The Pinking Shears Pouch Tutorial at Go To Sew!

As you know I recently made this pouch as a pouch for pinking shears for my latest swap.

Then the other day I bought a pencil box for my son. As we were walking out of the store, I was struck by a moment of confusion…. Um, why did I just buy that when I could make one, super fast and for the same price (if not less, since this only uses scraps)???? No clue! I just kept on walking….

I call it a pinking shears pouch, but it can be an eyeglass case, a marker pouch, a credit card holder, a cash holder…. Basically anything you want to hold….

Ready? It’s simple! Go to Go To Sew for the tutorial!

 

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New Contributer at Go To Sew!!

Yea! So much is going on this week! First the amazing e-pattern sale yesterday! And today, I get to share with you my newest position…

I’m now a monthly contributor at Go To Sew! Yea!!

I was so honored when Angela, the creator of all sorts of fantasticness in the sewing blogging and pattern world, asked me to be a contributor. I was like, um, YES YES YES!!!

And to start off my monthly posts, I’m sharing the  tutorial for The Stay Put Scarf!

Have you checked out Go To Sew yet? It’s the companion blog to Go To Patterns and showcases tutorials, sewing tips and awesome small shop designers patterns! She is also hosting challenges…. I can’t wait for that! Be sure to check it all out!

A Wonky Star Quilt Block Tutorial

Like I mentioned on Monday, I’m LOVING the stars right now! And I’m loving them with a little ‘wonkiness’ added in!

The straight up and down ones are cool too, but I’m loving adding them in at a slant! And today I’ll show you how I make them.

Materials. Materials are um, simple… fabric, your cutting tools and thread (not pictured)

Step 1: Cut your fabrics! You’re going to make the quilt block much bigger than you actually want it to be. For this one I wanted about a 9 inch block with a 6 inch star. (plus or minus…)

You’ll need four corner squares. To make my 6 inch star, I started with (1) 3×3 inch center. I also needed (4) outer corner squares measuring 6×6 inches and (4) middle rectangles that measure 3×6 inches, both out of the background fabric. And you’ll need a pile of scraps about 2×4 inches or so. These star corners I don’t really measure!

Step 2: Putting all the stars points together!

Put the two fabrics right side together and fold over.

Although it doesn’t matter what the size of the star point fabric is, it does matter that it covers the 3×6 rectangle. Like so.

Sew the two pieces together once you get the star point laid out how you like it.

Then iron it flat.

Step 3: Trim!

I love using my little quilting square! You want to trim it so that you again have a 3×6 inch rectangle.

And then trim below to get a straight seam allowance.

Step 4: Repeat. Repeat.

You want to repeat Steps 2 and 3 on the other side of the rectangle for the other star point. And often you can use a scrap from the other side!

Then repeat and repeat and repeat for each side of the star!

Step 5: Sew the squares and rectangles together.

Sew two rectangles to the center square.

Sew one rectangle to two background squares. And repeat with the last three pieces.

Then sew all three pieces together.

And you have a block!

But you have a block that looks like the one above….

And we really want a block that looks like this one (above).

Step 7: Trim!

Rotate the block to the position you want it to be. Then trim off each side. You’ll end up with 4 triangles and one square block!

A wonky star block!

And then you can repeat and repeat and repeat until you’re hearts content! Enjoy!

 

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The Glitter is Out for an Ornament Tutorial

If you’ve been reading since last Christmas, you know that I rarely break out the glitter unless it’s Christmas. It’s out again! And I’ve been making glitter tree ornaments.

I’m doing another swap…. Yes, another one. This one is an ornament exchange! The 5th Annual Handmade Holiday Ornament Exchange hosted by Blu Penny. I’m excited! So originally I joined thinking I’d exchange the tree ornament I made from my son’s designs, but then this idea hit me… You might already know this, but I have a growing collection of brightly colored pointy, cone trees that I decorate with. So then this seemed perfect!

The Idea started with this tree as the final product, but the making of went through a few ideas… The idea came from a bag of wooden spools I picked up at Goodwill and have proceeded to lose. I’m 99% sure I have these spools, but I can’t find them anywhere. Then I found some ‘fake’ spools and this is how I finally decided to make the ornaments.

The materials you’ll need are:

Little Foam cones

Little Wooden Spools

Mod Podge or glue

White Paint

Paint Brush

Glitter, I prefer the super fine glitter

Barbeque Skewers

Ribbon

And not pictured (I forgot) is a Loop Turner

Step 1:  First, I painted the little spools.

Step 2: Push the skewer in through the cone. This is kinda tricky, because it wants to come out through the side. So you have to work it up and straight through the middle.

Step 3: Coat the cone in the Mod Podge.

Step 4: Coat in glitter!!!

Step 5: Glue the spools onto the bottom of the cone. I kept my skewer sticking out of the tree to help locate the right position for the spool. (You can also use a hot glue gun for this part!)

Then you have this great little forest of glittery trees!

Step 6: Pull the ribbon through the spool and the cone.

Step 7: And tie a knot at the bottom of the spool and another one at the top of tree. This covers up that flat top part of the cone.

And Voila! It’s ready to hang on the tree!

I’m totally in love with these trees, but now I have to decide which of my swap partners gets which tree….

Do you decorate with these bright colors? Or are you more or a red and green traditionalist??

Be sure to check out all the ornaments in the ornament exchange flickr group for more inspiration!!

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A Sweet Holiday Hostess Candle Gift

I hope you had a chance to make it out to the Greens and Gifts Galore this weekend! As guests to the sneak preview there was another craft that we got to make that I want to share with you…

Kristin Price from KristinPotPie had this great project set up for us all to make. It could be a great gift to take as a hostess gift to your next party or just to keep (like I’m doing). A bunch of them grouped together would be a beautiful centerpiece as well. (I just thought about that as I was writing this or I would have set it up and taken pictures…)

It’s super simple!

First let’s decorate the top. I cut a circle, but my first one was too small… So I cut again. This time I made the circle larger than I needed, then set it up on the jar and trimmed it down. Cut some greens, grab some floating candles and add water. (If you are giving this as a hostess gift, you might want to wait to add the water. Just in case… You don’t want it to spill on the way to the party!) Then add some ribbon embellishments to the top and Voila!

I don’t remember exactly what the clippings we used were, but I’ll let you know when I find out!

What would you do? Keep it or give it away? Or make more than one and do both???

 

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To Do List- Swap Quilted Magnets with a Tutorial! Done!

Another project crossed off my To Do List! Mini Mini quilts! For your refrigerator or note board!

Unfortunately, these were not my idea! I wish I was the brains behind this project! I was inspired by this picture by A Cup and a Catch Up. Her’s are fantastic with the hand stitching on there…

My partner for the Modernista Homemade Swap had these in her mosaic, and I fell in love with them instantly!! I just had to make a batch. And now I’m actually making another batch for a Christmas present and then I want some too…

I couldn’t find a tutorial for these, so thought I’d show you how I made mine! You can probably figure it out, without my tutorial, but…

Step 1: Gather materials! You’ll need a cutting tool and mat, magnets, batting and SCRAPS! And tiny scraps at that, since we’re making teeny tiny quilts!

Step 2: Cut the batting and the back fabric into 2″ squares.

Step 3: Cut your scraps into even smaller pieces for the front of the magnet. Some of them I just cut on the fly and put them together. Others I made little patterns for. Here are some of the patterns I used.

Others I just cut and sewed and then trimed down to 2″ square. So these little patterns aren’t very detailed by any means!

Step 4: Sew together all your pieces so that you have all the fronts put together.

Step 5: Quilt all the fronts to the batting.

Step 6: Put together the quilted piece and the back piece, right sides together. Stitch them together. Remember to leave a hole to pull the mini mini quilt through and also make sure it’s big enough to put in your magnet.

Step 7: Clip the corners and iron over the back fabric to help the seams lie flat. Then turn it right side out by pulling it through the hole.

Step 8: Insert magnet.

Step 9: Topstitch!

Then repeat and repeat and repeat… You get the idea! Until, Wah-la!, you have all your magnet!

What a perfect Christmas present, huh??? I LOVE these things!!!

 

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TuTu Monster Wreaths

I love blogging, but there’s one problem with it… The holidays bring everyone making holiday inspired crafts… So first off, I see things that other bloggers are making and I’m like, OH, I need to make that too…. And there’s the whole, I love being crafty so I want to make something new….

So… Here I am… It’s not like I am sitting around looking for something to do. I have a full to-do list, for sure… And I don’t need another Halloween wreath… But then the other day I saw this Tulle Wreath by She’s Crafty.

I thought it was really cute, just the way she made it, but… I also saw a monster… I saw her wreath taken in a little different direction and turned into a monster! I had to make one. Or two.

I thought it would be a fun project to do with the kiddo, but it was a little much for him. He helped with the color selection and the design of the monster faces. The red and orange was his idea! But he wasn’t really into helping tie on the zillion pieces of tulle! But he didn’t mind trying it on… So not only can it be a TuTu Monster Wreath, but it can be a tutu crown! Or a tutu, too!

We got the foam wreaths and the tulle. The 10″ wreath took 3 yards of tulle and the 12″ wreath needed 4 yards. I cut the tulle into 2″ x 10″, or so, strips. The set about tying each piece around the wreath. It’s kind like making a yarn wreath. It looks simple and quick, but it’s simple, yes, quick, no. Once that was FINALLY done, we embellished the wreaths with felt teeth, pipe cleaner antennas and eyeballs.

We were originally going to make our eyeballs, but then we found these eyeballs at the dollar store for another project and decided to use them.

As I was making this my husband said, ‘That’s not looking very scary, ya know.’ Yep… I wasn’t going for scary on this one…. So they’re monsters, but they look kinda like tutu’s too, huh?

What projects have you seen online that you decided to make?? Any good ones I need to add to my list??

 

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Hot Dog Day Vest Tutorial!

This is a re-post from a post I did back in July for Narelle’s blog Cook, Clean, Craft when she hosted the series Boy’s Own Style! I thought now that people are thinking about Halloween this could be a fun little project to share!

Enjoy!

First off, I have to say Happy National Hot Dog Day! Maybe it’s a US thing, but everyone can play along right??? Thanks for stopping by to join me here on Narelle’s blog! I’m Louise from I’m Feelin’ Crafty!

Who doesn’t love hot dogs?? And who doesn’t love dressing this kids up like a hot dog??? When Narelle asked me join in on her series, of course the first thing I did was say yes. Then I looked at the calendar and knew I had to join in on National Hot Dog Day! My husband and I brainstormed for an idea and he actually came up with the idea for a hot dog bun vest. At first I was like, no way! Then the details started coming to me and I fell in love with the idea!

So here’s how I made my vest!

Step 1- Gather materials: Red and White fleece, khaki colored denim, yellow buttons (for the drops of mustard ya know!), thread and the pattern. My pattern is for somewhere between a 3T and 4T.

Or you can make your own by tracing a vest that already fits (which is basically how I made mine…)

Step 2- Cut out all your pieces. Denim for the outside, Red Fleece for the inside, pockets, buttonhole piece and collar and White fleece for the mayonnaise pockets.

Step 3- Sew in the Pockets. 1, position the pockets about 4.5″ inches from the corner of the armhole at side seam, right sides to right sides. 2, Sew the pockets on the seam side only. 3, If you want to topstitch, do so now! Here I folded over the pocket and did a little topstitching. 4, Iron open the pockets, but be sure to not iron the fleece directly (put a cover over it before ironing)! 5, Stack the front and back pieces, right sides together, and pin. 6, Sew a continuous seam from the armhole to the bottom hem edge going around the pocket. If you did add the topstitching, it adds a little funkiness to the laying out and stitching the front and back together, but you just have to move it around a bit and be careful to not stitch over the topstitching.

Step 4: Add the mayo!  First turn over the top of the mayo and stitch. Sew on the mayo squirts on to the right sides of the front flaps of the inside pieces of red fleece.

Step 5: Sew lining. Sew front sides to back, right sides together. Leave a 4″ hole in one of the side seams to pull it all through later.

Step 6: Collar. Sew the two collar pieces together, right sides together. Only sew the two short sides and curved side of the collar. Trim the corners and turn right side out. Topstitch the three sides.

Step 7: Buttonhole strip. Just like the collar, sew the short sides and the curvy side together, right sides to right sides. Trim the corners, snip the curves (so that they fold over easier) and turn right side out.

Step 8: Add the buttonholes. Honestly, I am not a fan of buttonholes. On my machine, the buttonhole function doesn’t work. I need to get that fixed…. So please excuse my not so perfect buttonholes. Anyway, for this project, I added the buttonholes and I didn’t line them up on purpose. Have you ever seen a compete straight line of mustard drops on your bun? Me neither! So neither are my mustard buttons!

Step 9: Put it all together! First off, sew the shoulders together for the front and back, right sides to right sides. Pin the collar and the buttonhole strip to the front of the vest, right sides to right sides. Next, pin the inside of the vest to the outside, again, right sides to right sides.

Step 10: Sew it all together. Sew all the outside edges (but not the armholes! I got carried away and forgot to NOT sew the armholes and had to pull out the seams at the armholes!!!) Don’t forget to trim the corners!

Step 11: Pull it all through the hole you left in the lining and topstitch all around the edges, including under the collar.

Step 12: Sew on the buttons. I had an extra button, so I added a drop of mustard to the inside of the vest!

Step 13: Close the armholes. Fold over the outside and the inside towards the inside about .5″ and pin. Then pin the two together lining up the shoulder seam and the side seam. Topstitch!

And WAH-LA! You’ve got a little hot dog!

And we’re off to have a hot dog! Thanks again, Narelle, for having me!  While you’re eating yours, be sure to visit me at I’m Feelin’ Crafty!

 

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Kids Clothes Week Challenge and a Comfy Pants Tutorial!

It’s here again!!! Kids Clothes Week Challenge! Yea! I love a good challenge! The idea is to sew on your kids clothes for at least an hour each day this week. But if you’ve followed along before, I like to get a whole project done each day…

Today’s project. Comfy Pants!

We need some new ‘comfy pants’ as they are called around here. As you can see, my son seems to be growing up, but not around. He 4, but these 2T pants still fit in the waist. Just not in the length! Poor kid looks like he’s getting ready for a flood!

According to my son’s measurements, we now have pants that fit! yes, he found the tape measure and started measuring everything during our little photoshoot!

Needless to say, a pair of comfy pants was my first project this week! And they are soooo easy! I’ll do a little tutorial so you can see how I did them. Seriously, an hour.

The materials don’t get a picture this time. It’s a really long list… Just kidding! Fleece, elastic and thread. That’s it!

Step 1: I made my own pattern. Just layout a pair of pants that fit the kiddo. I added length, of course… And don’t forget to add length at the top for the hem and elastic pocket, an extra inch and a half. And you’ll notice that my pattern is bigger than the actual pants. That’s because you also don’t want to forget the seam allowance.

Step 2: Cut the fabric. The straight edge of the pattern needs to be cut on the fold of the fabric. You’re only cutting 2 pieces.

Step 3: Flatten out the two pattern pieces and lay them out, right sides together. Sew the crotch (follow the arrows!).

Step 4: Hem the waist. Since its fleece and not really a very iron-able fabric, I sewed a little hem. About a half-inch. You could just pin this part, but I don’t really like to pin either! So I did the hem.

Step 5: Fold the hem over again. An inch. And stitch. Be sure to leave a hole to pull the elastic through.

Step 6: Pull the elastic through and sew together the elastic. Then sew the hole closed.

Step 7: This is an optional step. I topstitched a second stitch. No real reason except for looks!

Step 8: Sew the legs together. Fold the pant legs, right sides together, and stitch the inseam. Start with the crotch and sew to the bottom of the leg. Repeat for each leg.

Step 9: Sew the leg hem. I did mine about an inch.

Step 10: Again, this an optional step. I went back and added a topstitch for that double stitch look.

And wah-la! Comfy Pants!

I know… It’s not a very exciting project, but we NEED new comfy pants!

Are you sewing along with KCWC? What was your first project?? Now it’s back to sewing for me!

 

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Sew Ready to Play Backgammon with The Long Thread

I have some good and bad news… We’ll start with the bad… I’m sad to say, but today is the last day of the series… ahhhh… Enough about that! The good news… We have a great guest, Ellen from The Long Thread!! Ellen has a fantastic blog, fantastic fabrics and a great book, 1, 2, 3 Sew! I was lucky enough  to win a copy of this really cool book and I have to say it does have some great projects in it! I’ve been a fan of Ellen’s work for some time now and throughly enjoy reading her blog. You can only imagine how stoked I was to find my Magnetic Bookmark listed among her Top 100 Tutorials of 2011. Wow! Yes, I was blushing! If you haven’t checked out her blog before now, you must! Well, after you read this…

And Welcome, Ellen!!!

Thanks to Louise for inviting me to be part of her clever Sew Ready to Play series! Today I’ve made a skirt inspired by the playful geometry of a backgammon board, which makes me want to actually get the game and teach my kids to play. I remember playing as a kid and think I loved the board as much as the game. This simple elastic waist skirt fits sizes 4-6, but could easily be adjusted to other sizes, even for adults! Use the triangle template to make patchwork for a quilt, a tote bag or placemats. If you want to be more faithful to the backgammon design, you could use two solid shades of fabric for the triangles and even make two bands of triangles facing one another.

 

This skirt was made with my new fabric collection for the Japanese company, Kokka, which will be available in stores in early 2013. Here I used this linen/cotton blend with a lightweight gray chambray cotton. This graphic skirt is perfect for fall paired with tights and boots, but light enough to wear year-round. Happy sewing!

Click here for the directions!

And you can check out another version of the skirt at Moda Bake Shop!

BIO:

Ellen Luckett Baker is author of The Long Thread, where she writes about her adventures with sewing, crafting, and kids. Her book 1, 2, 3 Sew was recently published by Chronicle Books and her follow-up book, 1, 2, 3 Quilt, will be released Fall 2013. She has designed two fabric collections; the first for Moda, which is in stores now and the second for Kokka, which will be available in early 2013. Ellen lives in Atlanta with her husband, two daughters, and a growing number of pets.

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