Back to School Blog Hop: Day 1

Parents everywhere are rejoicing as school begins again! In celebration of this special time of the year, we're hosting a Back to School Blog Hop. But "back to school" isn't just for the parents of school kids...it's also for anyone heading off to college, returning to school, or even just looking for a fresh start. With that in mind we're sharing three tutorials this week (plus fabric giveaways!) that will appeal to anyone in a back-to-school mindset! 

First up is Chris from made by ChrissieD. Chris fell in love with the Simply Chic collection by Anna Stuart and transformed these beautiful florals into a sweet and super functional pencil case. Choose some fun novelty prints (you'll find plenty of choices in our Kanvas division!) to make this case for your kids or grandkids, but then be sure to make one for yourself using Simply Chic--everyone deserves a pencil case this pretty! 

Hi, I'm Chris Dodsley of made by ChrissieD, a sewing teacher in Manhattan and VP of the NYC Metro MOD Quilt Guild, blogging about my textile crafts and travel adventures.  I love to share my tips, tutorials and projects on my made by ChrissieD blog, twice monthly newsletter and various social media sites including Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and Flickr.

It's Day 1 on the Back To School 2016 Blog Hop and today I'm showcasing Anna Stuart's Simply Chic collection.

The Simply Chic collection of 23 fabrics includes roses, floral stripes, plaids and mini prints in sky blue, white, butter yellow, pink and red and is 100% cotton.

Imagine yourself in a Simply Chic layered, country skirt or dress, yep you're right there with me - I was stitching up projects in my head and had to pull myself back to thinking about 'Back To School'! So I've made two projects using six of the Simply Chic fabrics in the red/white/blue colour ways - a pencil case and a satchel -  today, I'm sharing the pencil case tute.  The satchel pattern will be available via my made by ChrissieD blog when it is tested and finalised.

BACK TO SCHOOL PENCIL CASE
The Back To School Pencil Case is made wide enough to hold a 12" ruler and a notepad up to 5-5/8" wide alongside just about anything else you might need on your first day Back To School.  It also has a separate zippered front pocket to hold your spare change and even your phone!

Supplies Needed:

2 x zippers (minimum length 14")

I have used 6 Fat Quarters of Simply Chic fabric - fabric cutting requirements are detailed below.

1/2" D-ring (optional)

Cutting Fabric:

Back - 13-1/2" x 7" - Toile Check Sky Blue - 3818-05

Upper Front - 13-1/2" x 1-3/4" - Blossom Red - 3817-10

Lower Front - 13-1/2" x 5-1/4" - Flora Eye Ribbon Sky Blue - 3815-05

Lining (cut 2) - 13-1/2" x 7" - Floret White - 3816-09

Pocket Lining - 13-1/2" x 7" - Cherries White - 3813-09

D-ring Tab (optional) - 2" x 2" - Gingham Sky Blue - 3814-05

Sew together the pencil case as shown in the photos below.  The photos walk you through each stage step-by-step, lay your fabrics out exactly as I've done as you work your way through the project. 

Pencil Case Front & Pocket

Layout out your Lower Front, Upper Front and zipper as shown.

Flip the Upper Front over on top of the zipper and sew together.

Sew the zipper along the raised grain line that is approximately 1/4" from the edge of the zipper.

Lay the zipper and Upper face down on top of the Lower section as shown below.

Sew along the zipper grain as before to join.

Press Lower and Upper Fronts away from the zipper teeth.

Top stitch the Upper and Lower Fronts on both sides of the zipper at approx 1/8".  

From this point on I'll refer to the Upper and Lower Fronts as the Front.

Move the zipper pull within the body of the Front as shown below and stitch 3 rows of straight stitch across the open zipper end to hold the zipper together (see far left of zipper below).  

The zipper pull MUST BE to the right of the holding stitches as shown.

Trim away excess zipper along sides of Front as you can see I have in the photo below.

Place the Front on top of the Pocket Lining - Pocket Lining right side up and Front right side up also.

Stitch around all 4 sides at 1/8" to secure the two sections together and create the pocket. 

Remove the zipper holding stitches as the zipper is now held by the 1/8" stitch line 

you have just sewn around the Pocket Lining and Front.

D-Ring Tab (optional)

Press D-ring Tab fabric in half; open flat; press outside edges into the fold line; press in half again; stitch 1/16" around edges

- the narrow ends will still have visible raw edges.

Fold D-ring Tab in half and slip the D-ring on - the D-ring is optional, you could just add a tab to the pencil case without a D-ring.

The tab itself is also optional.

Place the D-ring Tab folded over the right-hand end of the zipper on the Front, the ring/folded end should face inwards over the zipper.

Sew a few stitches at 1/8" to hold the D-ring Tab in place.

Attaching The Top Zipper

Layout out your Lining, Front and zipper as shown.

Flip over the zipper and sew it to the top of the Front along the zipper grain line as before.

Place the Lining on top of the zipper right sides together with the Front - be sure to line the side edges up neatly then sew over the same stitch line you've just created when you sewed the zipper and Front together.

The back now looks like this...

and the front looks like this.

Press the Front and Lining fabrics away from the zipper teeth, laying them flat against each other, wrong sides together.

Topstitch through all the layers along the fabric edge 1/8" from the zipper fabric.

Lay the Back, Front and zipper out as shown.

Flip the Back over onto the unsewn edge of the zipper, line up the side edges evenly and stitch together along the zipper grain line.

Lay your project out like this...

...and place the second section of lining fabric on top of the Back, wrong sides together.

Flip the Lining over on top of the last section of the zipper that doesn't already have a piece of fabric sewn to it.  Line up the side edges and sew the Lining to the zipper over the previously sewn line attaching the Back to this zipper edge.

The Front/Back now look like this...

...and the lining looks like this.

Press Back and Lining away from zipper teeth and top stitch through all layers of the Back, zipper and Lining

at 1/8" from the zipper fabric.

Trimming & Seaming The Pencil Case

As before, move zipper pull so it's within the body of the pencil case

and sew a few stitches across the open end of the zipper to hold it in place.

Place a horizontal line of your ruler along the line of your zipper teeth and the vertical edge of your ruler along the side edge of your Front/Back.  Trim away the excess zipper length and, if necessary straighten up the sides of your Front/Back.

Ensure your zipper is OPEN TO HALF WAY.

Lay the Front/Back right sides together and the Linings right sides together - zipper fabric should lay towards the Front/Back while the zipper teeth lay towards the Linings.

Pin around the sections - hard to spot the pins but they are there in the pic below!

Sew around the edges with a 1/4" seam and leave a gap in the Lining seam for turning.

Snip diagonally across the 4 corners - take care not to cut into your stitches.

Finishing Touches

Turn to the right side through the Lining seam gap and the half open zipper.

Take time to push the corner points out properly.

Turn in the raw edges along the bottom of the Lining and stitch along the opening using a 1/8" seam.

Pop the Lining inside the Front/Back section bring the corners together inside and press the finished pencil case.

BACK TO SCHOOL PENCIL CASE

I hope you've enjoyed my day on the Back To School Blog Hop and want to make your own Back To School Pencil Case.  It's time now to head over to my made by ChrissieD blog for a chance to win an FQ bundle of Simply Chic fabric. I'll also be linking in my post there to a couple of techniques I've written to help you fit and turn the pencil case lining and there'll be more photos of my satchel project also - Chris :D

Make sure to catch all of the tutorials in our Back to School Blog Hop!
Wednesday: Chris from made by ChrissieD featuring Simply Chic
Thursday: Benartex Blog Design Team featuring Transformation Black & White
Friday: Wendy from Ivory Spring featuring Lemon Squeezy

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Chromazone in Print

We always love to see our new fabric lines used in quilts--different fabrics can change a design so much! In the October 2016 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting, quilt tester Laura Boehnke used the Chromazone collection by Paula Nadelstern for Benartex in her color option quilt for Susan Ache’s Dragon Fruit Delight quilt. 

Bright, bold, and beautiful! 

Based on a design by Susan Ache. Used with permissions from American Patchwork & Quilting®  magazine. 
© 2016 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. 

Click here to see the Chromazone collection.
Click here to find the October 2016 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting.

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Sgraffito: Pen & Ink Art

Sgraffito is an Italian term that means a form of decoration made by scratching through a surface to reveal a lower layer of a contrasting color, typically done in plaster or stucco on walls, or in slip on ceramics before firing. Sgraffito is also the name of a new fabric line from Contempo Studio by Elise K featuring florals, paisleys, leaves, geometrics, and textures. These pen-and-ink-style designs, done in black and ivory with brown, gray, and taupe accents, create a stunning collection with modern appeal. 

Don't miss our two free quilt patterns, featuring these beautiful earth-tone prints:

"Nico" by Stephanie Sheridan and Linda Leathersich 

of Stitched Together Studios

Click here to download the free quilt pattern.

"Deruta" by Heidi Pridemore of The Whimsical Workshop 

Click here to download the pattern.

Click here to see the entire Sgraffito collection.
Click here to find the free quilt patterns. 

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Shimmer and glow with Nature's Pearl

Nature's Pearl--it's all in the name for this new collection from Kanvas. You need to see these fabrics in person to truly appreciate them. They have a sophisticated, pearlized effect, adding texture and shimmer to the designs. Swirls, dandelions, leaves and rings work together beautifully in a muted palette of grays, taupes, creams and blacks.

Use Nature's Pearl to create a subtle yet gorgeous tonal quilt like this "Vintage Tango" design, created by Heidi Pridemore.

Click here to download the free quilt pattern.

Click here to see the entire Nature's Pearl collection.
Click here to find the free quilt pattern.

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Turning Cartwheels

What quilter doesn't love a pattern that looks harder than it is? 

Cartwheels, designed by Stephanie Sheridan for McCall's Quick Quilts magazine, is just that. Stephanie combined Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry's beautiful New Wave prints with solid blacks using half-square triangle blocks. The rest is just placement! (and great quilting!)

"Cartwheels" by Stephanie Sheridan and machine quilted by Linda Leathersich;
featured in McCall's Quick Quilts August/September 2016

We asked Stephanie to tell us about her design: 

What attracted you to the New Wave fabrics? Why do they work well for this quilt?

I have always been a fan of Caryl's work - the fabrics that she designs just have so much texture and movement in them. The New Wave line works well for this quilt because of that texture and movement, as well as the way her colors all blend so nicely, and the perfect amount of lights and darks.

Why did you choose to pair them with black?

I actually tried several different background colors (white, gray and light blue) before deciding on the black - it just really makes the colors pop and sparkle.

Can you talk about the palette you did choose? 

I am a sucker for the cool tones - show me blue, purple and turquoise fabrics and I fall in love! Using the different values gave the quilt more depth and helped to emphasize the spinning movement in the quilt. 

How did you come up with the design?

I really enjoy designing quilts that look difficult, but are actually very simple to make. This quilt is all half square triangle blocks - so while it takes a while to make all 120 of them - it is actually pretty easy! The fun part for me was the layout - having the starting point of the pinwheels off center give the quilt even more movement and interest.

Where did the name, Cartwheels, come from?

The spinning illusion in the quilt makes me think of little girls turning cartwheels on blacktop.

Talk about the machine quilting.

Mom (Linda) used a modern spiky feather on the black, and a combination of curves and spikes in the colors - it really added to the movement in this quilt.

What do you envision this being used for? 

It is a slightly wide twin sized quilt (72" x 86") - I can see it in a teenage girl's bedroom or as a college dorm quilt! The quilt is now in our guest room - it goes really well with the Tiffany blue walls and black wrought iron furniture.

Click here to see Caryl's New Wave collection.

Click here to learn more about Stephanie and Linda's work.

Click here to find McCall's Quick Quilts magazine.

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Ode to Summer: Citron Twist

Citron Twist, Maria Kalinowski's new line for Kanvas, is cool and refreshing, like a tall glass of icy lemonade. The trendy lime and navy color palette is summery, and the prints are clean and modern with a hint of 70s groove--a graphic pop art floral, a geometric lattice design, small daisies and a cool oval stripe. 

Make a fresh-looking throw using Heidi Pridemore's free quilt pattern, 

"Do the Twist."

Click here to download the free quilt pattern.

Citron Twist was also recently featured in Modern by the Yard, our free modern e-zine. (If you haven't checked it out yet, click the link at the top of the blog sidebar!). This picnic quilt gives the summer a fresh, summery feel. 

The bold prints and simple color palette of the collection are perfect for this oversized Log Cabin design. Find the pattern in Modern by the Yard. Easy to make and fun to use for picnics and more!

"Dining Al Fresco" by Lisa Swenson Ruble

Click here to see the entire Citron Twist collection.
Click here to find the free quilt pattern.

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