Quilting Cotton Before and After Washing

Joann’s stores closing has me feeling sad. It is therapeutic to walk through colorful aisles of fabric, isn’t it?

Here are some floral quilting cottons acquired in the closing sale. The texture of washed cotton is so delicious, it was tempting to throw these straight in the wash. But I was curious what it would look like to document the fiber texture changes after washing.

These are before and after photos. I was surprised how much the washed texture increased volume of the folded fabric.

Before.

After.

Before.

After.

Before.

After.

Before.

After.

Before.

After.

I’m definitely getting more fabric before the final locking of the doors. It will be a sad day indeed.

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Sewing a New Ironing Board Cover

Time for a new ironing board cover!

For a few years I used my sister’s antique ironing board from our grandmother. It was a sturdy, foldable, crisscross wooden frame with a rich amber color.

It’s hard switch to a modern, metal frame ironing board after that. They don’t feel as sturdy and certainly do not have the same warm presence in the room as wooden ones.

So I was on the lookout for another antique board and eventually found this one at a secondhand store.

I wanted a fabric with a busy pattern to hide any water stains from the iron.

I also wanted something bright and cheery to match the whimsical style of the sewing room. These fabric options were on hand (recently acquired from Joann’s sale).

The old cover didn’t extend beyond the bottom edge the board very far, which was an annoyance. So I cut the new one several inches larger and sewed four darts to shape it along the nose and tail.

The faithful bodkin helped me pull a long cotton cord through the tunnel of bias tape.

I toyed with the idea of elastic instead of cotton cord. But elastic has a much shorter shelf life. I liked the idea of this lasting a long time.

Details

Fabric 100% cotton from Joann’s.

Ironing board Antique board found at second hand shop for $10.

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Tea Time and Linen

Three things I’m happy about:

1) My newly acquired American history mug collection. Found at a thrift store for $0.88 each.

2) These fun sewing projects I recently made tutorials for on The Thread blog. Linen scrunchy with piping and puffy linen sleep mask (full tutorials linked).

3) This cute little wooden table that was in someone’s rubbish bin. I rescued it!

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My littlest niece is learning to walk. I thought she might need some little booties to make the task even more enjoyable than it already is.

The booties have a felt outside layer and a fluffy inside layer. My friend, Marcia, gave me this pattern and fabric while we looked through her sewing closet. She made little booties for her granddaughter and generously gave me the remaining supplies.

I hope these booties and bows keep my niece’s little toes warm and her little heart delighted.

Wrinkled linen is so cozy

Do you ever leave your linen wrinkled because it looks so charming and cozy?

I made one blue and one green quilted vest to keep me warm in the winter months.

Want to make your own quilted vest? I put together a guest post on the Fabrics-Store blog with a full tutorial to create your own.

Details

Fabric: Blue linen from Fabrics-Store.

Batting: Bulk 100% cotton batting from the underrated sewing supply store, Walmart.

Pattern: Self drafted vest.

Floor: Upstairs sub flooring in my turn-of-the-century brick home, painted white.

Brown paper: Packaging paper from Walmart’s office supplies aisle.

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