Onesie Revamp #1 – Faux Button Ruffle Placket

So I am wanting to sew you along through a few different things you can do to onesies to spice them up!   I have a few more ideas in mind that will come later- but here is number 1!  

A fake button ruffle placket. 

So gather the following and jump in with me:

• onesie
• small scrap of a fusible (soft preferrably) interfacing to iron to the back of the area to stabilize the knit to sew the placket one
• 18″ x 3″ strip of ruffle material
• 6.5″ piece of extra wide bias trim *I used a patterned Michael Miller Cotton Bias Trim*
• 3 buttons (and needle/thread)
• iron

Step #1

After collecting all your supplies, mark the middle of your onesie.  I used a watersoluble blue pen.  I marked the middle down 3″ from neckline then 1/2″ on both sides.  Then iron on the fusible featherweight interfacing on the back side of that area.

Also iron open your bias tape. so it is 1″ wide.

Step #2

Open up the folds on your bias tape and sew the 2 raw edges together then fold it all back up to make a loop out of your bias tape

Step #3

Take your 18″ x 3″ piece and fold it in half to make it 18 x 1.5″ with wrong sides together so the print shows on the outside.  Then IRON.  

Then fold the ends right sides together and sew it closed and flip back with the right sides out:

Step #4

We are going to ruffle your strip.  I do this easily with setting my machine to its LONGEST STITCH LENGTH and HIGHEST TENSION SETTING *which is length 5.0 and tension9 on my machine*

Start right along the raw edges of the strip.  I put my finger behind the foot to help it gather like so:

Step #5

Then match the ends and raw edges together as pictured below and set your machine to a WIDE zig zag stitch.  *DONT FORGET TO TURN your tension setting back*

When I get to the end, I gather a little more and square the end slightly so it will lay flat when sewn onto the shirt

Step #6

Iron your bias trim and hide your seam on the back side of the “loop”.  Line the top up with the top of your ruffle you created and sew down the middle.  Gather the ruffle slightly more if you notice the ruffle is longer then your bias tape.

Step #7

Line up your ruffle placket with the markings on your onesie.  Sew along all edges of your bias trim. Then mark button placement and sew them on!! 

You are done!

Few coffee cozies on a Saturday afternoon

I whipped these up this afternoon using the scrappy “Sew n’ Flip” method I posted about last Fall.  Love how they turned out!!!

If you are looking to make your own here are a few free online tutorials:

• House on Hill Road Coffee Cozy Tutorial
• Sew Simply Creative Coffee Cozy Tutorial
• Lime & Aqua Studio Coffee Cozy Tutorial upcycling a mens necktie
• Terris Notebook Coffee Cozy Tutorial with a scrappy quilted look like mine!

Enjoy!

5 minute book cover with a little “how to”

So my daughter tells me this distraught story about how her book for Math is all bent and really needs a cover.  Well, try finding a cover right now in the middle of the school year, lol.

So we just made one real quick.  This was so simple to do.   We took yardage of a cotton knit material I had on hand, but you could easily use a t- shirt that your child grew out of or that has a stain/rip in a place that wont show once you cut this out.

Just take your book and lay the front, back and the ream of the book completely flat.  We rotary cut right next to the top/bottom edges with no seam allowances.   Then add 4″ onto both ends and trim the ends.   Fold the end over the front flap and mark the crease and do the same for the back but pull just slightly to stretch the material every so much to make the cover fit snug.  Match the right sides together and serge or zigzag stitch along the top and bottom edges with the ends folded in at the creases.  Reverse the ends to be right side out and install the book. 

Here is ours:

BEFORE being covered

After Being Covered

Cover open

 

My Daughter really wanted a T embroidered on it- so While it was here and the embroidery machine was available I did as was requested 😉

With T Embroidered on it!

 

So there ya have it- A book cover that took about 50 cents and 5 minutes to make.. She was one happy camper!!

“Not your Grandmas Knee Patches” Tutorial

Is it just me or are the jeans these days made with thin, easily wore out denims?  Do the denim manufacturers secretly wear down the knees of jeans or are my kids just especially hard on them??  We dont have a pair of jeans that have outlasted a season without holes somewhere.  While I wouldnt mind an alternative, my husbands suggestion of buying them “TOUGHSKINS” that could stand in the corner by themselves they are so stiff- just didnt sound all that comfortable!

So I finally dove in and decided to do some “Designer Patching” of the knees.  My creative juices were flowing on this while I was piecing together the “Sew n’ Flip” quilt blocks I blogged about last week!

I always like to do a few new tutorials a year and man I havent done one in ages, so here ya go!! 

Grab:

• pair of holey jeans
• fusible fleece *or other usable material suitable for sewing the scraps on that isnt stretchy and is soft on the back*
• bias trim
• seam ripper
• Some scraps

Here are my daughters jeans BEFORE:

FIrst you will need to rough cut your pieces of fusible fleece and scraps to cover your hole.  I cant give you measurements as it will vary for each hole, but I cut my pieces to have a 1.5″ seam allowance at top/bottom and 2″ or so on each side.   Then gather enough scraps to cover each piece of fleece.  I choose to make the patches on both knees pretty much identical but it isnt necessary.  In fact you could just use one single print as well 🙂

 

Then start with the fusible side UP put on piece of scrap in the middle of your fusible fleece at any angle you want them lay another scrap down with right sides together.  sew along the edges of the 2 pieces then FLIP the piece that is right side down over and topstitch the seam.

Repeat until fleece piece is covered making sure your pieces are flat.  Then iron and remove the excess edges.

Attach bias trim to the long top and bottom edges.

Then, let the seam ripping begin.   You want to open the leg of the jean along the seam that is NOT topstitched on the outside.  For this pair it was the outer leg seam and I believe that is industry standard but not sure.  I only seamripped enough (about a foot) to get the knee area to lay flat.  This is so you can get it under the machine easier 😉  This pic is just the outside showing which seam to rip..  I found if you tugged at the seam on both sides the seam ripper went right down the middle pretty fast!  There will be a regular stitched seam and a “serged” edge as well.

Ok, once the seam is open you want to fold under one raw edge of your patch and place just over the other seam of your pants that you didnt rip.  Make sure the patch is centered.  You might want to pin it in place even.  You will sew on the other side of this seam first.

Then  Sew down the top edges of each of the bias trim strips.

Leave the raw edges of the other side of the patch to be stitched into the side seam.   Finish both sides and turn your pants wrong side out.  Match the seams up as they were before so the dark seam allowance doesnt show on the outside seam.   Then sew down this seam to close it up.   I sewed it TWICE making sure to secure the raw edges of the patch in the seam.    Then serge or zig zag the raw edges.

Back side will look like this when done:

Turn the pants right side out and VIOLA!!

I patched these jeans with the intentions of them being her play jeans but alas I was informed they are her new favorite pair and she hopes that some others get holey so I can patch them too, lol.  Enjoy!

Turning a womens shirt into a toddler dress..

I had been wanting to do this for awhile.  Love the result and so did my 2yo as she wont take it off, lol.  I didnt do a full blown tutorial with measurements and things on this as the size you need will vary and I simply cut around an existing dress we had and liked.  But I imagine that you can do something similar yourself with the few pics I have included to show you what I did 😉

Here is the shirt and dress I am using.  I first laid the dress on top and marked where I wanted to cut the bottom of the shirt off.  I will use the bottom hem later to do a ruffle on the bottom.  So i cut it about 5″ shorter then what i wanted to leave room for the ruffle. Then I matched the front neck line of the dress up with the front T-shirt neckline.  Tuck your sleeves in at the seams and trace about 1/2″ away from the outline of the dress.

Cut one half then fold over and match your lines the best you can:

Then do the back neckline, fold in the sleeves.

Then I matched the sleeve up on the finished edge, traced about 1/2″ away from the neckline, folded back the sleeve seam and traced it all out.  I then stacked the 2 sleeves on top of each other when I cut them so they would be identical.

The rest I didnt capture pics of but here is a run down of what I did :

• turned the neckline edge of the sleeves under 1/4″ and zig zagged them both
• Matched up the sleeves with the back pieces and serged, then serged the other side to the front side.  I went ahead and serged all the way to the end of the front/back pieces even though the sleeves are shorter on my dress.  I will show you this later.
• Threaded all my serged threads back into the seams on the necline.
• Then I sewed up the SIDES of the body of the dress.
• Cut the bottom of the shirt that was leftover earlier into the ruffle.  I ruffled the edge and then serged it to the bottom of the dress matching up the side seams of the dress I made and the shirt.

Then I tucked under the leftover underarm edges like this and sewed them down:

I took 1/4″ elastic and placed it on the inside of the top of the sleeve and zig zagged it on to make the neck gather on the sleeve tops:

VIOLA, you are done 😀

 

Easy Mini Ruffled Purse Tutorial

Hey all!  Been awhile since I posted a free tutorial and thought I would share how to make this bag that I did for my Daughter! 😀

Materials needed:

• 15.5 inch by 19 inch piece of woven for the body of the bag
• 4″ x 44″ (full width) of coordinating woven for handles/trim
• iron
• marking pen is really handy for this 😉

Step #1 – After cutting the above pieces.  Take your strip for the trim/handles fold in half long ways and IRON.  Then unfold and fold both raw edges into the center and iron!   Pic here:

Step #2 – Cut this strip into 2 pieces.  One measuring 18 inches long for the trim, then whatever you have left (should be about 26 inches) will be the straps

Step #3 – Now I like to do french seams for the purse bottom since we arent lining this bag.   With french seams I sew on the RIGHT sides of the fabric using a 1/8″ seam allowance, turn my material with RIGHT sides TOGETHER and sew on the WRONG side using a 1/4″ seam allowance to enclose the raw edges as seen here:

Step #4 Now we RUFFLE the top edges of the bottom of the bag!   Here is what I do on my machine:  Turn your tension dial all the way up *mine goes to 9* and make your stitch length as long as it will go *mine goes to 5*   The using a 1/4″ seam allowance, stitch along the top raw edge.  I hold my finger behind the foot like so and then release every 3-4 inches sewn.  You can also pleat the top, use a ruffler foot, or even stitch then pull the threads to gather like many patterns tell you too 😉

Step #5- Set that piece aside and pick up your long STRAP piece.  Stitch 1/8″ along both edges to finish the strap

Step #6 – Set that aside and grab your “TRIM” piece.  Open the ends and match them like shown below and sew 1/4″ away from edge.  I did farther in so I didnt include that selvage edge you see 😉

Your piece should gladly go back to the “double fold” position when tucked back in so it will look like this:

 

Now with your seam in the center, use your marking pen to put marks at the “half way” marks on both ends.  These will be where we line up the straps and the side seams of the bottom of the bag!!!

Step #7 – Line up each end of your strap *making sure you dont twist it* with the marking pen marks you made.  Open your “trim” piece and fold the end of your strap into the inside of your trim piece and baste into place like so:

Step #8 –   Keeping your trim piece open line up the side seam of the main bag piece with the mark you made as well.  Tuck all the raw edges and stitching  you made to ruffle the bag piece well into the trim piece and fold the trim piece closed:

Step #9 – With your trim piece securely folded over all the ruffled raw edges of the bag piece, sew along the edge like so.  Make sure your strap is folded up and out of the way as seen above in the picture.  Tuck the edges in as you go.  When you get a few inches away from the other strap, be sure to line up the side seam with your strap & mark.

Step #10 – Now with the straps folded up, Topstitch along the trims top edge:

Step #11 – OPTIONAL   You are done at this point unless, like me you want to add a little more shape to the bag.  Here is the bag BEFORE SHAPING:

 Here is what I did to square the bottom a little.   Iron the corners of your bag piece FLAT.  Then open the ironed corner and match the side seam with the ironed line made at the bottom.  Measure in with your ruler 1.5″ from the tip and sew this line!

I then folded up the “triangle odd piece and tacked it to the side seam allowance.  DONT SEW THE BAG just along the seams 😉  You could also cut the piece off and zig zag the edges but I wanted to keep the inside clean!

Here is the results with my 9 year old!

Quick & Easy Gifts…

Hey all!    Just wanted to list some of my favorite saved tutorial links for gift ideas!! Hope you find them all very useful!

• Black Apple Doll – quite detailed but worth it.  It is a great pattern with a wonderful outcome!
• Craft Apron – this pattern is for a small half apron that ties that can also be made into a childrens size or a mans toolbelt or little boys toolbelt for play!!
• Baby Fleece Booties – I havent personally tried this pattern but it was on my to-do list that never got done, lol.
• Drawstring Bags – These bags could be made in about ANY size.  So you could use them for gift bags, laundry bags, etc.
• Tissue Box Cover – So simple to look at, but so glad she took the guess work out of the pattern for me.. 
• Fabric Basket – Cute basket with handles
• Pocket Tissue holder – so simple and cute!

Those are just a few I thought you might enjoy!!

Crazy Quilting Paper Pieced Scrap Coasters Tutorial

I have found a great use for some scraps of fusible fleece, fleece and wovens!!   SO gather some scraps and lets get started!

First print these templates if you choose to use mine.  Or make a 4″ square and make a pattern on it!!!  Also, I will try to explain a very basic and brief way to paper piece. If I am confusing you I suggest viewing this free tutorial on paper piecing. Although we arent using PAPER, we are using fusible fleece, the method is pretty much the same concept!

Take your fusible Fleece with the fusible side to the paper (down), trace the square and lines with a marking pen.  Then gather some scraps!

 

Take your first scrap piece place Right side down and place the fusible fleece template on it.  Make sure it will cover the full area you are wanting it too.  Note that the templates have numbers in the areas, that is the order I recommend you sew/fill the sections.  In this case this print is the print I will be using for the middle section. 

Now find the piece you want to cover section #2, Lay it with the Right sides together with print #1.  Lay it slightly over the line you will be sewing, so that when it is sewn and flipped right side up, it will cover section #2.  Being careful not to shift the pieces, flip over and sew the line!

 

Fold the piece back and trim the excess to about 1/4″ from the seam as shown below.  Repeat the above for section #3 (and #4 if applicable)

  

Iron Pieces out.  This should now fuse your fleece to your fabric!  Then Trim the excess around the square off. 

   

Now topstitch if desired.  Sometimes I stitch on both sides of the seams.  But you can stitch in the seams, just on one side, stipple quilt it, quilt lines the opposite direction of the seams, or not even topstitich it at all!

 

Place your square right sides together with your fleece scrap and trim around.  Then sew, using a 1/8″ seam allowance, around starting 1″ from a corner all the way around and 1″ into the same side you started, leaving an 1.5″ opening or so.  Trim the corners.

 

Now turn your coaster.  Then fold in the opening raw edges.  Start on that side and topstitch 1/8″ from the edge all the way around. 

 

Then upload the photo to the Patchy Apple Tutorial FLickr Pool and Enjoy!  😀