When things turn hot-hot-hot in the great outdoors, it's "bring-your-own-shade" kind of weather. Our fun portable shade tent fits the bill. It's perfect as a children's outdoor playhouse as well as a comfy lounge cabana for "big kids" to relax, read, and doze. We show you how to create the easy-to-assemble PVC frame as well as the slip-on fabric covering. This project was created a few seasons back, but quickly rose to the tip-top of our Most Popular lists across several social media outlets, and continues to maintain its position there. In Pinterest alone, our cabana has appeared well over 20,000 times! We can see the reasons: it's easy to make, fast to set-up, and rolls-up for travel or to store, which is why we love to roll it out again when the summer sun starts to shine.
Pillow Trio in Two Bold Shapes: Rectangular Bolster and Classic Round
What makes a great pillowscape? Gorgeous fabric, an interesting shape or two, and a few special bits of embellishment are good places to start. We combined all these attributes to create a fabulous 50" bolster with two matching round pillows. Make one or create the entire trio to pump up the pillow power on your sofa or bed.
Pillow Primer: All About Pillow Shapes, Types, and Fillers
To say life would be hard without pillows would be putting it mildly. Where else would we hide a tooth for the Tooth Fairy? What else would we hit each other with in a harmless fight? Beyond their practical function as a headrest when we sleep and a way to soften hard furniture when we sit, pillows can be a dramatic decorating accent and are among the easiest projects to sew. We have dozens of pillow projects for you to choose from right here at Sew4Home. For this article, we thought we'd pull together everything you need to know before launching into pillow making: a little history, the basic types, and what we recommend stuffing inside.
Mini Box Style Zippered Cosmetics & Toiletries Case
We love travel size toiletries. I think this may date back to those long-ago days playing with Barbie® dolls and trolls. Everything was so little and cute. In fact, most things are more adorable in a mini size: people, puppies, muffins... and little bottles of shampoo, deodorant, and lotion. At approximately 7½” x 4” x 3½”, our cosmetics and toiletries bag is smaller than a standard dopp kit, but is still the perfect size to fit all those tiny bottles, jars and more, while tucking neatly inside your luggage. It’s a “mighty mini”!
Apple and Pear Kitchen Towels with Easy Appliqué
These apple and pear appliqués are so fresh and fun, we're tempted to take a bite out of our cute kitchen towels! If you're brand new to appliqué, this is a beginner-friendly design, and both the template download as well as all the technique steps are detailed below. A classic ticking stripe combined with muslin and rick rack makes the perfect homespun kitchen combo. Appliqué a set with all apples or all pears, or mix and match as we did, alternating the appliqués but keeping the main fabric and rick rack accents consistent for continuity from one towel to the next. They'd be a lovely housewarming or bridal shower gift... of course, after you make a set or two for yourself!
Knit Baby Bib with Ruffle Accents
Why not add a bit of glamour to your little one's mealtime? Cute ruffles near the shoulders make these bibs look like they have fancy cap sleeves. We offer a full pattern download for those ruffles, as well as for the body of the bib and the front pocket. Not only are they pretty, they’re also fast and easy. The layers come together with all-around binding that turns into tails to tie the bib in place.
Quilted Case with Wraparound Zipper for Toiletries & More
Zip open wide and drop your stuff inside! This versatile case can hold toiletries and more. Quilted layers give it a flexible finish so the sides can softly expand to fit items of all shapes and sizes. If you’ve always been a little intimidated by three-dimensional sewing, we encourage you to give this little case a try. It’s surprisingly straightforward, and we’ve included lots of helpful tips along the way.
Christmas in July Great Giveaway: FreeSpirit Fat Quarter Bundles
We hope this week’s projects have inspired you to jump into the Christmas in July sewing season. To further encourage your enthusiasm, we have TWO holiday themed fat quarter bundles from FreeSpirit Fabrics to give away. Each bundle contains 20 fat quarters (18” x 21” cuts) from a range of popular FreeSpirit classic Christmas collections as well as accompanying festive prints in coordinating colors and patterns.
English Cottage Christmas Stockings: Christmas in July 2019
Did you ever wonder where "Christmas In July" came from? It turns out this summer celebration of Yuletide has been around for years. In the early 1940s, relief groups planning to send presents to soldiers or missionaries overseas, would gather everything together in July in order to have it ready to ship it off in time to arrive before Christmas. Then, in 1942, director Preston Sturges released a comedy titled "Christmas In July” and the popular film did much to make the term fashionable. In the 1950s, retailers started having Christmas In July sales as a way to lure in shoppers during the long stretch between Father's Day and Back-To-School. Although not as common any longer for general retail, in the sewing world, Christmas In July promotions continue to be successful because they actually make sense. If you're sewing Christmas gifts, you really should be getting your patterns and fabric ready in the summer. Otherwise, at the big family gift-opening, you face the humbling experience of giving half finished projects and then quickly taking them back with promises to return them by Valentine's Day... or thereabouts. In honor of Christmas in July 2019, we have the quintessential holiday project: stockings to hang by the chimney with care.
Ruffled-End Table Runner: Christmas in July 2019
When browsing for great fabric for a seasonal table runner, we kept returning to the home décor category because of the bold designs and striking colors you can find there. These traditionally heavier fabrics are where most people turn for larger projects, such as curtain panels or upholstered items, so the motifs tend to be bigger and the tones more dramatic. Not only is it beautiful fabric, it's also often thicker, tougher, and more durable. Batting is usually necessary with runners made of standard quilting weight cottons in order to protect the tabletop from hot or wet dishes. But with this fabric, two simple layers provided plenty of protection... unless, of course, you plan on serving sizzling fajitas at the table for your holiday dinner!
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