This new tutorial on the Strip Scramble Quilt is special to me. It’s the first quilt I ever made and the first pattern I ever designed. I hope you love it as much as I do.
To find all the details, CLICK HERE.
with Rob Appell
This new tutorial on the Strip Scramble Quilt is special to me. It’s the first quilt I ever made and the first pattern I ever designed. I hope you love it as much as I do.
To find all the details, CLICK HERE.
We all need ways to tidy up our earbud cords, phone chargers etc, so here’s a great tutorial (sewing optional) that you can easily carry in your pocket! This is also a great stocking stuffer or gift for any occasion!
For all the details, CLICK HERE.
Video Transcript:
Hey, everybody! It’s Rob from Man Sewing and I’ve got a tutorial around here somewhere, oh! There it is! Here’s today’s tutorial. That’s right, I’m going to show you how to make these awesome earbud cord keepers. So, I love having my earbuds with me always in my pocket, but they used to be this nasty, tangled mess and the phone would be ringing and I would be trying to get them plugged in and listen. Or, maybe I’m listening to music and I’ve got a knot in the cord or something.
So, I was shopping in a Target years ago, and they have all those little things along the counter that you play with while you’re waiting in line, and there was this piece of plastic that was called a cord keeper and I thought, “what on earth is this?” And, so, I didn’t get it. And all of the sudden I got home and thought, “man, I sure wish I had something to wrap my little earbuds around to make them comfortable and keep them in my pocket.” And I don’t like stuff in my pocket, really, so I didn’t want them all over the place.
So, watch how this works. This is awesome. It’s just a piece of leather. You can use fabric or ribbon or whatever and it just has a set of snaps in it. So, that’s the main working part right there, ok? And I’ve been using this for about six or eight months. So, this has got some real longevity and use out of it. And then my cord just unwinds, just like that, super easy, ok. Let me put this away, real quick, just by wrapping it around my hands. Ok? And I kind of give it a little pinch, like, yay. I made that look terribly difficult, didn’t I? And snap it closed and it’s ready to go back in my pocket. Alright? So the supplies you’re going to need for something, like, really, is just a set of snaps, and you could probably also use velcro if you are using lightweight fabrics, but I want to show you how to do the snaps. That’s actually mostly what you’re getting out of the tutorial, right, is how to install the snaps. So, a set of snaps actually has four pieces that all work together. So, you’re going to need one of those. You’ll need the snap setting tools and these generally come in the package. So if you’re buying snaps, make sure you don’t buy a replacement package if you don’t already have the working tools you need, ok? We’re going to need a pair of scissors to cut a hole in our fabric, we’re going to need a Sharpie marker to mark where that hole’s going to be, and then my favorite of all my tools today, yes, the 12 pound sledge hammer. No! We’re just going to use a nice, lightweight hammer, but we’re going to give this thing a couple good smacks when we’re done. So, you ready to get started and learn how this works?
While you’re watching this, I want you to be thinking about the different kinds of ways you can do this. I’m going to show you real quick with leather. This is a lightweight suede we have here, a little flexible. That kind of makes it nice for gripping around. It’s nice and pliable. And, again, I don’t like a lot of weight in my pocket, so this one was a three inch by one inch strip that I just made and snapped together. The raw goods kind of just look like that, right? Easy. Another one I was making this morning, just for fun, was one that I picked up in Nantag. Actually my wife and I were working at an event together, so we have nametags. So, don’t tell her that I am making her a very nice Christmas present right now, ok?
So, this is going to snap together the same, right? You could also do fabric. If I was doing two pieces of fabric, I would put some interfacing inside just to give it a little bit of body and that would be a good time to stitch through velcro also, ok? So, oh! I know there’s something else I’ve got to tell you because I was talking with Jake, the camera guy, a little while ago about this. Don’t try to sew through sticky backed velcro. This would be a perfect place for sticky backed velcro, but I don’t want you to needle through the sticky back. It just does terrible things to the needle and thread. So, if you’re thinking, oh, this is the perfect place for those sticky dots for velcro, no, no. I want you to stitch your velcro on if you’re using that. Ok, enough words, let’s get started on this. And, like I said, let’s finish out my wife’s Christmas present here before Santa shows back up. And, for this, the first thing I really want to do is just figure out where I’m going to put the snap. I need to cut a very small hole. And so, for this, I could try to put a little bit of pressure here and see if it will mark the back of my fabric. It’s done a little bit. If I couldn’t see it, the other thing I could try to do is, I could try to put my snap through here, right? Take my Sharpie marker and feel where that post is going to come through the fabric, right? What I don’t want to have happen, is, I don’t want my snap to fall off of the edge; I want it to be nicely centered in there. Ok, so I want that to finish in, like that. Nice and easy. So, once you’ve figured out where you’re going to put your snap, you’re going to fold it over. And what I’m going to try to do is use the back end of my scissor and make just the littlest cut possible to bring that post through, just like that, ok? Now, your snap setting tools have two sides. There’s kind of what looks like a record, like an old LP, right? That’s a black version of a CD, if you’re watching and you’re not 40 years old like some of us. And then the other side’s got a bowl or a dish. So, the pretty side of the snap is going to go into the dish and then this pounding tool has got a little dimple on the front or a little skinnier part on the front that’s going to fit right into the skinny part there, but first I need to put on the part of the snap that is going to get caught in here. I don’t actually think it matters which side you use for which, but I’m going to switch this around because I like to have the female side underneath that pretty side there. Now, I have a chunk of lumber underneath my table that’s just part of my working table here in my studio, and so I’ve moved this down here so I can give this a pound. Oh, this would be a fantastic time to turn the speakers down on your computer. I’ll give you a second. Ok, you ready?
Now, I’m going to give this a couple of good smacks. Come in! Just like that. Nice and secure. What do you think, ok? Now, let’s go ahead and do the same thing for the other side. I’m going to visually line that up, give it a little bit of a mark, just like I’ve got there. Slide that out of my way. Now, I always start by putting the pretty side on first so that I know where it’s going to be and where I’m going to line everything up and that I know that I have the orientation of the snap correct. From this part on, I’m going to drop in now what is considered the male part of the snap and I’m going to make sure that it’s going to work.
So, I’m kind of giving it a dry fit or a dry test to make sure that I have both parts on the right side of the fabric or the correct side of the fabric. I’m going to take and flip that over to the record player looking side of the record side of that and then the back of that snap, oh! Did I forget, did I forget to tell you to turn your speakers back up? If you missed that, you can rewind it now. Time to turn your speakers down. Ready? Turn your speakers back up! Ok, now we’re ready. Now, fantastic. We have that, just like, yay. It’s going to snap together and I think what I’ll do is tie this with a nice little red ribbon and put it in silky, like one of those satin little boxes, something about yay big. She’s going to probably think it’s a ring or some other piece of beautiful jewelry. Won’t she be surprised at Christmas? That’ll be so much fun! So that’s my real, fun, little example of how to keep your earbuds under control and in your pocket and I’m going to go put these in my smart phone and listen to some great music while you’re making yours and we’ll see you next time here at Man Sewing.
We decided to do a little something special for Cinco de Mayo, so we met up with Chad Rigby, Executive Chef of Blue Sage Restaurant in Hamilton, Missouri, to learn how to make some seriously delicious salsa! This is a quick and easy homemade salsa using fresh ingredients and basic spices.
Here are the ingredients for these delicious salsa recipes:
Traditional Salsa
16 oz. Diced Tomatoes
1/2 C. Finely Diced Yellow Onion
1 Jalapeno (seeded)
1 Tsp Granulated Garlic
1 Tsp Kosher Salt
1 Tbsp Fresh Minced Garlic
1/4 Tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 Tsp Cumin Powder
1 Tbsp Coarsely Chopped Fresh Cilantro
Juice of 1 Lime
Fruit Salsa
1 C. Chopped Mango
1/4 C Kiwi (Peeled)
1/2 Anaheim Pepper (Seeded)
1/2 C. Yellow Onion
1 Tsp Kosher Salt
1 Tbsp Coarsely Chopped Fresh Cilantro
Juice of 1 Lime
Do you want to know more about this amazing restaurant, Blue Sage?? They are just down the block from Missouri Star Quilt Company! Check out their Facebook page here:
https://www.facebook.com/bluesagedining
We’ve gotten so many comments and questions about Rob’s ironing board, so we just had to do a tutorial! Enjoy this tutorial on a Portable Ironing Board using leftover fabric bolts!
Get all the details here: http://land.mansewing.com/iron-board-tutorial/
Rob had a special guest on Man Sewing! Rob shows Jenny Doan a new cool version of the 3 Dudes Quilt, originally tutorialed by Jenny!
Find all the details here: http://land.mansewing.com/three-dudes-quilt/
Video Transcript:
Rob: Hey everybody! It’s Rob from Man Sewing, and I’ve got an incredibly special guest today. It’s Jenny from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. Jenny: Hi everybody! Well, you know, I like to travel… Rob: Yes. Jenny: …so I thought I would walk all the way up the stairs and meet you today. Rob: Well, I certainly hope it didn’t take long to get here or anything, or you didn’t have any problem with your luggage on the way. Jenny: I’m a little out of breath at the top of the stairs, I’ve got to admit. Rob: Only because she was singing all of the way up. Jenny: Well, that’s true. Rob: It’s a true story. Jenny: That is true I do sing all the time. Rob: Oh, we’re going to have so much fun today. Our tutorial is basically a modification of our Strip Surprise from the 3 Dudes Quilt Company and, this is a true story: when I first got hired to do the Man Sewing gig, I was studying what Jenny was doing on her YouTube channel, right? And so I fell in love with the way she was modifying this pattern early on. Jenny: Seriously? Rob: I did. I did. Jenny: Oh, awesome! Rob: And I thought, “You know what? I’m into strip piecing right now. I want to try this.” Jenny: Yeah. Rob: And so… Jenny: It’s such a cool idea. Rob: Oh my goodness. It was so much fun! Jenny: Those guys are brilliant brilliant! Rob: Yeah, yeah. I would like to meet them some day. Jenny: Yeah. We love the 3 Dudes. Rob: You’ve actually met them? Jenny: I have not. Rob: No! They have great stuff. Jenny: I know! Yeah! Rob: We should take a road trip together out there. Jenny: We should. That would be awesome! Rob: A surprise…like a knock on the door. A surprise, “Hey we’re here! Oh, fantastic!” Well, we could goof off all day and we probably will, but let me run you down through a couple of supplies real quick. Jenny: Don’t you want to show them this quilt? Rob: This quilt here? Jenny: Yeah! Rob: I just assumed they can see it, but, yes. Let me see if I can get this right. Look at this lovely quilt I have behind me. Jenny: Take a look at this quilt behind us! Rob: Yes! No, this is actually radical and I love the quilting and everything in, in the way it came out. Jenny: Oh, it’s gorgeous! I think, it’s gorgeous, really! Rob: Yeah, but… Jenny: You got it from me. Rob: I did. I did, but do you think it’s going to be hard to make? Jenny: Oh, no! Oh, everything we do is easy and quick. Rob: It is. And I was blown away with the secondary design elements that came out of it just by one of the little swaps that I did. So now I’m going to run through this. Jenny: Ok. Go ahead. Rob: We’re ready for that. Ok, so you need only one of your roll ups, like a 2 ½ inch set. This happens to be an Artisan Batik from Robert Kaufman, and this one, I think, is called Sparkling Water, or something like that. But, isn’t that gorgeous? It looks just like the ocean to me. Jenny: Yes. Rob: Ok. And then I used, oh, this is a real treat not having to cut all my 1 inch strips. Jenny: Oh, isn’t that a treat? Yeah. Rob: Yep. So, I got this. It’s just the Kona Black, but it’s all precut and ready to go, so I just basically unpack them. Jenny: I love that. I know. This was so hard! Rob: So, you ready to unpack? Jenny: I’m ready. Rob: Cool! If you’ll take that one apart and I’ll take this one apart; we’re going to need them both. Jenny: Oh my goodness. Rob: I know. Jenny: Craziness. You know, a lot of people buy jelly rolls but they don’t always open them, and they don’t really make it easy. First thing, you’ve got the label and they’ve got the rubber band… Rob: Right? Jenny: …but they’re so cute all wrapped up. Rob: Yeah. Jenny: Alright, here we go. Rob: Ready? Jenny: Yeah. Oh no, no! Don’t! You’re nuts! Rob: A little bit. Just a little bit. So, what I found as I was unpacking my, my strips here of the batiks is, I wanted to try to focus on getting my light colors into my kind of centers of the, of the strip sets we’re going to build, so we build these X’s in the back of the quilt that you see. Jenny: Ok. Rob: And I also found that there were a lot of colors that had three strips and a lot of colors that had two strips. So we only need two of each. The third one we’re going to use for our borders later on. Jenny: Oh, ok. Rob: So, as I was unpacking this, I would be like, “One for me, the borders, and two for you, the quilt. Jenny: Ok. Rob: Ok? So, two more for you. One for me. Jenny: Well, and this is not true for every, every roll up strip. Rob: Of course not. Jenny: I mean, some of them, each, there’s a different, each one, every color is different in some of them, is what I’m trying to say. Rob: Oh yeah. Jenny: That’s what I’m trying to say. Rob: Or every color is the same! Jenny: So, you just basically want to use twothirds for your strip set and onethird for your border. Rob: Exactly. I didn’t quite know what to do with the leftover stuff or that one third portion of it… Jenny: Yeah. Rob: …and then I got in and thought, “Oh the borders will be good,” and we’ll show you how to do that. Jenny: Plus those piano key borders are really cool. Rob: So, basically, I just did that with this particular roll. I just unpacked it and these became my first set of colors, and we’re making three different colorways. And once we get this all stitched together, I’ll have you show them all the colorways we’ve built in here today. So, with this, let me show you how I kind of organized, and then I’m going to let you build it, if you don’t mind. Jenny: Ok, sure. Rob: Ok, so I wanted to focus on kind of keeping the light fabrics in the center. So, when I was looking at this, I was trying to modify it so that I would always have black on the outside edge. Jenny: Ok, that makes sense. Rob: So, where you’ve got your black there, here, and then there’s one more strip I’ve hidden underneath here, like this. Ok? So, basically, these are going to be built in this order: so you’re going to have a skinny strip, a colored strip, skinny, three colored strips, and I, like I said, I like to keep the light in the center. And then the skinny, a colored, and a skinny again, just like that. Jenny: Ok. Rob: Alright, Jenny. Thanks for getting this all stitched together for me. Jenny: You are welcome. Rob: Now, let me just point out again: focused on the light colors in the center, then we have the skinnier, the black strips, then our colored strips, then a skinny of the black strips. Jenny: Ok. Rob: Now, our next step is to make sure this is all pressed nice, one last time. Jenny: One of the things, when I’m pressing, I tell people to always make sure there’s no little folds in your seams because that changes the size of the block… Rob: Absolutely. Jenny: …or the strip set. And that will change the size of the block and that can be crazy. Rob: You know what I’ve also seen change the size of the block is sewing parts of one block on one machine and sewing part on another machine. Jenny: Oh ya, there’s so much. It’s that wholestart a project on one machine and finish on one machine. Rob: I really agree with that. Jenny: It’s, it’s important. Rob: So, for this step, what we need to do, and I’ve already cleaned this edge off a little bit, is I want to measure how tall our block, our strip sets are so we can make it into a perfect square, ok? So, for this I’m just going to hold my ruler this way. Jenny: So, however tall they are, that’s how wide we’re going to cut them. Rob: Correct. Jenny: Because we’re making blocks, we’re making squares. Rob: Yes, and so I’m just at 14 ¼ here. Jenny: Perfect. Rob: Ok, so now what I want to do is, I want to measure over 14 ¼ from this edge, and I’m going to slice here. Jenny: Perfect. Rob: And one strip set row will yield three of these blocks. Jenny: Ok. Rob: Ok? So I’m going to make one of them, ok? Jenny: There’s one. Rob: I’ll let you grab that and set up for… Jenny: They’re so pretty, aren’t they? Rob: I love the colors. Jenny: I do. I love…I’m like Rob, you know. Actually, where Rob lives, I was actually born there and love the ocean as well. Rob: Now, why don’t you walk our friends and family at home through how we’re going to piece these back together, please. Jenny: Ok, so the cool thing about this is now they’re squares so can do anything you want to because they’re even on all sides. And so, so we’re going to have one square horizontally, one square vertically, like this, we’re going to put them right sides together, and we’re going to sew them all the way around the outside edge. And it’s just really cool how this works. So, I’m going to go ahead and do that. Rob: And you’re just starting on one corner and going all the way around the square. Jenny: Yes, that’s what I do. Rob: Fabulous! I played with both ways of sewing: one side, the other, the top and bottom, It didn’t make any difference. So…and while she’s sewing around that real quick, I want to show you the other colorways that you could build out of that same batik roll. So, this was kind of the medium family. You’re seeing the brighter of the families. So, here’s my fun medium family. Again, I’ve got my lighter fabrics in the middle, kind of gradiating my way out, ok? And then the other one I have, it’s a little bit darker read on this and technically, yes, my lightest of my fabrics is this gray, but I really wanted the blue in the middle because I wanted the blue to kind of coordinate with the rest of the quilt. And you can see those way out here in these squares as well. So, I was kind of trying to play, kind of get that variegated color effect as well. So, these are the other kinds of strip sets that I made, and, again, just as a reminder, I made two of them each colorway. Did I stall almost long enough? Jenny: That makes the quilt look so beautiful. I love how the lights are in the center and then you kind of framed them up. It’s so pretty. Start down. I’ve just got one more side to go. Rob: And when you finish sewing this, there’s no real way to press anything, so we go right into disassembling it all over again. Jenny: Yep. This is where the amazement happens to me. I mean, you see this and you’re just like, “Oh! So cool.” Rob: Yeah, the first time I opened up that first little new square we’re about to create, I was very, very happy. Jenny: It feels like Christmas. .Rob: Yep, it does. Do you want to cut this one? Or do you want me to? Jenny: Oh, you can. Rob: Alright. She lets me do all the fun stuff. So, for this cut, I’m going to go ahead and cut through the corners of my seam allowances. So, right where my quarter inch seams met up, correct? Jenny: Directly diagonal. Diagonal one. Rob: So, I’m going to do a diagonal here. Jenny: On both sides, yep. Rob: And a diagonal here. So, if you’ve got one of those cool lazy susan mats at home would be fantastic because you really don’t want them to move. Jenny: Make sure this is right in the corner. Rob: You got ‘er? Jenny: Oh there you go, yep! Rob: So, we really don’t want to move the fabric, and remember, I’ve got those grip strips on so I’m lifting the ruler up and I’m dropping it back down. I’m going to go to this side. Jenny: Oh, you right hander! Rob: I know. See, we would be really good if I did all the righthanded cuts and you did all the lefthanded cuts. Jenny: We’d just trade off. Rob: Straight through. So again, I didn’t move the fabric so that I have my diagonals there. And here comes the magic. You do it, you do it. Jenny: Here, look at this. Oop, we need a little cut right here. Rob: Oh! Jenny: There we go. Rob: I get them all? Jenny: Yeah, so now we get these four blocks, like this. Rob: Fantastic. Ok, let’s do it. So we open them up… Jenny: And because we laid them vertically and horizontally, you now have strip sets that are going opposite directions. Rob: Isn’t that cool? Jenny: Isn’t that so cool? So, you can do this. Rob: Uhhuh! Just like that? Jenny: Or you can do this. So, how did you lay them out for your quilt? Rob: Well, I tell you what, last… Jenny: I love these two different…. Rob: I did it a couple of different ways. Let me press these so we can see them a little bit better. I’m going to ask you. We’ve got another one here. Jenny: Oh, sure. Rob: We want to cut that open. Jenny: Because we want to see, to see how the, we’re going to lay these together. Rob: Correct. And I hid the ruler and I hid the cutter. Jenny: That’s alright. Rob: A little Easter egg hunt going on in here. Jenny: I’m pretty good at finding those. Rob: Good. You’ve got to beat all those grandkids to the goodies. Is that what it is? Jenny: Yeah, but they don’t touch my rotary cutter, though. Rob: No? Good. Now as I’m pressing these open, I’m trying to press it so that that skinny strip, that’s the border strip, is being pressed too so that I don’t have to worry about folding the seam allowances. So, to answer your question, I first started…and maybe I can have you start building these. I started in the very middle square, as I was building, and I actually looked for my opposite colors here, which brought in the opposite colors here, like that. So, I built this one first, and then I started to gradiate my way out, that way. Jenny: I love it. Rob: And then I brought in the other colors and I tried to keep my brightest squares toward the center, moving my darker squares toward the exterior, and there was a point where I had all of the squares laid out, and it certainly seemed like I had made only one incorrect, so I went around and double checked and double checked. And as soon as I have these ones ironed, we’ll point out what everybody can look for at home and then we’ll talk about borders. Jenny: Alright, I’ve got, I’ve got these four and I’ll let you iron that before we get onto the rest. Rob: Fantastic. So then as I was building the next series of rows I thought, “Well, wouldn’t this be terrific if I could have these different colors come together?” But I didn’t want my same fabrics to touch, so then I brought this one over to this side so that I was looking for my opposites. Jenny: Two different colors, yeah. Rob: Correct. And my opposite’s there and so that’s going to give me opposites. Jenny: Opposites. Rob: Excuse my reach there. And opposites, like that. Jenny: That’s so cool. So then how many, how many blocks, what do we have across here? Rob: I believe it was 36 if I remember correctly. Jenny: Six across and six down. Rob: Yep. Jenny: And, you know, they’ll have to refer to this picture for that color placement. Rob: Right. Jenny: With those beautiful, dark ones come in the corners. Rob: Right. Rob: And, at my retreat, as I was just bragging about, (one quick option and then we’ll move onto borders) one of the ladies took some of the lights from the center and actually moved them into the outer corners and then brought some of the mediums into the center, and then had the darks on the outer portion. Jenny: I imagine you could do anything. Rob: It was like pulsing. Jenny: Oh! Rob: It was really cool. Jenny: Beautiful! Rob: I’ll make sure there’s a… when this tutorial comes live, I’ll make sure there’s an alternative photograph from my friend who made hers at the retreat. It’s really stunning as well. Jenny: That’s great. Rob: Ok, so… Jenny: So, we’re going to sew six across, six rows of six and it makes a quilt that is what size? Rob: I don’t know. It’s sixty squares when I was all done. Actually, I do know because, in building the borders, I had to measure, because…let me walk us through that, real quick, if you’re ready. Jenny: Yeah. I think so. Rob: We don’t need anymore of this, ok? I just want to go home and make the quilt back up. Thank you, my dear. Jenny: It’s beautiful. It is just gorgeous. Rob: So, as I said, I had those leftover strips, the ones that were, that I had three of in this particular pack, and so then I did a strip set row without any of the skinny black strips, just color and similar in colorway, starting with my light and kind of gradiating out in both directions, now, try to go slow with this, I figured the distance along the outer edge, right? The outer edge of my quilt. So, the first step was, I put in one more black, skinny strip all the way around. Jenny: Ok. Rob: So, I needed to sew two strips for the bottom, two strips for the top, two each for the sides. So, I used eight strips there. Jenny: Uhhuh. For that first border? Rob: Correct. The inner border. Then I measured the math all the way around, and then, I think, at that point, it was sitting at about 56 or so. Jenny: Uhhuh. Rob: I stitched this together, I figured out how much I would need to go all the way around the quilt, figured out how much I needed here, and divided it until I could evenly get enough strips. Now, I know that sounds crazy. So, here’s your answer: three inches. Jenny: Three inches. Thank you. Whew! Rob: But that’s how I did it because I do everything on the fly. I literally measured, and I said, “This is what I’ve got and this what I need, divide it in,” and that’s how I found out. Jenny: Perfect. Rob: But at the end of the answer, it’s three inches. Jenny: Ok. Rob: Three inch cut. Jenny: Whew, that was a lot of work for that. Rob: So, when I got done with all those three inches, I had enough for the label along the back. Jenny: Oh, very cool. Rob: That was all that was left with my math. So, if I had gone to 3 ½, I would not have made enough for all those strips I needed. Jenny: So 3 ½ inch strips. Rob: Correct. Jenny: And then sewed them together, end to end. Rob: I did, and I also continued the color order as it went. So, basically, it’s probably easier to show here, I stitched this color to this color. Jenny: Ok, so like right here. Rob: Exactly. So that way it kinda goes all the way around. Jenny: Yep, beautiful. Rob: And then, for me, as I got to the corners, there was just one, you know, piece that was a little bit shy, and it’s such a large, all over quilt, nobody cares. Jenny: Nobody cares. Rob: …will even see it. Jenny: Awesome. It’s beautiful. Rob: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for coming and doing this with me. Jenny: Oh, you’re welcome. I love it. Rob: I’ve really been blessed to be part of your crew here and your family. Jenny: Oh, we love it. We love having you. Rob: Ok, enough sappiness. Ok, so we want to know what you’re going to use for your first colorway when you build your variation of the 3 Dudes Quilt and the 3 Dudes that are watching along, thank you again for fantastic patterns. And until we see you next time, this is Man Sewing.
This sewing tutorial is going to make you the winner of playtime! Rob teaches us how to make this super cool superhero cape for anyone with a big imagination!
Find all the details here: http://land.mansewing.com/superhero-cape/?utm_source=mscom&utm_medium=lp&utm_campaign=tms10
Video Transcript:
Hey everybody! It’s the Flash from Man Sewing and today my good friend Rob is going to show you how to make an awesome cape. Gotta fly, find myself a phone booth, and change, and get Rob to help you out. Hey everybody! So sorry about that. I understand my buddy, the Flash just came flying through here to steal my thunder and get you all jazzed up about today’s tutoriala superhero cape for your children (or you, as long as they don’t catch you wearing it, right?). So, what we’re going to do today is we’re going to take a print and we’re going to use some solids to make a really fun superhero costume, let’s say. So I’ve got a DC comic licensed print that was put out by Camelot fabrics. I love some of the licensed goods that they do, and then I just chose a green and a yellow and a red, a solid to match, and then we’re going to use those to make the applique. Now, to make the applique, I literally typed into my Google search, I think it was, “superhero logos,” and it came up and there’s an entire alphabet available and we’re going to drop that link in the, in the comment section below for you so that you can go ahead and follow that, but there’s every letter in the alphabet set up, like this. I want to show you first how to make the background for the cape and then we’re going to come back to the applique. Alright? So for my size cape, and I’m not the biggest guy you’re ever going to meet, I’m barely six foot tall, right? So I’m using a yard and a quarter of fabric. For a child, maybe a yard, if you have somebody maybe six and half foot tall or something like that, a yard and half. I’m not sure, but you’ll basically just need a yard and a quarter of the print and a yard and a quarter of the main solid for your liner this green. And then, I use like fat quarters for the other solids I’m going to use to make my logo. A little bit of fusible web, and that’s about all we need for this project, right? So, the first thing is, is this particular comic happens to have a direction to its print. So I want to make sure that this is the bottom and this is the top of my print. So, I’ve already precut these to try to make these pieces of fabric just as close to the exact same size as possible and they are folded on the selvedge, ok? And then what I need to do first is, I’m going to show you how to prepare these pieces. And we’re going to do a little bit of marking and we’re going to actually end up cutting most of the selvedge off anyways, so I’m going to try to take this nice and slow for us. I’m going to need my little sharpie that I’ve already got out, and I’m going to need my ruler. So, the first cut, I’m actually going to mark on the selvedge side and I’m coming up five inches from the bottom. I’m also telling you right now that I’m cutting both fabrics at the exact same time. So, even if they’re not exact, they’re exactly the same, if that makes sense. So, I’m coming up five inches from the bottom, making myself a nice mark, ok? And then at the top corner, I’m going to have an 18 inch piece that came across my shoulder blades there. So, I need to mark nine inches from my center point. Let me get that a little easier for all of us to see at home. And then I’m just going to come over nine inches to my center point so that’s going to give me nine and nine is 18, ok? Now, from here, I want to draw this line and then I’m going to cut the line. So I’m going to kind of make this thing go how I can on my work table. Pretty darn easy! Then I’m going to use a ruler coming this way, and then I’m going to grab my big square from back here and use that as the other half of my ruler and I’ve just about got what I need. Of course you could, if you were, if you had your old carpenter’s chalk, you could snap a chalk line, right? And this just needs to be close. Whatever we make, because we’re cutting both at the same time, were going to be fantastic for the cape, ok? Then I’m just going to extend that line out a little bit. So that’s done and I’m going to, now, get the rulers kind of out of my way and just free cut that with the rotary cutter. It will make life a little bit easier and probably easier for us to follow along. Ok, so, here we go. We will end up sewing this with our right sides of our fabric together so if there’s a little bit of this marker line showing still, it’s not going to be a problem. Don’t get too excited when we’re done. We have one more cut, so don’t go whipping your fabric off the table and saying “Ahha! I’ve got it!” right? We have one more little slice to do here. See, a lot easier than it looked. Just like that, ok? I’m just setting those out of the way for a moment. We’re going to use those to make our ties. But the last cut we need to make… I like my cape to kind of arc back to the center, so this is now my low point, the corner becomes my high point, and I’m going to make this just a nice, gradual curve. I like to get my fingers behind my cutter when I’m doing that. That looks about right. Oh, when I say that and something fell off. Oh, you know what, it’s just my little bump in the table. Cut that a little bit again, no big deal. Oh, why is that shifting on me? I should be cutting from the corner. So funny! You know, I’m always thinking about getting a good angle so that we can see what we’re doing from home, but let me just take a moment and make this a little bit easier on me. There we go. See? Just like that. Sorry about that, but, as you all know, I like to do this in as few takes as possible, so, sometimes, you have to sit through a little bit of that. Awesome, right? Ok, so this is the front and the back of our cape, already dialed in. Now, I’m just going to fold this slightly out of the way for a moment, and then let’s talk about the ties real quick. From our fall off here, I’m going to use the green fabric and I probably only need one side of it here, and I’m going to make a 2 inch by 30 inch strip. Ok. Let’s do it this way and this way and this way and this way and I’m first going to trim off my edge. That’s the selvedge there. Ok, so that’s a goner. And now, yes, I didn’t close my blade. I’m going to cut myself a two inch strip, ok, and another two inch strip, like that, and these become the ties and I’m just going to stitch these with the right sides together and then turn them right sides back out so I’ve got some nice tubes and I’ve got some fun tutorials, I should say, quick tips out there for you, for making the tubes, so we’ve got some elongated information, if you need. You know my string trick. You’ve seen my ruler trick, I hope. So, there’s a lot of ways to turn these tubes, but, for today, because I want to spend some time on the applique and the satin stitching and things, I’m going to have to tell you that I basically finished the tubes already for you, but what I’ve also done is stitched the end closed, so I’ve got one closed end and one open end there. That open end is going to get stitched into the seam allowance of the cape in the cape’s liner so we’re not worried about closing both ends, ok? And I’ll show you how to put those in in just a second. When it comes to doing satin stitching and or raw edge applique, when you’re using fusible web, please be aware: if it’s a paper backed fusible web, like the one I use, the Heat N Bond Featherlight, you must transpose your image, right? So you can’t use it if it’s a letter the way you would recognize it. You must use it from the back side or the backwards version, like this. Okay? Because the paperback fusible transposes the image a second time. So when you’re using letters, always use a reverse image, please. Ok, and then all you simply do is you take your diagram, and you would lay your fusible web on the top, and then you take out that little sharpie marker, and one of my tricks I’ve done, and you can see here I already have this traced out for us, ok, but one of the things I like to do when I’m marking this kind of stuff is, I’ll come in here and I’ll just do little “L” shapes that kind of show the corners and the gaps and then, when I’m done, I come back in and I address those lines, like that, with my ruler. So, if I need to fill in a space, then I just come in here and I’ll ruler between those two little spaces, if I need. I’m going to cut this out, so, if it’s not perfectly traced, that’s ok, but I’m just going to go around and use those little “L’s” and my ruler so that it makes it a little easier than trying to draw all that detail work and having it shifting around on us. So, hopefully that trick makes a little bit of sense for you as well. And what I have done already is, I have already cut out these yellow pieces and, when I was designing it, I wanted the green from the background of the liner, the background of the cape itself, to show through, right? So, I only made the red pieces and then I’ve also made all of my little yellow pieces here. So now that I have the red pieces traced and fused onto the, well it would be the back side of the solid fabric, which, it’s solid, so it’s either side really. Now I’m going to go ahead and cut this out, but in cutting it out, I am also going to use my rotary cutter and my ruler because, at this part, I want it to be as crisp and as beautiful as possible. So now, I’m just going to cut my logo out. Once the logo is cut out, then I will iron the red and the yellow to the green before I begin completing the construction of the cape. I do not want the satin stitching that I will use, like this, to hold down the anchoring of the logo, to show through on the front side of the cape, ok? Here’s a fun little trick. For getting on the insides of some of these lines, sometimes I will start it, if I wanted to scissor cut it, but for the most part, even without the ruler, I can get in here and go pretty straight, pretty straight. Ok. So, you can do it with or without the ruler. I prefer the ruler. It also keeps your hands a little safer as well. It takes a little bit more time, but we’re not in a hurry because we love our craft, so the more time we can spend with our craft the better, right? Try not to cut all the way through your logo to the other side, but, if you did, the glue would hold it back in place, no problem. Ok, one more little cut to make here, one there. Tell you what, I’ll finish cutting this and be back in a flash. Told you that wouldn’t take long. Ok, so I now have my logo all cut out and the little highlight pieces. Now what I want to do is, I want to make sure that my cape piece is completely organized and flat on my board, so I’m just going to take a moment to move that out of our way and our ties, we’re going to need here in a second. So this goes on the green and it goes facing upright. Ok. So we’re going to have that there. We’re going to get this on here, like that, and now, if I remember correctly, I came down about a hand or a half a hand’s width. I was kind of thinking that this top part, right here, would be right along my shoulder blades, and I wanted the other part to come down, so I kind of figured, you know, it’s about a hand’s width. I guess you could measure. The nicest thing of anything is that this fabric came right off the bolt, so I had this really nice, crisp edge that I’m going to line this out on and the point of the logo is what I’m talking about. Uh oh! There it is. We must peel the paper off the back; that exposes our glue. And now we’re ready to put this in place. And with the Heat N Bond Featherlight, it doesn’t love to be ironed over and over again, so I want to iron this just one time. So, I’m going to put the red and I’m going to put the yellow pieces in place before I press it. Ok, now I have that just the way I want it and I’m going to come in here, you want a nice, dry iron. I’m hoping mine is going to not steam, because I forgot to turn off the steam. So we’re just going to press this for about two to three seconds and I made it. Get that iron out of the way. I’m going to let that cool. Now, I’ve got my sewing machine set up for the satin stitching and a satin stitch is just a narrow little zigzag, so, right now I’ve got it set up to be a three and a half millimeter wide zigzag, but only a 0.3 length, so, it’s going to be a nice, tight, little zigzag stitch to form that and then, the other thing that’s kind of cool, somewhere around here, we’re just going to use the back of this, I think. I will also use a piece of paper on the back to act like a stabilizer. When you’re satin stitching, it’s nice to have a stabilizer that will help you not draw the fabric up a ton. So I’m just laying that in there. Lift my presser foot up. Now with the satin stitching on this particular machine, it zigzags off the center needle position and so I’m going to watch. On the center of my foot there’s a line and that line in the middle of my foot is going to be the line now that divides the fabric for the applique and the fabric of the green for the background cape. So, I’m going to start stitching this now. And with the satin stitching, to get a really pretty satin stitch, you really don’t want to be pushing your fabric too fast through the machine. I really prefer to steer anyways instead of push or pull and the only real thing I can tell you about on some of these corners, you’re just going to want to take the time to make sure you pivot nicely on your corners. Just take your time, turn up the music, and enjoy satin stitching around your logo, and I’ll be back in a flash. Alright, once you’ve got all your satin stitching done and, just a reminder, the reason I want you to satin stitch is it makes this very, very washable. We do need to get all the paper off of the back, so just grab ahold. We’re using some relatively inexpensive printer paper and, if you need, I’ve got a little pair of tweezers in my hand here too. Sometimes you can poke at the stuff too with tweezers. I’m not going to worry too much about cleaning up the threads because this is all going to be hidden on the inside and even if all that paper doesn’t come away, it will wash away later on. Call that good enough, right? So now I have this laying basically right side up here. I’m taking my ties and I’m taking my ties and I’m making sure my ties stay to the interior. I’m going to drop them down about, oh, a half of an inch, and I’m putting a straight pin in and I’m actually going to let that tab stick out just enough that I can see it when I’m stitching around, right? And then, the other thing I’ve learned to do is, I’m going to come down here in the field and I’m just going to stick another pin and then, this one, I’m going to do the same. So, about the same about a half inch down, a little bit of that tail sticking out so I’ll be able to see it when I come around the corner. Bring that bad boy down. Let’s just pin them both together and that’s only being pinned there just to keep them from slipping around or getting caught in one of our side seam allowances. I’m sure that makes sense to any of you that have had that happen in the past. Now you’re going to take your print and you’re going to drop your print, print sides together with the right side of your green solid fabric. Ok, and I’m going to leave an opening at the bottom which will make my life much easier for my sewing. So I’m just going to line up my corner here and I’m going to grab it and bring it over to my machine, set it back to my straight stitch, drop the presser foot, and let’s do a little bit of a back stitch as we start. That’s going to make it easier to pull all that fabric through. And now I’m just going to go ahead and stitch all the way around and leave about a six inch opening right before where I started over here so I can turn this right sides back out. So, just as a reminder, as I’m coming in up here close, I’ve got that other strap up here, so just make sure that everything’s nice and organized. You’ve kind of got everything finger pinched together. Ok? And I’m just going to keep finishing this out, heading back for that starting spot where we’re going to leave that six inch opening. Now I’m just stopping to check, real quick, and see where my starting spot is. So, it’s way over there, so I’ve got a ways to go before I’m ready to stop. If you had a problem with your cut along that arc at the bottom, this would be a good time to sort of soften it up. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen anyone have a problem with a curved cut before, haha! Ok, so now I’m going to go ahead and cut my thread, a backstitch is important there as well, and now we’re just going to reach up inside. Now, remember, you’ve got those pins you put in there, so be very careful. I’m actually sliding my hand along the print side because I know the pins are in the green fabric, right? And we’re just going to roll this back out. And now that that applique has been stitched into place, you can iron around it or on it all day long. It’s not coming off, ever, ever, ever. So, here we go. There’s our ties. Let’s take this pin out now so I don’t get stuck with it again. There. And this one. And this one. Right? I give it a little shake through. Ok? And then if we’re going to be stitching something this large, it’s often a good idea to kind of come in here and roll your edges, right? And then kind of press on it so everything stays nice and crisp like that. And, as a matter of fact, just to make life easy on us here, let me bring this one to you and show you what we’ve got, ok. So this is what I mean by our topstitching. Right, right along there, that’s how I seal that edge up, right? So that works good. We’ve got our logo, so that’s good. So all we have to do on this last cape is finish with the topstitching and you are ready to wear this and go for your very first flight. Now, the most important tip of the entire tutorial I have for you is like this: and now, I am a parent, you know this, I’ve got a son and a daughter. And so, when I was constructing the cape, I had a concern, normally if you tie your cape around your neck, like this, there’s a choking hazard, which I’m concerned about. Some people talk about breakaway, velcro, but it will actually start to pull on your neck and become uncomfortable. So, what I learned with those extra long straps is you bring this around, like this, and you can tie it behind your back or you might have to help your children tie it behind their back. This is incredibly comfortable. It provides no choking hazard. Let me see if I’ve got it, like that, and, better than that, look! It makes super muscles. I love it and I love all of you! Thanks for watching today at Man Sewing.
This week’s tutorial is a special one. You may know that April is Autism Awareness Month and these days, most of us have someone near and dear to us who has been diagnosed with autism. That’s why I’m so excited to share today’s tutorial with you… a really easy way to make a weighted quilt, using a simple fill and quilt as you go method!
Find all the details here: http://land.mansewing.com/weighted-blanket/
Today’s new tutorial at Man Sewing is a Leather Applique Pillow. This is a simple project that will give your couch a big boost of self confidence! Check out all the details here: http://land.mansewing.com/leather-applique-pillow/
Today’s tutorial completes the awesome city scape we’ve been learning how to make! Make sure to start with the first video and I’ve got a few tips in the 2nd one that might help you better select your materials. For Part 1 and details on fabrics and the interfacing I used, follow this link here: http://land.mansewing.com/city-scapes/