Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Sewing Lessons!

I have been a big fan of Fabricworm and Birch Fabrics since Cynthia first started selling fabric two years ago. It made my move back to Cali even more exciting because Birch's brick and mortar store was only a couple of towns away from where I live. Getting to see all of the fabrics in person is pretty amazing.

I was up at Birch a couple of weeks ago and one thing led to another and I am now going to teach some sewing classes in Birch's gorgeous loft space! It is so exciting I can barely think of anything else.

The first two classes I am going to teach are how to sew a zippered, lined cosmetics bag and how to sew a basic patchwork quilt. I wanted to make some samples to have in the store as a way of advertising the classes. I suggested this to Cynthia and the next thing I know, we are cruising around the store putting together the cutest fabric combination for the sample quilt. Okay, it was mostly Cynthia and I just followed her around and tried not to geek out in excitement.

The quilt is 36" square made up of 6 fat quarters with an extra 1/4 yard of fabric for the binding and just over a yard of fabric for the back. I wanted to keep the pattern simple and something that would be easy enough for beginners but would also be a way to teach basic patchwork skills. I also kept the quilting simple by outlining both sides of the seams with a white thread. I love how the quilting adds just a little extra to the brown squares.

The fabrics are Monaluna Woodland Chain Pool, Michael Miller Dumb Dot Chocolate, Riley Blake Colorful Cheery Circles Green, Alexander Henry 2D Zoo Pool, SEI Playday Playful Geos Teal, and Robert Kaufman Pure Organic Chocolate.

And here is the back, Monaluna Woodland Chain Pool. The binding is Riley Blake Colorful Christmas Cheery Circles White.
Here is the sample of the zippered cosmetics bag. I used Alexander Henry's Bird Seed and lined it with some Amy Butler Full Moon Polka Dots. It is lined and has an interior pocket.

The classes start in August so if you live in the Central Coast of California and interested, shoot me an email.

3 comments:

jess said...

Your samples came out AMAZING!! I might move just so I can take classes! You are going to be an awesome teacher! XOX

Rebekah said...

so cool that you're going to be teaching sewing classes! Your quilt sample is the perfect beginner project!

craftytammie said...

congrats on teaching! that is so exciting!