Sewing for Love

 In my search for the perfect hat pattern to make head coverings for people who lose their hair during chemo therapy or just want to look extra pretty, I came across Rob Appell and his Man Sewing video tutorial on sewing a Scully Cap. This one is great for sensitive scalps because it doesn’t have raw seams inside, making it more comfortable. You can find the pattern here. 

I have some tips for you if you decide to give it a go. First, watch the video, it helps to find out how the pieces go together they are printed on multiple pages and you have to tape the little bits together, you can make a full hat with two fat quarters or half a yard (per video). I used the fat quarters because I had it on hand and wanted to use up my marinating stash! By the way, I used 1/4 inch seam, except for the narrow hem described below. I enjoyed making the two caps because it went together quickly and gave a really nice result. Plus, Rob Appell is a hoot and has a great personality. He has lots of other videos- check him out!

See if you can follow along with my pictures. Good luck!!

Arranging your pieces like this will give you a different center piece but the sides and band will be the same. This picture with the Side piece has the fabric folded in half, if your pieces don't fit, fold your fabric the other way. The Side, Band Center, Band End and a copy of the Band End because you need four total of that one will ALL fit, I promise.



This picture shows the center piece on a fold. Do you see that the fabric is folded so that the raw edges are to the middle? You need to cut this out twice-on the fold! This is a little tight on a fat quarter but I made it work out just fine.

This picture to the left is showing the second cutting of the Center piece.

This picture is showing how the band center is attached to the band end, a band end goes on each side of the band center. Sew the band center ends to the band center twice, on each band center main piece. You will then have a ridiculous looking arc looking piece. Go ahead and press your seams to set then go wild and press the seam allowance to one side.

These are my pieces getting ready to sew all the little bits all at once to stream line the process. Pinned together makes it go so fast at the machine.

Do this:
1. Make narrow hem by folding up 5/8 seam allowance then open it and fold raw edge in then press flat, top stitch this down the side piece where shown.
2. Stitch the band ends to center band as explained above.
3. Stitch the TWO darts on EACH center piece, then clip your dart close to stitching.

This picture demonstrates how the side is attached to the whole thing and notice the narrow hem marking. Notice also the ORANGE dot near the top on the side piece. This is to point out the top of the piece, it is easy to get turned around!

This is showing the orange dots, the parts here are the center and side (I accidentally had my printer on print both sides setting and had to reprint some pieces. This is why the wrong side of the pattern looks weird.

These are the center pieces with the darts sewn in.

 Baste the two sides to each side of the center piece. The Orange dot if marked on the fabric would be at the top of the picture with the rounder part of the side piece being attached right sides together to center piece.








Notice here that the raw little edge of the center piece is not flush with the narrow hem, this is on purpose. It should be off set by about 1/4 inch for the seam allowance.

 Like this in pattern parts.

 It will look like this once basted.

And this on the wrong side once basted.

 I like pins, but you can do it without if you are daring! Pin the centers right sides together with sides tucked in.

 This is the forehead side of the center pieces pinned together with the sides tucked in all nice and cosy, leave this open for turning.

Sew all around then clip. Now, this little corner was a beast and would not lay open nicely when I turned it out. I must be doing something wrong, so if you have a tip, I'd love to add it HERE. Thanks! Ok, so you see this other outside corner to the right is the one where we off set the narrow hem of the side, we want to make sure this is tucked in and not caught in the stitching as you go around. Trust me, it is going to be sweet!












This picture shows it all together with the opening at the bottom of the picture. Trim your corners and clip here and there and turn out give it a good press.


I see you spying my pretty flower fabric. I'm so excited to say I am wearing the top I made out of it right now!

 Ok, here you will lay one long band piece right side facing UP so that the round part comes around you as opposed to away from you, you know? Like an upside down very wide U. Figure out where the middle is and pin the middle of the band to the open end of the center, sandwiching it all together put the other band piece face DOWN on top with the center. Again, if you are brave, go without pins.











It looks like this all pinned up. You will then sew this allaround the band pieces with some parts only the band being stitched together.

 It's going to get funky, but hang in there and sew it together as much as you can by fiddling the innerds in the band, it will turn out in a minute.

 This shows you how I sewed all around the band pieces and how it looks before turning out.

 After turning out you will need to close the opening that is left by giving it a good topstitch all around.

This picture shows you the nice little side end with the narrow hem and the end of the center piece. Looks good right!??

Finished!






Bonus! I get to use my styrofoam head that I bought for no reason.

Panetone 2019

Have you spied on a new color for the season?  I must admit that I don't find this Spring/Summer 2019 colors particularly inspiring. And, boring Bonny, just likes the neutral color Sweet Corn. The only other one that caught my eye is Quietude. I am not sure how that fits into the season because it does not appear on the main color line as the others. Take a look here at Panetone and let me know what's your color!

UPDATE

Hello, are you bundled up and waiting for the next snow to fall? How about a little sewing to keep your fingers warm?  

I wanted to give you some hot off the presses information. 

New this year are Open Sew Days. Where you are the master of your sewing.  Our first OPEN SEW DAY will be Saturday, March 16 at 10AM to 3PM at the Bethlehem Town Hall at 445 Delaware Ave in Delmar.  This is a great opportunity to sew with your friends, or make some new sewing friends. Bring your machine, and project, perhaps,  even something you need a little help with. Our group is so generous with their sewing knowledge, there is certainly someone who can help with whatever is delaying you to a finished project. 

There will be a new neighborhood group meeting! The Machine Embroidery Neighborhood Group will meet downstairs at the Mckownville Methodist Church at 1565 Western Avenue in Albany on the last Friday of the month, starting March 29 at 12pm to 2PM through to June. They will break for Summer and resume in September. If you ever thought you may be interested in machine embroidery, this group is for you. If you have a machine and want to chat with others who have one, or want to learn some new tricks, this group is for you!  For these meetings you DO NOT need to lug your machine. The group will share machine information, techniques, tips, projects, chat about stabilizers, it will be fun fun fun! We can thank Shirley for this new group. Thank you Shirley! It sounds like it will be a great success. Best wishes to you. 

The next ASG Conference will be held at the DoubleTree by Hilton Boston North Shore, at 50 Ferncroft Road, Danvers, MA from August 1 to 4. This is considered the "Greater Boston Area" which means it is not that far away!! Car pool anyone? Keep an eye for more information, usually in April for the Registration, but meanwhile, you can book your room, here. 

Did you know that you can visit any ASG Neighborhood Group that meets anywhere in the United States? There is a handy tool on the ASG website (that you don't even need to log in for) to find information on a chapter near your next vacation. For instance, I will be in Las Vegas soon, by using this tool I can find the chapter's information. I can also see their Newsletter (Member Log in required) to find information about their groups that meet and even see their advertisers in case I run out of fabric while traveling or I want a souvenir yard or two. 

• Las Vegas Chapter
• Las Vegas NV 89044
• 17.26 mi
• http://www.asglv.org
• lasvegas@asg.org
• Area: Serving Southern Nevada & Southwestern Utah

Have you been on Craftsy lately? Also known as bluprint. They have a new pricing structure for less than 8 bucks you get one month unlimited access to every class, plus one class you have access to forever. For less than 80 bucks you can have one year long access to all their classes, and 12 classes you can have access to forever. This folks is a very good deal! I just noticed that you can stream these classes on Roku devices. I have to go try that out right now! This means that I can watch- and pause- a class on my TV, which is great, since the bigger screen means better visibility of whatever I'm learning. If you need information on how to add a channel-aka-bluprint to your Roku device click here. 

Well, that you should be enough to motivate us to get those sewing or embroidery machines humming. 

Be warm, 

Bonny D

A Members Perspective

The Quilted Boutique

by Pat H.

    About 15 months ago I made a queen size t-shirt quilt for my granddaughter as an apartment warming gift.   I had never made one of these before and really didn’t know where to start.   I did purchase a Craftsy (Blue Print) class, The Ultimate T-Shirt Quilt with Winnie Fleming, which was very helpful has far as cutting out the t-shirts for the quilt, how to apply the interfacing to the backside of the t-shirts, and t-shirt layout ideas.   

   When I got to the point of purchasing the interfacing to apply to the t-shirts, I really wasn’t sure what to purchase.    I stopped by The Quilted Boutique and Janlynn, the owner, was very helpful and is very experienced.  She has made a lot of t-shirt quilts and other types of quilts for customers.   In fact she was working on a family type quilt for a customer for a special occasion when I stopped in.    She recommended Pellon P44F at Joanns and the best part is that it was inexpensive, which was good for this project.

  Once I got the top laid out and sewn I went back to The Quilted Boutique with quilt in hand to inquire about batting and having it quilted.   She recommended a batting that she sold there and she also machine quilts for people.   When it was time for the quilting, I brought the quilt and the back piece and purchased the batting there at a very reasonable price and left the quilt to be quilted.   I did not have to put the quilt pieces together, as the long arm does that.   The price for the machine quilting and the batting was very reasonable and I was really pleased with the results.   She also applied the ASG discount.  She offers t-shirt quilt classes (which I didn’t realize at the time of the making of my t-shirt quilt); regular quilting classes; felting classes; basic sewing lessons; and will help a sewer learn their sewing machine.   She advertises in our Chapter newsletter.  Check her ad for store hours and other information.   

    I would recommend The Quilted Boutique in Colonie to anyone.  She is local, reasonably priced, very helpful and knowledgeable, and also has a nice selection of reasonably priced fabrics in her store.   Check it out.   She is located at 4 Vly Rd. in Colonie.   Vly Road is across from the Kohl’s Plaza entrance at the traffic light in Colonie.   She is the second building on the left, a gray house, coming in from Central Avenue.

Posted by Bonny D on January 21, 2019