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THIS CONTEST ENDED 03/02/12. THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED!

I was first introduced to Angela Walters at Spring Quilt Market last year, but not before the person I was with started pointing wildly in all directions to quilts Angela had done. Her amazing free-motion quilting work seemed to be proudly on display in every booth in the near vicinity. I was bowled over. In fact, I think my mouth literally dropped open. Then, up walked Angela. How did this cute young woman standing in front of me finish all these different quilts?! She shrugged and smiled, as if not understanding that the speed, skill and style of her free-motion work was keeping my mouth hanging open. Once I regained my composure, we stayed in touch, and I was thrilled to hear she has a book coming out soon, Free-Motion Quilting with Angela Walters. It was the perfect time to introduce our Sew4Home friends to her, so you can learn a little more about that signature speed, skill and style, pick up a few tips in a free-motion mini-tutorial from Angela herself and enter to win a fun Kona Cotton giveaway from Angela and her pals at Robert Kaufman (Angela does all the quilting for Kaufman’s quilt samples and used their beautiful solids for many of the samples in her book).

One of my favorite “new baby traditions” is the practice of bringing the siblings of a new baby little gifts to also make them feel special. That is the idea behind our adorable Big Sister Dolly Quilt. We used the scraps from yesterday’s Beautiful Baby Quilt to create a matching 14″ x 18″ blanket the perfect size for a doll bed. The center patchwork is made up of 2″ x 2″ squares, which were sized to be a perfect showcase for the pretty little motifs of our Cloud9 Maman fabric.

Organic cottons have come a long way over the last several years, and one of the companies leading the pack has been Cloud9. We discovered them a couple years ago, and have watched with delight as their new designs emerged. If you believe organic fabric means dull, drab or coarse… meet Cloud9 co-founders Michelle Engel Bencsko and Gina Pantastico. They have infused their lines with happy colors and delightful patterns from the rich tones of Nature Walk to the forthy fun of My Happy Nursery. And they’ve done it all using 100% certified organic cotton in the manufacturing of their base cloths and eco-responsible low impact dyes. Two of their newest collections are featured today in our Beautiful Baby Quilt: Maman and Nursery Basics. This fabric was an absolute delight to work with. The base fabric is a premium 200 count organic cotton sheeting with an amazing feel that is both crisp and silky soft.

Jazz up your jammie-time with these adorable sleep shorts. There’s one pair for Him with a drawcord and pocket, and one pair for Her with kicky ruffles and a satin bow. We show you how to make a pattern using an existing pair of your favorite shorts. Super easy, super comfy and a super cute idea for Valentine’s Day, especially in pretty pinks (remember… real guys can wear pink) and grays. We used a combination of fabrics from both Dena Designs and Robert Kaufman, courtesy of Fat Quarter Shop.

Our cute quilted case is sized to hold everything from thin readers to designer sunglasses. Batting makes it soft, and the smooth cotton lining will help keep your lenses scratch-free. We added a perky ruffle to crank up the cute factor. Plus, there’s a carabiner key clip so you have all the essentials at hand: glasses and keys; “I can see… I can drive. I’m ready to rumble!” We picked the pretty Oh La La fabric collection by Pillow & Maxfield in Red Petite Fluers and combined that with Dear Stella’s J’Adore Stella Pink Sunburst Stripe. Two different designers but both with a French accent! Together they create a wonderful color and print combo for a lovely Valentine’s Day gift.

There are lots of patterns out there for reusable hot cup jackets, but none with our signature touch: the girly-girl ruffle! Skip that boring ol’ cardboard sleeve and wake up your morning cup of coffee or tea with a fun and frilly custom jacket. Our instructions are for one jacket, but we ended up making three as we perfected the instructions. They are super fast and easy, and you can really get an assembly line going: cut-cut-cut, ruffle-ruffle-ruffle, stitch-stitch-stitch. These would be awesome for a craft fair or as an Etsy item.

During the recent Lush & Plush Trends series we did with our friends at Fabric.com, we got hooked on working with faux leather. We had a little bit of one of the sample cuts leftover and put it to use to make this adorable little clutch purse. With its chunky metal zipper, chic tassel and vibrant cotton print lining, once you clutch this clutch, it will be hard to let go. But, if you can pry it from your own fingers, it would make a dandy holiday gift.

This terrific tool qualifies as the perfect stocking stuffer for the sewing enthusiast on your list: a seam ripper with a built-in magnifier and light. The Mighty Bright Lighted Seam Ripper comes from the same clever folks who bring us those cool little book lights and wallet magnifier lights. Even if you aren’t yet in the, “where the heck are my reading glasses?!” category, ripping out tiny seams or tone-on-tone topstitching is a strain on anyone’s eyes and patience. This cool tool is a lifesaver.

This holiday season we are concentrating on bringing you fast and easy gift ideas. You may have already noticed our green “Holiday Gift Idea” button on recent tutorials. In addition, we’ve found a number of inexpensive notions, which we think would be perfect for the sewing and crafting folks on your list. Today’s example is this dandy fingertip rotary cutter from Fiskars®. If you can point, you can use this little devil.

When a box of faux leather arrived from Fabric.com, it ended up sitting on the floor next to a paper shredder. I had to wonder: do these two things mix? At the risk of having the evidence permanently ensnarled in the teeth of the old paper shredder, I fed it a swatch of faux leather, stopping with a half inch remaining uncut. I used the reverse switch to remove it, and ended up with a nice little fringe. Where the shredder didn’t cut all the way through, it scored it well enough that it took less than two minutes to finish using scissors. The result: perfect fringe. Roll it up and you get a pretty tassel.

Belts are all over the torso this year. From hip huggers that add shape to a shift, waist-cinchers for a pretty feminine look, and empire waist belts for a figure-enhancing trendy look. Pick your position, cut, sew and go. These 30-minute wonders are easy and satisfying to make; a classic plaid adds a lovely touch of fall to your wardrobe, especially when mixed with something unexpected.       

This ScrapBusters project is not only really fun to make, it is an awesome low-cost gift idea. We found the key fob hardware at Ribbon Retreat, one of our Shopping Directory vendors, for just 50 cents each… 40 cents if you buy a bunch. If you have fabric and trim scraps on hand (and who doesn’t???), you can make a super cool little gift for under $1.00! We made a version for Mom and one for Dad as well as a trendy Teen version and one as the perfect Teacher gift. Fast, fun and inexpensive… it’s a triple treat.

These tiny clips are so handy for holding hair in place. They’re lightweight, inexpensive and available everywhere. On the other hand, embellished hair accessories are pricey, so why not make your own! After trying to wrap a ponytail holder without crushing the attached flower, it came to me that it would be easier to just clip the flower to the band after the band was on. Turns out, these little clips have holes next to the hinge springs and you can attach a flower to them by simply sewing it in place. Then you can attach it to your hair, an elastic ponytail band or a headband. Mix and match, wear one, two, three or more. Turn a bad hair day around by rockin’ some pretty flowers.

A sewing room sounds like such a tranquil place filled with lovely soft fabrics. But, there are plenty of sharp and pokey… and hot things lurking, and plenty of ways for things to go wrong if you don’t think ahead.

Fall is upon us, and with it comes the classic sights and smells of the season: golden falling leaves, cool foggy mornings, and freshly sharpened yellow pencils. This clever pencil case tutorial is based on our original wristlet project, but we increased the size and added a cute front-buttoned pocket and a bright key ring. Try it in a soft, tiny wale corduroy like we did or experiment with washed denim or crushed velvet. Your pencils are looking forward to it.

In French, a ‘ruche’ is a ruffle or a pleat. That’s pretty much what it means in English too. But everything sounds so much fancier in French. La Ruche est une merveilleuse technique (see how cool that sounds?!). Use it to add decorative effects to all kinds of sewing projects. Our embellishment tutorial shows you the basic way to create strips of ruching by machine. Then we show you how we turned a single ruched strip into a pretty spiral flower to use as a pillow accent.