It's Magic!

If you have worked with textiles of any kind, you know all about that necessary but evil job of ironing.  It isn't a fun job, but somebody has to do it!

We have tested and approved a product that takes your everyday ironing up to the next level!

It's the Magic Pressing Mat by Pam Damour.

The mat is a compressed felted wool product, about 1/2" thick and 12" x 18".

 Just place it on top of your ironing board and proceed to iron.   In the picture below, I have it on my little travel ironing board.  It sits right next to my machine in the sewing room for any small iroining jobs and for keeping some necessities handy.  In most cases, I use steam with this but it can work with a dry iron, too.  The wool fibers trap and hold onto the heat and steam, multiplying the effect on the item being ironed.  I can really tell the difference when I tested it by putting my hand beneath the block right after ironing.  It's HOT!

Here's a little before and after of some curvey quilt blocks--

These arcs of the Mini Rings by Sew Kind of Wonderful don't always look so wonderful!
Even after pressing with my regular ironing method,
 they left me wondering if those ripples would "quilt out" and look better when finished.

Then I repressed them with the Magic Pressing Mat and there is a visible difference in the look.
Much closer to the flat blocks that I want to see.
I'm getting this small quilt ready to teach for a summer class!

 And the benefits are just for quilting, either!  The concept of pressing on wool isn't new, it's been a useful tool of garment and tailoring skills for a long time.  Remember the pressing ham?  It's a sort of football shaped form, one side covered in wool, to put beneath curves that need to be shaped to fit a person.  I have a simple denim shirt that I love to wear because it's stretchy and comfortable.  But I was alway bothered by the fact that the back hem edge always rolled up on itself.  I could ignore it pretty well because I didn't have to look at the back while I was wearing it, but I always knew it was there.  It never stayed down after ironing it flat.  Until the Magic Pressing Mat happened!  I steam pressed the heck out of it on the Magic Mat, and voila, it stays flat now after multiple wearings!

One thing that almost everyone comments on after using the mat is the fact that there is a bit of a smell.  That's the hot wool smell!  Not unpleasant at all, so much nicer than the actual sheep barn!

Call us at the store (651-429-1039) to purchase your own Magic Pressing Mat for $55!  We have been selling a bunch of them, but we keep re-ordering so we can have them in stock for you!

Bear Patch Becomes Pumpkin Patch For A Day!

Yesterday we had a bumper crop of pumpkins here!  We had a full class of pumpkin creators and lots of laughs!  Here are some examples--

These are made from the Mini Pumpkins pattern by Sew Kind of Wonderful and is made with the Mini Quick Curves Ruler.

As a special bonus, everyone in the class got instructions for the mini pineapple block.  The bottom part is made just like the pumpkins, and the leaves are a free download on their website. 

For an added bit of fun, our afternoon treat was Pineapple Poke Cake!

Even though I improvised on the recipe, it turned out tasty!

I baked a regular yellow cake mix according to directions.  Then I poked holes all over the top.

I had a can of crushed pineapple, and I ran that through the food processor to make kind of a slurry.  I poured that on the cake and let it soak in.  I smeared back and forth a bit to get more of the good stuff into the cake, and left a thin layer of pineapple on top.  Topped with whipped cream makes a perfect ending!