The Jewish new year is on its way — challah dipped in honey! — and the autumn holiday season right behind it. It’s a time for new beginnings, and a great time to start the year with a new challah cover. So I’m releasing the challah cover pattern from the Sew Jewish book as its … Continue reading
Tag Archives: machine applique
Tips to Machine Applique Sharp Corners – Like on a Star of David!
In this video, I show you how to get beautiful results when finishing sharp corners with machine applique. The video covers the classic method as well as a technique I developed (stumbled onto) out of necessity while appliqueing lots of Stars of David with lots of sharp corners. It’s slightly faster than the classic method … Continue reading
New Video: Finishing Machine Appliques – Beautifully!
You’ll find a new video tutorial for finishing machine appliques on the Sew Jewish YouTube channel. It’s a sewing topic I’ve covered in earlier project videos, but I figured that if I made a video dedicated to the topic, I could refer to it in future project videos — and making shorter project videos is … Continue reading
New: Pomegranate Pillow Kit
Have you ever gotten an itch to stitch but were afraid you wouldn’t have time to finish a project, so you didn’t start? This cute little pomegranate pillow is perfect for those times, because it doesn’t take long to sew. I originally designed it for a hands-on workshop to teach beginner-level applique and sewing techniques, … Continue reading
5 Tips for Using Print Fabrics for Appliques
Prints help make life fun. Polka dots, florals, checks, batiks, abstract designs — all add dimension to applique projects. We’ve collected our top tips for choosing them and using them: Match the scale of the print to the size of the applique. Small appliques call for small prints, otherwise the pattern will overwhelm the applique, … Continue reading
A New Way to Satisfy Your Curiosity about Sewing
Sewing enthusiasts who want to try their hand at making Judaica have a new online resource: Sew Jewish’s Maria Bywater just became a teacher at the online learning site Curious.com. The site was launched just last year, and it was named one of Time’s top 50 websites. We’re kind of excited they invited us to … Continue reading
How to Make Beautiful Machine Appliques from Silk Fabric | Video Tutorial
This excerpt from the pomegranate atarah video tutorial focuses on the technique of making machine appliques from silk dupioni fabric. Spoiler alert: Use sheer fusible interfacing to back the appliques, and baste the appliques on to the background fabric before finishing the edges. The video walks you through the steps. Use dupioni silk when you … Continue reading
How to Sew the Pomegranate Atarah for a Tallit | Video Tutorial
Add a beautiful silk atarah (neckpiece) to your handmade tallit. We show you how in this video tutorial to accompany the new pomegranate-themed atarah pattern. The tutorial includes lots of details and tips for doing machine applique with silk, so even if you’re a beginning sewing enthusiast you can create a lovely atarah that makes … Continue reading
Machine Applique Stitching Tutorial | Video
In this video tutorial for machine applique you’ll see: How to navigate around an applique’s corners and curves with smooth, high-quality results. Top techniques for beginning and ending the stitching. The ideal position of the stitches on your applique. To complement this video, you may also be interested in the written tips and photos in … Continue reading
Introducing the First Pattern in the New Sew Jewish Shop
I’m pretty excited to open the new Sew Jewish Shop with this pattern for an atarah and corner pieces for a tallit featuring a Jerusalem cityscape. The pattern is called King David’s Jerusalem, and it includes step-by-step instructions and illustrations for you to make your own atarah and corner pieces for a tallit. For details, … Continue reading
Hey, Supermom, Here’s Your Purim Costume Sorted
To all you Supermoms out there, we know you’re busy saving the world 365. And with Purim coming up, you’re going to make sure everyone else has a costume before you think about your own. So to make things a little easier on you this holiday, we’re sharing my Supermom costume idea from a few … Continue reading
New to Machine Applique? Start Here
Are you new to sewing or machine applique? We don’t want you to miss out on our dove or other applique projects. So we’ve collected these basic tips to walk you and your machine’s presser foot through your first steps. With these tips, start practicing on straight lines, then move on to corners and curves. … Continue reading
Sew a Little Peace in the World with this Free Dove Applique Pattern [PDF]
Add the bright, peaceful energy of this applique dove to your home. Perfect for a pillow, baby blanket, or wall hanging. We framed ours. The dove pattern is only about 4 inches (10cm) square, so you can complete this project in less than an hour. If you want to brush up on your machine applique … Continue reading
When to Zig and When to Zag: Top Tips for Machine Applique
Update: You’ll now find a video showing these machine applique techniques on the Sew Jewish YouTube channel: How to Finish Machine Appliques – Beautifully! There’s a new applique pattern headed your way in our next post, and we wanted to give you our top tips for getting top notch results. Are you new to machine … Continue reading