During a recent clean-up, my sister came across a hand-embroidered shoulder dust cover our grandmother had made for our mother. I think that officially qualifies as 'vintage'! We both thought it was not only beautiful, but a great idea. We all have special clothing in our closet we may not wear often, but certainly don't want to give away. A whole garment bag seems like overkill if you need easy access to the outfit, yet you still would like to protect it between wearings. Our Shoulder Dust Cover is just right to keep dust and debris from settling along the shoulders of your special garments. Thanks, Grandma! I always knew you were super cool and ahead of your time.

One of my favorite "new baby traditions" is the practice of bringing the siblings of a new baby little gifts to also make them feel special. That is the idea behind our adorable Big Sister Dolly Quilt. We used the scraps from yesterday's Beautiful Baby Quilt to create a matching 14" x 18" blanket the perfect size for a doll bed. The center patchwork is made up of 2" x 2" squares, which were sized to be a perfect showcase for the pretty little motifs of our Cloud9 Maman fabric.

Organic cottons have come a long way over the last several years, and one of the companies leading the pack has been Cloud9. We discovered them a couple years ago, and have watched with delight as their new designs emerged. If you believe organic fabric means dull, drab or coarse... meet Cloud9 co-founders Michelle Engel Bencsko and Gina Pantastico. They have infused their lines with happy colors and delightful patterns from the rich tones of Nature Walk to the forthy fun of My Happy Nursery. And they've done it all using 100% certified organic cotton in the manufacturing of their base cloths and eco-responsible low impact dyes. Two of their newest collections are featured today in our Beautiful Baby Quilt: Maman and Nursery Basics. This fabric was an absolute delight to work with. The base fabric is a premium 200 count organic cotton sheeting with an amazing feel that is both crisp and silky soft.

This handy little fella is modeled after the lanyards you often get at conferences or other events, in fact, you could certainly use it for that or to hold travel documents and ID. But it's also a perfect size to hold credit cards, cash, even your keys... all on a removable lanyard. The secret back pocket is held together with Velcro so nothing will tumble out. This is a great ScrapBusters project; you can mix and match the three fabrics needed to create just the right look. Choose a fabric combo that highlights the recipient's hobby or just his/her favorite colors. If you have an embroidery machine, add a special design or a monogram on the outside. Quick, easy and fun!

We took the idea of a traditional closet/drawer sachet and super-sized it as a Great-4-Guys Valentine's Day gift idea. You can make a simple pillow design or add a ribbon loop or ties so it can stash in the closet on the rod or a hanger. Our Valentine's love letter fabric is another one of the great Japanese Kokka designs, courtesy of Callie at CityCraft. It would be so sweet if you typed up an actual love letter and tucked it in with a box of these sachets! We filled ours with aromatic cedar shavings, which is another reason for the larger size. Plus... cedar is a better choice for most guys over the more common rose or lavender sachet scents.

Sweets for your sweets look even more delicious in these beautiful baskets. Yes, I realize our photos do not feature homemade goodies, but I don't want to hear any grief about that... no one says sewing and culinary creativity must go hand-in-hand. Extra wide and just the right depth for cookies and candy (and more!); they are not too thick, not too thin... deep dish, like a good Chicago pizza. Our design ties with a big, pretty bow so there's no need for separate gift wrap.

Jazz up your jammie-time with these adorable sleep shorts. There's one pair for Him with a drawcord and pocket, and one pair for Her with kicky ruffles and a satin bow. We show you how to make a pattern using an existing pair of your favorite shorts. Super easy, super comfy and a super cute idea for Valentine's Day, especially in pretty pinks (remember... real guys can wear pink) and grays. We used a combination of fabrics from both Dena Designs and Robert Kaufman, courtesy of Fat Quarter Shop.

I don't know about you, but I always seem to have a cabinet full of plain glass flower vases. I can never remember exactly where they've all come from, but there they sit. I don't want to throw them out, but they seem to multiply like bunnies. So, here's a great Valentine's Day... or ANY day project to dress up your vases with a pretty fabric skirt. Turn them from kitchen cabinet dust collectors into bright and beautiful flower stem vessels. Our skirts are ruffled and be-ribboned for a pretty and playful feel -- perfect for simple Valentine bouquets of daisys or carnations. But just think of all the other options: satin and lace for roses or silk and voile for giant peony blooms. You could make a whole vase-skirt wardrobe... and empty a cabinet in the process!

We love Moda Toweling! How could you not love something that comes to you pre-hemmed into a handy 16" width - perfect for towels, curtains, pillows and more?! We chose a beautiful solid natural for our tea towels, accenting it with bright wide ruffles and ribbon. But, you can also choose from a wide array of softly nostalgic prints in classic pastel stripes and plaids as well as pretty fruit and floral border prints. I think my grandmother had towels in all these patterns. They are 100% cotton and machine washable... so get ready to dry some dishes! Stay tuned; later this week, we have some Moda Toweling to give away!

Our cute quilted case is sized to hold everything from thin readers to designer sunglasses. Batting makes it soft, and the smooth cotton lining will help keep your lenses scratch-free. We added a perky ruffle to crank up the cute factor. Plus, there's a carabiner key clip so you have all the essentials at hand: glasses and keys; "I can see... I can drive. I'm ready to rumble!" We picked the pretty Oh La La fabric collection by Pillow & Maxfield in Red Petite Fluers and combined that with Dear Stella's J'Adore Stella Pink Sunburst Stripe. Two different designers but both with a French accent! Together they create a wonderful color and print combo for a lovely Valentine's Day gift.

One of our S4H New Year's resolutions is to experiment more with the wonderful variety of fabric types available. Called 'substrates' in the trade, this refers to the base fabric onto which the design is applied. For today's project, we've chosen two of Anna Maria Horner's gorgeous velveteens to create our fabulous scarf. What a great project to chase away the winter blues and still stay toasty warm. Ours is done in rich Valentine's Day colors and would make a lovely gift. No need for wrapping paper; simply tie the scarf itself into a big beautiful bow.

When we decided to call our website: Sew4Home, we liked it because "home" is a word that expands beyond the traditional elements of home décor pillows and linens to encompass so much more: the family within your home, the friends you welcome into your home, all the things both inside and out that make a house a home. Many times over the past months and years, we've brought you projects that fall into these special categories, including our Gypsy Romance tiered skirt that debuted in March of last year. Even when venturing into garments and other accessories, we still follow our goal to make everything as easy as possible. This skirt is rectangles gathered together and finished with a drawstring channel waist. Simple! As a "Re-imagine & Renovate" project, it's fun because you can experiment with everything from three casual organic cottons to three shimmering layers of silk. Since the "maxi" is back with a vengeance, our beautiful new batik version is long and lovely.

My personal choice to "Re-imagine & Renovate" was this book bag. Not only was it super fun to make the first time around, I love the slouchy style. Sew4Home calls Portland, Oregon home, where we have a huge number of cool boutiques filled with locally designed and made fashions and accessories. I know this bag would fit right in with the urban cool kids. And for those of you familiar with the hit TV show, Portlandia, you'll enjoy the fact that our Echino cotton/linen fabric choice allowed us to, "Put a bird on it!" We hope you've been enjoying our R&R series, which shows you how we re-made eight original projects. We also hope it inspires you to experiment on your own with new fabric, trims and notions to make something old new again.

The baby blanket is, in my mind, the perfect gift for new parents. It's thoughtful, practical and, with the right mix of fabric, cuter than a pile of kittens. Our version gives you plenty of real estate for one cute fabric on the front, another on the back plus a third accent fabric as a dense ruffle all around. Our original project design was done up in Pillow & Maxfield's Pretty Bird collection for Michael Miller Fabrics, which gave the blanket a sophisticated splash of color and a chic artistic flair. When we selected this project as one of our R&R opportunities, we decided to dial up the cute factor with three fabrics from David Walker's Get Together collection for Free Spirit Fabrics. What's R&R you ask? "Re-imagine & Renovate," we answer. We took a classic project and re-made it in a new fabric to create an entirely different look and feel. We chose David Walker's bears and birds in blues and greens, and absolutely love how his designs look like little paper cut-outs dancing across the fabric. This is a blanket with a story to tell, "Once upon a time there was a bear, who jumped up high into the air, higher than the pair of marshmallow trees..."

This apron shot to the top of our Most Popular list the very day it posted, and although there have been many contenders since it was originally designed and unveiled back in April of 2010, it remains one of our Top Five Projects Ever. Of course, it HAD to be one of our R&R options: "Re-imagine & Renovate." If you've been following us over the last week, you know our New Year's resolution is to show you how one project can turn out an unlimited number of ways, depending on the choices you make with fabrics, trims and notions. Kick off your own R&R with a shopping trip for some fresh fabric, then use it to put a new spin on a favorite pattern. Our original apron had a very vintage feel thanks to its Simply Sweet fabric by Barbara Jones for Henry Glass & Company. We kept the sweet and added a little spice with a trio of Lecien Fabrics covered in bold roses, polka dots and tiny buds. It would make a dashing Valentine's Day apron!

Last January, we came up with a number of projects designed to give you great ways to use up your fabric remnants. This "Scrap It" series produced many favorites, which are linked to, pinned on Pinterest and featured on handmade blogs around the country and the world. At the top of the list was our clever two-handed potholder in a splashy combination of fabrics from the Pretty Bird collection by Pillow & Maxfield for Michael Miller Fabrics. To "Re-imagine & Renovate" the project, we decided to search for a more traditional 'kitcheny' motif and a narrower palette. The black, red, white and yellow of monaluna's Metro Market collection with its friendly fowl design was just the ticket.  Wouldn't this make a great housewarming gift? Or, include a few wooden utensils and a spatula, and you have the perfect wedding shower present. Experimenting with fabric is the idea behind R&R. Give it a try; you'll be thrilled with all the different ways you can put a new spin on a fave design. (By the way... that's me in the photo above, holding one of my happy hens who approved this new fabric combo.)

Today's "Re-imagine & Renovate" project was originally requested by our S4H fans. You wanted a cool set of fabric baskets and we responded with what has become one of our most popular Storage Solutions projects ever! Our first set was done in the classically striking Black & White collection from Michael Miller Fabrics - perfect for a sewing room, kitchen or office. Now, cue the Tasmanian Devil special effect... whoosh and voila′: when done in two Free Spirit Fabric collections with a bohemian flair, our nesting baskets are a kaleidoscope of rich color and design. Try them out in a bedroom, a bath or fill them with luscious treats for Valentine's Day. One project a thousand ways, that's what R&R is all about.

It's Day Two of our 2012 quest to "Re-imagine & Renovate" some of our most popular projects. One project can turn out an unlimited number of ways, depending on the choices you make with fabrics, trims and notions. Sometimes it's fun to not worry about learning a whole new project; instead, take a fave design and twist it into a brand new look. Today we're featuring our super simple box-pleat pillow pair, which we originally did in softly serene tones of organic fabric in 2010. Now, graphic fabric from Robert Kaufman in vibrant hues moves them from a whisper to a shout-out of color and vibe.

Welcome to 2012! After the whirlwind of the holidays, we thought it was time for a little R&R. Not the traditional "Rest & Relaxation" but even better: "Re-imagine & Renovate." We reached back into the S4H archives and found eight popular projects, then we re-did each of them with brand new fabrics, trims and notions. It's our way to show you how easy it is to put a new spin on a fave design. We kick off the series with our original Mother's Day Market Tote from 2011, which we turned into a sleek and stylish bag that makes a dramatic fashion statement.

You know what's cool about pillows? You can take one design, and by simply changing up the fabric, get a completely different look. That's what we've done with our stunning hexagonal pillow. We've used this style of pillow a couple times before, but you'd never know it. Our black and white version features Extreme Fussy Cutting (similar to what those daring skateboarders do, but you're less likely to fall) to create the beautiful flower on the front. The back is a coordinating solid linen. A covered button pops the flower's center and six pretty tassels are the finishing touch.

Cut-bind-stitch. Three steps and you have a wonderful accessory for yourself, a gift for a friend, or a dandy little craft fair/boutique item to sell. I'm a big fan of the eyeglass case because it's the best way I've found to keep track of my eyeglasses or sunglasses. Plus, it protects them when I need to toss a pair of into my bag. We added a cute dangling fob made of leather and beads. This tutorial is also a great way to practice your bias binding technique. We use packaged binding, and have lots of photos to show you how to go smoothly around the curved bottom and make pretty mitered corners.

This pretty kitty is ready to help with any wardrobe malfunctions that strike while you're away from your trusty sewing tools. We've all been there; it's always right before an important meeting or presentation, a strategic button falls off or a seam opens up. We created a small sewing kit that contains just what you need to fix nearly any disaster. And, since it's a hand sewing kit, we made ours a hand sewing project. All the pattern templates are available as a free download. Simply cut the pieces out of felt, and stitch them together with needle and embroidery floss. The kitty's happy face is lightly stuffed to create a built-in pincushion. This is also a perfect gift for the person in your life who's favorite garment repair tools are a stapler and Scotch Tape.

There are lots of patterns out there for reusable hot cup jackets, but none with our signature touch: the girly-girl ruffle! Skip that boring ol' cardboard sleeve and wake up your morning cup of coffee or tea with a fun and frilly custom jacket. Our instructions are for one jacket, but we ended up making three as we perfected the instructions. They are super fast and easy, and you can really get an assembly line going: cut-cut-cut, ruffle-ruffle-ruffle, stitch-stitch-stitch. These would be awesome for a craft fair or as an Etsy item.

Our elegant gift bags come in three useful sizes and are a great way to use up larger fabric scraps. The fabric we selected for our bag trio is from Joel Dewberry's Heirloom collection for Free Spirit Fabrics, which we originally featured in our recent Thanksgiving Series. The exterior and lining of each bag are both made up of two fabrics, which gives them a beautiful finish inside and out. We added glittery rick rack for a dash of holiday sparkle. You could substitute other trims, such as piping, pom poms or or even wide ribbon to give your bags a different seasonal appeal or to coordinate with the colors of a special event, such as a wedding or graduation. Make one or make them all; they're a trio of terrific totes to carry your treats and treasures!

When the weather outside is frightful, minky is sooo delightful. Our neck pillows have been a year 'round favorite project since we first posted the pattern two years ago. We've made them in quilting cottons, and flannel, but never in minky. Combining the comfort of the neck pillow with the buttery, silky softness of minky has to be the ultimate gift for the neck. 

Thanks to the pre-cut squares of a pretty Moda Fabrics Layer Cake, we whipped-up this cozy lap blanket in an afternoon. The patchwork is about as basic as you can get, and the quilting is done with hand-sewn buttons. Rather than crank up the thermostat, keep a pretty throw like this by your desk or chair to keep you toasty while reading, sewing, knitting or watching TV. It's also the perfect size for a frosty morning 'car cozy' – tumble the blanket in the dryer for a few minutes right before you walk out the door, then wrap it around your lap... or around your little kiddo, as a warmer-upper while you wait for that cold car to defrost. My mom did this for me when I was small, because we didn't have a garage, only a carport; it made chilly morning drives to school a toasty treat.

Pull out your box of scraps, add some colorful trim, and you can transform a plain set of off-the-shelf kitchen towels into a great gift. Our cute tea towels are trimmed with a simple eight-square patchworked row and highlighted with bright red jumbo rick rack. They'll be fightin' over who gets to dry the dishes! Or... are you looking for green gift wrap ideas? Make a few of these adorable towels, then use them to wrap up a selection of kitchen gadgets to give a gift inside a gift.

In the world of design, a 'project board' is a very common, very important tool. It's used to collect pieces of inspiration, idea starters, color and texture samples and more. You refer to your project board throughout the creative process to determine direction and refine the look and feel of your design. It's a bulletin board for your brain. They are used by fashion designers, interior designers, fabric designers... and YOU! Our Half Moon Modern project board is bold and bright with a large center area to pin all your ideas plus two handy pockets to hold whatever else you need. The bright, happy colors of Moda's Half Moon Modern are an inspiration in and of themselves. We kept our project board purposefully sparse for our photo shoot so you could best see how it was constructed; they are usually chockfull with layers of great ideas.

During the recent Lush & Plush Trends series we did with our friends at Fabric.com, we got hooked on working with faux leather. We had a little bit of one of the sample cuts leftover and put it to use to make this adorable little clutch purse. With its chunky metal zipper, chic tassel and vibrant cotton print lining, once you clutch this clutch, it will be hard to let go. But, if you can pry it from your own fingers, it would make a dandy holiday gift.

We are nearing the end of our Sewing Room Series in Moda's Half Moon Modern collection, and we have saved one of the best projects for last. I love this apron! I've always been partial to half aprons, but this little fella with pockets a'plenty is as hardworking as it is cute. The bright apple red, ocean aqua and snow white of the Half Moon Modern fabrics are about as happy as colors can be. Tie it on, load it up with your favorite notions, and get ready to smile.