Art Gallery Fabrics - The Creative Blog

Hello, my fellow makers,

Today I want to take you on my journey of making a quilted hat. Like most of my design stories, it started with scrolling over Pinterest and Instagram. For some reason, I was always drawn to the images of summery and beautiful hats with big brims. When the soft and feminine Rosewood collection came out, I decided to look for a bucket hat tutorial and jump into the adventure. I realized that I could just use my love for improv piecing and the Dresden technique to replace the small brim of the tutorial for a big and quilty one.

I drafted and tested the patterns for a medium hat crown, medium hat body, and Dresden which you can download here Download AGF Hat Tutorial Templates

If you would like to size up or down the crown and body, I suggest you go to the YouTube tutorial that I used: Sewing & Drafting a Bucket Hat.

I had in hand a bundle of fat quarters from the Rosewood collection, some scraps of Raw Gold (PE-485), and one yard of Infused Hydrangea denim (DEN-S-2004). For extra materials, I used fusible cotton batting and 3” stiff horsehair (a trim used to give volume to dresses and skirts and that you can find in any fabric store). 

I started by cutting irregular strips of the fabrics I liked the most and then joined them randomly to have three improv-pieced bases. I placed my templates and cut them as follows: One (1) body, one (1) crown, and twelve (12) Dresden.

Hat Brim: I took my time to arrange the Dresden pieces before joining them. In the end, they looked randomly perfect and happy ;)

Once I had my hat brim ready, I traced it on the batting and the denim, and cut it. I also cut one (1) body and one (1) crown in denim for the lining.

I layered the improv brim with the batting brim. Then I joined the edges of the two resulting pieces to get two lampshade like pieces.

1. I took the improv-batting lampshade.
2. Turned it inside out.
3. Took the stiff horsehair and started attaching it from top to bottom and around using safety pins.
4. 5. 6. Kept going until the whole hat was covered with horsehair.

7. I took the denim lampshade right side out and placed it on top of the improv-batting one.

8. Carefully I repined everything together with safety pins,  and removed the ones on step 7, making sure the fabric was as flat as possible.

9. This is the most challenging step: I sewed around the brim every 1/4" while removing the safety pins.

I took the improv pieced body and the denim body. I joined their ends to make two loops and inserted the denim body inside the improv pieced body wrong sides together.

10. I cut a 2" bias strip of denim and used it as binding to clean the big opening of the brim.

Ideally, the brim would match perfectly with the bottom edge of the body. Since I quilted it, it ended up smaller, so I had to trim a little bit of the top edge of the brim until the body and the brim matched.

11. I took the crowns and layered them wrong sides together, and joined them to the top edge of the body.

12. I took leftover denim bias tape and finished the raw edge of the crown. Finally, I topstitched the bias tape to give the hat a more casual look.

I hope you enjoyed my adventure! It took me a while and a few mistakes to find the way, and in the end, it was worth it. I love my hat and I take it on my morning walks when I don't want the sun in my face. My favorite part? I don't get hot wearing it because it is made of 100% AGF quilting cotton.

I hope you jump into the hat-making adventure too and share your story with me.

Happy hat making,

Laucara

Hi, fabric lovers! 

It’s been a while since I shared with you all some fun projects to make! Although it has been great showing you some tutorials and even some seasonal projects, I wanted to change some things up this time around with projects that work all year round. 

So, what makes these projects timeless? Low volume fabrics, of course! Low volume fabrics are a fresh take on neutrals, they come in subtle variations of colors like white, light gray, and ivory. Making them easy to blend into any sewing project and work as main prints. Ranging from crisp lines, abstract shapes, and eccentric typography, they are subtle enough to enhance traditional quilting, nursery quilts, and modern quilts. 

Lower The Volume fabric collection

Raise The Volume fabric collection

Featuring two of our popular low volume collections, “Lower The Volume” and “Raise The Volume”, these groups of modern fabrics will provide a blank canvas for you to use them as a background or as a complementary blender for endless possibilities. Their subtle prints over variations of white blend freshly into your current fabric stash or you can use them together to create timeless projects. 

Check out some of the FREE patterns below made with these collections! 

Download “Voyage” Quilt Pattern 

Download “Avenue” Garment Bag Pattern

Download “Cut Off” Pillows Pattern

Download “Cable Knit” Table Runner Pattern 

Download “String Block” Pattern

If you make any of these projects, please share it with us on social media by tagging us or using the hashtag #artgalleryfabrics! We love to see what you make with these fabrics, and share the love.

Until next time,

Jannelle

Fabric and Halloween lovers gather around! 

I have a special treat for those who are counting down the days till Halloween. You can now feel a little more closer to your favorite spooky holiday cause we have released our latest collection, Spooky ‘n Sweet!

As many of you can relate, Halloween was always special to me growing up. All the creative spooky decorations and food my mom would make for our Halloween parties, and of course the embarrassingly cute matching handmade costumes. It’s a holiday that brings back so much nostalgia and the fun feeling of dressing up. There is simply no age limit to enjoy the holiday. From dressing up to watching the young ones make their own Halloween memories. There is something for everyone in this fun and festive collection.

Spooky ‘n Sweet is all about celebrating the magic of Halloween! Taking Inspiration from vintage decorations, this nostalgic collection tells the story of a sweet, little witch named “Peppermint” and her group of ghoulish friends who set out on an adventure on All Hallows’ Eve.

*Available in 13 Cotton Prints

*Available in 1 Knit Print

*Available in 1 Knit Panel Print

*Available in 1 Cotton Panel Print

Spooky 'n Sweet comes in thirteen cotton prints, one knit print, one knit panel print, and one cotton panel print that can be used for pillows, trick or treat bags, quilts, table runners, or whatever you can dream up!  This collection is filled with sweet candy, whimsical pumpkins, witches' brooms, and everything we love about this magical holiday. Get in the spooky spirit and make sure to check out the "Spooky 'n Sweet" Lookbook below! From cute apparel to home decor ideas there is something for everyone to help create those fun Halloween memories.

DOWNLOAD FREE QUILT PATTERN HERE

Enter for a chance to win a fat quarter bundle of the "Spooky 'n Sweet" collection by signing up to our giveaway:

 To enter our giveaway, just click here and enter your info!

Giveaway ends Friday, June 26, 2020 

THE WINNER IS Marie Black!! Please check your email to redeem your prize! 

Winner will be emailed and announced right here on this blog. Good luck! 

*Once you have entered the giveaway it's normal for your information to disappear. To confirm your entry check your email for a confirmation and approve it. By entering our giveaway, you'll be automatically signed up for our newsletters. Don't worry, we don't spam!