making it fun: December 2018

Thursday, December 20, 2018

"I LIKE MIKE" Brand Ambassador Program!

ATTENTION QUILTING INDUSTRY DESIGNERS & BLOGGERS

Want to gain exposure while sewing with the best fabric?

Michael Miller Fabrics provides bold design, inspires creativity and offers exceptional customer service, all while “Making it Fun!”. Now is your opportunity to join the team as a Brand Ambassador!

Share your love of Michael Miller Fabrics by:

1. Participation in our online quilt along/block of the month by designing a block to be included in a quilt.

2. Broaden your skill set and explore new techniques in group challenges.

3. Create buzz around new product launches.

4. Include our “I Like Mike” promo badge on your website and social media.

5. Provide feedback to our marketing team.

6. Using the hashtags #ilikemike, #michaelmillerfabrics #makingitfun.

We share the love with you with:

1. Free fabric and goodies.

2. Promotion of you and your brand by sharing your content on our social media channels.

3. Opportunities for you to be featured on our blog and marketing channels.

4. Sharing our “I Like Mike” promo badge and other graphics and images for your posts.

5. Opportunities for your patterns/projects to be included in our catalogs and marketing materials.

6. Connections to magazine publications for your projects using Michael Miller fabric.

What are we looking for?

This program is targeted to QUILTERS. This is the perfect opportunity for those actively building a brand in the quilting industry.

We are looking for enthusiastic designers and bloggers to promote our brand and fabric through social media, online events and social media channels. Our Brand Ambassadors must have active social media outlets, be experienced quilters and engaged in the quilting industry.

What is required?

Projects will vary from group challenges to monthly events. We will provide all fabric required for program related projects, plus other goodies. We will promote two campaigns per quarter (8 per year). Ambassadors will make projects and post about them. You may offer free patterns or patterns that you sell commercially. We are looking for posts from the opening reveal of what’s in the box to the final project. Facebook live, Instagram Live, videos and product demos are encouraged.

Ambassadors may be asked to provide projects for our sales reps, Quilt Market and magazine outlets.

Ambassadors are expected to actively participate in a private, ambassadors-only, Facebook group and respond to emails. MEETING DEADLINES IS A MUST!

This ambassadorship runs April 1, 2019-March 30, 2020.

Applications are due by January 20th, 2019.

If you have any questions, please email: susan@michaelmillerfabrics.com

Please fill out this form below :

Saturday, December 8, 2018

Last Minute Gift Blog Hop - Guest Post : Natalie Crabtree

Hello to all the quilters, fabric admirers and color enthusiasts reading this blog! I am Natalie Crabtree, quilt designer based in Cincinnati, OH. I am pleased to take part in this fun Michael Miller Holiday Blog Hop. I do hope you enjoy making these fun projects.

I adore the Christmas season. The hustle, bustle and holiday cheer is something that I have always thrived on! However, the holidays are often so busy it might be difficult to find time to sit down and sew! Running from store to store, cooking, baking and decorating! Easy to create, quick projects are wonderful for this time of year.

For my Last Minute Gift ideas, I wanted to focus on projects that didn’t require a pattern and that could easily be done in a day or less. It was also important for me to provide projects that were enjoyable and easy to create! What a joy it is to sit down at the sewing machine, listen to Christmas tunes and sew handmade gifts for family and friends.

For these projects I used Michael Miller’s Cotton Couture Solids, Fairy Frost and Rustique Winter.

The first project I focused on was a Woven Fabric Table runner. This project would be a wonderful gift for the host or hostess at holiday parties, or a lovely addition to your own dining table. This project requires sewing but includes a nontraditional fabric weaving method. It’s fun to change it up from time to time!

This table runner design is versatile. You can add borders and intricate quilting for a more involved project, or you can bind the woven table runner and have a completed project. The choice is yours.

1. Start by cutting at least (20) 3” x WOF strips from various fabrics. Do not remove selvages. The sturdy selvages will help you in later steps. Use as many fabrics as you can, the scrappier the better with this project!

2. Use the 3” strips to sew tubes by folding the strip over on itself. The wrong side of fabric will be facing you. Sew all 3” strips into tubes.

3. Press all seams open on the tubes so that the tube will lay flat.

4. Use a safety pin to flip the tube right side out. Sort of like putting a sweatshirt string back into a sweatshirt! This is where the selvages come in handy! Pin the safety pin to the selvage and pull the tube right side out. Pinning to the selvage allows you to pull the fabric through without worrying about tearing or stretching.

5. Press tubes flat. Make sure that your seam is running down the middle of one side of your tube.

6. Cut half of your tubes into thirds. (I used 20 tubes total. 10 tubes were left WOF, the remaining 10 tubes were cut into thirds giving me 30 shorter tubes)

7. This is where the fun begins! Using pins and a flat surface that you can pin things to (foam board, carpet, or in my case an ottoman!), pin the ends of 10 WOF tubes down so that the tubes are touching each other. We do not want space between each tube.

8. Begin weaving the shorter tubes alternating the weaving as you go. Make sure to pull the tubes taunt and weave very close together as you don’t want any room in between each tube.

9. Pin tubes in place as you go to keep them straight. Use basting glue or school glue to hold tubes in place. This will become important when you lift the table runner from the flat surface.

10. Continue until you have reached the length of table runner you wish to create. Let the basting glue dry before lifting the table runner. Don’t be nervous if the table runner’s edges look uneven! We will trim in later steps.

11. After the glue has dried, lift the table runner and trim the edges.

12. Once you have reached this step, you have options.

a. If you are low on time, you can bind the table runner and the project will be complete! The basting glue and tight woven fabrics will stay in place.

b. You can quilt the table runner as desired and bind. (This is the option I choose, see photos below)

c. You can add borders, quilt and bind!

This project was such a joy to make, and a fun change of pace! I hope that you enjoy it too!

******Giveaway Alert!******

Be sure to comment on the post below to enter for a chance to win a FQ bundle from us at Michael Miller Fabrics!

Happy sewing!

Blog Hop Schedule

Monday, December 3rd, 2018 - Debby Kratovil

http://debbykratovilquilts.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, December 4th, 2018 -Stephanie Kendron of Modern Sewciety

http://modernsewciety.com/blog

Wednesday, December 5th, 2018- Lish Dorset

Guest post on our blog :

http://blog.michaelmillerfabrics.com/

Thursday, December 6th, 2018 - Sam Hunter of Hunter's Design Studio

https://huntersdesignstudio.com/blog/

Friday, December 7th , 2018 - Wendy Sheppard of Ivory Spring

https://ivoryspring.wordpress.com/

Saturday, December 8th, 2018 - Natalie Crabtree

Guest post on our blog :

http://blog.michaelmillerfabrics.com/

Sunday, December 9^th, 2019 – Gemia Carroll of Phat Quarters Fabric

https://phatquartersfabric.com/blog

Monday, December 10^th, 2019 -Sandra Clemons of Make it Blossom

http://sandraclemons.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Last Minute Gift Blog Hop - Guest post by Lish Dorset

Today's Guest post is by Lish Dorset!

On-the-Go Art Tote featuring Into the Woods

By Lish Dorset \ @lishdorset

If you’ve got little makers in your life, or are looking to create a useful gift for a junior artist on your holiday gift list this year, look to the “Into the Woods” collection for inspiration to create an on-the-go art tote that makers of all ages will want to carry with them on their next outing.

Sized for a larger pad of paper inside, storage for must-have artist supplies (sticker sheets, boxes of crayons, already-sharpened colored pencils) on the front, and a large back pocket to store works in progress, this tote will help keep kids and grown-ups alike busy throughout the holiday season - and beyond.

SUPPLIES

● 5 different prints (½ yards) from “Into the Woods” - this tote features DC7727-DUSK-D (front pocket - small), DC7729-FOGX-D (back pocket), DC7729-OCHR-D (front pocket - large), DC7730-STON-D (bag lining), and DC7732-MIST-D (bag outer).

● Pellon 808 - 1 yard

● Rotary cutting and measuring supplies

● 1” Cotton belting - 20”

● Rivets and rivet setting tools

● Liquid seam sealant

● Sewing machine and coordinating threads

● Pins or clips

● Iron and ironing surface

● Marking pen or pencil

CUTTING INSTRUCTIONS

● DC7732-MIST-D (bag outer): 13.5” wide x 11.5” tall (2)

● DC7730-STON-D (bag lining): 13.5x11.5” (2)

● DC7727-DUSK-D (front pocket - small): 6x11.5” (2)

● DC7729-FOGX-D (back pocket): 12x11.5” (1)

● DC7729-OCHR-D (front pocket - large): 8x11.5” (2)

● Pellon 808: 13.5x11.5” (2)

● Cotton belting: 2 10” pieces

CONSTRUCTION (All seams are ½” unless otherwise noted)

To begin, cut out all of your fabrics, being careful to note the directional prints. Fuse the Pellon 808 to the bag outer.

Next, create the bag’s pockets. Take each pair of pockets and place right sides together. Sew along one of the short sides; press the seams open. Fold the fabrics so that wrong sides now face one another. Top stitch along the seam of each of the three pockets.

Back Pocket: Place the back pocket on one of the outer bag panels, lining up the bottom raw edges. Baste the pocket into place along sides and bottoms with a ¼” seam.

Create a line 1” from the bottom of the bag and mark horizontally. Sew across this line to help prevent small items from falling into the seam of the bag. Set aside.

Front Pockets: As you did for the back pocket, place the front large pocket on the other outer bag panel and pin into place. Place the small front pocket on top of this and pin. Baste all three pieces into place using a ¼” seam. From one side of the bag, find the center of your bag (5 ¾”) and note with your marking tool. Draw a straight line down at this measurement; top stitch on this line to create four individual front pockets.

Finish the front of the bag by creating a line 1” from the bottom of the bag and marking horizontally. Sew across this line.

Once the pockets are complete, saw the outer bag panels together with a ½” seam. Turn the shell right side out.

Repeat for the lining panels, leaving a large opening at the bottom of the pieces for turning the bag.

Place the bag shell into the lining panels, right sides together. Matching up your side seams, pin or clip the raw edges together. Sew around the top of the bag. Turn the bag inside out, clipping and pushing out the corners, and sew the lining shut. Push the lining into the bag and press. Top stitch one last time around the top of the bag.

Finish the bag by adding your handles. From the center of your bag, make a mark 2” out from either side. Fold each end of the cotton belting in by 1”; add a thin line of liquid seam sealant to all four ends. Attach the bags with rivets per the manufacturer’s instructions. (Note: You may also sew the handles into place if you prefer this over using rivets to attach.)

Thanks so much Lish!

******Giveaway Alert!******

Be sure to comment on the post below to enter for a chance to win a FQ bundle from us at Michael Miller Fabrics!

Happy sewing!

Blog Hop Schedule

Monday, December 3rd, 2018 - Debby Kratovil

http://debbykratovilquilts.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, December 4th, 2018 -Stephanie Kendron of Modern Sewciety

http://modernsewciety.com/blog

Wednesday, December 5th, 2018- Lish Dorset

Guest post on our blog :

http://blog.michaelmillerfabrics.com/

Thursday, December 6th, 2018 - Sam Hunter of Hunter's Design Studio