Need a Fourth of July #diy project that’s perfect for your backyard festivities? Here you go!

We invited the Combat Quilter, Andrew Lee, to make us a #diy project for the books. Well, he provided it! If you love quilting, or easy sewing projects, this is for you!

Here’s What You’ll Need:

• 2- Red Jelly roll strips (2 ½” x 42”)

• 2- White Jelly roll strips (2 ½” x 42”)

• 2- Blue Jelly roll strips (2 ½” x 42”) Border

• 2- Cream Jelly roll strips (2 ½” x 42”) Binding

• 1-backing fabric 20 ½” x 20 ½”

• 1-batting 20 ½” x 20 ½”

• Quilters Select Rotary Cutter

• Quilters Select Free Fuse

• Sew Much Cosplay Scissors

• Embellish Scissors

• Embellish Seam Ripper

• Floriani 60wt Grey Thread

• Quilters Select Grey Prewound Bobbin

Here’s How to Make It:

1. Sew Red and white strips together, creating 2 – 4 ½” x 42” strips

2. Cut strips into 2 1/2” x 4 ½” pieces

3. Sew 4 pieces from step 2, together, creating one strip with 4 red and 4 white

4. Sew rows together; alternating start color to make checkerboard

5. Sew blue borders on (2- 2 ½”x16 ½”, 2-2 ½”x 20 ½”)

6. Baste checkerboard to batting

7. Baste backing to batting

8. Attach binding

Ready for your last Tea Party Week DIY? We #love this one!

Kathy’s daughter made this adorable tea set when she was a child. She took a tea cup and glued it to the tea plate. We then filled it with fresh potting soil and planted purple static flowers!

Now for the adorable and vintage part of this project – the parasol.

Things you need:

• PF0800 – Floriani White Embroidery Thread

• 3- Full Bobbins with white thread (I wound my own using PF0800 to perfectly match the top thread.)

• Free standing lace Doily design to make a doily approximately 8” in diameter. I used a flat edged wedge type design from RNK’s Embroidered Treasures Collection.

• Embellish’s Rinse Away Mesh Stabilizer

• 8”- 3/8” wide Flat decorative lace or ribbon

• 1- wooden skewer

• 1- 8mm Bead Cap with center hole

• 1 – small decorative flower

• Hand sewing needle

• Hot glue gun and glue sticks

• Scissors

• Kitchen Shears or Cutting Pliers.

• Embroidery Machine and hoops

• All the stuff you need to embroider. (Embroidery scissors, M&Ms, coffee, tea, your music, applique scissors, etc.)

NOTE: I suggest slowing your machine down to around 600 stitches per minute. This helps stop thread breaks and bird nesting.

Instructions:

Making your Free-Standing Lace

1. Hoop your Rinse Away Mesh in your hoop.

2. Select your chosen design.

3. If you select a design that takes multiple pieces to make the doily, you only need to make 2 to 3 of the wedges. Use your own judgement.

4. Embroider your design(s).

5. Once the embroidery is complete, un-hoop and trim away extra stabilizer. Immerse in plain water, covering the doily completely. Soak until all the stabilizer is removed, changing the water often for a soft flexible embroidery. Doily should be very soft and pliable when all the stabilizer is washed out.

Putting your parasol together

1. Preparing your FSL doily:

NOTE: Use the same thread that you embroidered with and it will disappear as you sew.

a. If you used a multiple piece design, hand sew the designs together to make a cone.

b. If you used a single piece design, fold the doily into quarters and hand sew up the side to form a cone.

c. Once you have your cone, gather the open top about 3/8” down. Do not pull to tight at this point or tie off your thread.

2. Insert the wooden skewer through the point of your cone leaving about 1/8” below the point of the cone. See Figure A.

3. Apply glue to the tip of the cone and place the Bead Cap on the tip with the skewer thru the center hole. Allow to dry.

4. Now is the time to tighten the gathering at the top of your Free-Standing Lace. Once it is tight, gently twist the Free-Standing Lace to the right or left to give it the look of a closed umbrella. Wrap your thread around the gathered area and tie off your thread.

5. Use your kitchen shears to trim the long end of the skewer to 2 ½”- 3” above the top of the Free-Standing Lace.

6. Starting at the top of the Free-Standing Lace, spiral the flat lace/ribbon up the remaining skewer. Glue the top of the flat lace/ribbon to the end of the skewer and trim. Let glue dry.

7. Push the flat lace/ribbon up from the bottom just a tad and place a dot of glue. Let the flat lace/ribbon fall into place. Press against the glue. Let dry.

8. Wrap a piece of flat lace/ribbon to hide your gathering stitches. Glue in place.

9. Make a small bow using the flat lace/ribbon and glue in place where the above flat lace/ribbon comes together.

10. OPTIONAL – Glue a small decorative flower on top of the bow. Let glue Dry.