Feature You Friday! Quilters, get in here!

Good morning StitchStealers!

It's time again to show off some of your creations!  Fellow StitchStealer Rena used her Basic Grey charm pack to make this gorgeous table runner:

I love the pattern and the bright colors - just in time for Spring. Thanks for sharing with us Rena!

Have a great weekend everyone, and don't forget to send your creations in to the StitchSteals blog for us to feature on future Fridays!

Keep sending your Facebook friends to the StitchSteals page -- when we get to 10,000 fans, we'll have some fabulous giveaways!

Feature You Friday: Bid on a fabulous bag for Cystic Fibrosis!

Good morning StitchStealers!

Your fellow StitchStealer, Frances, made an adorable bag that she is auctioning off for Cystic Fibrosis, in honor of her friend and her friend's sister.  Here is part of the email that she wrote to me:

"I have the most wonderful friend. Her name is Mary (Meroney) Frey. She has Cystic Fibrosis, and she is truly a magnificent light in this world. Her sister, Rachel, has CF as well and has recently undergone a double lung transplant! While reading a blog post by Rachel's husband while she was recovering (recovering rapidly might I add) I was so inspired. I was inspired by so many things! So I sat down and I created this bag. I love this tote, and I feel the only appropriate thing to do with it is to auction it off and give 100% of the proceeds to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation."

And here is the bag that Frances created:

A little about the bag: 

"The bag transforms from a tote bag, to a Slouchy purse. It has satin ribbon ties, a key fob to clip your keys, and 2 padded pockets inside. The strap is attached to sturdy D-rings, and the whole purse is quilted in lovely, organic, horizontal lines. I used a light interfacing to give some body, but it is still soft and "slouchy."

Here's a little something about the bag's creator, Frances:
Now, to bid on the bag, and have those profits go to Cystic Fibrosis, here is what you need to do:

Go to: the Bibeez Baby Facebook page
"Like" the page (so you can see it), and enter your bid in the comments section.
The auction ends Tuesday, March 29th.

If you'd like to see more of Frances' work, look around her Bibeez Baby Facebook page or check out her website, bibeezbaby.com.  hThanks, Frances for sharing your talents with us and for using those talents for a good cause!

StitchStealers, please keep sending in your creations to the StitchSteals blog for consideration for future Feature You Fridays! We are LOVING all of the things you are showing us so far!

Before I send you off to create, I have one more thing! If you haven't noticed yet, StitchSteals is moving quickly towards 10,000 Facebook fans. We are THRILLED that you are all spreading the StitchSteals love to your friends.  Keep suggesting us, and we promise to have some fabulous prizes for the day when we hit 10,000. Let's see how fast we can get there!

Have a great weekend!

Feature You Friday!

Good morning StitchStealers!

This morning, I'm going to toot my own horn and show you something I made with one of my StitchSteals!

When I was a little girl, I was a pretty big tomboy, but when I just HAD to pick out a dress (usually at Easter), my ONLY criteria was that it "twirled to the moon." I would spin in the department store dressing room to make sure it was good enough.

My little girl is the quintessential "princess."  Loves shoes, loves jewelry, loves pretty ribbons, belts, bows and purses.  And she loves a skirt or pretty dress that twirls too (guess it's in the genes!).  When I was reading a blog that I really like, House on Hill Road, I came across a tutorial for a "twirly skirt."  It seemed pretty easy,  especially for a girl who sews mostly home decor (i.e. straight lines!), and I thought I would give it a shot.

So I turned these fun My Mind's Eye Just Dreamy fabrics:

Into this sweet skirt for my twirly girl:

She LOVES it, and has asked to wear it two days in a row.  Oh, and it really was VERY easy.  I came down with the flu on Monday night, but had cut the material that day.  After coming out of my haze on Sunday afternoon, I lugged out the sewing machine and put it all together in a couple of hours (threading the elastic was half of that time!).

Have a wonderful Friday, and next week, we'll get back to sharing YOUR creations.  Just send us a photo at blog@stitchsteals.com to be featured on an upcoming Friday! Can't wait to see more of what you are making!

Feature You Friday

Good morning, StitchStealers!

Another Feature you Friday is here, and we want to show you a project from our friend and fellow CraftyStealer, Deb!

Deb made these adorable "bat"capes to give out at her son's recent birthday party.  She used her Silhouette HD from CraftySteals to for the bat shape stencil, then she cut out all of the pieces and her husband helped her sew them all! (What a great husband, right?)

Makes me ashamed to admit what I gave away as favors for my son's last party (nothing quite as cool as this!)

Thanks for sharing, Deb!

If anyone else has a project they'd love to share, or a blog or business to promote, be sure to send in a picture to blog@stitchsteals.com.  We love seeing the creative things you all come up with!

Have a wonderful weekend!

It's Feature You Friday - check out this talent!

Good morning StitchStealers!

Today is our very first Feature You Friday!  We've got a great dress, made for a sweet girl, by StitchStealer Linda.

She used the Riley Blake My Mind's Eye Summer Song fabric to make this dress for her granddaughter (who just had a birthday yesterday!):

Here is a little bit of what Linda had to say about herself:

"I'm Linda -  the Mimi behind Custom Designs by Mimi - a company my daughter and I started 6 years ago. We have mostly made baby items, burp cloths, blankets, etc. until recently, when we started branching out to make clothes for my grandaughter. 

 Our FB page, Custom Designs by Mimi, is a peek into the boutique baby items we offer :) We have burp cloths, blankets, lovies, tutus, skirts and dresses  and toddler pillowcases"

Be sure to check out Linda's Facebook page at Custom Designs by Mimi  or her etsy shop at Custom Designs by Mimi Etsy Shop. 

And don't forget to send in those sewing, quilting, knitting, crocheting and other fabric crafts, to blog@stitchsteals.com for consideration for future Feature You Fridays.  You don't have to be a blogger or business owner to participate, just a lover of StitchSteals and creator of fabulous things!  (And if you happen to be a cross-over customer of CraftySteals, send in those paper projects to blog@craftysteals.com.)

All of these adorable little girl things are inspiring me to pull my sewing machine out from the back of the closet...or maybe just do a little shopping with "Mimi." :)

Have a wonderful Friday and a great weekend!

Introducing Feature YOU Fridays - a day for YOU to showcase your talents!

Good morning StitchStealers!

Today we’re introducing a new weekly feature at the StitchSteals blog, called Feature You Fridays.

We want to be able to see your StitchSteals in action, and we want to be able to make the StitchSteals blog a place to share our talents with, and learn from, each other.   We would also LOVE to help you promote your business, website, blog or fabulous cause if you have one. So we’ve decided to have a day dedicated to you, our awesome StitchSteals customers and friends. 

Here’s how it is going to work:

1.  You choose a project (knitting, quilt, clothing, home decor, embroidery, etc.) that you want to show off – and have created using at least one StitchSteal.

2.  Email us a digital picture of your project to blog@stitchsteals.com, along with your name, email address, and the name of the StitchSteal(s) you used in your project.

3.  If we choose your project, we’ll contact you and get more information (maybe a short bio and any blog or website info if you have one). Then we will let you know when to look for your creation on our blog.

This will be an ongoing feature, not a one time contest. So when you create something you are proud of, tried a new technique that you want to share, decide to start that etsy shop, or want more blog readers, send a picture in! If you don’t hear from us that first week, don’t fret! We’ll be choosing our featured project each week from our entire pool of submissions (not just the ones received that week).

And if you are multi-talented, and like to play with paper, stickers, ink, beads, or stamps (which I suspect is true for MANY of you!), we will be having "Feature You Friday" on the blog for our sister site, CraftySteals.   If you have a project that you have made using a CraftySteal, we'd love to see your stuff over there too! To submit to CraftySteals' Feature You Fridays, please email your photos to blog@craftysteals.com

We are so excited to be able to learn from you and see all of wonderful things you are creating with your StitchSteals! 

How to make your own Recycled T shirt

Hi StitchStealers!

If you follow me on CraftySteals.com at all you know that I have a little bit of an obsession with t-shirts...I love to make them, wear them and dress my family in them! So I screenprint and use heat transfer vinyl but special for you guys I decided to sew one!

Now I am by no means a seamstress, in fact making this shirt was probably the first time my trusty machine has been used in at least 6 years (I know because my oldest son is almost 6 and I definitely have not used it since he has been born).

So my lesson for today is making a Valentine's Recycled T-shirt. So I took a new "distressed" shirt that I found online and a too small kid's shirt that was in my "to donate" bin and made a cute, inexpensive & earth friendly shirt for me to wear to all my Valentine's parties (i.e. a 4 year old & a kindergarten class party).

Step 1: Cut your shape out of the "recycled" t-shirt. I made a pattern but it could be freehanded.

Step 2: Cut the same shape only about 1/4 smaller on some iron on stabilizer. Then iron on the stabilizer to your shape. This just help keep the fabric from stretching and sagging whenever I sewed it on. I used this but I am sure there are many different varieties that would work.

Step 3: Sew the shape on with contrasting thread, I used white. I placed mine on the back of the shirt but anything goes.

Step 4: You are done! I did decide to add some strips to the sleeves just to add a little bit more color. I just cut some fabric and sewed it on, no need for stabilizer.

I have plans to make a few more shirts...so I will post them as I create them if you all are interested in seeing more.

Enjoy!

Stephanie