a wedding gift

This past weekend, I finally finished assembling a belated wedding gift for some friends who were married this summer: a cocktail shaker and hand-embroidered cocktail napkins.

The napkins were made with a solid turquoise on the front, with a coral red running stitch along the border, and a blue and white gingham on the back. My husband picked out the shaker, which has a number of drink recipes along the sides. Hopefully both items will be put to good use by the new couple!

scrap challenge: chevron napkins

When Rachel at Stitched in Color announced that she was going to be doing another scrap challenge (I loved the results of the first!), I immediately volunteered to participate and was so excited when I was one of the four people selected to create something using all of the scraps pictured above.

My husband and I are heading to a wedding soon, so I figured this would be a great opportunity to make something for the newly married couple. After a bit of brainstorming and sketching, I decided to make a set of napkins using mini half-square triangles.

I wanted the napkins to be modern and simple, so I decided to incorporate the ubiquitous chevron, along with a lot of negative space. I created the chevrons from half-square triangles, and then pieced them into columns that ran the width of the napkin. Each napkin features all of the fabrics from the bundle, arranged in a random order.

I improvised the placement of the column in each napkin, to mix things up a bit and create some interest, but once I finished, I worried that it looked more like I hadn't measured properly! Hopefully the couple won't mind.

I really loved the color palette of the bundle, and particularly loved having the chance to work with new fabrics with different textures, including two Kaufman linens and a Moda Cross Weave. I paired everything with a white organic Kona, which I also used on the back. The napkins wound up being slightly more than 18 x 18 inches.

Thank you to Rachel for organizing this fun challenge, and a big thanks to Pink Chalk Fabrics for the gorgeous bundle of fabrics! You can pick up your own bundle here.

log cabin napkin tutorial

Today, I'm so thrilled to have a project featured on the Fat Quarterly blog! Please stop on by to learn how to make your own log cabin napkins and see all of the other projects created by talented sewists using Melody Miller's amazing fabric.

patchwork napkins

Lately, I've been buying a lot of fabric--too much fabric. I blame this on my day job. At a fabric store. So in an effort to keep my scrap bucket from overflowing, I've been looking for quick and easy stash-busting projects. I quickly found that Film in the Fridge's patchwork napkin tutorial fit the bill, and I whipped up four new napkins.

The tops of all four napkins--prints and solids--are pulled entirely from my scrap bucket. The patchwork stripes are a mix of designer, Japanese, vintage, and shirting fabrics. 

The napkin backs are made up of fabrics from my main stash, including fat quarters from Purl Soho and CityCraft that I've been hoarding. 

I loved working with fabrics I had on hand, and definitely felt a sense of accomplishment when I saw that my scrap bucket had emptied out a bit. Know of any other good stash-busting projects? Feel free to share them in the comments!

gallery of gifts

New embroidered lunch napkins, backed with Japanese fabric.

This Friday, Gallery of Gifts, a craft show and sale at the Library Arts Center in Newport, New Hampshire, opens. The show features lots of talented crafters (including my mom!) and I'm super excited to have a few of my own things included in the mix.

I've been experimenting with how to finish off the back of my hoop pieces, and I'm super happy with this latest incarnation!

 Cross-stitch snowflake pinback buttons--a new design!

The show runs through December 18, and if you're in the area, I hope you'll stop by the show and support a great arts space.

sewing project: embroidered name napkins

Before the sewing room was all packed up, I made personalized, embroidered lunch napkins for my co-workers as going-away gifts, using thrifted cotton and recently found vintage sheets. 

Each name was stitched with a simple running stitch, using lime green floss. 

sewing project: fern-stitch napkins + train tote

For my sister-in-law's June birthday, I sent her a package filled with cupcake-making supplies and some handmade goodies, including a set of four hand-embroidered napkins with a fern-stitch border. (I sold a teal pair in my shop not too long ago.)

I wrapped everything up in a little tote I made a few years ago from some amazing train fabric found in my mom's stash.

The tote was lined with pink polka dot fabric, which was also used for the handles, and I sewed coordinating green buttons at the base of each of the handles.

renegade craft fair + cross-stitch buttons

In case you haven't heard (though I'm sure you have), Renegade Craft Fair will be coming to Austin for the first time this weekend. I went to Renegade in L.A. last year and had a blast, and I'm super excited to attend the Austin version.

Not only am I looking forward to checking out all of the vendors, I'm also excited to see my first line of cross-stitch buttons for sale in The WonderCraft's Airstream trailer boutique, Stella.

Pinback buttons featuring letters, semicolons, and math symbols stitched onto thrifted pink and brown aida cloth will be for sale, as well as sets of buttons that say "I *heart* U." All of the buttons are mounted onto book pockets, which are left over from our wedding invitations (which I'll post about someday!).

If my sewing machine decides to cooperate (and it hasn't lately, so who knows), I may also have some handmade napkins for sale this weekend too.

 

For those of you that can't make it to Renegade, keep an eye on my Etsy shop, which I will be stocking with buttons and napkins in the next few weeks--and of course feel free to contact me with any custom button requests.

P.S. Thank you to everyone who has left lovely comments the past few days. Sorry it took me until now to figure out how to have them show up!

sewing project: french knot napkins

I really love making napkins (which you may have noticed in these two posts), so for my parents-in-law's back-to-back birthdays, I decided to make them a pair of napkins.

I've been slowly learning how to embroider (pictures of my projects from my embroidery class at the Stitch Lab coming soon!), and I've wanted to embroider napkins for a while, so I decided to give it a try.

Using a piece of white cotton for the front, I created a border using dark blue French knots. For the back, I used a piece of olive green cotton; both fabrics are thrift store finds.

I'm really happy with how the napkins turned out, and have plans for more designs with various stitches.

as seen on

Remember those napkins I made for friend back in December? Turns out I wasn't the only one smitten with the pattern of that vintage sheet. I recently spotted this on fredflare.com:

merry christmas!

Happy holidays to all of my lovely readers, friends, and family!

This is the set of Christmas-y double-sided napkins I made for my parents for the holiday, using fabric sourced entirely from the thrift store.

Gifts are currently arriving in recipients' mailboxes, which means I can finally share them here. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for posts featuring handmade goodness!

sewing project: napkins

As a Christmas gift for a faraway friend, I made a set of four square napkins.

Each double-sided napkin is made from a thrifted vintage sheet (I fell in love with the flower pattern) and pink cotton I had in my studio.

 

lunch tote giveaway winner!

Thank you so, so much to everyone who entered the giveaway! I was blown away by the number of responses and I loved reading each and every comment.

Without further adieu, the winner of the lunch tote and napkin is:

Congratulations, Laura! I'll be in touch to get your address and I'll mail your package this week.

And in case anyone is interested in purchasing their own lunch tote, feel free to drop me a line (by leaving a comment on this post). I have extra fabric (and another one of those red buttons!) and would be happy to recreate it.