Kicking the frustration out

There is nothing like a kickboxing class to release stress, anxiety, and the frustration caused by.....

a teeny, tiny strip of bias tape that won't cooperate and separated itself from the fabric I was attempting to sew it to.  How'd you guess?

It's a new apron, and it will be a great gift for a good friend when it's done, but getting to the done part is causing me a bit of frustration...

Sewn bag

I was inspired by a local craft store flyer. They had some great bags featured. I was inspired.
I sifted through my fabric stash, determined to sew myself a bag.

Here's the simple solution I came up with. It's a lavender corduroy fabric for the body of the bag with a cotton polka-dot fabric for the pocket and handles.

I hope it will be large enough to accommodate all my gym things as my friends recently noticed my need for a new gym bag.

I never sew things for myself, so this is a treat! I'm setting this posting up to publish on my birthday next week, so I'll call it a birthday present to myself! :-)

Sewing: Apron for teacher

I made this apron as a gift for my son's kindergarten teacher. Hard to believe summer is almost here!

I chose, of course, an apple-themed fabric.
I used this pattern, although not exactly. I used the skirt pattern in the bottom right-hand corner picture on the front of the pattern but didn't use the pocket or waistband pattern. Those are very simple to make up on your own. I do like to use a pattern for the skirt on this one because the bottom has a wavy line (very technical term) and I know I'd screw that up in a second without a pattern!

After cutting out the skirt pattern, I hemmed the sides & bottom edges. Just fold it in, press (iron in place), then fold & press again (you want the raw edges completely enclosed). Then I needed to make the ruffles on the front. To do this, you'll need to sew a line of stitches across the top of the skirt. Set your sewing machine to the widest stitch (the stitch that is the longest). Sew all the way across the front, making sure to leave some threads at each end for pulling (next step). You can see how wide these stitches are in the picture below. Along the top edge are my wide stitches for making ruffles, and the right side shows the small stitches I used for the hem.


The next step is kind of fun. See those threads hanging in the top picture? They're on both ends of the skirt. You just pull the top & bottom threads to make the fabric ruff up.
Just keep pulling & moving the fabric over. I like to mark the middle line in the skirt and pull each side threads to make it all meet in the middle (see picture below).
When one side is ruffled to the middle, I go to the other side and pull those threads and ruffle it to the middle.
Then I make my waistband. This just needs to be a straight piece of fabric. It needs to be long enough to tie in the back with lots of extra room, and side enough so that you can fold it in to hem and sew it over the top.

Then sew!
Done!
But I decided to fancy it up with the teacher's name on a pocket, now that I know how to use the embroidery feature on this machine.

Done. I made a couple of pot holders to go with it and packed it all up. Those are so easy to make. I'll give the how-to in an upcoming blog posting.

How to make a children's easy one-piece quilt

My oldest son recently turned 6. Here he is getting measured and marked in the door frame, our family tradition on each birthday.



I made him a pirate quilt for a gift. He saw some ominous-looking pirate fabric at the craft store and wanted a blanket. However, the fabric he picked out - however luxurious, soft, and fantastic it was - was $13 a yard. And did I mention it was menacing and ominous?
So we found a happier pirate fabric on sale for just over $1 a yard. Even the skull & crossbones are smiling.
I purchased 3 yards of the fabric. I folded it in half once. One piece will be the top of the quilt and the other piece will be the bottom. I cut along the fold.

Then I cut a piece of fleece the same size as the other 2 pieces.

I lay them together as I wanted them to be in the blanket.

Then I pinned them together every 6 inches along the edge as well as every 6-12 inches throughout the center of the blanket.
Next, I got some chalk (we have plenty of sidewalk chalk laying around, I used that). And a ruler.
I made a straight line from one long corner to the other. Then I marked every 6 inches from the main line and made another line. So the fabric was covered with lines crossing one direction every 6 inches.

Then I sewed along the lines, using a straight stitch and matching thread.

After the lines were sewn in one direction, I brought the blanket back to the floor and used the chalk & ruler again to make the lines in the other direction. Then I sewed those.

I ended up with a diamond pattern across the entire quilt top.

Then, to finish the edges you need to bind them. This just means taking another piece of fabric and sewing it to the edge. I used a matching fabric, and cut 4 pieces. I cut them 4 inches wide. Then I had to turn them into a binding or bias tape.
Unfortunately, my camera battery was dead when I did this, so I'll recreate it for you.

First, take your length of fabric. Mine is 4 inches wide. Ignore the fold marks, this one was leftover from the blanket and was already pressed (pressed just means ironed).


First, fold the piece in half lengthwise. Press (run the iron over it while pressing down).

After pressing in half, open it back up. You'll have a line down the middle. Use this line as your marker. You want to take the other halves and fold them in halfway to meet at the middle line. Do one at a time. Press after folding in.


Below is what you'll have after folding & pressing both sides in to meet at the middle line.

Then, fold again over the middle line.
You'll want to place this over the raw edge of your quilt (put the quilt on the inside where my finger is). Then pin into place and sew around the edge, catching the quilt and the binding.

You're finished!

Fun apron

This material is fun and I made an apron and matching oven mitts and pot holders.

There is a craft show coming up in April so I am trying to increase my inventory. :-)

Fruity Apron

I finally splurged on some nice fabric that wasn't on the clearance shelves. It's a gingham with red cherries.
Designed this apron with big fat straps.
The red fabric has tiny polka-dots which don't show up well in the picture.

Reuse and Recycle

My MIL gave me this vintage item that would normally cover the top of a dresser.
It was embroidered with flowers and had lace trim.
Well, I cut it in half and made 2 cute aprons.