Jake Finch - Stitch n Swap: 25 Handmade Projects to Sew, Give & Receive

Photography and Artwork copyright 2014 by C&T Publishing, Inc.

Publisher: Amy Marson

Creative Director: Gailen Runge

Art Director / Cover Designer: Kristy Zacharias

Book Designer: Casey Dukes

Editor: S. Michele Fry

Technical Editors: Helen Frost and Amanda Siegfried

Production Coordinator: Rue Flaherty

Production Editor: Joanna Burgarino

Illustrator: Wendy Mathson

Photo Assistant: Mary Peyton Peppo

Styled photos by Nissa Brehmer, unless otherwise noted; Instructional photos by Diane Pedersen, unless otherwise noted

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Generation Q Magazine is first and foremost a community. Community helped us launch into print, and community is again the backbone of this book. From our staff and contributing designers to our tolerant alter egos at C&T Publishingwho stood eagerly ready to receive this manuscripts many pieceswe cant thank our peeps enough. We cant tell you how often our staff rushed bravely into the deadline battlefield to help us with one more idea or one last missing piece so that those at C&Tpublisher (Amy), editors (Roxane, Michele, and Gailen), designers, and photographers could wave their respective magic cursors and make a book. And we hope you know that our gratitude is wrapped in awe and humility of everyones incredible talent.

At the end of the day, though, it will be our Q-biesour sisters and brothers of the clothwhom we really thank the most. Without your support, we would not be here to write this book and hand it over to you all, hoping that it serves your needs.

ABOUT GENERATION Q MAGAZINE

Founded in 2010 by Jake Finch and Melissa Thompson Maher, Generation Q Magazine is a community of modern and contemporary quilters, sewists, and crafters who revel in their creativity and want to share the fun with anyone who will bother to play with them.

As a magazine, e-zine, website, and pattern publisher (print and digital), GenQ seeks to inspire, delight, challenge, instruct, reflect, and report on what makes us creative stitchers tick. In a style sometimes cheeky, other times insightful, our mission is to entertain and inform the masses, to hopefully convert the most stalwart sewing critics into fiber minions, and to ultimately take over the world with quilts. We are GenQ.

Check us out at GenerationQMagazine.com, and find us in your local quilt shop, bookstore, or newsstand. Then you can join us for all of the fun!

Jake FinchCompiler

Jakes fabric addiction started when she traded her credit cards for a sewing machine back in the early years of her marriage to Stephen. A quarter century later, she now has several machines, and several credit cards, but they are only used for stash improvement. A journalist by training and a self-taught quilter and sewist, Jake cant believe that shes been able to blend all of her interests into a deeply satisfying career (as the publisher of GenQ) that allows her to be home with Samantha, work with her closest friends, and receive more fabric, books, and thread than she can use. Which is why GenQs readers routinely get them.

Website: MamaMakesQuilts.com

INTRODUCTION

swap

noun

an act, instance, or process of exchanging one thing for another

verb

to give in trade; to exchange

One of the best aspects of belonging to a community of like-minded stitchers (think guild, bee, small group, or other regular congregation of those you have something in common with), whether online or in real time, is having the opportunity to share your talents and creativity. Swaps provide a fun, give-and-take format that allows for the sharing of talent in a tangible way. A side benefit that has made them so popular is the friendships and bonds that develop among participants, even across fiber-optic lines.

Swaps are organized around a theme and a set of rules. In a swap, each participant is both a giver and a receiver of the swaps project. Usually, the participants only know to whom they are giving their finished project, but there are no hard rules for this. Its at the reveal, when the projects are exchanged, that the mystery is solved.

What sets this apart from a challenge is the exchange part. With challenges you generally keep what you make; swapping provides a challenge, plus the joy of gift making, giving, and receiving. The core purpose of participating in a swap event is to have fun. Its a sewing game!

And thats why so many varied themes and ways to play are part of the swap process. The theme of a swap can be just about anything that you can imaginea single fabric, a fabric collection, a color, a holiday, a room, and so on. A swap can be around a technique (maybe raw-edge appliqu) or an item (such as pincushions or doll quilts). The item might need to have a purpose (storage) or be specific to a room (kitchen). You can even combine themeswhatever floats your groups boat. There is no end to why, how, and what is traded among players.

Every other reasoncreative exploration, camaraderie, showcasing talent or new techniquesis irrelevant if you and your group lose sight of the fun factor. Thats right. Its all about the fun, people.

One major thing to know about swaps is that usually the projects are small and easy. In our opinion, if you cant complete your swap project in less than a day (except if youre a newbie stitcher or trying a new technique), then the swap is going to inflict stress instead of bringing joy, and thats not good. Small projects mean small pieces of fabrics; precuts or scraps are great.

Here at Generation Q Magazine (GenQ to our friends, and thats you!) were addicted to swaps and individually join the ones that strike our fancy. We get a kick out of hosting swaps among our readers, too. And weve lurked around the many Flickr pages and blog posts that show off other groups wonderful swaps. Were repeatedly amazed at the creativity and joy that come from swap participation.

So where do you start? Well, Q-bie, thats what were here for. Well give you ideas and inspiration to start your own swap effort among your creative groups, and well happily cheer you on as you work through the process. And because this book is all about the sharing of ideas, weve brought in some of our favorite talented stitching people to give us some jumping-off points for your creativity. Some fabulous projects fill the following pages, and all of them can be adapted to your taste, your style, and your skill and creativity level. Dont limit yourself; make it your own unique project. Cmon, we dare you!

Jake, Melissa, and the GenQ Team

Organizing a Swap

So you think you want to launch a swap, eh? Cool! Were right there with you on this. We promise that at the end of this effort, youll be dazzled and amazed by how creative and talented your Q-buds are, and even more likely, youll know the feeling of rising up to and meeting a challenge.

Any type of sewing/quilting challenge should stretch your creative muscles. After all, youre given a prescribed set of rules to follow, and in all likelihood, you wouldnt have rulesnot these rules at leastdetermining how to spend your sewing time.