Nancy's Couture: Travel Trash Bag Every time we take a trip whether it's for the day to go shopping or for a week or two on vacation we end up with trashed floor boards. Sometimes to the point that a Coke bottle or empty chip bag falls out as the kids are getting out of the car. Sad...... and rather embarrassing (to me anyway). Cleaning the car is soooooo much easier now! Supplies Needed: InterfacingScissorsVelcroThread Sewing machine To get started grab your fabric and cut: Rectangle of fabric 20" x 15"2 fabric rectangles 2"x 11" (straps)2 pieces of interfacing 2"x 11"1 package of boning Iron interfacing to the wrong side of the strap pieces following manufacturers instructions. Fold straps in half so they are long and narrow. Fold the big rectangle in half right sides together. At the top fold over 1/4" and iron. Fold another 3/4" and iron. Pin the straps to the bag 2 inches in on either side. Sew. Here is what it will look like at this point. Cut a 15" piece of boning. Insert the boning through the hole. Sew the hole shut.
Nancy's Couture: Linen & Lace Fingerless Gloves I am not a fan of cold weather and I definitely don't like snow. Luckily one of the perks to living in the south is we very seldom see any snow. I also don't like to wear sweaters because I get too hot and they make me itchy. I own mostly short sleeve shirts so in the winter I get a little chilly sometimes. To keep warm I wear cardigans because I can take them on and off throughout the day as needed.Sometimes though I just don't want to mess with them all day long. I thought fingerless gloves would be a good solution. And I was right! Oh how I love these! They are my new favorite project. I love everything about them......the colors, the crochet trim, and especially the flowers. I made these last week and have already worn them three times. Both times I received tons of compliments. That's when I knew they were really great! It all started when this shirt got little holes in the bottom close to the hem. I knew right away what I was going to do with part of this shirt! Not easy!
Recycled Origami Bookmarks September 7th, 2010 This tutorial was featured in the Summer issue of the UK Handmade magazine and I was reminded of it when I needed a bookmark for the book I’m reading at the moment and had to make one – I forgot that I hadn’t posted it on my blog yet, so here it is for you to enjoy. You will need: - some decorative paper, I’ve used an old envelope with an interesting pattern - a ruler and a pencil - a cutting mat and knife How to make your bookmark: 1. 3. 5. 7. 9. 11. 13. 15. Easy Peasy! - pages from a magazine - wrapping paper - plain coloured paper - pages from old books Use your imagination and have fun!
Pocket Notebooks May 31st, 2011 I was asked recently to document a couple of tutorials for Making Magazine – for their July Issue (No.9) – origami bookmarks and pocket notebooks. I’ve just received my copy of the magazine in the post. Unfortunately they couldn’t squeeze in the images for the pocket notebook tutorial as this had to go onto a single page in the end, so they’ve just included the text. This might be a bit confusing for people, so I thought I’d post the images here so that you would be able to see an image of each step. The technique is simple and the notebooks can be made really quickly ad effortlessly. You will need (to make three notebooks): 1 sheet of A4 patterned paper 6 sheets of A4 plain paper A metal ruler A sharp pencil A cutting knife A cutting mat A stapler I don’t like to create waste, so we’re going to make the more of the A4 sheets of paper and take advantage of some easy maths. Next take the 6 sheets of plain A4 paper and cut these into 7cm strips as well. 2cm, 2.2cm