Happy Tuesday! I have a finished quilt to share with you today, my soft and subtle Candyweb quilt! This is the fifth quilt I've made in this soft and subtle series. I have one more finished quilt I still haven't shared yet, but you can see the other quilts here: Soft and Subtle Vintage Sheet Plus Quilt, Soft and Subtle Vintage Sheet Star Quilt, and Vintage Sheet Plus Quilt.


Unlike the other quilts in this series, I made this quilt completely from my scraps. After making a few blocks, I realized it would be much easier if I got my scraps a bit more organized. I have these great boxes that my pattern cover printer used to use and I've saved them all. I taped a simple cardboard divider into each box and organized my strips and pieces by rough size. It really helped, especially since I set this project aside and picked it back up a few different times.


I made this quilt using my Candyweb block pattern, which is a foundation paper pieced pattern. Now that this quilt is finished, I want to get back to my other Candyweb project!!


I tend to save even the smallest bits of my vintage sheet collection, so it was nice to work on a quilt that uses up some of those small pieces.


I haven't done a lot of paper piecing with vintage sheets, but it worked well! Sheets can sometimes be a little slippery and the paper helped keep things nicely stabilized.


I ended up making nine blocks in total, for a quilt that finishes at around 42" square. My original plan was to make four blocks, but that would have made a very small quilt! I wish that the pattern showed up a little better in photos, it is much easier to see the design in person.


For the quilting I did some simple wavy lines, one of my favorite ways to quilt something. I have a tutorial for this style of quilting, which you can find here: How to Quilt Wavy Lines with a Walking Foot (video!)


I love this sweet sheet I used for the backing.


This quilt is bound in my very favorite stripe for binding vintage sheet quilts! It's this beautiful multi-colored stripe that just goes with everything! I recently found a full sheet in this print, in good condition, which I was so excited about. I had it many years ago and used it all up. Happy to have it in my stash again!


I used one of my custom woven labels to finish it off.


Soft and Subtle Candyweb Quilt
Pattern: Candyweb Quilt Block Pattern
Fabrics: Vintage Reclaimed Bedsheets

Happy Quilting!

My Favorite DIY Stain Remover for Oil Stains

Today I want to share my secret for getting stubborn oil stains out of fabric and clothing! I'll admit, I actually love a laundry challenge. Laundry is a chore I don't typically mind doing. Now I don't love folding and putting away laundry, but the actual washing? Especially if the item needs some TLC to bring it back to it's former glory? I'll take it!


My post on how I prevent fabric bleeding (The Cheap Secret to Preventing Fabric Bleeding in Quilts) from a few years back was so well received, I thought you might enjoy another laundry related tutorial! This DIY stain fighting paste is my favorite way to treat oil or grease stains. This even works on old oil/grease stains that have been through the dryer, it just requires a little patience. This method is not complicated, and it uses ingredients you probably already have! A (big) bonus for me is it doesn't have much of a scent. I find most stain fighting products you buy at the store have a heavy fragrance, which I personally like to avoid.

This paste works especially well on oil stains, which I find often don't respond to off the shelf stain fighters. It works well on other types of stains too!

DIY Stain Remover for Oil Stains

Materials:
- Dawn Ultra Dish Soap (the original blue)
- Baking soda
- Water
- Old toothbrush
- Small container for mixing



1. Mix 1 parts Dawn dish soap and 2 parts baking soda. Use a small amount of water to thin it out to a spreadable paste. Example amount: 1 Tablespoon Dawn, 2 Tablespoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon water. I just eyeball the amounts, it's very forgiving! I use the toothbrush to mix!


2. Wet the stained area. I keep a spray bottle with water in my laundry cart, so I can easily wet my stains before I treat them. I have used this paste on dry fabric too, but I find it easier to work in the paste on wet fabric.


3. Apply a liberal amount of the paste to the stain.

4. Using the toothbrush, gently work the paste into the fabric. Cover with another layer of paste for especially tough stains.

5. Let it sit at least overnight. I usually let it sit for 24 hours depending on how old or bad the stain is. I like to let it sit flat, so that the paste dries out.


6. Before washing, break off dried paste. I rinse the area in the sink with warm water before throwing it in the wash.

7. Wash normally. If the stain was especially difficult, I'll let it air dry to see if I need to do a repeat application.


Repeat if necessary to fully remove stain. Sometimes stubborn stains require a couple rounds!

Happy Washing!

Recent Lined Drawstring Bags

Happy Wednesday! I have quite a backlog of drawstring bags to share with you today. Some of these are even from the holiday season, whoops! These were all made with either my Lined Drawstring Bag Pattern or my free tutorial.


First up, a sweet floral bag! Before my daughter arrived, I put together a box of fabric combinations to turn into bags or other small projects. My thought process was that I could then easily grab a stack of fabrics when I had a spare moment to sew something without having to think too much. It worked out rather well, but I actually still have a few combinations waiting to be turned into something! This was one of them. I used the peek-a-boo lining variation in my Lined Drawstring Bag Expansion Pattern to make this bag. Otherwise it's an Everything size! The main fabric has been in my stash for a long time and is by Carolyn Gavin, love her artwork.


I bet you can't guess who I made these Christmas bags for! My seemingly endless stash of Hello Kitty fabrics has really come in handy lately. We did a combination of wrapping paper and reusable bags for my daughter, who enjoyed opening both. These were both made using the easy going variation in my Lined Drawstring Bag Expansion Pattern. One is an Artist size, the other is a Project size.


Last of the holiday bags! I made this group of 5 snack size bags to gift some sweet holiday treats in! They fit a jelly jar nicely.


Another Hello Kitty bag, this one Easter themed. I think I have Hello Kitty fabric for every major holiday! This one is Project sized!



These bags are both gift bags for one of Michael's coworkers who recently had a baby! The baby quilt is done and fits neatly inside the Artist size bag. The other bag will hold another small present. I used some of my Geometric Bliss prints for these.


And now and smattering of bottle gift bags! Michael needed a last minute bottle bag for a gift recently and I almost couldn't find one! So I decided to make a small stash of them so that we're better prepared for last minute gifting. These were all made using my Wine Bottle Drawstring Gift Bag Tutorial. This one features a fun print from Carolyn Friedlander and a sparkly accent.


Next I dug into my hand-dyed fabric stash! This is a fabric I dyed by first applying a wax resist with a paintbrush, then indigo dyeing! I am feeling a pull to start using more of my hand-dyed fabrics lately! I went with a solid exterior for this bag, no accent.


Another bag made from hand-dyed fabric, this time ice-dyed! I have a bunch of ice-dyed fabrics waiting to be used, it was nice to dip into my stash. I went with a solid exterior for this bag, no accent.



These last two bags were made with some fabrics by Sarah Watson that have been in my stash for many years! It is so satisfying to dip deep into my stash and use something I've been holding onto for so long.

Pattern: Lined Drawstring Bag Pattern, Lined Drawstring Bag Expansion Pattern, Lined Drawstring Bag Free Tutorial, Wine Bottle Drawstring Gift Bag Tutorial
Fabrics: Stash
Notions: Cotton Twill Tape, Nylon Paracord

Happy Sewing!

Adventures in Thrifting: Quilt Edition

Happy Monday! Somehow it's been a year since I did a thrifting adventures post?! I have thrifted so much the last year or so, I need to get back to sharing my finds! I've made the Goodwill Outlet a regular stop of my thrift runs, and I've found a bunch of quilts there! I've loved rescuing these beauties.


This vintage bow tie quilt is probably in the worst shape of all the quilts I've found. I actually went ahead and took it apart, it needs too many repairs. Not sure when I'll find the time, but it was just too cute to leave behind.



In contrast, this pink green and white quilt is the quilt I found in the best shape! I love everything about this quilt: the colors, the pattern, and that bound edge, so good!! I didn't even need to do any repairs to this one.



This quilt is huge! I love logcabin quilts, so this one was a definitely must save for me. It needed a few repairs, and has a few stains but I love it. It fits our queen guest bed perfectly! It makes me want to make a quilt with brown in it.



I share all about this vintage quilt that I thrifted and repaired in October of last year: Vintage Quilt Rescue! It lives in our car.



This was one of the first quilts that I thrifted. It unfortunately has a lot of damage, so I have already started cutting it up to use for small projects. I will probably make a few pillows and some bags maybe?


I made this quilt into a house coat! I used it a ton this past winter. I need to make a proper post about it soon.


This was a wholecloth quilt that I also cut up for a coat! It didn't turn out quite as well (it was way thicker than I realized) but it is very cozy.


Last but not least I found this sweet ABC baby quilt made by Judi Boisson. My daughter loves this one.

Happy Thrifting!