sewing – Page 4

Whaley Zipper Pouch

July 17, 2014 by Amanda Leave a Comment

If you know me at all, you aren’t surprised that a whale zipper pouch would be apart of “Whale Week”! I have gotten so much use out of my 1/2 yard of True Blue Whales fabric by Blend!!! I love the little anchor charm I found to use as the zipper pull. The lining of the bag is super cute with lifesavers and anchors on it!!

This tutorial is more of an overview, if you want extra details and you are new to making zipper pouches, check out My favorite zipper pouch tutorial.

Supplies:

Fat quarters or large scraps for the outer bag and lining

scraps for zipper tabs

Medium or light weight fusible stabilizer

Heat n Bond LIte

zipper

scrap of ric arc

Cut the denim outer bag, bag lining and stabilizer 8″ x 11″ (2) of each. Fuse the stabilizer to the wrong side of the lining fabric.

Iron the heat n bond lite to the wrong side of the desired whale. Fuse and cut the whale out. Position the whale as pictured below. Sew an accent piece of ric rac.

Cut 2 zipper tabs 1.5″ x 4″. Pres the ends under 1/4″ and then press in half.

Here you can see the 2 zipper tabs. (Sorry about the lighting, it was 11:00 pm).

Measure the zipper and the tabs so you have 1″ on each side of tabs (there will be extra). Sew the tabs to the ends of the zipper. Again, click HERE for more details on this process. Cut the folded piece of the tab and cut out the excess zipper. The goal with this is to reduce bulk in the seams.

Flip the zipper over and match with the top edge of the whale piece. Place one of the lining pieces right side down and align all the edges. Don’t worry about the zipper tabs, we will even them up in a minute.

Sew using a zipper foot. Press and do the same thing to the other side of the zipper so it looks like this:

Top stitch 1/8″ along the zipper. Trim the excess tab fabric. Match right sides with right sides and pin all the way around. MAKE SURE ZIPPER IS OPEN Sew using 1/4″ seam leaving a 2.5″ opening on the side of the lining fabric.

After you’ve sewn all the way around cut a 1.5″ notch out of each corner of the bag.

Match bottom seams and sew a 1/4″ seam:

Turn right side out and top stitch side opening. Yea! It’s done!

It’s the perfect little pouch to tuck inside a beach bag with all the little stuff that might get lost.

Filed Under: appliqué, Blend Fabrics, FEATURED, Heat n Bond, sewing, Therm O Web, tutorial, whale, whale week, zipper pouch

Whale Composition Book Cover

July 16, 2014 by Amanda Leave a Comment

I love composition books and I have written several tutorials for them. I use these cute covered books for everything: journals, notes, reminders, etc. Do you use a sewing journal? I am always writing patterns or changing existing patterns and I take notes as I go. This has totally saved me as I have all the notes in one place. Here is my current sewing journal – with only a few pages left in it:

This is an example of how fabulous my notes and sketches are 🙂 After I have all my notes and the project is finished, I type it up as a tutorial or pattern online. It’s time for a new composition and I’m feeling “whale-y!

This is the composition book I am using – make sure you measurements are 9 3/4″ x 7 1/2″

Supplies:

composition book

scraps of fabric

1/3 yard fabric for lining and flaps

batting

spray n bond basting spray

hair elastic

button

You can create any design as long as it measures 16/5″ x 11″ when you are finished

Anchor fabric 3″ x 16.5″

pink accent fabric (2) 1.25″ x 16.5″

whale fabric 4.5″ x 16.5″

flower fabric 3″ x 16.5″

Piece them together in this order using 1/4″ seams:

Press the seams in one direction. Using basting spray or pins, baste the top to the batting. Quilt as desired. I quilted 1/4″ lines on both sides of the seams. Square up the batting after quilting.

Take the hair elastic and baste it 1/8″ in the center on the left side of the book cover. Like this:

For the lining, cut a piece 16.5″ x 11″

For the flaps cut (2) 11″ x 10″ and press in half

Lay them out like this:

Lay right sides together and pin all the way around. Sew using 1/2″ seam allowance leaving a 3″ opening at the bottom to turn.

Turn right side out and press. Top-stitch the opening closed.

Insert the composition book and mark where you want the button. Remove the book and sew the button on with a needle and thread – inside the flap. It’s hard to see my button because it is blue.

And you’re done!! Perfect gift for just about anyone!!

Save

Filed Under: Blend Fabrics, FEATURED, gift, sewing, Therm O Web, tutorial, whale, whale week

True Blue Whale Skirt & Top

July 15, 2014 by Amanda Leave a Comment

I can’t get enough of these whales from Blend Fabrics!! We are all sporting whale shirts! I think we will be wearing these to Sea World when we go 🙂

The fabric is cute enough that all you need to do is add some Heat n Bond to the back side of the whale, cut it out and then iron it to what ever you want!

After I ironed the whale to the T-shirt, I top-stitched around the whale twice. Sally needed a complete whale outfit (I am pretty sure if I had enough fabric I would have sewn myself a whale skirt!!)

I used skirt “A” from the pattern book Little Sassy Skirts.

I have made these skirts over and over. The patterns are easy to follow and everything is done with rotary cutter measurements (a quilters dream!). This skirt is fun because you don’t have to have a lot of yardage, I only had half yards of the True Blue prints and I love the 4 prints all pieced together!

We had such a fun day at the beach! It was beautiful! I love summer and I love whales 🙂

Filed Under: appliqué, Blend Fabrics, FEATURED, Heat n Bond, sewing, t-shirt, Therm O Web, tutorial, whale, whale week

I Heart Whales Throw Pillow

July 14, 2014 by Amanda Leave a Comment

Isn’t this the cutest fabric? It’s from the True Blue fabric line by Blend. Everyeday this week I will be featuring a project using fabrics from this fabric line – all with a whale theme!!

I totally LOVE whales and I have loved them since I was like 4 years old 🙂 I thought this pillow was super fun and I love the colors! My tutorial is over at the Therm O Web blog – so hop over there if you want the instructions to make your own!!

Filed Under: Blend Fabrics, FEATURED, Heat n Bond, pillow, sewing, Therm O Web, tutorial, Uncategorized, whale, whale week

Riley Blake Blog Tour {Baby Play Mat Tutorial with Matching Zipper Pouch}

June 4, 2014 by Amanda 23 Comments

I am so excited to be participating in the Riley Blake Designs Quilted Cotton Blog Hop.

6/10 – Nancy Zieman

6/12 – The Sassy Quilter

6/17 – Just Let Me Quilt

6/19 – Simple Simon & Co.

6/24 – Haberdashery Fun

6/26 – Sew We Quilt

7/1 – Jina Barney Designz

7/3 – Leigh Laurel Studios

7/8 – Riley Blake Designs

Today is my day for the blog hop so WELCOME and thanks for stopping by! I can’t tell you how in love I am with Riley Blake’s new quilted cottons. They come in a variety of patterns and colors. I choose the black chevron which has polka dots on the reverse side. I love giving hand made baby gifts but sometimes it gets a little challenging to create a new quilt from scratch for every baby gift; as much as my heart wants to. The quilted cottons are perfect for sewing for baby: I appliquéd some flowers, added extra wide binding and it’s an adorable play mat or changing mat or quilt for baby.

I also used what was left of the quilted cotton to make a diaper change zipper pouch. It holds all the essentials: diapers, wipes, sanitizer, etc. Continue reading for the instructions….

Supplies:

1 yard Riley Blake Quilted Cotton

6 fat quarters flower appliqué fabric

3/4 yard fabric for wide binding

Therm O Web Spray n Bond basting spray.

Download the flower patterns HERE (for large flower, you will have to enlarge on your computer – it measures about 10.5″ across)

Cut the quilted cotton 35″ x WOF (Of course you can cut whatever size you want)

Cut the 3 sizes of flower and flower centers out to make the pattern.

Pin the pattern pieces to the fabric and cut out.

Spray the Spray n Bond to the wrong side of the fabric appliqué pieces and place on the quilt. It is a bit of a challenge to appliqué on such a large piece of fabric – there was some pushing and pulling involved. I found it easier to spray baste the flowers after finishing sewing the one before.

Stitch around each flower and flower center 2 times using black thread.

To make the extra wide binding…. cut 4 strips 5″ x WOF. Sew together and press in half. Continue as you would with regular binding, only line up the raw edge of the binding 1″ from the edge of the quilt like this:

I machine sewed the binding so it would hold up nice in the wash. I am hoping this will be used more as a changing mat or crawling mat so it will be getting laundered often! I love how it turned out! This could easily be changed up for a boy – the navy and white chevron would be cute with anchors or fish!!

Of course I needed to sew a matching zipper pouch. I like the idea of having all the diaper change stuff in one handy pouch. I used one of my favorite tutorials from my good friend Jennifer. I changed the measurements from 9″x11″ to 8″x11″. The rest of the tutorial is exactly the same.

Cut (2) quilted cotton pieces 8″ x 11″

Cut (2) lining fabric pieces 8″ x 11″

Applique the smallest flower from the quilt pattern above to the side of one of the quilted cotton pieces. Then follow the rest of the tutorial.

I need one of these for myself!!

They make such a darling set! I can’t wait to give this to my friend who is expecting her very first baby!!

Thanks for stopping by! I can’t wait to see all the projects on this fun Blog Tour!!

Filed Under: appliqué, FEATURED, gift, Heat n Bond, patterns, quilt, Riley Blake, sewing, tutorial, zipper pouch

Got Ribs? {Father’s Day Apron Tutorial}

June 4, 2014 by Amanda Leave a Comment

The BBQ Father’s Day gift theme continues today with this BBQ apron using the Ribs & Bibs fabric line. BBQ and Ribs are a big part of our family traditions. I am so excited to give this apron to my dad who prides himself on his slow-cooked ribs. I’ve cut some corners on this project by ordering solid black chef’s aprons from Amazon – a 2 pack is about $10 and they arrive in 2 days! Here’s how you can make one:

Supplies:

Solid black chef apron

Fat quarter Checker Board Red

Fat quarter Open Pit White

Pig from Dinner for Two

Therm O Web Heat n Bond Lite EZ print sheets

Print the pattern in reverse on the Heat n Bond EZ print lite printer sheets – they make appliquéing letters a snap!

got ribs fathers day apron tutorial

Iron the letters to the wrong side of the checkerboard fabric.Then cut the letters out with scissors – this part takes a little while.

Iron a piece of the Heat n Bond Lite to the wrong side of the pig. Cut out the pig leaving a boarder of white.

Peel off the backing paper. Center the pig and the letters on the top portion of the apron. Iron in place. Top stitch around each letter and the pig. Yes, it’s a little tedious, but think of all the time we saved by not sewing then apron 🙂

Prepare the pocket by cutting a rectangle 15.5″ x 9″

got ribs fathers day apron tutorial.jpg_8

Press the sides and bottom in 1/4″

On the top edge of the pocket, sew a 1/4″ hem and then roll it to make a 1/2″ hem.

Pin the pocket into place and topstitch around the sides and bottom. Top-stitch again 1/4″ away from the first seam. This helps prevent fraying inside the pocket where there is a raw edge.

got ribs fathers day apron tutorial_11
Finally, find the center of the pocket and sew a straight seam to make 2 sections of pocket.

I made my husband close his eyes while modeling this apron so he wouldn’t see it – he is getting one for Father’s Day too!! got ribs fathers day apron tutorial_16

Filed Under: Blend Fabrics, Father's Day, FEATURED, gift, sewing, Therm O Web, tutorial

BBQ Napkins {Father’s Day Sewing Tutorial}

June 2, 2014 by Amanda 1 Comment

I am so in love with this fabric line from Blend designed by Maude Asbury called Ribs and Bibs. It screams Father’s Day. I normally don’t sew for the men in my life but this year is totally different because of all the inspiration this fabric has given me! Don’t you just love it!! I wish I had yards and yards to make table cloths with! Every day this week I am sharing a tutorial using this fabric line.

Of course Father’s Day is in June – during one of the busiest months of the year. The holiday has to compete with end of the year final projects, class parties, class field trips, graduations, and the list goes on. The tutorials I am sharing are projects that can be sewn quickly – because who has time in June for anything extra?

I am the world’s messiest eater – I really mean it. When I go out to dinner with my husband, I have a pile of napkins at the end of the dinner and my husband doesn’t even have one (because I used it for myself). At home I eat with a kitchen towel on my lap – it just saves paper 🙂 When our family gets together to eat ribs or BBQ paper napkins just are not enough – and even cloth napkins leave something to be desired. That’s when I decided to purchase “Bar Mop” towels and turn them into BBQ napkins. Bar Mop towels are available at any home store in the kitchen towel department. They are slightly smaller than normal kitchen towels, and not a traditional washcloth. They provide the right amount of absorbency for BBQ sauced fingers!

Let’s get started….

Supplies:

Bar Mop Towels – pre wash & dry

fat quarter Ribs & Bibs “Open Pit” in brown fabric

fat quarter Ribs & Bibs “Checker Board” in red

Therm O Web Heat n Bond Lite

Begin by cutting a piece of the Heat n Bond and ironing it to the back of the Open Pit fabric.

Cut around each image leaving a little bit of brown boarder.

Peel off the backing paper and iron it to the corner of the bar mop towel. Keep in mind the heat n bond won’t permanently adhere to the fuzzy towel so it needs to be sewn on. The Heat n Bond will hold the image in place temporarily and it will prevent fraying.

Sew around each image with a straight stitch.

Iron another piece of Heat n Bond to the wrong side of the checker board fabric. (This is a little bit of a “cheater” way to add an accent strip to the towel.)

Cut strips of the checkerboard 2 squares wide. Peel off the backing fabric.

Iron it to the bottom of the towel and top stitch around the strip. Now make enough for everyone coming to your Father’s Day BBQ!!

Filed Under: Blend Fabrics, Father's Day, FEATURED, gift, gifts, Heat n Bond, sewing, Therm O Web, tutorial

Men’s Shirt Re-Fashion

May 28, 2014 by Amanda Leave a Comment

I found this pattern for making a girls skirt out of a men’s button front shirt in this book, Never Been Stitched. The book is full of fun new sew or low sew projects. Great for involving kids!

Essentially you get a men’s shirt and cut it up, creating a skirt. I bought a size XL shirt and it made a size 8 girls skirt.

Sally wasn’t too thrilled about the idea until I made this cute whale shirt to go along with it. I used some of the left over fabric and used Heat n Bond EZ sheets that you run through the printer. Click HERE for the whale pattern.

I even used the existing front pocket from the shirt to be a high side pocket on the skirt.

Filed Under: appliqué, clothes, remake, sewing, t-shirt, Therm O Web, thrifty, whale

Mother’s Day Gifts: Zipper Pouch Set

May 6, 2014 by 2 Comments

These cute zipper pouches are a darling gift to give someone special this Mother’s Day. This tutorial is written by my good friend Jennifer. Jennifer is the one who takes me on crazy adventures to find fabric all over Southern California. She is an amazing sewist and writes a blog called Jennifer Sews Again.

Her tutorial for these zipper pouches is great – I followed each step and my pouches turned out perfect! These amazing fabrics are from Blend’s Modern Eclectic line. I love the prints!!!

I love the lining! What’s great about these zipper pouches is they unzip all the way so you can have full access to your items. I always take mine when I travel.

I love that they nest too!

And they make a nice set when paired with a fabric keychain!

Filed Under: Blend Fabrics, FEATURED, gift, mother's day, quilt, sewing, tutorial, zipper pouch

Fabric Key Chain Tutorial

May 5, 2014 by 8 Comments

Everyday this week I will be featuring a Mother’s Day Gift sewing tutorial!!

I like to give my “Mom Friends” a little give on Mother’s Day. I have seen these fabric keychains, or “Key Fobs” all over blogland and I finally decided it was my turn to have a go at them. They are a perfect little gift! These yummy fabrics are Modern Eclectic by Khristian Howell for Blend Fabrics.

Supplies

Cotton belting or webbing – I purchased mine from the Etsy Shop, Everything Ribbons

Key Fob hardware – purchased from the same Etsy Shop

2″ strips of fabric

Therm o Web Heat n Bond Hem Tape

Cardstock

Fray Check

Pliers

Cut the fabric into 2″ x 10″ strips

Cut the cotton webbing 10″

Cut a piece of card stock 1″ wide. This will be the pressing guide. Center the card stock strip in the center of the wrong side of the fabric. Press the sides in using the card stock to keep the folds nice and straight.

Using the hem tape, place a 10″ piece in the center of the webbing.

Place the pressed fabric piece on top of the fusible hem tape like this:

Press in place

Top stitch the fabric along both sides. I like to use this Bernina foot #5 and move my needle over 3 or 4 spaces. It works like a charm!

I took one of those sticky discs that you put on the bottom of chairs and cut it in half and adhered it to my pliers – this will prevent scratching on the hardware. Fold the Keychain in half matching raw ends. Center the hardware and use the pliers to press in place.

Use the fray check on the sides to prevent fraying.

I think they are so cute!! And also handy!!

Filed Under: anna griffin, mother's day, sewing, Therm O Web, tutorial

Whaley Zipper Pouch

Whale Composition Book Cover

True Blue Whale Skirt & Top

I Heart Whales Throw Pillow

Riley Blake Blog Tour {Baby Play Mat Tutorial with Matching Zipper Pouch}

Got Ribs? {Father’s Day Apron Tutorial}

BBQ Napkins {Father’s Day Sewing Tutorial}

Men’s Shirt Re-Fashion

Mother’s Day Gifts: Zipper Pouch Set

Fabric Key Chain Tutorial

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