Owls

Okay, apparently my cousin is the fastest person to read my blog, ever, because I posted last night that I had forgotten to take pictures, and this morning I had them in my inbox! Yay! So now I can share these with y'all.

Pattern: Emmaline Apron by Sew Liberated

Fabric: It's a Hoot for the Alexander Henry Collection in cotton canvas for the main print. The straps are from one of Heidi Grace's quilting cotton collections for Joann's. The potholders have Insul-Bright sandwiched inside.

The owl print is in slightly muted colors, so I really flip-flopped on what color/print I wanted to go with it. I eventually settled on this print because the line-drawn circles made me think of knotty owl-holes in a tree, and because my cousin has green eyes. Both prints sewed up beautifully and were a joy to work with.

I didn't use a pattern for these potholders, but instead traced around a circle shape we had in the house. My sewing steps were as follows:

1. Fuse square of owl fabric to same size square of Heat n' Bond. Cut out owl shape with paper backing still on. Remove paper backing. Fuse owl shape to fabric circle.

2. Sandwich Insul-Bright circle between a plain circle and an owl-fused circle, wrong sides facing in. Serge or baste around the outside. (Hindsight being 20/20, I think I would do this part by hand next time.)

3. Top stitch around the outer edge of the Owl. I used a straight stitch to keep the drawing nice and crisp.

4. Cut 2" wide bias strips to make double-fold bias tape that is 1/2" wide. I use a Clover bias tape maker for this, but it's not necessary. Or you can use pre-made double-fold bias tape.

5. Shape bias tape around the circle with your iron, leaving a tail at the end to make a hanging loop.

6. Sew the bias tape around the circle. I use my left-edge top stitching foot for bias tape, which makes it a lot less painful. When you get to the tail, sew it over the beginning of your bias tape, and then swing it upward and continue stitching for a few inches or so.

7. Loop the tail down behind the potholder and experiment until it looks right. On the top side of the potholder, stitch back and forth over that section of the bias tape to hold the loop in place. When you're done, flip the potholder back over and trim the bias tape a little below your stitching.

Voila!

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I also sewed up a couple quick tank tops for my little girl cousins out of some owl knits I had in my scrap box.

Pattern: Ottobre tank top from the 4/2004 issue.

Fabric: Gray waffle knit from Sewzannes, white Mis-Tee-V-Us interlock from co-op. Brown rib knit from Joanns.

I thought the tanks were a little plain on their own, so I added a pocket to the gray one, and a faux placket to the white one. I used my coverstitch machine to top stitch the bindings, and I'm just loving my new clear foot! It makes bindings soooo much easier.

K, that's it for now. Hopefully I will have some swimsuit sewing to show next!