Tag: inspiration

Charity Sewalong – January 2019

Leave a comment

Dymocks Children’s Charity

monster-library-bag-1.jpgDymocks Children’s Charities supports early literacy in Australia by providing new books to children in low social economic and disadvantaged areas. The charity delivers programs that target students, primary school libraries and pre-school/ community centres. Most projects involve restocking school libraries where there is insufficient school funding for books, or following natural disasters in a particular area. Dymocks Children’s Charities pairs with sponsors to place a catalogue of quality titles to choose from in selected schools in these regions, so that they can get the books that they really want and need.

children-reading.jpeg

This month we are asking you to create a Children’s Monster Library Bag to help Dymocks fundraise for their Annual Gala event, where they’re hoping to raise $325,000, which will go towards funding new books for these children. Continue reading →

Create your own Pencil Case

2 Comments

pencil-case.jpgPencil cases are one of the best beginner projects because they’re fast, fun and can be easily customised. This tutorial shows you ideas on fabric types, embroidery designs, quilting styles and how to apply your own ScanNCut design.

What you need

Fabric Required

Recommended fabrics such as cotton, linen, denim, canvas or drill.

  • Front & Back: Cut two 24cm x 14cm in both fabric and lining
  • Zipper Tabs: Cut two 4cm x 4cm in fabric

Pencil Case Tutorial

Fabric Pencil Case

Create a simple pencil case with fun, bright fabric.

fabric-pencil-case.jpg

Continue reading →

Create a Sewing Machine Reference Guide

5 Comments

If you’re a new or regular sewing/embroidery machine user one of the best things you can do to enhance your sewing projects is to create a sewing machine reference guide booklet. It’s simple, easy and will teach you all about your machine.

sewing-machine-reference-guide.jpg

Creating a sewing machine reference guide will show you in detail what your machine is capable of and enable you to make a better use of your machine stitches and settings. Even if you’ve owned a machine for years, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what this booklet will teach you about your machine. Plus, it makes it super easy to reference when creating those beautiful sewing projects.

What you need to create your booklet

Continue reading →

Create a ‘shabby chic’ apron

2 Comments

This project will teach you how to decorate an apron using lace, fabric, your machine decorative stitches and applique techniques.

To create this project you can use any style sewing machine. I have used a Brother NV110 sewing machine.

shabby-chic-apron-01.jpg

What you will need

Apron

You can sew your own basic apron using the pattern from our May Charity Sewalong. I have purchased this apron from a Daiso Japanese store for only $2.80. You may also be able to find aprons like this from $2 stores across Australia.

Materials

  • Download the Applique Shape Patterns (PDF, 400KB)
  • Hot Melt Web for the applique
  • Range of matching fat quarters for the applique
  • Lace style 1 – 2 x width (plus 2 inches) of the bottom of your apron and 1 x the top width (plus 2 inches).
  • Lace style 2 – 1 x width (plus 2 inches) of the top of your apron and 1 x the width of the pocket (plus 2 inches)
  • Lace style 3 – 1 x width of your pocket (plus 2 inches)
  • Fabric – 6 inches x (2 x width (plus 2 inches) of the bottom of your apron and 1 x the top width (plus 2 inches))

How to create your apron

First you need to get together all of your fabric, lace and applique pieces. Start cutting out your applique shapes from the fat quarters. You can choose any colours for these applique shapes but I would suggest you choose a white fabric for the circle and then style your cupcake shapes differently.

Continue reading →

Create simple applique using Embrilliance software

3 Comments

In this project you’ll learn how to create a simple star applique design using Embrilliance StitchArtist software then apply it onto a garment. This project is perfect for 4″ x 4″ (100mm x 100mm) embroidery hoops, using machines like the Brother NV180 sewing & embroidery machine.

applique-jacket
We’ve used BurdaStyle Vintage Nina Jacket sewing pattern to create a jacket using sweatshirt material

Creating the applique design

  1. Open Embrilliance and select the hoop size for your machine. This design will only be small, therefore you can select the 4″ x 4″ (100mm x 100mm) hoop.
  2. Hit the Program Preference icon and select your hoop size from the preferences.Preferences.jpg Continue reading →

Embroidering on Problematic Fabrics

2 Comments

by Leanne Church

Coat-Jacket-2

Project Description

This project involves creating the Echidna Sewalong Dog Jacket and then applying the Lindee Goodall and Animal Welfare League embroidery designs onto it. As the material used was fur and heavily patterned, I have created an instructional tutorial to show you how to create a background for your embroidery design to make things a little easier.

The project itself was very easy and recommended for beginner sewers. The embroidery designs by Lindee Goodall were also easy to follow with clear, step-by-step instructions.

How I Created This Project

I have used fur for the fabric and a stretch lining, which can be a very problematic combination. Therefore, I wanted to share with you some tips and tricks that I discovered along the way to deal with this type of fabric and pattern choice.

To start with, I marked out the pattern on the fur fabric on the right side with a sharpie pen. I wouldn’t normally do this on a garment but for this occasion it was much easier to see and since it was a pet project, I figured I could get away with it.

Continue reading →

Fashion and Fabric Tour of New York

9 Comments

by Leanne Church

In May 2017, I travelled to the USA where I was lucky enough to start my trip as a guest teacher at Virginia Beach for Lisa Shaw of Embrilliance. It was here that I presented my recent trunk show of projects which I created using the ScanNCut CM900 and the Embrilliance software suite.

Sewing Guild of America

The second highlight of my trip was a Fashion and Fabric Tour of New York which I attending with the American Sewing Guild. I had been planning this trip since 2013 so I am very excited to share my experience with you.

This tour was hosted by Marsha McClintock and Marla Kazell who are very well-known garment teachers in the USA.

I stayed in the heart of Manhattan, which was the perfect location as it was within ten blocks of most attractions. However, you still end up walking a lot, so good shoes are essential! I met up with eighteen lovely ladies from all around the America, and I was the only one from outside of the U.S.

I feel lucky to have been part of this tour as I was able to access a number of incredible places that I may not have been able to if I was travelling alone.

Continue reading →

Cabin Fever Quilt Block

Leave a comment

Inspired by the latest Echidna Sewalong for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, we have designed an aviation themed quilt block which can be used for a number of projects including pillows, mug rugs, quilts, table place mats, runners and much more! The quilt block design has been created from Lindee Goodall’s Cabin Fever Quilt Block project, which you can purchase for $39.95 (Platinum $35.95).

Cabin Fever by Lindee Goodall

This project requires piecing in-the-hoop (also known as pattern piecing) to create a finished block size of 5.5 inches (140mm x 140mm). The project contains 20 embroidery designs and an instructional pdf which includes full-size templates, patterns, colour sequences and step-by-step illustrations.

LGE-CF-700x700

This collection contains designs with the following minimum sewing field requirements: 1 for 130 x 180mm, 9 for 140 x 200mm, 15 up to 200 x 300 max.

Purchase Cabin Fever by Lindee Goodall – Price $39.95 (Platinum $35.95)

Continue reading →

Sewing For Charity – January Sewalong

4 Comments

julie-ann-6Aussie Heroes

Our first Echidna sew along is for Aussie Hero Quilts – A blog dedicated to encouraging people to make quilts and laundry bags for Aussie service men and women currently serving overseas and to express our gratitude for their service.

“We care about the people – not the politics or the mission. Our quilts are not works of art, but works of the heart.”

Sew Along Brief

  • January Sewalong will run from Jan 1st – Jan 31st.
  • We are asking you to create a laundry bag (download the pattern & instructions)
  • The colours, material and design will need to be themed appropriately for MEN only. (This is due to Aussie Heroes currently running low in men’s themed laundry bags)
  • These bags need to be unique so the service men can quickly find and locate their laundry bags. Therefore we ask you decorate them appropriately by sewing, quilting, embroidering, applique or with Flex/Flock transfers using your ScanNCut machine.

Things to remember

These sewalongs are a great way to get inspired by what everyone creates, while giving to a worthy cause. If you’re new to sewing or embroidering then don’t despair. This is a  great chance for you to get involved and have fun not matter what the outcome.

Continue reading →