We’re so excited to have Bari J. Ackerman back in the house! She has returned with another fun tutorial for us. From her Keeping it Real Sewing Patterns™ by Bari J.™, comes a fun set of circular placemats fringed with pom-poms. Bari also spent some time chatting with us about the inspiration behind her latest fabric collection, Country Lane, her first experience with her very own booth at the Houston Quilt Market, and exciting news about her debut association with Lecien Fabrics and a new book coming out in January.
The 2010 Houston Quilt Market and Festival wasn’t Bari’s first time there, but it was her initiation as a solo booth exhibitor. She says it was exhausting but wonderful because she was able to meet so many store owners and distributors and talk face-to-face with folks.
The main focus of her booth were the beautiful samples she created to showcase her newest fabric collection, Country Lane . Bari told me about the vintage crazy quilt she owns that inspired the five colorways of this collection. “It’s from around the 1930s or ’40s and has just a ton of incredible colors and plaids and stripes. It’s so vibrant, and yet it’s also very calming, and it got me imagining a beautiful cottage down a quiet country lane; somewhere I could spend a perfect vacation.”
After producing three lines with Windham Fabrics, Bari recently decided to switch houses and this spring will come out with a new line for Lecien Fabrics. She said that if she told me anything about the new collection, she’d have to kill me, so instead, she hinted only that it would be “very vibrant, fresh and new.” Lucky to be alive, I’m eagerly awaiting its arrival.
Also on the new and exciting front, is the January release of Bari’s book, “Inspired to Sew.” What I always find amazing, and hope is also interesting for the many new sewers we have here at Sew4Home, is the fact that Bari really only started sewing about five to six years ago! She admits once she got started, she couldn’t stop. There was so much inspiration inside her waiting to come out. That was the creative force behind her book, to share the inspiration and get others addicted to needle and thread. There’s a lot in the book about fabric and appliqué collage, one of Bari’s signature accents, as well as quilts, purses, pillows, and more. Everything has a unique twist, because that’s just how Bari rolls.
While you’re waiting for all the new Bari J. innovations to hit, why not whip up a few of these cute circle placemats, in Country Lane or your favorite holiday fabric?
I love her Keeping it Real Sewing™ tip for turning a sewn circle: “I have you use a basting stitch rather than leave an opening for turning so that when you pull out the 5″ of basting stitches, you’ll have a nice line for you to turn the fabric in. It is especially helpful to do this on rounded edges that will need to be turned under.”
Bari created her tutorial as an Acrobat file. Click the image below to download the Pom Pom Fringe Placemats.
You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader , which is a free program.
You might also want to check out the other two tutorials Bari has shared with us on Sew4Home:
Art Journal Super-Stylin’ Appliquéd Burp Cloth
To read more about Bari J., check out her blog and her website.
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