Fall Sewing Projects

A few events in July and August had me working on Fall projects early this year, with a Facebook Live in July featuring seasonal fabrics — you can watch it on our YouTube channel — and a local Halloween-themed market taking place on September 12. With so many fun Halloween fabrics in the shop, it was easy to pick several fat quarter bundles for easy to make projects.

I love the colors in the Enshadow collection, with some hot pink to complement the traditional orange and black. I picked up the Fat Quarter Bundle (above left — mine came without the cobwebs!🎃) with 16 fabrics, plus an additional couple of half yards cuts. It was easy to piece and quilt two sets of placemats, above right.

The 5 in. squares of Ghostly Garden by KP Creates was another easy pick for placements. I added a few additional fabrics to use 24 squares in each placemat and for the backing and binding.

Table toppers and table runners are also easy to make — even using the ‘whole cloth’ with half yards of fabric or piecing a design. The Autumnstone collection would be beautiful with just a few half-yard cuts. I chose to use the Autumnstone 5 in. squares with the GE Designs Lil’ JoJo pattern with two additional half yards for backing and binding.

For another table runner, I chose the 5 in. squares of the Artisan Batiks: Aspen collection and one panel of the Quiltsmart 2.5 in On Point PiX Smart Grid Panel. Using my Stripology Quarters Mini Creative Grids Ruler and rotating cutting mat, I cut the squares into the 2.5 in. size. I sorted through the fabrics and chose the brighter squares for a table runner. The rest were put aside for later…

And of course I made just a few bags! Using a post from WeAllSew blog by BERNINA, I have made Trick or Treat bags, mixing fabrics from several different fabric bundles.

The pattern in the blog uses 10 in. squares, but I cut my fabrics to show off the fun designs, so while my bags all vary in size, the same basic technique was used throughout. Some have the drawstring closure as per the blog (see those below); for others, as seen above, I added cotton twill or webbing for handles.

A few of the fat quarters from the Enshadow bundle worked nicely in to a Wide Strap Crossbody Bag pattern by kzstevens. And the woven webbing made a nice substitution for the strap.

The Emerald Hollow Project Bundle with panel by Sue Zipkin (pictured above left) was a ‘must have’ on my sewing list. In addition to making a wall hanging with the panel framed by two of the fabrics in the bundle — a great quick project to get back into sewing after a break — I used the extra fabrics for more bags!

The Sweet Treats collection has proved very popular with several glow in the dark fabrics as part of the options. A fun garland, pictured above with two of my drawstring closure trick or treat bags, was an easy project: I used WonderFil Specialty Thread’s Instant Applique to fuse fabric and felt together. These were cut into circles using the Creative Grids Ruler Circles — choose your desired size from the five included options. I used a zig-zag stitch with Ahrora 40wt Glow in the Dark thread. The circles were then hung from one of our woven cotton ribbons.

I used the Modern Japanese Rice Pouch (my favorite pattern, also by kzstevens) with some of my scraps to make a candy ‘bowl’ for Trick or Treaters by leaving off the tabs (above left). Above right, I made some of my trick or treat bags reversible, showcasing even more of the fun designs! Leftover 2.5 in. squares of the Artisan Batiks Aspen fabrics created a rice bag using another panel of the Quiltsmart 2.5 in grid; I cut it down to the size needed for the bag, seen in the above photograph of the Aspen table runner. I had just enough squares to make it work — seasonal serendipity!

And now it’s almost time to begin additional Christmas projects! I got a start during our Christmas in July celebration, but there are lots of new holiday fabrics now available in the shop! I hope my projects inspire you to sit down at your sewing machine and create your own seasonal décor or gift.