Bella Blvd Studio Blog: Fabric Style

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.

Puppy Taggie Blanket, by Christine Ousley.

Taggie Blankets are such a perfect gift for new babies and these are pretty easy to create. It’s basically four 8x8 inch squares stitched together for the front and the same on the back. I added a puppy appliqué and a name on two of the squares before stitching those four squares together.

Next add your ribbon tags to the edge of one side of the blanket. Make sure to baste them on facing into the center of the blocks. Then with right sides together, stitch around the perimeter of the blanket making sure that the ribbons stay toward the center of the “fabric sandwich”. Make sure to leave a 3 inch opening on one side for turning the blanket inside out.

After turning the blanket, stitch a line about 1/4 inch from the edge of the blanket around all four sides, stitching the opening closed as you are stitching. Doesn’t Snoopy look comfy with the little blanket? I hope the little baby boy that it is going to will love it just as much!

Supplies:
Bella Blvd Fabric for Riley Blake Fabrics: Puppy Park, Too Cute to Spook; Puppy Applique: Planet Applique

Fabric Bag, by Tiffany Hood.

I've been wanting to sew another handbag or purse for a while, and bags can be hit or miss as far as difficulty level goes. In the past I've always chosen difficult patterns, but they are so much fun to make and so rewarding, and if you're an avid sewer, most bags aren't too difficult to master. This pattern is an Amy Butler pattern in the difficult category. My suggestion for bags and clothing and many other types of sewing projects is to google the pattern and see what other people thought was challenging, read about their tips, and see how they made the pattern.

With this particular bag, it seemed the handles and the ruffle were the challenge for most bloggers, but I didn't find those hard. I found the finishing work harder- particularly lining up the sides of the bag with the handles when sewing the lining and outside together, because I didn't have enough fabric on the top for some reason, but I made it work.

The only thing I would suggest is to add another layer of fusible fleece to the main panels, or even peltex, to give it more strength if you're using cotton fabrics like I did instead of decorator fabrics. That way it will stand up with more strength when empty.

Also, I changed the inside of the pattern to make divided pockets for craft tools instead of a cell phone pocket and tab and one big pocket like the pattern calls for.

Supplies:
Bella Blvd Fabrics for Riley Blake Fabrics: Summer Breeze; Pattern: Amy Butler Miss Maven Ruffled Handbag- Amy Butler's Style Stitches Book; Peltex; Fusible Fleece; Woven Interfacing; Solid fabric for lining; Felt Flower Clip: Michael's Arts and Crafts store

Daydream Quilt, by Kathy Frye.

I wanted to design a modern quilt, but still have it be classic. I used the single color fabrics in the Summer Breeze collection by Bella Blvd and combined them with white cotton fabric.

The quilt has different sizes of the classic Ohio Star block placed randomly. In the border I added a variety of prairie points.

The back of the quilt is mostly solid pink, but I added an Ohio Star block and some fun pieces from the Summer Breeze collection on one end of the back.