Today I’m a stop on the Jimmy Beans Wool blog tour in support of their new book, Sew Red! Authored by Jimmy Beans’ founder, Laura Zander, this book features sewing projects from some truly amazing names in the sewing world. The designers include Amy Butler, Anna Maria Horner, Denyse Schmidt, Kaffe Fassett and many others, plus little old me! Honestly, a fantastic collection of projects is packed into this book with everything from clothes and gifts to home decor.

The concept behind Sew Red is that all the projects are made from red fabrics, in support of women’s heart health. I think this is such a fantastic idea for a craft book, and I really applaud Jimmy Beans for taking such a creative step in helping to educate women about the dangers of heart disease.

Little known fact: I was born with a heart condition that required me to have heart surgery when I was 20 years old! Luckily, the surgery completely fixed me up and I’m 100% healthy now, but whenever I think about it at times like this I realize how fortunate I am to have my health. So this project really hits home for me and serves as a good reminder that we should all do as much as we can to take care of our tickers. (I think I’m going to go out for a run now…)

Want to see my project in the book?

I made the wool felt Origami Pillow on page 58. This was such a fun project, and surprisingly quick and easy to make! You start with two big squares of felt which are the front and back of the pillow. Then you cut 25 smaller wool squares, and by stitching and folding them in a clever pattern, you create these wonderfully textured folded shapes.

I thought this was so fun to design, and now that the book is out I’m reminded how much I want to make myself a few of these for my sofa! I really do need some new throw pillows for the living room.

AND! Extra exciting, I have one beautiful copy of Sew Red to give away to one lucky reader! To enter, leave a comment on this post and tell me what you do to take care of your own heart health. (Me, I try to exercise, walk a lot, eat tons of veggies and whole grains… and drink plenty of red wine!)

A winner will be drawn by random on Monday, February 25.

I do believe I’ve got a new holiday tradition on my hands! For the second year in a row, I’ve opened an Etsy pop-up shop where I’m selling samples of handmade projects I’ve made! This year, I cleaned my craft room and found some real goodies that were ready to make their way out into the world. For starters, I’ve got a whole batch of skirts I made for my appearance on The Martha Stewart show! Up for grabs are the actual skirt I sewed on-air with Martha, the samples worn by the little girl models on the show, and the many more samples I made for Martha to review and select from. Good stuff!

Also up for grabs are a TON of projects from my book, Sewing in a Straight Line! I’ve been holding on to these for a while for sentimental reasons (my first book!), but I finally decided, why keep these projects packed away in a bin when they could be out enjoying life?! So please, check ‘em out and give one of these wonderful handmade creations a fresh new life out there in the big, beautiful world. (You’ll also find some projects from my Design Sponge Sewing 101 column, as well as a few other goodies.)

I know you don’t need Fifi to tell you that there’s some good holiday shopping happening in this situtation! If you didn’t have time to finish those gifts you were crafting, or if you just can’t face another trip to the mall, or if like me you haven’t even started your shopping–just sit back, relax, and click on over to my sample sale to pick out some lovely things for the ladies and gents on your list. I promise to get it shipped out in plenty of time for the big day.

I’m super excited today to announce the launch of a new project I’ve been working on: I’m teaching an online class over at Craftsy.com! My class, Design Your Own Handbag, will teach you everything you know to do just that–design and sew your own bags! The class is structured so that you’ll learn everything you need to know to create and make your OWN designs–from how to draft the basic shape of the body of the bag, to adding lining, zippers, handles, and all kinds of fabulous hardware. I take you step-by-step through making the bags shown above, but in the end you’ll walk away with the power to make any bag you want to create!

If you haven’t heard of Craftsy, they’re a really cool web site that features tons of online classes on a variety of crafting techniques. Their classes tend to be very in-depth, and Design Your Own Handbag is no exception–it’s ten lessons total where I show you in real time how to create all the elements of your bag. I love this, because usually on camera we have to focus on showing things really quickly, which can often lead to rushing through a project. But in this class, because of the format, I was really able to take my time with all of the demonstrations. You can watch the class as many times as you like, on your own schedule, and there’s a great interactive platform with each class where you can ask questions (which I personally will answer), post photos of what you’re making, and more! It’s really very neat, so I hope you’ll check it out.

Check out this trailer for a peek at what the class covers as well as more photos of the bags we’ll be making! (A very special thank you to YouTube for making me look *so* lovely in that screen shot!)

I’m really very excited about how this class turned out–I loved designing and making my samples, and breaking down the process in a way that will hopefully make it easy for you to do the same. I can’t wait to see what kinds of bags everyone makes after taking this class. I hope you’ll join us! Click here to sign up.

*****WE NOW HAVE A DEADLINE FOR DONATIONS: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16. SEE BELOW FOR MORE INFO!*****

[We also have a new shipping address for projects! See below.]

I was very lucky to make it through Hurricane Sandy without any damage to my home or myself or my loved ones. I am so grateful. It’s been heartbreaking to see images of the devastation that has occurred right here in my adopted hometown… and making matters worse, it has started to get cold in New York City this week. It’s as if winter has suddenly arrived, and that is the last thing we need right now. Many, many Sandy victims are living without power, which means no heat. Many of them have lost a lot if not all of their possessions, which means limited supplies of warm clothes.

Yesterday, Natalie from A Dose of The Delightful (another New York-based crafty blogger) and I started thinking about what we could do to help those victims without electricity, heat, or even proper shelter. We knew there had to be a way to harness the power of crafters to help–because if there’s anything knitters, crocheters and sewers are good at, it’s making warm things. So we decided to create Make It Better – A Craftalong for Sandy Relief. The goal? Rally crafters to make warm hats, scarves, blankets, mittens, socks and sweaters–and deliver them to people in need as soon as possible.

Will you join us?

I’m super excited to announce that next month I’ll be teaching a curtain sewing workshop at the fabulous Mood Fabrics in NYC! This is a thrill for me because I am absolutely obsessed with Mood–I have spent literally years of my life stalking the aisles there. It’s where I buy most of the fabric I sew with (including many of the gorgeous fabrics I used in my book, Sewing in a Straight Line). And, um, it’s also where Tim Gunn and the contestants shop in every episode of Project Runway.

So needless to say, it will be a great treat for me to teach a workshop there! If you’re in the New York area, please join me on Tuesday, September 25 from 5:30-6:30pm and learn to sew pleated, lined curtains like the ones I made for my dining room. These ones (remember?):

I’ll be giving an overview of everything you need to know to make professional-looking custom curtains–like which types of fabric are best to use, how to add a lining, the 411 on hems, all the tricks of pleating tape, and more. I’ll also be giving out tons of advice so I’ll be happy to answer any burning curtain questions that are keeping you awake at night.

Curtains really do wonders for a room. They’re not difficult to sew, even for beginners, and if you make them yourself you can save a boatload of cash.

So join me at Mood, will you? It is sure to be a fabulous evening in the wonderful New York City garment district, surrounded by miles of amazing fabric. (And who knows, we may even run into Tim Gunn!)

Click here to sign up!

I was super excited when the folks at Jimmy Beans Wool contacted me and asked if they could use the One Hour Skirt from my book Sewing in a Straight Line as the project for their first ever Knit-Along and Sew-Along. As you may know, Jimmy Beans is a fantastic online yarn store, and they recently started selling fabric too–as a crocheter/knitter who also sews, this is music to my ears! Yay for the yarny people and the fabric people joining together to live in fiber harmony!

So, the JB peeps had the idea to do a knit/sew along to encourage their followers to get another step closer to being able to craft an entire handmade outfit–not only a sweater, but a skirt to go with it too! I love that!

Here are a bunch of One-Hour skirts made by a bunch of cute ladies at my book launch at Etsy. Don’t you want to make one too?! Well, just pop on over to the Jimmy Beans blog to join the Knit/Sew-Along, and you can! Here’s the JB blog post where you can get all the details. And here’s the Ravelry thread where you join, too. Now go get your skirt and sweater on!

(And thanks to JB for interviewing me on their blog today! xo)

I’ve got a new project up over on my Design Sponge Sewing 101 column: how to sew a triangle patchwork!

Have you noticed the geometric triangle trend that seems to be everywhere right now? I’m seeing triangles all over the place, from art prints to textiles to housewares. And each and every time, it makes me think of quilting. So I got inspired to whip up a couple patchwork triangle pieces to frame and hang on my (still bare) pink living room walls. (But careful readers may notice the walls are now a slightly different shade of pink! I’ll share the details on that soon.)

This isn’t technically a quilting project, since it’s not actually quilted — just pieces of fabric sewn together into a patchwork. But you could quilt this piece, or take the basic tutorial and turn it into just about anything, from a larger wall hanging to a pillow or baby quilt or even a bed quilt. (I would so love a triangle quilt for my bed!)

So click on over to Design Sponge to check out the full post and learn everything you need to know about sewing a triangle patchwork. It’s crazy-easy, not to mention simple to personalize–once you understand the basic construction, you’ll see that you can modify this project and make your triangles in any size or configuration you like.

Super big or super small! So go crazy & get your triangle on!

Recently I teamed up with my friends at YOLO Colorhouse to design some cute and easy sewing projects for baby nurseries. YOLO is a great indie paint company based in Portland, Oregon, that’s all about creating their products responsibly, sustainably, and free of harmful chemicals. (You may remember YOLO from when we teamed up to paint my living room pink!) Exciting things are happening over at YOLO hq, because in addition to their fantastic line of paints, they just debuted their first line of fabrics!

The fabrics are 100% organic and come in a wide range of chic baby colors and patterns, in both cotton sateen and knit. (I love that they offer a knit range, because it can be so hard to find good-looking knit prints.)

The fine folks at YOLO asked me to design a collection of patterns to showcase their fabrics–everything that new parents might need to deck out a green nursery, while being quick and easy to make.

I designed a simple baby quilt, a fitted crib sheet, some throw pillows, a stuffed bird…

…curtains, flag bunting, and more!

So click on over to the YOLO site to download all these patterns for FREE and to check out their new line of fabrics as well as their eco-friendly paints. Because you know you have some baby gifts to make (who doesn’t?!).

I just unearthed this piece of history and had to share: it’s my beautiful mom showing me how to use my first sewing machine, Christmas 1981.

31 years later, we are still sewing together. (Did you know my mom sewed a good number of the samples for my book? She’s amazing!)

Happy mother’s day, mom! I love you.

This week in my Sewing 101 column at Design Sponge I’m showing how to make pleated, lined curtains like the ones I made recently for my dining room!

I break down the whole process step by step, like how to make the lining so your exterior fabric wraps around and makes a border on the back (so if your curtain edges ever flip out a bit, you’ll see the “good” fabric and not the lining). Love that.

And I also talk about curtain weights, and how easy they are to use and how they give your curtains that extra profesh touch.

But the really, really juicy nugget in this tutorial is: PLEATING TAPE! We’ll talk about how to use it, and how generally easy and awesome it is, and how it will make you look like a total star and really never even ask you to give it any credit.

You just stick your pins into your tape–

And you get yourself some pleats that would make Betty Draper proud. Well, nothing makes Betty proud, but maybe she would scowl less intensely in the presence of these pleats. I think she would approve.

Hanging finished handmade curtains? Best feeling ever.

Pleated, lined drapes that look like a million bucks–they can be yours!

Click on over to Design Sponge to read the full how to!