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After we finish our Charm Skirt, we will be having our first Quilt Sew-a-Long. I’ve picked a pattern that I’ve been dying to try…A Girl’s Best Friend by Abbey Lane Quilts. To participate in the sew-a-long, you will need to purchase this pattern. Here are some places to pick it up from:
If you type in a search in Yahoo and Google, you will find tons of other places that carry these patterns.
Again, you have to purchase the pattern. I’m not going to provide their measurements or pattern pages. This is against the law. I’m simply going to show my process in sewing it.
It will be a lot of fun to attempt a quilt of this size. I’ve never made an actual person size quilt, so I’ll be learning along with you. You will also need to pick up your fabrics. I’m using a collection of different fabrics to make a quilt for my daughter’s bed. They are not the fabrics pictured. So, be adventurous and find fabrics that you love! Here are the fabric requirements:
1/2 yard of 10 coordinating Fabrics
1 2/3 yard for Large Diamonds
1 yard for medium diamonds
2/3 yard for small diamonds
1/2 yard for binding
4 1/2 yards for the backing
We will begin our sew-a-long on September 1st, so go out buy your fabric and your pattern. Get your fabric washed and ironed, and we’ll be ready to begin!
We are going to sew the two charm layers to each other. First, iron all of your seams in the same direction on both tiers.
You need to run a gathering stitch (long machine stitch) at the top of the larger charm tier.
Next, place the larger tier inside out, around the smaller charm tier. Pin the four mid points around the circle to the inner tier’s mid points. Then, pull the bobbin thread on the gathering stitch and gather the tier to the same size as the inner one. Pin around the entire edge.
Then, serge or sew and finish with a zig zag. Turn the tiers right side out. Iron the seam toward the smaller tier and topstitch into place.
That is all that you need to do for today! Next we will attach the ruffle! If you have any questions so far, ask away in the the comments section!
A Sydney for my Sidney 
I love this pattern by Patty Young. It worked up really quickly and easily. I loved that it had a short sleeve option. It stays hot here for a good while longer. I found this fabric at Fabric Hound. It is perfect for Fall. The fabric and the pattern worked well creating a back to school look for Sid. I’ll get modeled pictures of her in it as soon as I can. I already have another long sleeve version of this pattern cut out.
There is only a couple of things that I would change. I would hem the sleeves and then attach them and sew the side seam. I really hate ironing a tiny circle of hem. With the short sleeves, I think it would be easier to hem then and then follow the other steps.
I also did the skirt hem differently. I ran a circle of serging and folded over once. Then, I topstitched. I avoid folding and ironing as much as possible
We’ll be finishing our charm skirt next week, so don’t miss it. This week has been so busy for me. It takes awhile getting adjusted to the new in school schedule. I’ll actually have more time for sewing next week and in the weeks to come.
My babies started school today! Little Man is starting “real” school. He is in Kindergarten. Miss Sid started her first day of preschool. They did really well. They were only grumpy because they had to get up early, but after they ate breakfast, they were fine. There was no crying as I left them…only happy waves. I’m so glad they did well, or I would not have. I’m sitting in an all too quiet house, missing them already. It will never be the same again. They are just way too big!
Sid was completely in love with her Gymboree panda backpack. It was small,but big enough for a preschooler. Conner is using his purple backpack that he had in preschool.
I hope they have good days, and I have to keep telling myself everything is ok. It isn’t as if they are moving out of the house…they are just at school.
Take your stacks of charm squares for your tiers. If you have a serger, serge each square together to form a long chain. If you have a regular sewing machine, sew the pieces together, then finish the edges by zig zagging across them. You will be using a 1/4″ seam allowance. Once you have the long chains sewn, sew the two end squares together so that they form a ring.
You should have something that looks like this:
Now, press all of the seams in one direction. The direction should be the same on both tiers.
That’s the end of today’s sewing! If you have any questions, leave them in the comments section and I’ll do my best to answer them. Our next day’s work will be sewing the basque and ruffle together.
