Hello Quilty Friends!
Happy Thursday to you!
3 days after Christmas! How can that be??? Wow! I feel like I’ve been flying on autopilot and all of a sudden I’ve landed and I have no idea where I am. Do you ever feel that way?
Well, it’s Week 5 — our final week — of our December Sew Along. I definitely enjoyed sprinkling a bit of sewing time throughout this crazy month and I think we should do this again next year. What small projects do you think we should do December 2024?
Of course, by then, we’ll probably have even more choices as we hope to add new Accessory Rose Card patterns in 2024. Hmmm…. We’ll have to see what fun new patterns our amazing designers come up with, won’t we?
You can find the December Sew Along Accessory Rose Card collection HERE.
Even if you didn’t get to sew along in December, I will add the December Sew Along posts to the right side of the blog so you can enjoy sewing along with me whenever you’re ready to join in. There’s no pressure, really. Do it at your own pace. I hope you do, though, because the projects are not only fun, they are functional and achievable!
If you missed the December Sew Along projects so far, you can find them here:
Petula Jane
VRD December Sew Along Week 5
Petula Jane is rather particular so sometimes she has to find creative ways to maintain her high standards. She often has to eat on the go or even at her desk -- horrors -- at the office. However, why should she have to endure paper napkins and plastic silverware like her coworkers do? Adding a little bit of elegance to any meal can make even burgers and fries gourmet, although Petula Jane prefers a nice mixed green salad. So Petula Jane created a collection of these wonderful place mats with proper cloth napkins and her grandmother's silver tucked into the handy pockets. She even rolled a battery-operated candle inside each place mat for a classier ambience! That way, meals away from home can still be considered an event and not just a happening. Petula Jane used fabrics from her favorite designers and added embellishments and embroidery to make her place mats and matching napkins perfectly perfect. You do you, girl!
Your Sew Along Challenge this week is to make your very own Petula Jane Roll & Go Place Mat and Napkin.
That’s right — this week, for Week 5 of our December Sew Along, you need to have your pattern pack in hand. Grab your supplies and create your own one of a kind unique Roll & Go Place Mat and Napkin.
Please make sure to join us on the Villa Rosa Facebook page to share your project this week and to check out the projects of your fellow VRD enthusiasts. The “social connection” is what makes sew alongs SEW much fun! Show us your fabrics! Any tips or hints for construction? Anything you need help with or don’t understand? Did you customize your project? Maybe you’re making 10 of them for gift-giving! Please share because we ALL want to see your Sew Along “sew and tells.”
Villa Rosa Designs Facebook Page — you can use this link to take you to the VRD Facebook page. Make sure you are signed into your Facebook account and on the VRD page you can “like” us to join in the fun. The more folks that join in, the more fun it will be!
Tricia’s Petula Jane Sew Along Project
Here are the wonderful fabrics I chose for this project. I received these fat quarters in a fabric exchange a few years ago and never could find a project I wanted to use them for …. until now. I love that they are blue and tan, but even more I love that they are contemporary and would be appealing for men as well as women.
I made my napkin first. Instead of folding my hems under and pressing, I decided to use my rolled hem foot on my sewing machine. It sort of worked…..I had to repair a few sections and one corner was a bit messy, but it is completed, which is actually more important than perfect to me.
Next I made my pockets and stitched them to the place mat front. I went ahead and stitched the pockets close to the raw edges so that when I sewed the place mat front and back together, the pockets wouldn’t get crazy on me and slide about.
Then I made the strap. I actually folded it down the center lengthwise and pressed, then folded the raw edges into the fold and pressed again, using a few pins to keep things under control before stitching down both sides of the long edges. I folded one short end in as well. I am not a big fan of sewing narrow tubes right sides together and turning them right sides out, especially with one sewn short end. The tubes always get away from me and I end up with some kind of a fabric nightmare. LOL!
I decided not to add the velcro to the strap, either, instead planning to wrap the strap around the place mat and tuck the end under in a more casual way.
The last thing to do was to layer the front and back of the place mat right sides together and sew all the way around the outside edges, leaving an opening for turning it right sides out. I poked out the corners and smoothed the edges, pressing the raw edges of the opening under. Then I sewed around the outside close to the edge.
Yeehaw! Done!
What a great project! Love it! Can’t wait to make some more as gifts….
Okay, now it’s your turn! I hope you will enjoy making your Petula Jane place mat and napkin!
Time to get your Place Mat and Napkin made this week (between Thursday December 28th and Thursday January 4th) and share it on the VRD Facebook page. I’ll see you there and I can’t wait to see what you make and hear your Petula Jane sewing story! Let’s add where you’re from, too! It’s lots of fun to see where all our VRD friends hail from!
See you on the VRD FB page!
Thanks for sewing along with me! I hope you enjoyed making your projects as much as I did mine.
By the way, my two nieces, Meghan and Morgan, LOVED their Savannah Jane scarves!
Sew. Laugh. Repeat.
Have a wonderful New Year filled with Lots of Sewing and Completed Projects!
Always,
Tricia @ VRD
Villa Rosa Quilts 