Stop staring and start sewing!

Make an adorable mini spiral bound notebook cover (the vertical kind) - Video!

This is one of my favorite little projects to make in my sewing classes. It's fun, quick, adorable, and very useful! It's got it all!

I get these cute mini memo books at Walmart for around .27 each (or .88 for a four pack). I grab a few stacks at a time since I never know if they'll decide to discontinue them (that happened to me once).

Just download the pattern pieces here, print them out at 100% (just 2 pages), and tape them together (do not overlap). It's all in the video below.

Watch here!

This is a great little place to use your fabric scraps!

Let me know what you think and be sure to follow and subscribe to my youtube channel!

Another awesome book from Abigail Butler! Sew Home in The Kitchen

I'm so thrilled my friend Abigail Butler (formerly Abigail Long) asked me to be a part of the blog tour for her new book Sew Home in The Kitchen. In 2014 she wrote her first book Modern Prairie Sewing and I had the honor of being part of her blog hop then too! Her new book is just as loaded with useful, cute projects and I had a very hard time picking one. So I picked two!

I finally decided to make some things I need right now...new potholders and a skillet handle cover (so clever!).  I picked some cute fabrics from Maureen Cracknell's brand new Homebody fabric collection (again another hard decision picking from all the beautiful fabrics), grabbed some batting and Insul-Fleece, and started cutting...

I made my own bias tape but you don't have to! The instructions call for pre-made bias tape so you can grab some of that at the store and you are good to go (saves a lot of time too). I'm really in love with my new goodies! I have seriously burned my hand on that skillet more than once and I'm thrilled to have a solution that is this cute and takes up very little space in my oven mitt drawer.

I highly recommend this book! It is a great resource and I know I'll use it for years to come. If you need a house warming gift, wedding or shower gift, or a gift for any occasion really, Sew Home in The Kitchen is loaded with cute, practical ideas that don't take a lot of fabric or time. I made two of the projects but there are 16 more and they are all things people will use. So there is a lot of value in this beautiful book and frankly, it's just cute to look through.

I couldn't help but use a different fabric on each side of my potholders and then I realized they would be adorable if you quilted them too (I didn't but I will next time!). There is so much room for creativity in all of these smart projects.

Jump over to Abigail's shop and use the coupon code: TOUR1 for 50% (yes, you read that correctly!!) off everything in her shop. It's a wonderful shop filled with the best fabrics out there. This book is a true joy and I already have my next project planned (a casserole dish carrier!). Great work (again) Abigail!

One Room Challenge - Week 4 (3 too honestly) - Master Bedroom - Sew a Bed Skirt

Okay, I'm a little behind on documenting my master bedroom for the One Room Challenge but I am busy working on things here.

The walls have set up beautifully. I was worried the fabric might shrink more as it dried but it's good. This week I tackled the old bedskirt. I've had my eyes on Sharon Holland's Something Blue fabric from her Everlasting collection and this seemed the perfect place for it.

 

Here is my boring old bed skirt. It's been a good place holder but I've never really loved it. Plus it shifts a lot so I need to deal with that.

I  decided to keep the fabric with the gold flowers because it worked with everything else I was incorporating so why add another big step? I cut into the checked fabric and literally ripped it off all the way around. Clean and time saving.

I wanted to repeat the tuck in the new skirt. I like the look and it adds some weight to the bottom to give it a better shape and drape. Plus, when done the way I do it, it's just one stitch all the way around instead of making a hem, then folding the tuck, then sewing the tuck. When you're sewing 13 yards it's nice to be able to cut out some of the steps. Here's a quick run down...

Fold a BIG 3" and iron.

 

Fold another 3" and iron again.

 

Then sew 3/4" away from the folded bottom edge.

 

Open up to the back of the fabric and you can see the entire raw edge is neatly sewn inside the tuck.

 

On the outside, there's a nice clean, even tuck and it's done!

 

I mean except for the gathering and attaching which is another thing altogether. But it's looking good!

 

Since it's such a big gathering job I used my favorite method for "big jobs". I use a nice strong string (baker's twine since that's what I have on hand) and sew a nice big zigzag stitch over the top of it.  I have a more detailed post here if you want to check it out.

 

I'm loving how things are coming together! The rug, the fabrics, the paint (more on that later), everything! I'm already working on re-covering and repainting the headboard, plus painting the walls so things are moving along.

Be sure to check out the dozens and dozens of other projects folks are working on right now for their own One Room Challenge! So many inspiring and creative renovations. And everyone is so generous in showing their process so you can feel confident trying it yourself.

One Room Challenge - Week 2 - Master Bedroom - Fabric on Walls

This week my work on the One Room Challenge has been all about the fabric (my favorite thing ever!). Getting my curtains hemmed and trimmed out. I bought these at IKEA for 9.99 a pair so I bought 2 packages. A few rolls of gold tassel trim and I'm on my way.

 

Then over the weekend (so hubby can help) we started on the walls using this beautiful Dreamscape fabric from Premier Prints in Waterbury Slub. I needed a lot so I bought the whole 30 yard bolt. And it's still cheaper than wallpaper. I received a huge amount of good advice from Christine Kohut on putting fabric on walls and fortunately she used fabric from the same manufacturer so that really gave me the boost I needed to take the plunge.

 

It was a little tricky (maybe more than a little) but I'm happy with the results and it makes the whole room feel cozier and cared for.

 

Then, because IKEA was out of the shelves I wanted, I put my husband to work creating a Rustic X Console Table using plans from the amazing Ana White.  He did a great job and I love this so much more than the generic look of the IKEA shelves I'd initially planned for.

For painting he used our Rexbeti Power Sprayer and it did a great job hitting all the nooks and crannies. It made everything so much faster than brush painting.

Here is a little corner of bliss. It's coming together and when the whole room is done this dreamy look will be in the whole room.

 

Here's a bigger peek at the direction it's going. Next up is wall painting and new curtains!

Be sure to go to the One Room Challenge site and look at all the AMAZING transformation happening! So much inspiration!

Master Bedroom Makeover - One Room Challenge Week 1 - Fall 2020 - Coastal Cottage

One Room Challenge - Fall 2020 - Week 1

I'm so thrilled to take part in the One Room Challenge for Fall 2020. My master bedroom has been a disappointing dumping ground for far too many years. I got started on it but, in retrospect, at some point I realized I didn't like the direction I was heading in style-wise and just sort of stopped. Life is always busy and it's been a neglected space that should be a peaceful retreat.

Here is my mood board for the upgraded room. I think the theme might be coastal cottage with a kick (not everything will be soft and muted). The headboard will be re-covered with this gorgeous print from Bari J's Virtuosa collection. I knew the first time I saw this fabric that I wanted it for my headboard. Sometimes I fall out of love with a fabric but I've never wavered on this print. I love everything about it and with the trim painted gold it's just going to shine. 

For the bedskirt I'm using the beautiful Something Blue fabric from Sharon Holland's Everlasting collection. Check out my store for some of these fabrics!

The room currently looks like this (when it's picked up!). I'd prefer a bench at the foot of the bed but we have to have something that works for our elderly cat (who sleeps on our bed).

Here are some of the things I've already procured and we already put the new rug under the bed (love it!).

I'm using the dotted fabric for slipcovers on the chairs because it's what I have.  In an effort to stay on budget (1000.00) I'm trying my best to use what I have and keep it uncomplicated. I happened to have purchased a full 30 yards of the dotted print in the spring when it was marked down, so I'm using it!

The walls opposite the bed are getting a fabric treatment! I'm nervous but excited. It's significantly cheaper than wallpaper and easy to peel off if I ever get tired of it.

MUCH more to come but for this week I'm working on the slipcovers and my husband is building a console for our tv since IKEA was sold out of my intended solution (but I'm saving money!). 

So I'm off to do some sewing, paint purchasing, and curtain embellishing (the stripes are leaving, but the black out lining is staying). Follow me here on instagram and don't forget to follow the #oneroomchallenge hashtag.

 

DIY Outdoor Nativity Set for your yard - Angel and Star - Free Pattern Included

Okay! In the past I've always had a special Christmas Gift for my blog readers sometime in December. But this year I want to post your gift sooner so you can get an early start on it (because if you do the whole Nativity set it's quite a project). I already had a request for this newest segment of the set (previous segments are in the links at the bottom of this post) so I figured I'd better just put it out there. This time I'm including a disclaimer....

DISCLAIMER: This is a sewing blog (at least 95% of it) so you'll need to forgive our lack of lumber acumen. Sewing questions? I'm your gal! Woodwork questions? Not so much. So please don't expect the same details you would get from a woodworking website. Thank you!

Our latest addition to my beloved nativity set is an angel and star set. I designed it to fit on a 4 x 4 piece of plywood so it's not crazy expensive and it's wonderfully uncomplicated. We mounted ours on a long strip of firring and tied it to our palm tree. Unfortunately our palm tree has since kicked the bucket (if you look at the other patterns you'll see we started with two palm trees and they've both died, not sure why) so we'll have to find another solution this year. But, I can't express how much I love this set and how happy it makes me to get it lit up every year!

Here's a closer picture of the angel and star. I'm going to paint the firring black this time (we painted it to match the tree last year and it was too bright for me). I also need to darken the little "connector" that goes from the sash to the gown (black sharpie does the trick quickly).

So the pages simply get printed (link for pdf file at bottom of this post) and taped together. You only need tape for the page edges inside the lines really. There may be printing gaps at the edges depending on how your printer works (if you can set it to "no borders" that would be great). Don't worry about the gaps, just pencil in the missing lines or cut right across them. Cut both images out.

Position your pattern shapes on your 4 x 4 and tape it down on some of the edges (or use pattern weights if you have them). Trace around the shapes. We just used a sharpie so it would be easily visible and it won't show once it's painted anyway.

Use your skill saw to cut the shapes out. We sanded the edges where there were any obvious rough spots.

Paint with white paint. Or black paint if you want a dark silhouette with a bright back light. We just used random white paint from our paint collection. You may want to paint both sides so you can turn it either direction when you're setting it up. Screw the pieces onto your firring strip and you're done (you can dab paint on the screws if you want them to blend in).

Please let me know if you use this! I'd love to see your pictures! If you blog about it or make a video with it please give me credit (Jona Giammalva, @jonagiammalva on instagram) and link to my blog. We have worked very hard on these over the years and we realize we could be selling the patterns instead of giving them away so any credit would be appreciated. Thank you! And Merry Christmas (early)!

 

Link to Angel and Star set

Link to Holy Family set (blog post Here)

Link to Wise Men set (blog post Here, at bottom of page)

Link to Shepherds and Sheep set (blog post Here, at bottom of page)

Link to Camel and Donkey set (blog post Here)

Learning a new sewing skill (and loving it!): Double welting / piping for an upholstery project

Been away for a bit. I got caught up and the mask making craze and it was a wild ride. But things have slowed wayyy down so I'm changing my focus back to building a fabric store and that feels right. In the meantime I've been taking lots of pictures so I'll share what I've been working on.

In the spring I was invited to make a project for the Look Book (an online book of different projects showcasing the fabric) for Bari J's new 365 Fifth Avenue fabric collection. I was so excited to volunteer to recover 2 ornate chairs I'd had in my garage for a couple of years. 



The fabric showed up and I thought I was ready to go. Then all heck broke loose. My husband's truck spontaneously combusted with some of the flames reaching the house. The fire department got here quick enough to keep it from spreading further than the front of the garage but still, the damage was enough to stop us in our tracks. We were now getting quotes for hauling the truck, repairing and painting the house, replacing the garage door....so much.




So we had that handled and then my mask sales went through the roof. So my terrific husband Joey stepped in and started stripping the chairs while I sewed like crazy with the help of family members who came to help me try to keep up with orders. I had planned to replace everything on the chair, including the padding, webbing, etc. but once we saw under the original fabric I said "Forget it! We'll put the new fabric right over the top!" so that's what we did. Joey spray painted them and it was an improvement but the paint wasn't gold enough for my satisfaction so I bought some nice, shiny gold acrylic paint from Michael's to go over the top and it was perfect.

Now I was ready to have some fun. I bought a set of double piping feet from GoldStar Tool (it's like Harbor Freight but for sewing tools!), found a great video by Broadway Upholstery School on making double piping, and got to work. It was a LOT of fun and I learned a new skill!

Very very satisfying stuff folks.

 

Once we got the fabric on (again another new tool, fun!) it was time to hot glue the piping in place. This part was fun and I hadn't realized these were glued on so it was a lot less intimidating than I had made it out to be.

I was working on a deadline and had to have these pictures to Bari before morning so we glued the rest on and ran outside before the sun went down .

I still have one more chair to go so I'll get some better pictures of the part where we attach the fabric. But isn't it gorgeous!??!  More to come!

---

The fabrics used in this project are: Dressing Room Rouge (main) and Manhattan's Foliage (arms) and are both available in my fabric store Fabritopia as well as many other beautiful fabrics.

Another new chapter

Here comes a pop up! Join that email list! You'll be glad you did!

I'm back at it. Yep, I'm slowly, methodically, carefully...who am I kidding? I'm kind of nervous but...I've re-opened my Fabritopia store! I wish I could say I'm taking a huge leap but it was so painful to shut it down after the economy tanked that I can still remember the sting even today, so I'm trying to be careful and not buy anything on credit. It's been 10 years since the downturn but it was such a sudden punch to the gut I've remained very shy about trying again (even though I was so happy when I had my sweet store going!).

But I've been talking to other store owners and hearing great reports so I'll try again. Older, wiser, grayer...but what the heck.

So I'm slowing rolling out some of the most beautiful quilting fabrics available today. Beginning with Art Gallery Fabrics (because they are beyond compare in their quality).

Look at this amazing, sweet fabric from the oh-so-talented Mister Domestic and his Playroom collection! If you don't follow him on instagram you are missing out.

I've already made a quilt out of it (just a whole cloth quilt but there's really no need to get to fussy when your fabric is this pretty).

And I couldn't wait to get my hands on Sharon Holland's amazing Everlasting fabric collection...

Working on another baby quilt!

And coming soon! Another gorgeous collection from Bari J.! Brace yourself people...I'm getting some rayon!

I'll be back with more. So much going on! Oh, and if you order some fabric please be patient while I work the bugs out on my shipping (this is the tricky part!). I ship fast but may need to refund any differences in shipping costs while I tweak that area. Thanks!

Build your own Nativity Set for outdoors - Shepherds, Donkey, and Camel

We've been adding to our nativity set each year and I know folks have been coming to my site from Pinterest to get the new patterns. Here they are finally!

We started with the Holy Family and then added the Wise Men (links to pdf files are included in this blog post). A couple of years ago we made shepherds with a lamb and last year we made a beautiful, big camel and a cute little donkey (links to both patterns below near the pictures). Our next goal is the angel and maybe a new star. But I looooove the whole set and it makes me happy to see it in my yard every Christmas season.

Here is the right side of our yard.

And these two are on the left side.

The camel is really big so it took one complete 4x4 plywood and then we able to flip the donkey and fit it into place with the leftovers. In the pattern I advise having a 36"x24" piece of plywood for the donkey (because I can't remember if we had a board bigger than 4x4 for both and I don't want anyone to end up short on wood). Click here for the pdf file.

It all came together beautifully and Joey is turning into quite the jigsaw artist.

Here's the shepherd set up close. If you look at the bottom you can see we started setting the middle piece back behind the 2x4 (we started doing that the second year we had the Holy Family set). It gives us more room to move the figures and it creates some nice depth and shadows. Click here for the pdf file.

Here's the pattern layout on the 4x4. If you look in the red circle you can see where Joey added a little "support beam" on the shepherds staff. I filled this area in with a sharpie so it's not obvious (I'm going to go over it again this year since it really needs a couple of coats to darken it). I added that to the printable pattern as well.

I hope you are able to use these and they are a blessing to you and your home. One reader made a set to place outside of their church during Christmas and it thrills me to know many people were able to enjoy them. They are my gift to you. They took us many hours to create and compile in this format so please be kind in your comments. Have a beautiful Holiday Season this year! Merry Christmas from our home to yours.

Link to Angel and Star set

Link to Holy Family set (blog post Here)

Link to Wise Men set (blog post Here, at bottom of page)

Link to Shepherds and Sheep set (blog post Here, at bottom of page)

Link to Camel and Donkey set (blog post Here)

The Ogden Cami by True Bias - a perfect pattern that goes the distance

I have a mad crush on this camisole pattern for awhile now and I'm just getting started. The Ogden Cami from True Bias is a wonderful, uncomplicated pattern and I'm finding it to be very versatile. It's only 10.00 and I downloaded the pdf, printed my pattern, and got sewing right away (I just store all the instructions and pieces in a large zip lock bag). I've made it with the narrow straps it comes with (you'll want a good turning tool) and a slightly wider strap just to give it more substance at the top. I lengthened it into a dress with side slits (so comfortable and breezy), and I've tried a few different types of fabric. So far I haven't made anything I don't like. I wear them all! The only real drawback for me was finding a good strapless bra but I lucked out and found a great one at Target for only 15.00 so I'm set.

My latest version is this black and white gingham fabric (from Walmart!) with slightly widened straps and I absolutely love it.

It's a fun cotton fabric with a bit of a crinkle to it and I think it will be great for casual wear and to dress up a fancier outfit too. I'm going to get a denim jacket this fall because I think it will look terrific with this top.

I love white jeans but this top is going to look great with any color pants and accessories. It's a winner!

I tried it with Bari J.'s gorgeous Budquette rayon fabric and the process was a little trickier (rayon is so "wiggly") but the results are fantastic and oh so comfortable.

One thing that really helped is to use spray starch on the straps before sewing (seriously, it was great and kept the fabric in line). I added about an inch to the length because I didn't want it to look too boxy. This one is so pretty and perfect for our weather here in Arizona.

I made this one a couple of years ago and it's a nice midweight linen. It's a perfect grab and go top because it looks good (and feels good) with everything. I get my linens at Fabrics-Store and they've never let me down (plus they have great sales so get on their mailing list).

This linen dress might be my favorite dress. It's a midweight linen so it's light enough to not be dragging downward but heavy enough to get by without a slip. I widened the straps a bit but still wear a strapless bra with it.

I got this great bohemian fabric in Portland at Bolt without a project in mind. It turned out to be great for the Ogden Cami.

And check out this glorious border print! It's Roads to Flowerhouse (in my store Fabritopia now!) by Bari J. and I've gotten more compliments on this top than all the others. And it only took one yard of fabric because I laid the pattern pieces out at the border edges and it was perfect. I used a different fabric for the facing so I didn't have to cut into any more of this beautiful print.

I've got a few more ideas for this great pattern and my closet is filling up with all these great colors and fabrics. I'm even going to make a few out of some very wispy lightweight solid linen to wear under my sheer blouses. This pattern goes the distance!