Category: Learn to Sew Blog

We had another great meet up last night where we created our black a-line skirts together! I didn’t take photos (like a doofus) but then again, they all kinda looked like black A-line skirts.

At the end of the meetup, as planned, we exchanged our 1 yard of cotton fabric that will be used to embellish our skirts. I don’t think anyone really had terrible fabric to try and embellish with (although I did end up with a pastel colored frog batik print that I am not quite yet sure how I am going to get to match to my black skirt, but dyeing the fabric, I guess is not out of the question…hmmmm….)

We decided for the next meetup, we would all wear our newly embellished skirts to the meetup. We also decided that instead of meeting at the store, we would switch our location to a nearby neighborhood restaurant and grab a drink and some snacks.

So – even if you didn’t make it out for the meetup last night and create a skirt with us, we would LOVE for you to join us in two weeks to see what everyone created, as well as just get to know you!
Become a member of our sewing meetup group for all the details:

http://www.meetup.com/fashionlab/

For those of you who did make the skirt and are looking for some crafty ideas to wow all of us in two weeks, here are some cool embellishment ideas I found.

Check ’em out:

http://www.cutoutandk…

http://www.cutoutandk…

http://tinyurl.com/yb…

http://tinyurl.com/ya…

So we have just created a great new class here all about “Green” sewing!  In this four week class you get to create clothing and accessories made from things you already have in your closet. One of the best things about the class is that you don’t really need to buy any supplies! For example those old T-Shirts you have been keeping in the back of your closet for a while can be made into a cute T-Shirt shrug.   The first Green Sewing four week class starts on April 7th.

So I was looking for some more fun “green” projects to share and saw these instructions for a skirt.  Craftstylish shows you how to turn a mens dress shirt into a belted skirt.  The instructions are pretty easy to follow and the finished skirt looks really cute.

*Project by Christine Haynes at CraftStylish
 

What you’ll need:

• One men’s dress shirt with a straight hem, wide enough to be gathered at your waist, long enough from the armpit to the hem for the skirt
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Sewing machine and thread
• Pins
• 1/2-inch elastic about 30 inches long
• Large safety pin

1. Lay your shirt down, folded in half lengthwise. Following a ruler, cut straight across the shirt, from under the armpit to the buttons. This bottom piece is your skirt.

2. Using other pieces from the shirt, cut two waistband pieces, about 5 inches tall by the width of your hips. Cutting from the rest of the shirt, cut pieces to combine together to make two belt straps. These pieces should be 5 inches tall by as wide as you can get.

3. Combine the belt pieces to form two strips that are roughly 24 inches long by 5 inches tall. Press the seams flat where they were connected. Fold one strip in half with right sides together and sew, forming a long tube. Stitch one end closed and repeat on the other strip. Turn the tubes right side out and press flat.

4. Lay out one waistband piece face up. Lay the two belt pieces on top of the waistband piece, on each of the two short ends, about an inch from the bottom. Lay the other waistband piece on top of the first one, matching sides. Pin the two short ends together, including the belt pieces. Stitch each side, capturing the belt in the side seam. Fold the waistband in half, wrong sides together, and press flat.

5. Baste the top of the skirt and gather to fit the width of the waistband. Pin the waistband to the skirt, right sides facing and with the belt pieces toward the front of the skirt, with the raw edge of the waistband lining up with the top raw edge of the skirt. Stitch together, being careful not to sew the belt pieces into the seam. Leave a 1-inch opening in the seam when connecting the waistband to the skirt.

6. Cut a piece of 1/2-inch elastic to a comfortable width for your waist, plus 1 inch for overlapping. Pin a large safety pin to the elastic and feed into the waistband casing. Once you’ve gone all the way around, pull the pin out the hole and overlap the two ends of elastic about 1/2 inch. Zigzag-stitch them together and release into the waistband. Stitch the hole closed in the skirt.

7. Press all your seams crisp, and slip on the skirt. Tie the belt pieces in front and go!

So after posting yesterdays blog I am still thinking of fun projects to do with a pound or less of fabric.  I have been wanting to create a new ipod case so I came upon this tutorial from the Crafting A Green World website.

This site has tons of project ideas for creating something from less than a yard of fabric, as well as “green” sewing ideas.   You can make this ipod case unique by adding embellishments such as buttons or fabric cut outs.  You can even make a button closure using ribbon or a skinny piece of fabric.  If you want the case to be a bit thicker try using felt or a scrap of fleece for the back piece.  Its super easy to make!

Here are the instructions:

What you need to do is lay your iPod, mp3 player, or camera down on a piece of scrap.  Using a sewing pencil or a marker, draw an outline at least 1/2 inch away from what you’re making the cover for.  You’ll need two pieces of fabric, so be sure to have two sides.  Place your scraps with what you want to be the outside facing each other and the backs facing out.  From here you can either machine sew, or blanket stitch, them together.  Leave the top open.  If you want to hem the top, a simple way to do it is fold it over, iron it, and then machine sew it around.  For something so small, though, it may be easier to hand stitch.

*Photo taken from Claire’s Crafty Blog
*Project instructions by Lenore MacLeod-Bickley from Crafting A Green World

One pound of fabric doesn’t seem like much but you would be amazed at how many projects you can actually make!

In our next sewing meet up group we are going to have a “Project Runway” type challenge.   Each person has been coming by and picking up a pound of fabric from an assortment of beautiful sample squares and remnant pieces.  Each  person will then have to create an item of their choice using only this pound of fabric.  This project can basically be anything from clothing, accessories, home decor, or anything they wish to create.  Then at the next meet up we will all show each other the cool projects we came up with.

So I thought it would be fitting to share this project I found from this great blog Elle Belle that has some fun project ideas.  This project in particular only only requires about a pound of fabric.  This is where I found the tutorial for these awesome fabric covered cork boards. In the tutorial they used 4 pieces of 12  by 12 cork, to create four different boards.  But you can pretty much make it whatever size you want.  Its a great idea for a present, or to add a little something unique to your home.  You can use it to tack up pictures, grocery lists, or as an inspiration board for future sewing projects. Take a look:

*A project by Elle Belle
http://ellebelleblog.blogspot.com/

Supplies:
Cork (I picked up a package of 4 12×12 cork tiles at a big box store for about $8), scissors, spray adhesive, a stapler (if you have a mini one that uses smaller staples so they don’t poke out the other side of the cork tile that might save your fingers in the long run), some ribbon, the little adhesive thingies that come with the cork tiles to mount it to the wall, and fabric.

Step 1 – Cover the cork: Cut your fabric about an inch and a half bigger than your cork tiles (mine was smaller because I working with scraps). Lightly coat one side of the tile with spray adhesive and lay your fabric over the tile. Smooth the fabric out with your hand to remove any wrinkles. Flip the tile over and staple the excess fabric around the back.

Step 2 – Embellish: I laid the three covered tiles on the floor in the order that I wanted to hang them and laid pieces of coordinating ribbon on them in a pattern that I thought made a nice over all design and would also be functional for holding notes and such. Staple the ribbon onto the back of the tile.

Step 3 – Finish: If I were giving these as a gift I would cut a piece of card stock about half and inch smaller than the tiles and glue it onto the back to cover all the staples and rough edges. Apply the adhesive squares that come with the tiles (I only needed one in each corner and one in the center). Get out your level and stick away! Or, tie them up with some string and add a handmade tag!

*A project by Elle Belle
http://ellebelleblog.blogspot.com/

I have been meaning to get this up onto the blog for awhile. Here is a pretty cool Before & After job that we did on a pair of chewed & scratched up Ottomans. A woman brought in these (at one point) cute ottomans that her cat had totally destroyed. Since simple upholstery jobs are totally something we do all the time, I said sure, we’ll take care of it!

She chose some great chocolate brown microsuede fabric to recover the ottomans. At about $8 per yard and since we would only need about 3 yards to do the two ottomans, this was going to be a relatively inexpensive tune up. (Hooray, says the client!)

The photos speak for themselves.

Before:

 

Today I started my day, taking Antonio, my pooch, for a walk. We headed over to the nearby Pathmark cause he was completely out of dog good. I tied him up in a pretty secure place in the back that not too many people know about at the Back Entrance of the Patchmark. I only do this when I know I can run in and run out and since it was about 8am, I knew he would be okay for the 8 minutes it would take me to run in and grab dog food and pay.

We walked back home, with a big bag of dog food in hand & Antonio happily anticipating his breakfast. As he ate and I checked my email, I came across this great tutorial for how to turn that bag of dog food (after it’s empty) into an eco-friendly grocery shopper. And here it is, courtesy of the Sewing Savvy Newsletter.

Supplies

• Dog-food bag — 20 lbs or larger
• 1 1/2 yards of nylon webbing
• Four 1 1/2-inch buttons
• Embroidery thread and needle
• Rotary cutter, mat and ruler
• Sewing machine and basic sewing supplies
• Flower-shaped paper punch or die-cut machine and flower-shaped die (optional)
• Washcloth and soapy water to wipe wrong side of bag

Instructions

1. Remove as many crumbs from the bag as possible. Cut off the top and bottom of the bag using the rotary cutter, mat and ruler.
2. Turn the bag wrong side out and use the washcloth and soapy water to wipe the wrong side of the bag; let dry.
3. Open the side folds of the bag and sew the bottom edge of the bag closed.
4. Fold up the bottom edge of the bag, centering the seam line, and box the corners of the bag by measuring in 3 inches from the corner of each point and marking the sewing line with the ruler and pencil. Sew along the marked line.
5. Turn over the top edge of the bag 2 inches, and then again 3 inches and press using a press cloth and an iron set on the cotton setting. Sew next to the folded edge through all layers of the bag.
6. Cut the webbing in two equal lengths and zigzag-stitch across the ends to prevent fraying.
7. Mark the placement of the webbing handles along the inside edge of the bag approximately 2 inches down from the top edge of the bag.
8. Use a zigzag stitch to attach each of the handle ends to the bag.
9. Turn the bag right side out, carefully pushing out each of the bottom corners of the bag.
10. Use the embroidery thread and needle to sew buttons through the bag and webbing, covering the stitching lines of the handles.
11. Cut out a flower using the punch or the die cut machine and attach to the front of the bag with a button. This step is optional.