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patterns by carolyn friedlander

Hunt Bolero Vest and Harriot Archer Buttonup

By carolyn friedlander on December 11, 2018 in Featured on Home, my patterns, patterns, sewing, weekend projects | Comments: 0

My Hunt Bolero Vest and Harriot Archer Buttonup are some new favorites for sure.

We’ll start with the bolero vest. The pattern is in Casual Sweet Clothes by Noriko Sasahara. It’s a Japanese sewing pattern book that has been translated into English.

I LOVE the trim detail on the version in the book, but after looking and not finding anything good I decided to take matters into my own hands. Sometimes not having the right option forces you to creatively discover a new one!

Insert the idea to appliqué some shapes from my Hunt pattern onto the back. I love how these shapes work together. This Bolero is such a good canvas.

After deciding on my color palette, the next decision was to figure out the shape placement. The great thing about appliqué is that you can move shapes around very easily to see what you like before making the final attachment. I cut out my shapes first and auditioned them in a few different spots before deciding on this one. I like the way they echo the neckline while breaking up the proportions in a nice way on the back. Plus, you’re able to get a good feel for the overall appliqué motif.

What’s also fun about appliquéing a project like this is that there is less of it than you’d need on a full project. It can move along fairly quickly, while providing a nice impact. I did appliqué them by hand, but you could totally add them via the machine and/or something fusible.

The vest isn’t lined, which made me pay closer attention to having clean-ish starts and stops, because I knew you’d be able to see them on the inside. Of course, if you didn’t want to concern yourself with this, it would be very easy to line this vest so you wouldn’t have to!

I got a little fancy (and fussy) with my facings. I managed to get a bit of the scallop from the fabric in there, and I also spiced things up with some neon serger thread.

+ Tool Tip – remember this handy seam wheel set I mentioned in the Hunt Harriot post? The 3/8″ wheel made adding in the seam allowance to the Bolero pattern a complete breeze. While this book is translated into English, the pattern pieces do not include any seam allowances. You’ll want to add them in yourself.

As for the buttonup, I used the Grainline Archer with the Popover variation, which I LOVE. It’s such a great pattern.

The yarn dye that I chose from Harriot is super soft and the perfect weight for a buttonup. It is a dream to wear, and I love how versatile the color and pattern will be for mixing/matching/layering with other stuff in my closet. (Plus, I got a little fun with my yoke…)

I’ve made this pattern many times and cannot recommend it enough. It’s a fun sew and an easy wear. I pretty much made it as the pattern is written, but decided at the last-minute to omit the top part of the collar. When I got to that step, I realized I’d not done that before, and so I left the stand as it is. I really like it!

Also, I had some fun with my buttons…

Making a buttonup can highlight your button stash–bountiful or lacking. In this case, I discovered that while I have been doing a good job of stockpiling buttonup options, my black department is lacking. I’ll keep that in mind in the future, but luckily I had these fun gingham buttons to use.

There we go!

patterns: Bolero Vest, Casual Sweet Clothes by Noriko Sasahara, Hunt Appliqué Pattern (appliqué on vest) by me, and Archer Buttonup with Popover Variation by Grainline.

template: Hunt quilt template (1/8″ seam allowance)

fabric(s): all from Harriot

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Hunt Tangerine Quilt

By carolyn friedlander on November 30, 2018 in Featured on Home, my patterns | Comments: 2

While I was very ready to make my Hunt Harriot Quilt, my Hunt Tangerine quilt was the first Hunt finish and almost as exciting but for very different reasons.

This quilt started out as a bit of a challenge. I wanted to make an entire quilt top with just one fabric from my Harriot collection–background, appliqué and borders.

The scallop design is a 3-for-1 in my mind, and I liked the idea of proving that point with this project. The fabric features one color stripe on one side, another color stripe on the other side and a scallop motif in between. If I could use one side for the background and another side for the appliqué, then just maybe I could use the scallop for a border. The bonus that I discovered is that you can also cut the binding from the same fabric.

Maybe this seems confusing, but it’s pretty straightforward. To make it easy, in the pattern I have a special cutting layout showing exactly what to cut and from where to cut it. If you’re cutting from this same fabric, it’ll be super easy, but I’m hopeful that being able to see the full cutting layout in this way can make it easily adaptable for other special fabrics as well. If you’re feeling excited by something…

What’s nice about this direction is how striking it is. I could hardly put the blocks down when working on it, because I couldn’t wait to see the shapes come together. There’s something very special about a two-color quilt. Of course, you could totally pick two different fabrics on your own to get similarly graphic results.

There are other colorways of the scallop that I think would be really cool in this project. But, I’m trying not to think about it…so tempting!

pattern: Hunt Quilt Pattern (wall size, special fabric option)

fabric: Harriot

templates: 1/8″ seam allowance, No seam allowance and sets available to use with this project.

Also of note, I’ve been in an experimental phase with batting. On this quilt I used Quilters Dream Poly, and there’s something really special about its drape and feel. It’s not super lofty, but it’s light and so soft. I only hand quilted it, which makes it even softer, but I’m wondering how it would feel with machine quilting. Either way, I was pleasantly surprised by the results.

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Hunt Harriot Quilt and Hunt Acrylic Templates

By carolyn friedlander on November 27, 2018 in Featured on Home, my patterns | Comments: 7

I’m finally getting around to sharing more images of some of my newest projects! First up is my Hunt Harriot Quilt.

Have you had a project where you can’t wait to see it come together? My Hunt Harriot Quilt has totally been one of those for me.

I had the design in mind, and when I finally had all of my newest fabrics in hand I couldn’t wait to get everything cut and layed out. I just couldn’t wait to see what it would look like.

The cutting itself was really fun because you can figure out where in the fabric to cut your shapes. Not to play favorites, but the scallop print in the collection was especially enjoyable to strategize over. In cutting from different parts of the scallop or from different sides and colors of the stripe you can get variety not only in color but also in shape. Some of my favorite parts are where there’s a partial scallop. It makes the appliqué look like a totally new shape! What’s also neat is how it can give the appearance of making neighboring shapes join together if that’s something you’re into. (I definitely am.)

After cutting the pieces out, the layout itself was another engaging endeavor. I wanted to loosely group things by color and fabric, but I also liked the idea of playing with value (light/dark) and how that makes the shapes blend in and stand out from the background. Of course, I could totally see a project like this taking a very different layout direction with everything mixed up in different ways.

In terms of the appliqué itself, the shapes are really approachable if you’re new to the appliqué game, but still fun if you’re an experienced appliquér. Using wildly different colors can keep it engaging, and the repetition of the same shape also makes it nice for refining how to work with outside curves. This particular shape is great because there’s no extra clipping, which saves you a step as you go along.

After sampling the pattern, I quickly realized some acrylic templates would make the process much easier. The pattern includes a line drawing of the shape which you can transfer onto template plastic yourself, but for me, I wanted something sturdy and with some reference lines for if/when you want to line something up (like a plaid, etc).

Having the templates manufactured has been a great experience, and I hope anyone using them finds them to be helpful too!

Because there are many ways to appliqué, and because there are many things you can use the templates for, I decided to create a couple of different options. First is the 1/8″ seam allowance option, which is great for using the pattern as written. This version of the template is what I used to make the versions of Hunt that I’ve made so far.

But I know there are about a million ways to appliqué, and so I wanted to offer up an option for those possibilities too. I also have a NO seam allowance option, which is great for any raw-edge, fusible and/or wool appliqué (which I think would be lovely). The NO seam allowance option is also a good one for customizing a seam allowance by way of a seam wheel. Have you used one before? They’re pretty handy. Jen Kingwell has one, and I also found this handy set while doing a bit of research. (PS if you like sewing from Japanese pattern books or any other patterns that don’t include a seam allowance, this new tool set has been a game changer for me.)

I also have been playing around with using the seam-free option for embroidery, and I have goals of using it for a quilting guide too.

And finally, it made sense to me to group these two options into a set. I know that I plan to use both, and I figured others might want to do that as well.