Sewing Round-up... on my to do list

There are so many cool projects out there I want to make, almost too many (kidding!) Here are the ones on the top of my list

1. Upcycled Boy’s Hat
2. Hand Stamped Clothing Labels

3.Backpack Tutorial
4. Art Smock

5. Diaper Pouch
6. Gathered Clutch Tutorial

7. Scrappy Owl Treat bag
8. The Market Skirt

9. Checkerboard
10. Sketched Flower Trivet

What projects are you itching to sew?

Technical Difficulty

Hi my name is Rebekah (Sharon's favorite sister). All day today Sharon has been calling me so upset because her Internet has been down. She has called the company, and more to try and get it fixed so that she could post her sewing post for today. Alas, no such luck, she has resorted to having me blog this post letting you all know that, today's post will be postponed due to some technical difficulties. However you should expect a double post in the next day or so. Thanks!

Home Improvements

I found this little foot stool at garage sale behind a bunch of other junk. I knew I had to have it, but I was in a little town and I only had a couple dollars. Well I made my offer of 4 big ones, and it was accepted. I've never recovered anything before, but there's a first time for everything, right? OK, so here it the before...

I took it apart to find some pretty gross innards... and I didn't want to spend an extra $35.00 on a new pad, so I just used an old pillow I had for the new cushion.

I measured the old red cover, added an inch seam allowance. Then I measured, cut out my new fabric, and sewed a new cover.

The end result could be improved upon, but I still love my new old foot stool. I think eventually I'm going to refinish the legs, but for now I'm going to kick my feet up and rest.

Guest Post: Kimberly

Kim is the oldest sister in my family (there's 7 of us girls in all). She is funny, loves to play games, an awesome cook, loves art (her husband is an artist), collects Fiesta dishes, cross stitches, and does so many other things that amaze me! I remember visiting Kim right after she had her first baby, my family was going to Arizona and we picked her up from her apartment on the way. She was laying on the couch sleeping, waiting for us to arrive. Her little baby Lizzie was so perfect, and Kim was so pretty! I love my sister Kim!

So Sharon asked me to participate in this and I said sure, but I am not a seamstress to any degree. I can remember asking mom to show me how to follow a pattern, but I lost interest about 10 min into her demonstration. The one thing I really enjoy doing is cross-stitching and making quilts, I think its fun to make up your own pattern and find all kinds of crazy fabric.
This was one project I started when I was about 12 or 13. I wanted to make a quilt and I wanted it to be random colors and fabrics. It just so happened that mom had lots of misc fabric laying around and she let me choose whatever I wanted.

Some pieces included, curtains we had in our house, fabric from leftover dresses, mom’s muumuu fabric from Hawaii and others.
I cut out all these different sizes of flowers and then cut the circle for the center of all the flowers. I then arranged them onto a sheet and tacked them down with some thread (very loosely). I started at one end and used a sewing machine to sew the flowers down all the way. It was a long and tedious process. I think I got a little over half way done with it (this took me months to do) and then I got busy and so the quilt went into a closet and I forgot about it.
Skip ahead about 10 years and I get a present from my sister for Christmas.

I open it and it was my quilt that I started so long ago, she had taken the time to finish it for me. I love this quilt more than any other quilt, one because it was something that I designed and it has all the fabric I remember from when I was a kid and two because my sister took the time to finish it for me, I don’t look at it without thinking of her and the time she took to do that.

I have been gathering fabric for my next quilt. The pattern is called Grandma’s flower Garden and it looks like it will be easy but who knows till you try right? He are the pics, sorry I cant show you how to make it, I haven’t started it yet. I want to try and do it all by hand. Since I like to cross itch, I think doing this one by hand is more up my alley and if the Amish can sew by hand, why cant I?
Below are some images of what a garden quilt looks like for those who don’t know. I am going to try one and add my own fabric and flair.

Print and cut out the pattern. Cut out pieces from fabric. For each flower
you will need six brightly colored hexagons and one solid colored
center piece. Cut out at least 12 flowers. In a tradition flower garden quilt,
each flower would have a solid colored center in either yellow or red.
If you want to stay with quilt history, you may want to use 1930’s
prints from you local quilt shop. You will also need to cut out twelve white
pieces to go around each flower. After they are all cut, give the children
plenty of floor space and have them use the pieces to lay out a
flower garden quilt.

Guest Post! Courtney

Courtney is the oldest of the younger kids on my family, she's number 6. Everyone thinks she's younger then me, even though she has 4 kids (probably cause I'm taller). Courtney is actually one of the reasons I decided to go into Family Consumer Science Education (Home Ec). See, she took a sewing class about the same time I was a freshman in high school. She made this black dress that I totally loved (and grew out of), and I thought it would be cool to go to college and just sew. That's just what I ended up doing. You were my inspiration Courtney!

(I don't think she even knew that)

Whenever someone has a baby shower to go to, one of the first gift ideas to come to some one's mind is to give a blanket. I really like this bow-tie edging on fleece blankets because it makes the baby blanket look fancier and it makes you look more skilled and talented, though, it is actually really simple and easy to do.

As a side note, I am making two of these blankets for my sister-in-law, Megann, to put with her baby gift baskets raffle. Her daughter has been Type 1 Diabetic since she was 1 year old. The money for the raffle will go towards helping to find a cure! If you would like to know more or donate towards this foundation, go to http://walk.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=extranet.personalpage&confirmid=87681958

I am not sure if these blankets would work for my sister, Shaina's blanket drive, but her beautiful little boy was born with heart problems and spent a lot of time in the NICU. Little Kimble enjoyed many a donated blanket while recovering from his heart surgeries in the NICU. Shaina has organized a blanket drive to give her thanks for the help that the wonderful staff gave her and her son during their stay in the hospital. To learn more about this go to http://just-because-i-am-me.blogspot.com/2010/04/childrens-hospital-blanket-drive.html

The Tutorial

1. Buy a piece of fleece that is big enough to make a good size blanket. I like 36x60 because then the baby can still use it as a toddler too!

2. Cut a slice every 4 inches and about 3 inches deep. Remove the corner squares.

3. Take a square and fold it like you do when you make a fan out of paper.

4. Take a needle and thread, I use cross stitch floss, and tie a knot in the middle. Make it tight!

5. Do it for every square and viola, you have a very cute bow-tie blanket ready to snuggle any baby!


My precious little Jordyn enjoying a slumber in her bow-tie blanket . You can do this technique for girls or boys!

Tutorial... Hemming

Probably the biggest sewing question I get is if I know how to hem. I get asked so often, I thought I would do a tutorial on it. Its really easy, this tutorial is for a pair of pants. Skirts and dresses are done just a little different, but they aren't as hard to figure out. When I hem a pair of pants I prefer to do the stitches by hand, but you can hem using a sewing machine as well.

1. Have the owner of the pants stand on a stool or something, so they are not standing on the ground. (they should be wearing the pants in question) The seamstress should be sitting on the ground and should be about eye level where the hem is going to go.
NOTE: You never start hemming of pair of pants without first having the owner trying them on. You don't want to accidentally hem them too short.

2. Fold the bottom of the pants up, the fold in the bottom is where the fold in the hem is going to be. Make sure both legs look even. You want to make sure the bottom of the pants hit the gentleman where he wants his hem to be. You want him to be comfortable.

3. Place a couple of pins in the hem just to hold it in place when your model changes our of the pants. You could have the man sit, walk around... just to make sure the hem is where he wants it.

4.Have the man take off the pants. Send him to the store to get you some ice cream or something, you won't need him for a while. Iron your fold so you know where it needs to go.

5. From the fold measure 1/2-1 in to fold under-to have a clean edge (if you have that much fabric) plus 1-2 inches for the hem (so the total amount is no more than 3 inches)

6. If you have extra fabric, measure the amount. From the bottom of the pant leg (not from the fold) mark where that extra fabric ends (for me 4 1/2 inches) all the way around.

7. Turn your pants inside out, remove pins and unfold your pant leg (you will have a crease from your iron so you can find that spot again)

8. Cut off your excess fabric. Its OK, take a deep breath and follow your marks.
NOTE: Do not cut both sides of your pant leg at once. Cut up into your pant leg to your mark, and then turn the corner and cut across, only cutting through one layer of fabric at a time.

9. Now move to your ironing board. Use your seam gage, and move the blue marker to 1 inch. Fold your hem up 1 inch, use your seam gage as a guide. Pin all the way around (about every 2 inches) once you're all pinned, iron your fold, use steam to get a really good fold.
NOTE: This could be 1/2 in... or even smaller depending on how much hemming you're pant leg needs.

10. Fold your fabric up 2 inches. You should no longer have any raw edge of your pants showing. Use your pins that were holding your 1 inch fold in place, and move them to hold your whole hem together. Make sure to sure your seam gage to have your hem be at 2 inches (or less if needed) all the way around. Iron the dickens out of your fold line. You want this to look really sharp.

11. Using your favorite hemming stitch, sew your hem on both legs. Tie a knot, and cut your threads

12. Iron your hem one more time

13. Turn your pants right side out and have the owner try them on again.

14. Inspect your craftsmanship

15. Graciously accept thanks for the phenomenal job you did.

16. Don't let it slip you know how to hem, because everyone will come to you begging for the use of your sweet skills.

Guest Post: TuTu with Autumn

Meet Autumn, The Queen of Chaos! My sister in law has been in my life for a LONG time. She was friends with my oldest sister, and then married my oldest brother, way back in the early 90s. Some things I remember about Autumn is how much Warren loves her. I remember watching him watching her. She has a catching laugh, and is awesome to chat with. Autumn and my brother have 6 kids, their newest is the model in this post. I'm so happy to have Autumn in my life, she's so creative and has an awesome style. Stick around while Autumn teaches us how to make a TUTU too cute!

Tutu supplies:
* 4 separate yards of tulle- same or different colors.
{For this demo I used 2 yards of brown, 1 yard of light pink, and 1 yard of dark pink.}
* Ruler
* Elastic
* Sharp scissors
* Sewing needle
* White thread
* Measuring tape
Instructions:
Time: Approximately 1 hour
1} Measure the waist of your child.

2} Subtract 2 inches from that measurement.{Believe me. If not, your tutu will be too big!}

3} Cut the elastic to the second measurement.

4} Take your cut elastic, and overlap by 1/2 inch.
5} Take your needle and white thread- sew the ends together. Do several stitches to make sure it's sturdy.

6} Put your sewn elastic around something tubular and sturdy. I used a ceramic jar. A new roll of paper towels on a dowel works well. This makes it easier to add your tulle.

7} Fold tulle in half - the widest part.

8} Lay your tulle flat on at table, with a short cut side in front of you.

9} Roll up the tulle. Make sure it's evenly rolled, with no wrinkles.

10} Once rolled up, cut the ends off. It's the thickest, and uneven, part of your roll. It's about 1-2 inches off each end.

11} Cut your roll every 3 inches. Do this to all your tulle until all are cut into mini 3 inch wide rolls.

12} Take a mini roll and unroll it. {These are my brown mini rolls because I forgot to take a picture of the pink ones. You get the idea though.}

13} If you want a short tutu {which is what I am making} fold the mini rolls in half and cut.To make a longer tutu, like for an older girl, skip this step.

14} Take a strip of tulle and fold in half. Tuck the strip of tulle under the elastic- half way.

15} Tie a knot of you tulle strip onto the elastic band. Important: As your tying a knot- make sure the ends of your tulle are even at all times. Also, make sure not to pull the knot too tight or it will cause the elastic to curl.

16} Tie another knot, while keeping the tulle ends even. You should end up with a double knot and your tulle ends are even. Again, don't pull too tight so the elastic doesn't curl.

NOTE: If you pull the knots to the top of the elastic it will cause the tulle to be more full. Do this to ALL of your knots.

17} Repeat this over and over until your elastic band is full of knotted tulle strips. If doing different colors- tie four strips on the same color then add another color of four strips and so on. It just looks better with a 'chunk' of one color before adding the next color.

18} The completed project! It's not hard at all, just a little time consuming.

Pull off your 'model' and put on your little princess!