Bella Blvd Studio Blog: Fabric Style

Today we are switching things up, and instead of featuring projects using our paper collections, we are sharing projects created with our fabric collections!

Halloween Boo Bib and Fabric Pumpkin, by Christine Ousley.

Well, it’s time to start thinking about the holiday projects and first up is Halloween. Bella Blvd released a second version of their very popular Halloween fabric line, Halloween Magic, this year and I had some fun making a few things. Both projects were designed with the non-sewer in mind. So if you have an iron, needle and thread and some scissors, you can make both of these little Halloween projects.

First up is the BOO bib. The bib is from a package of 6 that I picked up at store that carries baby clothes. Wal-Mart, Target, Toys R Us, etc. They come plain white and have a velcro closure. Then I started decorating it. If you have a Silhouette Cameo or other cutting machine, the next part is a little easier, in my mind, but you can definitely just use a pair of scissors as well. First take your pieces of fabric and iron on Heat N Bond Lite to fuse it to each piece of fabric. Make sure to get the Lite as you are not supposed to sew through the regular Heat N Bond. If you don’t want to sew the letters or designs down, then by all means, get the regular Heat N Bond because it will give you a washable non peel stick.

So I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out the letters and bat but you can also just trace the letters, (make sure that they are backwards), onto the paper backing of the Heat N Bond and cut them out with scissors.

After they are cut out, peel off the paper backing and arrange them on the bib where you would like them placed. Use your iron to fuse them to the bib. Then either take them to your sewing machine and sew around the edges, or hand stitch them. I used a heavy duty weight thread to sew my lines so they would really show up. Please don’t worry about getting it perfectly straight either. It looks great even if it is a little wiggly. If you use regular Heat N Bond and don’t want to sew, then you could also use a black fabric pen to draw a decorative line around the edges.

Next up is the pumpkin. This was really so easy and I got the tutorial online. Basically you take a rectangle of fabric, fold it in half and sew it up the side. Then gather the bottom each and pull in towards the center, wrap the thread around the gathers and tie off. Stuff it with batting, and then do the same for the top. Finish off by pulling the thread, I used the heavy weight black thread again, around the ball in 4-5 places to give it the pumpkin look. I added a Bella Blvd wooden button and some felt leaves that I cut out using my Big Shot and a Tim Holtz die. And just a fun fact for you: the pumpkin fabric glows in the dark a bit, which is fun for the kids!

So there you go. A couple of Halloween holiday items that you can make with fabric even if you don’t have a sewing machine.

Supplies:
Bella Blvd Halloween Magic fabric for Riley Blake fabrics, Bella Blvd Wooden Button, Coats Heavy Weight Thread and Needle, Scissors, Felt, Baby Bib Blank, Heat N Bond Lite or Regular, Silhouette Cameo (optional), Big Shot and dies (optional)

Pumpkin Quilted Pillow, by Nichol Magouirk.

I love switching out my pillow covers seasonally. With fall right around the corner, I whipped up this sweet pumpkin quilted pillow cover using leftover scraps from a Halloween quilt I’m piecing! Once the quilt is finished, I will have a coordinating set to adorn the living room couch!

To create the quilted pillow cover, I pieced and quilted the pumpkin using a design from Lori Holt’s Farm Girl Vintage Book (found HERE) and Halloween themed fabrics from Bella Blvd’s Halloween Magic and Too Cute Too Spook fabric collections. The block design in the book has instructions for both the 12” block and 6” block. I used the 12” block and added 2” borders all the way around for a 16” pillow cover. I quilted the cover and then created a zippered pillow cover using one of the prints from the block for the backing.

In addition to the fun Bella Blvd fabric prints in the pillow cover, I also incorporated a print from the Military Max collection for the leaf and a print from the Puppy Park collection for the stem. One of the orange prints in the pumpkin is from the Snapshots Collection. I love mixing and matching the different Bella Blvd fabric collections when sewing up scrappy projects!

For more information on how I sew my zippered pillow covers, check out the Bella Blvd blog post HERE.

Supplies:
Bella Blvd Halloween Magic fabrics by Riley Blake Designs, Bella Blvd Too Cute Too Spook fabrics by Riley Blake Designs, Bella Blvd Snapshots fabric by Riley Blake Designs, Bella Blvd Puppy Park fabric by Riley Blake Designs

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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.