all that glitters is gold... Glitz & Glam!

With winter and the holidays approaching, my mind is stuck on metallic. I'm ready to do some holiday party planning, shopping and maybe even some redecorating- and I want it to be all sparkle, glitter and gold...

The fall/winter season also happens to be my favorite time in New York City. It really comes alive.. and, lucky for me, it sparkles!

Manhattan Glitters Eye Poetry Photography

Using glittery NYC as my inspiration, I found some really great "wish list" party items from around the web- Would it be gaudy and over the top to wear it all at the same time? :)

 1. Kate Spade charm heels  2. The most beautiful ring EVER from Nora Kogan (xoxoxox)  3. Twinkling at Twilight Dress by Modcloth   4. Golden Garden Dress by Modcloth  5. Crystal Wildflowers Necklace by J.Crew  6. (The appropriately named) Champagne Kisses by China Glaze

In my search for the perfect party dress and accessories, I found a glitzy weekend bag from Anthropologie. I think I could make a similar version if I had the perfect metallic fabric (I have something in mind, so stay tuned Michael Miller fans!)

 How cool is the unexpected pop of shimmer on the side panels?! I love the mix of a neutral stripe, canvas straps and bling!

Striped and Sequined Weekender

And, another glitzy bag (1) from Anthropologie-- perfect for a party or a wedding. If you'd prefer to make it yourself, I found a sequined clutch tutorial here and tassel tutorial here. Michael Miller's Clementine Cotton Couture (2) would add a surprising pop of color!

After I hit up my go-to sites, Anthropologie, J.Crew and Modcloth, I couldn't pass up a quick look over at ABC Carpet & Home. If you're ever in NYC, you should definitely stop by- It's pure eye candy and you can't help but be inspired.

ABC Home is right on trend with these metallic polka dot glasses --

Glassware led to barware which led to votives which led to vases and, finally, led to DIY gold mason jars and a very sparkly tabletop-- You know how it goes when you're surfing the web...

The mason jar DIY is from a blog called lovely little Details.

And the amazing sparkly tabletop and sparkle votive DIY comes from Hey Look via Glitter Guide.

And now, I'm off to try out some tutorials and dream about all things shiny...

 Stay tuned- Michael Miller is planning to release some fancy new fabric in the very near future and I'm going to share it here first... We'll also have a surprise guest blogger!

xo, kait

Midnite Gems

Michael Miller's new line, Midnite Gems, crosses effortlessly from home decoration into apparel. Heidi Pridemore designed a simple, modern quilt with lots of bright white. She also used a combo that we've seen a lot of lately-- navy and berry!

 1. color block party romper 2. DIY chevron nails 3. Trina Kelly stripe jewelry organizer 4. J.Crew look for girls

*Styled and photographed by Trenna Travis

*quilt design by Heidi Pridemore

The free quilt pattern (pictured above) can be found here.

The navy/berry combo would be fantastic for apparel as well but we thought that we needed to represent some of the other beautiful color combos from the group- like teal and navy.

Trenna Travis styled the photograph below and designed the simple, elegant shirt dress. I found a similar pattern that would work well with this collection. Just click on the image (or here) and you'll be linked to the pattern below.

Next on our list of fabrics that need to be garments? Julie. But we can't decide between teal and jewel! 

Stay tuned to find out what we create!

Happy sewing~

xo, kait

Introducing Elephant Romp!

I spent a ton of time hanging out with my niece over the summer and we were always trying to come up with fun things to do. This led to endless hours poking around on some of my favorite creative blogs. We found an amazing tutorial on Cakies for a DIY A-frame tent. We built the frame and the fabric cover in an afternoon (with the help of my handy dad) and then looked for a good place to set up. It was a beautiful day so we chose a sunny spot outside and set up the tent with some over-sized pillows and some of O's favorite toys. 

Of course, I couldn't pass up a perfect photo-op! 

O is wearing an Elephant Romp tunic (I used Made By Rae's very versatile pattern, Geranium) Her purple leggings are from Target. 

The tent cover is made from Chic Chevron in Jewel.

I didn't use a pattern for the pillows but I found a fantastic colorblock pillow tutorial on All Things Thrifty (if you'd like to make something similar.) 

And, the best thing about this tent; when not in use, it can be disassembled and neatly rolled up for storage under a bed or in a closet. It also makes a great indoor hideaway when it's cold or rainy.

...And some stuffed monkey love XOXO

It was hard to choose a color for the tunic since I love all of them. But MM's Cotton Couture in Starfruit just works so perfectly with the Elephant Romp in Starfruit and I wanted to use a solid for the top part of the tunic. I love how it turned out!

Ellen Maxwell used the retro Elephant Romp color story to create the quilt below. You can find the free pattern here.

I hope that you love Elephant Romp as much as I do! Happy sewing and have a great weekend!

xoxo

kait

introducing Urbanista!

Urbanista by Michael Miller Fabrics

Bow ties, skinny ties, vintage cameras, a mustache and a beard-- how hip! 

Urbanista, which is available in your local quilt shop, reflects all things mod, urban and stylish with a nod to the past and the Beat Beneration. 

The Beat Generation was a term created by Jack Kerouac in 1948. And, just in case you're wondering, Britannica defined it as an "American social and literary movement originating in the 1950s and centered in the bohemian artist communities of San Francisco’s North Beach, Los Angeles’ Venice West, and New York City’s Greenwich Village."
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Our amazing graphic designer, Shawn, aka Doodlegirl, created this mod couple!

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In honor of all things "beat" we're giving away the lovely camera bag below! It was created using the laminated version of Cameras. The pattern that we used to build the bag is from Watermelon Wishes and you can find it here.

Comments are now closed- thanks for participating!

Happy sewing and have a wonderful weekend! 
Don't forget to check out our free quilt patterns on the Michael Miller website. Ellen Maxwell designed Urbanista and you can find it here.

...and stay cool all you hip cats :)
MMF

AND THE WINNER IS,

Christine S said... "What a great bag!"

Congratulations!

flowers, flowers EVERYWHERE!

Fashion week in NYC is upon us and we're seeing flowers, flowers, everywhere for next spring! We especially love how Tracy Reese and Tommy Hilfiger used florals in their ready-to-wear spring collections.

We created our own floral looks using our beautiful new patterns, Floraliscious, Darling Mums, Petal Path and Verity (available at your local quilt shop in October). The pants pictured above were made using the Wide Pant Pattern by Cali Faye. The photos below were taken by Trenna Travis and feature the lovely Ellen Monohan. 

 Ellen Monohan in Floraliscious. Sew it yourself with this pattern.

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Trenna captured Ellen again, surrounded by flowers, in sunny California. 

LOVE this easy breezy look (with the perfect shade of lipstick :)!

Find a similar bodice pattern here. 

The Darling Mums dress below was created using the Madison Halter Dress pattern by 5Berries. 

Photo by Charles Witte Design/styling by Kait Witte

We also have free quilt patterns available using our floral fabrics. Heidi Pridemore designed Darling Mums which is pictured below.

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For a softer floral look, you might like Petal Path. It's perfect for a tea party or a quilt for a special little girl :)

Styled and photographed by Trenna Travis

If you love applique and florals, then you will adore the free quilt pattern, Petals, by Marinda Stewart featuring Petal Path.

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If you love a more realistic and botanical floral, then maybe Verity is the choice for you. We used Verity to make an adorable dress using Made by Rae's Geranium pattern- which is one of our favorite "go to" patterns! Check it out below and find the pattern here.

photo by Charles Witte Design/styling by Kait Witte

 Marinda Stewart designed this floral rainbow Verity quilt which is available on our website here. We love how she incorporated birds and butterflies from Wing Study and our oh-so-soft Cotton Couture.

So why not get a head start and sew something "floraliscious" this fall?

 Happy sewing!

xo, MMF

"Delightful" by Swirly Girls

Hi! Susan and Christine here from Swirly Girls Design… We are so happy to share our new fabric line on the Making It Fun blog! It is called “Delightful” and we believe it lives up to its name.

We love to scrounge around thrift shops and vintage stores. We are often inspired by vintage linens, wallpaper and photographs.  The idea for Delightful started when we found this dishtowel at one of our favorite stops:

We were especially drawn to the whimsical flowers and butterfly.  Our butterfly is a softer version, yet just as whimsical.

One of the best things about our job is seeing sketches come to life on fabric! Here is the final print, called Daisy Flutter:

We love all of the prints in this line, but Delightful is really all about the COLOR! We really wanted to capture the vintage vibe in a contemporary way through the use of color. We envisioned vivid, saturated colors and are thrilled with the result. 

Delightful is available in two colorways, Raspberry and Strawberry.

Did we mention that it’s printed on yummy Cotton Couture?  Cotton Couture is Michael Miller’s super-soft, silky fabric base that drapes beautifully and is a dream to work with. It is perfect for quilts, but also clothing and other projects.

(This is the Candice purse from Lazy Girl Designs – love it!)

We couldn’t wait to get our hands on sample yardage and start making quilts from our patterns. Grand Central is perfect to feature the focus print Garden Beauty. The coordinates sparkle in the pinwheels.

Patchwork PDQ shows off the prints in a traditional, scrappy look featured here in the Raspberry colorway.

French Garden in Strawberry:

We want you to be just as “Delighted” as we are!  We designed Garden Delight as a free, downloadable pattern.

Click here to get started on this fun, lap-size quilt.

What does Delightful inspire you to make? Send your pics to info@swirlygirlsdesign.com and we’ll share them.

Happy sewing!
Susan and Christine

Follow the Swirly Girls:
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By the Sea for Labor Day :)

  Happy Labor Day! 

Summer's winding down...

The kids are going back to school...

But there is still fun to be had!

Maybe a boat ride, a walk on the beach, a backyard party, a picnic in the park, a parade or a barbeque... 

We thought that Trenna Travis captured the best of summer with her styling and photoshoot in Marina del Rey. She saw our By the Sea collection and immediately thought of a picnic on a boat in the Fisherman's Village. It seems so sunny and serene, but after speaking with Trenna, it was hardly so! She said, "These were taken in a rocking boat in a windy harbor...napkins were blowing off the table every two seconds and I was dying of motion sickness!" Who knew! The photos are beautiful and you would never know that glasses were breaking, napkins were flying and the boat was rocking away :)

Trenna used Nautical Netting and Sea Rigging for the napkins and Thick Stripe from Bekko for the table cloth.

Above, a shot of the Marina del Rey Lighthouse.

Nautical Netting and Sea Rigging napkins. (We think these would make a wonderful hostess gift for a sea lover!) sew4home has a simple tutorial for bistro napkins here.

The table runner above is made from By the Sea Collage.

These pillows, made from Marina, are so fresh and simple with just white piping around the edges. Our friends over at Sew Mama Sew have a great tutorial for sewing piping. You can find it here.

Marinda Stewart designed the fantastic quilt shown above- It's a free pattern on our website. 

And, finally, here are a couple of inspirational quotes in honor of Labor Day for all of you movers and shakers out there!

Before the reward there must be labor. You plant before you harvest. You sow in tears before you reap joy.

~ Ralph Ransom

No great achievement is possible without persistent work.
~ Bertrand Russell

Happy Sewing!

xo, MMF