Happy Teachers

Wilma Fletcher Scott and I taught some of our fellow Clark County Quilters how to paint a rose onto fabric at the end of January.  We had the best students EVER and had a lot of fun teaching the class. (I wrote a previous blog about the pattern and technique.)

Here are the happy teachers:

I hope your quilt guild offers classes to each other so that you can learn new techniques too!  Happy quilting.

Sewing a knit top

I purchased a really comfortable shirt and wanted to reproduce it in a different knit fabric and different colors.

Here are some of the details of this pretty little top:

The collar is one piece and it stands up because it has some boning in the middle of the collar, which is cut slightly shorter than the collar itself.  I purchased another blouse that had this detail last summer and liked it too.  It's a fun way to make a collar without interfacing.

The left front has two patch pockets that were placed on the diagonal, which is a really cute idea.  Two small buttons are sewn onto the top of the pockets.

The bottom has a small peplum sewn onto it,   The back and front are separate and they overlap slightly.  It's a nice little feminine feature.

There is a piece cut on the bias that is sewn onto the front right corner.

Have you ever taken a pattern off of an existing garment?  It's pretty easy, and although I didn't take any pictures along the way, this is how I did it.  I laid a large piece of foam core board onto the table.  I placed a Pellon gridded interfacing on top of the foam core.  Then I spread out the shirt and either drew around the edges, or poked a large pin through the seams.  I did this for every piece, front and back.  Then I drew a line through all the holes made in the interfacing to get the outline of the piece.  (I use 3/8" seams for my clothing, so I added 3/8" seams to the outside edges of the pieces).  I noted where the seams might be larger, such as the hem.  The final step was to make sure the seams that were to be sewn together actually matched.  There are several really good articles and videos on the internet on how to do this process.

I looked over the shirt to figure out the sewing steps and typed up a set of sewing instructions to follow.  The final step was to lay out the pieces on a quick sketch, using 60" wide fabric, to calculate the yardage.

And voila!  The pattern was all ready to go.  I misplaced the pattern for almost a month and panicked that I had to start over again.  But, luckily, I located it!

Here is my finished top.  Because the fabric was multi-colored and geometric, I left off most of the cute little features of the original top.  You can't even tell that there is a peplum on this one.  Oh well, I still like it.

I hope these quick instructions give you the confidence to make copies of some of your favorite tops too!

Making leggings

I am determined to get my leggings pattern accurate!  I've made two pairs off my pattern, and they are still too loose in the legs.  I'm guessing that by the time I get the pattern just right, leggings will NOT be in style any longer.  Oh well, us old ladies usually lag the pop culture dress styles.  I never did like the "cold shoulder" look, did you?  And definitely not the cut up jeans, which cost close to $200 at Nordies.  What??!!!

I downloaded a free pattern from Mood Fabrics, which has a lot of extra pieces and am comparing that pattern to the one I've already used.  I think it just might be easier to go and peg the first couple of pairs, then measure and draw my own pattern!  I'm not that hard to fit, usually.  I do have long legs, so I know that I need to add length to every pattern.  And I have that old lady flat behind, so I have to take out some length at the waistband center back.  Other than that, the pattern should be good to go.

Later - I decided it was just better to peg the leggings that I had already made, and skip the idea of an ideal leggings pattern for now.  I had to take out about 2" from each leg, and remove some depth of the crotch.  It's the negative ease on stretch knits that has me slightly baffled,  Make them one size smaller?  Two sizes smaller?  Well, in the end, it was just easier to measure a pair that fit and use that measurement to alter the pattern.  Who cares what size they are anyway.  As long as they fit.

Quilting design and start of quilting

I finally landed on a quilting design for Emily's quilt.  In a previous post, I lamented the fact that I hadn't drawn anything that I liked.  So, I hit my collection of books, and friends gave me inspiration from some of theirs.  Here is what I landed on overall and the center motif:

I'm marking the design lightly on the squares, using a circle template and a straight edge, along with a Bohn water erasable blue pen.

And here are the tools that I use while I'm quilting the design:  both of the quilting templates are from Jamie Wallen, Quilters Apothecary. There is s 3" inside circle and a straight edge.  I really like his quilting templates because they have handles to hold the template steady on my sit-down long arm machine.

And here is what the block looks like all stitched out, which is slightly different than my sketch.

  I hope it will feel young and bright!  What do you think?

Polka Dots and Spots - Final - "Circle Mania"

I finished the polka dots and spots quilt and named it "Circle Mania".   Too bad I forgot to take pictures along the way.  Oh well, most of the techniques have been covered in other blogs on other quilts..... I hope.

After I finished quilt the top, I evened up all the edges.  Then I took my rotary cutter and made the wavy edges and rounded corners.  I made a 3" wide facing, which is wider than I usually make.  It needed to be wide enough to take care of all the large dips in the edges.

Here is a picture of the finished 50" W x 69" H quilt:

Circle Mania by Joanne Adams Roth

I hope you like it. And huge thanks to Jody Bowyer, who made the center medallion.

Baby born on showing off the blanket

This is the second baby born this year that received a baby blanket from me.   This little boy was born to my husband's nephew and his wife in Salem, OR.

Aah, isn't he cute?

Opening Night pictures of "Whispers in the Wind"

Our opening night reception of the Vagabonds show "Whispers in the Wind" was held on Friday, December 6th.  The Second Story Gallery does such a nice job of mounting the art displays, lighting them fantastically, providing the helpers for the reception, and finding a great musician.  Two pieces were sold on the opening night, and the other 79 that are still on sale will be on display in the gallery through January.  I hope you get a chance to get to Camas and see the show. 

Here are a few pictures from the opening night:

From left to right:  Beverly Woodard, Audrey Prothero, Joanne Adams Roth, Karan Brooks, Sharry Olmstead, and Val Pellens.  (Three of the others artists couldn't make it to the reception.)

Our group is working on our next challenge, and we have a couple more ideas.  We are definitely keeping the creative juices flowing!

I hope you have a group or at least someone else that helps you keep challenging you on your artistic journey.