Summertime and the Living is Easy...

Well, I'm not sure how easy it is... certainly not hard, but busy and full. Definitely good, though... and what more can one ask for.

(Ragged barn found along back road travels.)

Sewing is being done in the cracks and crevices of family and life... treasured together time, a nephew's wedding, being there as daughters experience first time jobs and new responsibilities, (such as learning to drive, and getting use to wearing contact lenses) also, several minor medical procedures, including an upcoming wisdom teeth extraction for youngest. (Ouch x 4!)

...And hubby and I have decided to join the 21st century and learn how to text, (something we have both resisted, but feel it's now time). The land line phone is also going the way of the dinosaur in this house, and that feels very weird to me.

New adventures and opportunities that I wish to share, lay ahead for me in the near future, but for now I must remain mum.

Will be back when time opens up. Till then, enjoy your summer days. xo

Pojagi Panel #3

Here's #3, (okay... technically it's my 4th panel, but for some reason I forgot to count my first effort. Probably because it felt so experimental to me, having never done it before, and wondering if my machine stitched efforts would even work.... I hope that first one doesn't feel left out... poor little pojagi panel.... I love you, I really do.)

Ah, but I digress...


This panel definitely has an improvised, modern quilt vibe going on.


These are the seams from the "back side", and below from the "front side".



Now, if you give pojagi a try, (and I hope you do), and you want to hang yours in the window, your best bet would be to use light weight fabrics, as they will let the light shine through more.


If you like cotton fabric, as I do, a light weight muslin works well, and I think one made from vintage hankies might be pretty cool, too, but I haven't tried that yet. This one, and my previos two were made from Kaffe Fassett shot cottons, which are lighter in weight then the Robert Kaufman ones, (which are great for quilts!) Also, Fassett made them in conjunction with Oxfam, an international charity that champions fair trade, thus helping to support the poverty-stricken weaving villages in India and Guatemala where the cloth is produced... that makes me very happy.

Remember... see here for a tutorial on machine stitching the seams!

Pojagi Panel #2

For this, my second pojagi panel, I used two colors of shot cotton, a magenta and a peach... Neither are colors that I am currently drawn to, but I thought they would work well in this venue.


Using 2 colors instead of 1 allowed me to play a bit more with the stained glass effect that this type of patchwork offers.


The piecing is all improvised, (I'd go insane if I had to sew something like this from a pattern!)


The seams on this panel were done differently then on my first panel, (which you can see here). To learn how the seams were stitched on both panels, see my tutorial in the post below!

Pojagi Machine Stitch Seam Tutorials

In hoping that some of you may want to explore pojagi style patchwork as well, I thought it would be helpful to post tutorials on the two types of seams that I have been using in creating my pojagi pieces.

I've broken with tradition and have chosen to machine stitch these panels, but remember, pojagi is traditionally done by hand, so feel free to use these methods with hand stitching, too!

The first tutorial is how I made the seams on my previous panel shown in the post below. The second tutorial is what I used on my most recent panel, shown in the post above.

(It probably would have been much more helpful had I used two different colors of fabric... sorry about that!)


Tutorial #1:

Note: This is a non-traditional method, but it offers a unique way of creating seams and in my opinion, has a more utilitarian/work-cloth look and feel. It has fewer steps then the second approach, but is actually a bit more time consuming to do.



1. Place 2 pieces of fabric, right sides together, lining up the top edges. Sew a 1/2" seam allowance.


2. Press seam allowance open.


3. Fold both raw edges of seam allowance in and under. Press flat with a hot iron.


4. Stitch both folded edges of seam allowance down. (I used a zig zag stitch, but you can use a blanket stitch, or a straight stitch... or what ever rocks your boat!)


This is what it looks like on the other side. (Technically this would be the "right' side.)


Tutorial #2:

Note: This method goes faster the the first method and offers a more traditional pogaji look. I adapted it from a tutorial that I found on mairuru. You can see her hand stitched version here



1. Position 2 pieces of fabric, right sides together, with the bottom fabric raised 3/8" higher then the top fabric.


2. Using the top edge of the top fabric as a guide, sew a 1/4" seam allowance.


3. Fold extended edge of bottom fabric over the top fabric, lining up the fabric edge to the stitched seam. Press with a hot iron.


4. Flip the top fabric upwards, so it is now on top of the folded seam allowance. Press flat.


5. Flip the 2 fabrics over and you will see your stitched line and the folded flap of the seam allowance.


6. Staying as close to the folded edge as possible, stitch the seam allowance down. You have now completed one seam. As you can see, there are two stitched lines on this side...


... and one stitched line on the other side. (Technically this would be the "right" side.)

Hope this makes sense!