you forgot to buy gift wrapping paper, now what?

Well, it's December 24 and you are stitching or pressing the last touches on your gifts. But, oh no! You forgot to pick up wrapping paper! Now what? Not to worry. Like most sewers, you probably have a stash of fabric hidden (or not) somewhere. Find your 1m or 1yd pieces of any fabric. You can finish the edges or not. Now let me introduce you to FUROSHIKI.

This is a Japanese word for "wrapping cloth". By using origami techniques, the cloth is folded and tied to produce a carrying sachel from anything like groceries to library books no matter its shape or size. The wrapping cloth can vary in size (depending on the item being wrapped) but the most common size is about 1yd square.

Check out these sites on different ways you can wrap different objects.

www.furoshiki.com/techniques

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC7MH3EzBWM

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn6zdyCAwJs

Holiday Hours

Some info about our Holiday hours.

Christmas Eve we will be open from 10 - 3:30pm. (need to close early to finish last minute gift sewing.)
Christmas Day we will be closed.
Boxing Day we will be closed (so we can go shopping!!)

New Year's Eve will be open from 10 - 3:30pm.
New Year's Day we will be closed.

The Vancouver location is still open on Sundays. Victoria will be closed on Sundays during December and January.

Get ready though! The sewing shows will be starting in February, so don't put those sewing machines away for long!

easy scarf options

Need some more easy sewing ideas? The Christmas deadline is coming up fast and if you don't have alot of time, these scarf ideas are quick and easy to make. First is a no-sew fleece scarf. Fleece is a great fabric. It is soft, washable and doesn't fray. With only 0.3m of fleece you can make this. To fringe the ends, measure in from the end about 5cm and trace a chalk line. With very sharp scissors, cut up to the line every 1cm spacing. Repeat on other end. As easy as that!
Another easy scarf idea that is also a hit on this Fall's runway is the Infinity scarf. I mentioned this in a September blog as a fall trend. Instructions are below from a sewing magazine SewStylish, fall 2010 edition, page 92. Shown on the runways for both men and women.

Last but not least is this printed silk velvet scarf with silk satin lining and fringe. The concept is a cinch but the actual sewing is a challenge especially if you choose 2 difficult fabrics such as velvet and satin. All it is, is a rectange each of satin and velvet (or any other EASIER fabrics) measuring 0.3m x 1.5m. Pin and baste 0.3m of fringe to each short end of your scarf fabric - in this case the velvet. With right sides together, pin and stitch lining to velvet, leaving an opening about 4cm big in order to turn everything inside out. Slipstitch opening closed.

Even with a walking foot, I had issues with the satin "creeping" so one side ended up longer than the other side. After numerous times of stitching and un-stitching, I still could not get both sides to finish evenly with the velvet. In the end, I trimmed off the "excess" satin.

The scarf is gorgous and a luxury to wear. After all that frustration, I think the happy recipient of this gift will be ....... ME!

microwave spud bag

Make some of these 10" square potato bags for those you know who are stove/oven challenged. You/they can make baked potatoes, sweet potatoes even corn on the cob in the microwave. An easy, no pattern required project for anyone! Butter anyone?

You need:
1 piece 23" x 11" 100% cotton decorator fabric. (no metallic glitz or metal embellishment on the fabric!)
1 piece 23" x 11" 100% cotton fabric for lining
1 piece 23" x 11" 100% cotton Warm Tater TM batting or 2 - 3 pieces same sized 100% cotton quilt batting
100% cotton thread


Layer the fabrics as below. If you are using multi pieces of cotton batting, layer together to provide a thicker batting.

Use a walking foot on your machine and quilt all layers together at least a hand span apart. (Prevents the batting from shifting when you wash the bag.) What is a walking foot? It is a machine foot attachment that works in opposite motion to your needle. When your needle goes down to catch the bobbin thread, the foot comes up. This helps evenly feed the multi layers of fabric when sewing.

Finish all edges with either a zigzag stitch or serge but make sure you use cotton thread!

Fold over about 1/2" and stitch the 2 shorter edges.

With right sides together, fold the short edges to the middle, overlapping the edges by about 1". Stitch both of the side edges.

Turn pocket inside out and voila!

A couple notes of caution ...the finished bag must be at least 1" away from the walls and door of the microwave. Adjust pattern size if necessary. If your microwave has a turntable, the bag must be able to rotate freely or your potato will become scorched. If you don't have a turntable, turn the bag over at the midpoint of the suggested cook time to prevent scorching.

Do not leave microwave unattended while cooking.

Wash raw vegetables prior to cooking. Drying is not necessary as extra moisture aids cooking.

Wash bag regularly to remove bits of cooked veggies in the bag.

Potatoes - 2 large = 8 minutes (based on 1100 watt microwave. Adjust cooking time depending on the power of your microwave.

Red potatoes - 2 large = 8 minutes

Sweet potatoes - 2 medium = 10 minutes

Corn on the cob - 2 large = 6 minutes

Hungry anyone?

FREE PARKING DOWNTOWN

The Downtown Victoria Business Association has just announced that they will provide 2 HOURS FREE PARKING on December 4, 11, 18 at any of their city parkades. This is in effect from 11am - 2pm on those specific days. We at Gala Fabrics in Victoria typically give out 1 hour free parking tickets for these city parkades. Just let us know you are parked in one. The 1 hour tickets are useful if you are shopping on any other day of the week! The 2 closest locations are on Johnson Street between Douglas and Blanshard or on Fisgard opposite the Chinese School. For a map of parkade locations, check out

www.downtownvictoria.ca/index.php/downtown-maps/parking-map

another easy sewing project for Christmas gifts

Did you know that tea is the most commonly consumed beverage in the world after water? Are you a tea drinker? Or know someone who is? Check out this website for an easy teacozy pattern. Another Christmas gift sewing project suitable for beginner sewers to the more advanced.

www.rustybobbin.com/inklings/sew-teacozy.html

My only suggestion to the tutorial is to use an insulated batting like Soleri or Insul-Brite. When sewing the batting into the teacozy, lay the metallic side of the batting towards the inside so it would be close to the tea pot. This way, when covering the pot of hot tea, the heat waves hit the metallic layer and bounce back to the tea, keeping the tea hot for longer! EG: your fabric layers should be 1. outside fabric, 2. batting with metallic side up, 3. lining fabric.

Check out this website for the health benefits from drinking tea.

www.healthcastle.com/tea.shtml

Cheers!