How to make an Easter treat bag

Do you have lots of batting scraps left over from your quilting projects and don't want to throw them away, yet don't know what to do with them?

While looking through the many Easter projects posted on Pinterest, I saw this cute bunny bag made of felt.

Bunny Bag by Merrilee - @mer-mag on Instagram

Immediately I thought of all the scraps I have of Quilters Dream Fusion Natural Cotton Select and decided to give it a try.

Dream Fusion is my favorite batting because I tend to do small projects, including quilts, on my domestic Singer sewing machine.

The Dream Fusion allows me to secure the batting to my backing material and simply pin the four corners of my quilting projects and quilt away without having to worry about any pleating or puckering of my backing. You do not need to spray baste or thread baste your quilt top to your batting/backing material once the Dream Fusion is secured to your backing material.  [If you like paper piecing, Dream Fusion is wonderful for securing the seams of your finished pieced quilt top!]

For this project I found a sweet spring print and fused the batting and cotton fabric.  The fabric will actually be the inside of the bag and the batting will be the outside of the bag.  [If you have scraps of the Quilters Dream Cotton Select, Deluxe or Supreme loft you can make these bags without of fabric lining!]

To fuse - use the Cotton STEAM setting on your iron, place the Dream Fusion on the ironing board with the fusible side up and then place your fabric right side up on top of the batting.  Steam is your friend.  Take your time and slowly iron the two pieces together.  Once your piece cools the Dream Fusion is secure to the fabric.  

Next - make your template.

I took a half of a sheet of regular typing paper and freehand the outline of the face of a bunny.  Yes, the first time I drew the outline I realized the space between the bunny ears (which will not be sewn) was not going to be wide enough to place any candy in the bag when finished, thus the additional lines.

To ensure both sides were equal, I folded the paper in half and cut.  I did remember to cut a 1/4" seam allowance around the the outline for sewing purposes.

When I opened up the paper template it looked much better.

Because I had a long, narrow piece of fused batting I decided to fold it in half and save myself from having to sew a bottom seam.  

I placed the bottom of the paper template to the folded edge of the batting, pinned the template in place and cut.

Looks good, except I wanted it a little wider at the opening between the ears.  

No problem - just trim the template and batting from the inside of the two ears.

Much better!

Remove the pins and paper template and open up your fused fabric piece.  

Take a piece of your scrap fused fabric and cut out a triangle.  With a zigzag or decorative stitch sew the triangle piece of fabric on the batting side as a nose for your bunny's face.  You will also want to stitch a solid line about 3/4" of an inch from the bottom point of the nose to act as the mouth.  If your machine has a decorative stitch that looks like a filled in circle, use that to sew two eyes just above the fabric nose or add buttons for eyes.

You are almost done!  Fold the piece in half with the batting facing right sides together.  This will mean your fabric is on the outside.

Start at the inside edge of one of the bunny ears and sew all the way around the template.  You will want to back stitch your first few stitches and your last few stitched to secure your sewing.  While I had folded the fabric at the bottom and didn't need to stitch, I was on a roll and just kept sewing until I reached the inside edge of the second ear.

You will leave the space between the ears open.  Now, turn the bunny bag right side or batting side out.

Give the bag one more good steam press with the iron.

Fill with candy.

Take a strip of your fabric or some ribbon and tie a bow at the top and voila!  A fun Easter gift to share with others.

I made two, one for our sweet U.S. Postal Service man, seen here with one of my fellow #battgirls - Neva...

...and the second for our wonderful UPS man.  

So grab your scraps of batting and give your hand a try at making several of these bags.  It really is a quick project and sure to bring a smile to your family and friends (or even your Postman/woman!).

Wishing you and yours a Happy Easter!

How do you enjoy your quilt?

 

I looked into the living room yesterday to see my two boys curled up together in a quilt on the couch watching a movie and eating pizza… how could it not make me smile.  The oldest, 4 year old Caleb, will often share the quilt with his brother, 2 year old Lucas, and together they watch movies or pull the quilt over their heads giggling underneath, or catch the dog in a quilt “net.”  This quilt, which spends most of its days on the back of the couch, is well loved, often washed, and, to be honest, it is very much abused.  As I looked over the beautiful fabrics offered at Quilt Market in Houston, I thought about what old and new fabrics I wanted to use in my next quilt, which I will be making for my niece’s new baby.  I am happily planning this quilt with the intention of it receiving the same kinds of loving abuse as the one my boys have.  Some quilts aren’t meant to be hung on a wall for a long time – they are meant to be very well loved just for a short while.

 

 

This got me thinking about a poem my co-worker, Neva, shared with me, written by Nancy Riddel. I am happy to share that poem with you, and hope more than a few of you recognize this quilt in your own family.  Happy Quilting!   ~Jane~

 

It’s Your Quilt

By Nancy Riddel

 It’s OK if you sit on your quilt.

It’s OK if your bottle gets spilt

If you swallow some air

And you burp, don’t despair,

It’s OK if you spit on your quilt.

 

There are scraps old and new

in your quilt

Put together for you on your quilt.

If your gums feel numb

‘Cause your teeth haven’t come,

It’s OK if you chew on your quilt.

 

We expect you to lie on your quilt.

If you hurt, you may cry

on your quilt.

On a cold rainy night,

Don’t you fret, you’re all right,

You’ll be snug, warm and dry

On your quilt

Happy Quilting!

 ~The Dream Team

 

Bearding and Pokies, the Bane of Quilting

Bearding:

 If you have ever had a quilt beard, you know how frustrating and heart-wrenching it can be.  Once that soft, wonderful batting is in the quilt, the last thing you want is to see little bits of it appear on the top.  Bearding gets its name because back when poly fiber was stiff and horrible (think leisure suit) the fibers would poke through the fabric and then grow like an old man’s scruffy beard.  Today’s Quilters Dream Batting fibers, even the poly fibers, are fine, thin, long, and soft, and naturally resist bearding.  However, on the rare occasion given the wrong conditions, even the highest quality batting can sometimes beard. 

We have found that many high quality fabric manufacturers use a sulfur-based chemical in their dyeing process (especially when dying dark and vivid colors like reds and dark blues).  The sulfur is very good for fabrics because the sulfur molecule is five-sided, which causes a strong bond and makes the colors very color-fast.  The disadvantage to the “attraction” created by having 5 sides is that more surfaces promote static electricity.  When you wear dark colors or a very vivid print, have you noticed that pet hairs and fuzz balls seem to stick to you?  It isn’t your imagination – the sulfur has caused a static charge making everything stick.  In quilting, the combination of motion (sewing), handling, and atmospheric conditions, especially dry climates or the dry winter heating, will cause the fibers of batting to ‘stand up’ like the hair on our arms and be drawn to the fabric.

The solution is to break the static charge.  You can use an anti-static spray, such as Static Guard both on finished and unfinished quilts.  If you don’t have an anti-static spray, put a few anti-static dryer sheets in a spray bottle with water and sprits both the fabric and the batting (or the finished quilt).

When you wash your quilt, use fabric softeners in the washer and anti-static sheets in the dryer.  It is also helpful to remove the quilt from the dryer before it is totally dry and hang it.  Do not store the finished quilt or your quilts-in-progress in regular plastic bags as this really promotes static electricity. Using a humidifier in the workplace not only cuts down on static, but is great for your skin! 

Pokies:   

You know what the pokies are – when the batting fibers pull through the fabric with your thread.  I don’t know what the technical term is, but everyone seems to know about pokies.  This is a different problem from bearding, but has the same result – seeing batting where you shouldn’t be seeing batting, on the outside of the quilt.

The first thing to try when you have the pokies is to change the needle.  It could be that your needle isn’t sharp enough or that there are barbs on your needle (even if you can’t feel them).  A customer gave me a good suggestion, which is to take the needle and jab it through the layered quilt a few times before putting it in the machine, just to make sure it glides through and there are no barbs.  She discovered that a couple of her needles had barbs that she could not even feel that were causing pokies on the back of her quilt.

If you are using cotton thread, cotton fibers are curly and will grab the batting fibers if given the chance, so use a mercerized or coated thread.  If you are using dark thread or fabric, give your thread a shot of anti-static spray as well as your fabric and batting.  I will leave the benefits of using a high quality thread to the thread manufacturers’ sales teams, but you have been advised:  use a quality thread and avoid a lot of headaches.

If you have never had these problems, I pray that you never will!  For the rest of you, I feel your pain and can sympathize.  I hope this blog has helped!

Happy Quilting!

 ~The Dream Team