Did you know that daffodils can be made into an alzheimer’s-fighting drug, marigolds can be used as pest repellent, and sunflowers remove poisons such as arsenic and lead from the ground? Talk about flower power!
And today we’re introducing you to another flower that packs a serious punch, The Strata Flower. This quilt is bold and beautiful, and combines elements from Rob’s classic strata quilt with a fool-proof method for easy applique.
Click on the button to watch the tutorial and learn how to make your own Strata Flower Quilt!
Wow, what a year! We have LOVED 2015 here at Man Sewing! We released a bunch of fun tutorials, made new friends, bonded over our love of fabric and learned a lot! 2015 was a year to remember for sure! We are so thankful for the milestones we were able to hit because of our loyal followers that we’ve gained since the launch of Man Sewing in February of this year. Because of our viewers we were able to release a brand new tutorial every single Monday along with a bunch of bonus videos. That’s 49 tutorials, 11 Quick Tips and many more fun videos. We wouldn’t of been able to do it if we didn’t have people watching them! So thank you! We hit some huge milestones like 25,000 subscribers and 2 million (almost) views on YouTube! Wow, our followers rock!!!
Our most popular quilting tutorial this year was the 3 Dudes Quilt with a Twist. Jenny Doan of Missouri Star joined the set for this one and man did we have a blast filming this tutorial! I think it’s safe to say that we had even MORE fun looking at all of the pictures that came in of the beautiful quilts that were made following this tutorial. There is something truly special about teaching something to a camera, not knowing who will watch or what they will think of it, but then seeing pictures of someone’s own version of that project. Jenny has been doing this longer than I have and I couldn’t agree more with her when she says that every single photo that is shared with her will forever be a treasured spot in her heart. Keep those pictures coming, my friends. We really do love looking at them and admiring what our fans are making!
Our most popular Facebook post in 2015 was our introduction to the “How to Hem Jeans” tutorial. This one was a great skill to teach and we were happy with the response it got. Just like anything in life, people have their preferences and hemming jeans this way just happened to be our preferred method. We learned a lot from our fans about what they did to hem pants, why they liked our version or why they didn’t. We love the feedback good and bad from our followers. As we continue to grow Man Sewing we look for the good AND bad, so we appreciate every comment and message that comes through. Thank you again for your awesome feedback!!
Our most popular Instagram post was something silly that we found on Pinterest recently. We’re not surprised this one got more attention with the hype of the new Star Wars movie. Who doesn’t love some good sewing humor??
A photo posted by Man Sewing with Rob Appell (@mansewing) on
Coming in close second on Instagram was this one… Again, humor wins in our book! We spent the year smiling and laughing every single day. It’s hard to not be so happy when we get to work with the best fans every day!
In 2015 we had our very first Surf’s Up Retreat at Missouri Star Quilt Company! The turnout was small but that made the whole weekend a more personal experience for us and the retreaters! Many of you know that Man Sewing is powered by MSQC, so it was a no brainer that we should have a Man Sewing retreat! The awesome Retreat Staff at Missouri Star put everything together and it was a blast! We’re already looking forward to the Man Sewing Retreat in 2016! Take a look at the fun we had at the retreat here: http://msqcmansewing.wpengine.com/2015/11/surfs-up-retreat/
Towards the end of the summer we started using a fun app called Periscope. Periscope allows us to have a live interactive video chat. Thanks to some helpful followers, we were able to start saving those videos with another app called Katch. The scopes were a blast because we can do them anywhere with cell service! Our most popular recorded Periscope was one we did about Thread Shredding. You can watch the rest of the periscopes HERE!
Another exciting event that happened in 2015 was the Color Strata tutorial and BOOK!!! Color Strata was a quilt made long before the days of Man Sewing but we were SO excited to get this tutorial filmed and a book published! The Color Strata quilt was on the cover of Quilting for You, a European quilting magazine this year. The quilt has also been on traveling displays around the country. Color Strata was the perfect tutorial to end 2015. Missouri Star will soon be carrying ALL of the Cotton Couture color ways from Michael Miller Fabrics. We sure do love Michael Miller fabrics at Man Sewing, so we are EXCITED!!! You can grab our new book HERE!
A photo posted by Man Sewing with Rob Appell (@mansewing) on
All in all, 2015 was good to us. We accomplished a lot and made the best memories, all thanks to YOU! We can’t thank you enough for helping us make Man Sewing into something incredible. We look forward to what 2016 has in store for us. Thanks for being so loyal and following along with the content we’re putting out. Have a Happy New Year!!
The moment you’ve all been waiting for is here! It’s Color Strata Day!!! This quilt has been on the Man Sewing Set for quite some time and we finally have the tutorial ready for you!
