Sharing Our Love of Laminates-- A GIVEAWAY!

We love laminates! It’s hard to resist their easy-to-clean versatility and lovely drape. This week, we’re giving away some laminates to two lucky readers.

 

 

Each winner will receive a one yard cut of each of the three prints shown above. All three prints are from Anna Maria Horner’s Field Study collection. That’s three yards total to each winner!!

For a chance to be one of the lucky readers, leave a comment on this post by Sunday, August 18^th at midnight, Eastern Standard Time. We will announce the randomly chosen winners the week of August 19^th.

While there is no wrong comment, we would love to hear your favorite use for laminates. Good luck!

The perfect back to school fabric, Laminates!

As you prepare and organize for the Back to School chaos, don’t forget about FreeSpirit 100% cotton laminates like Field Study by Anna Maria Horner. They are perfect for so many projects and with such a large variety of prints available, you can get just the look you want.

While laminates can seem intimidating, there’s no reason to avoid them. Just keep these handy tips in mind:

• When using pins, keep them in the seam allowance. The holes they leave are permanent.  
• Use binding clips, vinyl coated paper clips or even bobby pins to keep two pieces joined together while you stitch. These tools do not leave holes. There will be times when you won’t have a seam allowance to hide holes from pins (topstitching, edgestitching, etc.) and these little tools will make a big difference.
• Do NOT iron. For best results, finger press the seams. If you must press, be sure to iron on the wrong side or use a pressing cloth over the laminate to protect the surface from the iron. Use a low heat to press.
• Use a specialized foot, such as a walking foot, Teflon coated foot or roller foot. If you do not have one, you can put painter’s tape on the bottom of your sewing machine foot. Painter’s tape will not leave residue on the foot and will help the foot glide smoothly across the coated surface.
• Use a slightly longer stitch and a sharp Universal 80/12 or a Microtex 80/12 sewing machine needle for best results.

Our laminates come in 54/55” (137/140cm) widths. Don’t forget to factor this into yardage requirements on patterns that do not specifically state yardage for wide widths.

Looking for ideas? We have a few suggestions.

Heather Bailey’s darling Jack & Jill lunch bag pattern:

   Link: http://www.heatherbaileystore.com/Jack-and-Jill-Lunch-Bags-p/mp005-jj.htm

 

Amy Butler’s Rainy Days raincoat pattern

   Link: http://www.amybutlerdesign.com/products/patterns_display.php?id=45

For a free pattern to make a laminate garment bag, check out Melissa Peda’s pretty project here.

 

   Link:http://100billionstars.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Garment-Bags-in-Laminate.pdf

Be sure to come back next week when we share the love of laminates with a giveaway!

Laminated Fabric

Above are our newest laminated fabrics! The top photo is out of Anna Maria Horner's fabric, then the swatches consist of Heather Bailey, George Mendoza (Art of Possibility) and Annette Tatum.

Below are some sewing tips that will help you in your Laminated sewing projects!

Tips for sewing Laminated fabric
From Coats and Clark

Thread: Use All-purpose thread. Dual Duty XP or Coats Cotton All-purpose
Needles: Size 12 or 14, sharp. A smaller needle makes a smaller puncture hole.

Presser Foot: A Teflon coated presser foot will prevent the presser foot sticking when sewing on the laminated side. This is especially helpful when topstitching. A roller presser foot may also be used.

Tips:
Use a longer stitch length (3mm or more) for seaming and topstitching. Shorter stitch lengths can have the affect of perforating the fabric.

Select a pattern with simple lines and seaming. Avoid eased, gathered or intricate shaping because the fabric does not give.

It isn’t necessary to straighten the grain on a laminated fabric, it will not shift due to the coating.

Cut in a single layer with the right side up. For pieces cut on the fold, fold wrong sides together.

Mark with chalk or smooth-edged tracing wheel.

Holes may remain in fabric, so place pins in seam allowances and avoid having to rip seams. If making a garment, be sure of fit and make alterations to pattern before cutting out.

Do not touch an iron to the right side. Use a warm iron on the wrong side.

Welt, flat-fell or topstitched seams will lie flatter than a plain seam, since seams cannot be pressed open.