Tag Archives: Stitch Savvy

January Recap

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Though I only started sewing for 2013 close to the end of the month of January, I managed to squeeze in seven projects from seven different sewing books that have, until now, laid dormant on my bookshelf, some for a few years already!  By far, my favourite of the bunch is the Red Riding Hood, it’s adorable and I just can’t wait to see it on my five year old niece! The one project that has gotten the most use so far is the Slipcover I made for my sewing stool.

Funnily enough, my husband got all giddy over the Baby Kimono, I think his biological clock might be ticking! However, he does loves his new Necktie, which I made specifically for the night we head out to see the Cirque de Soleil show Love at the MGM Mirage next month in Las Vegas.

Did I mention my plans to make a “micro-quilt” of all the projects I complete this year? I wanted to create one-per-month, but I might just have to focus on sewing what I’ll call a “remind-me-what-I-made” quilt whenever I feel I have enough pieces.

Project #3: Footstool Slipcover with Piping

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This slipcover has nice piping detail.

This slipcover has nice piping detail.

A little more than a month ago I bought a sewing desk and stool set at the Salvation Army. The desk was in great condition, but the stool top; the cushion , was a duct taped mess. I originally thought about just ripping off and redoing the cushion, but then, I came across this footstool slipcover in a new book called Stitch Savvy  and felt that this would make a better solution.

As with most slipcover patterns, you need to do the measuring and mathematics yourself. My advice, triple check everything, because it is easy to make a mistake. Once measured you’ll need to figure out the size to cut out. This stool is rectangular, so it is important to make sure you sew your “tube” together correctly. I didn’t see any mention of this in the pattern instructions.

Footstool cover

Fresh and oh-so-very-me!

I would say the most challenging part is adding the piping. It’s a scary task, but it’s more a matter of going slowly than really being “hard to do”. By taking my time and making sure everything lined up nicely, I think I got a fairly good result.

One thing that perplexed me about this pattern was the use of packaged bias tape to make the piping. I don’t get it? If I am going to buy bias tape, well, I might as well buy the pre-made piping, at stores here, they are the same price (bias tape and piping). If I am going to make the piping myself, I might as well make the bias tape myself too. That’s my thought process.

Book: Stitch Savvy: 25 Skill-Building Projects to Take Your Sewing Technique to the Next Level

Project: Footstool Slipcover with Piping

Fabric: “Wild Things” canvas (from Fabric.com)
Notions: Piping in light blue
Thread: Gutermann 100% polyester col: 10

Difficulty: Some challenges
Sew again: Probably not