Tuestorial: No Sew Coasters

This week's Tuestorial is brought to you by Rebecca Saylor of OodleBaDoodle! Rebecca hosted a workshop this past Friday at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles to show fellow Etsy folks how to make these unique coasters. Jen Johnson of Mama's Magic Studio wrote about the event on our blog here and now we are here to show you how to make no sew coasters of your own!

These would make a great Father's Day gift and a chance to use up scrap fabric you might have lying around.
 

Rebecca showing off her skills!

 Materials Needed:

• 8x10 piece of fabric for the 8 pieces you will cut (Fabmo supplied the materials for Rebecca's workshop. Linen and cotton works best!).
• Scissors
• Pins
• Rotary cutter or kraft knife
• Cutting mat
• Print this pattern here to use when cutting your fabric.

Step 1:

Begin by selecting your fabric pieces. If you don’t find a large enough piece, you can also begin by choosing your favorite color plus a neutral (such as white, beige, brown, or black).

When selecting patterns, it’s best to vary the size of the pattern. For example, select a small floral and mix it with a bold stripe. Or a large floral pattern with a thin stripe.

Common patterns to start with are florals, stripes, polka dots and plaids. Stripes and  plaids can create a nice chevron pattern.

Step 2:

Pinning!

Once you’ve selected your materials, begin by pinning the pattern pieces to your fabric. Make sure the pattern is pinned neatly and straight, this will make it easier to construct the coasters in the next step. You will need 4 pattern pieces for each coaster. Since we are making 2 coasters, you will need 8 pattern pieces.

Step 3:

 

Cut your pattern carefully being mindful of each of the cutting lines. Once you’ve cut the main part of the pattern, snip the two small diagonal slits on the edge of the right side of the pattern.

Using a rotary cutter, or a kraft knife on a cutting mat, make a slit the size of the dotted line on the left side of each pattern piece.

Step 4:

Now that you have completed the cutting, it’s time to assemble your coasters! You may have noticed that you created a small tab and a “tab slit” on each  pattern piece.

Lay out the pattern pieces like this:

 Step 5:

Working counter-clockwise, starting with the upper right corner, pull the “tab” up through the right corner tab slit. Repeat this step with the remaining 3 sides.

If your tab slit seems tight, you can gently snip the slit to make it a bit bigger. Be careful not to make it too large.

Step 6:

Enjoy your new coasters! You can use all types of fabric, textures and patterns to really personalize these coasters for your home and they make great gifts :)

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Our Team Captain about joining SFEtsy!

Tuestorial: Repurposed Garland

If anyone has been to FabMo, they know about the treasures that await them. On Saturday, FabMo took over Ruth's Table and SF Etsy team members were in full force, ready to give these discarded fabrics and design showroom samples to fellow crafters. I was enchanted by a random box of ric rac and fringe. It was begging to be made into something, but what? With help from Rebecca Saylor of OodleBaDoodle, I had it...garland of course! You can use it as an eye-catching piece for your next craft show or a fun decoration at your next party. Not only will you tell people that you made it, but you get to brag that you saved it from the landfill for almost nothing. 

Materials Needed:

• Fringe, ric rac, tassel or whatever you can find at FabMo
• Ribbon (long enough for the size garland you want)
• Scissors
• Glue gun

Found at Fabmo

Step 1:

Remove the fringe from the cardboard or material is attached to. Be careful not to damage it in the process. Depending on how it is attached, using the steam setting on your iron can help you with this process!

Step 2:

Arrange the fringe pieces in a pattern you desire. To add more fun, you can include beads, glitter paper, or streamers on your garland.

Step 3: 

Warm up the glue gun and go to town. Glue the back of your fringe to your ribbon until all pieces are attached. Once everything is glued and the glue strings are removed, it's ready to be displayed! 

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Our Team Captain about joining SFEtsy!

SF Etsy FabMo Field Trip

Last week, SF Etsy had a field trip to FabMo for a special, private selection event. 

Fabric, fun folks, and all sorts of other upcycled creative materials -- what could be better?

It's always a treasure hunt to dig through the sumptuous piles of designer fabrics. You never know what you'll find! Most are samples, many of them discontinued, that have been recycled from various venues in the SF Bay Area. Personally, I was on the hunt for cottons that I could make into re-usable snack bags for my kids' lunch boxes (yep, back to school time!) as well as luxurious textures and beautiful colors that I could fashion into bags or use for collage quilts. I left with a tote back jam packed with gorgeous finds!

In addition to all the great fabrics, they had wall papers, tiles, zippers, buttons, carpet squares.... it really is fabrics and MORE!

It was a perfect get-together for us crafty folks -- many thanks to FabMo for hosting us and to Rebecca of OodleBaDoodle for organizing this meet up!  

Sad you missed out? Keep in mind that FabMo has public selection events (appointments required) every month -- check out their website for a schedule.

Interested in another FabMo SF Etsy selection event? Let us know in the comments! 

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Katy or Steph about joining SFEtsy!