So you want to learn how to sew on a machine? A beginners checklist - SEWING IN GENERAL I find myself repeating the same thing over & over, so I've cleaned it up & embelished it a little & it's here for the taking You want to learn how to sew on a machine? Great! Once you get through the initial learning phases it's pretty easy. Sewing on a machine is very much like learning to drive, at first it can seem very daunting because there is so many different things to learn, some dealing with the machine, the machine itself, some seemingly having nothing at all to do with the machine (cutting, pattern reading, etc). Actually the first thing I reccomend doing is just grabbing some scrap fabric & playing with the machine. Now your first real sewn item, a pillow. Next, get a measuring tape & paper to make notes, find a willing accomplice and practice measuring them, and get them to help you measure yourself. But it's worthwhile, I promise. Now you are ready to go pick a simple pattern & try it.Hit the store for an "Easy" or "beginner" pattern. Good luck and Happy Sewing
20 Crafty Ways To Use Up Fabric Scraps : Posted on | November 8, 2008 | 2 Comments My grandmother always had a mountain of fabric scraps. Leftovers from sewing projects, hems cut off pants, recycled out-of-style skirts, old pillowcases; everything was added to the pile. If you have your own fabric scraps, here are 20 crafty uses for your excessive of riches. 1. Patchwork quilts were first designed to use up small, leftover pieces of fabric. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 1/2 yard of stretchy fabric can be made into a beret. 10. 11 & 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. Comments Lavender Garland Featuring Styrofoam Hi, sweets. Here’s a very easy tutorial to make your own lavender garland. It looks pretty and smells even prettier. Be sure to read down because there’s an important step that will keep your lavender from shedding everywhere. Materials: Dried lavender buds (You can purchase them on Etsy if necessary.) Hemp, lace, ribbon, or whatever string you’d like School glue 2 Plastic Cups Skewer Styrofoam Crafts 1-1/2 inch balls (You can purchase them at Michael’s or JoAnn.) Step 1: Fill one cup with glue and the other will lavender. Step 2: Push a skewer through the center of a Styrofoam ball & submerge into the glue. Step 3: Dip glue covered ball into lavender and coat it completely. Step 4: Gently remove the ball from the skewer and let it dry. Step 5: After they’ve dried completely, use the skewer holes to thread the hemp through. Repeat until you have all lavender balls strung! Thanks for reading!
{make stuff} cloth napkin DIY Happy Monday friends! My long lost “Music Mondays” have been turning into “Made Mondays” the past couple weeks. I don’t really have a reason, and I don’t know that it will turn into a regular occurrence, but until then, here is my latest DIY to share with you all: Let me tell you, cloth napkins are where it’s at. And just in case I haven’t convinced you yet, I’m going to show you how easy it is to make your own! Eh, perhaps that’s a little extreme, but you will be able to make your own absorbent, high class, earth-saving meal necessities! Materials: fabric (you can get 4 napkins out of 1 yard of fabric)thread Cut the fabric into 18″x18″ squares. While I was cutting the fabric, Lucy wanted to try and help me. Thanks for the help, Luce. Press under the edges about a 1/4″ twice. After all the edges are pressed, top stitch nice and straight and close to the folded edge. Oh, I didn’t tell you the best part about cloth napkins: Folding them!
Carry all Beach bag - CRAFTSTER CRAFT CHALLENGES This bag is great for carrying all the swim suits and towels needed for that trip to the pool or the beach. Beach bag TutMaterials needed:6 fat quarters any colors2 yards coordinating fabric2/3 yard 1in elastic Trim all 6 fats to the same size I usually go as close to 18 x 21 as possible but depends on your fats.Take this opportunity to arrange the folded squares to decide how you want the bag to look. Sew the the fats in 2 rows of 3 sewing the shorter sides together first for the row of 3. Once you have your shorter sides together then you can sew the 2 rows together. Now iron the material and lay and pin the lining fabric to what you have sewed. Starting on one of the short ends. Turn your material and iron edges if desired.Run a seam ¼ in around the bag leaving open the area for turning on the shorter end. Trim any excess lining material off. There will be a lot of material on the elastic but it stretches very nicely. Close the end used for turning the material. Hope you enjoy!!
Rick Rack Rosettes A friend gave me this flower ring and necklace, when she handed them to me I thought they were porcelain–there’s a very vintage feel to them. From a distance you really can’t tell that they’re made out of rick rack! Yes, rick rack! She shared how to make them with me, and now I’m sharing with all of you readers! The wow of the rosette comes from a few simple steps! She found this tutorial, in Portuguese I believe. First, cut 2 strips of rick rack. Then twist the two pieces of rick rack together, like this. And then run a stitch down one side to hold it all together. Like so. And to make the flower, you just start from one end and roll it up. Keep rolling. Until you have this–and then tuck the little tail under and hot glue it down. You’ll notice all of the petals are closed, so to open them up you just peel them back one by one. And here it is on my finger. Awesome. (Please excuse my hands, my hand model moved to Indiana, so I’m left using what I’ve got
emeeme: Erin Wilson A veces hay suerte, mucha suerte, y te encuentras por la web cosas increibles e inesperadas. Mi suerte ayer fue en Pinterest porque me encontré con el trabajo de Erin Wilson. Nunca había oido hablar de ella, y me dejó impresionada total. Erin Wilson es artista textil. Su obra es imcreible. Y todo con unas combinaciones de color que solo se consiguen si tu tiñes tus propias telas como hace ella. Nada más que decir. Y que paseis un buen fin de semana.
Using a Commercial Sewing Pattern - CRAFTSTER CRAFT CHALLENGES I first started sewing because my body (like most!) doesn't fit regular old dress sizes. Shopping is a nightmare if I want a dress! How to use a Commercial Sewing Pattern This tutorial assumes you know how to use your sewing machine, and understand basic sewing terms. Step 1. Let’s take a minute to talk about sizing. However, and this is a big however, pattern sizes have ease built in. The cruel trick of pattern companies is that your pattern size will probably have more ease than you really need to get the right fit, so you need to go down a size or so. Step 2. Step 3. Step 4. Step 5. A note on muslins, toiles, and mock-ups: 99% of seamstresses will recommend doing what’s called a muslin, toile, or a mock-up of your clothing pattern, before cutting into your good fabric. Step 6. Step 7. Step 8. Step 9. You only have to cut those out, unless you want to make multiple views. Make sure you use scissors meant for paper, and not fabric. Step 10. Step 11. These are used to line up seams.
Doilies table runner | News Christmas bow with pine cones DIY For Shabby chic Lovers other simple and cute DIY. It takes minimum time but the result is absolutely amazing and romantic. You will need : - Christmas ribbon - 6 small pine cones - glue - seed beads (optional) - piece of yarn about 20-30 cm Make a bow, then glue 3 pine cones in the center. Here is the result. Crochet skirt upcycled from vintage crochet tablecloth After success last summer of my wrap skirts made from crochet doilies and tableclothes I decided to repeat it this year. Crochet skirt upcycled from vintage tablecloth is great replacement or those who can't afford to buy a real crochet skirt. Please contact me for more information. Spring inspiration I have always been inspired by the nature. Today I'll show you the spring in Southern Italy. My latest collection of jewelery called Pastel Shades, and it is dedicated to the colors of the spring. After Easter in Italy is traditionally a day off, which is all people carried out in the nature, picnics.
Our First Tutorial Lots of firsts around here at Team Awesome this week! Be sure to check out our first giveaway and enter to win the adorable owl bag sewed by Alicia! Following a fun dandee tutorial, I created little memory games that we are storing in handmade drawstring bags. Since I was making up a few more for friends, I thought I would put together a tutorial for the lined drawstring bags. You'll need: two coordinating fabrics coordinating thread a drawstring And that's it! For this size bag, start with a 10" by 5" piece of your outside fabric. Stitch a 1/4" seam allowance along the ends of your outside fabric. Then, fold the whole piece in half, squaring the ends of the lining fabric (as best you can given your novice cutting skills) and pin together. Stitch the sides, skipping your marked gap. Do not stitch all the way across. Once you have finished that, it's a good idea to clip your corners. Flip your piece out, through the gap you left in the lining fabric. And from the inside: Our First Tutorial
Loop de Loop Pillows - Knitting Crochet Sewing Crafts Patterns and Ideas! I am a chronic doodler. My school notebooks always had more scribbles of flowers, geometric shapes, and animals than actual notes. To this day, my Purl Bee notes look more like mysterious outsider art than useful information. One of my recurring doodle themes is a loop de loop motif. With this penchant for doodling, it’s no wonder that I love embroidery so much. These Loop de Loop Pillows combine the simple, breezy feeling of a notebook jot with the beauty of embroidery. Materials For a set of three pillows, two 14-inch square and one 18-inch square: Note: If you'd just like to make one pillow you will need 1/2 a yard of fabric for each 14-inch pillow and 1 yard for each 18-inch pillow. Cutting For the smaller pillows cut : 2- 15-inch squares4- 11-inch X 15-inch rectangles For the larger pillow cut: 1- 19-inch square2- 13-inch X 19-inch rectangles Put all of the rectangular pieces aside until you reach the sewing section of the pattern. Marking For pillow A: For pillow B: Embroidery Sewing
How To Make An Easy Dress (For Cheap!) Two facts about me: I'm cheap. I love dresses. I wear dresses probably 6 days out of the week. It's not that I one day just decided to wear dresses to feel cute and girly. Back in November when I really started Talk2thetrees I kinda just wore pajama pants and sweat pants. Dresses are so comfortable, I can sit around the house and feel comfortable and cute. The only problem.. they are expensive! Here is a tutorial on a High Waisted Dress: For under 6 bucks! First you will need a ribbed tank top. I got mine from Walmart for 2.50 You could also use a t-shirt 3 yards of matching fabric. Clearance section is my favorite. Cut the tank top almost in half. (I cut mine a little too short.. oops!) For the bottom part of your dress take the fabric and wrap it around your waist about 1 and a half times, and cut in a straight line. I never measure, I never use patterns... Next you fold your fabric in half. You have kind of a big blocky rectangle skirt. (You are sewing the raw edges, not the bubble hem)
Design*Sponge » Blog Archive » sewing 101: making a pouf Add a burst of color to your room with this crafty pouf! At 17” wide and 10” deep, it’s large enough to serve as floor seating or a foot stool. (And if you have pets, I have a feeling they may want to make this their new favorite spot!) This project is a little challenging to sew, but it’s not too difficult, so if you’re comfortable with the basics of sewing, give it a try. I love the idea of making a set of these poufs in a range of sizes, for a sculptural stack of cushions that will become a room element in their own right. CLICK HERE for the full how-to after the jump! Finished Dimensions: 17” diameter by 10” tall What You’ll Need ¼ yard each 12 coordinating fabrics (I used quilting cottons) 1 yard muslin 3 pounds fiberfill stuffing 2 large buttons (approximately 1 ½”) 2 flat metal washers, slightly smaller than your buttons 12” upholstery needle (get this where upholstery supplies are sold) fishing line sewing thread hand sewing needle sewing machine sharp scissors iron 1. 2. 3. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.