Thready Scrap Basket, or Scrappy Thread Basket, or Baskety Thread Scraps (A Tutorial)

Let's give scrap baskets a double meaning! Made from scraps, especially thread scraps, this basket is also a good place to throw them! It's about 4.5" high and 3.5" across. I used silk, so it's extra fancy, but you can use any fabric and threads you like. 

 

 One end overlaps the other. Three metallic buttons seal the flap, and I put more buttons below the top edge. The view shifts as you turn it...

Contents include:

-- An old freemotion quilting practice sandwich, 

--  Long scrap fabric strips, as background,

-- Ravelled threads on top. Most are threads that have peeled off my silk dupioni collection; there are also strands of a thick gold thread that will never go through my machine. Any decorative thread scraps will work. And,

-- Vintage metal buttons.

I didn't take photos while making the basket above, but here's a tutorial with a dramatic recreation (but different colors).

I started by cutting an old quilting practice sandwich to around 11" x 4.5". Below, the  blue square on the right was a tension test with flannel. Since that patch is not thick (and it's covered with stitches), I just left it there. On this side, the white fabric doesn't reach all the way down to the bottom edge of shape, but that's okay; this entire side, including the batting along the bottom, is about to be completely covered.

The reverse side does have fabric reaching to all edges. That means I can decide later if I want to leave this interesting side showing on my final piece, or cover it with another piece of fabric so neither the old nor new stitching can be seen on back.

I covered the front with long, rough-cut silk scraps, each a couple of inches high, overlapping their long edges by at least a half-inch.

I drizzled that with  clots of unravelled dupioni, and other decorative threads, plus small scraps and strips. 

Keep adding. Pretend you are Jackson Pollack.

Too much is never enough (imho.)

Once you're happy with it, cover it with a layer of tulle.  If you're lucky enough to own tulle in several different colors, audition them all -- they have unexpected and subtly different effects! Here, I decided I liked the black tulle best.

Carefully pin the tulle in place, all the way around the edges of the practice sandwich underneath (it's hard to see the pins, but there's the yellow head of a flower on the lower right).  

Do a rough trim of the excess tulle. (I used my rotary cutter, above). Bring it to your machine and quilt as desired! I used my walking foot, and a shiny rayon variegated thread, to quilt wavy echoing lines. 

Alternatively, you could use a freemotion quilting foot and do more elaborate designs! 

At each end, I turned the corner, turned again, and used the walking foot's edge to echo the previous line.

When it was done it still looked pretty messy.

Time to trim all the edges even with the backing practice sandwich. 

My ruler helped me cut an even rectangle.

To finish the edges, I did a corded edging all the way around. This involves zigzagging a thick dark blue embroidery thread (6 strands) all the way around. I used a medium-loose, very wide zigzag, with dark blue thread in top and bottom. 

Here's a short video of the process....

At corners, stop with your needle outside of the corner, and turn. 

 

All done! 

A better view of the edging (left)

Next I cut a circle of Peltex Ultrafirm interfacing, with one fusible sided. I fused silk to one side, and sewed another fabric circle to the reverse side. This gave me the base. 

(The flowery outside is former pants). I hand-stitched the lower edge of the embellished panel around the round base. 

Here's the view looking straight in. 

There's so much more that you can do with this idea! You could fold it into a little case for your earbuds.

In 2018, I used it to make a whole lot of  heart brooches. Find a tutorial at the end of this post.

And I made schools of fish and other ocean creatures (my tutorial is here. My fish pattern book is on etsy, here.)

As you can see, this technique is adaptable and  addictive! Find the Create Whimsy article that triggered this round of objets, here. 

I have some big news coming up soon! Please join my main mailing list, here.

Confetti Cat Portrait

BEFORE: In my last blog post, I showed this potential valentine, which my friend Jane pointed out, looks more like the Valentine's Day Massacre. 

I certainly couldn't give this to anyone I don't wish to maim. But then it occurred to me that my daughter's cat, Cleocatra, routinely combines love with blood. She doesn't allow claw-clipping, so when she plays with us, scratches can ensue. She's also an unrepentant lizard-tormentor and sewing-machine occupier.

AFTER: So I turned my violent background into this! The perfect Valentine for my daughter!

This technique has been around a long time, with many variations. If you were quilting 20 years ago, you might, like me, treasure your copies of the fabulous "Snippets Sensation" books by Cindy Walter. 

The basic idea: Lay down a piece of batting or or fusible interfacing (fusible side up). Cover it with fabric scraps. Cover those with one piece of tulle. Last, "quilt" on top.  

For the cat portrait, I had already put 1 layer of white tulle over the piece you saw at the top of the page. To add the cat and the caption, I laid more on top.

I backed a couple of inches of black and white fabric with fusible web. Then I used the "think" method: I stared at the photo of Cleo above, and freehand cut the components: black head and body, white snout and forehead, black and pink nose/mouth, yellow eyes, and black pupils. I fused and/or glue-sticked all those elements in place.

I used alphabet rubber stamps on white woven bias tape to create the words, "Sometimes Love Hurts." I glue-sticked those in place

I covered all the components with one more piece of tulle, this time dark purple. Next, I added a little more freemotion quilting in red over the background area, plus I used white thread to sketch in Cleo's whiskers and ear hairs. 

I stitched the square to a former Christmas necklace, full of bells. (They signify the bell that Cleo wears to warn victims away.)

My daughter loved it! Cleo was not impressed. But seriously, I adore this cat. Tips for tricking cats into allowing their claws to be clipped would be appreciated.

Find the Create Whimsy article that triggered this round of fun, here. More details are in my last post. Find my tutorial for playing around with this idea with silk scraps, to make fish and valentine jewelry, here. 

Want more ideas? I have some big news coming up soon! Please join my main mailing list, here.

Stress Relief with Confetti Valentines and Non-Valentines

 I was minding my own business, making a whole lot of improv triangle kaleidoscopes, like this.

I'm only using solids for this quilt. The smallest scraps were filling my "toss" bin.

But then the Create Whimsy newsletter arrived in my email. Lynn Woll, its curator extraordinare, had an article titled "Scrap Happy Confetti Quilts," with  Valentine's Day projects. Oooooo! It looked like so much fun...and I knew I had loads of fresh scraps. 

I plucked the solids from my "discard" bin and sent them into plastic bags, organized by color. 

Then I cut out a 4" square of fusible mid-weight interfacing (Pellon 809/Decor Bond), and started placing bits on them. Lynn suggests laying out squares of interfacing, fusible-side up, then adding a layer of mini-squares, working inward from the borders. That was too slow for me. I used lots of bigger shapes. A top of layer of tulle, to hold everything in place, is an option. I liked the way it looked with a square of purple tulle from my stash. The last step was machine stitching a grid.

That was good practice for the next one, more of an attempted Valentine. 

The blue is a batik, the orange piece on the far left is a tiny print; the rest are solids. I placed white tulle on top, which cut the intensity. I think this piece sends the message, "Although I love you, while wearing pink I was in a bloody duel with golden swords, and now my heart is sore and broken."  In other words, I can't think of anyone I actually want to send this particular (inaccurate) emotion to. (My clever friend Jane suggested it might work as a remembrance of the romantic Valentine's Day massacre.)

For my third try, I went for a design that's tough to ruin: Tree. I accidentally laid the 4" interfacing square down upside-down, so NONE of these pieces were secure! 

I didn't want to move them all to a different piece of interfacing, with fusible facing correctly up; so I just left it like that. I fused one more layer of Decor Bond to back. The extra layer turned out to be helpful for stabilizing the piece during stitching. 

Still, nothing was glued in place, so I had  to cover this one with tulle, too. First I tested white tulle. 

Too pale. So I switched it out to the leftover purple tulle. Much better, richer color.

(The moral of the story: Test different tulle colors.)

Instead of a grid, I did some contour quilting, switching thread colors for different areas.

(Note: the bottom red stripe is a piece of an antique kimono that happened to be on my work surface left over from a different project!)

I trimmed it to a slightly smaller square. But there were still blank spots (where I accidentally left white/interfacing showing) around the edges. So I trimmed even more, cutting curves. 

Finally, I edged it with variegated threads.  

Here's the back. In hindsight, I should have put a layer of fabric on the back before the stitching.

Then I realized that it was shaped exactly like toast. And what could be more romantic for Valentine's day than a scrappy toast-shaped tree scene? (That's a rhetorical question.)

More fun with tulle, trees, and love are in this blog post. Click on the words "Valentine's Day," and/or "tulle" in the word cloud on the lower right for even more.

Find the Create Whimsy article here. Please sign up for my newsletter, too, here. Lots of big news is coming soon! 

Ogling Toy Sewing Machines and Other Sewing Stuff at the Paris St. Ouen Flea Market

I am the world's luckiest person, and one reason is that my husband is a scientist, a profession that tends to hold meetings in big universities - which are usually located in big cities, with fabric stores and flea markets.

While he's in meetings, I can go places that wouldn't interest him. Last week, he had a meeting in Paris; I tagged along, and had most of a Monday to myself to enjoy the famed but confusing flea markets ("les puces") of St. Ouen.

St. Ouen is 15 different markets, each with its own personality. The markets teem on weekend, but fewer vendors are open Monday (It's closed the rest of the week). The first market I visited was Vernaisson, which had loads of things stitchers love! To conserve phone power, I didn't take pictures of the 

• Piles of red-and-white kitchen linens, often with initials hand-stitched into them,
• Vintage print fabrics, most in not great shape, 
• Costume jewelry galore.

But I did take pictures of:

• Beads - new and old, European and/or African,

•  Baubles and tchotchkes and toys, oh my!  Below, those are plastic skeletons in front, and I'm not sure what behind them - toy lanterns?) Crazy, interesting, old stuff!

•  Buttons and more buttons, often stitched to cards; vintage trim, often not in great shape:

• And, most astonishing to me, toy sewing machines, which I collect, and which are very rare in U.S. flea markets. One Vernaisson dealer had four stunners. First this toy Singer:
  Second, this cool artsy tin machine that I should have bought (only 30 Eros! The cheapest thing in the market!) But packing it up would have been challenging. The machine's body looks like worn soap.

Next, this gleaming antique...I happen to have two of these at home, but neither shines like this:

The fourth was plastic: 

It says "Ma Cousette," which I assume means, "My stitcher"?

I figured that was all I'd see - four hundred percent more than I usually see at US flea markets. But then, at a different booth I found these: 

The one on the left was very rusty, and I never saw anything quite like it. The one on the right was in lovely condition, and she wanted I think 180 Euros for it. She said it was Victorian era. 

Last, I saw this non-toy machine - it's an industrial  machine intended for shoemaking It looks like it weighs 300 lbs: 

Venaisson is small, so I did it all in about an hour. Down the street I found the Dauphine market whose slogan is "modern & classic."  It's housed in a building whose courtyard hosts this:

Yes, a giant UFO (or USO, Unidentified Sitting Object, I didn't see it fly.) Dauphine didn't have nearly as many goodies for sewists as Vernaisson, but I did find one shop with lots of cool buttons; 

 
...And a bin with fabric bolts (synthetics, which I didn't feel the urge to buy)...

Dauphin vendors also offer loads of vintage clothing; funky furniture; Rolling Stones/Mick Jagger items (books, posters, pinball machines); and, even less likely than the UFO, a famous, 10-foot-high American, Bob:

How'd he get to France? In the UFO? 
In a dark corner of Dauphine, there's a hole-in-the-wall restaurant called Gastropod; despite its humble appearance, the food was incroyably delicious. Here's my "Buddha bowl" (kidney beans, roasted sweet potatoes, pickled peppers, corn with dressing, a small tomato-y beef stew, fresh bread.) (Wasn't Buddha a vegetarian? I'm not going to nitpick with a lunch this delicious.)

I also walked through the Biron market - it was 2/3rds closed (because it was Monday), but that was just as well. Through windows and in the open shops, I saw stuff that doesn't interest me - stuff the peasants liberated from Versailles, elaborate, over-the-top antiquities for people with royal taste and treasure. The Malassis market was almost completely closed and those stalls didn't have clear windows to look through, so I can't characterize what's sold there in any way.

What did I buy? I was so restrained! Besides the memorable lunch, I bought a little 10 Euro bag at Vernaisson, containing these things:

There are charms, brooches, a buckle, a pin from Graceland (!), a thimble, a shoe decoration. Closeup of two of the charms: 

The thimble, beetle charm and rhinestone pin: 

The brooch below has a guitar handle on the left - but I can't figure out what the shape on the right end is - not quite France, not quite Texas - if you know, please tell me in the comments!

 (UPDATE: Mystery solved! It's Africa, sideways! See comments below - the pin was a commemoration of the Live Aid concert in 1985. I'm thrilled!)

If you want to visit Les Puces de St. Ouen, do a lot more advance homework than I did - study this website and google translate this one in French. Print out a map - the flea markets are not contiguous, you have to search for them! Wear sunscreen, bring walking shoes and a fanny pack (Pickpockets are an issue on crowded days - no one came near me on a scant Monday.) If you can possibly go on a weekend, do that, because so many of the shops are closed on Monday. Have a blast!

If you have visited the St. Ouen flea market, I'd love to hear about your experience in the comments. 

NEXT INSTALLMENT: Falling across fabric in Paris. 

UPDATE: I just found three of the six vintage toy sewing machines spotted in the flea market, on Etsy, for similar prices. Put "French toy sewing machine" in the Etsy search window, and you'll find them too! (Why bother travelling? Oh right, the food!)

UPDATE: The St. Ouen Flea Market has a colorful 100-year-old history, involving "rag and bone men"!  Read more about it here.