Category: How-To

Free Tips on Fabric Napkins

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Now that my Easter table-runner and placemats are done, I needed to finish the set with some fabric napkins. As you will see from the notes below – this can be a very quick project that yields excellent results.

When I make fabric napkins I always use the product “Wonder Tape”. The product has a ¼” paper attached to one side of a double-sided tape.

For making napkins, I take the Wonder Tape and place it at the very edge on the top side (right side up) of the fabric. I stop taping ¼” in from the ends which will become the corners.

After you have put the tape on all 4 sides, go to the ironing board. I fold the edge over ¼” and iron, leave the paper on the double-sided tape while you are ironing. After I go all the way around once, I turn a second time ¼” hem and iron as I go.

Now go to your sewing machine, unfold your pressed hem and take off the paper off one side at a time as you sew your ¼” hem. Because the tape holds everything in place as you sew your fabric doesn’t shift as you sew (which would leave puckers). Instead it lays very flat and you can sew around the napkin in no time at all. Note – you can note that you can sew right through the tape and it won’t gum up your sewing machine.
You will have a beautiful hem when you are done – without getting a major headache in the process!

Next – make coordinating Napkin Rings!
To make the napkin rings, I used the fusible Peltex cut into strips: 5½” X 1¾”.

Cut the fabric for the rings into 4” wide strips. You will then lay the Peltex strip down in the center of the fabric. Iron to fuse the Peltex. This will provide strength and shape to the rings. As you can see, I left a small space and simply fused all of my Peltex onto one piece of fabric, then I went back and cut each strip to size.

Stitch down the center to hold the fabric to Peltex after pressing. Overlap the two ends and hand stitch the ring closed. Add a fabric yo-yo made with the ex-large yo-yo maker and a leaf.

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Now you can make your own napkins in no time – just imagine the possibilities! And feel free to share your ideas!
Sheila Reinke, Heart of Sewing
Sheila

Appliqué Towels!

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Every year I stitch towels for high school swimmers that have qualified for the state swim meet. A local tradition is that the state qualifiers make a towel for one of their fellow state qualifying swimmers, and the towels are always personalized for that swimmer.

Today I thought I would share two of the towels I worked on, and the towel I am making for my granddaughter.

  1. Purchase 2 yards of 45″ wide towel terry fabric is at the fabric store.
  2. After working out the design elements of the towel, I begin to appliqué them on top.
  3. I use Pellon Wonder Under to fuse the appliqués on and than do a loose satin stitch to finish the edges of the appliqués.
  4. Be careful not to satin stitch too tightly or you will stretch out the towel fabric.

Pellon Wonder Under is a fusible web product that is wonderful for working with appliqués. Fusible Web is basically a sheet of glue with paper attached to one side. You trace your design (mirror image) on to the paper. Trim around the tracing leaving about ¼” around your design. Lay the paper webbing with the glue side to the back of your fabric and iron the two together. The heat will activate the glue, adhering it firmly to your project. Now trim directly on the line you drew on the paper. Remove the paper backing and place the wrong side of the appliqué to the right side of your project and iron again. This will fix the two fabrics together. Because the glue sheet is all the way to the edge of the appliqué you should not have much fraying if any; however, it is always good to finish the edge with a satin or blanket stitch.


This first swimmer is into the argyle look so I took the red towel and added black and white diamonds and than did a zig-zag stitch through the diamonds to create the design. After the design was complete, I went back and appliquéd on the swimmer’s name and the other letter elements (the category she qualified for, the year, and of course the school name). I choose white because it would stand out nicely and still worked well with the other colors in the towel. As you can see, Lauren is a diver.

Some of the towels are more graphic than others, here is one for a freestyle swimmer who also happens to like cars.

Of course, working on projects like these tends to inspire me in other, similar directions. Below is a picture of a beach towel I have just finished for my granddaughter for Easter.

Her towel is being made onto a store-bought towel (no requirement to ‘make’ every element of her towel!), and I got the idea for the appliqué pieces from a new quilting book that I have recently previewed for Hancock Fabrics.


Anyone looking for some inspiration for some cheery quilts should consider taking a look at this book once it becomes available!
Sheila Reinke, Heart of Sewing
Sheila

Do You Yo-Yo?

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I’ve been asked to show just how the new yo-yo makers from Clover work, so this post will strictly be a how-to. Feel free to respond with any questions you have about the process or the product itself.

Step 1

Step 1 – Lining up the template is very important in making circular yo-yos. Notice the bump on the outside of the template (where my finger is pointing)?

Step 2

Step 2 – Line that bump up with the line that is on the insert. Make sure you don’t forget to sandwich your fabric between the two pieces!

Step 3

Step 3 – Snap the fabric between the inside disk and outside cover of the yo-yo maker. Trim away the fabric leaving about ¼” that you hold under so when you are sewing you catch it, this will create the hem.

Step 4

Step 4 – Stitch up and down through each of the openings, starting with a stitch on the back of the yo-yo (where your fabric hem is turned under). One stitch will go on each end of the openings, I call them a smiling mouth shape opening because of the way they look. Go all the way around. Your stitches will not go over any part of the plastic (this is how you will remove the template later). I use a doubled thread when sewing yo-yos.

Step 5

Step 5 – Take off the outside piece of the yo-yo maker. You can see my stitches but of course your thread would match your fabric.

Step 6

Step 6 – Carefully remove the fabric from the inside disk. You may need to loosen your stitches slightly to do this.

Step 7

Step 7 – Now pull the thread to gather up the yo-yo.

Step 8

Step 8 –Pull thread as tight as you can and make a knot. You have a yo-yo! You can pull the yo-yo into shape with your hands if needed.

Step 1 Step 2

Heart Yo-Yo – The heart is done much the same way, except that you will need to shape it a bit more as you pull the threads to finish it.

finished heart

Just think of the possiblities for this heart with Valentine’s Day coming up!

step 1 step 1

Flower Yo-Yo – Flower is much the same, with this difference: you can make the center a different color. Cut a circle for the center and put the two fabrics wrong sides together.
Complete the stitching for the center of the flower first, leaving about a 2″ tail of thread at the beginning and end of the circle. Then start your thread again – this time on the outside of the flower. Note: you should not have a thread that goes from the center of the flower to the outside – these areas are stitched separately.
When you are finished stitching the outside, remove the fabric from the template, and draw the threads up, draw the inner circle first, then the outside. Shape the petals as you go.

step 3 Finished Flower

And for those who need to know – here are the approximate sizes of the finished yo-yos using these templates from Clover:

Extra Large Circle: 2 3/8″
Large Circle: 1 3/4″
Small Circle: 1 ¼”
Extra Small Circle: ¾”
Flower: 1 ¾”
Heart: 1 5/8″ x 1 ¾”

It’s amazing how quickly people can become hooked on yo-yos. And they can be used in so many ways, to embellish a placecard at the table, to dress up a shirt as I showed earlier, in necklaces, embellishing a purse, and the list goes on. Of course their use in quilting is a time-honored tradition! Please let me know what you have done with yo-yos lately!
Sheila Reinke, Heart of Sewing
Sheila