Review Tuesday-Wooly Felted Mat

The Wooly Felted Mats seem to be the newest craze.  I've been hearing wonderful things about them online and decided it was time to try one out!

I found this mat at Prairie Point Quilt and Fabric Shop in Shawnee, Kansas.  I don't get there very often because it's almost an hour away, but I LOVE this shop.   They had two sizes at the shop.  I chose to get the smaller of the two.  This one is 8 1/2 inches square and sold for $19.99.  The larger one was much bigger and sold for, I believe $79.99.  Since I wasn't sure if I'd even like it, I chose the smaller one.  Plus, I plan on using it next to my sewing machine and I'm supposed to be able to use it directly on any surface and it won't get damaged.

This was on the backside of the label.  I thought it was interesting and may have to try them sometime.

Since I didn't know too much about the wooly mats, I decided to head over to their website and see if I could find out a little more about them.  My first question, was "Can I use steam?"  I found the answer to that on the care instructions page.  I found out I can use steam, but I need to hang it up so it can dry.

I was told the mat would probably smell like wet dog or sheep when I first used it, but that it would go away in time.  I've honestly only used it once and didn't notice much of a smell.

Ok, this is the problem I have with the mat.  See all the moisture on the table?  Please forgive the big scratch, it's an old used table, but it's nice and sturdy.  The sales girl at the shop assured me one of the great things about this mat is that it could be used anywhere and the surfaces would not be harmed.

I ironed one fat eighth with a little steam and when I moved the mat, this is what I found.  If I hadn't looked at the website, I never would have even thought to see if the mat was wet.  I picked up the mat and was very surprised how wet it was and how much water was on the table.  I hung the mat up and it didn't take long to dry.

If I hadn't picked up that mat and checked, I think I could have easily ruined both the mat and my table.  This is something I've never worried about when ironing on my old fashioned ironing board.

I'm not sure what I think of this wooly mat. I'm going to refraining from rating it at this time and use it for a bit longer and then revisit the topic.

UPDATE!  I wrote the above about a week ago and have since done a little more research.  I think I didn't receive the full information from the sales girl at the shop.  Yes, it won't damage your surface...if you use a dry iron.  If you use steam you will need to place the mat on a protected surface and hang it up to dry when done.

Sara at Sew Sweetness talks about the mat in this You Tube video at about the 23:34 mark.  The brand she sells is The Gypsy Quilter.  In the video she reads right off the information on the package about using a dry iron versus a steam iron.  The brand, Wooly Felted Wonders that I purchased, did not have any of this information on the package.  I only found it by going to their website.

I'm giving the Wooly Felt Mat 💜💜💜 out of five.  I'm not in love with it and I don't want to worry about whether or not I'm using steam.  My plan was to keep this by my sewing machine, but I'm not sure that is going to happen now.


Do you have a wooly mat?  What do you think of yours?


Happy Sewing,

Lori

Review Tuesday -Dritz Quilter's Slip "N Grips

Of course I'm always late...This was supposed to be posted last Tuesday and I didn't make it.  Time gets away from me so easily.

Today I'm reviewing the Quilter's Slip 'N Grips by Dritz.  I'm not sure where I purchased them.  It was probably JoAnn's or Hancock's when they went out of business. The price on the back shows $3.99

They feel like sandpaper with sticky on the back.  Each dot is approximately 3/8 inch across.  They are easy to peel from the backing and they stick to my rulers and templates fine.  I've not had one come off yet.  I peeled one off and it came up easily with no sticky residue. I was able to re-position it stick it back down.

I've placed two on the back side of the Sue Daley 1 1/2 inch Hex template.

Initially one of my biggest concerns was because they aren't clear, would they get in the way of seeing the fabric.  I think for the most part those fears were unfounded.  Unless I'm fussing cutting something, I don't think this will be a problem.

So my initial review would be these work great...but....I recently watched an episode of The Stitch TV Show on You Tube where Lynn and Pam happened to mention sandpaper grips.  It was just a quick blurb at around the 23:48 mark in episode 308.  They briefly discuss not using the sandpaper grips because it can damage the fabric fibers.  I never thought of that, but it makes sense.  Now, I don't go rubbing them around on the fabric.  I try to place them and not move them so I'm not sure how much damage I'm actually doing, but I'd rather not take the chance. 

Because of the fear of damage to my fabric I'm rating these 💜💜💜 out of 5. 

Let me know if you've used the Slip 'N Grip and what you think of them.

Happy Sewing,

Lori

English Paper Piecing

How is it I keep finding more projects to start, but can't seem to finish many??

Hubby and I are planning a trip this fall with several days of driving.  I've been thinking about what I could do to pass the time.  I don't like to read in the car because we can't chat.  So, I starting thinking about what type of sewing project I could do.

Last time we took a road trip, I made lots and lots of yoyos.  I still have them somewhere and can't think of anything to do with them.  I'm sure someday I'll pull them out again and figure something out.

I've been seeing videos and tutorials on English paper piecing and always thought that's not for me, it takes way too long.  But...I've always wanted to make a Grandmother's flower garden quilt.   My great grandmother made one and it's in pretty bad shape.

After watching several different techniques, I decided to go with Sue Daley's way.  Her way looks simple and very accurate.  So I bit the bullet and ordered most of the supplies.  I forgot to order the thread she suggested, but I got the glue pen, paper pieces, needles and the template.  I'm going to use fabric from my stash.

I ordered everything from Fat Quarter Shop, they seemed to be one of the few places in the United States with everything in stock!  Sue Daley must be pretty popular!


I've already decided I think I ordered the wrong size of hexies.  I ordered the 1 1/2 inch.  I think that's going to be too big. My thought was I didn't want to do tiny ones and it take forever.  But, after looking at them, I think they are too big.

Now my dilemma is do I go ahead and make a quilt or maybe something else with the bigger ones or order smaller ones.   Tough decision. 

I've decided to make at least one complete flower and then decide if it's too big.  So I got started cutting them out. 

And gluing them.  So far it's going well.  It's actually pretty easy!

All the gluing done for my first complete flower.  Now for the part I'm not so sure about...the actual hand sewing.

I have the first round completed and it doesn't look half bad!  I've already figured out I need to get different thread.  I know to use polyester, but the only polyester thread I have is embroidery thread.  I struggled using it so I think I'm at a standstill until I can get the proper thread. 

But I do have to admit, it is rather fun.  I have decided to go ahead and go with the 1 1/2 inch hexies, it will make a big flower, but I guess it won't take as many to make a nice size quilt!

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Have you tried English Paper Piecing?  Do you enjoy it?


Happy Sewing,

Lori

A New Feature-Reviews!

I don't get to sew often enough to feel like I have something to post each week or even every month!  So, I decided to try a weekly post reviewing a sewing/quilting item or pattern.  These will all be things I have purchased or received free for a minimum purchase.  I will attempt to post each week on Tuesday.  I plan on using purple heart emojis to rate what I'm reviewing.  I'll go from 1 to 5 hearts 💜💜💜💜💜, one being the worst, five being the best.

The first item I'm reviewing is something I received for free from Fat Quarter Shop.  I ordered several Sue Daley items to try my hand at English Paper Piecing (that will be the subject of several future posts) and the Ruler Grip was a free item.

I wasn't expecting much for a free item and when I received it, it was smaller than I expected.  I kind of wondered if it would even work.  It is approximately four inches long.  It has one suction cup on each end.

I put it on my 21/2 inch by 121/2 inch Creative Grids ruler. It was easy to attach and comes off easily by squeezing the suction cups.

It is the perfect length to hold between my thumb and middle finger.

 I love how it makes it much easier to pick up and move the ruler.  I chain pieced blocks for my Phoebe's Flower Box quilt and the grip made cutting the chain pieced blocks apart much easier.


I ended up really liking the Ruler Grip.  I think it will work best for smaller rulers.  I'm not sure it would stay attached to a larger, heavier ruler, although I did try it with my 5x15 inch ruler and it worked fine.  So maybe it's small but mighty!

I was pleasantly surprised.  I may actually purchase another one in the future. I'm giving the Ruler Grip from Fat Quarter Shop 5 hearts! 💜💜💜💜💜

Let me know what you think of your ruler grip.  And if you have ideas for future reviews, comment and I'll try to review it soon!

Happy Sewing,


Lori

The Wonderful World of Table Runners!

From the time I started quilting, I've heard about table runners, but never had any interest.  What would I need a table runner for?  I considered them something else to take care of and wash.

Then I started collecting charm packs and unless you make a lot of baby quilts, there's not a lot you can do with a single charm pack...unless you want to make a table runner!

I started rethinking the whole table runner thing and the idea started to grow on me.  I watched Jenny Doan's ( Missouri Star Quilt Company )Zig Zag table runner tutorial and I like it.  It even looked easy.  It's listed as an intermediate project, but I consider myself an advanced beginner and it was super easy.


I had a Henry Glass charm pack, it had such beautiful fall colors.  It would be perfect for my Thanksgiving table.

I was really surprised how easy and quick this was.  Jenny's tutorial was easy to follow.  I used a whole charm pack for this table runner.  It makes a nice long runner.

 I just love all the fall colors in the fabrics.

 My goal was to use scraps for the back.  I honestly thought I had more fall fabrics in my stash.  I remember there being several pieces in a bunch I found at a garage last summer.

None of them were big enough to cover the whole back so I improvised.  My sweet hubby actually thought the back looked kind of cool.

I envision more table runners in my future!

Happy sewing,

Lori

Time to Play!

Now that I'm done with Halloween costumes, I've had a chance to breath.  The best part is, I have no projects that HAVE to be done...well I do have a baby quilt I need to get started, but they don't know I'm making it so I'm not in a huge hurry.

Earlier in the week I decided my almost 2 year old grandson needed a placemat.  He's such a messy eater, aren't they all at that age?  The problem I had is even with a regular placemat he would still get the area between him and the placemat dirty.  For some reason I could never keep the placemat at the edge of the table.

So I decided he needed a placemat with a little flap that went over the edge of the table.  I made my own design and made it smaller than the typical placemat.  His bowls and plates are smaller than adults and the big ones just looked way to big for him.

Right now he's in love with Mickey Mouse so I found some cute fabric at Walmart.  This was an experiment so I figured cheap fabric was the way to go.  But I've said it before, I'm sometimes pleasantly surprised that I find better quality fabric than I expect at Walmart.  Now, I haven't washed it yet, so we'll see how it holds up.

I bought a yard of each Mickey fabric and two yards of the black polk a dot fabric.  I plan to make different designs just to practice making placemats.  This was my first placemat and I was surprised how quick and easy it was, without a pattern no less!

I was surprised how easy it was to come up with my own pattern.  The little flap worked exactly how I envisioned it would.  It's definitely sparked something in me to branch out and not just follow patterns like I typically do.

You will notice it is already dirty in the above picture.  I couldn't wait for him to try it out and forgot to take a picture before he used it! From the looks of it, I need to get busy making placemats, we'll probably need a clean one for every meal!  Let's see that's three a day for seven days...hmmm 21 placemats??? 


I've told myself for years that I'm not creative, I just like making things.  Maybe, just maybe there is a little creativity in me!  So I've set a goal.  Before the end of the year, I'll design another pattern.  I'm not sure what that will be yet, but I have a few ideas swirling around in my head.

Have you made your own design?  What was your process?

Happy Sewing!

Lori

I survived Halloween!

When my children were younger, I made all their Halloween costumes.  I haven't done that for several years, but now that I have grandkids, I've started back up again.   Last year I made a Little Mermaid costume for my daughter.  She found a crab costume for her son (his name is Sebastian) , she has red hair so she thought it was the perfect costume!

This year she wanted to do characters from the movie Frozen.    Sebastian was Olaf, Abby was Anna, my daughter Paige was Sven and my granddaughter was Elsa.  We really had to do some talking to get Paige to go along.  She's not really in to dressing up, so her costume had to be very simple.


I started with Olaf.  I found a pattern on the internet, but I'm not going to add the link because I was not at all impressed with the directions.  I think someone that did not have any experience with sewing would have a very difficult time. Fortunately it was a free pattern and  I was able to figure it out.

 

The pattern said to add a zipper but I simply put on a kam snap.  The edges were unfinished which is fine since it's made out of fleece and won't ravel.

Next up was Elsa. I neglected to take any pictures of the process. It went together fairly easily.  I think the biggest problem was trying to find fabric.  I searched online and every local fabric store, but couldn't find what I was looking for.  I finally found the fabric at Walmart.  I used  Simplicity pattern 1233  I do buy all my patterns either at Joann's or Hobby Lobby when they are on sale.  Sometimes I also find them at Walmart. I found this pattern ran true to size.

I saved Anna for last, not sure why since it was the most difficult of the three. I used Simplicity pattern 1215.   I have an interesting story about the sizing on this pattern. Last year when I made the mermaid costume, it ran true to size and I had no problems.  This year for some reason I decided to check the size on Abby when I was cutting out the tissue.  Of course I didn't think to check BEFORE I cut the whole pattern out (just the tissue, not the fabric).  I put the waist band around her and found it was way too small.  I thought maybe it was the tissue, so I cut some scrap fabric and tried again and still too small.  So I pondered for a few days, then saw this video by the Crafty Gemini, in it Vanessa talks pattern sizing. She said if a person usually wears a 6, in patterns they may be a 14.  Oh boy was she right!  I measured Abby who is usually a size 4 and according to the pattern, she's a size 14!  I had to go buy a new pattern and start all over.  The good thing is once I got the correct size, it fit her well.

 The whole family even got involved and helped.  Even my 27 year old son!

I don't have a light box so I used my french doors.  At some point there wasn't enough light so my husband shone a flash light while my son traced the pattern onto Heat n Bond.

This is what we had to trace, except that is just a small portion.  There are 10 panels that have applique the length of the skirt, plus what goes on the top.  Needless to say, there were lots of appliqueing to be done.

I learned how to insert boning.  It was definitely a  learning experience.  The bodice came together fairly quickly.  The skirt was another story.  I have to mention here that I was running short on time.  I had known about the costumes for over two months, but hadn't had my weekends to work on them due to other circumstances.  By last Friday I everything pretty much done except for the skirt.  I worked on the skirt all weekend and still was no where near done...there is A LOT of applique!.  I had Monday afternoon and all Tuesday off work so I figured I would have plenty of time.

If it wasn't for my youngest daughter (who wasn't even getting to join in on the Halloween fun because of work) helping, I wouldn't have finished in time.   We didn't even stop to take photos!

Aren't they adorable?!!!

Sven was easy, well sort of.  I guess brown is not "in"this year because I had an awful time trying to find a brown sweater.  Finally at a second hand store I found a brown North Face jacket.  I got the brown jeggings and antlers at Walmart and the scarf and boots at Target. Paige was happy because she wanted brown boots and I figured since I worked so hard on the other costumes, she deserved the boots:)

Do you sew for Halloween?

Happy Sewing,

Lori