DIY Quilted Shaker Serving Tray Liner - Because You Know You Want to Make One!

A Funny thing happened on the way to my next blog post. You'd be wrong to think "well, it's been nine months since she last wrote on this dumb blog, so I guess maybe she had a baby or something."  If you guessed that, you'd be wrong, of course, me being of the "childless by choice" faction!  I thought about starting this whole blog thing over again, but honestly, there's a lot of history following behind this post and I cannot bear to part with any of it, however boring some of it may be. I'm popping in to post this DIY Quilted Shaker Serving Tray Liner that I made up today because literally everyone needs this and will want to make one! Disclaimer though: there are no promises that I'll actually write another blog post before another nine months have passed again. So here's this DIY!

This beautiful, handcrafted tray is made by the Early Americana Workshop called NHShakerShop which you can find on Etsy via the link. I'd been searching for a clean beautiful design, simple wood serving tray and immediately started looking at Shaker versions. This one matched all of my demands and I couldn't be happier with it. I wanted to create a quilted liner for the tray. Mainly because I'm compelled to try to solve many issues with quilting somehow, but mostly because I wanted to protect the beautiful wood surface from scratches, and ideally for something to keep items from sliding around on the tray while carrying it from place.  

Here are the steps (illustrated as simply as possible):

1. Take your tray and measure the width and length of the oval and base your fabric needs on that. Mine measures 14" wide x 19" long, so I used just under a half a yard of fabric.

2. Fold fabric with right sides facing and selvedge edges together and lay on a piece of batting the size of the folded fabric.

 

3. Place your tray on the fabric/batting pile and trace around the edge using some kind of marker. DO not use a permanent marker...

 

4. See, I'm using a Crayola washable marker. Get the fine line ones! I love these things. Clean the edge of your tray immediately if you get any marks on it, but try not to.

5. Cut the shape out.

You should have two layers of fabric (right sides facing) and batting.

 6.  Pin layers together. Put your walking foot on. Sew a 1/4" seam through all layers, leaving a 4" opening or so. 

 

7. Pull the insides out through the hole. Here's your opportunity to check that it fits your tray properly. Flatten it out. Put it in the tray. Too big? Turn it back and sew a larger seam allowance to get the fit you'd like. 

 

 8. Once your size is good, flatten it out and press the whole thing so that the seam lines up around the edge. I use one of my long paint brushes to accomplish this!

 

 9. Now sew your opening closed however you want. I just sewed it with my machine very close to the edge with black thread. Can't even see it.  

 10. Now quilt it however you'd like. I'm a big Alabama Chanin fan and have made a bunch of Natalie's clothes and accessories using her hand sewing techniques. I thought this style of stitching would look really nice on my tray liner, so I used Button and Craft thread and left the knots and tails on one side. I can turn it over for a smoother look, but I love the visible knots. If you haven't looked at Alabama Chanin style, and don't know what I'm talking about, do yourself a favor and do so. Natalie has several classes on Craftsy too. I started with her Swing Skirt Class.... which I made using old tshirts. So cool!

I digress. This post is about my Tray liner. Well, there you have it. I hope you'll try it out. I supposed you can use this technique to make liners for lots of other things too. So have at it! See you in nine months... maybe :)

A new queen size quilt in the shop :)

Jungle Wagon treasury

A treasury today.

Special orders don't upset us :)

The shop has been busy with special requests for weeks now. Just before Christmas, I received a request for a queen sized green gradation quilt with a due date in early Spring. I love it when I really have some time to work on quilts like this. It gives me time to peruse my favorite fabric stores close by and also my on-line resources for really nice additions to the project.

I'm also working on a custom oven mitt, and a cover for a KitchenAid stand mixer. So cool! I haven't made a mixer cover before, so this is a new project for me...it ought to be pretty fun. It's been fun so far working with the customer.

And now I'd like to share a whole bunch of photos of the quilt. These are mostly detail shots.

finally a treasury

I know not all of you are Etsy sellers or buyers, but I think a majority of you are. If you are not, I highly recommend taking a look around Etsy. There are so many wonderful, handmade items, including cleaning supplies, home decoration, edibles, fine art, ceramics, perfume, soap, not to mention the vintage arena!

Click on the photo above, which will bring you to the treasury west area of the website and the current treasury that I have curated on the site.......to start, these sellers are part of Team Etsy Project Embrace, which you are all familiar with if you've been reading my blog for any time now. If not, most of them donate a portion of their profits to the American Cancer Society, which, in my opinion, is one of the most pressing health issues of the human race. I know there are many many other issues to be dealt with, but cancer is just insidious, and touches almost all of our lives in some way. It has effected me personally so many times..even my pets are not immune.

To read more about this fine team of artisans working to make a difference, please see the Etsy Project Embrace Forum thread. And please support their handmade efforts. You get something really nice and they are giving back in return :)

The March Giveaway! Yay!

I'm so excited to be holding my first giveaway! You can be automatically entered in the drawing in two ways. #1 ~ by being or becoming a "follower" of this blog, or #2 ~ by being or becoming a fan on btaylorquilts facebook page. If you are BOTH, then you get TWO chances to win.

Here's how it'll work. For lack of a more technological way to draw names, I'll be doing this the old fashioned way by putting all of your names in a bowl and having a friend draw the name. (luckily I don't have a huge amount of followers....yet) I'll then post the winner on the Blog! If I don't hear from that person within 24 hours, I'll draw another name. So be sure to check back. I'll be announcing the winner on Wednesday, March 10.

Here's what you'll get! A set of four quilted coasters from btaylor quilts! There are bigger plans in the works for the next giveaway sometime in April :)

A new quilt

A new quilt from the shop. It's great when you love what you do :)

One Year Anniversary Sale on Etsy!!

December 12 is my one year anniversary on Etsy! It's been a great year, Etsy couldn't be a better site for artists and craftspeople to sell their creations!

I'm marking my quilts down by 20% in the shop until December 22! Yay!