» Show ‘n’ Tell

Fun with ribbons and decorative stitches!

Serena Nabeta — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 14:48:47 +0000

A couple months ago, I had the opportunity to teach a demo class at our local quilt guild. In the few weeks prior to that I dug into my stash of fabrics and ribbon looking for some fun combinations! I had designed this quick tutorial and pattern for this cute little clutch that I had stitched in past years. The original idea came from Bernina’s Stitch Embellished Clutch which you can download the instructions for here.

I had a ton of fun matching different ribbons with different sets of ribbon! I found some combos that stitch together beautifully and others that just don’t quite “go”. You know those….;)

Here’s a few fun photos!

love those decorative stitches!

magnetic snap!

fun closure!

love the striped bias binding! :)

Pink suede and minkee blanket

Serena Nabeta — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:26:36 +0000

A customer wanted a blanket created with pink suede and zebra minkee fabric to which I thought, “No problem, I can do that!”. What we decided to do was do one side minkee and the other side suede with swirls quilted to hold the layers together and bind it with pink satin. Not too difficult, right?!

I pin-basted the layers together with a low-loft batting and was ready to start stitching. I really wanted to stitch with the suede side up since that was a solid and would be easier to see where I was stitching. The minkee fabric would be next to the feed dogs, but that would be ok. I raised my presser foot pressure just a little to accommodate the thicker fabrics.

Issue 1 – When stitching with suede, usually a teflon foot is needed and since I’m freehand quilting, that’s not an option. Even though my feed dogs were lowered and my foot was not exactly close to the fabric, it still tended to stick and not glide smoothly like it should for freehand quilting. Ok, raise the pressure foot pressure a little more so I have more space between the foot and the fabric. Nope! If the presser foot pressure is raised too high, the foot is higher which causes skipped stitches.

Ok, onto plan B…maybe I can sew on the minkee side and still see where I am going?! Maybe? I’ll try it. Now that was a challenge! Not only was it hard to see where I was going because of the print, but also the stitches tend to get lost in the pile of the fabric, which is just the nature of minkee fabric. It just meant I was stitching blindly. Not something I really wanted to do! Plus the suede fabric did want to hang up a little on the bed of the machine. Not too much to be much of an issue; the bigger problem was that I couldn’t see my stitches.

Back to plan A. Insert brand new needle after a 1′ section. Find the perfect balance of presser foot pressure and no skipped stitches. Sew for 10 minutes and then rest my arms/hand for 5 because manipulating those fabrics through the machine really pulls at those muscles. Go slow and keep on stitching! Finally…it was finished!

Minkee printed side

Suede solid side

It isn’t the most beautiful job of quilting I have ever done, but it did turn out fairly nice, considering all the trouble I had with quilting it. And once I finished the quilting, the binding was a breeze! And the most important thing – the little granddaughter for whom it was for and grandmother who brought the fabric to me love it!

Need some tips for sewing with minkee fabric? Look here for some helpful ideas!

Show ‘n’ Tell from my Inbox

Serena Nabeta — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 14:29:00 +0000

I was so delighted when Doreen from Canada shared with me two of her quilted creations!

This is her version of The Color Purple in blue and white. She did not have the cd, but created the designs and embellishment without machine embroidery designs. It was a gift for her granddaughter and she name it so appropriately, “Blue Paradise”. The color contrast and embellishment blocks are just stunning!

This is the Bible Quilt she made for her granddaughter’s wedding. The blocks are stunning when arranged with the black background.

She also created a booklet that corresponded with the quilt. It has a smaller version of the block and tells the Scripture verses that apply to that block pattern. How inventive!!

Thanks so much for sharing, Doreen! Keep up the great work!