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How I Store and Organize My Fabric

January 8, 2015

This week I’m on vacation. While I’m gone I’m showing off my new super-tidy sewing room, and sharing my solutions to some common craft supply storage challenges. On Tuesday I shared how I store and organize all my favorite sewing tools. Yesterday I showed you my embroidery thread. Today I’m going to show how I store all my fabric – including scraps.

I store most of my fabric under my main work table in plastic milk crates.

I divide it by color. . .

red
orange and yellow
green
blue
purple
browns and tans
black, white and grey

I also have one crate that holds works in progress. By that I mean things I’m really and truly making progress on – not unfinished objects that are just piling up somewhere that I’ll never get back to. 🙂

So that’s for regular woven cottons. I keep other fabrics under the other side of the table.

The bins on the right side hold polar fleece, cuddle fleece, satiny fabric that makes good ear linings, and tulle that makes good tutus. That’s a roll of batting and my cuddle fleece color swatches rolled up between the bins.

The right side holds my colored backdrop paper for photo shoots (top shelf), painted paper for making cards for Jo (middle shelf), and some more paper, a basket of felt scraps, and my stuffing tub on the bottom shelf.

Now – about scraps. . .

I used to have twice this space devoted to scraps. Now it’s just these three bins, sorted by color. I have one for warm colors, one for cool colors, and one for neutrals.

I went on a bit of a scrap quilt binge last year and realized the six bins I was using had enough scraps in them to make three quilts – and have more than half left over. I do NOT need enough scraps for six quilts, so I pared down what was left, got rid of the ugly stuff and the too-small pieces, and this is what I have left. When the bins fill up (like they are now) I need to make another scrap quilt.

So that’s how I store all my fabric – including my scraps. 🙂

Tomorrow – pins and needles.

Best,
Wendi

How I Store and Organize My Embroidery Thread

January 7, 2015

I get a lot of questions about how to store embroidery thread in an organized way.

I recently decluttered my craft room so now I have multiple posts about storing and organizing craft supplies!

See my new super-tidy studio here.

See how I store my sewing tools here.

Today it’s all about storing embroidery thread.

I struggled with organizing my embroidery floss for a long time. A couple of years ago a reader suggested storing each color in a ziplock bag and IT TOTALLY WORKED. I love it, and I posted about it here.

I still use the same basic system to organize my thread, but I’ve made a couple of changes in the last year. Most of the thread I use is matched to one of my wool felt colors, so I bagged those up with the wool color AND the DMC thread # written on the label, like this. . .

Then I put all of those baggies on one binder ring, so all my felt colors are together in one place.

The rest of my thread is bundled by color and kept in a shoebox – just like I described in the other post.

So that’s my embroidery thread! Tomorrow – fabric!

Here are links to all my posts about embroidery tools and supplies.

For Beginners

Specialty Fabrics

Threads

Stabilizers and Pattern Transfer Tools

Why the Right Stabilizer Is Like a Good Bra
Sulky Sticky Fabri-Solvy
What Product to Use When (Freezer Paper, Fusible Adhesive, and Sulky Sticky Fabri-Solvy)

Return to the Learn to Embroider main Table of Contents.

Move on to the posts about working with patterns.

My Sewing Tool Basket

January 6, 2015

This week I’m on vacation. While I’m gone I’m showing off my new super-tidy sewing room, and sharing my solutions to some common craft supply storage challenges.

This little sewing tool basket was the first thing I organized in my sewing room. I did it over a year ago and it was SO NICE having the tools I needed right at hand – and to know right where to put each one back – that it inspired me to really tackle my entire room and make everything as organized and tidy as this basket.

I keep this on a shelf right behind the spot I usually work at my work table.

I just need to turn around to grab a tool or tidy up when I’m done working. For me – minimal effort is key to keeping things organized, so I try to keep things right where I need them, but not cluttering up my work surface.

Here’s a view of the basket from above, so you can see everything. It’s a very sturdy basket, with soup cans in it to keep everything organized. Here’s what’s in each can from left to right across the top. . .

Weird scissors – pinking shears, scalloped shears, and a few pairs of old, awful scissors for cutting open rough packaging. There’s also a lighter in this can for lighting scented candles.
Regular scissors – fabric scissors, paper scissors and paper-fused-to-fabric scissors, plus tiny sharp scissors for clipping curves and cutting small shapes out of felt and a box knife for opening packages. (Here’s how I rotate my scissors.)
Random tools – hemostats, hem gauge, bone folder, snap setter, tube turners, compass, awl

There are two pencil cases to grab and go when I’m carrying work around with me. One is drawing stuff – pencils, eraser, black ink pens. The other is sewing stuff – needles, thread, itty bitty scissors, Thread Heaven, etc.

Here’s what’s in each can in the front row from left to right. . .

Rotary cutters – one for fabric and one for paper
Things to mark on fabric – iron-on transfer pens, chalk pencils, air erase pens, water erase pens, sharpie, etc.
Things to mark on cardboard boxes – mostly fat black markers
Things to mark on paper – pencils and black pens for inking

There are also a few clothespins clipped on the handle – handy for holding odd things when I need them.

And that’s it! Those are the tools I use most often and everything has a place in this basket.

Tomorrow – how I store embroidery thread!

Best,
Wendi

A Peek Inside My (Tidy!) Studio

January 5, 2015

A peek inside my clean sewing room at Shiny Happy World

Look! It’s a clean sewing room!

Over the years I’ve thought a lot about showing the space I work in here on the blog. But – frankly – it’s always been a bit of a mess. More than a bit, actually. If you follow along on Facebook you know I spent the last week doing a MASSIVE declutter. My husband has been doing the same thing in his office and between us we’ve gotten rid of five carloads of stuff. (Now it’s time to tackle the rest of the house.)

I put a lot of thought into my decluttering this time and I was far more successful than I’ve ever been before. I wrote a post about how to declutter a craft room here – and you can see some scary before photos. 🙂 But for now, I’m (finally!) going to share photos of my clean sewing room, followed the rest of the week with more specific posts about how I tackle some of the most common craft-supply storage issues.

First up is a bird’s-eye view of my space.

A peek inside my Shiny Happy World studio

I took this photo from the top of the stairs to my husband’s office, which overlooks my studio. He writes children’s books and also works from home. It’s nice having our spaces adjacent so we can holler back and forth at each other throughout the day.

I love my space! It has lots of windows and terrific natural light. Please ignore the fact that none of those windows have trim yet. It will happen someday, but the fact that it took me five years to remove all the factory stickers from the windows might be an indicator of something. . .

I’m going to start my tour at the ironing board (the purple bit at the right of the photo) and take you counterclockwise around the room. But first – look up!

Technically I guess you’d be looking straight ahead from your stop at the top of the stairs. The corner over my ironing board has this support beam that I painted a pretty blue and then wrote “make” in purple. That’s what I do here! I love the glass baubles hanging from the support. And just to the left of the windows hangs my very first quilt. (More info about that here.)

If you walk down the stairs you’ll run into my supremely awesome ironing board. It’s an Ikea hack and I posted all the details and instructions here.

The baskets and drawers are a later addition. (More Ikea stuff). All my wool felt is stored in the drawers. The blue cubbies are for general supplies (starch, water bottle for filling my iron, embroidery hoops, etc.). The natural baskets hold a lot of the tools and supplies I sell in the shop.

Keep moving to the left and you come to my desk, with some things I love hanging over it. I especially love these toys by Amanda Visell.

And here’s my desk itself. It’s a hollow-core closet door from Home Depot sitting on two glass-fronted end tables from Target. It’s the best desk ever!

The scanner and two printers used to be stored under my old desk so that I had to sit on the floor every time I wanted to use them. My back is very glad I don’t have to do that anymore. 🙂

See the tiny bit of orange hutch in the top left corner? That’s next.

The jars in this hutch hold buttons, trim, elastic, eyeballs and more fun stuff – but it’s also a place where I put random things I love, like this. . .

Behind the doors at the bottom of the hutch are random office supplies and all my shipping supplies.

If we keep moving left we’ll zoom past a tall bookcase full of kids nonfiction books. . .

. . . and come to these low bookshelves where I store all my kits.

Turn the corner and this is where I store Cuddle Fleece.

The quilt over the top keeps the bolts safe from sunlight and dog hair. 🙂

Turn the corner again and you’ll pass my washer and dryer, the door to Jo’s room, and a (probably overflowing) laundry hamper before you come to this.

The right bookcase is all my picture books – great reference for when I need to know what a crocodile might look like standing upright on his back legs. 🙂

The left bookcase is all my craft/sewing/drawing/design reference books and sketchbooks, plus a few favorite things like the Party Animals.

There’s a new guy ready to join the party soon!

Continue left and there’s this long row of low bookcases along the half-wall overlooking my dining room.

A peek inside my clean sewing room - Shiny Happy World studio

This is where I keep thread, beads, markers, paints, glue, my tool basket, files of patterns in progress, and other stuff. It’s just a step away from my main work table so it’s really handy. If I want to keep a clean sewing room – I need to make it easy to put things away properly. Otherwise I’ll let those supplies pile up.

Now we’re back to the stairs. Under the stairs is some pretty art. . .

. . . and this piece of furniture.

The striped bins hold my scraps and behind the doors you’ll find paper, extra printer ink, and random, bulky weird-shaped things like my tripods.

On the wall above the stairs (as you head back up to my husband’s office) is a collection of some of my favorite children’s book art.

It’s impossible to shoot a photo without getting sun glare – I’ve tried every time of day and every time of year. But there’s some great stuff up there!

We skipped a couple of tables in the middle of the room.

This is my main work table with a big cutting mat up top, and fabric storage underneath. (And Augie Dog peeking in the side of the photo.) It’s between my desk and the low storage shelves.

Just past it you can see my sewing table – the magenta one.

That table top is a collage of picture book pages with a layer of clear epoxy over it. I love it! You can see how I did it here. There’s a futon backed up to the sewing table, because my studio is also the guest room. 🙂

And that’s it! My clean sewing room! More details coming every day this week about fabric storage, tool storage, embroidery floss storage, and pins & needles.

I hope you enjoyed the tour! Happy Monday!

Today is going to be great! – Free Felt Pattern for January

January 2, 2015

Happy New Year!

I’m a morning person. I really do wake up most of the time happy and excited to start my day.

I know this can be super annoying. I live with two not-morning people who speak in grunts for the first hour they’re up. By the time they wake up I’ve usually been working for a couple of hours and I have all kinds of things I’m excited to show them. I’ve learned to restrain myself until they’re past the grunting stage. 🙂

As Polyanna as it can be – my eternal optimism is part of who I am. It’s a part of me that I like – and a part that I fully embrace in my work. So my studio is a great place to hang this happy reminder of how I like to start every day!

I love happy words, felt applique, and embroidered details – so you KNOW I had a ton of fun stitching up this project. 🙂

Here’s how. . .

Download the pattern here.

I printed the reversed version of the pattern onto a sheet of freezer paper, then cut the letters apart and fused them to some of my smallest felt scraps. I cut out the letters and the freezer paper at the same time – it’s the best way to accurately cut small, detailed pieces like this.

I colored in the regular (not reversed) version of the pattern with some crayons first to help me choose a good balance of colors and make sure I didn’t end up with consecutive letters in the same color.

My scraps were ruby red slippers, loden, periwinkle, love bug blue, old gold, and copper. Use what you have! Your scraps will be in colors you love!

Arrange the letters carefully on your base fabric. I used black cotton twill.

Today is going to be great! Free pattern from Shiny Happy World.

The pattern shows the letters arranged in an 8-inch circle, with a dotted line showing the vertical and horizontal centers. That line can help you eyeball the arrangement of your words. I used a 9-inch hoop for a little extra breathing room – plus it’s what I had on hand. 🙂

You can pin the letters in place, but it drives me bonkers when my embroidery thread catches on the pins, so I glued each letter in place with a tiny dab from a fabric glue stick.

Whipstitch around all the letters.

I love the look of whipstitch in matching color thread, but an outline in blanket stitch in contrasting thread would also be really nice.

I could have stopped there – and I almost did. I thought there was a real charm to the simple refrigerator-magnet-letter look. But I couldn’t resist adding a bit of extra fancification. 🙂 I did keep the extra stitching tone-on-tone so the effect wouldn’t be too wild or overwhelming. And I love the texture it adds!

Sometimes I just did little straight stitches across the letter.

Sometimes I did French knots in the center.

Sometimes I made little stars out of simple straight stitches.

Sometimes I backstitched a stick letter right in the middle of the block letter.

And sometimes I did some extra little stitches across the backstitched letter for a “Frankenstein stitches” kind of look. 🙂

For the two i letters and the exclamation point, I stitched a star in the dot and a row of three backstitches in the line.

I didn’t plan anything out – I just did what would be easiest in each letter and tried not to do the same fancification in two letters right next to each other.

Finished!

I finished the back using this technique. No glue!

Now it’s hanging in my studio and I smile every time I see it. Even at 6 am. 🙂

Happy stitching!

Free Snowman Embroidery Pattern

December 17, 2014

Want to learn the basics of hand embroidery with an easy online workshop – totally free?

Sign up for Embroidery 101 here. You’ll learn how to get started, the tools and supplies you’ll need, the four most basic stitches, how to transfer your pattern and how to display your work.

If you already know the basics – sign up for Embroidery 201. It’s also free! You’ll learn how to stitch on specialty fabrics like felt and stretchy T-shirts. Plus you’ll learn lots and lots and LOTS more stitches – all my favorites!

I love snow!

Especially when it’s big fat flakes coming down on a not-too-cold, not-too-windy day. 🙂

And I love snowmen too! Especially this snowman with his chubby face and stubby snowball arms.

This free snowman embroidery pattern is small – just 2 1/2 inches wide and a little over 3 inches tall.

You can see him above in a larger hoop for a wall hanging – with lots of snowy white space around him. But you can also put him in a smaller (4 inch) hoop to make a tree ornament, like this. . .

If you want to skip the hoop you can stitch him on a tea towel, a gift bag, a stocking, a T-shirt or baby onesie. Have fun with it!

It’s super easy – just a few of the most basic stitches! The pattern has links to videos teaching you all of them.

Want the pattern? Here’s the link to download it – free!

Download the free snowman embroidery pattern here.

If you like this pattern, sign up for the Shiny Happy News! Members get a weekly email full of sneak peeks, free patterns, discounts, and happiness. 🙂

Happy stitching!

Best,
Wendi

Backstitched Chain Stitch – video tutorial

December 16, 2014

sample line of backstitched chain stitch - showing yellow chain stitching with green backstitching

Oooh! Two colors!

You know I occasionally love to throw in a fancy-looking stitch combination that uses two thread colors. See whipped backstitch and running stitch here, and threaded backstitch and running stitch here.

Those both have a twisty, barber pole kind of look – one color spirals around or weaves through the other.

This combination is different. It layers one stitch right on top of the other for a really terrific texture.

It’s called Backstitched Chain Stitch and I love it!

I used it to outline the lattice work on some of the rings in this fancy-schmancy embroidered felt garland.

You can see that detail up close here. See the pink and purple stripe at the top and bottom of the wide lattice stripe in the middle band on the left?

purple felt garland embroidered with fancy stitches - including backstitched chain stitch

That’s backstitched chain stitch. First you chain stitch in purple, then backstitch over it with pink thread.

Here’s a piece that uses just this stitch – plus a tiny lazy daisy period at the end.

Keep going. A stitched reminder from Shiny Happy World.

Here’s the video showing how to do this fancy-looking-but-easy-to-embroider stitch.

See how easy?

It’s just two of the most basic stitches, stacked right on top of each other. 🙂 Backstitched chain stitch – exactly what it’s called.

Here are all my lessons for outline embroidery stitches.

Return to the Learn to Embroider main Table of Contents.

Move on to the lessons teaching fill stitches.

Tutorial: Crochet Rainbow Hat

December 16, 2014

I love rainbows! So, today, I’m going to show you how to add a fun rainbow detail to any hat pattern!

First, gather up some rainbow colored yarns, along with a neutral color:

This is a great opportunity to use scraps, as you won’t need a lot of each color!

It’s easy to add a rainbow!

I’m using the basic hat pattern from my Crochet Hats class on Craftsy, but you can follow these steps for almost any hat pattern! I find that hats made with simpler stitches (single or double crochet) are the ones that end up looking best with this type of colorwork.

Step 1: Find your multiple

The first thing you want to do is find a number that evenly divides the number of stitches in the main body of your hat. For example, if the body of your hat has 60 stitches, then both 4 and 6 are numbers that divide the stitches evenly!

Step 2: Crochet vertical stripes!

It’s easiest to crochet the increase section with your neutral color, and begin the rainbow when you have completed the increases.

For my hat, I used a 6 stitch repeat for my color changes. I crocheted 4 stitches of red, then 2 stitches of the neutral. Do this for a couple of rounds, then do 4 stitches of orange and 2 stitches of the neutral. Continue, making your rainbow!

If this is your first time crocheting vertical stripes, then this tutorial on stranding with two colors is for you!

Try it!

I hope this technique has given you some ideas… there are lots of possibilities!

Chevron Bead Crochet Necklace

December 12, 2014

Do you want to see what I just finished?

It’s a bead crochet necklace!

I’m super-excited about this one, because it features 2 firsts for me. It’s the first time I’ve followed a pattern in bead crochet, and it’s also the first time I’ve added a glue-on clasp:

It’s magnetic!

Isn’t that so cool?

And… more beading!

Since I’ve been feeling really into beads recently, I decided to take a class at my local bead shop. Check out this necklace I made:

The main technique I learned was wire wrapping (to attach the dangling sea glass beads onto the chain), and it was really fun!

Fair Isle

And… I finished knitting a fair isle hat!

It’s from a kit by Cleckheaton Superfine.

How to Make a Quilt Hanging Sleeve

December 11, 2014

I get a lot of questions about how to make a quilt hanging sleeve, so here (finally!) is a tutorial. 🙂

1. Cut a strip of fabric 4 inches wide and as long as the width of your quilt. You’re going to hem the edges and that will bring the sides of your hanging sleeve in a bit from the edges of the quilt – which will allow you to hide the hanging hardware if you want.

2. Hem the sides of your strip. I turn it under roughly 3/8 inch and then another 3/8 inch – but it doesn’t need to be exact. (Here’s a video showing how to sew a double-fold hem.)

3. Fold the strip in half, right sides facing out. Press.

rectangle of green fabric on a blue background

If you’re going to use a really fat rod to hang the quilt, you might want to fold it not-exactly in half, so that the sleeve pouches out a bit in back to make a little extra room for the rod. I always use a fairly slender curtain rod, though, so I just fold it in half.

4. Line up the raw edges of the sleeve with the raw edge of the top of the quilt and pin or clip in place.