Traditional chenille is created with a soft, feathery yarn and adds a wonderfully fluffy texture and dimension to a project. Thanks to Dritz® Quilting, now you can add the look of chenille to your next project with a minimum of prep time on your part. Dritz® Make Your Own Chenille is a ⅝” wide, 100% cotton fabric, cut on the bias. The looser weave of the fabric and its raw edges allow you to stitch it on, then simply wash-fluff-and dry to create the fuzzy feel of chenille. We added six looping rows of scallops across across a snuggly lap blanket. And here’s your interesting fact for the day: the name comes from the French word for caterpillar.

If we must say so ourselves (and sometimes we must), these little coin purses are about as adorable as they come! Not only do they get five stars on the cuteness chart, they are super easy. Make one for yourself (because you deserve it!), then make a bundle for your friends. They are the perfect fast and fun gift. Fill them with coins and gift cards, tasty treats, or other little goodies. We used a variety of different eye-poppin' colors and patterns for our exteriors with a matching fabric (but in three colorways) on the inside to tie them together as a set. Spare change just got a whole lot more fun!

I remember having a drawer full of trivets growing up. There were elaborate crocheted ones my grandmother had made as well as tacky souvenir versions from one or more family vacations. I inherited a few, but when I decided I wanted more, I discovered they must have fallen out of favor as a kitchen accessory because they were rather hard to find. Perhaps the hot pad is supposed to be a stand in, but their square shape and smaller size just isn't as functional. A generous round trivet is by far the winner when it comes to providing an easy, effective way to protect your table's finish from hot serving dishes or from cold dishes that can "sweat." This project is our personal mission to revive the terrific trivet! Ours is a pretty patchwork pattern with pie-shaped wedges in a full circle. We provide free downloadable patterns for the front wedges and the back circle.

There are lots of straight lines in sewing, but we love the circle. In fact, in my humble opinion, the circle is the Queen of the geometric shapes. Don't get me wrong; I like all those squares, rectangles, triangles, octagons, and whatnot; but the circle is the coolest of the bunch: smooth and pretty and endlessly useful. Our latest sewing Cheat Card explains the parts of a circle and why you need Pi (not pie).