CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--GUEST DESIGNER LORINE MASON

Today I have a special treat for my readers. I’ve asked designer Lorine Mason to do a guest blog along with a sewing project. This project is a bit more involved than the ones I usually feature on Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers, but everyone needs a challenge once in a while, right?

Lorine is a free-lance project designer and licensing artist. She appears regularly on the webcast crafting program, Cool2Craft with her Sew Far Sew Good creations. Visit Lorine at www.DivaSchmivas.com or check out her blog at  www.thedivaschmivas.blogspot.com -- AP

Hi everyone,

I am tickled pink to be offering you a peek into my world of sewing and crafting. My studio is filled to the brim with fascinating fabrics, trims, threads and embellishments purchased through the sewing world. It is a good base, but wait.  Add to the mix my collection of paints, glitter, stamps, die cutting paraphernalia, beads, metal, wood and more, and you really have something with which to create. 

I am fascinated by doorways, just think of the possibilities of not only what the doorway itself might look like but what might surround it. Does it sport a crown of some sort, and most exciting of all, what is behind it? I have been creating doorways for some time now and have an ongoing series currently being published in Creative Home Arts for throughout 2010.  Here is a sneak peek and for more, check out www.creativehomearts.com

Anastasia asked me to provide a crafty project for her readers. My good friend Brenda Pinnick designed a line of fabrics for Henry Glass and sent me a few cuts of the fabric. I became inspired, and here is what I came up with:

SEW ART QUILT 

by Lorine Mason

Materials:

1/2 yard cotton print fabric; fat quarters of two coordinating prints; 12” x 18” pieces WoolFelt® –Native Maize, Pink Violet, Baby Blue, and White; cotton batting; fusible web; Fantasy Film™ fusible film – Mother of Pearl; metal brads – Flower & Mini; sheer floral accents – five

alphabet stickers; embroidery thread; non-stick ironing sheet; die cutting machine & dies (optional); sewing machine; iron; basic sewing supplies, including a twin needle.

1. Cut two 16” x 19” rectangles from the cotton print, cut one from the cotton batting.

2. Layer one of the fabric rectangles on top of the batting and pin around the outside edges.

3. Press fusible webbing to the back of the wool blend felt rectangles. Cut the following:

Baby Blue – one 9” x 12”; Native Maize – one 6” x 10” and six 1 3/4” squares; White – one 8” x 11”.

4. Press fusible webbing to the back of a 9” square of one of the coordinating fabric prints.

Cut out six 2 1/2” squares.

5. Using the project photograph as a general guide for placement, remove the paper backing from the fused felt and fabric pieces (with the exception of the six Native Maize squares) and layer them to the center of the fabric rectangle pinned to the batting. Fuse in place.

6. Fit your sewing machine with a twin needle and sew around each of the layers of felt, raising the presser foot and re-inserting the needle in the new direction at each corner turn. Trim threads.

7. Fuse the remaining Native Maize squares to the panel using the project photo as a guide for placement. Stitch around the outside edge of each square.

8. Using the non-stick ironing sheet on both the front and back, press fusible web to the back of a 4” piece of Fantasy Film™. Cut six 1” squares and fuse them to the center of each of the door panels, once again using the non-stick ironing sheet.

9. Using the die cut machine and an assortment of dies, cut the hinges, keyhole, key, sign and flourishes from felt backed with fusible web. Set the keyhole on top of scrap of fused fabric and press. Cut around the image using decorative scissors. Lay out the hinges, keyhole, and signage pieces on top of the quilt panel and press. 

(Note from Anastasia: if you don’t have a die cut machine, you’ll have to freehand these embellishments.)

10. Insert brads at each of the corners of the door panels, hinges, keyhole and signage.

11. Layer the quilt panel on top of the second 16” x 19” piece of fabric cut earlier and pin together. Trim the quilt panel to measure 14” x 18”. See finished sample for guidelines.

12. Stitch around the quilt panel, sewing 1” from the outside edges.

13. Cut 2” bias strips from the remaining coordinating fabric. If necessary join strips to create the appropriate lengths needed to bind the quilt. Sew strips to the top and bottom edge of the quilt, right sides together. Press strips away from the quilt. Repeat sewing strips to the sides of the quilt.

14. Turn under the raw edges of the binding strips and hand stitch to the back of the quilt.

15. Embellish the front of the quilt with additional die cut felt pieces, stickers, floral accents, a bird and thread. Refer back to the project photo for inspiration.

Sources:

“Opulence” fabric by Brenda Pinnick for Henry Glass & Co. ©; Steam-A-Seam 2® from The Warm Company; Fantasy Film from Art Glitter; WoolFelt ® from National Nonwovens;  

diecut machine and dies from Ellison.

So...are you inspired to pull out your sewing machines?  Let's hear from you. Everyone who posts a comment this week is entered into the drawing for a book by our Book Club Friday guest author. -- AP