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  • How Wide To Cut Your Binding

    Do you have a go-to size to cut your binding? Have you ever tried a different size to see what effect you would get? I thought I would do a little experiment to show you different sizes and what they look like all sewn up! Here I have four different-sized strips: 2”, 2¼”, 2½”, and 3”. I quilted up some sample swatches with a layer of 100% cotton batting in the middle. If you like to use thicker batting or thicker fabric like flannel or Minky, you may want to adjust the cut size to accommodate that. First, we have the 2” cut size. I folded it in half so it is only 1” before sewing it around the quilt. This will make a very dainty little binding, perfect for wall hangings or other projects where you want the binding to be discrete. I sewed this binding on with a ¼” seam allowance. Then, I wrapped it around to the other side and topstitched super close to the edge to finish it off (you can also hand stitch it down). You can see here it is showing about ⅜” once it is wrapped around and stitched down. This makes a nice “full” binding without empty space inside the bound edge. Next, I have a 2¼” cut size. Here I have folded it in half to make a 1 ⅛” size strip before sewing it around the quilt. This is my go-to binding size. It's not too small and not too big. It’s easy enough to stitch on without covering too much of the edge of the quilt. I stitched this one on with a heavy ¼” seam allowance. You can see it's a little bigger than ¼”, but not quite as big as ⅜”. If you have a machine with an adjustable needle position, it should be easy enough to move your needle a couple of clicks to the left and still use the edge of your pressure foot as a guide when sewing. This binding comes out as a heavy ⅜” once wrapped around and stitched down. Next, we have the 2½” cut size. I folded it in half and now it is 1 ¼” before sewing it around the quilt. I sewed this one on with a shallow ⅜” seam allowance. It's just one needle position away from ⅜”. Once wrapped around and stitched down, this one makes for a shallow ½” show. I use this size binding on thicker quilts because it gives a little more room for fuller edges. Finally, we have the 3” cut size. This size binding is great for adding some real drama to the edge of your quilt. Folded in half, it's a 1½” strip before sewing it around the quilt. I sewed this one on using a heavy ⅜”-scant ½” seam allowance. This will cover up quite a bit of the border edge, so it may not be ideal if you have a pieced border and don’t want to lose any details/points into the seam allowance. Once wrapped around and stitched down, this makes a full ½” binding. This size binding almost creates a frame or accent border on its own. Use a bold print or a fun stripe and you’ll really make a statement! You’ll never know what a difference your binding size could make until you give it a try! Happy Sunday everyone, Krista Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my YouTube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.

  • Dimensional Dahlia!

    It’s time to change out the snowflake throw pillows in my living room, now that we are well into spring, haha! This week, I had the idea to make a 3D flower pillow to add some pretty spring blossoms to my collection of pillows. I like to use up scraps any way I can, so I dug around to find the palest pink scraps in my stash. I didn’t have enough of any one shade, but that makes for an even more lifelike flower. I plan to shade my petals from lightest to darkest. I cut out of paper three different petal sizes. I made 12 of the largest ones, 6 of the medium, and 6 of the smallest ones. You can print my petal templates here. Place your lightest outer petal colors, right sides together, and trace twelve sets of the largest petals. Repeat this process with six sets of medium petals of a slightly darker shade(s). Finally, trace six sets of the smallest petals of the darkest shade(s) you use. Stitch on the two curved sides pivoting at the point, backstitching at the flat bottom edge (leave the flat bottom open for turning). Cut out each petal with ⅛” seam allowance so the edges aren’t too bulky. Turn each petal right side out poking out the pointed end with a point turner or other semi-sharp tool. I finger-pressed each petal at this point. I didn’t want to crush the petals super flat by using an iron and finger pressing worked beautifully! I quilted up a pillow front panel with my go-to straight lines, and without taking it off my longarm I started adding petals. You could do this with a domestic machine in a similar fashion if you dropped your feed dogs and used the darning foot (free-motion foot). Here, you can see the first six large petals ready to stitch. I stitched down the flat edge of each and then did a curvy line up the middle leaving the last inch or so unstitched. This is where those soft finger-pressed edges really show well. I added another set of six large petals, overlapping just a little and making the opening in the center of the flower a little smaller. I stitched these petals down in the same way as the first set. Now for the medium petals. You can see these overlap much more and the opening in the middle is getting pretty small. I stitched these down the same way as before. I was surprised that it didn’t feel all that bulky. I suppose the staggering of the petals is the key to lightening the bulk. Now for the final set of petals. These are the smallest petals, and I decided to add a little fold to the flat edge of each one. For these, I just stitched the flat edge with its fold down and did not stitch up the middle. Because of that little fold, these petals curled over a little and laid against the others. I was debating if I should hand tac the outer tips down to hold them in place, but so far they look great as is! For the center, I decided on a fabric-covered button. I love doing these, they are so easy, and they have such a nice finishing touch. You could use a cute decorative button or any embellishment to cover the center opening. I hand-stitched the covered button down and added my backing to the pillow. The flower came out about 12” across. I made the pillow cover to fit an 18” form. And here it is! The first edition of this year's spring pillow collection. Happy Sunday everyone, Krista Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my YouTube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.

  • Straight and Narrow

    Last week, I received quite a few comments and questions about how I do my straight-line quilting. This is a question I often get when doing trunk shows, and I try to describe it while showing the quilts, but I've never done a blog showing my process. So this week, I spent a little time filming my straight-line quilting in action. I quilt almost all my quilts this way, it is super easy and fast! I do this style of quilting on my longarm, but you could do the same style on a domestic machine if you used a free-motion foot or a darning foot. Here, you can see the video I did showing one row of quilting on the baby quilt from last week's blog. I fill in each triangle sweeping up and down across the space to fill it in. I keep going into the next triangle until the whole row of triangles is done. Once it was all quilted, this is the back and front of that same quilt. You can see from the back that the triangle blocks connect to each other, so the quilting creates a diamond grid from the back. This is my Honeycomb Hexagon pattern. The blocks are all hexagons, and you can see how I fill in each block with straight lines curving around at the top and bottom to go for the next pass. I try to mount the quilts on my longarm in such a way that I can go from one hexagon block right into the next without stopping. In the case of my Fall Foliage quilt, I did up and down lines in all the hexagon leaf blocks. Then, I quilted side-to-side lines in all the fill-in triangles between the hexagons. It looks like the same texture, but the change in direction adds a little fun detail. My longarm is very old and does not have a stitch regulator or any computerized functions, so I freehand everything. I shoot for about ¼” spacing between my quilting lines but they are probably closer to ⅜” apart. If you look closer, you’ll see they are not perfect and I hope that encourages some of you! Don’t be afraid to try 🙂 Happy Sunday everyone, Krista Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my YouTube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.

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Other Pages (87)

  • Quilting | United States | Krista Moser: The Quilted Life

    Ruler Deal Ruler Deal 1/6 Typewriter Describe your image. Ruler Button Quilt Stack Describe your image. Sewing Machine Describe your image. About Button Our team: Founder and CEO, Editor and Administrator, Photographer/Photoshop Phone grey Describe your image. SHOP BLOG NEW GALLERY TUTORIALS ABOUT INFO SHOP

  • Dancing Dahlias | Krista Moser

    DANCING DAHLIAS BUY PRINTED PATTERN BUY DIGITAL DOWNLOAD BUY FABRIC KIT FUN SCRAP QUILT Gain confidence with angles and color placement, plan out curated flower shades, or use scraps from your stash for an eclectic look! Dancing Dahlias will give you a complicated look without tedious piecing. It is constructed of two main blocks, the flower blocks, and the leaf blocks, with side setting units that make construction a breeze with no Y seams. Each block illustrates a different technique using the Creative Grids 60-Degree Diamond TINY Ruler. ​ FINISH ED SIZE 56" x 60" ​ Fabric Requirements • 1/4 yd each of three different leaf greens • 1/3 yd yellow check for center of flowers • 1/8 yd each of four different coral oranges • 1/8 yd each of four different light pinks • 1/8 yd each of four different fuschia pinks • 1/8 yd each of four different purples • ¹1/8 ydseach of four different turquoise • 1/8 yd each of four different light yellows • 1/8 yd each of four different dark yellows • 1 7/8 yds blue background fabric • 1/2 yd binding fabric • 3 1/2 yds backing fabric ​ TOOLS Creative Grids Non-Slip 60° Diamond Tiny Ruler ​ FABRIC SKU's https://www.kristamoser.com/fabric-sku-s ​ FABRIC PLANNER https://www.kristamoser.com/fabric-planners ​

  • Ruler | Krista Moser

    Creative Grids 60 degree 8.5" Large Diamond Ruler Creative Grids 60 degree 4.5" Mini Diamond Ruler Creative Grids 60 Degree 3.5" Tiny Ruler Creative Grids Scallop Template Creative Grids Folded Corner Clipper Ruler Creative Grids 60 degree 8" Triangle Ruler Martelli 10 pack 45mm Rotary Blades Spot on Dot

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