Designer Spotlight - Anna Maria Horner Folk Song Collection & FREE projects

Anna Maria Horner shares in her own words her inspiration behind her newest collection Folk Song.

Answering some very earnest enthusiasm for two beloved collections, I am so pleased to re-introduce favorite prints from Good Folks and Little Folks in an assortment that I named Folk Song. The harmonious gathering of these two print collections also inspired a reworking of the Square Dance panel print into a new feature floral called Minor Chords. Folk Song is an essential fourteen-piece collection all printed on FreeSpirit's smooth and illustrative quilting cotton- a very exciting change for the Little Folks prints that were originally available only as cotton voile. The color-saturated yet sweet style of this group is punctuated with my signature palette and hand-drawn style, making these prints a keepsake ingredient in endless handmade items for generations to come. - Anna Maria Horner

Visit our site to view the entire Folk Song collection

Patchwork Carryall

Sweet Medley Folk Song Quilt

Folk Dance Quilt

Cottage Garden Quilt Pattern

Cottage Garden brings color juxtaposed with an airy ambiance 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

Download the free project from makeitcoats.com.  Check out the Discover section for loads of more free projects and patterns featuring our FreeSpirit designers and fabrics!

Fastest Holiday Gift Ever!

Add a homemade touch to the standard gift of a bottle of wine by making these classy, linen coasters. Featuring FreeSpirit Cocoon and Jenaveve Linen/Cotton by Valori Wells, this quick gift idea will dress up any table any time.   Click here for directions. Cheers and Happy Holidays!

National Sewing Month!

September is here and that means National Sewing Month! We’ll be celebrating all month long with some fun posts and fabric. We asked a few bloggers to help inspire you with easy-to-make projects in beautiful FreeSpirit fabrics. Each week during the month of September we will bring you a tutorial for a fun project from a different blogger. And at the end of the month, we’ll be giving away fabric. You won’t want to miss any of it!

Today, we kick things off with the perfect quilting accessory made from FreeSpirit Florence by Denyse Schmidt. The Mat Carrier by Melissa Peda fits an 18” square cutting mat with a pocket on the back for patterns, snips, threads, etc. The pattern uses an 18” finished quilt block for the front panel, although you can easily substitute a simple square in your favorite print. Click on the photo above for the PDF of this handy carrier.

The pictured project features a modified quilt block from Denyse Schmidt’s Between The Lines quilt pattern. The block is used with permission by Denyse Schmidt and is not part of the pattern which is available now at dsquilts.com and at local quilt shops.

We hope you’ll join us as we celebrate sewing. If you have a favorite sewing memory, please share it with us. We’d love to hear who first taught you to sew!

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!

Back-to-School Pencil Case

Today we continue our Back-To-School series with a Zippered Pencil Case. Quick and easy to put together, this handy little pouch will hold pens, pencils and plenty of odd bits.

 

The cases in the photo show off FreeSpiritParson Gray prints and Parson Gray Renaissance ribbons. (See Renaissance Ribbons for more of your favorite Rowan and FreeSpirit designer ribbons.) However, you can easily change the look from one of masculine utility to anything that suits your school age child. Looking for a feminine touch? Select a sweet floral print and add rick rack or lace. Or is it fun and funky you require? Choose bright prints and go wild. It’s entirely up to you.

 

Each case only needs two 10” squares of fabric and one 9” zipper. So grab your favorite FreeSpirit designer fabrics and make some for the kids in your life. While you’re at it, make one for yourself too!

 

 

Click HERE for pattern!

Scottie Dog Pattern!

Here is a free pattern from Denyse Schmidt! This cute little Scottie Dog is a fairly easy project that is fun and very cute. It's a great way to use a lot of your small scrap fabrics that you have laying around.

Download the pattern HERE. Enjoy! We would love to see your finished Scottie Dogs!

This is a picture that Stephanie submitted with her twist of the Scottie Dog pattern. How cute! I love how she adds the flowers made out of YoYo's and the Ric Rac for stems. Very clever! Not to mention the cute cupcake pincushion in the background. Thanks so much for sharing Stephanie!