Archive for January, 2012

Snowed-In Fleece Projects Roundup

Friday, January 20th, 2012

Well, if you’re here in the Pacific Northwest with us, then you know that we all got hit pretty hard with an ice-and-snow storm this week. A lot of us were snowed in and unable to get to work or school or the store. But one good thing about being snowed in is that it gives you plenty of time for sewing projects!

The below-freezing weather got me thinking about ways to stay warm, and fleece of course is an excellent material to keep cozy during short winter days and long winter nights. So I scoured the web for some great, free fleece sewing tutorials, and I’ve collected some of my favorites here.

Kids always love to play in the snow, so here are some great ways to keep little ones warm:

Fleece Mittens

This project by the From an Igloo website is very easy, and uses elastic to keep the mittens snug on little hands. You can make several pairs of these in a very short amount of time (because we all know how easily mittens can go missing).

Go to the Fleece Mittens tutorial

Here are two fleece hat tutorials to keep little heads warm out there:

Fleece Football Hat

From the Make It and Love It website is this comes this wonderful football hat that is deceptively simple to make. It’ll keep the little guy’s ears all tucked in and warm.

Go to the Fleece Football Hat tutorial

Warm Winter Hat Tutorial

This tutorial, also found at the From an Igloo website, is great because it is easily customizable to fit the personality of the wearer, boy or girl. Upsize it a little bit to make a fleece hat for grownups!

Go to the Warm Winter Hat tutorial

Easy-Peasy Bunched Fleece Scarf

Also great for grownups is this extremely easy bunched scarf tutorial from the Just Another Hang Up website. It’s so quick to make and uses so little material that it costs next to nothing!

Go to the Easy Peasy Fleece Scarf tutorial

Men’s Fleece Hoodie

Guys need to stay warm, too, so this Fleece Hoodie tutorial from Craftstylish is perfect. And you don’t even need a pattern—just a T-shirt that fits him and maybe another hoodie to get the shape of the hood right.

Go to the Men’s Fleece Hoodie tutorial

Even if you’re not going to be spending much time outside in the cold, there are still some great things you can make:

Wearable Fleece Baby Blanket

This project, also from Make It and Love It, is like a sleeping bag with arm-holes for a baby! It keeps him nice and warm but still lets him get around.

Go to the Wearable Fleece Baby Blanket tutorial

Clean-Cornered Fleece Blanket

For a more grown-up blanket, this tutorial from The Distracted Domestic can teach you how to make a fleece blanket of any size with nice, clean, sharp corners every time! You’ll be surprised at how easy it is.

Go to the Clean-Cornered Fleece Blanket tutorial

Fleece Monster Pillow

And finally, just for fun comes this adorable Fleece Monster Pillow tutorial from Bernina’s We All Sew website.

Go to the Fleece Monster Pillow tutorial

Even though it looks like the weather is clearing and all all the ice and snow is leaving us, these all still make excellent weekend projects.

Do you have any favorite fleece projects? Leave a comment and tell us all about it. If you try any of these projects, please email a photograph to info@qualitysewing.com or post it on our Facebook wall.

Happy Sewing,
Chris


12 Days of Gifting Recap

Thursday, January 5th, 2012

Last month on our Facebook Page we ran a series of polls where we asked our fans various questions and you answered. Now at the beginning of 2012 we’ve compiled some of those polls into handy charts so we can all learn more about this great sewing community around us!

We asked, “What is a sewing technique that you’ve always wanted to learn or that still intimidates you.” The clear winner was free-motion quilting! Zippers are also apparently rather intimidating, and there’s a lot of interest in various applique, serger, and garment-making techniques. Here are the top 6 responses:
year-end-chart-techniques

We also asked, “Do you do more machine embroidery or regular sewing projects?” Regular Sewing got just over half of the responses with 53.3%, while embroidery got 37.1%. 9.5% of you said that you sew and embroider an equal amount:
year-end-chart-versus

Then for fun we asked, “What is the longest time you’ve ever spent sewing one project?” A lot of you confessed that there have been projects that took 20 or more years to complete, and many are still UFOs (Un-Finished Objects)!
year-end-chart-longtime

We asked what your favorite color is, and purple came back the clear winner with more than a quarter of you saying it was your favorite! Blue and red were distant second and third places:
year-end-chart-colors

Take a look at this pie chart and you’ll see that purple and blue together make up almost half all by themselves!
year-end-chart-colors-pie

We also wondered, “What sewing accessory or notion could you not work without?” The favorite response was a good pair of scissors, and Kai scissors were very popular. A lot of you admitted to needing a good seam ripper by your side! Here are the top 5 responses:
year-end-chart-notions

It’s always interesting and fun to learn more about this sewing community that we’re so grateful to be a part of. We want to thank each and every one of you for making 2011 such a wonderful year, and we hope to see all of you in 2012!