- Sep 9, 2019

National Parks

Summer is winding down and what better way to memorialize the season's travels with Riley Blake Designs second installment of the National Parks collection by The Anderson Design Group !

We are so excited to show you the many projects we've sewed with this collection. In fact, we made so many we need more than one blog post to do them justice.

The first two projects are all about travel organization and both items would also make great gifts for the adventurers in your life.

The collection comes with a panel showcasing four pillow sized images from one of the National Parks. We chose the Grand Canyon but we did not chose to make a pillow. Turns out those panels are perfectly sized to make a hanging organizer that fits great on the back of a car seat or the back of a vintage camp chair.

Using clear vinyl with these gorgeous panels lets the art shine through while giving you a place to organize your little bits, keeping everything close at hand.

WHAT YOU NEED:

PP8936-GRAND pillow panel

C8783-CREAM Signs print for binding

C8781-SAND Maps print for vinyl edging

Ultra Firm Stabilizer, piece about 18" by 21"

Clear Vinyl, medium weight two pieces about 6/7" by 18"

The process is really simple. Fuse the stabilizer you chose to the back of your panel.

Cut clear vinyl pockets a height that works with the panel you chose. Our upper pocket was 6" and the lower was 7" because those sizes worked best and didn't hide any of the key design points in our panel.

Once you have your pockets cut, cut 1" strips of the map print to bind the edge of the vinyl.

Your bottom pocket will need binding on the top only. Other pockets will need binding on both the top edge and bottom edge.

We use a binding foot like this:

It works great with vinyl if you remember to feed your fabric through at least half an inch before you feed the vinyl through. Then keep the vinyl lifted off the surface of your sewing table. If the vinyl lies down it can cause drag as it tries to cling to your tabletop.

If you don't have a binding foot just use a bias tape maker to iron the outside edges to the center of your 1" strips, then fold them over the edge of your vinyl and clip in place. Clips work much better than pins when it come to vinyl. Sew close to the edge.

To sew this, we recommend using your walking foot if you have one. The vinyl will feed through with no problem.

Baste the bottom pocket along the bottom edge and sides of your prepared panel.

Stitch your upper pocket to the panel, carefully stitching over the previous stitching on the binding.

Stitch vertical lines on the pockets to divide them into smaller pockets, making sure to back-tack on the upper edges where the pockets will get the most wear.

Cut enough 2" strips of the signs print to go around the border of your panel plus extra to make ties. At least 2 WOF strips.

Consider where you will use your organizer and decide what kind of closure you will need and the length of the straps necessary. Velcro or snaps are a good idea.

We chose to bind ours in the traditional quilting method. We sewed to the back and wrapped around to the front, then machine stitched in place because sewing to the front and hand stitching to the back didn't sound fun at all. We tucked our ties into the binding at the top.

Our second project comes from one of our favorite websites, So Sew Easy. It's a great family travel wallet that keeps all your necessary papers in one place. Itineraries, passports, ID's, boarding passes-- all nicely held together. Here's the link to the pattern we used: