The Seasoned Homemaker Guest Interview
We’ve shared some awesome projects from many amazing designers over the years, and now we would like to get to know those designers a little bit better. Let’s find out how these project gurus incorporate, store, organize, and utilize their scraps. Today, we are welcoming Leslie Rutland of The Seasoned Homemaker to the blog.
Share a little something fun about your sewing/quilting journey.
I started my sewing journey when I was 12 years old. I got a brand new sewing machine for Christmas and I’ve never turned back. I started making simple garments and sewed lots bags and children’s clothes. Over time, I would dabble in quilting but in 2015 I truly caught the quilting bug and have been exploring every aspect of quilting.
Please share a few fun facts about yourself.
I’ve sewn a lot of things, but most people don’t know that I was a wardrobe mistress for a ballet company. I’ve designed and made ballet costumes for productions like The Nutcracker, Giselle, Coppelia, and Sleeping Beauty.
How do you store your scraps?
I store scraps by color – most of the time. Each color has a plastic storage bin and any scraps in a particular color gets tossed the bin for that particular color. For smaller fabric pieces I have fabric storage baskets I made using scraps in that color. There’s a tutorial for making your own fabric storage baskets.
Do you have a favorite notion or tool? If so, what are they and how do you use them in your sewing?
I love my wool pressing mat and clapper for getting really flat seams on quilt blocks. For rotary cutting, I prefer Olfa mats like the 18″ x 24″ mat, an Olfa retractable rotary cutter, and all of my Creative Grids acrylic rulers (I may have a slight addiction, here!)
Do you have a favorite project you would like to share?
I recently launched a pattern that I truly love called the Tumbling Sea Glass quilt pattern. I like to think of the pattern as fun and finishable because it’s almost all half square trianges. And my favorite part is seeing how other quilters are making this pattern unique to them. It’s beyond rewarding.
Materials Needed for project:
Even though the pattern includes fabric recommendations, this pattern is ideally suited for using up your scraps – so all you need are enough light fabrics and dark fabrics to make half square triangles. I recommend getting a square ruler for trimming the HSTs – For this pattern I used a 3.5″ Bloc Loc Ruler with a Olfa rotary mat and got nearly perfect HSTs!
Working on anything fun or have something happening that you would like to share?
Right now I have four more quilt patterns at different stages of creation. I hope to launch them all by the end of 2023. All of the patterns are designed for every level of quilting and follow my vision for being fun and finishable.
Wow, we just love getting to learn more about our favorite designers and can’t thank Leslie enough for sharing more about her process and latest makes. Be sure to hop over to her site and check out what fun things she has in store to keep you stitching up a storm.
Stay tuned… more designer close-ups are on the way.
