Hopeful Threads – Page 6 – Sew Bittersweet Designs

August 2012 Hopeful Threads Sewing

This month Kristy from Hopeful Threads is raising awareness about Children in the United States Foster Care System. I have been racking my brain over the last few days trying to figure out how I can contribute and I realized that in the past I have done some sewing for Foster Children. I have been sewing on and off with a wonderful flickr group called Quilting For Kids. I have helped make 2 quilts in the past and this will be my third time participating.

Sarah from So Sarah Sews organizes Quilting for Kids. Here’s how it works: when Sarah is ready to start a new quilt she puts up a thread in the Flickr group and announces it on her blog. In the announcement she states how many blocks she needs, tells us which block she needs, links to a tutorial, and then tells us the colors and due date. Everyone signs up with the number of blocks they will commit to make and we all get sewing. It is a wonderful group and some really amazing quilts have been created. I will be making 2 blocks for the next quilt and I hope you will join me. We are still in need of another 20 blocks to make the next quilt.

Thank you to Kristy, Sarah and all the other quilters and sewists out there who are doing such wonderful works with their creative skills.

Another Foray into Clothes

8 Comments / Charity, Hopeful Threads / By Melissa Dunworth

This week I took another step into clothes sewing and made 2 pairs of shorts for boys! I was inspired by Kristy from Hopeful Threads who is gathering Little Boys Shorts to send to Cambodia.

Here are the shorts I made:

I used this fabulous tutorial AND pattern from Caila-Made. I am really happy with how they turned out. There are a couple of itty bitty puckers but overall, for my first 2 pairs, I’m pleased with them. Now I just have to explain to Anne why her Cars fabric is gone…

Today we are off to ride Thomas the Train with Anne’s Auntie Lisa and her cousins. We have been planning this since March and we are all very excited! Pictures next week!

Baby Doll Sleep Sack Tutorial

16 Comments / Berenstain Bears, Fat Quarter Shop, Hopeful Threads, Pellon Fusible Fleece, superior threads, tutorial / By Melissa Dunworth

Back in the early 80s, when I was little, I absolutely LOVED the Berenstain Bears. They were my favorite books and I had them all memorized. Needless to say, as soon as I found out I was pregnant I started a collection for my baby. Anne has a fairly decent sized collection and they are her FAVORITE books, just like mommy. We went to the fabric shop last week for a little pick me up and this is what she picked out:

Welcome to Bear Country

This is what I made for her:

I got my inspiration from something I had when I was a little girl that my mom had given to me, probably about Anne’s age.

You will need:

14″ zipper
6 rectangles (6.5″ x 8″)
1 panel print (13″5 x 18.5″)
Pellon Fusible Fleece ( 26.5″ x 18″)
Inside fabric (27″ x 18.5″
Quilting Thread
Basic Sewing Supplies

Use 1/4″ seams throughout

Outside of the Sleep Sack Layout:

Sew your outside sections together:

Sew outside sections to the center panel:

Following the Pellon Fusible Fleece directions – center the PFF to the back of the piece you just assembled. You want to make sure that the PFF is 1/4″ smaller on all sides. You may have to trim it a little.

Next, quilt the panel however you would like to. I quilted in the side panels only and left the center print without any quilting. I also used NiteLite Thread by Superior Threads when I quilted. I couldn’t get a picture in the dark, but it glows so beautifully and Anne loves going to sleep with it in her room glowing away!

Next, place the inside fabric right sides together with the quilted panel. Pin 3 sides, leaving bottom open.

Sew the 3 pinned sides with a 1/4″ seam. Clip the corners.

Turn right side out, pin one side of zipper into place and sew down.

Unzip the zipper and pin to the other side, be careful when sewing the zipper down that you don’t sew through the back of the sleep sack. You should now have a tube when the zipper is zipped.

Turn sleep sack inside out, pin across the bottom and sew bottom closed, if you would like to add an “I love you” tag, this is the point to pin it in. You will want to sew this final seam close to the stopper on the zipper.

Turn right side out and you’re done!

Toddler Approved!

This is my project for the Hopeful Threads June Project. I hope you enjoy, if you make one, I would love to see it!

Still Sewing

16 Comments / Clothes, half square triangles, Hopeful Threads, quilt / By Melissa Dunworth

Did you notice I said “still sewing” and not “still quilting”?!? No, I haven’t given up quilting, I am just adding a little something new to my repertoire! With the encouragement of a very wonderful friend who I have truly come to treasure I have not made just one dress, but I have made 2 dresses in the last month! Kristy from Hopeful Threads has been encouraging me to make a dress for Anne for months now, and last month I took the plunge and made a dress for her Dress A Girl challenge.

I read Kristy’s review on the Little Comet Tails – Gemini Jumper and I thought to myself…”I can do that”. Before we came down to California, I ordered the pattern and shipped it to California so it would be here waiting. Now, keep in mind the only dresses I have ever done have been all straight line sewing AND neither have had pattern pieces! I have to say, Kristy got her review spot on, I was actually able to do this pattern. Now don’t get me wrong, I had to email Kristy with a slew of questions and at one point uploaded a picture to Facebook and tagged her in it just to make sure I was doing everything correctly. She is so wonderful for helping me like she has! What do you think?

The fabric is from 2009 and is Alexander Henry – I just love his fabric and I have to say I have been drooling over at Contemporary Cloth on the Alexander Henry that Sondra has in stock right now!

(Here’s Anne sitting in my Aunt’s garden!)

And now for the quilting! Since I have been here for the last 2.5 weeks, I have managed to get 3 quilts finished – the tumbler Flock quilt, my mom’s Mother’s Day gift, and a special gift for a special friend.

Please don’t ask me the fabric line…I have no idea, sorry!

This is my May Care 4 Caregivers project from Hopeful Threads. Oddly enough, the caregiver that I chose to give this beauty to, is Kristy. The parameters were to pick a caregiver in your community and use your sewing talent to find a way to honor them. This community has become a huge part of my life and while I have only participated in 2 of Kristy’s challenges, I have been following her blog since last August and she just blows me away. I decided to recognize Kristy for all she has given to not only our community but to communities around the world. She has literally impacted lives around the world. Thank you Kristy for all you do!

What have you been sewing? This week I have been working on a Feathered Star block, it is going to be the center for a mini quilt I am working on, hopefully pictures for you next week!

Guest Post – Kristy of Hopeful Threads

5 Comments / Guest Post, Hopeful Threads / By Melissa Dunworth

Happy Monday Everyone! This weekend was long and emotional for my family. Things should hopefully be settling down in the next week or so and then I will be back in full sewing form. In the meantime…I bring you Kristy from Hopeful Threads! If you are not familiar with Hopeful Threads, take a few moments and hop over to Kristy’s blog, I promise you will not regret it!
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Hi Sew BitterSweet folks, hope you are all doing great!

Melissa offered me the chance to come over and say “Hi!” and so I snagged it right up!

For those who don’t know me, I’m Kristy and I blog over at Hopeful Threads where we are all the time having some kind of crazy sewing fun with the motivation of giving back! (and if Melissa has anything to do with it, she’ll have me branching out into quilting before too long!) 🙂 We just wrapped up our biggest collaborative sewing project, where as a group, we made over 300 dresses to donate to Dress A Girl Around the World.

Yea, it was pretty exciting considering our original goal was 100 dresses! It’s a fabulous group of talented, giving, fabric loving folks and I invite you to join us if you haven’t yet.

This month we are focusing on ways we can care for the different caregivers in our lives.

This can include everything from mothers, teachers, childcare providers to special therapists or volunteers that you witness providing care for others within your community. The challenge is for you to find the caregiver and then find a way to use your gift of sewing/creating to encourage them. A perfect opportunity to bless and be blessed!

Throughout the month I hope to highlight different ways you are doing this, so please share your stories of how you Care 4 Caregivers this month and inspire us all!

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You will definitely want to head over to Hopeful Threads today because Kristy has a giveaway going on. Please go check it out and if you have it in your heart…get involved too!