Teddy Bear Baby

This was a custom order quilt for a gift. The mom-to-be doesn't want to know what sex the baby is, so the quilt needed to be non-gender specific. On the other hand, the person ordering the quilt didn't want it to look like every other generic baby thing on the market. She also wanted to avoid dogs and cats, but wanted something very baby. I suggested teddy bears, and I got the go-ahead.


I started with the bear print, and used it as a foundation for my color scheme. I was originally going to go for a yellow and green theme, but I found all these really fun bubble prints in bright colors. They went so nicely together, I just found that nothing else was as good.



I love how the blue and the pink are not the typical baby blue and pink. It seems like these bolder colors make it much more neutral. I have noticed a trend in baby items the last few years. It seems like brown is becoming a more popular color for the nursery. A couple years ago, I never would have added in so many dark colors, but it seems like it's all the rage now.


I used the bear fabric as the backing as well. I never got a really good picture of the colors. In all these pictures, this fabric looks really light. In real life, all the colors in the print match the colors in the dotted fabric.


By the way, this pattern may look familiar. It's amazing how different a quilt can look by just changing a few colors and rotating a few blocks. Check it out.

(Sailor's Dream 38"x50" 2010)

Kindle Cover

A good friend of mine just got a Kindle and asked me to make a cover for it. She wanted something very simple, mostly just to keep the screen from getting scratched. She also wanted it to close with a wooden button.

I used a soft cotton fabric for the outside and inside and I used a flannel for a little extra padding. When I did a mock-up with batting, I found that it was too thick and made the whole cover very puffy and fat.


I did a little quilting to hold the flannel in place. I followed the brown check design in a dark brown thread. I wanted to avoid leaving lint or threads on the Kindle, so I left the lining off while quilting so there were no unfinished seams.

I was a little concerned that the button could damage the screen. I suggested storing the Kindle so that the screen is not on the same side as the button. This case will protect against scratches and minor bumps, but it is not padded enough to protect against dropping.

She was thrilled with her case and is off in India enjoying it as I write this post.

Kimonos

These kimonos were made for a husband and wife who are really into learning about Japanese culture. I will be the first to admit that the fabric is far from authentic. This was really a cotton trial run for some nicer silk/satin ones in the future.

His kimono was a bit of a challenge because he is very tall, and has the mass for his height. Every pattern piece was approximately 5" to small, both lengthwise and width wise. With careful measurements, I was able to get it really close. The only alteration it needed was to hem up the sleeves.


The belt that came with the pattern was a simple velcro-in-place belt, and it looked far from sturdy. I designed this belt like a karate belt, so that it goes around the waste twice and ties in front. I made it a little long so that it looked a little more formal.



Her kimono was a little harder to sew with the long sleeves. I actually didn't have enough fabric for the sleeves, so I had to improvise by adding a panel of red to the bottom. In the end, I think it turned out nicer having the two-toned sleeves.



Her sash is not an authentic obi. I did use the pattern with the velcro-in-place sash. It looks fine for every day use, but we plan on doing a full real obi for her silk/satin kimono.