Thursday, February 28, 2013

QuiltCon: Days 3 & 4

Day 3: Saturday was Lecture Day for me!

Donation Quilts in the Lecture Hall

Seriously. Great lectures today. 

I was tired and had trouble getting to the lecture hall by 9am, but I'm glad I wasn't running too late. Kristen Lejnieks's lecture on Copyright, Trademark, and Quilting was really interesting. I was always of the mind that fabric is to sewists what paint is to painters, but not everybody feels that way. There's a lot of ways to interpret the law, too. Kristen was of the opinion that you're fine selling a handmade item with whomever's fabric in it, but that doesn't mean some fabric company's attorney isn't going to come after you with another interpretation of the law. I guess we're just rolling the dice.

Donation Quilts in the Lecture Hall

I got some coffee after that lecture, and I bumped into three Austin MQG members in the hall :-) The coffee gave me a pick me up, before going to Meg Cox's presentation on The Quilt Index, The Quilt Alliance, and QSOS. Go poke around those links. The Quilt Index has 54,000 quilts documented with lots more coming. You can search by keyword, too. Hawaiian quilting, hexagons, flying geese, oh my!

Amy Butler at QuiltCon

After that I went to Amy Butler's lecture on "Creating Your Unique Color Story." I loved seeing all the pictures of her travels to India, Egypt, etc. She has a very analog way of designing. It's all paper and markers, and she has an employee who digitizes the magic. After seeing 600 photo collage slides, someone asked what camera she uses. Amy said she uses her iPhone and name dropped the Camera+ app.

Blue Ice by Jacque Gering, Modern Medallion by Rachel Hauser, Scramble by Jenny Cameron

I got some lunch with Christine, the VP of Events for the Austin MQG. Then she went to an afternoon workshop while I headed back into the lecture hall for a good panel on fabric design. Austinite, Laurie Wisbrun, was representing as the talent ;-) She did a great job of describing fabric design as something that complements the many other skills of someone in the industry rather than it being a sole source of income. I'm not really interested in getting into fabric design. I'm surrounded by folks whose fabric I'd love to see, though, and it's nice to understand the behind the scenes workings in the industry.

Curried Plums by Debbie Grifka and Techno Flakes by Amy Ellis

Next up, Heather Grant from the Austin MQG gave her presentation on the History and Design Fundamentals of Modern Quilting. I've seen her give this presentation before, and it's so interesting to see how different parts of it grow and change. It's crazy to think about us Austinites squished into Form & Fabric's office space a year ago seeing Heather give this presentation. So much can change in a year. Heather started getting teary-eyed on stage talking about QuiltCon coming together. She said that 1,500 people pre-registered for QuiltCon. This is definitely a big jump from r0ssie's flickr group that was born in 2008, and it's taken a lot of work to get here. Heather has certainly put in a ton. I laughed when she said that "[Modern quilts are] meant to be used, not put on the wall, . . . except some of them, maybe." Especially since my Frost Bank mini quilt is no bed quilt ;-)

Impracticality by Angela Walters

During the Q&A session after Heather's lecture, a gal stood up and gave her opinion on traditional vs. modern quilting in a very confrontational way. Heather explained that for Modern Quilters, design comes before everything else. That makes sense to me; when I'm working on a modern quilt, I think about the design first, then figure out how to make it. When I make a traditional quilt, I'm really just choosing colors. The audience member misconstrued what Heather was saying and claimed she was trying to say that modern quilters are using their brains while traditional quilters are mindless drones. (I'm paraphrasing.) Heather obviously tried to clear up for the woman that this was not what she was saying. Heather reiterated her opinion about the design-oriented approach that modern quilters take and said again that it was just her OPINION. There were a few more questions, and Heather wrapped up. The cranky audience member was sitting a couple of chairs down from me and continued to speak loudly to her friends about her traditional vs. modern gripes for a few minutes. It was pissing me off. I quilt both ways. There is no right or wrong way, and I will not stand for people trying to raise hell where there is none. Don't start nothin', won't be nothin'. I found myself thinking "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." I moved chairs until I was out of earshot of her. This was my only observation of anyone being a Negative Nancy at QuiltCon. The only one.

Off Centered Improv by Faith Jones & Seaglass on Sand by Felicity Ronaghan

It just got better and better from there, though. Jacquie Gering's lecture on Quilting Modern: Honoring Tradition was next. I first met Jacquie a few days before QuiltCon when I was volunteering during set up. We all introduced ourselves to each other, and she recognized my blog name. How fun! There was a lot of that this week. "Of course! BettyCrockerAss, I know you." "Oh YOU'RE Pile O' Fabric. Yeah, Alyssa, I'm in your QAL." "Duh, SHEA is Empty Bobbins. Hello!" Good times.

Unraveled by Kati Spencer, 269+2-2 by Colleen Wootton, and Starburst by Nicole Neblett

Jacquie pretty much started out her lecture in tears. Her whole slideshow was sprinkled with family pictures, and she told stories of the hard life decisions that change the course of your family's future. She talked about the beauty of "Making" and the super resourcefulness of her family and their Mennonite roots with great respect. When she spoke about her and her husband's willingness to move heaven and earth for the other's happiness, everyone felt it. She talked about her kids, her parents, and her quilts. Jacquie said she went to see the Gee's Bend exhibit, then came home and googled modern fabric. Alexander Henry popped up and she "let her Visa do the work." Jaquie said she hand quilted for awhile, because she just didn't know about machine quilting!

Right Here by Thomas Knauer and Texas by Dana Michaelsen

She said someone once told her they'd like to be a fly on the wall in her studio to see the magic happen. Jacquie said "It's not magic. It's a lot of trial and error. I am not afraid. You should see my trash can. Seam rippers are too slow for me." She talked about how in her husband's new job in Chicago, he gets a report on his desk every morning identifying the children who were killed since the previous day. Gun violence is out of control in Chicago, and she discussed, though tears, how her "Bang You're Dead" quilt came out of her reaction to and attempt to deal with it all. She said it was the hardest thing she had ever done. She also talked about giving her quilts to Bumble Bean Basics and the joy of seeing pictures of families and kids with the quilts she'd made. Everyone was in tears at the end of it. I was emotionally overwhelmed, but definitely better for it.

Single Girl, Courthouse Steps, and Glass House Shelves by Denyse Schmidt

Finally, the last lecture of the day was Denyse Schmidt's keynote. She talked about her circuitous route to get where she is today. She shared art projects from school and stories about her stone carving pursuits. I think it's interesting how she decided early on to delegate the quilting to Amish and machine quilters, because she could never make any money doing her own quilting. I didn't realize the big scale of manufacturing that she entered into by working with Garnet Hill and Pottery Barn. I recognized her quilt designs from those catalogue photos. Who knew? She said she regretted letting someone talk her into putting a quilt on her head for a People magazine shoot, and she advised that it's dangerous to take pictures of trucks while you're driving. We laughed a lot. I wouldn't want to do a lot of things that she did, but it was interesting to hear during the course of the day how there are some cases where people can make a living in this industry and there are a lot of different ways to try to do that.

Hurle Burle Marx by Daniel Rouse

After the keynote, we went to a pin cushion swap meetup at Clive Bar. A few guilds had swapped pin cushions in the fall, and the meet up was a great way to get to know each other face to face. I loved everyone I met, and there was even more laughing :-) I love me some Vancouver and Kansas City MQG peeps.

Over the Rainbow by Janice Ryan, Shattered Spectrum by Lee Heinrich, New York Beauty Mini by Kati Spencer


Day 4: Sunday

Ugh, I wanted to go to a 9:00am lecture on Quilt Conservation. And I had to look presentable to be on stage during two panel discussions in the afternoon. (I officially hate all of my clothes.) And I had to pick up a friend on the way downtown. FFFFFFFFFF. Too early. I really don't think I'm awake until 9:00 or 10:00am. It's probably just muscle memory until that time of day. I definitely don't recommend trying to talk to me any earlier than that.

Quilt made from donated blocks

Soooo tired. Mr. Pins helped me get out of the door, though. He hooked me up with a travel coffee mug and some toasted waffles in a paper towel that I could stick in my Everything Bag. I made it to Marcia Kaylakie's lecture at about 9:10am.

The takeaways:
- Dude, keep your quilt out of the sun. Even diffused light is trouble. It's taking the color out of your fabric and physically breaking down the fibers. Take this with a grain of salt. I definitely want my quilts to be used, but I'm not going to use one of my great grandmother's quilts as a tablecloth on the table in my yard and see how things go over the course of a summer, OK?
- Get your precious quilts appraised every four years and insure them. Marcia was appraising quilts at QuiltCon for $50. She said that her quilt insurance cost $0.19 a year for every $1,000 of quilt. Totally affordable.
- Piece your quilt label into the quilt back (not just appliqué) and quilt it in there. Also, hide a signature or identifier in the quilting. Quilts can be stolen when a burglar tosses valuables onto the bed, then gathers up the corners of the quilt to use it as a bag on his way out of the house. Your label should have the quilter's name, date, place made, and who the quilt is for.
- Don't let your quilts sit on wood.
- Cedar isn't going to stop silverfish, but little sachets of artemesia will. Replace the sachets every now and then, and be vigilant.
- Pull your stored quilts out every six months and refold them another way.

Mr. Pins liked this zigzigzag quilt by Danielle Wilkes

After Marcia's lecture, Mary Fons spoke from her unique perspective being Marianne Fons's daughter from Fons & Porter fame. Mary gets it. She talked about how it took her awhile to find her way back into the quilt world that she was born into, but now, whoa. She gets it. She talked about the beginning quilter now. That gal didn't have Home Ec in school. She doesn't know anything about a sewing machine. You have to start teaching them from the very, very beginning. No one in their family taught them to sew. They've never used a sewing machine. They don't have a vocabulary for quilting. "What is a bobbin? Why is it there? What is basting? Like basting a turkey?"

Retro Modern Shapes by Heather Davidson

She talked about the old guard and the new guard in the quilting world and how every year at Quilt Market in Houston, people were worried that the average age of the quilter was getting older and older and asking "What are we going to do?" Mary realized that their has to be a new way of teaching new quilters that respects where the new quilters are coming from. They have a different body of knowledge and learn differently. That's what she's trying to do with Quilty. Mary has had two different teachers come to her and say that they are burned out on teaching beginners. It really is about changing what you think a beginner knows. You've got to learn about a sewing machine before you can start piecing and quilting and making your own binding.

I found myself getting lofty ideas of partnering with the Austin Area Quilt Guild and local quilt shops to bring Mary back to speak in Austin. Whoa. Easy there. Then I thought I should eat something, so I did.

Spin Dr. by Angela Walters and Touch This Quilt by Elizabeth Hartman

The afternoon brought the public announcement of lots of good things coming from the national Modern Quilt Guild. Go to their site to hear more, but paying $10 to $15 of dues per member to the national guild for some crazy awesome features and 501(c)3 status is going to be a game changer for Austin. Exciting times.

After that, I geared up for participating in two panel discussions. What? I know.

I didn't really want to say anything about it, because it just felt like somebody made a mistake. I knew that I wanted to attend the lectures on "Tools & Strategies for Guilds" and "Building Community: Challenges, Activities, & Other Events for Guilds" to get ideas, so why was I being asked to contribute my thoughts to these panels? I was concerned this was going to be a case of the blind leading the blind. Plus, I'd be representing ideas and years of hard work from the many members of the Austin MQG. No pressure. I told the other guild officers "Ugh, I guess they're serious about this, so I'll just be talking about what we do . . . yeah . . ."

Hello! Both panels went spectacularly, though. I participated with Andrew Joslyn, Shea Henderson, Kristy Daum, and Holly Broadland. The MQG is going to post the slides and notes, so I'll just let you stay tuned for that info.

Spoonflower Booth

I was wiped out after the panels. I made a last pass around the show room floor to see if Christine and I could score any goodies for giveaways for the Austin Modern Quilt Guild. I bid farewell to Cristy and volunteered during take down as long as I could before I had another commitment. I came back later in the night with Mr. Pins to pick up my quilt. I ran into Charlotte and Jules and got to say goodbye to them as well. Mr. Pins and I headed out of the exhibit hall as all of the MQG gals let out a cheer for a successful QuiltCon. Kudos to you, ladies.

I'll be there in 2015, wherever the show may be!

Modern Mirage by Lee Heinrich. I'd post more photos, but it takes so long!


Happy Crafting!

Claire

Monday, February 25, 2013

QuiltCon: Frost Bank Quilt Won a Ribbon

Day 1: Thursday
I woke up at a time that started with a 6. Not my favorite thing to do. It turned out I didn't need to be there as early as I thought, but I was more than on time for my all-day workshop with Cheryl Arkison, blogstress of Dining Room Empire and co-author of the GREAT read Sunday Morning Quilts. She'll have another book coming out in August, too.


Her workshop was Perfect Circles, and we learned five different ways to make them. Five. I know. It was awesome. Even better news, she's filming a Craftsy class next month that should be up in the next 60 days, so get pumped. You can take this class from the comfort of your own Clubhouse ;-)

During the middle of the day was the awards ceremony where my little Frost Bank mini quilt got Honorable Mention in its category. Seriously. A ribbon. I was so pumped to have a quilt in the show, and to win one of two prizes in the category was a HUGE shock. Some family and friends who work downtown sweetly surprised me by visiting during their lunch break, and I got to show them around the quilt show a little bit. It's so awesome to have QuiltCon in Austin so I can share the quilt world with them!

Photo by Amber Pollei

I grabbed a quick bite from the concessions stand before going back to class. I ended up eating my lunch in the balcony seating area by Jay McCarroll from Project Runway who taught some classes during the conference.

I was tired by the time the Perfect Circles workshop got out at 5pm, but I grabbed dinner with the Austin Modern Quilt Guild President before we headed to the MeetUp for MQG Leadership. Since I'm the VP of Programming for the Austin MQGuild, that means me, too. 

It was phenomenal talking to other guild officers and hearing about their meetings and their guilds. It's amazing how the names you know in the quilting world are actively fostering community by volunteering their time and effort into all it takes to keep a guild running. It's a good reminder that these folks who have SO MUCH going on are also keeping the machine running.

I was surprised to hear from the people I spoke with that 40 members is a big number to have at a guild meeting. The Austin MQG regularly has that kind of turnout, and finding a good meeting space for us is TOUGH. Of the people I discussed this with, only Vancouver and Kansas City had more. I'd love to hear how many people are at your guild meetings.


I was wiped out when I got home, but excited to find out from a neighbor that a photo of my Marine Den quilt had been in the paper along with one from Heather Grant at Modern Day Quilts (who's been working on QuiltCon with MQG for the last year and some change).

Day 2: Friday

I was still drained and had a hard time getting out the door on Friday morning. I was running a smidge late for my Textile Printing workshop with Lotta Jansdotter, but the class was all circled up watching her carve a stamp when I walked in, so my entrance wasn't disruptive. Phew.


I love Lotta's fabric, so even though I'm not looking to pick up a new hobby and start designing fabric, this seemed like a great opportunity to try something new. I'm so glad I did.

First of all, I loved that there wasn't a long list of supplies to bring to class. There was a $20 class fee, but there were all sorts of inks and brayers out in class, the whole room was covered in plastic, and we left with a kit containing tools, brushes, and stencils.

We made stamps and stencils and added designs to muslin and printed fabric. It was neat to work with varying tools and try different methods. I had so much fun. Lotta definitely created an environment where you felt free to create and there was no wrong way or mistake. Rather just unique design features ;-) I loved seeing the other students' work. I mean, wow. I want them all to make fabric now. We'd be better off for it. My introverted self is kind of shy, but walking up to the other gals and talking about their stamps was so fun.


After class I grabbed some lunch and then attended lectures in the afternoon. Anna Maria Horner talked about her design journey, there was a panel discussion on publishing your work in magazines, and Ellen Rushman presented data and commentary from her thesis on the modern quilt guilds. I got to do some shopping with Susan in the exhibit hall before we went to see Angela Walters talk about Machine Quilting Modern Quilts. She was hysterical, making jokes right and left, and I was bursting out laughing the whole time.

I ran home to eat a quick bite. Then I threw on some pink spandex before spending an hour with the curling iron and a can of hairspray to create some giant 80s hair for the Babylock 80s dance party.


Mission accomplished.

The party was awesome. The Austin MQG's VP of Special Events, Christine, showed off her many talents by DJing the soirée. I got to hang out with the awesome Christi Fincher of Purple Daisies. I met some folks from the Vancouver MQG.


They also had sewing machines, sergers, and a longarm set up at the party so that folks could test drive the machines and make scrunchies. What?! That's right, you heard me. We made scrunchies at an 80s dance party. Thank you BabyLock. Pure genius.


BabyLock also had the neatest elastic threading tool. I'll try to find it online and report back. I was super tired at the end of the night, but I helped Christine break the set up down before calling it a night.

Days 3 and 4 are coming tomorrow!

Happy Crafting!

Claire

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Five Things about Sewing Over Pins


With one more day until the mania of QuiltCon begins, I'm linking up with the national Modern Quilt Guild with a few things about myself.

1. I'm originally from Louisiana, and have lived in Austin since 2006. Invariably king cakes make their way to Austin from Louisiana every year for Mardi Gras. They ship year round, so you can get one of these delicious pralines and cream king cakes any time you get a craving. Which is always. 

2. I have two sweet parrots, Vega and Albatross, who often keep me company when I'm sewing.

3. I'm 5'2". Apparently, this means that if I look at a cookie, I gain five pounds. (I'm sure it has nothing to do with the king cake.) Then I have to workout twice a day for five months to lose it. Running's a good standby (I'm up to 4 miles right now), and I highly recommend the Insanity workouts if you feel like sweating more than you thought was ever possible.

4. My bachelor's degree is in French, but it doesn't get a lot of action in Central Texas. I did a summer program for a month in Paris when I was in college and spent a semester living in a city called Poitiers. It's so weird to me to think that was almost ten years ago, though!

5. My husband, Aman, is my partner in crime. He even went to a quilting class with me at Quilt Festival in Houston in 2011. He makes all my quilty dreams possible, and it wouldn't be nearly as fun without him. Thanks, Mr. Pins!


I had so much fun volunteering during set up at QuiltCon last night. There was some quilt hanging magic happening. Chains, machines, and quilts. Oh my!


For some reason, my protective tagboard sandwich was not in my mini quilt's drawstring bag and it's been all crumpled up. I trust they can undo the damage and make it look nice and flat again. This is a wall-hanging, not a bed quilt. It was not meant for washing! Worst case scenario, I guess they have insurance. That's my Frost Bank mini quilt on the right and Elizabeth Dackson's quilt on the left.


I'm taking Perfect Circles with Cheryl Arkison all day on Thursday and Textile Printing with Lotta Jansdotter on Friday morning. Otherwise, I'll be shopping on the show floor or in lectures!

Happy Crafting! I hope to see you at QuiltCon :-)

Claire

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Showing the Sewing Room some Valentine's Day Love

Like I mentioned yesterday, Mr. Pins wandered into The Clubhouse (aka, my sewing room) on Saturday and promptly got frustrated that I couldn't work efficiently in the room the way it was set up. I had to tell him "Don't get mad about it," 'cause he was mad. About a room.


I was confused by his reaction, but looking at the photo now, maybe mad was appropriate. It was bad, but I was ignoring it and trying to get work done anyway. I'm very grateful to have a whole room for my sewing adventures, because I'm sure it won't always be the case. However, there's a lot going on in here, and I just did not see a way to improve the situation with our given furniture.

After talking with Mr. Pins, we decided I needed:
- a scrap system that could grow with me
- flat storage for WIPs so they didn't have to be piled up on a table
- a large surface area for quilting
- access to my design wall
- a good place to work at the computer where I could still see it from the sewing machine
- some electrical help so I can plug my iron in without it tripping the breaker (currently I have an extension cord running to another room)
- better lighting would be awesome, too


We grabbed the measuring tape and set out to pilfer furniture from the office. We had to get the toolbox and remove the rounded extension from my Ikea Galant desk in the office, but we were able to put it in the corner of the room in The Clubhouse. After that, we slid the sewing cabinet and drawers next to it in front of the window and put another Galant table (previously scored from Craigslist) on the other end by the design wall. I still have some clearance to get to the design wall, and I just moved the table on Wednesday when I wanted to get a full design wall photo.


I didn't think that I would want to have my sewing machine in front of the window, but it's working out really well. If I do need to do some free motion quilting, I can just roll the sewing cabinet and drawers back in to the middle of the room and pull the Galant table behind it to give me lots of table to support the quilt.


Previously, I had scraps EVERYWHERE. I didn't even realize how much of a problem it was until I went to locate and sort them all. On Saturday night, Mr. Pins and I went to get some storage containers. These Sterilite 3 Drawer Carts are perfect for storing fat quarters and now scraps :-) There are seven of these in my sewing room.


The coolest idea I heard at Quilt Festival was to use a counter height rolling baker's rack for storing projects. Ultimately, we gambled on something that we saw at the store. This cart with the colorful drawers is meant to store 12" square paper, but it works well for all of the projects with 12.5" unfinished blocks that have been floating around The Clubhouse. I've had my rulers hanging on the side of the cutting table for awhile, and it's worked out really well.


Since the curved part of the Galant desk is in the corner. It makes it very easy to sit in front of the computer like a traditional desk or move my chair back in front of my sewing machine for sewing. The ironing board was hanging inside the closet. It's cheery to look at, though, so I flipped it out into the room.


I originally made my thread holder to fit perfectly on the side of my sewing cabinet, since it can't go there anymore, I cut a piece of wainscoating to fit with the jigsaw and nailed it to the back. Now it just rests on the side of the desk. I have a tutorial for this thread holder if you want to make one.


Now my Ikea Expedit in the corner can hold stash and larger projects. The bins are from Target. The black plastic ones are from the Y-weave line and the polka dots are from the Itso line.


The Clubhouse has been through a lot of changes over the months, but I feel really good about our most recent efforts. We've got an electrician who can help us with the plugs and lights. I feel so good about the situation now, maybe I should shoot a Harlem Shake video in here. 


I'm linking up with Somewhat Simple.

Somewhat Simple
Happy Crafting!

Claire

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

WIP Wednesday: Another Rose Star Row

In the last Rose Star quilt update, I mentioned I didn't quite have the perimeter lined out correctly when I took the photos. This is how it should have looked in that last update.


This week there is exciting addition of another row of blocks! YAYYYYYYY! So that justifies an updated design wall pic.


Meet the new blocks :-)







Also in the works is the Marine Den quilt pattern. Seriously. This is coming together. I'm so excited. What I really can't wait for is seeing all of the quilts that ya'll make with this pattern. As much fun as it is to make something myself, I love seeing a quilt pattern through someone else's eyes. Hence why I have a Pinterest board dedicated to Swoon quilts.

I'm making good progress in The Clubhouse (aka, my sewing room) thanks to Mr. Pins. He wandered in on Saturday afternoon while I was working on the pattern and promptly got frustrated that I couldn't work efficiently in the room the way it was set up. The rest of the weekend was spent in overhaul mode. Mr. Pins had the presence of mind to snap some disaster before photos, so I'll take some after shots when the light is better and show you my new and improved sewing space!

Happy crafting on this WIP Wednesday!

Claire

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Giant Macaron Coin Purse Tutorial


If this adorable Macaron Coin Purse tutorial hasn't made it onto one of your Pinterest boards, yet, you can thank me for helping you rectify this oversight. I made one to swap in the Austin Modern Quilt Guild white elephant gift exchange at our December meeting. I forgot to take a picture, though, so I made another one that I hung on our Christmas tree like an ornament. 


This is tiny, precious, and time consuming hand sewing, to be sure. Unlike a hand pieced quilt, though, you can finish one of these in an afternoon ;-) The tutorial uses 1.5" cover buttons, so the finished "coin purse" is itty bitty. I instantly wanted to make bigger ones. The biggest cover button size you can get is size 100, which measures 2.5". Too small! Plus, I couldn't seem to find that size in bulk, and they cost at least $3.00 per button. Your coin purse needs two.


I wanted something with the same round shape that was cheap and easy to come by. I emailed a company that made promotional items to see about getting the metal shields that they use to make buttons out of that you pin on your shirt that say "I love The Beatles" or whatever your button would say. Under no circumstances was I googling potential solutions on my phone in the dark while I was supposed to be asleep. Noooo sirrrrr. That doesn't even sound like me.


Then it hit me. Mini frisbees. OF COURSE! Then I had to live with the shame of not thinking of it sooner, because Mr. Pins is an active ultimate frisbee player, and there are frisbees all over my house. Awesome. Off I went to Party City the next day, where mini flying disc party favors are $0.10 each. Seriously. I got a couple of dollars' worth :-)



Oh yeah, that's a better coin purse size. The best part is you basically follow the original tutorial to make the giant version. No reinventing the wheel here. 


Here are the differences: 

1) Since a mini frisbee doesn't come with a back like a cover button, just trace your mini frisbee onto a cereal box and cut just inside the line. You'll wrap this part in fabric in place of a cover button back. 

2) My mini frisbees measure 3.5". I cut down a 14" zipper to 12.5". I zipped my zipper closed and measured from 1/8"beyond the end of the zipper pull and cut the zipper off 12.5" from that point. I stitched across the end of my zipper and followed the tutorial instructions from there. 

3) I used about a 4" length of ribbon for the loop.


Now get to a party supply store and stock up! These guys are too cute!

Happy Crafting and Happy Mardi Gras!

Claire