sewing Archives - Page 2 of 4

Crib Bumpers

March 31, 2011 By Char @ Crap I've Made 55 Comments

***I realize that some people have strong feelings about crib bumpers. The comments on this post are not the place to share those feelings, K?***

Jami picked up a damaged Pottery Barn Kids bumper at our local Down East Home store for $10 (cheaper than buying new batting, right?) and I recovered it. It was all one really, really long piece and stuffing it inside the new cover would have been a nightmare, so I cut it into 4 pieces (one for each side). I measured each piece and added 1′’ for seam allowances. I’m not giving you specific measurements for this because your bumper may be a different height and/or thickness. The top and bottom ruffles are 3” strips pressed in half and then ruffled with my ruffler foot.

I put large ties (5” strips, sewed RST into a tube and angled on the end) on the corners and a small tie on the top and bottom centers of each long side.

The bumper fabrics and the yellow for the ties are all Amy Butler fabrics.

The green ruffles are Heather Bailey.

The houndstooth on the sheet is Free Spirit. I used Dana’s tutorial for the crib sheet.

And someone remind me to head over to Jami’s to photograph her nursery in the afternoon next time because no pregnant woman should ever have to do this to help you get a good picture:

Or maybe I should just finish the window treatments next…

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Filed Under: DIY, fabric, home decor, Lucy's Nursery, sewing

YCMT Discount Code

February 16, 2011 By Char @ Crap I've Made 13 Comments

The sick around here has reached epic proportions. 2 kids have puked repeatedly (including the one who can’t get to the toilet reliably). 1 kid has strep for the second time in 19 days. The healthiest kid is the one that had impetigo (don’t Google it…the pictures are DISGUSTING). We’ve got a chart to keep track of who had what medication when.

So, to thank you for hanging around and being patient wit me, I’ve got something for you. And it’s not even contagious!

I recently had the opportunity to test sew Carla’s (aka The Scientific Seamstress) latest pattern, Reversible Rompers.

You can make it any length (short, capri, pant) and you can ruffle it up for girls. Plus, reversible = 2 outfits for the work of one!

I chose a madras plaid and a navy solid for mine. I’m not kidding when I tell you that my actual sewing time was about an hour. SO fast and SO easy.

And SO cute!

I think he looks like he’s up to no good.

He may also be sick of pictures.

Want to try this or any other YouCanMakeThis.com pattern yourself?

How about 15% off through the end of the month?

Use code “YouCanMakeThis” at check out to take advantage of the deal through 2/28/11!

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Filed Under: fabric, review, sewing

Silhouette Dust Cover

January 31, 2011 By Char @ Crap I've Made 47 Comments

***This dust cover is for the original Silhouette SD (which was THE ONLY Silhouette when I wrote this post). I don’t have dust cover patterns for the CAMEO or the Portrait.***

So, you’ve taken advantage of one of the Silhouette deals and you’re LOVING your machine so much you can’t bear to put her in a drawer…what’s a girl to do?

Whip up a quick and easy dust cover, that’s what. And did I mention that you can make this out of a single fat quarter? ‘Cause you can!

Supplies:
Fat quarter
Silhouette Dust Cover pattern piece PDF (the bottom measurement will be 6 3/8″ when printed correctly)
Sewing machine with thread
About 15 minutes Winking smile

Turn your fat quarter so that one of the 18” ends is at the bottom. Cut off 14″ so you have a piece that is 18” wide and 14” high (the bottom piece in this picture).

Fold the top piece in half and cut out the pattern piece. You’ll have 2 opposite end pieces

Place the end pieces even with the bottom edge of your fabric so that the short end (of the end pieces) points out and start pinning.

Pin all the way around the end pieces and then sew with a 1/2” seam.

Then you’ll want to hem the bottom of the dust cover 1/2” all the way around. I folded and pressed a scant 1/4” and then another 1/4”. Stitch hem in place.

Put it on your Silhouette and feel much better about leaving her out to admire.

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Filed Under: fabric, sewing, Silhouette

U of U Scripture Case

January 27, 2011 By Char @ Crap I've Made 91 Comments

Remember how Keller turned 8 last week?

When you’re a Mormon, that’s kind of a big one. He’ll be getting baptized next weekend. He requested a sports jacket for the occasion (which made me pee my pants a little). He also got a new set of scriptures.

I made him this to haul them around in ~~and hit his brother with~~:

I didn’t tutorialize for a couple of reasons:

1) I wasn’t sure if there were enough of you that would care to make it worth my while (since I know that many/most of you are not Mormons).

and

2) I had no idea what I was doing. Open-mouthed smile

So, now that it turned out quite nicely, I need to know if there’s enough interest to warrant a tutorial. Leave a comment if you want one and I’ll see what I can do.

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Filed Under: fabric, sewing

Valentine’s Day Bunting

January 19, 2011 By Char @ Crap I've Made 67 Comments

The color palette was once again inspired by the same Target table runner that I used to make my Valentine’s canvas.

I traced a heart template (that’s mine, but feel free to make your own) on some fusible web (Wonder Under, Heat n Bond, whatever you like) 16 times. That’s enough for each letter plus a spacer heart between BE and MINE. I fused it to the back of the pink houndstooth fabric following the manufacturers directions and then cut out all 16 hearts.

To put the lettering on the hearts, I cut freezer paper with my Silhouette (the font is Madfont). Remember if you cut freezer paper with your Silhouette that you’ll need to put the shiny side up and reverse your text. I also have to use the green mat, but your mats may still be more sticky than mine are.

Then I turned Macy loose with some Tulip Fabric Paint and a sponge brush.

You could also use iron on lettering or cut freezer paper by hand or even paint the letters on…whatever works for you!

Next, I fused each heart (again with the manufacturers directions) to a 7” square piece of backing fabric. I ripped mine, because I’m lazy. And then I stitched the hearts in place.

Macy put a matching 7” square on top and sewed 3 edges (leaving the tops open) using 1/4” seams.

Then we clipped the corners…

and turned right side out and pressed.

Once all 16 squares were finished, I laid them out in order to make sure everything looked good. Then I grabbed some extra wide double fold bias tape. Decide how long of a “tail” you’ll want for hanging and mark with a pin.

Start sewing (I zig zagged) at the end and go until you get to your pin.

Stick in one of your squares and keep on sewing.

And when you get to the end, stick in another square, and so on and so on and so on.

After the last square, keep sewing for an amount equal to the “tail” you left at the beginning.

And then hang it!

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Filed Under: fabric, fabric paint, freezer paper, home decor, mantel, sewing, Silhouette, Valentine's

How to hem jeans, Part 2

January 11, 2011 By Char @ Crap I've Made 103 Comments

We’ve talked about this before, but I’m going to show you one more little “trick” that turns a good hem job into a great hem job.

First a quick run down on basic hemming. Try your pants on and have someone pin the cuffs at the level you want the pants to end up. On this pair it’s 2.5”.

Divide that measurement in half (1.25” on this pair) and measure from the edge of the factory hem that distance. Press all the way around.

Sew right up next to the factory hem. I like to start right before the most detailed side seam and make sure it’s lined up perfectly.

Go back to your ironing board and press the factory hem “down” and the part you just sewed “up”.

You can stop here if you want, but (especially after washing) you might find that the part you just sewed flips down and hangs out of your jeans or that your cuff flips up and makes the hemmed part visible.

Take your jeans back to the machine and stitch RIGHT on top of the seam line on both side seams.

(I left the thread tail on the 2nd picture so you can see where the stitching starts. Practically invisible, right?)

And here’s a look at the other seam:

Finished product?

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Filed Under: sewing

Embellished Holiday Tee

December 10, 2010 By Char @ Crap I've Made 6 Comments

***Don’t forget to link up your nativities to the Nativity Parade. Today is also the last day to enter the Baby Blvd. giveaway here. And, I’ve got a weekend giveaway that’d make the PERFECT stocking stuffer starting tomorrow morning!***

Let’s face it…if your mom does this to your violin in honor of your holiday concert, you pretty much HAVE to wear something festive to go along with it, right?

Remember when I embellished a cardigan using knit fabric I cut with my AccuQuilt GO! Cutter? Remember how I said I had to stitch down every single tiny petal to keep it from looking like wadded up toilet paper?

I figured out the solution…my old pal Wonder Under.

I fused wonder under between 2 layers of knit and then cut the knit with my GO! Funky Flowers die.

I layered and pinned and rearranged until I like where they were placed and then stitched them down. I did still go down the petal on 1 large flower in each grouping, but you’ll notice there’s no curling like before.

I think it’s a good compliment to the violin, and a technique I’ll definitely be using again.

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Filed Under: AccuQuilt, sewing

Peppermint Pillow

December 5, 2010 By Char @ Crap I've Made 31 Comments

Remember the peppermint platters I made?

Remember how I said I might make a pillow?

I did.

I think it might have ended up a little on the big side, so keep that in mind when I give you the low down on how I made it.

Supplies:
White fabric
Red fabric
Wonder Under
Piping (optional)
Peppermint Swirl Template (for an 18”-ish pillow, you’ll need to print it at 150%)
Polyfill
Covered button (optional)

I cut 2 circles from the white fabric. Mine were approximately 18.5”. I already had a template cut that size from another project, so that’s what I went with. I also cut a 4.5” wide strip. It’ll need to be at least as long as the circumference of your pillow (Pi X the diameter) plus 1” for seam allowances.

I cut 5 “swirl” pieces from the red fabric backed with Wonder Under. I used the piece from the template that does not have the line down the middle, but feel free to change that up however you want.

I peeled off the Wonder Under and positioned my pieces on one of the white circles.

And then I fused them in place following the product instructions.

Next I satin stitched the edges of each piece down, except for the exterior edge, because those will be trapped in the seam allowances.

My pieces don’t “meet up” in the middle, because I’m putting a button there. If you don’t want to use a button, you can make yours meet up.

I only used piping on the top/front side of my pillow. I sandwiched it between the top piece and the edge piece and sewed all the way around.

And then I sewed the back piece to the edge piece with no piping sandwiched between. That’s also when this happened and so I accidentally quit taking pictures at that point.

I stuffed the pillow through with Polyfill through the hole where the 2 ends of the side piece met and then hand sewed it shut.

I then attached a covered button and attempted to tuft it. There will be no tutorial for that on account of thread breaking and people swearing (hint: me). I bet if you Googled it, someone could help you! Open-mouthed smile

And here it is:

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Filed Under: fabric, home decor, sewing

When’s the last time YOU checked out Pier 1?

November 25, 2010 By Char @ Crap I've Made 20 Comments

This post brought to you by Pier 1 Imports. All opinions are 100% mine.

A few weeks ago, I was given a Pier 1 gift card to spend. And if there’s one thing I do well, it’s spend. Seriously…just ask BC. Or my mom. Or the ladies that helped me at Pier 1. Let’s just say I *might* have spent 3 times more than my gift card…plus $15. Oops.

And that was with my trusty assistant in tow.

Think of the damage I would have done if I’d been kid free!

We headed inside and were greeted by a host of helpful employees. One of them asked if I was a photographer on account of the fact that I was wearing my camera around my neck. Aside from one tiny little problem with that scenario (that my pictures sucketh), an actual photographer would have made sure that her battery didn’t die approximately 45 seconds after that.

Random fact: Pier 1 smells GOOD. Go in and sniff stuff if nothing else!

One thing I LOVED, but did not buy (for a whole host of reasons known as “my children”), was their new Tastings Party™ Collection. I think a tasting party would make for some fabulous holiday entertaining. Can’t decide what to make? MAKE IT ALL…only tiny!

Cute, right? Those wine glasses are under 6” tall.

Are you more casual in your holiday entertaining? I bought a 3 tiered basket for chips that I can pair with a festive bowl of dippy goodness for any occasion.

In addition to a few things I plan on gifting, I picked up the following to do a little holiday decorating:

(Those houndstooth placemats are on clearance for $1.88)

What’d I do with them?

All the placemats became pillows.

I already had the aqua linen and the white cotton, so the total cost of each snowflake pillow was the $2.95 for the placemat. I cut 18” squares and stitched down the center of each snowflake “point”. I made envelope backs so that I can store the covers flat and reuse my pillow forms all year long.

And the wreath and glittery trees were just the push I needed to finish a project that’s been on my to do list since, oh, May?

Bye bye awkward hole above my fireplace!

(The shutters were an $8 thrift store find that benefited greatly from a coat of Key Lime spray paint and some Ralph Lauren Tobacco glaze.)

In addition to being a great place to pick up some gifts and decor, Pier 1 is doing something awesome this holiday season. For every new person that “likes” Pier 1 on Facebook, they’ll donate $1 to Toys for Tots…up to $100,000! You can also drop your Toys for Tots donation off at any Pier 1 location or make a donation at the register.