How to Mix Prints Tutorial

I love mixing prints in my various creations whether it's pillows, aprons, quilts, strip-pieced skirts, totes, etc. I'm often asked about how I decide what colors and what prints to combine. I thought I'd share my thought processes on this. I have no idea if this is the "technically correct" way to do it, but I always get compliments on the end results, so it must be working for me.

Step 1: Fall in Love - Usually I start with a print for which I have fallen head over in heels. It's usually the largest of the prints and has many colors from which to pull coordinates. Most frequently it's a paisley or a floral, but sometimes a figural print such as a toile. Below is one I found at JoAnn's recently and bought a 1/2 yard to use as an example for this tutorial. I LOVE this print and would probably use it in a quilt or perhaps a Country French-ish tablecloth.



Step 2: Mad for Plaid - Add a plaid or similar geometric. Pull one of the colors from the print to be the predominant color in the plaid, but make sure the other colors match as well. The plaid should be smaller in scale than Fabric #1 so it does not compete.



Step 3: Go Dotty - I like to add a polka dot next. It can be simply one color on a background that coordinates with your inspiration print or incorporate all the colors as this dot below does.



Step 4: Toss One In - Next I will look for a tossed motif print that adds a bit of whimsy. Something a little funky. These little bones are perfect and the blue background is a great match to the inspiration prints blue. If funky isn't appropriate for the project, I may look for a tone on tone print, perhaps in a floral if I'm working with a paisley or a small paisley if I'm working with a floral.



Step 5: Warm It Up or Cool it down - Most of my colors so far are very cool. I need a warm shade to sunny things up. So I chose a yellow. The chicken wire motif also picks up the hint of country that is suggested by the Country French paisley. If I had mostly warm colors so far, then I would cool things down with a cool print. Keep the print small or tone on tone so things don't get too cluttered.



Step Six and Seven: Racing Stripes and a Touch of White or Black - These are two optional final steps. If desired, I might add a stripe. At this point, the stripe is debatable for me. I'm pretty happy with the set so far and I have a geometric with my plaid. So I could go either way. If I was doing a quilt where lots of prints are needed, it would stay. If I was doing a strip-pieced border on an apron, I would probably pass. And then finally...most quilters recommend a touch of a light neutral or a black to give a little punch. I don't like adding in solids to lots of prints. They stand out too much and detract from the happy mix of prints. So if I was going to add a white, I would do one like this that had a very subtle print to it, but at a casual glance appeared mostly solid.



Here are some other mixed prints I've done through the years...

Large Floral Inspiration Print + a small floral + a paisley + a polka dot.


Large Floral Inspiration Print + a small geometric + a polka dot.


Toile + Polka Dot + Stripe + Floral.


Inspiration Print + Plaid - Stopped After Step Two


Tablecloth Inspiration + Plaid + Stripe + Various Tossed Motifs

Fabric Embossing Tutorial

Here is a fun technique that can add texture to your garment. It's simple and can be done with items you already have on hand. You will need to keep a few things in mind when planning your design.

1) The garment will have to be dry-cleaned. Washing and drying the garment will raise the pile and destroy the embossed image.

2) You will want to emboss the pieces BEFORE garment construction. You will need to think through where you wish the embellishment detail to occur. Along a hem? On a pocket? As a border down a front closure? Consider seam allowances, facings and such when planning the placement of your embossing.

Okay...let's begin.

Step One: Select your fabrics. The embossing works best on a garment with a nap. However, I also had some wonderful results on a piece of black wool that had no nap. You will want to do samples before attempting embossing on your garment pieces. I found that too much pile was not successful as well. My best results occurred on wool, terry, textured knit, corduroy, velvet, panne velvet and moleskin.



Step Two: Select your resist. A resist is a textured item that has a raised design that can be pressed into fabric. It needs to be able to resist heat. I found that rubber stamps can work if the heat is not too high or too sustained. Cookie cooling racks, trims, lace, hardware pieces, drapery hooks, even seashells could produce interesting results.



Step Three: Place your resist textured size up on a hard, iron-able surface.



Step Four: Place your fabric napped side down over the resist.



Step Five: Spray the back of the fabric with water. It shouldn't be soaking wet, but more than a light misting.



Step Six: Iron on medium heat for about 20 seconds. The amount of heat and duration of heat will vary according to resist and fabric. Do samples first.





That's all there is to it! Your piece is now ready to assemble. :) Optional idea: You can also try painting your resist with fabric paints and then embossing to add color to your design. To see more samples produced during a recent sewing lesson, click here.

Spring Redecorating

Please be patient with me over the next few days. I'm going to be experimenting with some Spring Blog Spruce-Up. I loved my vintage sepia look I had going, but had become bored with it. After nosing around the Big Sewing Blog List, I noticed that almost all the top blogs have white backgrounds. So..there must be some reader demand for that. And while I love that old antique look, I want this to be a comfy place for my readers. So...feedback welcome. I'm still working on a new Header Banner as this one looks a little "homemade."

Charity

Today's Plans

I have about five Saturday's worth of projects planned for today. I need to get the house looking pretty first. Then I want to do some baking for DH. The man has been soooo sweet to me lately. That's probably a day's worth right there, but I also want to get several tutorials up by midnight so I can enter them in Sew Mama Sew's tutorial contest. I have plans for one on embossing fabrics, stenciling fabrics, how to mix prints, adding decorative bands to towels, sewing twisted tucks and sewing sharksteeth. Okay...that's probably a week's worth right there. And then I want to finish a toddler's 4T tunic, a UFO from way back. I also have two skirts for the 100 Skirts Project to finish up, photograph and post. And... And... And...

Better get busy! Will post progress when and if I make any.

Charity

Three More

Alison has contacted me volunteering to sew two Girls 14 and One Misses Small. This brings our total to 103. Thank you so much, Alison! Our new size chart is as follows:

Size 3T: 10 – DONE
Size 4: 5 Sewn/Promised (Extra sizes. We do not need to reach a total of 10 here)
Size 5T: 11 - DONE
Size 6: 10 - DONE
Size 7 – 10 - DONE
Size 8 – 11 - DONE
Size 10 – 10 - DONE
Size 12 – 11 - DONE
Size 14 – 6 Promised/Sewn, 4 Needed
Size 16 – 7 Promised/Sewn, 3 Needed
Misses Small – 5 Promised/Sewn, 5 Needed

I have some tutorials and giveaways coming soon. I have been in and out of town the last few days and substitute teaching as well. So thank you for your patience and I'll get to it as soon as I can.

Charity

PS - Paula...did you send some of your nasty Puget Sound snow this way? We had Spring well in hand and then...BAM! All of a sudden we're in the middle of a nasty snow storm!

ONE HUNDRED SKIRTS!!!!

Drumroll, please....

I was contacted by Liz from the lovely state of Utah this morning. She wants to make some skirts in the larger sizes so that brings us to the grand total of...

100 SKIRTS!!

I don't know which size and how many, so I'll just count it as one skirt and put it in the grand total, but not the size chart. Thank you so much, Liz! So....where do we go from here?

This is what I'll be tracking from here on out. I will take and post pics of the skirts as they arrive at my home. If you wish to have a link to your blog or website, please include that in your package. And don't forget to name your skirt for the tags! :) I will keep a running count of Skirts Received vs. Skirts Promised to help us stay on track with actually having the skirts finished and ready to ship by August 1st.

Also, please feel free to continue to join in, if you wish. I don't want to leave anyone out who wants to participate. And we do have a few sizes that don't have 10 skirts simply because I have extras of some sizes and some skirts were promised, but no sizes designated. I intend to continue sewing all the way up to August. I want to have a little extra margin just in case some skirt donors were unable to complete their donations. And I'd love to have some extras for the new orphans that will be arriving when more dorms are built.

There are no words to express how much I appreciate each and everyone of you. This project just got away from me...in a good way. I had fully intended to sew 100 Skirts. However, the power of community, even a "virtual" one, had a different idea. I like it this way even better. A wonderful statement of good will and compassion. Ya'll are awesome!

There will be a MAJOR giveaway in honor of reaching our goal. I will be putting together a nice big goodie box soon as well as some smaller prizes. Stay tuned for your opportunity to win!

Hugs and Kisses

Charity

What The Cat Dragged Home

Well...the truck deal was declined. BUT Dh was true to his word and we were at the dealership bright and early to begin negotiations on the craft inventory. I had high hopes of walking off with most of the stash, but the boys-with-tires had dragged in a woman to go head to head with DH. So we lost our bargaining edge right off the bat. She knew what was what. There was no way she was going to let me walk off with $10,000 worth of inventory for $500. Shucks! But she did agree to do some selling by lot prices and we got her down to .25 a fat quarter. I began digging through boxes and drawers and shelves, setting aside my finds while DH and she began their wheeling and dealing. An hour or two later, I had about $1600 worth of inventory for $200. I wanted a lot more, of course, but it was absolutely overwhelming to try to make decisions when nothing was easily accessible. Major contortions were involved to try to get to quite a few of the drawers. I had to move a bike, a kayak and an antique commode. Since I didn't know any of the prices nor what she would agree to, I had few parameters to try to prioritize what to buy and what to set aside. Now that the initial foray is over and I'm more familiar with what they're willing to let go cheaply and what is set in stone, I will most likely make a couple more trips back. I'll probably even load up the car with some of my teenaged sewing buddies and make a field trip out of it.

So this is what I got...

106 spools of thread - Mostly Gutermann, Mittler and some specialty threads like metallics, fusible, blending filament, etc.


17 cards of hand-made porcelain, pewter or sweater clasp buttons, many of them with $6.00 price tags on them.


73 iron applique patches, applique kits with pre-cut pieces, metal filigree craft appliques


30 packs of platinum, gold-topped, cross-stitch, silk ribbon, tapestry, hand-sewing, quilting machine needles, sewing machine needles, etc.


11 needle cases, 7 of them hand-painted with Alaskan wildflowers. I will probably do a give-away on some of these. So stay tuned.


A 5 ft. Pressing pad (needed that!), a seam roll, two rulers


9 packs of SILK (!) yo-yos for embellishments. This will be perfect with felted wool leaves and vintage buttons to make folk art flowers.


A complete color card set of 11 silk ribbon embroidery hanks, Judith Montano's silk ribbon embroidery book, Elegant Stitches, a $30 silk ribbon necklace kit, assorted related notions.


67 quilt fabric cuts, some FQs and some 1/2 yard cuts (.25 each!)



Not pictured strictly because of bandwidth issues...

applique scissors
rotary cutters w/ extra blades and pinking blades
decoupage scissors
komfort-kut scissors
pelican scissors
mini-iron for applique work
several fisker scissors with covers and built-in sharpeners
30 packs of quilting pins, silk pins, glass head pins and other pins
two pincushions
two Simplicity Giant Sewing Books
one memory quilt book
one sewing journal
24 yards of vintage lace trim
huge lot of assorted knitting, crochet notions, bodkins, loop turners, gadgets
cute decorative magnets and tacks for bulletin board
patterns
two adorable broaches made from antique quilt pieces under glass - $19.95 retail each. I got them for $1.00!!
a package of the most adorable tiny vintage chenille chicks

I will be back for more! To my Alaskan readers, I'm now willing to share my secret. :) Hope you don't think I'm awful for getting there first. :) It's the Family Flea Market in Eagle River! Don't let the awful storefront put you off. It's way in the back, but be prepared to really work for it. Have fun and leave something for me. I have a birthday next month and I know where I'm spending my birthday monies! :) :)

Charity

Be Still My Beating Heart...I've Hit The Motherlode

It's every seamstress and hobbyist's dream. It's the motherlode. It's the buried treasure. It's the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It's also top-secret. Don't even try to weasel the location of this treasure out of me. My lips are sealed. You could ram 10 inch bamboo shoots under my nails and I'm not talking. Except to gloat a little about this....

DH and I went on a ride to a never-to-be-named community to look at a used truck. Of course, this is not my idea of an exciting afternoon so I rambled over to a storefront with a ratty hand-painted "flea market" sign out front. It did NOT look promising. Nothing but tires in the windows. But I'm bored and it's the only shopping making itself known at the moment. I wander in and find two guys in their twenties guarding a pile of stinky tires and some used furniture. A quick glance tells me that I'm better off in the car reading the owner's manual out of the glovebox. But I spot a door in the back and ask if that's a work area or open to the public. He shrugs and says "go ahead, have a look". So I amble on back and find...(PREPARE TO BE DEEPLY COVETEOUS)...

That these two young men have evidently bought out the remains of a craft and sewing store. Nothing has been priced or processed yet. But we're talking hundreds and hundreds of patterns, threads, buttons, piping, zippers, interfacing, fabric, vintage lace and trims, jewelry makings, charms, scrapbooking supplies, rubber stamps, ink pads, ironing aids, fabric paints, too much to mention. Plus hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of sewing, craft, and home decor books. I could hardly breathe.

I amble back out to the front desk and casually ask how pricing works, hoping desperately that he does not see the mad glint of gold fever in my eyes. He says they'll probably ask 50% of retail, but they don't really know what most of that stuff is or what it's worth. I ask if they might be willing to consider a flat price if I were willing to buy in a larger quantity. "Yeah," he says, "We dont' really have much use for that stuff and we're hoping the right person will just come along and take it off our hands." I try not to faint, shrug and reply "well, maybe I'll come back when I have more time to look around. My husband was just looking at a truck."

I'm not done yet....

Turns out they also own the car lot that Dh is perusing. Turns out that DH offers them a certain price for the truck on the condition that the wife gets to load up the bed with whatever "sewing garbage" she wants. I'm hyperventilating now and making mental note that Dh needs to be rewarded in a big way. The man just earned major credits on the marital spreadsheet. I'm now waiting on pins and needles to see if they'll accept DH's offer. They said they'd think about it and call.

I'm not done yet....

DH says that even if they turn down the His and Her Truck and Goodies Offer, we'll go back and negotiate on the craft inventory. Swooning with delight. The most brilliant thing I've ever done was snag that man!

Okay I'm done. You can hate me now...

Charity

The Hundred Skirts Project Update - Almost There!

I have just heard from Patsi Jean of Adorable Affordable Design Mall. She is sending 3 Size 12 skirts. This puts our new total at 98 Skirts! Wow! How exciting! We are almost there. Here is the current category list. It doesn't come out to exactly 98 because there are some extras in some of the categories, because there were some skirts sent in a size I didn't include, and because some have been promised, but sizes not specified.

Size 3T: 10 – DONE
Size 4: 5 Sewn/Promised
Size 5T: 11 - DONE
Size 6: 10 - DONE
Size 7 – 10 - DONE
Size 8 – 11 - DONE
Size 10 – 10 - DONE
Size 12 – 11 - DONE
Size 14 – 4 Promised/Sewn, 6 Needed
Size 16 – 7 Promised/Sewn, 3 Needed
Misses Small – 4 Promised/Sewn, 6 Needed

The sizes below were added after I set a goal of 100 Skirts and so are not included in the original plan. After I started on my project, my mother mentioned that there were some older girls who would need large sizes, but she couldn't tell me exact sizes and how many of each. I have an email into the director and will give more info as soon as I hear from her.

Misses Medium – 1 Promised/Sewn
Misses Large - 2 Sewn
Misses Xlarge – 1 Sewn
Misses 2X –

UPDATE - One more skirt promised in a larger size. Exact size not specified. Which brings our total to...

99

Sewing Lessons Monday

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

Just a little Dickens for you literary types. This best sums up today's sewing lesson. I started a new unit with Emily and Sarah. For the next 8 weeks or so we will be working on fabric modification techniques such as bleaching, dyeing, acid-etching, etc. Today we did heat-embossing and stenciling. I will post a tutorial in a few days. They are both fairly straight forward. I showed the girls my embossed samples (see photos below) and then demonstrated the technique. They were then turned loose to search for textured objects to use as resists and to raid my fabric stash for appropriate fabrics. They had a good time experimenting and came up with some rather interesting samples for their notebooks. Items used for resists included rubber stamps, cookie cooling racks, charms, lace, drapery hooks and even seashells. Then we moved on to stenciling with fabric paints. They were quite adventurous in their fabric choices. Emily discovered that stenciling on faux fur does not work well. *g* A finely woven cotton seemed to produce the best results. Sarah found that moleskin produced an interesting effect. After they secured satisfactory samples for their notebooks, we moved on to their independent project work.

Sarah read up on buttonholes from the Sewing Essentials book (Singer Reference Library), prepping for the final step of her vest. I think I'm going to call this the Marathon Vest as it's been an endeavor getting it finished. The buttonholes gave us fits. No fault of Sarah's. My machine's buttonhole mechanism has been really touchy lately. While the second leg of the buttonhole turns out fine, the first one either doesn't sew at all or is spotty. It was really, really, really, really frustrating. We made two out of five buttonholes and then had to call it quits. We're going to need some major sedatives before we tackle the last three. I will be spending this week trying to determine what can be done to get my buttonholer operative again. Emily, meanwhile, continued work on her fuzzy hoodie. She did the back side seams, the shoulder seams and the side seams. She quit a little early in order to revisit fabric stenciling.

Next week Sarah will finish the buttonholes on her vest (keep your fingers crossed!). Emily will install her zipper and attach the hood. And we will explore using bleach to modify fabrics. Here are some photos of our day together...

Fabric Embossing: Rubber Stamp Resist on Corduroy


Fabric Embossing: Rubber Stamp Resist on Rayon Velvet


Fabric Embossing: Rubber Stamp Resist on Black Wool


Fabric Embossing: Rubbert Stamp Resist w/Fabric Paint on French Terry


Sarah working on her Stenciling Sample


Emily working on her Stenciling Sample


Stenciling on White Cotton


Stenciling on Moss Green Moleskin