Various & Sundry 2017 #10

Patterns, Projects & Tutorials

Pink Castle Fabrics has a June Roundup of free patterns.

Sara at Sew Sweetness is now posting about pattern hacks of her patterns. As you know, I love the Petrillo Bag and have made several including hacking the pattern. She has never made mention of my pattern hacks, though I did let her know. I was trying to stay true to her pattern. I guess I am not famous enough or I should have been bolder.

The Covered in Love block drive ends today, but you can probably sew really fast and send a block OR make a whole quilt and send it in. Keep this in mind when you are looking for a charity project. She does these block drives every other month or so.

Want a new Block of the Month? Sign up for Jacquelynne Steves I Love Home BOM.

Threaded Bandit is hosting a Feathered Star QAL. It started on June 25, but you can still catch up if you get busy right away. Get the patterns at her site.

This HST tutorial looks very similar to mine. She has a better name and more easily understood chart.

Fabric brand Riley Blake Designs recently launched a web-based tool called Imagine with Riley Blake – The Tutorial Channel. The channel offers video tutorials for beginning to advanced sewists and quilters taught by designers from Riley Blake Designs and Penny Rose Fabrics.

Tutorial prices range between $14.95 and $49.95 with some content being free. Pre-packaged kits from the Fat Quarter Shop and Missouri Star Quilts Co. are available to students at an additional charge. (Learning to make fabric slippers and booties may have just solved all out gift-giving dilemmas).

The channel, which launched with 10 tutorials, will introduce new tutorials and free content every month.  (thanks to Stashed for the tip)

Inspiration

Google has a new series of sites about arts and culture. The sites allow users to explore cultural treasures in extraordinary detail. This is a great idea and I immediately started clicking around. I found a Schiaparelli exhibit, which was interesting (have you seen her shoe hat inspired by Salvador Dali?), but I was really looking for some exhibits that I have been interested in and haven’t been able to see. I think the interface is too fancy for me and needs some work. I would like to be able to search for certain things and put them in my own collections. I shouldn’t whine. I am very pleased to be able to see what they have in such great detail. I might not be able to see such detail even visiting in the museum.

I really do love fashion – beyond practical fashion, but wearable. One of the things I liked about the Native Sons is the opportunity to put on a nice dress and some stilettos and go out. One of my life’s regrets is that I am not a better garment maker. I do keep trying, though. Schmetz linked to a video of Balenciaga dresses from the V&A in London being x-rayed. This appeals to me from the making perspective as well as the fashion perspective. I also like the sheer ingeniousness of some of the things Balenciaga designers did that you can’t see. One thing was that they used dress weights in strategic places to make the dresses hang a certain way. I NEVER thought of that. Amazing.

Jackie posted a customer’s Illusion quilt. The pattern has been around for a little while, but this is a really nice version.

Books, Magazines, Media & Events

Michael Miller has a recap of Quilt Market. Included is a really adorable paper doll quilt (pattern forthcoming).

Aurifil also has a couple of recaps of Market. Here is the second.

Sara from Sew Sweetness has a new video channel on YouTube to help you work through her patterns.

Modern Quilts: Designs of the New Century is now available for preorder. The book will ship in December 2017.

Wanda over at Exuberant Color is cataloging Kaffe Fassett and Co fabrics.

Quilters Take Manhattan (QTM) is a three-day event Sept. 15-17 that includes garment district tours, museum and gallery exhibitions, a night on Broadway, a vendor hall, silent auction and raffle prizes. The QTM 2017 keynote speaker is Sherri Lynn Wood, author of The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters: A Guide to Creating, Quilting, and Living Courageously. QTM sponsor Quilt Alliance recently posted an interview with Sherri on its blog.

And this year at QTM, attendees are invited to participate in the Fashion Challenge, By making garments and accessories featuring fabric from the Quilters Take Manhattan collection available at Spoonflower, they have a chance to win prizes.

QTM is an annual fundraising event for the non-profit Quilt Alliance which works to document, preserve and share the stories of quilts and quilters. (thanks to Stashed for the tip)

The non-profit Quilt Alliance is conducting a membership drive through August. Established in 1993, the Quilt Alliance documents, preserves and shares the American quilt heritage. Individuals as well as guilds and small businesses can join.  (thanks to Stashed for the tip)

QuiltCon registrations opened for members on Monday. I stayed home from the gym in order to register (I went later) and got all of the classes and lectures I wanted. Yay! Will you attend? Take a look at the 2018 QuiltCon show schedule.

BBC Trending, an Internet radio outlet that covers topics being shared on social media, recently discussed political polarization among quilters and the activities of a closed Facebook group that was outed by some of its member who felt the group was going too far. Listen or download here. (thanks to Stashed for the tip)

Fabric, Products & Tools

Buy your No Quilt Bullies notebook from Generation Q. There is no space for bullying in general, but the recent events on FB have brought quilt bullying to the fore. Spread the message.

Quilts Inc has a products spotlight. Apparently they have it every month. The June spotlight includes an interesting trimming ruler from C&T.

In other DYI news, Michaels and Pinterest are working together to offer limited edition Make It Kits. The co-branded kits will be based on popular pins.  According to the companies’ announcement, the limited edition kits will be offered first to Michaels Rewards customers through Promoted Pins and a special email offer before they are offered to the public on michaels.com. (thanks to Stashed for the tip)

Tips & Tricks

Riley Blake linked to a chart of bedding dimensions that includes beds and pillows! For those who make pillowcases, this is especially helpful. Scroll down all the way for the full list of dimensions and associated images. Twin beds and baby sizes are not included on the top chart. It was originally posted on U Create.