Pillowcase Sewing Party!

I know you have all heard about All People Quilt's One Million Pillowcase Challenge.  They are trying to encourage people to make pillowcases for charities and then tell APQ how many they have made, so they can reach a grand total of one million.  As of 3:45 pm on December 31, 2011, the count is up to 381,941.  One of my resolutions for 2012 is to sew and knit up A LOT of my stash, and to do more crafting for charity.  I took a short break from Christmas knitting a couple of weeks ago and made a hat for a charity out of a lonely skein of bulky wool that I had languishing in my stash, and it was fast, easy, and made me feel so good to be giving to people who have so much less than I do.  Also it was nice to do a quick, mindless project to distract me from mittens with pigs on them and Kindle covers with flaps and buttons everywhere, which is what I was doing for Christmas gifts this year.

In that spirit, we here at Garden Gate Fabrics would like to encourage charity sewing (and/or knitting/crocheting, if that's your thing), so we will be having a Pillowcase Sewing Party!  During our normal Sit and Sew time on Tuesday, January 24, we would like to encourage you to come and hang out, eat snacks (of course!) and sew pillowcases with us.  Come anytime after 3 or 4, and stay until 7 pm.  Pajamas and slippers/other comfy clothes are encouraged.  Feel free to bring fabric from your stash, if you have a substantial one like myself.  We will also have kits that we will donate if you come and donate your time to sew pillowcases for charity.  So we would love to have you come and sew with us that night.  Don't forget that we always have Sit and Sew on Tuesdays from 5-7, and would love to see you other Tuesdays besides the 24th as well.  Please call and let us know if you'll be coming, so we can make sure there are places set up for everyone.  We have a quick and easy pattern for pillowcases, but you can look at the ones on the website above as well, if you'd rather use your own.  If you are interested in having your fabric pre-cut when you come, so you can get down to business and sew right away, cut a piece of fabric 27 inches by the width of the fabric for the body of the pillowcase, and a piece 9 inches by the width of the fabric for the cuff.  I, for one, am SUPER EXCITED about some serious stash-busting that evening.  I may cut a whole pile of pillowcases so I can go crazy sewing!  If the thought of sewing with a scary crazy lady makes you worried, you may want to sit this one out. :)

So to recap, come to the shop on Tuesday, January 24, from about 4 pm to 7 pm, bring some fabric to sew pillowcases or we'll have kits here to donate if you want to make them for charity, and get excited about sewing again!  Please call if you'll be coming to let us know.  Thanks!

PS You can also come and make pillowcases for yourself, and we won't think badly of you. :) Our free kits will only be if you plan to donate the pillowcases to charity, however, so keep that in mind.

Four Sided Placemats

Hi everyone!  I wanted to share a project that I made for Christmas presents this year that was very quick and easy.  It was also fun for me to put together, which is not always the case, as we know. :)

I made something called the Four-Sided Placemats by Several Settings, a company in New Hampshire.  These placemats are actually 4 in one, you choose four different fabrics for each placemat and can change them as you wish.  Let me show you a picture:

This is the picture that comes with the instructions.  The instructions are free with purchase of a reusable mylar template that you use to cut the ovals for your placemats.  Here are the placemats that I made:

So this is all the same placemat, and the flaps fold as shown to make the different sides.  Obviously when the placemats are in use, you probably would fold down the flap shown on the right, so that your placemat is flat.  BUT you can use the placemats however you wish, I don't want to stifle creativity!  Each placemat takes 1 yard of fabric total, you can use four fat quarters.  I made twelve altogether, three sets of four, and to make a set of four you would need a yard of four different fabrics.  You can also put interfacing inside the placemats to make them more stiff, but I didn't find that necessary for mine.

We will be having a class on these placemats on Saturday, January 7.  Watch your email for information on times and prices.  If you are not on our email list and would like to be, please email us at sylvia@gardengatefabrics.com.  Thanks, and happy sewing!