Tutorial Archives - QA Creations

October 2, 2015October 2, 2015

Website Maintenance

My Friday finish isn’t a traditional one… but it was a long time coming! I’ve been meaning to do some site cleanup and add a page for my tutorials and patterns so that they are easier to find, and I’ve finally done it!

I will be updating these pages as more patterns and tutorials come along. I’ve got a few patterns in the works, so hopefully between 15 page term papers, I will have time to put those together. Let me know if any of these are helpful or if you make any of the projects, because I would love to see them!

Linking up to: Finish it up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts, Whoop Whoop Fridays @ Confessions of a Quilt Addict, TGIFF, Link a Finish Friday @ Richard and Tanya Quilts

May 26, 2015September 25, 2015

Easy Patchwork Placemats Tutorial

Bright and cheerful quilted placemats update your dining room or make a great gift for a loved one.

This month was a quick and easy project tutorial for Fort Worth Fabric Studio… some Easy Patchwork Placemats!

I feel like a placemat machine lately! My more modern placemats – Squared Away Placemats – were in Make Modern earlier this month, and now these are a more traditional set of placemats. These bright and cheerful colors make a perfect birthday present for a special person.

I quilted a feathery all over design in light pink that is an even design that will wash well. Unfortunately, my long arm is going to be packed up soon and I am going to miss it!

Linking up to: Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story, Sew Cute Tuesday @ Blossom Heart Quilts, Let’s Bee Social Wednesday @ SewFreshQuilts, Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation, Finish it up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts, Whoop Whoop Fridays @ Confessions of a Quilt Addict, TGIFF, and Show off Saturday at Sew Can She

April 28, 2015September 25, 2015

How to hang a mini quilt

Tutorial shows you a quick and effective non-permanent way to display your growing collection of mini quilts.

If you are visiting from Fort Worth Fabric Studio Mini Quilt Mania, Welcome! I have a quick tip on an easy way to hang mini quilts.

If I am making a mini to keep or give away, I generally do the corner tab hanging method.

When I first started making mini quilts, I didn’t add any sort of sleeve or tab to hang it with. As a result, I never hung them up. This is an easy way to make it easy to hang your mini quilt up. You made it, enjoy it and show it off!

To do this, I cut two squares from scrap fabric. In this case, I cut (2) 4″ squares. Fold them in half diagonally, and press with wrong sides together.

I then use a very small line of Elmer’s Washable School Glue within the seam that will be covered by the binding, and glue the triangle in place with the raw edges flush against the raw edges of the quilt. Press to heat set.

This will keep those triangles in place so that they will be sewn down when you sew the binding down.

So, why on earth you would let a wire cutter get near your hard work?

To hang, I cut the bottom part of a wire clothes hanger to match the width of the quilt. I used a wire cutter to cut the hanger.

The wire clothes hanger fits perfectly inside a Command Clear Mini Strip. Depending on the size of the mini, I will use one or two of the Command Mini Strips, and gently press the hanger into the gap.

This gives me a removable system that does no damage to walls, and I can rearrange easily if I want to.

You can see the front of the mini quilt here!

Linking to some of the following: Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story, Sew Cute Tuesday @ Blossom Heart Quilts, Tips and Tutorials Tuesdays @ Late Night Quilter, Let’s Bee Social Wednesday @ SewFreshQuilts, Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation, Finish it up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts, Whoop Whoop Fridays @ Confessions of a Quilt Addict, TGIFF, Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Ft. Worth Fabric, Show off Saturday at Sew Can She, Stash Bee Link Up

March 24, 2015September 25, 2015

Quilted Footstool Tutorial

Quilt your favorite fabrics to create a statement piece by following the instructions for this quilted footstool tutorial.

I just finished my favorite non-quilt item I’ve made.

My daughter is two, and we play a lot in her room – and most of that playing is at floor level. Sitting in the nice comfortable adult size chair that is in her room is not acceptable, but my body just can’t handle sitting on the floor for hours a day.

That is where this quilted footstool comes in. We recently purchased new foam to go in the seat cushions of the couch. We kept the old foam for a little while to see if it would fit in a different couch that is even worse (but of course it didn’t fit – that would have been too convenient!). One day as I was sitting on the floor, I realized that this old foam could be the solution to my problem.

We (royal we = my husband) cut the foam in half and I stacked it, and I made the quilted cover for it. I have a tutorial on how I made it over at Fort Worth Fabric Studio if you would like to make your own.

I used some fabric from the Petal & Plume line by Bari J – seriously gorgeous! That peacock fabric is amazing in person.

Initially, I had planned to do more subdued quilting on the fabric. I was going to use purple Bottom Line – which is a really thin thread that you would barely have seen. The texture from the quilting would have been all that was visible.

Then, as I was looking through my thread I found this amazing pink variegated Fantastico thread and I knew it was meant to be for this fabric. The design on this fabric is strong enough that it stands up to (and I think is complimented) by a shiny visible thread. I used a peacock feather panto for the peacock fabric.

For the feather fabric, the lines are pretty thick and it the design is fairly dense so I knew that whatever quilting I did was probably not going to show very much. I continued to use the pink thread, but switched to a loose feather panto to mix it up a little bit.

You can’t really see the quilting on the top, but you can see the pattern against the backing. With two different quilting designs, using the same thread for both fabrics gives a little bit of continuity to the quilting.

I know most people leave their quilting on quilts, but I love bringing it into other parts of my house and life. This footstool/cushion now sits in my daughter’s room, and I love how much color it brings into her room.

She may end up claiming this from me, based on how many times she has sat and climbed on it already, but hopefully I will also get to enjoy using it. Worst case, I have one old couch cushion left, so I may have to make a second one for me.

If you want to bring some of your favorite fabrics into your everyday life, contact me and I can quilt fabric for you.

Linking up to some of the following: Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story, Sew Cute Tuesday @ Blossom Heart Quilts, Tips and Tutorials Tuesdays @ Late Night Quilter, Let’s Bee Social Wednesday @ SewFreshQuilts, Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation, Finish it up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts, Whoop Whoop Fridays @ Confessions of a Quilt Addict, TGIFF, Show off Saturday at Sew Can She, and Threading your way @ Threading my Way

February 25, 2015September 25, 2015

Quilted Oven Mitt Tutorial

Learn to make your own fun quilted oven mitts from this tutorial for the Fort Worth Fabric Studio.

Hello again! This week I have a tutorial to make quilted oven mitts up on the blog at Fort Worth Fabric Studio. Check it out!

Making your own oven mitts is a great way to bring what you love (quilting) into the kitchen in a tasteful and useful way. I hope you find the oven mitt tutorial useful, and please let me know if you make a pair!

Linking to some of the following: Tips and Tutorials Tuesdays @ Late Night Quilter, WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced, Let’s Bee Social Wednesday @ SewFreshQuilts, Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation, Finish it up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts, Whoop Whoop Fridays @ Confessions of a Quilt Addict, TGIFF, Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Ft. Worth Fabric, Show off Saturday at Sew Can She, Stash Bee Link Up

January 27, 2015September 25, 2015

Hanging Towel Tutorial

Brighten up your kitchen with this fast and easy tutorial to make a hanging towel for your oven door.

I am a blog contributor this winter at Ft. Worth Fabric Studio, and my first project just went live!

Head on over to the FWFS blog to see the hanging towel tutorial to make one for your kitchen.

Let me know if you make one… it’s a quick and easy project. It’s a great way to use up scraps or to add some holiday color to your kitchen. Sometimes you just need a project that is a quick win… and this project is a good palate cleanser that can be completed in one sitting.

Linking to some of the following: Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story, Sew Cute Tuesday @ Blossom Heart Quilts, WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced, Let’s Bee Social Wednesday @ SewFreshQuilts, Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation, Whoop Whoop Fridays @ Confessions of a Quilt Addict

August 20, 2014September 25, 2015

Jewel Puzzle Paper Pieced Pattern

Free paper pieced pattern for 12″ finished block that includes detailed photographic instructions on how to paper piece.

Today, my new Jewel Puzzle paper pieced block pattern was featured on Sew Mama Sew! Head over to Sew Mama Sew for the Jewel Puzzle Tutorial.

This paper pieced pattern is probably a solid intermediate level… not too hard because there aren’t a lot of intersections to match up, but a lot of pieces for a true beginner.

I made this block to use a pillow in my daughter’s new room. I wanted something bright and cheerful, and I think this block does just that.

I also made a version of this block for my Red & White Sampler. It amazes me how different these blocks look with some different fabric and different fabric placements.

If you make this block, please let me know because I would love to see your work! I’ve started an Instagram tag for #jewelpuzzle block, or you can email me a picture.

– Heather

Also linking up to:

WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced, Let’s Bee Social Wednesday @ SewFreshQuilts, Whoop Whoop Fridays @ Confessions of a Quilt Addict, Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Ft. Worth Fabric, Show off Saturday at Sew Can She, Sewing Saturday at Simple Simon & Co, Anything Goes Monday, Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story, Sew Cute Tuesday @ Blossom Heart Quilts

December 14, 2013May 29, 2014

How to sew a baby Santa Hat tutorial

I was searching for a tutorial on how to make a baby Santa hat, and found crochet and knitting tutorials and patterns galore but nothing for sewing with knits or fleece. I played around and made a couple cute versions for my daughter, so hopefully this very loose tutorial can help someone else.

If you choose to do the traditional santa hat, it is a bit easier. I used a serger for this project, but it was really just because I have a new serger that I was excited and wanted to use. A regular sewing machine would work just as well.

1. Measure your child’s head. My daughter’s head was a little over 18.25 inches in circumference.

2. Make hat width about half of the child’s head size. I made it 9 inches wide. Cut bottom 9 inches wide, and then go up about 2 inches on the left and right sides of the hat. For the band, cut white fleece rectangle 18 inches (double the red part’s width) by 6.5 inches. Make sure the direction of stretch is widthwise when cutting all pieces.

3. Cut the angle for the Santa Hat. I made mine 60 degree angles using the marking on my quilting ruler. I just cut up and let them intersect.

4. I cut the top part off because of how I was attaching the fleece pom pom. If you are hand sewing, I would just leave the angle and sew it on once completed. Don’t try to serge the fleece with the pom pom in it. Don’t ask me why I know that. Just trust me… it’s not worth trying to do no matter how clever it seems.

Example pom pom tutorials:

Fleece pom poms from “What does she do all day?”

Fleece pom poms from “Pretty Prudent”

Wool pom pom from “Parenting Fun Everyday”

Looped thread pom pom (blog not in english, but has self-explanatory pictures)

Purl Bee method using special pom pom maker

Cardboard circle method from “One Crafty Mumma”

5. Sew together the red top angled part of the hat. If you are using a regular sewing machine, a straight stitch would work for this part.

6. Sew the white rectangle band piece with right sides together on the short end. Fold the band in half with right sides together. Sew the white band and red hat together. If you are using a regular machine, I would use a zig zag stitch for this part so that it will have some stretch to fit on your child’s head.

7. Fold the band down and it is ready for wear!

The skull cap version is a little bit more complicated, but not if you have a hat pattern.

Step one: Get hat pattern. If you have a knit hat on hand that fits, you can trace it and then add seam allowances to get the proper size. If you want to make a size 0-3 months, you can use the pattern provided at Zaaberry. Her instructions on how to assemble the hat are very good and very well photographed, so I recommend using her tutorial for assembly.

Step two: Cut out two hat pieces and one band piece. The main hat pieces will be red and the band will be white. Take care to make sure the direction of the fabric stretch is horizontal so that it can stretch and stay on your little one’s head.

Step three: Make white pom pom or get pom pom for top of the hat. Or buy some pom poms from the store, whatever is easiest. Whatever method you use, make sure there is some thread or fleece or other method of attachment to sew into the hat. If not, you can hand sew it on at the end.

Step three: Prepare and Sew together the hat pieces. Fold the hat piece in half and sew the cut out portion first. Repeat for second piece. Then put the right sides together and sew the half moon shape leaving the opening for the head. Sew the rectangle band piece with right sides together on the short end. Fold the band in half with right sides together.

Step four: Sew the band and hat together.