Tutorial: Fabric and Tulle Carrot Goodie Bags for Easter

Easter is this weekend and if you are still looking for a cute way to gift some treats, we have an adorable carrot goodie bag tutorial designed by Peggy using fabric and tulle! You will need to click here to print out the instructions and the pattern.  Once you've printed out the instructions and pattern, cut out the triangle piece and lay it on the fold of an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper. Trace and cut out (without cutting the fold side); this will become your template.

Layout your template on orange fabric and cut out. Use scraps to get a bunch of different printed carrots, or you can get 6-7 carrots out of a 1/3 yard. Alternate your top and bottoms when laying out and cutting from your fabric to maximize your fabric use (refer to first illustration on printed instructions page).

In this picture, the carrot has been folded on the left and sewn on the right. You can see the serger seams on the right at the bottom of the carrot. A serger may be used instead of a sewing machine for this step. 

Once your pieces are cut out, fold them in half right sides together and sew along the straight seam 1/4". Pink the top edge of the carrot. Cut out a 3" x 11 1/2" piece of green tulle or netting and place on the wrong side of the carrot 3/4" down from the top. Attach with a zig zag stitch in green thread about 1/2" from the carrot edge. Zig zag stitch should be wide enough to thread ribbon through. Sew over the top of the beginning zig zag about 4-5 stitches (these steps are all visible in the picture below). 

Can see the top of the carrot has been pinked and the tulle overlaps the top of the carrot about 3/4". The zig zag stitch is about 1/2" down from the top and has been overlapped about 8 stitches just to the left of the side seam.

Turn your carrots rights sides out and, using a needle, thread 1/8" or 1/4" green satin ribbon through the zig zag stitching. Overlap at the beginning about 4 or 5 stitches to make it strong. Stuff carrots with little treats like jelly beans and chocolate and pull on ribbon to cinch the top together. Tie a lovely little bow and you have a delicious carrot to give to your little bunny this Easter! 

Peggy had a great idea to also decorate with them by using a bunny basket. You can also stuff them with poly fill and use them as decorations around the house, but personally I think they are best stuffed with chocolate eggs! 

We hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend and we'll see you in store soon! 

*This tutorial and pattern Copyright by Fabric Center 2014. Pattern and tutorial is intended for personal use, not to be made for sale or profit.* 

April Block of the Month Photo Review

Hello Block of the Month members! We hope you are enjoying your experience in Block of the Month class at Fabric Center. To help refresh your memory this month as you make your blocks, here are pictures of the examples used in class.

This is to make your log cabin center block in the middle of the star.

Remember, match up opposites of your half square triangles right sides together and mark from corner to corner. Sew 1/4" away from the line on both sides and cut along pencil/pen line. 

This will give you two of your meeting point squares for your alternate blocks.

If you would like to make this quilt on your own without joining the class, we still have patterns for sale in the store. The quilt is called Stitching Stars by Sandra Stradley. 

Quilting Show & Tell and Customer Spotlight: Craig and Carolyn

Every day, we see yards and yards of fabric make its way out our doors with no idea what the raw product will end up becoming. Every clerk can recount times when they have fallen in love with a combination of prints and colors a customer has picked out and has longed to know what the finish product would be or look like. You can believe we love it when customers bring in show and tell for us to see what their creativity and skills have made with our fabrics and quilting supplies.

We were lucky enough to have such an experience this past Friday with a quilting/sewing power couple we quickly fell in love talking with! Allow us to introduce you to Craig and Carolyn Shelton!

Craig and Carolyn have been married 27 years and have been no stranger to crafting, between the two of them they believe they have at least 50 years worth of sewing and crafting experience. Carolyn introduced counted cross stitch to Craig when he expressed interest in the hobby while they were dating. For years these two made beautiful counted cross stitch pieces, especially angel pieces which Craig has an affinity for, to decorate their home with as well as gifts for loved one. 

Carolyn had previously taken an interest in sewing but it wasn't until last year while watching episodes of Studio 5, which featured sewing and quilting projects, did her and Craig get really into quilting. They ended up taking all the sewing classes offered at a fabric sale/quilt retreat in Norther Utah over the summer, Carolyn took one half while Craig took the rest, and shared with each other the knowledge they had learned. 

They have been avidly quilting ever since and were generous enough to bring in a large collection of their quilts and projects to share with us: 

Bright Tulip Table Runner perfect for spring!

A pair of Valentine Heart Pillows. Look closely and you'll see they are made with long cabins! 

A beautiful, heavy flannel quilt with corduroy backing. This would be so cuddly and warm for winter! 

Absolutely adorable snowman quilt made by Craig with cuddle snowflake backing. All those coal eyes and mouths were made by hand sewing buttons on! 

We appreciated their attention to detail on all their projects. If you look closely at the photo below of the snowman quilt backing, you will see painstaking detail in the snowflake quilting done.

The clerks at the counter also commented how all their projects were geared toward the holidays and remarked how cute their house must look all year long with their cheerful quilt projects decorating their home month to month. 

A pair of Christmas table runners

Carolyn did a wonderful job with color, choosing a bright green bow to stand out. What a great addition!

This one was my personal favorite! Look at all the detail they have in just one adorable table runner: prairie point edging, rickrack, yo-yos, buttons, and a gingerbread house applique scene! 

A closer look at the gingerbread scene, yo-yos and prairie point edging. Yep, those are embroidered snowflakes falling!   

Snowman snowflake silhouette table runner set. 

A cute Christmas wall hanging!

More attention to detail: we couldn't help but point out how the tulle flowers at the end of this table runner gave a surprise pop of fun and whimsy. 

An adorable Witch Table Runner complete with ruffles. Carolyn is in the process of making this project again, but instead with an Easter flair: bunny feet and a fluffy white tail. We hope we are lucky enough to see it when it's finished!

Pair of Fall table runners. 

Once again, we have to highlight the attention to detail Carolyn has lovingly added to all her projects. This Valentine table runner has cute ribbon flowers and heart buttons on each end!

Pair of Spring Table Runners. This is one of the projects Carolyn learned from watching Studio 5. What a versatile project; love the brightly colored bows! 

A trio of Easter table runners that will soon be decorating the Shelton Home!

We want to give a HUGE thank you to Craig and Carolyn for being so generous and sharing their projects with us as well as a bit about their creative history. We absolutely love our customers for not only their kindness and cheerfulness but also because we learn so much creativity and skill from them as well; sometimes we wonder who helps who more! Please feel free to share your projects and quilts with us, we love seeing what becomes of the products that leave our doors. Send us a picture of what you've made or come in and share in person. See you soon!