FITF: Film in the Fridge | modern quilts, clothing, fabric, and photos

fabric storage baskets

Posted on March 21, 2011

Making fabric baskets has been on my list for months now. We’re using an old bureau for the baby’s changing table, and there isn’t really any extra room on the bureau top for all the extras. So instead we’ve placed a smaller, shorter table next to the bureau and I’ve been thinking it would be a good spot for diapers, wipes, and all those other necessary baby items you want to have at the ready.

I wanted those items contained though, and thought that fabrics baskets would be fun – you know I love to add in extra fabrics to a room whenever I can! I decided to use these gorgeous hand screenprinted fabrics I bought recently from Hitomi (sold in her Etsy shop, Kalla Design)

I first made this shorter square container, sized to fit this stack of cloth wipes. It’s easy to get them in and out, and I just adore those cute little frogs!

Next I made up a round fabric bucket – not quite sure what I’ll store there – for now, some random baby items. I used one of Hitomi’s prints which was printed on a heavier weight fabric and then lined it with this Michael Miller polka dot print.

The bottom got a pop of green for fun. I love the size and shape, and am thinking I might make up another one – maybe to contain baby socks!

The one I was dreading making was supposed to hold diapers and I wanted it to be about 8″ x 15″. I was afraid it would be too floppy since I didn’t have any stiff interfacing, so I put it off for a while. And I’m glad I did, because suddenly I remembered that I had bought an old wooden box at a yard sale a couple summers ago which might be the right size. A quick trip to the garage (to check up on my yard sale stash! sad, I know…Hoarders will be knocking any day now!) found that this box was quite perfect.

All I had to make was a little liner to fit inside the box. Now I have a cute spot to store diapers. We’ll see if we can keep it all this organized (I expect not!). But in any case, it’s nice to get these things checked off the list – at 39 weeks now, the time is running out!

Posted in baby, Fabric, Household Goods | Tagged baby, Fabric, fabric basket, fabric bucket, kalla, storage | 37 Comments

bright and colorful – an Echino baby playmat

Posted on March 17, 2011

I’m pleased to finally show you this finished quilt! I started this one back here, and initially thought that I’d turn it into a wall hanging for the baby’s room. In the end though, I just wasn’t feeling it.

Turns out I prefer it laying on the floor rather than hanging on the wall – so playmat it is! And I really think it will be perfect as a playmat – it’s colorful and fun, and there are so many fun images to look at. It’s also made with heavier weight fabrics, so I think it will be great for outdoor use this summer.

As you might know, I’m a big fan of Etsuko Furuya’s fabrics, and have been collecting them for quite some time. It was fun to combine all the various prints together in this one quilt. Despite all the colors and prints, I really think they all work well together.

The quilt is made up of quarter log cabin blocks, which were improv pieced in a wonky manner. They were all trimmed down to 8″ square and then recombined into these larger blocks.

For the backing, I used a solid brown cotton/linen fabric, also by Etsuko Furuya, paired with a pieced strip section along the bottom. I’m thinking that the solid brown will be great at the beach this summer.

The quilting is minimal – just straight line quilting along each seam line. I bound it in another Echino solid – this time in turquoise (which kind of disappears in these photos!) I think it measures right around 45″ square.

I definitely look forward to hanging out with the baby on this playmat/quilt this summer!

Posted in [search] Wonky/Improv Quilts, baby, Posts about Quilts, Quilts | Tagged baby quilt, Echino, Etsuko Furuya, handmade, playmat, quarter log cabin, quilt, quilting, wonky, wonky log cabin | 30 Comments

something knit, something sewn from a knit

Posted on March 16, 2011

Both things I don’t do often, (or at all, as the case may be with sewing with knit fabric!). I was on a bit of a knitting kick for a little while though, and I thought that if ever I was going to attempt a sweater, now would be the time. A sweater in an infant size seemed manageable. And it was… sort of…

I selected the Baby Yoda sweater (free pattern here on Ravelry) because it looked the least complicated, and it was, until it came time to seam all those individual pieces together. Something went awry with the arms, but I’ve chosen to just ignore that and hope that once the baby’s wearing it, you won’t notice! Otherwise, it’s pretty cute! Let’s hope he can wear it at least once.

And then, since I was trying new things, I decided to try sewing with knit fabric. I’ve wanted to for a while, but have always been a bit afraid of it, not knowing the right way to sew with knits (and quite frankly, being too lazy to bother reading up on it!). I grabbed some of this Michael Miller knit fabric while it was on sale and decided to just go for it.

I used the Quick Change Trousers pattern again (one of my favorites from Anna Maria’s Handmade Beginnings book) but without the reversible aspect. Since the knit was just a plain solid, and since I had nothing else to pair it with, I used a bright green thread for a little extra color. And then I went wild testing out all the various stitches on my machine.

I still don’t know what the correct stitches are to use with knits, but these seemed to work! (definitely don’t come to me with any questions on sewing with knits!) They didn’t turn out too badly though, and while these don’t necessarily wow me, I’m sure they’ll get some use.