Adventures in Sewing with the Big Shot

Ciao Bella ,

             It has been a while since I posted anything about my sewing projects using The BIG SHOT …..Well today I'm posting another adventure…and Tutorial… Yes I know I said tutorial …. but really it's more like my notes with pictures…why all of a sudden am I posting a tutorial … well it is part of my participation in Late Night Stampers Bootcamp … This Bootcamp is designed to help me grow my business and my self through service…and I hadn't really served you my online follows …. sure I post pictured of ideas but I hadn't really given you anything other than Blog Candy…So I decided I would try my hand at writing something like a tutorial .This Late Night Stampers' Boot Camp has also given me the confidence to even try something like this …..So Grab Your Grain of salt or two …. here we go ..

First and Foremost I don't sew…. second, please remember I failed straight lines and scissors in Kindergarten…..and third there is no measuring …

Ok so …. today I made this little Easter Basket using the Big Shot and the Scalloped Square Die …take a look …I designed it for a little boy and my 13 year old son approved…his only comment was it was too small to hold all the candy he requested from the Easter Bunny…..

WARNING…. If you are a TYPE A personality…. STOP… right now… this will drive you insane…..

the first thing I did was double over my fabric… and set the Big Square die on top to I would be sure when I actually cut the fabric it would fit…..

Next I left the fabric doubled and just laid it back and forth on itself until I had 6 layers total …. I used denim today .. otherwise I could get 8 layers in ……

I'm not showing you a picture of me running the fabric through the big Shot ….well because .. I forgot to take a picture……

Next I just eye balled the batting into squares smaller that the scalloped squares of denim…..

then I didn't glue the batting or anything …..I just matched up the scallops and put my pins in the sort of middle … just incase …there was any shifting…..

Now… here is the a tips for non sewing people … on the sewing machine there are little measurement lines or markers….

What I do is pick one of those marker lines and use that to Try .. key word being TRY….doesn't always happen ..but try to run my square through the machine in a straight line …..now this really doesn't the best when you are sewing the "X" on each square… so I don't stress about …go slow..and it comes out just fine …..

After I sew all the Squares with there "X"…. I lay out the squares to check to be sure I like the way the different fabrics look together…..

Next are a couple of pictures of how I pinned the squares together …..

lay your squares laid out like a plus sign …. I choose to vertically and sew the squares together … then add each square on the horizontal…

 

 

clear as Velum ?… I wish I knew who started that phase….so I could give then credit….anyway…

here is what it looks like after the sewing

  

As you can see NO WHERE NEAR PERFECT…. But that's ok for me … you can spend the time to make the corners perfect …I just don't have the patients for that ….. see I told you …. type A's …really really squirming about now …..

Next I pinned and sewed just one corner together at a time …. I also discover the the square that is the bottom of the basket will fold right out of the way … I add another pin to keep it out of the way …. I also like to start at would be the top of the basket and work toward the bottom…. there is less fabric at the top .. so for me it's easier to get it started feeding under the foot ….

 

So After I went around and sewed all the corners …..It's time to make the handle …. For that I used the scrap fabric from cutting the Squares and trimmed it …..

 

Now easy peasy I pinned them together "right" side together … and just ran it through he machine… a line down each side ……

Did an old flip a roo .. turned it inside out and got this …..

Now attaching the handles can be tricky… My machine ..had a part that comes off for feeding circular type projects …the next photos are with this part on and one without …..

 

Usually … I leave this wide "base " piece off … I can jam a bobbin so fast … or loose the bobbin thread … for me it's just easier to leave off….

Next I pinned my handles into the open top of squares….carefully fed it into the machine and carefully went into a circle ….at the handles … I did put my motor in reverse and go back and for a few times for strength……

  

 

Trim any thread…..and your done …. I turned mine inside out because I thought the raggy edges were a little too shabby Sheik for a boy…

so take another look at the finished basket …

Sorry I didn't fill the basket for you…. but If I dug out the hidden Easter candy… my teenage boys would have devoured it …and then there would be none for Easter.

I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial on how to make a rag quilted Easter basket…..If you like it let me know … If you want to copy it feel free to copy paste…..

Next week's adventure …..Hummmm…..I'll have think about that one …..

Thanks again to Sherrill Graff and her Late Night Stamper Bootcamp for helping me get out of my comfort zone a stretch……