Just an Update

I feel so bad. I promise that I haven't forgotten about ya'll or this blog of mine. School has been keeping me so busy this semester that I just haven't had a spare minute to sew much less make a decent tutorial. On top of that, I just found out that I'm going to be moving in about 6 weeks so life is just a little crazy. It's a good thing that God is in charge right now and not me because otherwise I would be going crazy. My goal is to post a new tutorial sometime this week, and hopefully do one post a week after that. I really need to start sewing again. It is seriously like therapy for me. Can anyone relate or am I just crazy? lol

A Work in Progress...

I am in the process of organizing my sewing area. Who knew that I had so much fabric?! I surely didn't. Anyway, I was hoping to get a tutorial up this weekend, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. I'd post some pictures of the progress if only I could find my camera in all this mess. Hope you have a great weekend...even if you're cleaning like me!

Ahhhh, pure bliss...

My heart skipped a beat today as I looked at Dashboard and saw that I had not one, not two, but three followers. I feel so loved. Lol. In all seriousness though, welcome! I hope that you are enjoying the posts. If ya’ll have any suggests, questions, comments, criticisms…oh you get the idea, just let me know.

Tutorial: Ribbon Headband x2

So, I sat down today to write two tutorials for another type of headband, the ribbon headband. Basically, these are just headbands made using ribbon instead of fabric. There are two ways that I can think of to make these, and I was planning on showing you both methods since I'm sure most people will like using one of them over the other (God's diversity is truely amazing) and because one of them calls for twice as much ribbon as the other. However, Fluffyland beat me to one of them. Which I'm actually glad about because well, tutorials take time, and time is short today. Her tutorial can be found at http://fluffyland.com/blog/index.php/ribbon-headband-tutorial/comment-page-1/#comment-150311 , and it is a great tutorial! The headbands that are made this way will look more professional than the ones made with my tutorial, but they also require more time and ribbon. If I'm making one as a gift, I make it the same way that Fluffyland did, but if I'm making one just for me, I tend to do it the less finished yet quicker and cheaper way. Just something to keep in mind.

Disclaimer: I can actually sew straight lines. However, my machine is having major issues so the stitches in these pictures are far from perfect. Please excuse the stitches. I considered not posting this at all because they are so atrocious, but I figured better something than nothing.

Supplies:



Ribbon: 19" long (You can use whatever width you want to, mine was 1.5")
Elastic: 6" (or one hair elastic. Look at this post for details)

Step 1: Attaching Elastic



Place the elastic on top of the ribbon so that it is positioned in the center of your ribbon with the raw edge of the elastic lining up with the raw edge of the ribbon. Now stitch over this to hold the elastic in place. You'll want to stitch over the elastic several times to make sure that it doesn't pull out. Do this with both sides.

Step 2: Folding

Now you are going to fold the ribbon over to hide the raw edges of both the ribbon and elastic. The pictures below will show you how to do this much better than I can explain it, but here goes nothing... In your left hand, hold the ribbon and elastic so that the ribbon is facing you, and the elastic is on top. As in the picture below:

Now, release the ribbon, but keep hanging on to the elastic. With your right hand fold the ribbon so that the elastic is still on top, and the wrong sides of the ribbon are together. At this point, the ribbon should be pointing down, and the elastic should still be pointing up. Oh, just look at the picture below. I'm sure that was clear as mud! Why do I even try?

Now, you are going to fold the ribbon one last time. To do this, fold the ribbon toward you so that the elastic is now facing down. Once again, picture:


Pin this in place, and repeat this clear as mud process with the other side. This is much easier to teach in person. I promise it's not hard. In fact, you're almost finished.

Step 3: Stitching it All Up


Stitch across the two sides that you have just folded and pinned down. Since this part will mainly be under your hair, it's not overly important that you use matching thread. I was too lazy to rethread my machine so black it is!

Step 4: Enjoy!

A Great Link

Has anyone checked out allpeoplequilt.com? Don't let the name fool you. I don't quilt, but I love the site because of all of the free bag patterns that they have. Yes, most of them are patchwork, but if you don't like patchwork just redo the directions so that you can use one fabric. It's pretty easy, and it's worth the effort since some of their bags are so cute. You may have to sign up to access some of the site, but everything is free!

Tip: Elastic

Alright, I've got a few more headband tutorials coming because who wants to wear the same style headband all of the time, but I was going to give ya'll a tip as far as the elastic goes. Whenever you just need a few inches of elastic for a project, you can substitute a hair elastic for it. All you have to do is cut off the hard part of the elastic. You know, the part where they join the elastic together at the factory. These elastics are perfect for headbands because they are a little stiffer than elastic, and they won't pull your hair. However, they are a little bit harder to work with because they are round so it's a give and take situation. If I was to be 100% honest, it is possible that I started to use hair elastics because I'm too lazy to go to the store for more elastic. ;)

Tutorial: Headband

So, this is a tutorial for a regular headband (aka nothing special about it). There are probably a thousand of these out there, and I've used quite a few of them. When I made a headband from other tutorials however, they never ended up fitting exactly how I wanted them to. I'm going to give you the measurements that I used for my adult head, and I'm assuming that they'll work on most adult heads. However, you may want to measure your head or do a trial run with an unimportant piece of fabric just to make sure.

Supplies



Fabric - 20"x4.5"
Elastic - 4.5"

Step One: Hem

Lay the fabric right side down on your work service. Sew a 1" hem into both of the 4.5" sides of your fabric, as pictured above.

Step Two: Measuring

Starting at one of your corners, you're going to want to measure 4" up on the long side (20"side) of your fabric. Mark that spot.

On the short side of your fabric (4.5" side), measure 1" over and mark that spot.

Step Three: Cutting

Get a straight edge of some sort and draw a line that connects the two marks that you just made.

Cut along that line, saving the piece that you cut off.


Step Four: Shaping

Using the piece that you cut off as a guide, cut off all four corners of your fabric, as shown in the picture above.

This is the shape that your rectangle should now resemble. Basically what you're doing is cutting the fabric so that it will comfortably fit behind your ears. I've made headbands from rectangles before without doing all of this, but they don't tend to lay very nicely because they just don't go behind your ears very well.

Step Five: Stitching

Fold the fabric in half long ways placing right sides together and pin in place.

Stitch along the long side of your fabric making sure to leave both of your short ends open. Notice that the stitching in the picture above does not close up the short ends.

Step Six: Top Stitching

Turn your headband right side out and iron flat. At this point the headband should have a boomerang kind of shape to it. Top stitch the long sides once again making sure to leave the short sides open.

Step Seven: Attaching Elastic



Attach the elastic to the headband by placing approximately 1" of it inside one of the openings. While holding the elastic in place, stitch across the opening closing it up with the elastic inside. You'll want to stitch over the elastic at least two or three times to make sure that it doesn't pull out.



Place the other end of the elastic in the other opening and repeat.

Step Eight: Enjoy



Wear your headband with pride!

Hair Accessories

Well, it's Saturday, and I'm being rather lazy today. I have a list of school work a mile long, but I'm just not feeling motivated. For some reason though, hair accessories are motivating me. Over the past week, I've been making tons of headbands, barrettes, bobby pins, bows, ect. I have no idea what has gotten into me especially since I won't even wear most of what I'm making! It's really rather sad. However, if you need a way to use up scraps of fabric, those last few beads, that lonely button, or that ribbon that just won't match anything, hair accessories are the way to go. I may have to get some tutorials going on these before long. They would actually make cute and cheap Christmas presents, and with the economy the way it is this year, who doesn't like cute and cheap!

Tutorial: Large Zippered Travel Pouch

I've spent quite a bit of time traveling over the past year, and because of the airline fees for luggage, I've pretty much confined myself to traveling with just a carry on. One trick that I have learned to make packing more efficient is to use tons of pouches to keep things such as pajama sets, socks, underwear, and electronics organized. This also makes things easier when you get pulled for a security check, or have to hunt something out of the bottom of the bag. Most of the pouches at the store though are either too small or too expensive so I have resorted to making my own. These pouches are rather large (13x8) and would also be great for organizing or hiding stuff in a bathroom or craft room.

You Will Need:


~Quarter Yard of fabric
~9" Zipper

Step One:
~Cut two 14.5" by 9" rectangles
~Cut two 2.5" long strips of fabric that are the same width as your zipper (the simplest way to do this is lay the zipper on top of the fabric and use it as your pattern as I did in the picture below)



Step Two:


~On your work surface, lay your zipper right side up and unzip it half way. Then, on each end of your zipper pin one of your 2.5" strips so that it is right side down.
~Sew the strips onto the zipper getting as close as you can to where the teeth begin and end. It should look like the picture below when you are finished.



Step Three:


~On your work surface, lay one of the 14.5" rectangles right side up.
~Line up the zipper face down along the top edge of the rectangle and pin in place.
~Stitch the zipper to the fabric making sure that your stitches don't get too close to the zipper teeth. You may have to stop stitching half way through and unzip the zipper partially in order to get the zipper pull out of your way. See picture below.



Step Four:


~Now lay the zipper face up again.
~Place the other 14.5" retangle face down on top of zipper making sure to line the top edges up, and pin in place.
~Sew along the top edge once again making sure to stay as close as you can to the teeth. When your finished it should look like the picture below.



Step Five:



It is now time to topstitch on either side of the zipper. Make sure that the zipper is laying flat though so that your stitches catch the zipper underneath the fabric. For this project, the top stitching accomplishes two things. It gives the pouch a more finished look, and it holds down the fabric inside of the pouch so that it doesn't get caught up in the zipper later on.

Step Six:


~Unzip the zipper. Trust me, this is important. If you don't do it now, you won't be able to turn the pouch later.
~With the unzipped zipper at the top, fold the fabric in half with right sides together and pin in place.

Step Seven:


Sew along the three sides that you pinned together.

Step Seven:

Now to create the bottom of the pouch.

~First stand your pouch up with one corner facing you.


~Now, squish the side seam and the bottom seam together until they flatten out forming a triangle. Notice in the picture that the pouch is still standing up.


~Measure three inches across and mark that line with a marker.
~Sew across the line that you just drew.


~Flip the bag around and do the same thing with the other corner.

Step Eight:


Cut off the excess fabric at the corners.

Step Nine:

Now turn it inside out, and enjoy!

Tutorial: Another Handbag

This is a very basic handbag tutorial, but I enjoyed using it to get my placement just right for a ribbon that I wanted to wrap around the bottom of my bag. This is actually how I usually use tutorials. I pick the tutorials that I personally use based on the fact that there is some aspect of them that I want to learn. I used the tutorial link that I posted right before this one as a way to learn how to add the rounded corners. As long as I am learning something new or perfecting my skills, I feel like I am accomplishing something since I can use that knowledge later on on my own tutorials/patterns.

http://www.henryglassfabrics.com/images/sheet/pdf/12471/anthologyHANDBAGforweb_1238683657_1.pdf

Tutorial: Tote Bag

I found this free tutorial today for a tote bag. While I haven't made it yet, I thought that I would pass on the information. It looks like a great pattern!
http://www.studioefabrics.com/documents/Flourish_Tote.pdf

Pattern Review

No, I'm not dead, and yes, I am still working on the diaper bag. I actually did find the time to finish the first prototype a few weeks ago, and it's far from perfect. However, progress is being made, and one day I will post the tutorial.

Until then though, I wanted to let ya'll know about a pattern that I have gotten a ton of use out of lately. You can find it here. I actually wasn't too crazy about it from the pictures, but I needed a pattern that I could put a long strap on so I thought that I would try it. Once I tried it, I was hooked. It's both fast and easy to put together once you get the hang of it, and with some embellishments, such as the flowers that I mentioned in a previous post, they turn out quite cute.

Flowers and Fabric Covered Buttons

Thanks for stopping by!  This tutorial along with eventually all of the other oneson this blog have been moved to my new blog at My Hiding Place.  You can find this specific post here.

Tutorial: European Bread Basket

This tutorial can now be found at: http://whereowhereruhiding.blogspot.com/2011/10/after-five-designs-tutorial-european.html