Patchwork Wallets with Keyring

Hello,

Last week I had a quite productive week. After a long time, I made a small batch of patchwork wallets. This time I used the Rosie Wallet pattern. Since the wallet is pretty small (the finished size is 4" x 5"), I use skinny strips of fabric. I cut the fabrics between 1" to 1.5" wide. 

It started with a message on my Etsy shop that she wanted pink and green patchwork Rosie Wallets. She said she loves floral prints. So I started working on the order making the patchwork panels first. And of course, I cannot stop making just one wallet, right? 

Making patchwork wallets is always fun. From sorting out the scrap fabrics to choosing the best combination and binding. 

I happen to have pink floral scrap bundles that I bought from Indonesia. So from those, I choose a few for the card slots.

This time I used polycotton batting 180 gsm which is pretty sturdy so I did not use lightweight interfacing on the patchwork panels like the previous patchwork wallets.  If using low-loft cotton batting, I'd suggest using lightweight interfacing before quilting it. 

This time, I also did hand quilting in 2 wallets and in one wallet I did machine quilting. For the hand quilting I used pearl cotton thread no 8 and I really love how it turned out. 

Deciding which binding to use is also another fun part. My go-to choice for binding is either polka dots or stripes. But this time, I decided to try floral binding too and I think it's turned out pretty great. 

Patchwork Polka Dots Wallet

Cardholder Wallet

Patchwork Quilted Wallet

Cardholder Wallet with Keyring

Card Holder Wallet

Rosie wallet is a versatile wallet. I carry it often as it fits perfectly in my small crossbody bag. It can hold quite a few cards (6-10 cards) and the 2-in-1 zipper pocket is handy to keep small changes or items. As we mostly use mobile payment, for me personally carrying a small wallet is very convenient. 

I plan to make more patchwork wallets in the future. I need to seriously use my overwhelming scraps and of course my stash! I have a few ideas in my head, so hopefully I'll be able to share another Scrapbuster video tutorial soon!. 

Thank you for stopping by today!

Have a nice day,

Elvira

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More Patchwork Quilt Wallets

Patchwork Nuno Wallets

Hello, 

I’m still in scrappy mode this week! After diving into making the adorable mini purses I wrote about in my last post, I couldn't resist the urge to keep going. So, what did I do next? I dug more into my scrap bins and started piecing together some more patchwork panels.

 

First up, I whipped up a Rosie Keychain Wallet using some brown scraps, and I have to say, it turned out pretty awesome. In fact, I'm so thrilled with the result that I've got plans to make a few more Rosie Wallets. They're just too cute to resist!

Quilted Rosie Wallet

But that's not the only thing that's got me excited. I've also made a couple of NunoSmall Wallets too! For the pink and purple wallets, I used the same quilt-as-you-go method as the mini purses.

Purple Patchwork Wallet

Pink Patchwork Wallet

Now, for the red wallet, I decided to go traditional by making two mini log cabin blocks, using 1.25-inch strips, and then threw in an extra strip in the middle to make it a perfect fit for the Nuno Wallet. And I’m super happy with the result! Making patchwork quilt wallets has been at the top of my list. 

Red Patchwork Wallet

In the original pattern of Rosie wallet I did not use batting, but in this patchwork version, I used low loft batting and quilted it pretty densely to make the panel flatter. When you want to make a patchwork or quilted version of a wallet, remember to change the interfacing to lightweight interfacing. The interfacing will give more structure and also make the wallet more durable. 

I shared my work progress and a few tips and tutorials on my YouTube Channel.  Make sure to check them out! 

Thank you so much for stopping by today!

Happy Sewing!

Elvira 

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Scrappy Wallet Video Tutorial

 

Scrappy Mini Purse

Hello,

Over the last month, I've been quite occupied. Although I intended to write blogs on a regular basis, I never got around to doing it. However, with my younger son's half-term exams completed and my elder one returning to college, I finally have some free time to write! 

Today, I just wanted to share with you that I recently made some really cute mini wallets from scraps and even created a tutorial on my YouTube channel! These wallets turned out great and I think they could make awesome gifts, especially with the holiday season coming up. 

I found that using narrow strips with a maximum width of about 1.5" worked best for me. Personally, the narrower the better! All the details on how to do this are provided in the video, but if you prefer to read rather than watch, there's a written tutorial available on my website.

 

When making scrappy patchwork, color combination is crucial. If overwhelmed by choices, it's best to stick to single-color shades or a maximum of two colors, such as pink and green.

I also created a wrist strap that matches! You can find the tutorial for making the wrist strap on my YouTube channel as well. It seems that mini wallets with short lanyards have become quite trendy these days. What about you? What's your favorite scrappy project to work on?

Thank you for stopping by today!

Happy Sewing,

Elvira

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Coasters from Leftover Scrap Fabrics (Video Tutorial)

 Hello,

I wanted to share with you what I recently made - a couple of coasters as gifts. I didn't really feel like sewing, but I needed to make something quick. So, I grabbed the scrap bag under my cutting table and started picking out a few fabrics. I decided to keep it simple and use just one set of colors for the coasters. They turned out pretty nice, and I hope my friend loved them!

These coasters are really easy and quick to make. It takes around 10-15 minutes only. Well, I spent more time picking up the fabrics. I mean, rummaging through scrap bins is really fun, right? I just made some coasters and they were so easy and quick to make! It only took me around 10-15 minutes to finish them. Although, I must admit that I spent more time picking out the fabrics. Going through scrap bins is just so much fun, don't you think?

Materials I used:

Leftover strips of fabrics 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches lightweight non-woven interfacing (optional) 5 x 5 inches fabric for backing

As I love making videos, here's the video tutorial to make the coasters!

When it comes to fabric choices, I like to use cotton batting for my larger projects, but for smaller ones, I'll use whatever is available. Recently, I made a pink-green coaster using poly batting, but it turned out a bit flat, even though I didn't quilt it too densely. On the other hand, the blue coasters I made with cotton batting and only quilted along the seams turned out great. In the video, I used block print scrap fabrics, which have different shades of every color. To give my final product more structure, I always use nonwoven lightweight interfacing, but you can skip it if you prefer a different finish.

I have a few more unfinished projects in progress. Follow me on YouTube where I share almost daily updates on my work.

Thank you for stopping by,

Happy Sewing!

Elvira

Hand quilted scrappy mug rug

Making hand quilted mug rug video

I made this teal mug rug a couple of weeks ago. Still use the green and teal scraps from my scrap buckets and I cut them into my fave square 2.5" x 2.5". The size is rather biggish - the finished size is 7.5" x 11.5". I think it will be great as a mug rug or mat for smaller tables, side tables, etc

This scrappy mug rug is very easy to make. All you need is assorted  2.5" scraps and you are good to go. And if you prefer you can always machine quilt it but I love to hand quilt it in the kawandi style. That is quilting from the outside edge first and moving inwards in a circular way. The effect on the reverse side (if using solid backing) is just beautiful. Plus with hand quilting, the quilt always turns out softer. 

 I made many small quilts that I quilted this way and here's one that I recently did. I keep a bunch of ready-to-quilt small items near my computer table and I can easily pick them up and quilt away as I am catching up on the Kdrama or Cdrama!  

Rectangle Coaster Set 

For the scrappy mug rug, I used Indian mul mul fabrics for the patchwork and poplin cotton for the back. I added a thin fleece batting, sometimes I used cotton batting too. I made placemats in the same color hues earlier.

Placemat set of 2

Don't you love the effect of this big stitch quilting style on the back? This can easily become a reversible mug rug! 

If you've been thinking to start learning about hand quilting, you may want to start with this kind of big stitch quilting and you don't have to start with a big quilt! I wrote and uploaded the video about what needle I used and the process in THIS POST

That's all for today, thank you for stopping by!

Happy Sewing!

Elvira

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VIDEO TUTORIAL - Potholders from Scraps

 Hello,

Pumpkin Potholder Tutorial

 

I have a mountain of scraps in buckets and bags all around the house. Somehow I just don't have the heart to throw them away. Whenever I see my fabric scraps I feel inspired and full of ideas, but then those ideas remain on my "bucket list". 

A few weeks ago, Tina and I discussed the next swap, after the successful swap we has last month in Desi Quilters. This time she has with the idea of exchanging Potholders and as usual, she came up with the most suitable name "pot of gratitude". This is to remind us to always be grateful during this Pandemic and by making a gift for our virtual friends who always be there to help in our crafting or quilting journey. 

So, let me talk about potholders that I usually make.

1. Batting

The first question that people ask is always about what kind of batting to use for potholders. Well, we don't have thermal batting for retail here in India. I usually use double or triple layers of cotton batting. A few years ago before cotton batting was easily accessible, I use a few layers of cotton flannel (like THIS coaster). If you have scrap batting, you can use it even if it's narrow strips you can layer them. 

2. Fabrics. 

Store-bought potholders usually use thicker or canvas cotton. I normally use quilting cotton or poplin cotton. And if I use Indian fabrics (mulmul) I usually use nonwoven interfacing to give additional weight. On the back, you can use casement fabric or canvas if you have one.

3. Quilting.

You can either sandwich two layers of batting with top and backing and quilt them together or you can quilt the top and back separately like in THIS mug rug. I personally prefer the latter because it turned out thicker which is perfect for potholders. You can quilt the top with denser quilting lines but I'd suggest using less dense quilting lines for the backing. 

4. Binding

For square or rectangle potholders, I'd suggest using a jellyroll strip. A 2.5" wide is a good one, but if you use thicker batting, you might want to use a 3" wide binding. I normally used 1.5" wide binding for small quilts, but since we're going to use the potholders a lot, thicker binding is always better. 

The same applied to bias binding. In this pumpkin potholder video, I use scraps of about 11" x 17" fabric to make 2.5" wide binding which yields around 1.65 meters of binding strips. Enough to make 2 potholders. 

I wrote about making bias binding in THIS POST using a square of fabric. You can make bias binding from fat eighth or fat quarter like in THIS VIDEO

Bias Binding Tutorial

Alright, now about the POT OF GRATITUDE SWAP, here are the rules:

- It should be pieced or appliqued

- Should be quilted by hand or machine

- Embroidery can be added but avoid beads and sequins

- The edges must be finished with binding or facing.

- There must be a loop for hanging the potholders.  

- Must be made according to your partner's mood board. Sonalee wrote how to create a mood board on her blog HERE. 

In the videos below, I shared 2 projects that I made using fabric crumbs. Not really make a dent in my scrap bins but I am using only scraps here. So I'm pretty happy! 

Let's get down to work now

For the Crumbs Potholder, you need: 

- 5" long crumbs strips 0.75" or 1" Wide (1.5 to 2 cm)

- Lightweight Fusible Interfacing 8" x 8" (20 x 20 cm) - cut 1 (optional).

Not necessary if using quilting cotton

- Cotton Batting 9" x 9" (23 x 23 cm) - cut 2

- 1 strip Jellyroll or 2.5" x WOF (6.5 Cm x WOF)

- Potholder Loop 2.5" x 3" (6.5 x 7.5 cm) - cut 1

And here what you need to make the Pumpkin potholder:

- Download the Template HERE

- Skinny Strips 1" x 7.5" Long - 20 pieces or so

- Backing Fabric: 7.5" x 9" - Cut 1

- Cotton batting 7.5" x 9" - Cut 2

- Fabric for bias binding - I used 11" x 17" which yields around 65" (165 cm) of 2.5" wide bias

binding. Enough to make 2 potholders.

I hope you find the video helpful, especially for beginners. Please do let me know in the comment below if you have any questions. 

Thank you for stopping by!

Happy Sewing

Elvira

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