Art yarn scarf sewn with dissolvable interfacing

Several years ago I saw someone with a scarf that was made just of yarn sewn together.  They told me their friend had made it using dissolvable interfacing.  I had that in the back of my mind for a long time and recently saw the technique again in a recent issue of Spin-off magazine.  I decided to finally try it out on my yarn that I made while trying out my drum carder.  You can read all about making the yarn here.

After the yarn was done, I arranged it and sandwiched it between two pieces of dissolvable interfacing and pinned it to keep it all in place.  Then I sewed back and forth on my sewing machine.

Finally, I just ran cold water over it to dissolve away the interfacing and hung it to dry!

iPad sleeves

I made this first iPad sleeve for a friend.  It is padded and the inside is lined with flannel.

Then, I made this second version for myself, but decided I wanted a different style (more to come on that in another post).  So, this one is going up for sale here on Etsy.  It is also padded and is lined with regular cotton instead of flannel.  

Fabric Coasters

I made some fabric coasters recently.  This set of 4 went to my friend, Jenni.

And this set went to my living room.

The fabric for my coasters was left over from the pelmet box curtains I made (and blogged about here).

To make these coasters, I cut 5" x 5" squares of the fabric.  You need 8 total so for the ones that have different fabric on the front and back, you need 4 of each.  I also cut 4 5" x 5" squares of batting that was left over from a quilt project.  Sandwich the fabric right sides together with the batting on top.  Sew around the edges with a 1/4 inch seam leaving an opening to turn them right side out.  Once they are turned right side out, iron them and stitch 1/8 inch seam around the edge making sure to catch the turned in edges that were left open before.  Then quilt however you want.  For the first set I did parallel lines every 1/2 inch or so.  For the others, I made concentric squares.

Wet bags

I previously made some wet bags for my sister-in-law and blogged about them here.  I had tried lining them with vinyl,which I think was a good idea in theory, but the vinyl didn't hold up well after repeated washing and drying cycles.  My sister-in-law asked me to make some more for her to give away as a baby shower gift.  This time I used some leftover fabric from this quilt. I didn't use the vinyl, and went for sewn button holes for the ribbon draw-string instead of metal eyelets.  The outer fabric is home decor weight so they have a nice sturdiness.  The two smaller ones are kind of small, but I think you could put a bottle, pacifiers, or a onesy in them easily. I still love this fabric.  I wonder if it is still available...I might have to stockpile some if it is.  This was the very last I had in my stash.

Pincushions

I decided I needed a new pincushion so I made this one out of scraps. It is so much better than my old one!

I had so much fun that I decided to make two more and post them in my Etsy shop.

Blue patchwork pincushion

Grey and yellow bird pincushion

Case for crochet hooks, makeup brushes, etc...

My stylist recently asked if I could make a pouch for her makeup brushes so that they wouldn't get the inside of her purse dirty. She suggested something similar to the sunglasses cases I made previously, but with the flap on the long side. However, after thinking about it, I decided to try it like this instead:

There is an elastic strap across so that makeup brushes (or in my case crochet hooks) can be held in place and can be easily accessed. You just fold it up and close it with the magnetic snap. I like this a lot, but I think I need to add some more stitching on the elastic to make the slots tighter for the smaller hooks. I tried some decorative stitches on the elastic, but had a lot of trouble with skipped stitches. I had the most luck with regular straight stitching. (If anyone knows any suggestions on how to avoid this on elastic, please share!) I would probably also move the elastic nearer to the middle next time. I was worried about getting too close to the snap, but I think I could have gone a little closer and still been okay. I have a few other ideas in mind for the makeup brushes, so I am going to make a few other options and take them in next time I get my hair cut to see which my stylist prefers. I just love getting suggestions of things to make and then figuring out how to make them!

Oven mitt

Remember this fabric? Well, I finally made something from the orange dots and stripes - another oven mitt. This one was going to go in my shop, but ended up a little too small and with a few other imperfections. So, it is going to my sister instead! She recently moved, so is in need of oven mitts. This works out perfectly!

Fabric Notebook Cover Tutorial

First of all, I have to apologize for the quality of some of these pictures. I didn't realize they weren't that great until after I was done. But, I think you can still get the idea of what I was trying to portray.

I started with this small binder I have had forever, but you could use any size notebook and adjust the measurements accordingly.

1) Measure the notebook you want to cover (mine is about 5 1/4 inches by 8 1/4 inches).

2) Cut a large rectangle of your outer fabric that is large enough to accommodate a 1/4 seam allowance on each side plus 1/8-1/4 inch around for the top stitching. (I failed to take the top stitching into account in my measurements so mine is pretty snug. I will provide example measurements of what I should have done.) For my notebook I needed 6 inches by 9 inches. If you aren't sure, I would recommend going a little larger rather than a little smaller since you really can't fit the notebook in there if it is too small.

3) Cut 2 small rectangles of coordinating fabric for the inner pockets. The size of the pocket depends on what you like and the size of your notebook. I wanted mine to cover about 2/3 of the notebook. These need to be the same measurement up and down as the other rectangle you just cut ( in my case 6 inches). Decide on the final width you want and add at least 7/8 inches for seam allowance, top stitching and the hem on the open side. I wanted mine to be 2 1/2 inches wide so each rectangle ended up 6 by 3 3/8 inches.

4) Cut a strip of coordinating fabric for the closure. Again, the size of this depends on the size of your notebook and your preferences, but I made mine about 1 3/4 inches wide and about 5 3/4 long. It was actually just a scrap that was left over from my other cutting and it looked about right so I used it.

5) Cut fusible interfacing the same size as your main fabric and the rectangles for the inner pockets and iron on (wrong sides together) as the package instructs. I used lightweight fusible interfacing. This is optional, but I think it helps give it just a little stiffness and form and also helps the lighter areas of the fabric from being see-through.

6) Iron a 1/4 inch double hem along the side that will be the open side of each of the inner pockets and sew.

7) Fold the strip that will be the closure in half, right sides together, and sew along the long side (1/4 inch seam). Then turn right side out and iron with the seam in the middle.

8) Position the closure strip onto the main fabric (right sides together). It will be on the part that will be the back of the notebook.

9) Layer the pocket piece on top of the outer fabric and closure (again the right side of the pocket should be facing the right side of the outer fabric and the hem should be towards the middle of the rectangle) and pin into place. Also pin the other pocket piece into place.

10) Stitch around each pocket piece from where the hemmed edge meets the outer fabric all the way around to the the other hemmed edge of the same pocket. Do this on each side and then turn right side out.

11) Fold in and iron the piece of outer fabric between the 2 pockets on top and bottom.

12) Top stitch (1/8) inch around the entire notebook cover.

13) Slip the notebook into the cover and determine where the button should be positioned and hand-stitch it on.

Quilted fabric coasters - lime/stripes

I made these coasters from the same fabric as the sunglasses case. I made one set of 3 that I took to work for my desk. The second set of 4 is now posted in my shop. For the first set I did one coaster each using lime green, navy, and chocolate thread for the quilting. I really liked the green on green, but preferred the navy or chocolate on the striped fabric. For the second set I used lime on the top thread and navy on the bottom so that I could have the best of both worlds!

Sunglasses case - third time's the charm

I made two more versions of the sunglasses case. The second one I made much bigger thinking that would be better for big sunglasses. As you can see, the large sunglasses fit without a problem. But, if you see it in person, it just seems too big. It measures about 4.25 inches by 8 inches.

The third case seems to be a pretty good size. My smaller sunglasses have plenty of room and the larger ones fit snugly inside. I'll probably post this case in my shop (if I can convince myself to give it up). I'll surely be making more sunglasses cases now that I have an acceptable pattern. I am still not sure what to do with the larger one, though. Maybe you could put a checkbook and pen inside? Maybe it will be a freebie? Any ideas?

Wet bags for baby

Thursday I shipped off my most recent baby gift - these wet bags. They are fabric bags lined in vinyl so that mom can throw dirty clothes, shoes, diapers etc. in them and keep the rest of the contents of the diaper bag dry. I had heard about wet bags that were lined with solid colored vinyl fabric, but I really wanted to line mine with a coordinating fabric that you could see. My first idea was to use a clear shower curtain over the inner fabric. When I went to the fabric store I found some clear vinyl sold by the yard, but they only had the really thin or really thick versions in stock. Then, as I was gathering my applique supplies, I spotted some iron-on vinyl! So, that is what I ended up using. The fabric is Robots by David Walker from Common Threads Quilt Shoppe.

My first attempt was the red bag. I made the inner bag taller than the outer so that I could cuff it over and put the draw-string in. I love the way this one looks with the shiny cuff, but as you can see, it just doesn't cinch up very well. You have to work with the draw string a little to get it very snug. I figure the functionality of being able to easily shut the bag will be more important to a mom dealing with a mess than the cute shiny appearance. So...

Attempt number 2 was the blue bag. This one I made the inner vinyl coated bag the same size as the outer and then added a separate non-vinyl cuff for the draw string. I had some trouble with this because the vinyl is slippery and the bag just barely fit over the base of my sewing machine. I needed to pin it, but didn't want to poke holes in the vinyl so I tried using binding clips like you would to attach binding to a quilt, but they ended up sliding around. So, the stitching on the cuff isn't the best. However, it does cinch shut quite nicely.

Final attempt - striped bag. This time I used a similar method as the blue bag, but I sewed the cuff to the inner bag before putting it together and then folded it over so that it held in place better. This worked much better, but I thought I was being clever by making the inner bag a little bit smaller (width) so that it fit inside the other bag better, but that meant that it was hard to make the cuff fold over the larger outer bag. Again, the stitching on the cuff is not as nice as I would like. But, the good news is, this was also my first time to try applique and I think it was pretty good for my first attempt (if I do say so myself!). I followed the instructions by Elizabeth from Oh, Fransson! on Sew, Mama, Sew!. It was pretty straight forward with such good instructions! I have a feeling I will be doing that again!

I did wash and dry the red bag in my washer and dryer. It seemed okay, but I was worried about the vinyl separating from the fabric so I turned it inside out, covered it in parchment paper and ironed it again to be sure they were still fused. I think it is okay to wash and dry if needed, but they will probably last longer if they are just wiped out or hand washed most of the time. Hopefully, these will be useful bags. I would love to hear some suggestions on how to make these better. I might make more in the future, and am also considering using vinyl coated fabric to line a makeup bag.