Tutorial and Pattern: Rainbow Sunshine Plushie (and a little fair[l]y [ugly] tale about patents) I want to begin this tutorial with a little story. One day there was a little organic cotton rainbow be-ribbonedplushie that was sketched and then stitched with love in a very messy upstairs room in a home somewhere in Minneapolis. It was a happy little plushie, made all the more so by the creation of its 3 identical siblings who sat on a sunny windowsill with the little plushie, keeping it company. Three of these four happy little plushies were placed in an Etsy shop, where they could be adopted by a good family, where they might be mooshed and drooled on and thrown over the sides of a crib and loved by a baby new to this world, much like the little plushies. But then, the plushie creator decided, I'll be damned if the corporate-toy-making-man can bully this little artist and stop the world from enjoying these little plushies and try to control the creative use of ribbon. Unfortunately, that little story is pretty much all true.
Susie Harris: DIY Fabric Rosettes and More! Have you been like me and just loved on those adorable fabric roses and wanted to make some of your own? Well today wait no longer! I have no idea if this is the correct way but it worked for me and so I will pass it on to you. Cut some strips of fabric about the width and length of your yard stick. Fold it over and pin along your strip of fabric. After you have your strip all set start at the end and roll it up snug. As you go round and round with your strip just run your needle into the center ....repeat as you roll ... Dont worry about your under side..no one will see it so it can be a bit messy. As you come to the end you will start getting looser and looser with your folds. I even allowed the fold of fabric to open and fray a bit. At the end of your strip just fold over the end and sew to the bottom of your rosette You can see here how I started out snug in the middle and by the end I had nice loose folds.
: Ghost-in-a-box I schemed up these little guys a while back, and a whole flock of them will be in the shop update on Tuesday. Back to work on dolls and such! Have a Happy Weekend, and I'll be back with more very soon. xoxo frayed rosettes see i'm not totally worthless... frayed rosettes tutorial- supplies needed- -fabric,you can use basically anything silk, cotton, jersey i prefer to use the cheap cotton broadcloth, it's cheap ( like $2 a yard) frays really easy and comes in lots of cute colors. trust me the cheaper fabric is better for these little pretties. This is also a great way to use up your scraps! -hot glue gun and sticks ( i use a little tiny one because it is easier) -scissors take you fabric and lay it out so that that selvage edge is facing you. snip into fabric a bit to get it started. take your fabric and start ripping, i prefer to rip because the edges fray up perfectly. rip until you get a big pile of fabric. then take your fingers and run them all the way down the sides of your strips to fray them up more. vary the length and width to make it interesting. keep going until you have about a half in of fabric left. dab some glue on the back and twist it around so that the end is tucked away nice and tidy like.
Making Your Own Pattern: a tutorial Patterns aren't cheap. Seriously, I was browsing through through the look books at Hobby Lobby the other day and some of them were as much as $20. Tack that on to the price of fabric and other supplies and suddenly sewing your own clothing becomes very expensive. Thankfully, you can make your own patterns using your own clothing that you know to fit well. I'll show you how to make a simple blouse pattern using a top of my own. I used Scotch Postal Wrapping Paper as my pattern paper. I used paper because I like to lay my pattern piece down and trace the shape directly onto my fabric. Muslin fabric is another great material that would allow you to pin the pattern piece to your fabric. Lay your garment down on the paper and determine the middle of the top. Mark right above the collar and right below the hem. Draw a rough outline of one half of the top. When you get to the sleeve, do your best to fold it back so that you just see the armhole. Now for the sleeves. *Update*
Tutorial A Fabric Flower brooch - Gone To Earth Sorry that this has taken soooo long but here it is; This is really a little origami with fabric, and it works out equally well in paper.... cards... maybe? Requirements; I made my brooch using all the same fabric, but it can look equally pretty if you make the large petals in one fabric and the small petals in a contrasting fabric. These flowers can be used as an embellishment for all kind of things - think of a smaller flower used to adorn headbands or hair clips or fixed on to bags. fabric - enough to cut six 3 1/2 inch squares (for the large petals) and six 2 1/2 inch squares (for the small petals) matching threadneedle scissorsbutton - for the centre. This first step is a little unusual, thread your needle. Next, take the bottom left corner of the triangle and fold it over to meet the point. O.K. Fold the bottom right corner over to meet at the top, in exactly the same way as you did with the first corner. Can you still feel the folds with your finger? Don't let go.... Pleased with it ?
Jelly Roll Floor Pillows Hi everyone! It’s Val over at PinkPlease! bringing you another double recipe. Taking a spin off my last Moda Bake Shop recipe, Just Playin’ Around {Baby Changing Pad & Matching Play Mat}, I wanted to show you another fun creation you can make using the circular quilt pattern. With just one Jelly Roll (plus some extra fabric for the back and piping), you can make two matching oversized floor pillows. I am teaming up with the Fat Quarter Shop to help you with your Sherbet Pips collection (or any other Moda fabric) so that you can make a few pillows of your very own. One Sherbet Pips Jelly Roll by Aneela Hoey 2 1/2 yards of fabric for the pillow bottom 1/2 yard of fabric for the piping 6/32″ Cotton Piping (95″ long for the small pillow and 140″ long for the larger pillow) 2 packages of 1 ½” Cover Button Kits (You will need to make 4 fabric covered buttons) Stuffing (4 bags of 24oz. poly-fil will fill both pillows. Fishing Wire or Super Strong Beading Thread. Creating the large pillow 1. 2. 3. 4.
SINGER® SEWING CO. | Resources: Machine Needles Selecting the correct needle for your project is just as important as selecting the fabric, thread and stabilizer. There are different sizes and types of needles for different types of fabric. The European metric sizing system for sewing machine needles is numbered from 60 to 110. The American sizing system is numbered from 8 to 18. A good rule of thumb to keep in mind: the lighter the fabric the smaller the needle size and the heavier the fabric the larger the needle size. A full selection of SINGER® needles is available online in our NEEDLES section. Sewing Machine Needles Regular Point (Style 2020) needles are used for all woven fabrics. Serger/Overlock Machine Needles Regular Point (Style 2054-42) serger needles are used for all woven fabrics. Change the needle after sewing two to three garments or after hitting a pin.
The Seam Method of Pattern Alteration An innovative technique for pattern alteration that's simple to understand and easy to do, offering options other techniques don't. by Judith Rasbandfrom Threads #85, pp. 48-51 When I was studying pattern alteration in college, I learned that no matter what method you use to alter a pattern, when you're done, all that's really changed is the outline, or outer edge of the pattern. As my teachers and I explored this idea, we further proved that the closer you place the alteration to the seam or stitching line, the less distortion to the pattern there will be. No special tools neededClear a work surface, and gather the tools you'd need for any alteration session: tissue or other plain paper for filling in the cut pattern, scissors, markers or pencils, transparent tape, and a straight and a curved ruler, ideally in clear plastic so you can see the pattern through them. Alteration basicsThe following guidelines are useful no matter what alteration technique you're using. Drawing: Karen Meyer
Upcycled sweater boots (w/mini tutorial!) What do you get when you mix a cheap pair of flats, an old sweater, and lots of hot glue? Sweater boots!! Yay! I started with this: chopped off the sleeves, turned it inside out, and formed it to my foot. Hot glued it to a shoe, like so... flipped it right side out, and cut the bottom off the sweater to make a cuff.. Embroidered it.. Sewed it into a cuff that would flip out over the boot.. And now you have...Sweater boots!! Of course, they're not really meant for cold weather wear, but they'd be perfect in the fall or tromping around the house I'm really quite proud of these. How to Make Clothing Buttons from Shrink Plastic… This tutorial is an old one of mine that’s too good not to share again. Since posting the first time, I’ve had lots of questions about these buttons which will hopefully be answered in this revised post. Equipment Some handy notes: 1. single hole, hole punch (like this one here). 2. 3. Okay.. lets get started! Tracing tips: You can use either coloured pencils or permanent pens. Words must be writted backwards in order to be readable. Shrinking the buttons: To shrink the buttons, you can use an oven or a heat gun (the kind used for embellishing). After the buttons have twisted and twirled, and are LYING FLAT, it’s time to take them out. Note: If the skrinking is taking too long, you may need to turn your oven up. Here’s a short little stop-motion to make sure you’ve got the gist of how easy this is! Shrink Paper {here} Circle Punch {here} Hole punch {here} Pens {here} Update: I’ve made a video to show how to shrink the buttons using a craft embellishment heat gun. Kimanh Hi my name's Kimanh.
The Red Dress "You're crazy!" Was what my mother said to me when we passed this red dress at a St. Vincent's on my vacay in Wyoming. "Just wait mom, this baby has major potential," I replied simply and promptly paid $2.75 for it. How to turn a 70s shirt dress into a retro-chic piece any fashionista would want. Let's Get Started: Measure down the length of the arm to determine where to cut. Try to flatten your sleeve out as much as possible to get an even cut. Make your cut I cut about an inch and a half below my pin to allow for creating a cuff Made a 5/8 inch cuff by folding over once And folding over again and pinning Finished the edge using a quarter inch presser foot and aligning the left folded edge with the inside left side of the presser foot Created a pleat in my sleeves by folding the center in a 1/2 inch and sewing over that area again Then to make the cuff look professionally finished, I sewed a piece of the belt that was around the original dress' waist.