Archive for the ‘Sewing’ Category
Homemade Birthday Treat Bags
To continue with a post about my daughter’s birthday, I wanted to share with you the treat bags I sewed. This was not a project I had intended on completing for the party. I did not want to buy the cheap little plastic bags to put the treats in for the guests, but I also thought I would be able to find something cute to put them in! While I was searching for inspiration, I found some wonderful small canvas bags online that had drawstrings to pull them closed. Alas, I was doing this mere days before the party and would not have enough time to order them. I went to every craft/fabric/grocery store in my area and they did not have anything close to what I was now bound and determined to have for the party! So, I did what any other Martha Stewart mom would do and decided to make them myself!
I have tons of leftover fabric from previous projects/projects I never finished. Since it was a princess party I went with pink fabric for the girls and green fabric for the boys. Initially, I was going to throw the things together, sew them really quick up the side and tie a ribbon around them. After speaking with my super sewing mom, I was talked out of that! She convinced me of how easy it would be to take a few quick extra steps to make the bags look cute and better put together.
First, rip the fabric into elongated rectangles, about 10 inches by 16 or 18 inches. Fold in the edges of the two elongated sides, approximately 1/4 inch, and iron (this is to create a clean edge). Fold the rectangles in half along the short sides, with the right, or front sides, facing each other. Iron along fold. Fold down the top of each side so there is approximately a 1.5 inch “cuff” at the top of each side.
*to save time to not have to feed a drawstring through later, I tied the knot in my cording and tucked it under the flap on one side. Leaving a 1/4 inch edge, sew across one side of the cuff. Flip the bag around and repeat on the other side, tucking the cord under the flap and sewing across. Make sure you are not yet sewing the two sides of the bag together!!! OR you can just sew across each cuff and feed the cord or ribbon through later.
Last – holding the folded piece of fabric together, sew up each long edges to close the bag, stopping just at the seam on the cuff. Turn bag inside out and have some fun!
This, of course, still does not produce an amazingly well made bag, but the kids loved them, the adults thought they were great, and it only took me watching the entire movie of Moulin Rouge to finish 24 bags from start to end! Thanks for the help mom!!!
Tags: birthday, Craft, Homemade, party, recycle, Repurpose, Sew, Treat Bags
My Rag Tag Bag
I have a love for tote bags. A passion, really. Possibly an obsession. I also have a strong love for ribbon. Here’s what we get when they collide.
I cut off pieces of ribbon about three inches long. I used all varieties of ribbon, gross grain, sheer, satin, wide, narrow, even some ric-rac. Don’t worry about the ribbons matching colors; just cut lots of pieces.
Next you make your tags. I personally found this to be the easiest way: fold the ribbons in half and sew the raw edges together. Once you finish with one, go ahead and put the next one in line. You’ll eventually have a long line of ribbon tags.
Next you sew your “banner-o-ribbons” to your bag (or whatever you’re decorating). The key to this step is making sure you sew it on straight. I speak from experience on this one. You can just sew it on and try to keep an eye on it, but it’s a good idea to mark your sewing line to help keep you on track.
Also, don’t forget to leave a space for your closure (if your bag has one) and make sure you turn out the inside pocket. (This totally reminds me of Professor Snape ordering, “Turn OUT your POCKETS!”)
I was feeling a little frisky (or tacky) so I decided to put ribbon on my velcro flap to add a little oompf.
The end result…a funky ribbon bag. You can definitely color coordinate your ribbons, but if not, that’s okay! Who says everything has to be all match-y?
So…for my first post, I have a raggy, taggy, baggy. Enjoy!
Christmas Crafts Week #1 – The Easiest Dress I Will Ever Make
So week #1 of my Christmas Crafts challenge is coming to an end and I have actually completed a Christmas gift! Hopefully this momentum will keep up!
For this week’s project, I made a few dresses. One of them went straight to my daughter, but the rest are going to be put away. The one my daughter is wearing in this picture is a long dress, but the majority of the other ones are shorter in length. Even though they are summer dresses, they will still be perfect in the winter with a pair of leggings and a sweater.
Too cute, right?!?!
I am not a person who sews regularly, so I try to keep my sewing projects as easy as possible. I know that there are some crafters that make their own shirred fabric, but I am not that ambitious! I bought several cuts of fabric that already had the shirred bodice. Some of the fabrics even come hemmed too! Here are the steps I took to create the dress:
1. First, I pinned the fabric around my daughter to size it. Then I sewed down the edge of the fabric. My daughter has a little curvy figure so I made sure that I did not sew a straight line down the dress.
I had a lot of excess fabric because I wasn’t sure exactly how much to purchase, but I just cut it off when I was finished sewing.
2. If the fabric needed a hem, I hemmed it. Some of the fabrics already had a hem…those are my favorite!
3. For the straps, I sewed two pieces of ribbon on each side. When she wears the dresses, we tie the straps at the shoulders!
It is really that easy!
Repurpose – Jewelry Organizer
Are you tired of rummaging through a tangled up mess in a drawer or box to find just the right piece of jewelry to wear with an outfit? This wooden thread spool holder served its intended purpose for several years in my sewing room/office – I’m sure that I got more than my money’s worth out of it. When I reorganized and moved my sewing thread to stacking see-thru plastic boxes, I couldn’t bring myself to throw the wooden organizer away and shoved it under the sewing table, only to be forgotten. I redecorated my master bathroom a while ago and was actually on the lookout for a method to organize my costume jewelry when I saw something in a catalog, which reminded me of the wooden thread spool holder – and it now has a new purpose. It fits perfectly in the space and holds all of the pieces that I wear on a regular basis. A small decorative plate sitting on the counter holds post earrings. Everything is handy, especially for those early morning rushes to get out the door for work. The raw wood look works with my “beach-y” decorating theme, but it could be easily spray painted any color to match your décor. If you don’t have a wooden thread spool holder stashed under your sewing table, you can pick one up at JoAnn’s for less than $10 (with a coupon!).
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Tags: Debbie, Organization, Repurpose, Sewing
Piles of Pillowcases
Disney princesses, Cub Scouts, and soccer!
These instructions will make one standard size pillowcase (approximately 32” x 20”). I have adapted these into EASY instructions from some complicated directions I got for free from a quilt shop in California about 15 years ago. There are almost no limits to the fabrics and colors available. The instructions can be adapted to any size pillow.
- I first made pillowcases when my daughters were headed off to college:
- If your students attend a large school it is fairly easy to find novelty fabric, otherwise use the school colors
- Use stencils to cut out the school/sorority letters out of iron-on patch material; zigzag around to make sure they stay on through repeated washings
- I have also made them to decorate beds
- An inexpensive way for decorator pillows to coordinate with sheets on the bed – pick up a twin size flat to match to use as the fabric
- Use ribbons and buttons to close up the end
- Now I make them for the “grands”
- for holidays
- to decorate their bedrooms (e.g., anything pink, baseball)
- or their hobbies and interests (e.g., Boy Scouts, dance, soccer)
Fabric (44-45” wide) required:
1 yard (44-45” wide) for body of pillowcase
1/3 yard for end of pillowcase
1/8 yard for accent strip
Recommended fabrics:
It is up to you to decide whether you want to use something recommended for children’s wear (e.g., flame retardant fabrics). I’ve always used 100% cotton (e.g., quilting-type fabrics, novelty & holiday-print fabrics and flannel). Prewash all fabrics.
Optional: Rickrack and other embellishments
Cutting (or “ripping”) Directions:
From the 1 yard piece, cut one piece 27” x 41”
From 1/3 yard piece, cut one piece 10” x 41”
From 1/8 yard piece, cut one piece 3” x 41”
Instructions:
Press the 3” x 41 accent strip in half lengthwise, right side out, raw edges together (strip will now be 1 ½” x 41”) .
Press the 10” x 41” end piece in half lengthwise, right side out, raw edges together (strip will now be 5” x 41”).
Sandwich the accent (1 ½” wide) strip between the end piece (5” wide) and right side of the bottom long edge of the body fabric with all raw edges together. You can pin them together if you are hesitant about feeding them along, or do like I do and just hold them in place. Make sure that your “body” fabric is going in the desired direction.
Sew a 5/8” wide seam along the bottom edge. Don’t panic if they don’t match up exactly on the other end, just trim accordingly!
Press: 1) seams up; 2) accent piece up; and 3) end piece down.
Top stitch the accent piece to keep it standing up. This is a good time/place to add rickrack or ribbon, if desired. I only add buttons and other embellishments if the pillowcases won’t actually be used for sleeping (who wants a button in their ear?).
Fold the body piece (with attached accent and end piece) in half with right sides together, matching the edges (should be starting to look like a pillowcase at this point!).
Sew a 5/8” seam around the long side and top open edges. You can doublestitch this if you think it will get heavy duty wear.
Clip close to the seam and the corners.
Turn inside out and press.
Taking pictures and all, this one took me about 30 minutes. Usually I make these in “assembly-line” fashion. In no time at all you’ll have a Pile of Pillowcases.
I just had a brilliant idea to make “tooth” pillows – will let you know how those work out (when I get around to them).
Sweet Dreams!
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Tags: Boy Scouts, children, Christmas, Debbie, Easter, fabric, Halloween, Holidays, home decorating, Kids, linens, pillowcases, pillows, Sewing, sports
Pacifier Clip
A little while ago, I was out with a friend who has a little one and she had the cutest pacifier clip. I asked her who made it for her and she said she bought it at a baby boutique. I took a closer look and decided it was a crafty project I was going to try. I didn’t use a tutorial for it but after I made it, I did a quick search and found the following tutorials: 1) Pacifier clip with snaps at This and That; 2) 8 paci clips for only a dollar at Ruffles and Stuff ; 3) Paci clips using fabric at So Simply Stephanie.
For this paci clip, I was trying to find the easiest and quickest way to knock it out and I certainly did. This pacifier clip took all of about ten minutes! I would love to make half a dozen of these for a baby shower gift. Since they are pretty inexpensive and quick to make, they make a perfect baby gift!
What you will need:
A strip of grosgrain ribbon (I like the way this ribbon holds up a little better than satin) cut to the length you would like (my ribbon was 13 inches long)
Velcro
Sewing Machine and thread
Suspender/Mitten Clips
What to do:
1. Slide one end of ribbon through the suspender clip and sew to the other side of ribbon. Before I sewed the ribbon into place, I folded the ribbon over 1/4 so that it had a clean edge to it. As you can see in the pictures below, I had the suspender clip facing the wrong way! I took the pictures before I realized what I did. Note to crafter: Be sure to pay attention to the way that the clip is facing before you sew! :-)
2. Fold over the edge on the other side of the ribbon so that it makes a clean edge. Stick one piece of velcro on the end of the ribbon and the other about an inch down. This is the side that will hold the pacifier!
3. Sew a line through the velcro so that it will stay attached to the ribbon.
That is it! Seriously, this is the easiest sewing project I have ever completed! I would show it to you with a paci attached to a baby, but my babies aren’t so baby anymore and I couldn’t locate a dolly pacifier in the pit we call Little S’s room so this picture will have to do!
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Dressing up a T-Shirt
I borrowed this idea from my friend J. She sent Little S a Halloween shirt that was just adorable. It was green and had black ribbon and little Halloween buttons decorating it. I took the idea and made this Christmas shirt. I had plans to get Valentine’s and St. Patrick’s shirts done but at the rate I am going, I should probably skip Easter too and just head straight for summer and Fourth of July! I love that this shirt can be created for any holiday and it washes great!
To create this t-shirt:
- Find any type of shirt (tank top, long sleeved, short sleeved).
- Choose your matching ribbon and buttons. The ribbon can be any size you wish. For this shirt, I chose to make all of the ribbon the same size, 3/8, and I used plain round buttons. For Valentine’s Day, you might choose hearts. For Easter, you might use eggs or little chicks!
- Next, I sewed the ribbon. Instead of folding one big piece of ribbon, I found that it worked best for me if I cut three equal pieces, folded them over, and stitched them together separately.
- Place the bow where you would like on shirt. Sew the button to the middle of the bow while at the same time sewing the entire thing to the shirt.
- Repeat for each bow/button you will place!
Rag Quilt
If you are involved with or know someone who loves Stampin’ Up, you might have seen the rag bags which are currently all the rage. We made a few of these bags and love them. I will post directions on how we made them (there are so many ways out there) . My Stampin’ Up demonstrator buddy found the idea to make a rag quilt. I decided to start small for Little S’s dolls and am working on one that is going to be for the perfect new little guy in my life!
I didn’t take pictures as I created this quilt, so I will do a full direction write-up and pictures with the next quilt I make. Using the Stampin’ Up Big Shot and the Scallop Square Die, you cut out the fabric. This bad boy can cut up to 8 pieces of fabric (depending on your fabric type) at once. I cut six pieces at a time because the fleece is a little bit thicker. Once all of your pieces are cut, you piece them together how you wish. Sew your pieces together and walla-a gorgeous quilt! I spent about 4 hours total (with kids running under foot the whole time) on it and it looks like it took much more time. The Big Shot makes it easy for anyone to pretend to be a quilting pro! It takes the difficult part of cutting out the many pieces of fabric. This is the worst part of quilting for me. I waste so much fabric, mainly because I cannot cut a straight line! The Big Shot takes away all that waste and cuts a perfect scalloped square all the time!
The front of the quilt has the raggy, shabby chic look to it. Once you throw it in the wash, it will rag for you. I do need to clean the blanket up before the dolls use it to keep warm!
The back of the quilt is clean except for the raggy edges.
This post is part of Someday Crafts: Whatever Goes Wednesday and Me and My Bucket’s Show Us What You’re Working With Wednesday!
Crayon Bag
My mother enrolled me in a sewing class with a friend when I was in fourth grade. My friend and I still laugh about how awful our jean dresses (hey…it was the late 80s!) turned out and how they were definitely never worn! If I remember correctly, mine was WAY too small. Since then, I would complete a sewing project every year or two and then my sewing machine would sit idle in the box. This past year I have been at home with my kiddies and I have had more time to explore the wonderful world of sewing and am finding it quite enjoyable. I have found a sewing buddy who is just as inexperienced as me and we are fighting our way through project after project in the hopes of several things: 1)enjoying the experience of expressing ourselves through arts and crafts; 2)finally making this the year of the Homemade Christmas; 3)attempting to save a little money by creating our own all while helping to build another wing onto our favorite craft stores!
For my first project post, I want to share my newest favorite creation. I plan on making half a dozen of these! The directions for this fabulous Coloring Caddy, or Crayon Bag as we have been calling it, can be found at one of my favorite sites, The Crafty Cupboard.
This is the first crayon bag that we made. It took about 5.5 hours from the first cut of fabric to the final stitch. I think that the next time around will probably take about 3 hours (don’t forget…we are novices with three kids under the age of 4 running under foot while we sew!).
Aren’t these adorable? There are little pockets to hold about 40 crayons and the tote can hold several thin coloring books, notebooks, or smaller activity books. For this bag, I used a fat quarter set that I found. I loved the way the fabrics were totally different but looked great together.
All of the artists in my life are going to get these for Christmas!
