Interested in hearing this post as audio?  You can do so here!

I love a good quilt kit. In this too-busy life, a well-designed kit can give you fast success with a minimum amount of fuss.

I realize some people think quilt kits are “cheating.” So unless your quilting experience is being governed by a state board with graded exams, I can’t see where this is a cheat! And again, why are we making arbitrary “rules” that make people feel excluded from our lovely, vast community?

YOU get to do your quilting practice YOUR way

In my opinion, anything that helps you have fun making your next project gets top marks.

Seven reasons why I love quilt kits:

1. It’s an all-in-one package: A quilt kit usually includes all the necessary materials needed to complete a project. This makes it easier for those new to quilting to get started in a snap.
2. They’re usually made with high-quality materials: A kit often includes high-quality fabric, which means your finished project will look great and last a long time. Thus, if we’re going to use our precious time, let’s make sure the quilt lasts.
3. You already like the finished quilt: If you worry about wasting time or money, a kit is a great way to guarantee you’ll like what you make. You’ve already seen the finished result and liked it enough to be interested in replicating it!
4. Kits help you with fabric choices: if you’re new to choosing your own fabrics, or nervous about getting it just right, or just can’t make one more decision right now, a kit solves that problem for you. So just buy one and get sewing!
5. Kits are time-saving: With a quilt kit, you don’t have to spend hours searching for the perfect fabrics. Everything you need is included, usually down to the binding.
6. Quilt kits are inspiring: Kits often come with patterns that can introduce you to new designers. So your next project can be inspired by this one!
7. Kits are convenient: You only need to go to one shop for everything. Also, if you buy it online, it will magically appear at your door!

Image above: Faster Fourteen quilt pattern by Hunter’s Design Studio, Kit featuring e bond Root fabric from Free Spirit at Crimson Tate (Spring 2023)

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It’s such a cool modification, so I thought I would detail it here for you, with pictures. You will still need the Chunky Wee Bag pattern if you make it You can get it here. Oh, and here’s a humorous romp through how I designed the bag!

Cut the Outer Pocket fabric and fusible fleece:

• For the LARGE bag, you’ll need a piece of fabric 15 1/2” wide x 17” tall, and a piece of fusible fleece 15 1/2” x 8 1/4”
• For the MEDIUM bag, you’ll need a piece of fabric 13 1/2” wide x 12 1/2” tall, and a piece of fusible fleece 13 1/2” x 6”
• For the SMALL bag, you’ll need a piece of fabric 11” wide x 10 1/2” tall, and a piece of fusible fleece 11” x 5”

My pix are of the MEDUIM bag – this is my daily handbag… I seem to need a new one every year, partly because I wear them out, and partly because new fabric always temps me – case in point, look at the robots on the flap!

Here we go! Follow the Chunky Wee Bag pattern until you reach step 10B.

Take the Outer Pocket fabric, fold WRONG sides together parallel to the width of the fabric and press in the crease at the fold. Refer to step 7 in the pattern – you’ll be following the Inner Pocket steps to make this Outer Pocket: nest the fusible fleece up in the fold, and iron it in.

Finish the folded top edge with a top stitch:

Take the Outer Bag section that does NOT have velcro on it – this is the back of the bag. Cut the corner squares from it per the instructions at 10B, first bullet.

Chalk a line 3/4” up from the square cut-outs (just like you did on the Pockets/Inner Bag instructions at step 8).

Align the Outer Pocket to the chalked line (just like in step 8), orienting the top-stitching down, and the raw edge up, with the raw edge at the line (and the rest of the back exposed).

Sew along this line a generous 1/4” from the raw edge, trying not to catch the fleece. This makes the pocket fold up more crisply, but it’s also not a huge deal if you do catch the fleece in the seam.

Flip the pocket up.

Following the drawing on the lower left of page 6 (step 8), chalk and sew the lines a half-inch in at the corners ONLY. Start from the bottom, and sew towards the top, back-tacking/lock-stitching well.

If the side pockets will be used for pens or reading glasses, sew a horizontal seam across the side pockets to make them a bit shallower. Test for the depth you need – I find that 5” works well for my cheater specs and pens.

Lock the stitches on that seam well, too.

Further segment the Outer Pocket (just like you did the inner pockets) if you need to. I leave mine the full size so that my sketchbook and e-reader fit in there.

Continue making the bag from step 10b. When you sew the sides of the outer bag together, be sure to catch the sides of the pockets in the seam too, and sew slowly through all those layers so as not to snap your needle!

Enjoy!

The post Chunky Wee Bag – Bonus pocket modification appeared first on Hunter's Design Studio.

Word quilts are making a resurgence, and I want to tell you how this book can help you make them, whether you use its alphabet or one of the many other alphabets that are available in our quilty world.*

First of all, Quilt Talk® has a FULL alphabet: uppercase, lowercase, numbers, punctuation, special characters (all the ones above the numbers on your keyboard) and all the accent characters for Spanish and French languages.

It includes a chapter on how I do paper-piecing without using special rulers or tools, and how I pre-cut for paper-pieced letters to minimize fabric waste. I’ve had a lot of people write me about how easy my paper-piecing instructions are to follow, especially for paper-piecing newbies!

But the most useful parts of the book are probably the sections on how to SIZE your words and space your letters. Most letter patterns come in sizes that quickly get big, and if you want to say more than a few words you’re likely to end up with an unnecessarily huge quilt. This book covers the easy math for making the words come out the size YOU want them to be. And here’s the bonus… these concepts can be adapted to ANY alphabet patterns.

The book also has a great section on how to choose your fabric values and pattern textures for maximum impact. If you’re going to take the time to make a word quilt, let’s make sure it can be easily read!

So even if you’ve found another alphabet you want to try, Quilt Talk® will help you make the best use of it!

For a more detailed description of what the book covers, read here.

*And here’s a shout out to a few other alphabets available:

• Denyse Schmidt’s The Proverbial Quilt (print) (pdf)
• Tula Pink’s Modern Alphabet (pdf only)
• Elizabeth Hartman’s Refrigerator Magnets
• Diane Bohn’s (From Blank Pages) My First Alphabet and My ABC’s
• QuietPlay‘s extensive alphabet options

The post Quilt Talk® – a book for ANY word quilts appeared first on Hunter's Design Studio.

I made this particular hedgie pincushion pattern a couple of years ago for Janome. Since then, mine has beefed up his collection of needles, and is looking very hedgehog-like!

I decided to tidy up the Hedgie Pincushion pattern a bit, and put it in the shop here. The pattern doesn’t look like the ones I usually write – it’s a photo tutorial instead, with step by step images, which I think do a nice job of showing you the important little details. The hedgie is about 5” long, nose to tail.

I hope you’re changing your needle regularly – perhaps making one of these will help keep you motivated!  Be sure to share with me your photos of your Hedgies on Instagram!  I’m @huntersds there!  Be sure to use the hashtags #hedgiepincushion and #huntersdesignstudio when you post your photo.

The post Hedgie Pincushion Pattern appeared first on Hunter's Design Studio.

Some of my entrepreneurial pals with me at the book launch party!

I met some dynamic entrepreneurs at that party, and they quickly became half of my new circle of friends, with the other half coming from plugging into the vibrant quilting community here!

Last year, Chris put a call out to talk with people who had made the transition from one life to another, and I responded. We had a great Skype chat, and he asked me all sorts of questions about my former corporate IT career, my going back to school for Art, and my current incarnation as a pattern designer in the quilting industry.

That chat turned into a case study in his latest book, Born for This. It’s a useful read, especially if you are looking to change careers. In the world of entrepreneurship, it’s easy to find books that tell you to just pick a passion and leap, but this one is different. It leads you through looking pragmatically at your existing skills and passions, and shows you how to leverage those going forward. It doesn’t lose sight of the fact that you need to earn money while you develop your next thing, and talks about the value of the side hustle while you are transitioning. I love that the advice is practical and grounded, and not filled with airy unicorn dreams and glitter!

Chris is very intuitive and perceptive in his ability to tease out the the important threads of a story. During that chat, he was the first to point out to me that I use my favorite skills from my corporate days in my current entrepreneurial endeavors. It was a Steve Jobs-style “connect the dots looking backwards” moment that was very profound for me.

Feeling like a rock star, signing my chapter in Chris’ book

** All links are non-affiliate!

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When Cheryl Sleboda asked me to join the Spring Cleaning hop again, her timing was perfect. I’m in the middle of #SewingAtTheSpeedOfSam for Spring Quilt Market, and she caught me on a very messy day. So I took a few pix for my before shots!

I was in the middle of too many things at once… working on a new quilt on the design wall, another getting bound and sleeved, materials coming in (that big box is a bolt of Warm ‘n’ White batting), and packaging orders to go out. This is NOT a level of chaos that makes me happy!

As I wrote last year, I tend to be a pretty tidy person as it helps me stay creative.

One of the things that was bothering me (as usual) were stacks of fabrics that weren’t put away. I don’t mind them being out when I’m working, but once the project is done the decks need to clear. This time, rather than just shoving things into drawers, I took the time to really organize the colors in the most offending drawers:

Not only does this make me happy, I love how inspiring it is to see runs of color together… I’m already mulling new ideas from looking at these!

Since last year, I’ve acquired a couple more storage pieces from Ikea to make things a little easier around here. The first was a trusty Billy Bookcase. It squeezed into the corner of my studio, which used to be full of boxes of art materials I’m not currently using. I put them into my patio storage shed, and then shifted a few things onto the new shelves. In case you didn’t know this, Ikea now sells extra shelves for the Billy so that you can really customize the space. They also sell an extender for the top of the book case so you can squeak out another vertical foot if you need it. I used both the extra shelves and the extender on this one:

The second thing I bought was the ever-so-trendy Raskog Cart. I’ve been eyeing these, and had been plotting a reason to own one for a while. I filled it with materials related to handwork and embroidery, and it’s so great to be able to roll it next to the chair I sit in to bind or stitch, then roll it away when I’m done. I LOVE the retro turquoise color!

Here’s a pano of the tidy space – aahhhh… that feels better!

Follow along with my friends below, and don’t forget to link up with Cheryl on April 29th!

April 20th- Toni Smith – http://www.quiltoni.com/tonis-blog.html/

April 21st – Sam Hunter – https://huntersdesignstudio.com/

April 22nd – Tracey Mooney – http://www.sewsupportive.com/

April 23rd – Pepper Cory – http://peppercory.blogspot.com/

April 24th – Lisa Chin – http://somethingcleveraboutnothing.blogspot.com/

April 25th – Andrea Davis – http://www.sewtofit.com/

April 26th – Misty Cole – http://www.mistycole.com/blog/

April 27th – Amalia Morusiewicz – http://funfromatoz.com/

April 28th – Jenelle Montilone – http://trashn2tees.blogspot.com/

April 29th – Cheryl Sleboda – http://blog.muppin.com

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Mandy and I met a couple of years ago at Quilt Market, and I was privileged to see a few sneaks of these quilts while she was working on them. I loved seeing how she interpreted the things that fascinate her through quilting.

This is a really interesting book, full of inspiration to create work from the world around you. Mandy’s background in classical archeology is evident in the projects, but it’s her love of classical art that shines through. It’s great to see a book that’s as much about making your OWN ideas as it is about making the projects offered.

I recently returned from a trip to Europe and, in my wanderings, found a few things that could definitely inspire a wanderlust quilt or two:

These are the columns on the front of the Basilica of St. Denis in Paris, France. Each column and base was carved with a different repeating pattern. I could imagine making a row-by-row based quilt that uses these carved textures as starting points for the design.

It’s also easy to see that many of the motifs we use in quilting have been in the design canon for centuries – this building was mostly finished in the 1200s! Check out the double wedding rings on the third column from the left!

Below is another image that gave me some more quilty inspiration. This one is a tiled mosaic bench from Gaudi’s Park Guell in Barcelona, Spain.

I see applique, border prints, piecework, and prairie points!

It you’d like to own a signed copy of this sweet book, go here to purchase it directly from Mandy (and if you want to know how the profit slices on a book, read here).

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When I shared my creations with Jacqueline, she told me that she receives frequent requests on how to do this type of adaptation of her patterns, so with her permission and encouragement, I decided to create this tutorial.

I’ll be using one of the Wee Little Stitches freebie patterns, specifically Captain America from The Avengers. And before I get started, I’d like to remind you that while this tutorial is a free offering, both Jacqueline and I support ourselves by making cool stuff for YOU. So if you’re inspired by any of the patterns on either my site or Jacqueline’s, please be cool and BUY them. Also, all Wee Little Stitches patterns are for personal use only, so no selling the things you make from them.

One last thing before we get started: this tutorial assumes you already know a few things about quilting, such as how to set up for a 1/4’’ seam, how to rotary cut, basic block construction, and finishing techniques. I’ll just be leading you through how to adapt the pattern to a fabric top.

1. Choose your pattern!

I’m using the Wee Little Stitches free Avengers pattern, and I have decided to make Captain America. I’ll be calling him Cap for the rest of the pattern.

2. Choose the scale of the character

Count the number of squares for both the height and width of your character. Cap is 36 squares tall, and 16 squares wide. I’m calculating JUST the character, not any additional background – we’ll get into that once the figure is together.

Each square of the cross-stitch pattern will represent a square in the quilt top, so now to choose a size for those squares:

• If the squares are 1/2’’ finished, Cap will be 18’’ x 8’’, which would work great on an oversized pillow (and for the record, be pretty fussy to work with)
• If the squares are 1’’ finished, Cap will be 36’’ x 16’’, which would work great on a child’s quilt, or the center of a lap quilt
• If the squares are 2’’ finished, Cap will be 72’’ x 32’’, which would top a twin bed (once borders are added).

I’ll be making the 2” size as I like to make quilts that are big enough to snuggle well on a couch, and versatile enough to toss on a bed if needed. Yes, 32’’ is skinny, but I’ll border it out once I have the figure together.

3. Make a copy of just the figure as big as a sheet of paper

There are a couple of ways to do this:

• Enlarge the character on a copier until it fills the page
• Open the pattern on your computer, and do a screen shot section of the character (on a Mac, Command Shift 4, or on Windows, using the Snippit Tool), and capture just the rectangle that will include all the character and no more

Print the screen shot at full page size. You might print a second to have on hand just in case. This is will be your master template for cutting.

4. Choose the fabrics

I recommend using quilt store quality fabrics, in solid colors to maximize the pixelated effect of the squares. If you’re going to invest your time in something like this, be sure to invest in high quality fabrics that will last! The cross-stitch pattern has a floss color chart that’s easy to follow, and you can use its suggestions for your fabric choices.

Cap is pretty easy – he’s primarily red, white and blue, with a few squares of black and skin tone. I have decided to use a light gray as my background as all my colors will look good against it.

I purchased 1 yard each of red, white, and blue, and 2 yards of gray. I have skin tone and black in my stash. Yes, I will probably use about half of that yardage, but a yard gives me room to goof up, plus decent yardage for making into a border or backing.

5. Prepare a design surface

I find that making something like this is best done with a design wall. If you don’t have space that you can dedicate to a design wall, then either tack a piece of flannel or batting to the wall, or pick up a couple of cheap plastic table cloths that have flannel backs (often in the seasonal aisle of a chain store like Joann’s or Target). With plastic on one side and flannel on the other, these are easy to roll up mid-project if you are sewing at a retreat or need to clear space for dinner.

6. Section out the pattern

This is where the work begins. You have a few options, so let’s talk about them:

• Cut one fabric square for each stitched square. This is probably the easiest to figure out, but it will be the hardest to sew as you’ll have LOTS of unnecessary seams to both make and match up. If you like the look of all those seams, you can create it easily with your quilting stitches later.
• Break the pattern into either columns or rows. This means you make a group of strips, and then assemble them. This is also easy to figure out, but again, a lot of unnecessary seams.
• Cut the pattern into blocks. This means that, when possible, you use a larger chunk of fabric for an area. There will still be areas that are made of single squares, but as few as possible.

I’ll be showing you the third method. Note: I made a lighter copy of the pattern, and I’ll be working with a thick pen for this so it shows up well in tutorial pictures – you’ll probably be fine with a regular copy and a pencil.

First, look for the major blocks in the figure’s design, or the easy stuff. Use a ruler, and mark these blocks.

Think about the major sections that you’ll need to make. For most of the characters, the sections will follow the major body areas quite well, and they’ll often be quite symmetrical. In the case of Cap, I need to navigate the shield, and the wings on his helmet outside the body structure. I also want to keep the background in large chunks for simplicity.

In this drawing, you can see that I’ve split Cap into 4 major segments: top of the helmet, face and torso, shield, and legs.

I’ve also drawn some section lines within those. In all cases, I’m trying to make the block simply, with the least amount of seams. Note that there is certainly more than one way to get to the solution! I’m working the face mostly horizontally as it breaks up easiest that way, but I’m working the upper body vertically as it makes for fewer single strips.

Being as the colors in the shield are mostly in single rows of squares, I’m not going to get away with big chunks, so I’ll just cut it up as best I can. There’s a spot in the middle of the shield that can be 2 squares wide, so I’ll start with that and work out from it.

7. Begin construction

At this point, you can cut out every square and rectangle, and lay them on your design wall, or you can cut and sew a section at a time. I prefer the latter method as it means I need to label fewer things. I’m also less likely to lose a piece if I work in smaller segments.

I’m making the 2’’ version, so for every square I need to cut 2’’ PLUS SEAM ALLOWANCE. Every measurement you make, regardless of which size (1/2’’, 1’’, or 2’’) requires an extra half-inch in both directions for the seams, so write that somewhere obvious in big letters! So, for example, if I need a piece that covers 2 x 4 squares (at the 2” per square size) I need to cut 4 1/2” x 8 1/2“.

I’m going to work on Cap from the feet up. My reasoning for this is the first section is very easy, and will make me feel like I’m getting somewhere pretty quickly! Then the shield section will be the trickiest, so I’ll get it out of the way next. Back to easier on the torso, and a fast finish on the helmet.

I cut the pieces and put them on the design wall in their correct place as I go:

I cut out the largest pieces first, and work the smaller pieces from the scraps of that, paying attention to saving large fabric for later sections as needed. The largest piece of red I need is 3 squares wide (6 1/2’’), in this or any other section, so I’ll cut that first.

Then I’ll cut a strip 2 squares wide (4 1/2’’) and save a piece of it for the right hand section in the shield. I’ll cut all my 1 square wide (2 1/2’’) pieces from the scraps of those before cutting any more 1 square strips.

The next step is where I get all my exercise – I sew and press each section as I go, and put it back on the design wall until I sew it to something else. I press the way that goes easiest (who needs to fight with seams?) and I try to press away from the white/light whenever possible, but without being terribly uptight about it

And the feet are done:

On to the shield:

I laid it all out, but failed to notice that I made the lower right corner white instead of gray until it was assembled! Perhaps I should have shaded in the background of my reference drawing!

First I sewed the major rows together:

Then sewed those into the section:

And then I fixed the lower right to be gray!

That’s better!

Here’s the lower half of the quilt top – you can see Cap beginning to take form:

And on to the torso, paying SPECIAL attention to the background gray!

Here it is, with the smaller sections together:

And here’s the section, finished:

And onto the helmet:

And the helmet, put together:

And the whole figure assembled:

This handsome fella still needs and “A” on his helmet, which I will applique or fuse once I have the big sewing done.

Next are borders. I will start with about 4” top and bottom to give the figure some room, as I don’t like the binding to run into the compositional elements:

So at this point, Cap is about 80” tall. For good visual balance, as well as a useful size, I think he should be about 50” wide. The character section is already 32” wide, so I have about another 20” to add. Cap is not symmetrically centered – his shield moves the center line to the left, so I need to put a little more background on the right. I added 8” to the left and 12” to the right. (If you’re worried about balancing something like that, just add a few extra inches to both sides, and then trim it back as needed based on how it looks on the design wall).

And he’s ready to be layered and quilted!

I will probably do 2” vertical lines across the entire quilt, and then cross only the character with 2” horizontal lines so that the pixellated effect is emphasized, similar to Leia and R2D2 below.

Here are a couple of other Wee Little Stitches patterns I’ve adapted – they belong to my son and his fiancée!

I hope you’ve enjoyed the tutorial! If you use it, please tag @weelittlestitches and @huntersds on Instagram so Jacqueline and I can enjoy what you make!

******

BTW – Did you join my mailing list yet? Do it here. I’m dreaming up groovy exclusive stuff for you!

The post FREE Tutorial: How to Adapt a Cross-Stitch Pattern for Quilting appeared first on Hunter's Design Studio.

I belong to the Portland Modern Quilt Guild, and we get extra door prize tickets if we have a hand-made name badge. So my friend Monica said she was going to Quilt Talk® hers.

Now I’ve seen some small Quilt Talk® letters (check out Paula Fleischer’s “Crazy” in the gallery section of the book). I’ve MADE small Quilt Talk® letters. I was skeptical about seeing them come out at any size that wouldn’t look a bit like a billboard hanging around someone’s neck. Or worse, a bib!

This was her first snap-shot to me:

And all I can say is WOW. They be tiny, but they be elegant! And legible! And she wasn’t cussing at me when she was done!

And then she surprised me with an offer to make me one! I’m no fool, and immediately proffered fabric – and bound it in Sam I Am fabric when it arrived:

And then she started copying tiny letters and sharing them with our mini-group pals:

I’m utterly tickled by all the tiny wordplay!

So if you want to make one for yourself (or any other tiny worded thing), here’s the recipe, from Monica:

“On a copier, first reduce the letters to 25%, and then reduce that size to 75%.  If you have a shorter name, the first round of shrinking might be plenty.”

And just to give you a sense of scale:

Thank you, Monica!

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Well, last week, I finally finished the one I had been working on just for me!

I used an embroidery pattern by Shiny Happy World, and made a row of cute robots for each side of the bag:

For those who like to keep score on crazy, this is my 18th one

One thing about making so many of them is that I had time to ponder exactly how I wanted mine to function. So I decided to add a couple of modifications, using some pretty fold-over elastic, like this one from Babyville.

These get sewn in between steps 3 and 4 of the original Sew Together Bag pattern, after you make the markings for step 4, but before you sew those marks. No I’m not sharing the pattern because you should buy your own copy!

On the far outer side of one pocket, I positioned the elastic about a 1/4” up from the markings for step 4, and sewed horizontally down the center line of the fold-over elastic. I then played with some groupings of Clover Wonder Clips to map out where I could sew a few vertical lines for stability. Yes, I have a lot of ORANGE clips because kind friends have traded me for their favorite colors!

On the far opposite side, I ran the elastic along the middle of the pocket horizontally, and sewed it vertically at intervals intended to hold small threads and tubes of Tulip Needles (love these needles!)

Both of these modifications have allowed me to keep more pockets free for other things, and it made the clips easier to grasp, as opposed to digging them out of a pocket.

And a last tip, designed by my friend Monica… always designate one pocket for all the metal items you carry, and color code the zipper to help you remember. In her bags, metal things go in the gray pocket. I have enjoyed making all the zippers different to help with sorting, but gray=metal is genius!

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