Fabric Choice for Basket

 A nice customer asked if this fabric would make a lovely basket?  YES!

I love this Michael Miller line of fabric, called "Backyard Baby" that you can purchase at the lovely Etsy Shop, Nauvoo   http://www.etsy.com/shop/NauvooQuiltCo?ref=pr_shop_more

http://www.etsy.com/listing/95228259/birch-forest-backyard-baby-michael?ref=af_new_item

This lovely aqua is "Birch Forest" and would make a lovely basket for all those baby toys.  The striped birch trees would create a wonderful swirl effect, but you will lose the fun woodpecker.  And, no I don't think I would see those are birch trees in the swirl.  What I love about this wonderful fabric is the many shades of aqua with high contrast of black and white.  The little green leaves will add  nice highlights too!  There are many other wonderful fabrics in this Michael Miller line that would make great baskets, even the monotones can be used for accents and contrast.

Please feel free to contact me with more questions.
Thanks for visiting!

Wrapped Gaberdine Fabric

Wrapping lovely shiny gaberdine fabric creates a beautiful shiny basket, but with more fray than cotton.  It is such wonderful wedding fabric and easy to hand coil and sew.  I trimmed the fray from this lovely Wedding Candy Dish.   So, clean your machine well and your work area, since the fray clings to everything, yes the rug and your clothes too.  It is a little harder to wrap, since it is slippery and frays alot.  I wrapped tighter, so that it was easier to sew later.

 Here is a cotton White Wedding Candy Bowl and there is some fray due to the raw edges, but not as much as the lovely gaberdine. 

I am making a little flower girl basket with more fray for a nice Shabby Chic look. 

I would like to thank a very nice customer, Carol, for helping me design these baskets.

Again, Have Fun!

LARGE CAT BED!

A great customer sent me pictures of her daughter's wonderful cats!
What fun!  Great Christmas present!  They love their new cat bed!

What machine do I use?

A very nice customer is helping women in Africa make fabric wrapped coiled baskets.  I hope your next trip is a success!

She asked what kind of machine works well.  Unfortunately, I'm not an expert on machines and mine is not an industrial or heavy duty machine.  I use a standard Baby Lock 6150 with the top loading bobbin.  No, no computer!  I can't believe it is still going strong too!  I'm not sure how old it is, maybe 10 years old.  I have broken many  plastic and metal bobbins, but I use a great deal of thread for the fabric coiled baskets.  I usually use a jeans machine needle or a size 16 for these fun bags and baskets. 

CLEAN YOUR Machine often!  The rope and thread fuzz is incredible.  I clean out the bobbin area after every project or every 4 bobbins or 100' of rope.  I also oil any joints in the bobbin area, just one drop per joint.  After every 5 or so bobbin area cleanings, I also open the top and bottom of the machine and clean out the fuzz and oil the moving joints.

This is my bobbin area, what a mess after about 100' of rope basket sewing.



The second picture shows how much gets into the bobbin hook area.

I have to thank my husband, Chris, he just adjusted the machine again for me.  Yeah! the zigzag is going well again!  He also opened the motor area, which was relatively clean and oiled in there too.  I have now switched from the basic sewing machine oil to "Break Free" an oil lubricant, cleaner and preservative.  
Unfortunately, it would cost $60-80 to have this machine cleaned and serviced, but I don't think the machine is worth it, it is way too old.

So, I hope my luck continues!
Please feel free to contact me with any other questions!


Yeah, a clean machine!

New Cozy Cat Beds!

 I have been designing and making new cat beds.

This tiger striped bed is a polyester velveteen and is taller than most of the beds, 5".  This funky fabric was hard to work with, but it came out so nice, I'll have to try it again!

 This is a cotton flannel  paisley fabric!
Beautiful nutmeg color with blues and greens!  I'm trying out different sizes, with the small basic having a 11" diameter base, 16" across the top and 4" high.

Let me know if there is a better size!

Here is another brown paisley fabric, the dark brown is just wonderful, yes this cat bed sold!

 Love this Black!  It is a nice deep black with bright colors for great contrast!  I love the funkiness!

 Ok, here is a nice soft blue floral and it is in flannel too!

Yes, this brown and tan cat bed is flannel!
It is hard to find nice rich flannels like this one!