I love Halloween! Before having a child, Halloween was my favourite holiday (now it's tied with Christmas) and I still love decorating my home with pumpkins and ghosts and other bits and bobs. About a month ago, I was online shopping for supplies for this year's Christmas Presents (more on those nearer the time) when this cute Halloween fabric caught my eye. Usually I knit or crochet the presents for my immediate family, however this means months and months of work. When you hear knitters/crocheters refer to "Christmas in July" this is what they mean - if you're making something for Christmas, you generally need to start it in the summer. Last year, despite starting early, I was still putting the finishing touches to stuff on Christmas Eve! So, I decided this year that I'd do fabric based presents, in the hopes that I'd be able to put them together a little bit faster and therefore cut down on the pre-Christmas stress.
After I chose what presents I would make for everyone, I was on the internet ordering the fabric that I'd need. Of course what with it being near Halloween, I had to have a look through the seasonal fabrics they had in stock. When I saw the Cheeky Pumpkins Charm Pack by Studio E I just couldn't resist - it went straight in my shopping cart! The handy thing with charm packs is there's a multitude of simple projects you can make with them. They're a really great option for someone who's new to sewing and is a bit nervous about cutting, or someone who wants the 'patchwork' look for a project, but doesn't have a rotary cutter or quilting mat and ruler so cutting the squares could be a bit daunting.
My initial plan had been to make cushion covers for the scatter cushions on my couch, however when the fabric arrived and I measured up the cushions, I realised that I'd have needed 64 squares of fabric. Charm packs come with 42 squares as standard, so I didn't have enough. Unfortunately I couldn't source that fabric anywhere locally, and if I was to order it from the States again, it wouldn't have arrived in time for Halloween (and let's not forget that I'd possibly get hit for customs charges again in Dublin, grrr!) I had a look on YouTube for ideas on what else I could make, and I found the Zig Zag Charm Pack Table Runner by the Missouri Star Quilt Company. It was the perfect project!
As you can see in the video, you can pretty much make the runner any length that you want. I've got a really small kitchen table - it does extend, but unless I've got people over for dinner, I leave it folded up - so I decided to go with 7 rows of squares. I didn't want anything hanging too far over the edges, seeing as I've got a 4 year old, and 2 crazy dogs who could very well get curious, and pull the thing down on the floor to play with!
my table is a mess!
I started off by separating out the charm squares and sorting them by pattern. (In this charm pack I got 3-4 of each fabric, other charm packs vary depending on how many patterns are in the range; sometimes you'd only get 1 or 2 pieces of each, other times 6 or more, but it will say on the pack, so you'll know before you buy.) Once I had that done, I started laying them out on my table, and playing around with colour and pattern combinations until I found a layout that I was happy with.
When I'd settled on a layout, I made sure to take a photo with my phone so that I'd remember what way the pieces were arranged. This is a really good tip if you're making anything that has to be pieced together, whether it's knit, crochet, or sewing, and it's something I'd definitely recommend doing. In a lot of cases when you're sewing pieces together, you're sewing them with their 'right' sides together, and it can sometimes be a bit confusing trying to work out which edge you're supposed to be sewing along. Having a photo that you can refer back to just makes the process a whole lot easier and can save you the time and stress of having to go back and unpick stitches!
Once you have your patches stitched together in rows, it's time to hit the ironing board. I absolutely hate ironing, and I'm going to be honest and say that I never iron any clothes for my family - the only exception being stuff like dress shirts where there's no option but to iron them. I'm dreading when my little boy starts school and has a uniform, because that'll definitely have to be ironed! I've seen some videos and blogs where people don't iron their seams, but to me that's complete madness! Believe me, if there was a way to avoid having to iron stuff, I'd be all over it, but it's essential to iron out seams - it keeps your projects flat, secures your seams, and makes your stitch lines sit more evenly. It's unfortunate, but ironing goes hand-in-hand with sewing projects, there's just no way around it. I like to iron my seams 'open' as opposed to ironing them all laying the one direction. Some people will swear by one way over the other, but I reckon it's personal preference. I find it a lot easier to line pieces up if my seams are open.
ironing the seams open makes it easier for me to line up my pieces. use pins to ensure they stay in place
When I had all my seams pressed open, it was time to start attaching the rows. I did mine 2 rows at a time. You could pin all your rows together and bring the whole thing over to the sewing machine, but for me there'd be too much of a chance that a pin could fall out, or something could go wrong. I find that doing them 2 rows at a time forces you to check your work, and also if you do go wrong, it takes a lot less time to unpick one row of stitches than it does to unpick the whole thing! When I'm pinning my pieces together, I like to line up the two seams, and put a pin vertically down through them to hold them together. Some people don't pin at all, and more power to them I say! I just find that if I don't pin, my seams are off by miles and it drives me nuts. I envy those who manage to get their seams all nicely lined up, while avoiding stabbing themselves with quilting pins over and over again!
I love it when a
Once all the pins were in, I brought the piece over to the machine and started to sew. As you can see, the pieces are positioned 'right sides' together, and because I'm sewing along the edge, it's impossible to see the piece underneath. For me, this is really why it's so important to use the pins - so that when I get to the end, I don't discover that the piece underneath has somehow shifted and my stitches have missed a section. The tutorial calls for a quarter inch seam, and I'm actually using a quarter inch quilting foot on my machine, which makes it easier to see where I should be sewing. This is completely optional, I'm useless at 'eyeballing' stuff, so if there's some sort of gadget or tool I can use to help, I'm all for it! This foot was relatively inexpensive, and I've found it hugely useful, so for me it was worth it, but it's not really an essential. (I'll put links below to where I got mine, but remember that the different accessories are often machine spacific, so double check before buying!)
I leave the pins in right until the needle is about to hit them
As I'm sewing along and I'm approaching a pin, I'll slow down. This is for 2 reasons - firstly I want to make sure that my seam doesn't bunch up as it's going under the presser foot, and secondly I don't want to run over the pin with my needle. If the needle hits the pin as you're sewing, you'll blunt your needle, and that's the best case scenario. Worst case scenario, you break your machine! Generally what'll happen is you can break the needle, which isn't the worst thing in the world, but it's a complete pain in the arse to have to change a needle in the middle of a piece. The way I avoid this is by slowing down as I approach the pinned piece; then if it looks like the needle is going to hit the pin, I'll pull the pin out right as it gets to the needle. If the pin isn't in the way, I'll continue sewing slowly (in case I misjudged) and then speed up again when I've gone past it. Once I finished sewing the two rows together, it'd be back over to the ironing board to iron out the seams, and repeat the process until all the rows were sewn together.
Sewing the layers together was very straightforward, and the best bit was that once that was done, there was no need to put binding on the quilt! I just used plain black fabric for the backing, and I had a half meter of quilt batting left over from another project, so that fit nicely as the filling.
stitch in the ditch
Next part was the top-stitching, which is always my favourite bit, because it means I'm into the home stretch, and I can really see how my project is going to look when it's finished. I did mine slightly differently to how they did it in the video; I did my 'stitch in the ditch' first, and then after I'd finished that, I did a quarter inch seam all around the outside edges of the runner. The only exception to this was the section where it was left open to facilitate turning it 'right sides out' again, after the backing and batting were sewn on. I did my quarter inch seam along that side first, just to secure everything.
quarter inch seam around the edges
And that was it! It's now sitting prettily on my kitchen table! I'm delighted with how it turned out, and also with how quickly I was able to finish it. I'm thinking of doing another one with Christmas fabric when that time of year approaches. I've also got a few other random charm squares floating around the place, so I might put those together and make another 'everyday' one for when it's not a holiday - having the runner on the table has been quite effective at stopping both me and my husband from coming in and dumping stuff on the table! There were a few squares left out of that charm pack, and I've got an idea in mind for what I'm going to do with them.....stay tuned!!
Fabric: Charm Squares ~ Cheeky Pumpkins by Studio E
Backing ~ plain craft cotton from Hickeys Home Focus
Batting ~ cotton lightweight batting from Hickeys Home Focus
Thread: Piecing ~ Moon plain white (any 100% cotton white thread will do)
Top Stitching ~ Gutermann Black (any good quality thread will do)
Stuff you'll definitely need:
Sewing machine (unless you want to do it by hand like a loon)
Good scissors
Pins (the longer the better, ones with glass heads are great because you can iron over them and they won't melt)
Iron and ironing board - make sure you've got the steam set to full!
Stitch unpicker (just in case)
Measuring tape (ruler will do in a pinch)
Stuff that's not essential, but may be handy to have:
Quilting mat
Rotary cutter
Quilting ruler
In case anyone is wondering, my sewing machine is a Pfaff Ambition Essential
