Kona Club Challenge - Tropical Spin by Sandy from Upstairs Hobby Room

We're delighted to have Sandy from Upstairs Hobby Room take the Kona Club Challenge this month! Sandy has a great blog with lots of interesting projects, sew alongs, and giveaways! 

Sandy used the colors we sent out in February 2015 for Kona Club for her project today. We hope you enjoy this tutorial and make your own umbrella skirt for your patio table. We are giving away the fat quarters that Sandy used in this tutorial so be sure to leave a comment on this post to win!

Hi everyone, I'm Sandy from Upstairs Hobby Room! I'm a wife to my high school sweetheart, though we lived in different towns and didn't attend the same school. We just celebrated our 30th Wedding anniversary in July!  I'm a mother of 3 grown adults, a daughter and 2 sons, plus a son-in-law (no grand babies, yet), and I love country living. I have always loved crafting and creative outlets, and have sewn since I was about 11 or 12 years old, but I have only recently started quilting, about 3 ish years now.

I was super excited to be asked to join in on the Kona Club Challenge. I love Kona Cottons and I enjoy a good sewing challenge!!  I think I am still at the sponge stage, absorbing every new thing I can try, lol. Hope you are excited about the project and will try one for yourself, or maybe as BBQ host/hostess gift.  Happy sewing!

Tropical Spin

 

Supplies:

• 4 FQs of Kona Cotton Solids for the top - I used Papaya, Honeysuckly, Grasshopper & Mediterranean
• 1 FQ Kona Cotton, Backing Fabric cut to 18" sq (or use your leftovers and piece an 18" square)
• 18" Square piece of interfacing, fusible fleece (optional)
• Dresden Plate Ruler, at least 7.5" (I used the Layer Cake Dresden, which if I did the math right is an 18 degree ruler...360 divided by 20 = 18. You can use any dresden, it just may affect the number of strip sets you will need, but there is plenty of fabric to work with here.) Just remember 360 divided by the degree of your dresden and that is how many plates you need to cut to get a full circle
• 5" piece of 1/8 - 1/4" round elastic
• 2 buttons

1/4" seams, press all seams open 

Cutting Instructions:

• Kona Mediterranean: Cut (3) 3 1/4" x 18" strips
• Kona Honeysuckle: Cut (3) 1 1/2" x 18" strips
• Kona Papaya: Cut (3) 2" x 18" strips
• Kona Grasshopper: Cut (3) 2 1/2" x 18" strips

Sewing Instructions:

• Sew one of each of the four different fabric strips together along the 18" edge to form 3 strip sets. Press

 

 

Using the dresden ruler, place the 7 1/2" line on the top edge of your strip set. You will notice that there is about 1/4" extra at the bottom of your ruler (narrowest end) that's good. This will make the inside hole about 3". Making sure the ruler is as close to the end of the strip set as possible, make your first cut. Now flip the ruler around and line up the 7 1/2" line on the bottom edge and the side with the previous cut and cut your second plate. Continue like this, flipping back and forth and making sure the extra fabric is always at the narrow end, until you have cut 20 plates or the number you require.

You now should have 2 sets of 10 plates. Divide them into 2 piles (trust me, or you will be having an unexpected date with your stitch ripper, lol) side by side right sides up. Now consistently lay the plate one onto plate two and sew down the right side. (at least there are no matching seams to worry about, :) Check to make sure your plates are staggering and continue joining the plates till the very last seam, do not join this seam. Press.

Take your 18" square of  interfacing or fleece and fuse it with the backing according to manufacturers instructions.

Lay your backing square right side up and place the topper right side down on top. Make sure the topper is centred and all edges are within the backing square and pin securely in place. Cut away the extra backing fabric.

Starting at one of the flat dresden sides, stitch all the way  around the topper, leaving a 4" opening for turning. Clip the corners and curves, careful to not clip through stitching. Turn and press, tucking in the extra fabric in the opening. 

Make elastic loops by cutting the 5" piece of elastic in half. Fold each piece in half and stitch close to the raw ends to make a loop. Slip the raw end of the loops into the opening, one at the top the other at the bottom, leaving enough loop exposed for your button size and enough inside to be caught by the top stitching. Pin in place.

Topstitch 1/8 - 1/4" all the way around the dresden catching the elastic loops and the opening as you go. (Add more top stitching or quilting as desired) I top stitched 1/4" on all sides of the dresden after going all around the outside, stitching over the previous top stitching in spots, in one continuous line around.

Mark the spots where the elastic sits on the opposite side of the dresden and sew on your two buttons. 

That's it...Enjoy

Sandy@UpStairsHobbyRoom

Use #UmbrellaDresden

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we all want to see what you come up with!!

Giveaway!

You could win 4 fat quarters of the Kona Cotton Solids Sandy used in this project!

Just leave a comment on this post for a chance to win.

If you are no-reply/Wordpress blogger please leave your email id in the post.

We will leave the giveaway open till Monday, August 24.
Winner will be announced Tuesday, August 25.

Good luck! 
Many thanks to  Sandy from Upstairs Hobby Room for this great tutorial!

Click here for more details on Kona Club.