Hello all! I hope everyone had a glorious holiday season. I’ve been thinking the past few days about what I want to accomplish this year in terms of my sewing. The main goals I have are a) to continue to improve my skill level and b) to continue to challenge myself. For example, I really want to learn how to make a decent welt pocket! Along with these things I REALLY need to reduce my fabric stash before it gets completely out of control. So, along with plugging some holes in my wardrobe, I should be able to to that. I hope to have my first project completed in a few days so I’ll be sharing that with you soon.

In the meantime, happy sewing!

I just want to take a moment (before I start cooking for tomorrow) to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a very Happy Holiday season! Over the next week, I probably won’t be doing any sewing, but I will begin a sewing plan for 2013. That always helps to keep me focused. Have a safe and blessed holiday!

One of the things I like to sew (either for myself or others) are place mats. I will be including these in a gift basket for a friend. This is the first time I’ve made round ones. All of the others I have made have been rectangular. I make them for holidays and change them seasonally. This is how I do it:

After cutting out the shape I want, I fuse a slightly smaller piece of fusible fleece in the middle between the layers of fabric.

Then I sew the layers together. This can be done right-side in, then turning them right-side out. Or turning under the raw edges of both pieces and stitching. This is what I have done most of the time. Anyway, this is the finished product:

I like to do a print on one side and a solid on the other.

I wish you all Happy Holidays!