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Monday, March 5, 2018

Think Small Blog Hop

How often do we get caught up with all the inspiration?
There are so many creative people out there in cyberspace.
My plate fills up fast, with things I want to do.
If only I was going to live to be a zillion years old!
In comes "Carol" to ground us just a bit.
Lets think on a smaller scale.
Something that's doable in a very short amount of time.
Thank you Carol, I'm all about that!
While I was working on my blocks for "It's a Wild Life" BOM, 
I had some left over triangle pieces from trimming off my maple leaf stems.
On went my thinking cap.
Each section stitched and trimmed down to 3" blocks.
There was just enough to make this nice size 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" pinwheel.
...perfect for a small "Headliner" bag!
If your like me, you can never have enough bags around.
I was looking for something to put my binding clips in, 
and this little one will be perfect.

Let me show you how I did it.
I start out by layering my block on top of a piece of "headliner" fabric, 
and a piece of lining. I like to cut my headliner fabric about 1/2" wider and longer than necessary and the lining about 1" wider and longer.

Headliner fabric you say?
It's a great foam based product that they actually use on the roof inside your car.
It's widely used in purse making for stability.
At ByAnnies.com, it's called "Soft and Stable".
An 18" x 58" piece sells for $11.95.
There is a polyester fabric fused to each side of a piece of foam.
I'm cheap!
JoAnn's Fabrics also carries it. It's called a  "Foam backed Headliner fabric".
It is sold for $14.99 a yard and is 54" wide.
As you can see, that is one huge price difference, 
and they always have a sale or a coupon you can use.
There is a difference. Their fabric only has the polyester on one side of it.
I'm no expert, but I'm not sure what the difference is.
Once it's stitched inside your project,  you never see it. 
I have only used this and have no problems stitching it at all.
In fact, it's kind of amazing just how easy it is to sew.
That being said...
Here is what JoAnns posts on their site about it.
Dry Clean only fabric may "crock"
I must say, I have never had any "crocked" fabric yet.
LOL!!
(I'm so glad I'm not the only one who can spell worth beans)
But that being said, I very seldom wash my things made with it,
and I let them air dry if I do.

Sew...back to the block.
Layer them up and quilt them all together as you like.
I just stitched along the pinwheel blades. Trim it up square.
Next up we are going to make a piece for the top, using the same method.
 Mine is about 2 1/2" wide, but you can use any size you like.
You want to make sure you make it wider than the last piece you stitched.
(you'll see why later)
Trim that up when your done.
Now take a zipper that is longer than your piece, to allowing for trimming later.
and stitch it zipper side face down on top of the pinwheel sandwich.
Make sure your zipper pull is on the bottom, before stitching.
Flip your block down and top stitch to the zipper.
Do the exact same thing for your little top piece next.
Now you can see just why we wanted the zipper to be longer 
and why we made the top piece bigger. 
It allows us to trim without hitting anything metal on the zipper,
as well as not having to be perfect in placing the top piece.
Move your zipper pull towards the center of the block
 and stitch each end of zipper, before you trim.
Using your completed front as a size guide, make a back piece about 1" wider and longer.
Make sure your Headliner fabric and your lining fabric are larger as before.
Quilt as desired, and trim up the back.
Lay the top on the back keeping the lining pieces facing each other, 
and stitch around all sides
Now trim up your new bag and bind to finish the edges.
I added a loop to my bag before I add the binding.
There you have it...
A quick and easy scrap buster.
For those who have an eagle eye...
You might have noticed that there were different colors of  "Headliner" fabric
in these photos. It does come in tan and black, 
and I have both in my bag of scraps. 
When using batiks fabrics it doesn't show thru,
 so I never worry about what color I use.
Wanna know what my favorite, bag of scraps are?
...not a thread do I waste.
LOL!!
It's amazing just how far our scraps can take us!
What's in your scrap bag...extra blocks, fun prints...panels???
They can all make fast and fun bags for any occasion.
I showed you mine, now you show me yours!

Just a reminder...if your interested in awesome labels for your quilts
 or special projects...
Dutch Label Shop is offering a 15% discount until April 7th,
just for reading my blog.
use discount code
moosestashquilting15
(all lower case) at checkout.
Visit them

Now check out my fellow bloggers, fun little projects...
March 5

March 6
MooseStashQuilting...your here!

March 7

March 8

til next time...
Keep on Stitchin'

45 comments:

  1. I like this a lot! Great way to use up some very pretty scraps and a very handy bag for your clips.

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  2. So beautiful and handy. I'm making one right away. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  3. A cool project, I agree you can never have too many bags.

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  4. A great little bag! Thanks for the lesson on headliner stuff.

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  5. Fun tutorial! Never heard of "headliner".

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  6. Headliner, who knew. Great tutorial, thanks.

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  7. What a great little bag and your tutorial was perfect! I had to laugh (because that's what you do to me) when I was reading because just as I was questioning what "headliner" was you answered it. Thanks for the heads-up about finding it at Joann's. Then I was reading the label and wondered what a "crock" meant. Someone needs to proofread their product labels! LOL Thanks for the morning smile, the wonderful tutorial, and for joining in the hop. :O)

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  8. Cutie bags and thanks for the heads up about the liner fabric at Joanns, I have seen it online but didn't know they carried it in the store. I have used the branded stuff but I don't make many bags.

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  9. Such great tips and ideas Joan. Thank you for the great tutorial. I must make myself one for sure, yours is awesome!!!

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  10. Love that little zipper pouch. I use soft and stable a lot, so happy to know there is an alternative! Thanks for the tip. and thanks for sharing with us today.

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  11. Very cute! My husband used to make headliner.

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  12. That's really cute, Joan with great fabrics too. Thanks so much for the clear tutorial.

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  13. Great use of your extra bits! I like sewing with the foam insulation for bags and placemats - it's really sturdy but easy to sew or quilt through. Cute bag!

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  14. I love your little bag! I had never heard of headliner fabric...thanks for the education and walking us through how you made this little cutie!!

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  15. Adorable! Thanks for sharing the tutorial!

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  16. Oh so lovely! Thanks for the tuto. I might have to try this!

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  17. This is sew cute, Joan! ... :-) Pat

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  18. Lovely purse and interesting info about the foam. Also I do need to order labels!

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  19. Nice idea.
    Actually, "Crock" is not misspelled. It is an actual term and here is the definition: Crocking usually occurs in heavily dyed fabric, such as raw denim. Compared to “bleeding”, where the dye comes into contact with liquid; crocking occurs when the dye is physically rubbed off. - https://www.heddels.com/dictionary/crock/

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  20. You are one funny stitcher! You had me giggling right through the post! I do love a scrappy project and especially when I can use up some favorites to make a useful piece. Your little bag will be very handy!

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  21. What a cute, small bag. Thanks for the tut. I used headliner fabric years ago and it worked well. Then I was in a class and they suggested using "Soft and Stable" as that was what they sold. It was great and I thought it was easier to work with. Since then I've always gotten "Soft and Stable". I need to give the headliner another try; I'll probably be able to compare things better now. I'm glad it works well for you.

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  22. Very cute small bag. Good idea to use the foam, I will try it.

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  23. What a great pattern! Lovely colors.

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  24. Lovely use of scraps. I love anything with a zipper!! Thanks for the tip on the foam stuffing, or whatever it's called. By the way, my labels came and I can't wait to use them!

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  25. What a great little bag and tutorial. I've never seen the headliner fabric. I have used foam craft sheets to stiffen the sides of the purses I have made.

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  26. Thanks for the tip! I had no idea you could get it at JoAnns. Your pinwheel pouch turned out perfectly!

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  27. Very cute little pouch. I should make some of them. I use my 50 and 60% off coupons a lot. I feel guilty if I let some expire as surely I must have need of something. I've never seen the headliner fabric.

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  28. Your little zippered pouch turned out adorable!

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  29. Such an adorable little project and a great use of your scraps. I haven't had any material "crock" either. HeHe!

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  30. Awesome bag - thanks for the tip on the headliner fabric!

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  31. WoW! Awesome! Thanks for the tutorial!

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  32. Looks great. love that you used scraps for a great project.
    Thanks for the tutorial, too. You always explain things so well.

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  33. Cute bag and lovely fabric. But then you wouldn't have it any other way. Cheap sounds so.....well cheap. I prefer thrifty. I'm right there with you girl.
    I went to Dutch labels the last time you mention them, I received them about a week ago. I'm very pleased with them, so thanks for the turn on.

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  34. I did not even know a fabric called headliner even existed, I'll definitely have to have a look at our Joann's here. Love the bag and the scraps used to make it. But more than that, just reading your post(s) always makes me smile... Hugs

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  35. I love using scraps for small and useful projects. Love your bag! Turned out awesome.

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  36. What a fun bag! And thank you for the explanation of "headliner"! This looks like something that might be wonderful for a tablet case too.

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  37. Never thought of using headliner fabric. Great savings idea!

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Thanks for stopping by today. Your comments really do make me day!
;-)