Holiday Tutorial Round-up!

There's one more weekend before Christmas...time for that final big push for making holiday gifts or decor! Since time is of the essence, we've compiled links for 15 of our Christmas tutorials right here in this post. Happy sewing! And wrapping. And cookie making. And traveling. And Christmas card mailing. And...

1. Tis the Season table runner

2. Season's Greetings no-sew ornaments

3. Christmas Basics card holder

4. Season's Greetings table runner

5. Christmas Flannel pants

6. Nutcracker Christmas tissue box cover

7. Season's Greetings hexagon topper

8. Christmas Basics ruffle trees

9. Marblehead holiday garland

10. Christmas in the Woods gift bag

11. Marblehead Metallic Xmas star placemats

12. Christmas stockings

13. Tasty treats in a jar

14. Fabric ornament

15. Drawstring gift card bag

Last-Minute Gifts: Tasty Treats in a Jar

Much like the fabled fruitcake of earlier generations, everyone has likely given (or received) the classic "brownie mix in a jar" or 'cookie mix in a jar" as a holiday gift. Which is great--who doesn't love dessert, especially one with the ingredients measured out and almost ready to go? 

But the possibilities for gifts in a jar go so far beyond that! Our favorite resource for ideas is DodoBurd's 44 Creative DIY Christmas Gifts in a Jar. Like the title says, the blog post features 44 ideas to give in a jar, some quick and easy, and some requiring a bit more work. 

Some that we liked:
Pottery Barn Mason Jar Knockoff
Christmas in a Jar 
Gift Card Snow Globe (check this one out--so neat!)
Detox Bath in a Jar
Salted Caramel Sauce in a Jar

And of course, what jar gift couldn't be improved with a little fabric? We made three sample jars to share with you: hot cocoa in a jar, red velvet cupcake in a jar, and salted caramel sauce in a jar (that one was a no-brainer--of course we had to try it! And YUM!!)

We topped each jar with a pinking shears-cut circle and coordinating ribbon. We used a blue and silver snowflake print and red and green check print from Christmas Basics, and a red/white/gold holly print from the Season's Greetings collection  Simply trace around the appropriate sized plate or bowl and cut out! Easy! 
Here's a tip for deciding circle size: For taller jars, find a circle approximately double the diameter of the jar lid. For shorter jars, like the salted caramel jar, find a circle approximately 2" larger in diameter than the jar lid.

Enjoy!

Need other last-minute gift ideas?
See our drawstring gift card bag tutorial here.
See our fabric ornament tutorial here.

Tutorial: Ruffle Trees!

It's that time of year we're you're yearning for some fresh new Christmas decorations, but realize that you just don't have the time to get something time-consuming made before the holidays (you know, along with the cookie baking, gift shopping, caroling, Christmas parties, and a partridge in a pear tree). But that's okay, because today Bethany from Sweet Bee Buzzings is here, sharing an easy (and quick!) holiday decoration you can make. Check out her tutorial and then find out how you can enter to win a Snack Pack of our Christmas Basics collection.

Hello there! My name is Bethany and I blog over at Sweet Bee Buzzings. Ever since I can remember I have loved Christmas (I still get a teensy bit sad when the decorations have to come down). My favorite Christmas bits are those that are handmade, and there's just something about Christmas crafting that is just so cozy and fun. 

Today I've got a fabric craft to share with you that won't take much time and doesn't use much in the way of supplies (or sewing know-how, so it's great for newbies, too :) Bonus: these wiggly stripes from the Christmas Basics line were the perfect print for the exact effect that I was going for. Extra bonus: these would look adorable in so many prints--snowflakes, hearts for Valentine's Day, anything really.

I'm going to show you two ways that you can make these, and then you can pick and choose or mix and match your method. You need about a quarter yard of fabric (but maybe more depending on the direction of your print), a styrofoam cone (I have a twelve inch cone, and a nine inch), some pins, and something to use as a topper (the shops are full of those little picks this time of year). I also used a pinking blade for these on all edges so fraying wouldn't be a concern (and I love the look of the zig zaggy edge).

I switched out my tree toppers, for you eagle-eyed observers :)

Let's start with the red one (on the smaller cone). I cut four two-inch wide strips from selvage to selvage, and then sewed those together to make one really long strip. Now, I know not everyone has a ruffler foot, but if you're looking for ideas for a Christmas gift and love ruffles this is a fun one. If you have one, attach it and set it so that it makes a small tuck every stitch (the '1' setting), but make your stitch length at about 3.5 so you don't have insanely tight folds. Line up the right edge of your fabric so that's it's just poking out, and sew all the way to the end.

If you don't have a ruffler foot, here's what you can do: set your tension as high as it will go, and set your stitch length as long as it will go. Then sew about a quarter inch from the edge. You'll end up with some ruffled fabric. It might not be as precise as with a ruffler foot, but for this project it doesn't really matter.

You should have a long strip of some delightful ruffliness.

Now we attach it to our cone. You could use hot glue for this, but I tend to burn myself each and every time so I'm going with pins. Start at the bottom, and pin an end in place.

Just keep working your way around the form pinning every couple of inches. Try and angle your pins downward--when we get to the narrower top it will keep them from poking out of the opposite side. When you get back to the starting point, hitch it up a little bit, and go around again.

I eyeballed how far apart I was placing my rounds and made them as even as I could without having to actually measure anything, adjusting as needed.

I had a few inches left over when I got to the top (which is what I wanted). If you have a ton left over you can go back and rearrange your ruffles (which is where the pins are handy as opposed to glue). I cut off my excess, and then cut that in half lengthwise so I had a one inch ruffled strip and the little scrap that used to be part of it (that little scrap was the only bit I had left over).

Take that wee ruffly bit, and make that your last layer at the top so that the ruffles are nice and even all the way down. Try to pull a little up above the very top of the tree so that when you add a topper you don't see that part so much.

Poke in/glue on your topper and you're good to go with this one.

Now, say you have a few fabrics you want to use with a different one on each round. You can still do this quite easily by making a tiered tree. For my green tree (on the larger cone) I cut my strips two inches wide by about eighteen inches. I ruffled these pieces with the high tension/long stitch method. You could also hand baste and gather on these smaller strips as you wouldn't need a length of thread a mile long.

Start at the bottom, pin in place, and trim any excess off the edge.

Take the next strip, and pin it around just above it. If you try to start/stop at the same point on each level you can just turn that side to the back so no one will see it.

Keep going around, trimming the excess. You'll be able to use those bits of excess in the higher levels where you need less to go around. Finish off the top the same way as the other one--with a small one inch strip that comes just a bit above the top of the cone.

Top it and you're done. 

I tied a ribbon for an extra little something, and then glued some felt to the bottom (cotton batting would work as well) to keep the foam from scratching up anything or making that annoying scratchy sound.

So there you have it--a chance for fabric play, to practice gathers (and maybe a reason to score a ruffler foot?), and an excuse to show off some adorable fabrics. These were a silly amount of fun to make, and I feel a little twinge of Christmassy delight every time I walk past them. If I hadn't stopped myself from buying a million foam cones I'd have a forest right now. Thank you so much, Fabri-Quilt, for having me over! Happy holidays!

Thanks, Bethany! We love your trees!
Stop by Bethany's blog to find out how you can enter to win a Snack Pack of the Christmas Basics collection--a collection of 42 precut 2-1/2" wide strips in all sorts of fun holiday prints (including the stripe Bethany used!).

12 Days of Christmas: Day 7

Christmas is only 70 days away!

Greetings from Christmas inspiration central! We're on day 7 of our 12 Days of Christmas extravaganza, featuring our favorite holiday fabric collections and free patterns, plus easy-to-follow tutorials by some of our favorite blogging designers! 

On the seventh day of Christmas, we have:

Christmas card holder by Dawn Stewart of Spring Water Designs made using prints from the Christmas Basics collection

Dawn: 
Fabri-Quilt asked me to use one of their lines to make a Holiday project, and I was happy to play with some of their Christmas fabrics!  I wanted to go with lots of reds and greens so I chose the Christmas Basics line to make my quilted Christmas Card Holder. 

Here's what you will need to make it:
 (The following cuts of fabric are minimum amounts needed ~ If you want some wiggle room, start working with 1/2 yard cuts instead of 3/8 yard)

3/8 yard Cream Background fabric
       - From the Cream cut, (1) 12-1/2" x 36-1/2" rectangle
Approx 1/3 yd each of assorted Red & Green Prints (I used 4 Greens, 3 Reds & 1 lighter Holly Print)
       - From each Green cut, (1) Triangle for Tree* & (3) 6-1/2" squares
         (Cut your triangle for the tree first as some of them are larger than the squares)
       - From each Red & the Holly Print, cut (3) 6-1/2" squares
       (Ultimately you'll want a total of (24) 6-1/2" squares)
6" square of Yellow for Star*
6" square of Brown for the Tree Trunk*
3/8 yard Red/Green Check print for the top and bottom border
3/8 yard of one of the Greens for binding
       - Cut (5) 2-1/2" strips to make your binding
1-1/2 yard of backing fabric
Approx 40" x 52" rectangle of batting
24 Buttons (I used 12 Red and 12 Green)

*Applique Templates and printer friendly instructions can be found Here on the Free Pattern Page of my website (or you can just cut your own shapes ~ there's no right or wrong to this :)  I used the Fusible applique method, but you can use any method that you wish for the applique tree.  For needle turn applique, you'll need to add seam allowances. 

To start, sew the 6-1/2" squares together in 6 rows of 4 squares per row, alternating the colors for a scrappy look.  Press the seam allowances in each row toward the green squares so that all of the seams will nest nicely when joining the rows together.

 Then sew the long cream colored background rectangle to the left side of the unit of squares.

Arrange the Tree shapes on the Cream rectangle in any manner that's pleasing to you, and fuse them in place with a hot iron.

 Then sew the Red/Green Checked borders to the top and bottom. 

Stitch down the edges of the applique to finish them.  I used a machine blanket stitch.

Layer with backing and batting and quilt "as desired" ;)  Next, sew a button to the top of each of the 24 squares ~ I put a Red button on the Green squares, and Green buttons on the Red and Holly squares.

 Finally I found yet another use for these little Wonder Clips by Clover...

I cut a 5" length of ribbon, and tied it in a loop through the little hole in the clear part of the Wonder Clip.

 ...Then clip the Wonder Clip to your Christmas cards as they arrive, and hang the loop over the buttons ~ simple, but effective.

Your quilted Card Holder makes a great decoration as you load up your 24 squares with Christmas Cards that you receive, or use your imagination to hang little goodies, notes, or daily devotions/prayers/Bible verses for a festive quilted Advent Calendar :)

I'd love to see some of the ideas that you come up with ~ Merry Christmas!

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn


For a chance to win a fat quarter bundle of fabrics from the Christmas Basics collection, leave a comment below letting us know that you follow Inspired by Fabric either by blog reader or email (you can sign up for either on the right hand sidebar), and/or that you like us on Facebook. In your comment, also tell us--do you still send holiday greeting cards? The giveaway will be open through Sunday, October 18th at 11:59 pm EST.

The 12 Days of Christmas:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12

Twelve Days of Christmas: Day 2

Christmas is only 77 days away! 

(And you can get your own Christmas counter here.)

We're continuing our 12 Days of Christmas feature by sharing some more of our favorite holiday fabrics today, as well as a free quilt pattern using these fabrics. Stay tuned for our remaining 10 days, which will include more Christmas fabrics and free patterns and tutorials for holiday projects we think you'll love.

On the second day of Christmas, we have:

Season's Greetings

A combination of more contemporary focal prints (LOVE ornaments, the scattered Christmas trees, and the snowflakes) and coordinates that sparkle, these prints shine in the free quilt pattern below or would make a great stocking.

Pine Tree Country Quilts designed Christmas Garlands 

using the Season's Greetings collection.

Click here to download the free pattern.

Christmas Basics

These basics can stand alone in a scrappy quilt design or pair up with other focal prints, acting as well-matched coordinates. Wouldn't that wiggly stripe make a fantastic quilt binding or stocking cuff?

The 12 Days of Christmas:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5

Day 6

Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12

Design Your Own Palette: Home Dec Prints

We had so much fun sharing the bright and summery mix and match prints the other day that we're back with more of the same, this time featuring some of our more home dec style prints, both those with a traditional and a contemporary feel. 

Let us know what you think of these!

Main print: Bella

Coordinating prints (clockwise, from upper left):

Marblehead

Lauren

Elemental Lines

Piccadilly

Main print: Elemental Lines

Coordinating prints (clockwise, from upper left):

Mesa Verde

Bella Casa

Marblehead

Tweet

 Main print: Windsor Woods

Coordinating prints (clockwise, from upper left):

Lagoon

Marblehead

Christmas Basics

Batiks

See our mix and match bright palettes here.