Category Archives: DIY

I’ll be sharing the love this week

Posted on March 19, 2012 by SewTara| Leave a comment

I have a bunch of things photographed and tons of posts to write. I decided to share some thing by sharing some link love this week. So the next 5 days will be spent doing just that.

To kick it all off here’s a glimpse at some of the great accessories I’ve been accumulating recently. I’ve suddenly fallen in love with brooches and pendants and I’ve acquired a nice collection.

I made these 2, I’m particularly proud of the deer one. I bought a clearance pendant and yanked out the middle, the I cut a fun piece of fabric to fit inside. I glued it down with some Modge Podge, this seems to seal the fabric a bit, then I poured Dimensional Magic on top. DM is finicky, one moment it’s all nice and air bubble free, the next moment you look back and it’s like ninja bubbles have appeared. I tend to pour it in when I know I’m going to be sitting right there crafting so I can watch it. I seem to have about an 80% success rate with which pendants turn out, I’m happy this one worked out so beautifully.
The owl was a no brainer, I picked up all the pieces at Michael’s and just put it all together.

1. Garlic Paws from Denture Thief
2. Handmade gift from Amy
3. Cat eye glasses necklace by Isette
4. The Fox and the Tea Cup by Stephanie
5. In person at a craft sale, can’t find their Etsy shop right now
6. Mint Designs
7. Birthday gift from Tabatha bought from Beauty Spot.
8. Yellow Heart Art

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Posted in DIY, fun finds

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DIY – Tomato pin cushion revamp

Posted on February 28, 2012 by SewTara| 4 Comments

I’ve made a bunch of scrappy pin cushions since I started sewing and one thing I recently learned is you shouldn’t fill them with that polyfil stuff, apparently it can dull your pins and needles. I had no clue.

Some emery sand would be best, but it’s tricky to find. And while the nostalgic red tomato pin cushion reminds me of my mom sewing, everyone has one and having something different is fun. So I decided to start with the standard tomato pin cushion and do some reworking.

You’ll need:
tomato pin cushion (I already removed everything off it before the photo)
fabric square big enough to wrap it up
a scrap of fabic
embroidery floss
optional: ribbon or rick rack and some buttons

Figure out how your square of fabric will best fit on the tomato and start attaching it with little stitches around the top.

It should look something like this, with more or less fabric depending on the piece you started with.

Trim the excess, try to get it as close as possible to the stitches.

Thread some embroidery thread onto your needle and starting at the top travel around the tomato pulling tightly to secure the fabric. You can cross over and under the threads to help them stay in place.

Cut some sort of fun shape to cover all your stitching at the top. I went with the leaves on the tomato sort of shape out of a fun polka dot print.

Stitch around the secure the scrap to the top your the cushion. Try to pop up as close to the middle as possible and then attach a bit of ribbon or rick rack. I decorated the end of mine with buttons stitched on back to back.

And ta da! A lovely revamped pin cushion.

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Posted in DIY, scraps, tutorial-ish

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Glad I bought it!

Posted on February 7, 2012 by SewTara| 1 Comment

I certainly don’t need another craft book, but I’m sure glad I picked this one up.

It’s by Sue Kim and I didn’t even connect that she’s the lady behind I Think Sew, and I certainly didn’t know she lives in Toronto just minutes from me!

See all those cute stickies flagging pages? Yeah, I want to make all those. I’ve got a bag problem . . and a sewing problem . . . *sigh*

I also picked up this one to add to my collection of fabric printing books. Hopefully I’ll get to spend some time reading them someday. I’m dying to get into making my own fabrics.

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Posted in crafty books, DIY, sewing

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Friday Create Along

Posted on February 3, 2012 by SewTara| 3 Comments

Here are some reveals.

Wipe container letters and numbers? Ta da!

Lavender sachets? Ta da!

Crocheted slippers? . . . pass for now.

Up next this cute little phone pouch pattern available from Nap Kitten. I assure you this pattern is much easier than her wallet, which kicked off this Create Along adventure.

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Posted in createalong, DIY, kid fun, repurposing, scraps, sewing

DIY fabric covered wooden brooch

Posted on January 16, 2012 by SewTara| 5 Comments

One of my goals is to accessorize more and while I have bought a few things here and there I figured I should also make my own pretty things.

You will need:
- a scrap of fabric
- a wooden cut out
- glue gun
- pin back
- scissors
- Modge Podge or white glue

Trace your wood shape on the wrong side of your fabric. If you have a special part of the pattern you want to capture make sure you’ve placed it in the right place.

Spread Modge Podge on the wooden piece. Cut out the fabric and place it on.

Plug in your glue gun and add your pin back with a little blob of hot glue. You may need to trim excess fabric from places with small scissors or an exacto knife.

Next have someone around to take a finished photo for you because propping a camera up on items and hoping for a good shot is very hit and miss.

You get the idea.

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Posted in DIY, other crafts, scraps, tutorial-ish

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Friday Create Along

Posted on January 13, 2012 by SewTara| 3 Comments

Ok I’m not entirely caught on on previous projects. I’ve still got my slippers to crochet and my little sewing thread/scrap catcher thing to make but I did get to this lovely embroidery. And I’m sure glad I did.

I did some things differently, mostly because I was sickly on the couch and didn’t want to get up for anymore colours or to Google a certain stitch . . . I mean I took some artistic license.

I was pumped to try the whipped backstitch but my outer circle ended up a tad wonky so I decided to go around another time in an effort to even it out. Thanks to Nicole for having such an awesomely cute pattern. I proudly showed my hubby “Look!” and he looked and said “What is it?” and even as I started to answer I realized how silly it was sounding in guy speak, “It’s a hedgehog! In a tea cup! Floating . . in the water . . . nevermind.”

So onto this week’s project, the convertable clutch! The PDF pattern is available here on Etsy or here directly from the LBG site. And of course I do have 1 to give away. The lucky winner is . . . .

Ellen!!! (email sent!)

So congrats and I hope you have time this week to get sewing!

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Posted in createalong, DIY, embroidery, sewing

Wanna make a clutch/tote?

Posted on January 10, 2012 by SewTara| 20 Comments

A while ago I purchased this great pattern and once again, I have permission to share. Coincidentally Vanessa also won a spot in my January ad giveaway and so her cute little button is over there ->

This will be my Friday Create Along project and to let at least one person play along with me I will give away the PDF pattern to one lucky winner on Friday. So leave your name here and I’ll announce a winner on Friday when I reveal my late assignments for my past Create Alongs and put up the details for this one.

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Posted in createalong, DIY, sewing

Guest post!

Posted on December 26, 2011 by SewTara| 1 Comment

Hello everyone, well hopefully I’m enjoying some great weather in Belize, maybe I’m even on a beach! Which is why I asked Janee of Yellow Bird Yellow Beard to guest post for me. Here’s her cute DIY.

Hi Fun People!

I’ve seen these adorable little figurines floating around the internet recently, I’m sure quite a few of you have seen them also. Now I’m normally not a huge fan of glitter, but these are simply irresistible. Enjoy!!!

DISCLAIMER::: I’m going to say this just in case you’ve been living in a cave up until now and have never worked with glitter before. Your going to want to do this on an easily cleanable or throw-away-able surface. Or better yet, outside. Or even better still, outside on a throw-away-able surface.




xoxo
Janee

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Posted in DIY, other crafts, repurposing

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DIY gift tags or mini cards

Posted on December 21, 2011 by SewTara| 2 Comments

Wow, feels like it’s been forever since I’ve done a DIY so here one is! I’m going to show you how to make these great little gift tags, an easy way and an up-a-notch way. I shared these last week over at Celeste’s blog and now I’m sharing it here! These ones are holiday themed but it would be really easy to change some colours and stickers and use them on birthday gifts or for another occasion.

You will need – cardstock (colours and some white), stapler, paper cutter/scissors, adhesive
Optional fun goodies – ribbon, stamps, stickers, embellishments, ink or markers

Cut the coloured papers in 2 1/2 x 7 1/4 inch strips. The white papers should be 2 1/2 x 5.

Fold the white pieces in half, these will make the inside ‘pages’ of the card.

Fold the coloured paper at 2 1/2 and 5 inches. The remaining section will be slightly less than 2 1/2 inches in width. Using scissors or a punch make a cut out in the middle of the card.

Next grab one of the white scraps and decorate it in some fun way. I chose to use a snowflake stamp and my markers. I used the snowflake to create a patterned paper.

Then place adhesive around the opening for the stamped white piece to stick on. Keep the adhesive over to the one side so it doesn’t peek out later.

Then add some more adhesive on the back of the white paper and fold the last bit over to hide it all.

Place the white piece inside the card and add a staple.

Now turn the card over and add the embellishment on the outside. Voila!

Depending on the supplies you want to get your cards can get really fancypants. The holly one was made with a button and leaves from a scrapbooking punch. The snow flake one has 2 pieces of an overhead sheet with some fake snow stuff I got at the dollar store inside.

Or you can also just put some stickers or cut outs on the outside.

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Posted in DIY, papercrafts

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Productive procrastination

Posted on December 13, 2011 by SewTara| 4 Comments

The other night while I was avoiding some of the things I really should have been doing I decided to sew this little guy up. It’s one of Keyka Lou‘s free tutorials. I know I go on about her patterns a lot but I’m totally smitten with them and they’re fun, easy and lovely!

Here’s my Moleskine cover, it’s full of mushroomy goodness.

I even made use of one of my SewTara buttons for the first time. Just in case anyone isn’t sure who’s ideas are inside the little notebook in my purse, now they’ll know!

Get your own personalized buttons here.

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Posted in DIY, sewing

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