Pattern Sale – Radiant Folded Patchwork Star

Happy May Day! To celebrate, the Radiant Folded Patchwork Star and covered box pattern is on sale for $2.99.

Radiant Folded Star Pattern — Radiant Folded Star and Covered Box

You can use the Folded Star in a variety of ways – table toppers, covered boxes, clothing and accessory accents, and more!

This pattern includes full step by step directions for both a fabric covered box and a table topper. Photographs of key steps are also included.
These Folded Stars are fat quarter friendly, great stashbusters, and useful for scraps! Use Christmas fabrics to create a festive holiday table topper. Use pastels or batiks to create a striking storage box. Make a scrappy star to complement your latest quilt. The possibilities are endless! The pattern is easy to make and requires little sewing. This is a great project for kids and confident beginners.

Buy Now on Sale! $2.99

Buy now, sew today!

You are purchasing a PDF pattern which will be available for immediate download after purchase. After your payment is processed, you will be e-mailed a link from which you can download the pattern.

Keep it Thimble!

Mini Bow Tucks Tote

Need a new spring purse or tote? Check out Quilts Illustrated pattern for the Mini Bow Tucks Tote. I finished mine this week and was very happy with the results. The pattern is well-written and easy to follow.

Keep it Thimble!

Radiant Folded Patchwork Star Pattern and Covered Box

As regular readers know, one of my goals this year is to release my first retail pattern! I am pleased announce that is is now available. The Radiant Folded Star and Covered Box is inspired by a project that I did with my grandmother over 30 years ago.

Buy Pattern Now – Sale! $2.99

Luminous Folded Star Pattern — Radiant Folded Patchwork Star and Covered Box

This pattern includes full step by step directions for both a fabric covered box and a table topper. Photos of key steps make the pattern easy to follow.

Christmas Star — Radiant Patchwork Folded Star - Holiday Table Topper

A huge THANKS goes out to Jen Lopez of Sew Fun for encouraging me and mentoring me through this pattern design process. Check out her site and all the great patterns she has!

IMAG0922 — Original Folded Patchwork Star Box

Here’s a picture of the original project that inspired this pattern – this is 30 years old and still looks as good as the day I made it. Thanks Grandma – I’ll see you at Thanskgiving!

Buy Pattern Now – Sale! $2.99

Keep it Thimble!

Wool Applique Project Notebook

I always have a few wool applique projects in process at any one time. I usually cut out all the wool pieces, get the embroidery floss, and the put everything in a Ziploc bag so it can be worked on later. They are great to stitch on in the evening when watching TV or just hanging out. As you can imagine, there are a few Ziploc bags sitting in my closet!

Sharon of Liberty Rose has a great idea for organizing all these items! This project notebook features wool applique on the front and inside cover (so you have a place to keep your needles and pins) and it pretty easy to sew together (I plan to post a tutorial about how to cover the notebook sometime before the end of the year). The notebook contains zippered pouches that are the perfect size for carrying all your project supplies.

The notebook is standard 3 Ring binder. I ironed fusible fleece on my stitching fabric so that the cover is more durable (especially since it will be used a lot). I did some basic applique on the front and and inside cover.

I didn’t go too crazy with the embroidery embellishments, since the main purpose is functional, not decorative. My embroidery time is better spent finishing up the wool crazy block that was started a year ago! A pocket on the back inside cover can carry larger pattern books that won’t fit in the pouches.

Now, when traveling, I just take out a zippered project pouch, throw it in the suitcase, and am good to go. Talk about Keeping it Thimble!

In other news, look for details in the next week or so on my first published pattern. In the meantime, here are some sneak peeks:

Keep it Thimble!

Class Information – Carry All Project Tote

The first draft of Carry All Project Tote pattern is almost completed. A few testers are lined up, so they will help me fine tune the directions. I am teaching a class on this tote at the Whistle Stop Quilt Shop in Cary, NC on September 10.

Please call or visit the shop if you want to sign up. You should be able to finish the project in class (if you do your homework beforehand!). The shop has the supply list and the homework assignment:

Carry All Project Tote Class
Saturday, Sept 10, 9am – 1pm
Class Fee: $25
Whistle Stop Quilt Shop, 919-387-7400
3434 Kildaire Farm Rd, Suite 136, Cary, NC 27518

Pattern Design – Phase One

So far, so good. I have the first part of the pattern written which include the yardage and the directions for cutting the fabric. Honestly, this part is probably the most difficult for me to write because it’s tricky to figure out how much fabric to tell people to get.

If you estimate too low (ie, just barely enough) there is a chance that someone makes a cutting error, doesn’t have enough for the project, and has to go back to store for more. If you estimate too much, someone will spend more then they need on the fabric and have a lot of scraps left over! I personally don’t mind having leftovers, but in this economy, I know I try to save money where I can :).

Carry All Tote Sample — Carry All Project Tote - Sample

My pattern lists the sizes for each piece, but in addition it will also include cutting instructions so that people can cut out the pieces the most efficient way possible. I always appreciate patterns who have provide specific guidelines on how to actually cut the yardage into pieces. Sometimes I follow them, and sometimes I don’t, but it’s nice to have them.

Labels for the pattern pieces are also included so that there is any easy way to track all the pieces. Each piece is assigned a specific number and you will cut out the labels and pin them to the appropriate pattern piece. The directions will reference the piece number on the labels to (hopefully) eliminate any confusion with the actual pattern.

What do you think about these pattern features? Is there anything else I should also include?

Keep it thimble!

Gone Pattern Designin’

There’s good news and bad news. The good news is that I have found a mentor to help me get my pattern design business off the ground. She has given me a lot of ideas and information about how to do this and I am well on my way to getting my creations designed and ready for prime time.

Sewing Room Bed — "Bed" in the Sewing Room

The bad news is that in order to do focus on pattern design, I will be taking a brief vacation from my blog. I won’t be doing a lot of posts for the next 1 -2 months or so, but I will be posting photos here and there of what I am doing so you know that I am working hard.

My son recently built a “bed” for me in my sewing room closet since I spend so much time in there. He got all the blankets out of the linen closet and then added all his stuffed animals (so I have some company) to create this little nest. He likes going in there at the end of the day to take a break and enjoy looking at my fabric (a real chip off the old block 😉 ).

I’m excited about this new direction and looking forward to showing off what I’ve accomplished.

Keep it thimble!

Carry All Project Tote

Sew many things, sew little time! Sorry, it just had to be said – there are a lot of things going on in the next few months and I need to be better about managing my sewing and designing time. This is the year I really want to take a step forward with turning Keep It Thimble into something more than a blog – and I working over the past few months on some things that are helping in that regard.

One thing I am planning is to have three of my patterns written, tested, and published before the end of this year. The first pattern is called “Carry All Project Tote”. This is a working title, so if you have any title suggestions, please send them my way!

This tote was inspired by the popular L.L Bean tote bags, but with a twist (of course). My version features two exterior pockets, one in front of the other, and it also has a bit of the lining that peeks out on the top to form a nice contrasting edge. Another nice feature is that this tote is very sturdy and stiff so you can easily reach inside to get things without the bag flopping over. The dimensions are the perfect size for a few books, sewing supplies, and other project needs. It would also make an ideal library tote.

The pattern will be written up by the end of July and then it will be tested in August/September and ready for purchase in October – if all goes well. That may be an optimistic schedule, but I have to start somewhere don’t I?

In other news, the group involved in the Porch Sale had a meeting yesterday. We have expanded to about 17 vendors and should have a nice variety of things to offer. Mark your calendars for Oct 14th and 15th.

Keep it Thimble!

Free Pattern – Shaker Pincushion

The January Sewing Club pattern is finally ready! I was trying to think of something fun to kick off the new year and figured that any sewer can always use another pincushion. This one is nice because you have a place to store your thimble, thread and snips. I was inspired by something similar I saw at an antique store. Enjoy!

Click here to download a .pdf of the pattern. (1.6 MB)

Folded Patchwork Star

This is a folded patchwork star that is easy to make. These make great Christmas gifts and it’s a great way to use up some of your stash (to make room for new fabric). My grandmother showed me how to make these stars when I was little – I can still remember carefully looking through all the fabrics in her stash to pick the fabrics for the star I made. Once the star was completed, we got an old round cheese box, covered it in fabric, and sewed the star on top!

Buy Pattern – Sale! $2.99

The pattern is available for purchase in my shop. It contains step by step directions for creating the Folded Star, with photos showing the key steps. It has finishing instructions for both a fabric covered box and a table topper.

Keep it Thimble!