, so hopefully the next few I make will be the best ones yet....

Hope you're all having fun today...


xxx

Good News!

Tonight I have just had all the Nongs in my shop comissioned by a new shop in Melbourne.....

If you're from that neck of the woods, pop into the opening of Arthur's Circus, and you'll see my Nongs in person!

Just to celebrate, I've made just one more, which is in My Shop now..... but he looks a bit lonely, someone might have to take him in and give him a home.....

Anyways..... it's been a good day...
xxx

Cathedral Window Quilt Tutorial

The Cathedral Window Quilt pattern is gorgeous. The Origami-like folding of fabric, the jewel like tones of the "windows", the layers of fabric and stitching - all combine to create an amazing, complex looking quilt. The reality is that the process is not that hard, and with a little learning and patience, you can do it quite easily.

The Cathedral Window quilt is a quilt-as-you-go project, meaning that there is no backing or quilting to be done once you have finished the quilt top. The quilt simply grows and grows as you make it, and once you've done enough squares to be satisfied, it's done. Brilliant. I am a woman of notoriously low patience, and I've taken to this quilt project with gusto and enthusiasm..... a good point for those of you out there that can't possibly believe that you'll have enough patience to make a whole quilt yourself!

First, a word about materials. Traditionally, these quilts were made predominantly from muslin, with calico or cotton scraps used for the "windows", which meant that when the quilt was held up to the light, it created that "stained glass window" effect that the quilt does so well.
Muslin, however, won't keep you warm at night, and this quilt works much easier if the base fabric you use is closely woven, keeping it's shape well during the ironing and folding process.
By all means, use muslin if you want, but make sure you buy a muslin that is closely woven if you can. My first attempt at this quilt was made with a light weight linen, and it was an unmitigated disaster. The fabric just wouldn't stay where I put it..... if in doubt, make a couple of squares and see how you go! Make sure you keep in mind that you will have to hand sew through at least four layers of your base fabric, so a light weight cotton is ideal.

This quilt works really well as a charm quilt, so any scraps of cotton prints you have lying around in your stash will be well served by this pattern.....otherwise, you can think about the design a little more if you want. This pattern calls for charm squares of about 3 1/2 inches square for the "windows". You have the option of putting a different fabric in each window, creating a pattern, or doing what I'm doing, which is alternating rows of charm squares in bright prints with rows of the plain white cotton I'm using as the backing fabric. As with all quilts, imagination and individuality reign supreme. Do what you will!

The pattern here is for a 9 inch square, which is folded and pressed into a block which will give you a 3 inch 'window'. Four of these blocks sewn together result in a 9 inch block again, with which you will build your quilt.

Using this pattern, I have used 10 metres of white, 100% cotton broadcloth (double blocked, also known as quilters homespun) for the backing fabric. Even though my quilt is still in progress, I think this will give me a finished quilt the size of your average throw rug or lap quilt, enough to wrap around yourself, but not enough to cover the bed. A good rule of thumb is to buy fabric four times the size of the quilt you want to make. This should be more than enough to get your quilt made, and it's better to have too much fabric than not enough!
I've also used random bits of fabric from my stash, as well as about a metre of cotton batting.

If you want to make a larger quilt, I would recommend increasing the size of the starter block, so your quilt yeilds larger 'windows', and making the quilt grow faster.

Anyhoo - how the hell do I make it?????

Start off by measuring out a template for your starting block. Mine is 9 inches square. A general rule of thumb is to divide the size of one edge of your starting block by a third, and that's how big one edge of the 'windows' will be.
Make your template out of medium weight card stock (like a manila folder), something that you can iron without any dramas. Do your best to ensure that the template is absolutely square.

From your backing fabric, cut out some squares, leaving an allowance of about 2cm around the outside of the template. I recommend cutting out six squares to start, which will quilt up into a nice, rectangular shape, and if you decide you hate it by the time you're finished, you can make a cushion cover out of it.

Take one of the squares, and place the template on top of it.

You need to mitre the corners - do this by folding each corner over the template card and ironing it down.

The next step is the fold over the edges of the fabric, ironing them down to create mitred corners. This tucks all the raw edges inside the quilt, preventing any fraying, or raw edges in the finished piece. This is one of the steps I have devised for myself, just to achieve a neater finish. Don't freak out of your corners aren't perfectly mitred - they will be folded in again, and won't affect to finished quilt too much.

Once the edges have been pressed, it should look like this:


Take out the paper template, and set it to one side.
Now you take the whole fabric piece, and fold it in half lengthwise - tucking all the edges in. Press flat.




Then fold the piece in half again, pressing flat again.



Unfold the square, and you'll have a large square divided into quarters by creases from the pressing. This is your guide to the next step.



Take each corner, and fold in towards the middle, keeping those pressed edges tucked in neatly. Press flat.





Try as best you can to keep the outside corners neat - this will help the overall look of your quilt later on.



The first fold should look like this when finished:




Then do the same thing again - taking the outside corners, and folding them into the centre to make a smaller square - again, taking care to make the outside corners as neat as possible.





Press flat, and put aside.
Some people recommend loosely tacking the four pieces down, but I found this hindered my progress later on, I just stack them in a pile, facing down, like this:
(sorry about the change in the light - I took the next few photos in my sewing room, where the light is not so good....)



Repeat the steps for each of your squares.

Once you have a pile ready for sewing together, take two squares, and line up two triangles at the edges, like this:



Now you want to sew the two triangles together along the crease at the sides, matching up the corners as well as you can. Some people hand stitch this part, but machine stitching is totally acceptable, not to mention quicker!



Once you have stitched the triangles together, you are ready to start putting the 'window' in.
Pin down the loose triangles around the window, and flatten down the stitched together triangles, like this:

>

The centre of that diamond in the middle is where the window will go. You'll need to measure that diamond shape to determine the size of the fabric for the window. On my quilt, the window is approx. 2 1/2 inches square. Make a template to the size of the window, and cut your window fabric a little larger than that, like this:



Here, I have made another modification - because I want my quilt to be as warm as possible, I have decided to include batting in this step. Basically I just cut a sqaure of batting to the size of the window, and insert it with the window fabric, like this:



Whether you decide to use the batting or not, is up to you - the next few steps remain the same.

Finger press the edges of the window fabric over, and place the fabric right side up on top of the diamond shaped window section of your quilt block.
Then, fold over each edge of the white backing fabric, so it 'frames' the window, pinning each side down as you go:





Now, stitch the 'frame' down, using whatever stitch method you prefer - if you are working with light weight fabrics and no batting, you can use your favourite invisible stitching method, like blind hem stitch. I have used a simple straight stitch on top of the fabric to get through the layers of fabric and batting, plus, I like having visible stitching - it's up to you. If you want the quilting to show on the back of the quilt, make sure you sew through all the layers of fabric.

If you only want to sew through the top few layers, make sure to stitch the corners of each window down through to the back - this will help keep all the layers of fabric in place.



Once you have stitched the 'frame' down, your quilt block should look like this:



Once you have completed a few of these blocks, you can then start stitching them together, creating more and more 'windows' along the way. Your quilt grows and grows, with no backing or quilting needed - once you have sewn enough pieces together - the quilt is done!



You can finish off the edges by adding in triangular shaped 'windows', or simply stitching down the 'frames' with no fabric inside - it's up to you.

Well, that's it!

I hope this tutorial gets some of you excited to make this truly satisfying project - please let me know how you go, or if you have any questions!

xxx

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License.

On the History of the Hyena....

Thanks so much everyone, for following me to my new home and posting such wonderful comments on the new name...

For those of you curious as the where the name comes from, it was originally an insult thrown at Mary Wollstonecraft, after her book, A Vindication of The Rights Of Woman was published in 1792.
I love the imagery that quote brings up in my mind, especially for the time; the 18th century was a hard time to be a woman, let alone a feminist and forward thinker, like Mary was. Just to top it off, she also gave birth to Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein.

And just to treat you all for making the effort to come over here and hang out in my new house, I'm going to post the Quilt Tutorial right away.

Enjoy!

xxx

ps: for those of you who asked: I will be updating my blogroll soon, I just haven't got around to doing it yet....it'll be back soon!

Wardrobe Remix...

I've finally gotten around to posting a couple of photos to Wardrobe Remix, one of the first groups I joined on Flickr.

It has also occurred to me that if I'm not concerned about five hundred million people having access to those photos on Flickr, then I shouldn't really be shy about posting them on here, either.

Except for the fact that it outs me as a total poser, but that's not exactly anything new, anyway!

This one is today:



I bought the dress at the Op Shop this morning, had it laundered and refashioned by this afternoon, and this is me wearing it about ten minutes ago. I'm about to go into town to pick The Man up from work..... it's got button up shoulders, and POCKETS. I know, pockets in a dress! You've got to love that....

The dress cost seven dollars. The shoes, which are cute vintage patent leather wedge flats, were three dollars.

Pretending to be a fashionista on the internet is, of course, priceless.

Here's the other day:



An example of the Second Teenagerhood that I was talking about the other day.

The orange cardigan was five dollars, refashioned to fit; two dollar turquiose spotted t-shirt, two dollar matching belt, and three dollar red brazillian woven wedge flats.

Those jeans I wear every day. I have three pairs, they're from some no name shop in the town where my Mum lives and they're the best bloody pants I've ever owned.

Ok - enough posing for one day..... now I can go and put my pyjamas or my crappy hoodie back on and blob around on the couch.....

xxxx

Welcome....

Hi Everybody!

Welcome to the new home.......
For those of you who are new to this page, or want to read my archives, you can find my old blog here:

paper.string.cloth

For the rest of you, who have followed me over here from my old home, thanks for making the move with me!

I hope the new blog will still be frequented by the names and faces I have grown to love over the last 6 months or so, and lots of new ones as well....

Anyway, break out the booze, people, add me to your bloglines, and have a drink on me!

Leah xxx

Cathedral Window Quilt Tutorial.

The Cathedral Window Quilt pattern is gorgeous. The Origami-like folding of fabric, the jewel like tones of the "windows", the layers of fabric and stitching - all combine to create an amazing, complex looking quilt. The reality is that the process is not that hard, and with a little learning and patience, you can do it quite easily.

The Cathedral Window quilt is a quilt-as-you-go project, meaning that there is no backing or quilting to be done once you have finished the quilt top. The quilt simply grows and grows as you make it, and once you've done enough squares to be satisfied, it's done. Brilliant. I am a woman of notoriously low patience, and I've taken to this quilt project with gusto and enthusiasm..... a good point for those of you out there that can't possibly believe that you'll have enough patience to make a whole quilt yourself!

First, a word about materials. Traditionally, these quilts were made predominantly from muslin, with calico or cotton scraps used for the "windows", which meant that when the quilt was held up to the light, it created that "stained glass window" effect that the quilt does so well.
Muslin, however, won't keep you warm at night, and this quilt works much easier if the base fabric you use is closely woven, keeping it's shape well during the ironing and folding process.
By all means, use muslin if you want, but make sure you buy a muslin that is closely woven if you can. My first attempt at this quilt was made with a light weight linen, and it was an unmitigated disaster. The fabric just wouldn't stay where I put it..... if in doubt, make a couple of squares and see how you go!

This quilt works really well as a charm quilt, so any scraps of cotton prints you have lying around in your stash will be well served by this pattern.....otherwise, you can think about the design a little more if you want. This pattern calls for charm squares of about 3 1/2 inches square for the "windows". You have the option of putting a different fabric in each window, creating a pattern, or doing what I'm doing, which is alternating rows of charm squares in bright prints with rows of the plain white cotton I'm using as the backing fabric. As with all quilts, imagination and individuality reign supreme. Do what you will!

The pattern here is for a 9 inch square, which is folded and pressed into a block which will give you a 3 inch 'window'. Four of these blocks sewn together result in a 9 inch block again, with which you will build your quilt.

Using this pattern, I have used 5 metres of white, 100% cotton broadcloth (double blocked, also known as quilters homespun) for the backing fabric. Even though my quilt is still in progress, I think this will give me a finished quilt the size of your average throw rug or lap quilt, enough to wrap around yourself, but not enough to cover the bed.
I've also used random bits of fabric from my stash, as well as about a metre of cotton batting.

If you want to make a larger quilt, I would recommend increasing the size of the starter block, so your quilt yeilds larger 'windows', and making the quilt grow faster.

Anyhoo - how the hell do I make it?????

Start off by measuring out a template for your starting block. Mine is 9 inches square. A general rule of thumb is to divide the size of one edge of your starting block by a third, and that's how big one edge of the 'windows' will be.
Make your template out of medium weight card stock (like a manila folder), something that you can iron without any dramas. Do your best to ensure that the template is absolutely square.

From your backing fabric, cut out some squares, leaving an allowance of about 2cm around the outside of the template. I recommend cutting out six squares to start, which will quilt up into a nice, rectangular shape, and if you decide you hate it by the time you're finished, you can make a cushion cover out of it.

Take one of the squares, and place the template on top of it.

You need to mitre the corners - do this by folding each corner over the template card and ironing it down.

The next step is the fold over the edges of the fabric, ironing them down to create mitred corners. This tucks all the raw edges inside the quilt, preventing any fraying, or raw edges in the finished piece. This is one of the steps I have devised for myself, just to achieve a neater finish. Don't freak out of your corners aren't perfectly mitred - they will be folded in again, and won't affect to finished quilt too much.

Once the edges have been pressed, it should look like this:



Take out the paper template, and set it to one side.
Now you take the whole fabric piece, and fold it in half lengthwise - tucking all the edges in. Press flat.





Then fold the piece in half again, pressing flat again.



Unfold the square, and you'll have a large square divided into quarters by creases from the pressing. This is your guide to the next step.



Take each corner, and fold in towards the middle, keeping those pressed edges tucked in neatly. Press flat.





Try as best you can to keep the outside corners neat - this will help the overall look of your quilt later on.



The first fold should look like this when finished:



Then do the same thing again - taking the outside corners, and folding them into the centre to make a smaller square - again, taking care to make the outside corners as neat as possible.





Press flat, and put aside.
Some people recommend loosely tacking the four pieces down, but I found this hindered my progress later on, I just stack them in a pile, facing down, like this:
(sorry about the change in the light - I took the next few photos in my sewing room, where the light is not so good....)



Repeat the steps for each of your squares.

Once you have a pile ready for sewing together, take two squares, and line up two triangles at the edges, like this:



Now you want to sew the two triangles together along the crease at the sides, matching up the corners as well as you can. Some people hand stitch this part, but machine stitching is totally acceptable, not to mention quicker!



Once you have stitched the triangles together, you are ready to start putting the 'window' in.
Pin down the loose triangles around the window, and flatten down the stitched together triangles, like this:



The centre of that diamond in the middle is where the window will go. You'll need to measure that diamond shape to determine the size of the fabric for the window. On my quilt, the window is approx. 2 1/2 inches square. Make a template to the size of the window, and cut your window fabric a little larger than that, like this:



Here, I have made another modification - because I want my quilt to be as warm as possible, I have decided to include batting in this step. Basically I just cut a sqaure of batting to the size of the window, and insert it with the window fabric, like this:



Whether you decide to use the batting or not, is up to you - the next few steps remain the same.

Finger press the edges of the window fabric over, and place the fabric right side up on top of the diamond shaped window section of your quilt block.
Then, fold over each edge of the white backing fabric, so it 'frames' the window, pinning each side down as you go:





Now, stitch the 'frame' down, using whatever stitch method you prefer - if you are working with light weight fabrics and no batting, you can use your favourite invisible stitching method, like blind hem stitch. I have used a simple straight stitch on top of the fabric to get through the layers of fabric and batting, plus, I like having visible stitching - it's up to you.



Once you have stitched the 'frame' down, your quilt block should look like this:



Once you have completed a few of these blocks, you can then start stitching them together, creating more and more 'windows' along the way. Your quilt grows and grows, with no backing or quilting needed - once you have sewn enough pieces together - the quilt is done!



You can finish off the edges by adding in triangular shaped 'windows', or simply stitching down the 'frames' with no fabric inside - it's up to you.

Well, that's it!

I hope this tutorial gets some of you excited to make this truly satisfying project - please let me know how you go, or if you have any questions!

xxx

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License.