Spoonflower Borderlands 2 Fabric Collection

I finally received my swatches for the Borderlands 2 collection I created. I'm extremely proud of the collection and I hope you guys like it.  Here's where you can find the collection for purchase.

I changed some of the colors, especially on the grunge. The background was a nice, deep red that matched the Borderlands 2 logo while the foreground was a bright poppy red that really clashed with the other colors. That has now been changed.

The fabrics are designed to be used in a quilt using 5 inch squares. Apart of the collection, not pictured here, is a cheater quilt made up of 6 inch squares, so there's definitely enough room for a seam allowance and then some. However, they can be used in many different ways.

The Borderlands 2 Logo fabric would make a great lining for a bag, backing for a quilt or even pajama pants.

The Grunge fabric could be used in many different ways, although I don't think it would look very good for projects whose pattern pieces are larger than two feet wide. (I can't think of anything besides huge, poofy dresses, but still!)

The fabric that I so cleverly named Gaige's Socks, after the Mechromancer's striped stockings, could be used as a lining for bags, a backing for a quilt, binding for a quilt, pajama pants, a tie etc. What's cooler, is that you could order the design on knit fabric and make yourself some leggings for a Gaige cosplay. Rip a few holes in the stockings and you're good to go.

The Vault Hunters fabric was the centerpiece for this collection. Of course it'd be great as a lining, but I also think you could use this fabric to make one helluva Borderlands 2 dress. I personally would love to make a white button-down shirt with black accents (think cuff and collar) and use this fabric for the yoke. Add a few studs, it'd be snazzy as hell.

I hope you guys like the fabric as much as I do! Remember to check them out here!

Amy and the Raggedy Doctor

I created a new design on spoonflower.com! It can be purchased here! 

Its a mix of Doctor Who and Calvin and Hobbes. I originally created it as a T-shirt design but I thought I'd like to use it for some tote bags and what not!

I'm currently working on a cut and sew tote bag with this design on it so keep an eye out for it! I ordered the proof today so it should be here in a week or so. The only problem is that I'll be in Colorado until the beginning of July so I won't be able to create the tutorial until then, but the fabric will go on sell well before then!

Quilted Fat Quarter Wallet Tutorial

Fabric can be purchased here!

I made a wallet using the fabric I created on Spoonflower.com yesterday. (Fabric can be purchased here!) The wallet is extremely useful because it can carry your phone, credit cards and cash. Even better, the wallet can be made from a single fat quarter (although I chose not to out of interest of contrasting fabrics) and is extremely easy to make!

So here's how I made it!

Quilted Fat Quarter Wallet Tutorial

Marterials

• Fat Quarter of fabric, contrasting fabric is optional
• Batting or fleece for quilting
• Light fusible interfacing
• Iron on Velcro or other closure
• Sewing machine, scissors etc etc.

Step 1: Cut Fabric

Cut two 8.5 in. x 21 in. strips out of your fat quarter. (If the fabric is squared off and is an exact 21 in. by 17 in. then this is cutting the fat quarter in half.)

Cut one of these 8.5 in. x 21 in. strips into three pieces. Make two cuts that are 8.5 in. long, and another that is 4 in. long. (You should have two squares that measure 8.5 in. x 8.5 in. and one rectangle that is 4 in. x 8.5 in.)

Cut the second 8.5 in. x 21 in. strip into 3 pieces. Make one cut that is 3.5 in., 3 in. long and the last one that is 2 in. long. (You should have a rectangle that measures 3.5 in. x 8.5 in., 3 in. x 8.5 in. and 2 in. x 8.5 in.)

Out of your interfacing, cut a square that is 8 in. x 8 in. and a rectangle that is 1.5 in. x 8 in.

Out of your batting or fleece, cut a square that is 8 in. x 8 in.

Step 2: Iron and Quilt

Iron your 8 in. square of interfacing to one 8.5 in. square of fabric. This will be your outside fabric. There should be a quarter inch of a gap between the edge of the interfacing and the edge of the fabric, this is to cut down on the bulk in the seams when sewing.

Pin your 8 in. square of batting (fleece works just as well) to your 8.5 in. square (the one that you just interfaced) and quilt it down. As you can see in Figure 1, I only quilted a small portion of the batting as a decorative feature. If you do not quilt the entire thing, I suggest using a basting stitch where you did not quilt to make it easier to turn later.

Figure 1.

Iron your 1.5 in. x 8 in. rectangle of interfacing to your 2 in. x 8.5 in. rectangle of fabric. This will be your closure. Set it aside for now.

Step 3: Rolled Hems and Sewing

Take your 4 in. x 8.5 in. rectangle, 3.5 in. x 8.5 in. rectangle and 3 in. x 8.5 in. rectangle and create a 1/4 in. rolled hem on each of them. To create a rolled hem, fold over 1/4 in. and iron. Fold over this 1/4 in. a second time and iron it again. 

Top stitch the rolled hem, as seen in Figure 2.

Figure 2

Once hemmed, lay your 3 in. x 8.5 in. rectangle on top of your 3.5 in. x 8.5 in. rectangle, as seen in Figure 3. Measure 2 1/4 in. away from either edge and stitch the top rectangle down to the bottle rectangle.

Figure 3

Take your 2 in. x 8.5 in. rectangle and fold it in half so that it is 2 in. x 4 1/4 in. with right sides facing together. Stitch along the sides with a 1/4 in. seam allowance. This should leave an opening on one side, as seen in Figure 4.

Figure 4

I forgot to take a picture of this part (because I skipped this step by accident! Whoops!) so bare with me.

Flip this piece inside out and iron it flat. Top stitch along the edge. 

Step 4: Putting it all Together

This would be the time to add any closures that you need. I used iron on Velcro so I was able to do this as the last step, but if you are doing snaps or buttons you may want to do it now before we sew the wallet together.

Figure 5

Lay out your pieces as seen in figure 5. The 4 in. x 8.5 in. rectangle should go on one side while the two pieces you stitched together should go on the other side of the 8.5 in. x 8.5 in. rectangle without interfacing or quilting. Lay your closure strap on top, right side facing down. Basting them in place is optional but helpful.

Lay out the main, quilted fabric on top, right sides facing together as seen in Figure 6 and pin.

Stitch around the edge with a 1/4 in. seam allowance, but leave a 2-3 in. gap so you can flip it inside out.

Figure 6

Clip your corners, as seen in Figure 7.

Figure 7

Flip it inside out. Iron it out. Top stitch around the edge. This should stitch closed the gap you left open to flip the wallet inside out, but if you feel more comfortable you can use a ladder stitch to close the gap.

Figure 8

At this point, if you have not added a closure yet use some iron on Velcro. Its my favorite for quick projects like this!

Done!

Your wallet is done. Admire it. 

Looking back on the pattern, I wonder if I should have done the pockets differently. They are nice and clean, but I felt like they should be a bit thicker (and less flimsy) to house my giant Samsung Galaxy S2. If I were to make this pattern again, I think I'd cut the fabric for the pockets twice as long and fold them in half to create the pockets instead of using a rolled hem. Maybe for another day! 

Spoonflower Fabric

Years ago, before I left for college, I discovered a website called www.spoonflower.com. If you haven't heard of it, this website allows you to print custom fabric that you or other people designed. Pretty awesome, right? I know. I designed some fabric for a contest and if I recall correctly I actually placed pretty well but I didn't make it high enough to get the fabric printed for free. As a high school student with no income, I never got it printed... until now.

This fabric is available for purchase here!

Currently, I'm working on a simple quilted clutch (and a tutorial to go with it!). It would have been done and uploaded yesterday, except I was being a bit of a butthead yesterday. Y'know when you're feeling cranky and impatient so you rush through a project? That was me. Now my bias tape edges look awful and I have to rip every single stitch and redo it by hand for the result I want. I totally deserve it for being such a butthead yesterday.

Moving on, I recently designed another piece of fabric and just received the fat quarter(s) yesterday.

I thought I had ironed it better! :(

This fabric is available for purchase here!

This design is made using Togg brand collectible space cards from the 1950's. How cool is that? I really love how it turned out. One fat quarter contains around 40-50 cards, if I recall correctly. Design wise, the fabric is a little loud, but I think it'd make some awesome pajamas for your local space enthusiast (read: your adorable kids).

I also made the design in black and white!

This fabric is available for purchase here!

I really need to pay the extra dollar or two for the Kona cotton that Spoonflower offers. Their cheaper cotton, as you can see in my previous pictures, wrinkles something awful in the wash. I spent forever ironing those pieces they still came out wrinkled for their photoshoot. Argghadfkahdfahdfak.