Electric Quilt Company 25th Anniversary Giveaway!

Congratulations to our winner Sonia Brathwaite!
Don't forget to check Electric Quilts BLOG to see if you won their prize as well! Thanks to everyone for participating!

We are excited to partner with the Electric Quilt Company for one of their giveaways to celebrate 25 years! We want to give you a chance to win an EQ7 (valued at $189.95)! Submit your email below for a TWO chances to win and to add ONE more chance you can also follow us on Pinterest by clicking that link below as well!  If you want to win even more, check out their blog post for a chance to win FIVE FreeSpirit bundles of our True Colors fabrics by Amy Butler, Anna Maria Horner, Joel Dewberry, Tula Pink, and Heather Bailey! Hurry the contest ends May 25th!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Play Date from David Walker!

What could be more fun than a play date with charmingly whimsical animals brought to you from David Walker Studios? From oversized dots and plaids, to zebras floating through clouds, to elephants on unicycles, this playful collection in saturated colors will surely be embraced by little boys and girls alike.

Visit makeitcoats.com to see the entire collection as well as read more about David and be inspired by our free projects!

Click here for the Play Date Baby Quilt and Play Date Doll Bed Ensemble patterns.  

Inspiration behind Nel Whatmore's new Merry Go Round collection

Nel shares her inspiration in her own words "Merry Go Round is inspired by the joys of the fun fair. From spinning wheels and carousels it aims to evoke a feeling of playfulness and the joys of a great day out. I am always drawn to circular forms and curved lines. I just can’t help it! We have a fair that comes to town every year here in Tadcaster.  Fairs fascinate me; from the people that run them to the patterns and lavish decorations. I liked the idea of producing a kaleidoscope of color that echoes the joy of a day out at the fair."

Visit makeitcoats.com to see the entire collection as well as read more about Nel and be inspired by our free projects!  

Click here for the Merry Go Round Quilt and Merry Go Round Pillow patterns!

Lace Mountain from Zandra Rhodes

Zandra Rhodes is a major influencer of the world of fashion!  She is also the founder of the Fashion and Textile Museum in London.  Lace Mountain, Zandra’s debut collection with FreeSpirit collection is full of bold and vibrant designs and colors.  Zandra shares her inspiration behind the new collection, “My inspiration comes from nature, and my mother who sewed and made dresses as home. So my style is interpreted in my own, very special and personal way – whether it’s “Frilly Flowers” or “Zigzag Stars”, my magical meandering wiggles invade all the patterns. For this collection I have delved into my vast Rhodes repertoire of wiggles, stitching, frills and flowers to specially produce wonderful memories that can be magically sewn together in a myriad of ways.”

Visit makeitcoats.com to see the collection as well as read more about Zandra and be inspired by our free projects!  

Introducing FreeSpirit Designer Zandar Rhodes

Zandra’s early textile fashion designs were considered too outrageous by traditional British manufacturers, so in 1969, she established her own retail store front on fashionable Fulham Road in West London. Zandra’s own lifestyle has proven to be as dramatic, glamorous and extroverted as her designs.  

 

 With her bright green hair (later changed to a spectacular pink and sometimes a radiant red), theatrical makeup and art jewelry, she has stamped her identity on the international world of fashion.  Zandra talks about her Lace Mountain collection: “My inspiration comes from nature, and my mother who sewed and made dresses at home. 

 So my style is interpreted in my own, very special and personal way – whether it’s “Frilly Flowers” or “Zigzag Stars”, my magical meandering wiggles invade all the patterns. For this collection I have delved into my vast Rhodes repertoire of wiggles, stitching, frills and flowers to specially produce wonderful memories that can be magically sewn together in a myriad of ways.

Lace Mountain represents memories of Australia’s Ayers Rock (The “Lace Mountain”), and the Spinifex Grass that grows around it. The way the imagery is interpreted is influenced by my mother and my sewing background.”

New FreeSpirit Designer Alice Hickey

“Dynamic designs will add sparkle and light to your daily life. Creative ideas come to me rapidly and I love my connection with fabric. I not only design fabric but I have worked with it for many years as I have done my own sewing. Color juxtaposed with an airy ambience of intriguing designs, sets into action the movement, light and excitement of my final creation. As I look to nature for ideas, I am challenged to create something new and vivacious.”    

 Alice Hickey is a contemporary watercolor artist who paints on non-traditional canvas versus standard watercolor paper. She has painted Southwestern art and contemporary floral paintings exhibited and sold in places such as the 34th Annual River Road Show, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; The International Art Exhibit, Sea Cliff, New York; The Cordova Historical Museum, Cordova, Alaska; the 38th Annual Mother Lode National Arts Association, Placerville, California; the 9th Annual Rio Brazos Art Exhibition, Granbury, Texas; and three separate galleries in New York.

 Her contemporary and Southwestern art is the recipient of numerous awards and national recognition including winner of the 2008 Easter Seal Competition and finalist in the Nova Town Society cover competition. She is considered a contemporary master by Amsterdam Whitney Fine Art, Inc., where her art has shown for the last ten years.  Alice’s work is in over 140 private collections and has shown in 100 galleries nationwide. Alice has painted over 5000 paintings in the last 15 years.  Her home and studio are just a few miles south of Sedona, Arizona. “I enjoy painting,” Hickey has said. “Painting is everything to me. I can’t seem to limit myself.”  

Dena Designs and Pretty Little Things!

Editor's Note: Dena Designs recently introduced a new FreeSpirit Collection called Pretty Little Things (24 SKUs, 100% cotton, available June). Fun and whimsical, this collection features a combination of hand-painted florals with fresh geometric prints in aqua, pink, yellow and orange. Inspired by sweet hand-made projects, these are perfect patterns for creating pretty little things. Enjoy this post from Dena!

I have a small stash of inexpensive photo albums and scrapbooks that I bought years ago. They make really special customizable gifts for close friends and family. You will be pleasantly surprised how easy and fast it is to cover one of these books in your favorite fabric.

Gather:
• An inexpensive scrapbook or album
• Enough fabric to cover it, plus 1” extra all around

• Patterned paper for the interior front and back cover

• Scissors

• Small decorative frame to attach to the album cover

• Photo for the frame

• Paper or fabric tag

• Ribbon

• Hot Glue

• Spray Adhesive

• Sizzix Die Cutting Machine and Dies (optional)
Create:
1. To cover your album with fabric, you can often disassemble the albums to separate the front and back cover, but we think that takes too long! This is the easy-breezy way to get the job done. Begin by cutting your fabric that you will use to cover your album.

2. I like to use spray adhesive to cover my album – just make sure you spray outside! Lay both your fabric and album open face down on a clean surface. Spray the back of the fabric and the front and back of the open album. Then, pick up your album and lay the sticky side down centered onto the flat fabric. Apply pressure all around the edges to adhere. Close the album. Smooth out any wrinkles – if there are big ones you have a few seconds to reposition your fabric before the glue dries.

3. Open the album again, and cut the corners of the fabric ¼” away from the corners of the album on the diagonal. This will make neater folds when you’re wrapping the fabric around to the inside of the album. Also cut two slits along the edge of your fabric the same width as the spine of your album. This is so you can fold this flap of fabric into the spine of your album for a neat edge.

4. Spray more adhesive along the interior edge of your open album cover, and begin to fold the extra fabric up, so it’s neatly wrapping from the outside to the inside of your book. Do this for all the edges on the front and back cover, as well as the little tabs on the spine.

5. Now take some patterned paper and use that to make neat end pages for the front and back covers of your album. This will cover the frayed edges of the wrapping fabric. Simply cut it about ¼” to ½” away from the interior edges, spray adhesive the back, and stick it down. Do this for both the front and back.

6. Now, to embellish the front cover, I had a little gold frame that I found at the flea market, and I printed a photo to fit perfectly inside it. You can use a frame like this, or a die cut paper frame for your photo – whatever you have on hand! Hot glue this to the center of your cover.

7. Die cut a tag in white fabric with a Sizzix die cutting machine, or with scissors. Make holes or slits in either end and string a thin ribbon through. Hot glue one end of the ribbon under the front cover, and the other end of the ribbon around to the back of the album.

8. Take a marker and write the name of the person that your album is for. Now you have a totally unique album or scrapbook!

I love using this fabric covering method for all kinds of projects. Try it on journals, address books, boxes, and more!