Handmade DIY: Tea Towels!

A few years ago, I published this DIY right here on my blog. It's super simple, and what a great way to make a few Handmade gifts, or give a sweet and thoughtful hostess gift if you are a guest at someone else's home this Thanksgiving. Please revisit my original post here, and if you order from Spoonflower TODAY, there is a 2-for-1 fat quarter deal going on.... Sweet!

Quick! Click here to visit the Spoonflower site. 

Happy hand crafting!

xx
Val

Handmade gift giving, an easy Tutorial!

Hi there! If you find this, or another of my

tutorials helpful and would like to make a monetary contribution 

to help me keep my woolie ideas flowing, I would be most grateful.

By clicking the "Buy Now" button below you can 

choose your own price for the tutorial. 

It's completely optional, but so appreciated! 

Hey there! How is the holiday season treating you so far? I hope you are not feeling overwhelmed with it quite yet - it's too soon! I just try to take one day at a time, and do things now, rather than waiting til later. Somehow, most things manage to get done!

I thought I'd offer a quick and very easy tutorial on an easy-to-make handmade gift; kitchen hand towels! Everyone uses them, and everyone is always up for having a few that are especially cute. Plus, they make wonderful hostess gifts, or girl-friend gifts!

As you may know, I am a big lover of Spoonflower, a special online shop where you can upload your designs and make them into fabric. What fun! Well, you can also shop from about a million other fabric designers, and find some fantastic art fabric you'd never find in your local fabric store. Take a look at this fantastic print I stumbled upon... I knew I just had to make something with these fun designs:

Designcrafty's 4 fat quarters pattern can be found here. *Update: Oh no... this pattern is no longer available :o( For an equally fun Spoonflower site, visit DennisTheBadger's page: here, or click here to see a page of kitchen inspired fabrics.

I ordered the yardage in the Linen/Cotton blend, which is a wonderful weight, just right for tea towels. I cut the 4 quarters apart, double folded under each edge, and ironed flat.

I used some of the salvaged edge fabric to make a hanging tab by folding the cut edges into the middle and machine stitching the open edge closed. (*Note: you can also use white Bias Tape for this step, which means no extra folding and ironing... bonus!) I then cut this into 4" long pieces, and pinned them into the backside corners so they would be sewn in once I stitched the towels up.

1-2-3, easy as pie! Well, easier in fact... once I got rolling, I could make a tea towel from start to finish in about 15-20 minutes.

Fold them in a cute way, and tie a sweet ribbon around them, and they are all ready for gift giving. Now, you are free to go visit with your girlfriends and enjoy that cup of tea :o)

Happiest of the holidays to you!

x, Val

Workin' on a Dream

Summer Flowers and Bugs in Turquoise Fabric by Val's Art Studio

Dreams... We all have them. Some are old dreams, some begin as a new idea, and grow day by day until they become a passion. I'm all for making dreams come true. Well, the attainable ones, at least!

One of my dreams has always been to design fabric. Every since I began sewing, I wanted a way to make my designs complete, including the fabric... Thankfully, there are amazing places in our wonderful world we now have at our fingertips (via computer) that do, indeed, help us make our dreams come true. Spoonflower is one of those places. I have uploaded my first trial design, and am having a test swatch made, and am hoping to be able to sew with MY fabric designs very soon!

I will keep you posted!

x, Val

Are You A Wanna-Be Fabric Designer?

... like me?! Do you know about Spoonflower? This fantastic company lets you upload your art designs, modify them using their awesome software, order a test print, and finally, prints your fabric in the quantity you want, on the fabric blend you desire. Then, if you feel your design is especially stellar, you can enter your designs into their contests, watch the votes come in, and maybe even have your design be chosen for "Fabric of the Week"! It's a fantastic concept.

What I love about Spoonflower is that I can find unique designs from independent designers, and support their creative efforts. Look at this fantastic scientific fabric I just bought! It will be the inspiration for a great mad scientist look in an upcoming boy outfit. Cute, cute!

Take a look at a few of my favorite fabric designers. These links will take you directly to their Spoonflower page. Scarlet Fig's fabric shop (I just LOVE her fabrics!), Emily Burger's designs (so sweet- or should I say "sew" sweet?!), Sammy K's fabric (pictured above), Danielle Hanson's bird calendar fabric, and look at this SewBettie boxer fabric! How creative is she?! Then, there's this Circus fabric by TotallySevere. All I can say is "wow"...

One day, when I have a bit of free time, I will try my hand at designing some extra cute fabric. Something with a few birdies, perhaps? Or, maybe farm animals... dogs, even? Heck, once I get my ideas straight, the fabrics are going to come whizzing out of me. I can just feel it! So, go and check out Spoonflower, and get your fabric fix of the day!