June 19, 2013

Peacock Envelope Clutch

May 30, 2012 By 12 Comments

 Today I am sharing with you a guest post I did earlier this month at HelloLidy! Her blog is super cute and you should definitely check it out!I absolutely love purses, and this is no exception. I kept seeing this on Pinterest, and thought, “Hey, I could do that”…and so I did, but as a casual clutch because that’s more my style. And the best part, is that I am going to share with you how I did it. It really was quite simple!

The materials you will need:

Basting Spray or some type of adhesive spray

Fabric for lining – 11″ x 22″

Outer fabric – 11″ x 22″

Heavyweight interfacing – 10″ x 21″

Peacock Feather (length is depending on how much you want it to cover. I used a 16″ feather, but I also snipped off quite a bit of the bottom)

Mod Podge (or homemade version)

Making the clutch-

1. Center the interfacing on the wrong side of the lining material. Iron in place.

2. Place the lining material and the outer fabric right sides together. **Your interfacing will be on the outside of the lining** Using something round, (I used a cleaning wipes container…yeah, don’t judge me), trace the outer edge on two of the corners. Cut on the line.

3. Along that same edge, mark a 3-5 inch spot to show you where to start and stop sewing. Take these two pieces to your sewing machine and stitch using a 1/4″ seam allowance.

4. Snip the curved corners and clip the pointed corners to ensure they lay flat.

5. Turn this right side out and press making sure to tuck in that opening you had on the curved edge. Top stitch using 1/4″ seam allowance.

6. Now you are going to fold up the end with the regular corners so that the inside fabric lining is touching. Fold down the top flap and play around with it until you get to a designated height that you like. Once you have the bottom part where you want it, pin it in place and sew it along the same line you used to top stitch in step 5.

7. Fold over the top part and you are ready to add your feather.

Adding the feather-

8. Lay your feather on top of the clutch’s flap to determine where you want it to be.

9. Next, remove the feather and take your adhesive spray and spray it to the clutch where you would like the feather to lay.

10. Carefully, lay down the feather and gently press it into place.

11. Using a soft brush and your mod podge, lightly “paint” the feather. It will want to move around a bit if you didn’t add enough adhesive spray, but you can easily move it by lifting it with a pin. The stem may stick up a bit, but the feathers are glued down so it will stay;).

12. Wait for that little guy to dry and you are done and ready to use your new clutch!!

Super easy, huh?

Let me know what you think!!

 

Pin It
Photobucket
Vote for me!!
 

Where I’m linking up

MondayMad Skills Tutorial Link Party Make Something Mondays  CraftOManiac Monday Market Yourself Monday A Marvelous Mess Inspire Me Monday  Sew Chatty Made by You Mondays More the Merrier Monday What’s in The Gunny Sack  Serendipity & Spice  Destination:Craft Show Off Monday Moms Monday Mingle Tuesday Show Me What Ya Got Tell Me! (Tuesdays) Tutorial Tuesday with Hope Studios Rook No. 17 Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays Handmade Tuesdays {Too} cute Tuesday Terrific Tuesdays  Trick or Treat Tuesday’s Tuesday Timeout Take A Look Tuesday’s One Project at a Time Tuesday To-Do Part Tuesday Tutorials From Dream to Reality Wednesday Create and Share We Did It! Wednesday Your Whims Wednesday Today’s Creative Blog Look What I Made Wow Me Wednesday! Sugar and Dots Someday Crafts Fine Craft Guild Homemade by You Wednesday Uncommonly Yours I Made This Whimsy Wednesdays Thursday A Glimpse Inside Somewhat Simple House of Hepworths A Crafty Soiree Transformation Thursday Creative Thursday live laugh {linky} Thursdays are Your Days Friday Friday Favs Delicately Constructed Fridays Flaunt it Friday Lolly Jane Free for All Friday The Shabby Nest Handmade 52 Cindy’s Romantic Home Creation Corner Pity Party Lovely Crafty Weekend Find Your Craft Friday Whipper Berry A Little Knick Knack Simply Designing Fun Stuff Fridays Feature Friday Free For All Friday Fun Party Fabulous Fridays Shine On FridaysWeekends Show And Tell Saturdays Saturday Spotlight Weekend Wrapup Party Sundae Scoop DIY Showoff Scout’s Sweet Sundays Sunday Blog Love It’s Overflowing Think Pink Sundays Sister Sunday Link Party A Pinteresting {Link} Party Pinning and Singing on the Weekend Twigg Studios Sweet Talkin’ Sunday Wayward Weekend Sunday {Fun}day
Filed Under: Sewing Tagged With: ,

Quick Quilted Pillow {Tutorial}

January 18, 2012 By 23 Comments

After making the backpack travel pillow yesterday, my daughter asked if she could have a little pillow for her room. Mostly everything in her room is polka dots, so I went ahead and stuck with the theme. I had this fabric laying around in my stash just waiting to be used up, so it worked out perfectly. I just got my GO! Heart-2″, 3″, 4″ and the GO! Value Die in the mail so I decided to use those as the top for the pillow. You do not need to have these dies, or even the GO! Baby Fabric Cutter in order to do this project, so let’s get started.

Materials needed
Fabric for hearts and back of pillow-
9 hearts (3″ x 3″)
Square cut into 12″ x 12″
Fabric for background of the hearts and behind quilt backing-
Square cut into 13.5″ x 13.5″
9 squares – 4.5″ x 4.5″
Fusible webbing-cut into same size as fabric hearts
Stuffing for pillow (I used Poly-Fil)
Rotary cutter
Accuquilt dies and cutter (Optional)
Quilt backing
Fabric marker
Quilt top for pillow

To attach the hearts to your squares, you will place the fusible webbing heart in the center of the square, then place the fabric heart over that. Iron all 3 pieces together. Repeat for each of the 9 squares.

This is how your squares will look when you are finished ironing them together.
Next, sew each of the squares together 3 blocks across by 3 blocks down. Place your squares on top of each other, right sides facing, and sew a 1/4″ seam.

Continue doing this until you have 3 rows of 3. Then, lay them out and you are going to take the middle row and flip it up on to the top row. The middle row will be upside down, facing right sides together on the top row. Sew the last row onto the middle row in the same manner.

After all rows are sewn together, you will have your quilt top.

Next, place your quilt top onto the quilt batting to determine how much you will need. I made sure to leave a little extra on either side (about 1/2″ to 1″) just to be sure it all was quilted to the edge.

Using the 13.5″ x 13.5″ square of fabric that you have set aside, you will sandwich the quilt batting in between the quilt top. Pin these three layers together to ensure your fabric doesn’t move around when you are quilting it.

As for what quilting method you will use, that is entirely up to you. I decided to go with the stitch in the ditch method of just sewing in each one of the seams. Next time though, I might get a little bit more advanced and go for a free motion design.
Assembling the pillow pieces
Next, take your back piece that you cut out and lay it on top of the quilted pillow top, right sides facing. Mark a 4″ space using a fabric marker that will not be sewn, to allow you to turn the pillow case inside out.
Sew this together using a 1/4″ seam.
Before turning inside out, we need to get rid of the extra quilt batting that sticks out on the side. Cut this off leaving the 1/4″ seam in tact. Clip the corners to ensure the corners lay flat.



Stuff your pillow, sew up the open seam and you are done! You now have a cute quilted pillow to share! Thanks for stopping by. Let me know if you have any questions or comments. I love hearing from you!!



Filed Under: Sewing Tagged With: , ,

Backpack Travel Pillow {Tutorial}

January 17, 2012 By 18 Comments
As a family, we travel a lot! My husband travels for work, and my daughter and I travel back and forth to Illinois a lot to be home. We also travel as a family and especially now that we are in Europe, the traveling is getting to be much more of a routine thing for us.
Every time my husband travels for work, he has to be on a plane for at least 6 hours, sometimes 14….not fun! He has been talking about making this for what feels like forever, and now that I know how to sew, he’s been hounding me to make it. I made this first one as a child sized one to see how it worked out and then I will make him his “big boy” one this week.
The pillows we currently have are like most people have; those U-shaped pillows that you are supposed to wear around your neck to get some “sleep” on a long plane ride. I don’t know about you, but I can’t sleep in that position so I always end up trying to fold it up and mash it against something to get it more comfortable. Usually, if I’m lucky, I’ll get a window seat and stick up against the window and if that’s not an option, then my husbands shoulder will suffice. Many times though, I have just put it on the lap table that folds down and tried to get some rest……but sleeping at a 90 degree angle just isn’t that comfortable. Which is when my husband came up with this idea:) He thinks he’s sooooo smart. In this case though, he may be on to something.

Here are the materials you will need:

Soft, cozy fabric cut into the following sizes:
2 strips – 10″ X 3″
4 strips – 14″ X 3″
2 pieces – 10″ X 8″

2 buttons
coordinating thread
Fabric marker
Filling for the pillow ( I used Poly-Fil)

Top strap
The first thing you will do is take the two pieces that are 10″ X 3″ and put them together with right sides facing each other and sew them together using a 1/4″ seam leaving one of the short sides open. This way you can turn it inside out. Clip the sewn corners at an angle so that they will lay flat when you turn them inside out.

 

Turn inside out and press.
Side straps
Repeat this process with the 4 remaining strips that are 14″ X 3″, ending up with two more straps for the sides of the pillow.
Attaching the straps
Next, pin the top strap (the smaller one) to the 10″ side of the piece for the pillow, attaching it to the right side of the fabric centering it along the top. You will want to fold up the ends and pin them so that they do not get in the way while you are sewing.
For the side straps, repeat the same process, centering them halfway down the 8″ side of the piece.
Again, you are going to want to pin the ends of the straps in the middle so that they do not get in the way while sewing.
Lay the other 10″ X 8″ piece on top of the other piece, right sides together, and pin it in place. I took the pins out from where the straps were and repositioned them so that I was not sewing over pins. At the bottom, mark a 3″-4″ space where you will start and stop your sewing, so that you can turn the pillow inside out. Be sure to backstitch at the beginning and end, to ensure it is secure. *I accidentally drew my first line too close, so you can see there are three marks on the bottom. The only two that matter were the two outer ones*
Clip the corners of the pillow, turn inside out, and press. **Be careful when turning inside out as you will have pins inside in the middle where you pinned the ends out of the way.**
Next, take it and place it on the backpack you will be using. Pull the top strap through and figure out where you will put your button and buttonholes. Mark them using a fabric marker.
Do the same thing for the side straps. **I used two button holes on each so that it was adjustable depending on how full the backpack was.**
Attaching the button
My new machine has a stitch to sew on buttons, but if yours does not, hand sewing it is just fine. Just be sure it is nice and secure.
Buttonholes
Using your sewing machine’s buttonhole stitch, sew your buttonholes where you drew your marks.
Filling the pillow
Using the filling of your choice, stuff your pillow to the desired fullness. Be sure to push it in the corners so that it is consistent throughout.
Pin the opening at the bottom closed by folding the ends under and together to create a nice seam. Top stitch that closed and you are done!!
You now have a cute, comfy, little pillow to use on all of your travels. Prop your backpack on the lap tray and take a nap on the next plane ride you take:)

I am positive it will be much easier to use than a rounded neck pillow on the plane. I can’t wait to try it out!!

Please let me know if you have any questions and I’d love to hear what you think of it so feel free to leave me some comments!! Thanks!

Filed Under: Sewing Tagged With: ,

Cheerleading skirt for infant/doll

January 12, 2012 By 4 Comments

After making the little Valentine’s Day heart onesie, I knew it needed a cute skirt to go with it. I had a lot of different ideas going through my head on what kind to make, but decided to go with a cheerleading skirt. My aunt made me a cheerleading shirt when I was younger and I had to try it out to see how to do it. I went in to my daughters room and pulled out a 49ers cheerleading outfit we bought for her a few months back and stared at it for what felt like forever. It couldn’t be too hard right? Nope..it was a breeze.

I just love it! It reminds me of my high school GO MUSTANGS!!

There are a couple things I would change, but I’ll include those in the instructions so that you can make your own. Here we go….

Materials you will need:

Two colors of fabric (I chose red and white cotton to go with the Valentine’s Day heart onesie).
Coordinating thread
Elastic thread

Skirt

First, cut out your fabric.

You will need 4 of each color cut into 5″ X 7″ rectangles and 1 long piece for the waistband measuring 4″ X 26″
Next, lay 2 of your rectangles of opposite fabric colors on top of each other, rights sides together. Sew them together with a 1/4″ seam
Continue doing this down the line, keeping right sides together until all of your rectangles are sewn together. Be sure to alternate the colors each time.
Next, I pressed out the seams so that they would lay flat and then folded up one long end for the hem. For this, you will need to fold up the fabric 1/4″ and press and then do another 1/2″ and press. Take that to the sewing machine and sew a straight line just on the inner edge of the fold.
   
 
Now you are going to take that and turn it over so the right side of the fabric is facing you. You will then take the first rectangle and bring it to the left side of the next rectangle of that same color. Pin it in place. Using a fabric marker, measure down 2 inches and mark so you know where to stop sewing. I used a zig-zag stitch on this part to sew the two pieces together. Continue doing this. You will sew the last rectangle to the first one at the end. It just makes it a bit easier.
This is what it should look like. As you can see, I only did three rectangles of each color., and it didn’t end up as big as I would have liked, so pay no attention and continue on with your 4 rectangles of each color.

Take the last rectangle and place it on top of the first rectangle, right sides together so that you can sew that seam together. Use a 1/4″ seam.
Iron that seam and then turn it inside out and place the two colors together like you did before. Pin and draw your 2″ mark on it as well.
When you are done doing that, it will look something like this. Isn’t that just adorable!?!:)
Waistband
I decided to do some shirring on the waistband. I found an amazing tutorial for this at ~Ruffles and Stuff~. Take your 4″ X 26″ rectangle and place a ruler on top. Measure out every 1/2″. Then connect your dots by drawing a straight line. All of this needs to be on the right side of the fabric so you can see it while you are sewing.
This is where the elastic thread comes into play. Only the bobbin will be wound with the elastic thread and the top thread will still be regular thread. The first line that I drew I used as a guide to where I wanted my fold for the hem to be.

Sew this fold down about an 1/8″ from the fold.

This is what it should like when you are done. I pressed it so that it would be easier to work with when attaching it to the rest of the skirt.
Fold this in half, right sides together, and sew a 1/4″ seam. I used a zig-zag stitch on this to prevent fraying.
Match up your seam to one of the seams where the fabric overlapped and created the pleats.
Pin it in place and sew it into place about 1/2″ in. You can finish it off by serging it or using the zig-zag stitch to prevent the fraying.

And that’s it. How fun is that?! Let me know if you have any questions and comments are always appreciated. Thanks!!
Filed Under: Sewing Tagged With: ,

♥Getting ready for Valentines Day♥

January 11, 2012 By 30 Comments

Two of my best friends had baby girls in December and they both live back in the States, so I decided to get started a bit early on some Valentine’s gifts.

 

Aren’t they just the cutest? I love the way they turned out. I have done a couple rag quilts before and I just love the way they fray up.
I decided to share this tutorial with you so that you too can make an adorable onesie for a lovely little one in your life. This can be done on any sized shirt, I just decided a onesie would be best for the babies.

Here are the materials you will need:

Onesie (or any other shirt depending on the size)
Red fabric (I used flannel because it frays so nicely)
Heart stencil (or if you’re feeling frisky, you can free hand it)
Scissors and retractable scissors 
Fabric marker
Fabric glue
Coordinating thread

First, cut out your stencil and lay it on the onesie to be sure it is the right size. I made mine about a half inch bigger than I really needed it because the ends would fray up and shrink.
Next, fold the stencil in half, lay it on the fold of the fabric and trace it using your fabric marker. Be sure the fabric is pre-washed so that it doesn’t bleed onto your new white onesie.
Cut your heart out of the fabric. Don’t worry too much about the edges being perfect because when it frays it will hide any imperfections.
I decided to glue the heart onto my onesie so that it didn’t move to much while I was sewing. REMEMBER not to glue all the way to the edges because that part is going to be cut to fray. Squirt a little bit of glue on the back of the heart and spread it around with your finger. You don’t need a lot because you are still going to sew it down on to the shirt.
Flip it over and center it on the onesie.
Next you sew it on. I started sewing about an inch in from the edge of the fabric.  You will notice on this one I started at the point on the bottom and backstitched a few at the beginning and end, however, on the second one, I started in the “cleavage” of the heart and it was much easier. At the point(bottom), I just lowered my needle, and rotated. (I used black on this one to show you what it looks like…and yes I realize it is not perfect, but with coordinating thread, you wont see it much PLUS, the frays of the fabric from washing will cover most of it.
Now that you have it all on the onesie, all you need to do is clip the edge using your retractable scissors. I clipped in to about 1/4″ from the thread outline every 1/4″ or so. This is not an exact science, so the more you want it to fray, the closer together the snips should be. Now it is not completely necessary to use retractable scissors, but if I was going to be making more than one or two, I would definitely recommend using them. Your hand will be quite tired after a few.
**Be careful not to get the scissors caught on the onesie while you are cutting. You will end up with little holes under the heart edges. Not cute!
That’s it. You can see on the onesie on the bottom part of the picture, I used red thread so it is much less noticeable.
Put them in the washer without fabric softener for the first wash. Then dry as normal in the dryer. After one wash, this is what it looked like. I washed it one more time (using fabric softener the second time) and that was it. You can see the finished product after the second wash at the top of this tutorial.
Good luck making this cute little Valentine’s gift and let me know if you have any questions. Also, I appreciate any comments you have to give. Thanks!!

This post is part of Get Your Craft on Tuesday at Today’s Creative Blog.



Filed Under: Sewing Tagged With: ,