I’m putting the finishing touches on the new house block patterns going out this weekend and I thought I’d share a look at all my house blocks so far. Remember – I’m working on three different house quilts in three different styles and color palettes. Most people in the club are only making one. 🙂
Up top is my whimsical neighborhood – with houses in colors that most people don’t use in real life. I love them! There’s an extra house in this group because it’s what I used to make the video demo showing how to put everything together. 🙂
This is my more conventional neighborhood. The houses are still wonky and fun, but the colors are more like what you’d see driving down the streets of an actual neighborhood.
And this is my gingerbread quilt. 🙂 All the houses are gingerbread color with candy trim and lots of extras – like beading, extra stitching, buttons, and rickrack “snow” on the roof.
I’m having so much fun with these blocks! And it’s been absolutely fantastic to see the houses that members are making! Pop into the Shiny Happy People group on Facebook to see! Here’s just one fabulous example – this one from Terri.
Want to join the club? It’s never too late! If you sign up now you get instant access to all the pattern pieces and all the emails that have gone out so far. The next mailing goes out this Sunday 4/3.
Updated – The club has finished, so if you order the pattern now you get it all in one big download.
This post contains affiliate links. That means I make a little commission if you buy something after clicking through. All affiliate links are marked with an *.
Kawaii means ‘cute’ in Japanese, and when it comes to amigurumi… there’s a lot in the face!
I make most of my amigurumi as bigger plush toys, that are cute… but not super cutesy. Real human people have their eyes at the halfway point of their face, and this is where I put a lot of my animal’s eyes:
Cute, right?
I’ve drawn up a little graphic of what it looks like to put eyes at the halfway point on a sample bear:
But what if you want to make your amigurumi even CUTER? Even more kawaii?
Try putting the eyes even lower on the face, and spaced further apart! Check out this cutie!
Even cuter! Squee!
Play around with eye placement on your next stuffed animal!
In these Quilt As You Go videos I showed the lines I was stitching on paper. I did this so you could get a bird’s-eye overview of the whole block, and also so you could see how to quilt around the applique, in case you choose to do things in that order. (I like to do my quilting first, then applique over it – but you can do it either way.)
But I’ve had several people ask for a video showing exactly how I sew these patterns at the machine. They want to know. . .
What kind of needle are you using?
How are you basting the block? Pins? Spray baste?
Are you using special thread?
What stitch length are you using?
What are you using to mark the lines?
So here’s a video with all those answers! This one shows how I do Quilt As You Go with wavy lines – all the wavy stripes and grids that I love so much.
In the video I promised to show a gallery of quilt as you go designs – a menu of sorts that you can refer to when you’re looking for ideas. Here that is. If you click on any image you can see it a little bigger.
I almost always quilt my blocks before I applique. Some of these blocks are shown after the applique is added, but I did the quilting first. You can do it in any order you like, but if you quilt after you applique you have to go around the shapes.
Ready? Jump in and have fun! Quilt as you go makes your quilting super fun and easy.
But I’ve had several people ask for a video showing exactly how I sew these patterns at the machine. They want to know. . .
What kind of needle are you using?
How are you basting the block? Pins? Spray baste?
Are you using special thread?
What stitch length are you using?
What are you using to mark the lines?
So here’s a video with all those answers! This one shows how I do Quilt As You Go with straight lines – all the basic stripes and grids that I love so much.
In the video I promised to show a gallery of quilt as you go designs – a menu of sorts that you can refer to when you’re looking for ideas. Here that is. If you click on any image you can see it a little bigger.
I almost always quilt my blocks before I applique. Some of these blocks are shown after the applique is added, but I did the quilting first. You can do it in any order you like, but if you quilt after you applique you have to go around the shapes. I show more about how to do that in this gallery of QAYG videos.
Ready? Jump in and have fun! Quilt as You Go stripes and grids are super fun and easy. 🙂
Did you know I have a class on Craftsy? (now called Bluprint) It’s called Fusible Applique Made Easy. You get the pattern for the Woodland Critters quilt you see behind me. That pattern on its own is a $14.99 value! But you also get videos showing . . .
How I choose fabric
How I true up my fabric and cut background blocks
How I quilt my blocks before adding applique
Fusible applique basics – my favorite products and how to use them
How I assemble every single block in the pattern
My tricks for marking faces and how to handle overlapping bits
Lots and lots of options for doing the eyes (the hardest bit)
Instead of showing you the quilts I made with the pattern, I thought I’d share some outstanding finished quilts and comments from students in the class. It has an average rating of 5 stars!
Suebee made this beauty. She writes. . .
Thank you so much for this class! I had a blast and am sure that I will using the techniques you have taught many more times! In fact, I have already started one of your flower quilts for my granddaughter!
Starbank64 made this lovely quilt. She writes. . .
Look at the Woodland Critters quilt France Houde made! She even used the fox block as a starting point to create a skunk block! She writes. . .
This was so wonderful to have done this quilt. My first one in my life, and my daughter loves it very much. Thank you!!! When we went to the store to choose the backing & the binding, the person at the store asked us to participate to a quilting exposition, as they never saw a quilt like this before.
I love this quilt that gorillamama made. She added the moose, Buzz and the butterfly (three free applique patterns) and the mouse from the Noisy Farm quilt. I love it when people mix and match like that! She writes. . .
Best. Class. Ever! Learned so much, had tons of fun, and ended up with a project that I feel so happy to have made! Thank you so much, Wendi! You’re the bee’s knees!
If you want a tiny taste of what the class will be like and what kind of view you’ll have – watch this video.
Click here to read about why I love online craft classes – and the Craftsy platform in particular. In a nutshell – you can take the class any time you like and watch it as many times as you need to – and you always have a front row seat with a terrific view. 🙂
I’m especially proud of how many people made their very first quilt with this class!
You (yes, you!) can stitch up a lovely felt egg just like this one. What do you need? Some felt. Preferably wool felt. It’s dreamy to stitch on and you can find it in hundreds of gorgeous colors.
You’ll need embroidery thread. Use any colors you like – either an assortment of colors like the sample above, or one color for a very simple, classic egg.
You’ll need a needle. I stitched my sample with three strands of thread – for that I recommend a #5 or a #8 embroidery needle.
You’ll need the pattern – of course. Download that here. It’s full-sized, so no enlarging needed.
You’ll need a bit of stuffing. A handful of cotton balls will do the trick.
Finally, there are a couple of optional items that I strongly recommend to make your stitchy life better. Sulky Sticky Fabri-solvy is fantastic for transferring patterns to felt (as you’ll see below) and Thread Heaven just makes your thread behave really nicely.
You can find a list of my favorite tools and supplies (with links to sources) here.
Rough cut around each piece and stick it to the felt.
Step 3
Embroider the design. You’ll be stitching right through both the stabilizer and the felt. I used a combination of the following stitches – the links below take you to videos teaching you how to do them if you’re new to embroidery.
I used three strands of thread for all my stitching. It’s all white thread on Norwegian blue felt. The top sample used straw felt.
Repeat for all four wedge shapes.
Step 4
After you’re done with all the embroidery, cut the four pieces out neatly on the outline.
Step 5
Soak off the stabilizer. This is the magical part! Drop the pieces face down in a bowl of cold water and let them sit there for about an hour. The stabilizer will get all mushy and soft. Rinse it off under cold running water. If any bits are stubborn, just hit them with a kitchen sprayer and that should do the trick. Don’t rub the surface of the felt – just let the running water do its thing.
Set them flat on a towel and let them dry. Don’t wring them out, twist them, or even smoosh them. Just lay them sopping wet on a towel and let them dry.
Step 6
Place two egg pieces wrong sides together and stitch them together along one edge. I used running stitch, which leaves a nice ridge that I like along the seams of the egg. If you want a smoother finish you can use whipstitch instead.
Repeat for the second pair of pieces.
It’s easy to mix up the ends – one is a little pointer than the other and has a bit more lattice. Make sure you put matching ends together.
Step 7
Put your pairs together (make sure the matching ends are together) and sew the last two seams. Leave a couple of inches of the last seam open for stuffing.
It will be easiest to sew your egg together if you let it collapse into a deflated football kind of shape.
If you like this free pattern, sign up for the Shiny Happy News! Subscribers get a weekly newsletter full of sewing tips and tricks, free patterns, special discounts, and other things to make you smile. 🙂
New easy (and free!) doll clothes patterns for the Dress Up Bunch!
I redesigned the Play Clothes pattern for the Dress Up Bunch to get rid of the set-in sleeves and fussy collar facing on the shirt. Yay! The new shirt is so much easier to make!
These are the basic doll clothes patterns that are included with all of the human dolls so I was looking at replacing it in Every Single Doll Pattern – which would take forever. Instead I decided to just make it free for everyone!
Use 1/4″ for all seam allowances unless otherwise noted.
Doll Shirt Pattern
Step 1
Join the 2 shirt pattern pieces into one and cut it out. Place the shirt and shirt lining fabric right sides together and cut the single shirt pattern piece out of them at the same time. That way the pieces lines up perfectly. 🙂 .
It’s a weird-looking pattern. Here are some quick labels to help you make sense of it.
Please note! This pattern only works with non-directional fabric. Since it’s all one piece, whatever is right side up on the front will be upside down on the back – so choose something that looks good both ways. Those fizzy, swirly polkadots are from the perfectly-named Pop collection from Timeless Treasures, and the shirt lining and shorts are in my favorite Sketch.
Step 2
Sew the main shirt and lining (right sides together) up one front side, around the neck, and down the other side. Clip the curves and corners.
Carefully smooth out the curve around the neck, poke out the corners, and press. From this point on you’ll treat the two layers of fabric as one.
Step 4
Hem the sleeves. Turn up the raw edge 1/4” and press. Turn it up another 1/4” and press. Stitch the hem in place.
You can hem to the outside, so the contrasting lining shows (like I did) or hem to the inside for a more traditional finish.
Here’s a closer look at one of my sleeve hems.
Here’s a little trick so you don’t have to measure that skinny 1/4 inch. Sew the two layers together 1/4” from the raw edge. Use that stitching line as a guide for turning up the first 1/4.” No measuring! Then turn the second 1/4” and stitch.
Step 5
With the shirt inside out, sew the underarm/side seam.
Start sewing at the armhole so that edge is perfectly lined up and finish at the shirt bottom. Any unevenness there will be hidden once it’s hemmed. Clip the seam allowance in the curve.
Step 6
Turn the shirt right side out and press.
Almost finished!
Step 7
Hem the shirt bottom the same way you did the sleeves in Step 4.
Sew the center back seam using 1/4″ seam allowance.
If you want critters with tails to be able to wear the shorts, leave the tail opening (as marked on the pattern piece) unstitched. Make sure to backstitch at the top and bottom of the opening.
Step 3
Press the center back seam open.
If you are leaving a tail opening, stitch a box around the opening to stabilize it.
Step 4
Start to make the casing for the elastic. Turn the raw edge at the top of the shorts down 1/2″. Press. Turn it down another 1/2″. Press.
Don’t sew this yet. It’s just easier to measure and press when it’s one flat piece.
Step 5
Unfold the casing creases you made in Step 4.
Match up the center front edges and sew, using 1/4″ seam allowance.
Step 6
Refold the casing creases and stitch it down almost all the way around the top of the shorts.
Leave a couple of inches open at the center back seam so you can get the elastic in.
Step 7
Cut a 12″ piece of 3/8″ elastic and thread it through the casing. Overlap the ends of the elastic 1 inch and sew them together. Slip the stitched elastic up into the casing and finish sewing the casing closed.
Sew up the inseam/crotch of the shorts using 1/4″ seam allowance.
Press anything you can get to with the iron. 🙂
Finished!
And here’s a view from the back.
It’s Spot the Puppy wearing these and he likes to have room for his tail to wag. 🙂
So there you have it – three basic doll clothes patterns – all super easy and free. The shirt, skirt and shorts will fit any of the Dress Up Bunch dolls.
Happy sewing!
Best, Wendi
The Dress Up Bunch is a collection of cute and cuddly rag dolls. Get patterns for the dolls, plus all their fun outfits and accessories!
This post contains affiliate links. That means I make a little commission if you buy something after clicking through. All affiliate links are marked with an *.
I learned how to crochet when I was a kid – but I only learned the most basic stitches and for 40+ years I only ever made flat, rectangular things – afghans and scarves. Last summer I decided to explore some online crochet classes to learn how to make not-flat things. It was so much fun!
I started off with a hat-making class. I love handmade hats, but I’ve stopped buying them because they’re always too small for my head. I decided I would finally learn to make my own – to crochet round things!
I chose the class Crocheting in the Round: Mix & Match Hats* because it’s on the Craftsy* platform – which I love – and is taught by Stacey Trock. I’ve watched some of her videos on FreshStitches and I knew she was a good teacher. 🙂
This was a terrific class! Not only did Stacey teach me to make several different hats – she also teaches the why behind everything she does, so when she gets to the section about designing your own hat patterns, it totally makes sense! Now I can make any hat, any style I want – and it will always fit. And it’s actually super easy!
Jo (age 12 at the time) took the class with me and she loved it too. As you can see from these photos, she really got into the unit on colorwork. 🙂
Jo is still making tons of hats. I think she’s made at least one for every kid at her school. She even figured out how to make the top pointy instead of flat and made a bunch of elf hats too. So cute! But she’s not just making hats. . .
Monsters are great for this kind of class because you can never do anything really wrong. So maybe the body is a little weird and the arms are super long and the eyes bug out way more than you expected. It’s a monster! Nobody can say, “Monsters don’t really look like that!” 🙂
Stacey teaches basic formulas for different shapes – cones, spheres, etc. and how to attach arms and legs and how to add faces and excellent stuffing tips. I can’t show any finished cuties because Jo keeps giving them away before I can photograph them. Also – all of a sudden she can read crochet patterns and design her own! Her current obsession is making amigurumi turtles with spiral striped shells. 🙂
Jo and I aren’t done with online crochet classes – here are a few more on our wish lists.
Jo is definitely ready to learn some new stitches. She’s already figured out some weird crochet cable stitch and how to bobble stitch with YouTube videos, but now she says she wants a class that will take her through a bunch of new stitches in a systematic way. I’m getting her this Textured Crochet Stitches class* for this summer.
I’m obsessed with English Paper Piecing (EPP). And because I want to you to share in the love of this awesome craft, I’ve put together two video tutorials so you can learn to do it too!
Watch them and then start stitching! You’ll probably end up addicted to these little hexagon-shaped fabric pieces of candy… but that’s okay!
Video one: how to prepare your fabric and baste the hexagons
Video two: how to sew hexagons together and remove template
I also love rainbows. So… I teamed up with Shiny Happy World to put together a kit that’s great for beginners or old hats!
Easter is early this year – March 27 – so it’s time to start thinking about your Easter Crafts. What do you want to make?
I could just link to the Easter section of my shop – but then you wouldn’t see all the fun free patterns that are available!
(And there are a lot of them.)
So I created this handy dandy round-up post with all the patterns for all my favorite Easter crafts. Just click on the image to go to that project!
Easter Stuffed Animals
Some are big and huggable. Some are small and pocketable. They’re all easy and fun to make.
Easter Felt Projects
Spend a lovely spring afternoon stitching one of these by hand.
Easter Quilt Blocks
Make a kajillion bunnies with a fun mix & match pattern.
Easter Embroidery patterns
Stitch them on tea towels, baby onesies and more.
Other Easter Sewing Patterns
Including Dress Up Bunch dolls and clothes!
Of course, there are lots of spring-themed patterns too – but I stuck to Easter crafts for this post. 🙂
So whether you like to sew, quilt or embroider – stitch by machine or by hand – I’ve got an Easter craft pattern for you. Have fun with them and be sure to share what you make in the Shiny Happy People group on Facebook!
