Bella Blvd Studio Blog: Fabric Style + A Fabric Tutorial

Riley Blake Designs markets our fabrics under Stephanie Hunt as the designer. When purchasing or searching the Riley Blake website it's actually easier & more efficient to find the Bella Blvd fabrics under "Stephanie Hunt" as the artist.

Little Girls Fabric Tote Bag, by Kathy Frye.

Every girl needs another tote bag! I used the Bella Blvd Sunny Happy Skies fabric, and added some of their cute little crocheted hearts and flowers. This little tote bag is a birthday gift for my 4 year old granddaughter. She needs it for dance class, shopping and just for girl stuff! The bag has a zipper to keep everything safe. Of course the front pocket is for the really important treasures!

Supplies:
Bella Blvd Sunny Happy Skies cotton fabric; Shiny pink pleather fabric; Crochet Hearts: Cotton Candy; Crochet Flowers: Dahlia; fusible fleece; thread; zipper

Fabric Box, by Christine Ousley.

Hi, it's Christine here with a cute little sewing project for you using Puppy Park by Bella Blvd for Riley Blake Fabrics. I picked this project for a couple of reasons. First, it's very simple and if you know how to sew a straight line, you can make this project even if you are a beginner at sewing. Second, I thought that this is a great gift idea for all of the holidays coming up. I am showing it as a cute little storage bucket to hold my Bella Blvd buttons but you could use this to hold wrapped cookies, candy, a small wrapped gift, or anything else you can think of. There is also an added benefit with this kind of gift wrap. Whoever you give it to will love being able to use it for a second purpose. Think storage or even a little trash can for paper scraps. So cute!

So, let me tell you how to make this cute little fabric box. Above you will see the supplies you will need. Two 10 x 10 inch pieces of fabric and one 10 1/4 x 10 1/4 inch piece of fusible fleece, a disappearing fabric marker, ruler, 4 buttons, sewing machine and iron.

Put the two pieces of fabric together, right sides together, and the fusible fleece on the bottom. I took a picture of the order below. The pin is there just to show you how to stack everything together. Take your project to the ironing board and fuse the fleece to the wrong side of the bottom fabric piece.

I don't have pictures of the next part, but basically you will sew a 1/4 inch seam around the fabric stack, leaving an opening on one side about 3 inches long. When you have finished stitching, cut off the excess fabric on the sides and corners. Flip your project inside out by pulling it through the opening. Push the corners out carefully using a knitting needle and iron flat, tucking the fabric around the opening inside. Then topstitch a close seam around the edge closing the opening while stitching.

Then you will quilt the block using any pattern that you would like. I just sewed concentric squares until I got to the center of the square.

The next couple steps are easy but you need to make sure that you sew the right corners first. I guess you don't need to ask me how I know that. :) So the next picture shows how you fold the square over. The fold is on the left side.

Then take a ruler and measure and mark with a fabric marker 2 inches over from the left and then 2 inches from the top. Then connect the marks with a line. This will be your sewing line. Do this for both corners, top and bottom, on the fold.

Here is a picture of me starting to sew one of the corners.

The next step is to sew the other corner. I've placed the pins on the corners where you will need to make your markings and sew.

Again, mark at two inches on both sides of the corner and draw a line between the marks.

This is what your box looks like after the corners have all been sewn.

Flip your box inside out and push the corners to the sides. This is what it should look like. Iron the corners and flaps down inside. Then iron the triangles down so that they flap over the outer sides.

I've pinned the flaps down, while I hand stitch the corners on the inside so they will lay flat and secure.

Next, you'll want to add some buttons to the outside flaps to keep them secure. I used the Bella Blvd red flower buttons. They matched the Puppy Park fabric perfectly.