Tag Archives: barij fabric

A Sweet Finish

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Today I found myself getting frustrated because I have so much I should be doing and no energy.  After a two day migraine it usually takes me two or three days to get back on track.  This weekend is a big one because my son is getting married on Saturday.  My kids all come home on Thursday which is so great.  Anyway, I felt like I should be cleaning house or doing yard work, etc and really my body is rebelling and saying I should take it easy.  So I went in the sewing room.  Time in the sewing room is often a cure-all, right??

New Look Pattern 6578 and Radiant Menagerie Fabric by BariJ

I had most of this cute little dress made already.  I started it at the beginning of August and when it came time to put the buttonholes on it (a task I dislike) I hung it up in the closet and pretended it wasn’t there. But it is so cute and it called to me this morning so I pulled it out. I wanted to make it for my grand daughter but it is late in the season so I made a size 3T in the hopes she will wear it next summer.

The fabric is called Radiant Menagerie (from Indigo & Aster) and was designed by the talented BariJ.  I LOVE her aesthetic and carry a lot of her fabric in my shop (Wild Bloom, Indigo and Aster and now Virtuosa.)  If you aren’t familiar with BariJ, she is a talented artist whose work is often quite feminine and usually features large floral designs.  Her paintings are very pretty and some are quite whimsical.  Take a look at her work here.

She has a lot of animals sporting floral crowns and I was thrilled to see her include them in the Indigo & Aster line (produced by Art Gallery Fabric).

Probably my favorite of the animals, no surprise there, right?

The fabric that features the animals is called Radiant Menagerie and is a border fabric of sorts.   Each selvage edge is lined with the various animals.

In between the selvages are stripes in coordinating colors or pink, orange, green and blue.  The stripes are actually dotted lines. So when using this piece in a quilt, it is simple to fussy cut the animals and then use the stripes as a coordinate.

I wanted to use this as a dress so I was careful to choose a simple pattern with a straight hemline (as opposed to curved.)  This enabled me to use the striped portion as the bodice of the dress and the animals as the bottom.  The back side of the dress mirrors the front with animals parading across the bottom and the colorful stripe at the top.

Front ruffle detailing.

As if it wasn’t colorful enough already, I decided to take it a step further.  Using a four inch wide strip of La Floraison Lit (another piece in the line) I sewed a tube with the fabric and turned it right side out.  Then I ran two lines of stitching down the center (with a long, loose stitch) so I could gather that tube into a ruffle.  A quick hunt through my buttons resulted in these cute, colorful buttons to add to the ruffle.  I really like the extra detail this adds to the dress..

Finished French Seams

My serger is (still!) not cooperating with me so I finished the seams with French seams.  This will prevent any fraying.  I do love French seams.  They are easy and give a really nice finished look to the garment.

Lavender facing on the inside.

Because the fabric in a nice lightweight cotton, I didn’t want to use the dress fabric for the interior facings around the neckline and armholes.  It showed through and didn’t look very polished.  Instead, I used a scrap of a lavender solid (I think a Moda Bella piece)). It looks pretty to see that lavender bit popping through.

The dress is adorable and while I am certain it will be too big for now, I can look forward to seeing it on her next spring or summer.  These little projects are so much fun.  They don’t take a whole lot of fabric and I love seeing her in something I made.

It felt good to sit and sew the bits needed to finish this little dress up.  Tomorrow I should have a lot more energy to be able to get things done for our big weekend.  I am over the moon about this wedding as I really think these two are perfect for each other. We are so happy to welcome Shar into the family! I will share more about the wedding once everything quiets down again.

 

Sharing with my favorites, including a new linky party hosted by Michelle at From Bolt to Beauty.  It is called Brag About Your Beauties and happens on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Fridays of the month.  Be sure to check it out!

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July Blogger Bundle with Kim Soper

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It is time for another Blogger Bundle and I am so excited to share it with you!  The July bundle was curated by Kim Soper of Leland Ave Studios.  Kim is an award-winning modern quilter, a blogger as well as being a stay at home mom to three boys. Once an attorney, she decided to stay home to raise her boys and like many of us, she looked to sewing to fulfill her creative need.  Kim’s “about me” page is great and I encourage you to take a minute and read it, if you haven’t already.  I especially like the part about how she came to name her business Leland Ave Studios.

Lincoln, designed, pieced and quilted by Kim Soper.

You might know Kim from her Mr. Lincoln quilt which was awarded People’s Choice at the 2017 Quilt Con. That is how I first became aware of Kim and her work.  I’d like to share the blurb she wrote when she submitted this quilt:

This quilt (passion project!) developed out of a desire to create an entirely improv-pieced, recognizable image without use of template, paper-piecing or applique. Using an iconic image of Lincoln that had been converted to WPAP (vector-based geometric pop art) by Ihsan Ekaputra, it was constructed using 6-inch blocks. The backing fabric is a repeating pattern of the original image of Lincoln. The binding is a nod to the vector-style of art on which the quilt is based. The end result is a quilt that is both identifiable as the intended image, and distinctly my own.

To read more about the process she used to design and create this gorgeous quilt, click here.

Following that, I began following her to read the weekly interviews she has been posting since the beginning of 2018 in The Creativity Project.  Oh my gosh – talk about a dose of weekly inspiration.  The series is wonderful and while I have enjoyed reading interviews with creatives I am already familiar with, I have really loved meeting many whom I hadn’t been familiar with.  I am grateful for the work Kim has done to create this weekly series.

Suffice it to say, Kim is a huge inspiration to many in the quilting and creative community.  I was so happy when she agreed to participate in my Blogger Bundle series this year.  Want to see the bundle she curated?

Kim wanted a modern collection that had a summer vibe. I think she definitely got it!  Both of the florals are from a new collection called Indigo & Aster by BariJ. She pulled in more fuchsia with the piece on the far left from Alison Glass’ 76 collection.  To keep it bright and summery, Kim added Squared Elements in Mandarin, from Art Gallery Fabric.  Finally, she chose a neutral and added the black and white polka dot made by Red Rooster Fabric.  This might be my favorite move on Kim’s part.  It moves the collection away from the femininity of the floral and adds whimsy to the bundle.

Once again, I have so enjoyed working with a quilt artist and seeing how she gathers fabrics from various lines in my shop and uses them together.  Kim made a really cool, non-quilty, project with this bundle.  Head on over to see what she made.  I just love it!

As before, this bundle (in either fat quarters or 1/2 yard cuts) is on sale in my shop for 20% off today through Wednesday of this week.  Also, there is a giveaway – one lucky winner will receive a fat quarter bundle to use however they please.  Normally the blogger who curated the bundle hosts the giveaway but this time, I will host it.  Kim is getting ready to go on a vacation to Italy with her family and we decided it would work best if I held the giveaway. She has enough going on getting ready for their trip.

To enter, please comment and tell me what you think of the bundle – why do these five fabrics work so well together?  Also, to be eligible to win, remember to follow me on here the blog, or on Instagram or Facebook. The giveaway is open through Wednesday of this week, just like the sale!  If you purchase a bundle and then win one (which has happened in the past) I will refund your purchase price of the bundle.

Thanks so much to Kim for the bundle she has curated for my shop.  I hope you are enjoying these collections as much as I am!!

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