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Frequently Asked Questions About Our Products

Mission Statement:
It is my truest wish that fabric crafters enjoy my purse patterns for the personal satisfaction and fulfillment brought about by the working and completing of my designs.
- Joan Hawley


About Our Products - FAQ
Our product line includes a variety of items.  Most of the questions we receive concern our bag/purse/tote patterns.  This list addresses a few of those.  Contact us directly if you have other questions.

    
There's no 'there' there.  Why don't your patterns have pieces?  Our patterns are primarily found in the quilt industry and are written in a quilter's language, for use with a rotary cutter, cutting ruler and mat.  That means our patterns do not contain pattern pieces (unless needed), but rather have dimensions of pieces written for rotary cutting.  Almost all of the pieces are rectangles, squares or strips.  To make pattern pieces, tape a few sheets of paper together, draw the dimensions of the pieces needed and there you go. 

     Why do so many of your patterns call for fat quarters of fabric?  We have quite a few patterns that use fat quarter cuts of fabric (18" x 22") because this cut is common in the quilt shops and allows you to cut larger pieces from the same one quarter yard.  You don't have to use fat quarters, you can always use yardage off the bolt.  If you do, get a bit more than you think you need. 

     Your new patterns are in color - will you redo the old in color too?  Over the years our patterns have transformed from hand-drawn illustrations, to computer drawn illustrations, to black and white photo directions, to our current format of full-color photo step-by-step instructions with added computer graphics where needed.  We'd love to re-do all of our older format patterns to the current jazzy style, but we'd rather spend time creating new designs.

     Your designs are so simple looking and lack detail.  Exactly!  Thank you!  That's exactly what I'm trying to achieve, and your question wasn't a question.  My patterns are a direct reflection of me and my needs in a project.  I have criteria I use when I pick a pattern to work on and it comes from years of garment sewing angst dealing with tons of pattern pieces and construction obstacles at every turn.  I think quilting and sewing should be enjoyable. This means every step from start to finish, including ease in selecting fabrics and supplies, to step-by-step construction, to usability of your final product. And give me room to bloom with every project.  I consider my designs to be more classic than trendy.  I offer simple design lines, rather than detail you may not be interested in.  I try to remove any obstacle that might stop you from enjoying and finishing the project.  Think of our patterns as soup stock recipes.  There's just enough in there to call it soup.  If you want veggies/meat - you add them, you know how.

     If your patterns are so simple, what's in there to get excited about?  Excellent question, I'm glad you asked.  If I was doing the same old thing from pattern to pattern, I'd get bored.  So, I try to find shortcuts and innovative ways to incorporate elements from the apparel industry into the quilt industry.  I try to put one new idea or technique in each pattern.  Sometimes there's more than one new thing, but if the overall project remains 'Lazy', then it's okay.
     These are quick and easy patterns and I find that many of my customers make these designs over and over again.  My suggestion is to make the pattern once according to the directions.  Then if you want to make any changes, or add any details, you know exactly where and how to do that.

     Several of your bag patterns show a zipper.  How can a zipper be easy?  You walked right into that one - I set you up!  If I show something in a design that you would normally think of as being hard or having a low rate of success with, be sure that I've found a 'Lazy' way to do it.  I have three different techniques for installing a zipper.  And you won't find any of them in the package the zipper came in.  I call these 'No-Fear', 'Sew Easy', and 'Zip-tastic'.  A bit corny, but it sounds more interesting than technique #1,2 and 3.

     Can I make any of your patterns out of fabric other than quilter's cottons?  Absolutely.  Quilter's cottons are a very specific grade of cotton fabric and are quite thin compared to other fabrics used for bag designs.  Our patterns are written for the quilter and use items commonly found in your local quilt shop.  That means we call for batting rather than interfacing for example.  Keep this in mind if you are substituting a heavier weight fabric.  Many of our designs are constructed by sewing through many layers of fabric and batting.  Keep this total thickness in mind and make adjustments as necessary.

     Can I make items from your patterns for sale?  No, making items from our patterns for sale violates the federal copyright law printed in each pattern.  In order to protect our business, we don't grant permission for our items to be made for sale.

     Gee, Joan, after reading all of this, I think I'm a Lazy Girl, too.  Excellent!  There's a little 'Lazy' in all of us and we're glad you found us.  Again, not a question, but we'll let it slide.