Valentine craftiness! Conversation heart pillow tutorial.

Finally I finished my Valentine inspired quote pillow!  Once again putting me crafting late at night when I probably should be heading off to bed.  Instead I will make the world a better place and tell you how I made it in case you’d like to brighten your space with this cute little throw pillow.  Not only is it a pillow it’s a cute little message for my family since my husband or kids are welcome to follow the instructions anytime they like!

Sooooo first you need some hearts.  I cut 4 hearts out of pink, red and brown felt.  I just used the trick of folding the felt in half and cutting half a heart.  You could get fancy and use Google images to find a heart template to trace if you’re afraid to free hand it.  Then I embroidered the sayings onto the hearts with different colours, pink on red, fuchsia on pink, cream on brown.  I was sort of basing the sayings on a little thing my dad and me used to say so I needed 4.  You could have more of less hearts, bigger or smaller ones,  just depends on what you want on your pillow.  But you can still follow this horizontal stripe idea even if you change it up a bit.

Gather some heart/love themed fabric (part of why it’s taken me so long to complete this project) and fuss about which ones to use and how (another reason it took so long).

I decided to use the Timeless Treasures fabric again since this pillow will go on my bed with my “Sew in Love” and “Oh” pillows.  Wow, I can’t believe I have 3 decorative pillows on my bed . . . and they have names . . . ok, back to the turorial . . .

Pin the conversation hearts onto the backing fabric you want and get a feel for the placement.  I cut a piece for the back from brown fabric and decided on 20 x 13.  Think about how big you want your pillow and cut backing for that size.  Because I was going with a length of 20 inches I trimmed the swirly heart fabric to 20 inches and then just cut under the conversation hearts where I thought seemed nice and even with the top.  Then I added a band of brown to the top, bottom and the red swirly Timeless Treasures.

Once again, I was very scientific – I just added fabric until it was the same size as the back, trimmed it down so they matched and carried on.  The 2 pieces were basically 20 x 12.  There was some loss in the trimming.  So add horizontal stripes of fabric until your front is the same size as the back.  I had 4 stripes in total, yours is up to you.  I had gotten some piping for along the perimeter of the pillow to jazz it up a bit.  I wanted it to be different from the other 2 on the bed so I went with the piping and rectangular shape.

I was going to hand sew the hearts onto the backing fabric using contrasting colours but in the end I decided to have the stitching be nearly invisible.  So there I was changing my thread and bobbin a few times to get the right coloured thread, but it was worth it in the end.

I have never used piping before and the lady at the fabric store suggested sewing the piping to one side before putting the right sides together.  I followed her advice but I’m not sure it made things any easier.  It was finicky work and since you can’t really see how close to the piping the stitching is I found it annoying.  I stitched it to the front piece first thinking that would make a nicer edge on that side.

Lay the backing on with right sides together and stitch around leaving an opening for turning and stuffing of course.   Trim the corners so you’ll have a nice crisp edge when you turn it rightside out.  I turned the pillow, pushed out the corners with my trusting stuffing tool (aka chopstick), use what you’ve got.  Then stuff your pillow through the opening.  Once it has reached it’s desired fluffiness you’re ready to sew it closed.  I did this part by hand just to make sure the front was kept nice and clean looking.  The backing only has to be stitched to the piping part, I was a bit picky about mine but I wanted to keep the stitches virtually invisible so I probably fussed more than I needed too.

Tags: embroidery, pillow, valentine

Handkerchief pillow tutorial. Complete with cute embroidery!

My friend gave me a few handkerchiefs her Grandmother had lying around figuring I could make something with them.  I had the idea to make them into little throw pillows for my bed.  I was going to make her one and give it to her, but I’ve already given her a pillow I made so I figured I’d be keeping it.  Then I realized one of the prints would be perfect for embroidering a little something right in the middle.

Perhaps a heart with our names in it?  So I cut out a heart and was just about to trace it when I remembered the awesomeness I had just ordered from Peptogirl!

I flipped through the patterns and found one I liked and I took the liberty of making a slight adjustment.

Here’s how I made the pillow:

First I cut a piece of plain unbleached cotton fabric a little bit larger than the hanky. Then I ironed the two pieces so they’d be nice and flat. In hindsight I should have cut the cotton a bit bigger, I ended up losing the border when I squared it up before putting the backing on.

Next, in a very high tech. transferring process, I freehandedly copied the ’sew in love’ pattern onto the hanky, adding my own little touch.

Then it was onto embroidering before a repeat ironing performance. I just put the hanky and fabric in a hoop together and stitched my design. When I took it out the stitching was through both layers holding it together.

So off to my machine I went where I stiched around the edge of the hanky, I went on top of the hem stitching with the same colour so it wouldn’t show.

While doing that I hit a pin!! Never in all my time sewing have I actually hit the pin. CLUNK! went the machine, and I totally expected the pin to have snapped and tried to pull it out, but nope! It was just bent like crazy! Everything seemed fine so I just took it out and kept going.

Then I chose some fabric for the back, our duvet cover is brown so I was going for something that would make this a nice little pillow to toss on our bed. I squared up the edges around the hanky and then I laid down the front, right sides facing, to see how big it was and cut a piece for the back.

Then I pinned it together, with the pins waaaaay inside to make sure I didn’t hit one again, and sewed around with a 1/4 inch seam.
In retrospect the hole I left for turning and stuffing seemed a tad too small but I got it. When I went back to my bag of stuffing to grab some more I found this peaking out.

I was so excited, a stuffing tool?! Wow. Was stuffing going to be easier?! Why hadn’t I found one in my last bag of stuffing?! Then I opened it and realised it’s really just a chopstick and I could have gotten one of those from the kitchen. My hands worked just fine.

Stitched the stuffing hole closed and ta da! A cute little pillow to enjoy!

Tea cup pin cushion . . . tutorial-ish.

I’ve come across cute little tea cup pin cushions and today I remembered I had 2 special tea cups wrapped in bubble wrap hidden away in a cupboard because I had no where to display them.  They were my Great Grandmother’s and they were passed onto me when my Grandfather died about 2 years ago.  So I decided to go about creating a tea cup pin cushion.  It’s not that tricky, or a fine science or anything, but here’s how I did it.

I chose some vintage-y looking fabric I had lying around.

I needed to cut the fabric into a circle, had no clue about what size to I just got something round.  I placed the saucer on the fabric and traced a little bit from the edge and cut the circle out.

Then I grabbed some stuffing . . . stuff and guesstimated how much I would need.  It looked like a lot but once it was all squished up it was perfect.  So if you’re trying this, take a little bit more than you think.

Then I did a running stitch around the circle and pulled on the thread to gather the fabric and close up the fabric.

So then you have this little dumpling like bundle.

And voila!

Resolution inspiration.

I really wanted to create some cool wall art, like this for our living room.  But it’s a bit of an involved project that will take time to organize and make so I had a brain wave for a smaller project with the same effect, only it will decorate my cute little new craft area (once I finish organizing it).

How’d I do it?  I just cut 2 circles of fabric, one green and one cute Heidi Grace patterned one and cut them in two pieces.  I though I might make another one later so I wanted some fabric ready.  Then I sewed the patterned fabric to the solid colour piece.  A while back when I needed 1 embroidery hoop I went into Value Village and picked up a back with 5 in it for some insanely low price, like $1.99 and I remember thinking, “But I only need !”  good thing I have many now.  I fit the circle into the hoop with a little cute ribbon covering the seam.

Then I sat down to think of some fun little words I could pencil onto the green that would be inspiring and motivating.  I penciled them onto the fabric, grabbed some floss I thought would go nicely and sat down to make it prettier.  I went a little free form on the leaves and heart *shrug*.  Then I added a few buttons in colours from the patterned fabric and voila!  Now I just have to get downstairs and set up the other table I picked up on Tueday night so I can begin the great craft space organization of 2010.

Easy Wreath Idea

I found this wreath idea in a magazine in *cough* 1999.   I went on a binge years ago and made a ton of them and gave them away to people or as Christmas gifts.  Now I’ve only got my one banged up one left.   I don’t have time to make a new one right now so perhaps next year I’ll make some new little men to replace the ones who have broken in the line of duty.  Here’s a bit of a tutorial, what I could throw together without actually making on and taking the pictures.

Here’s what you need

1. ring of something pretty sturdy, cardboard works, or you can buy the fancy ones from a craft store and sometimes a dollar store.

2. gingerbread man cookie cutter

3. glue gun and glue sticks for it

4. tacky glue

5. 1 1/4 cups of cinnamon

6. 56 scraps of fabric, measuring 1″ x 9″, It’s more rustic looking if you tear the fabric but you can cut it too.  9 1′ x 4″ fabric scraps, cut these ones.

7. rolling pin, cookie sheet and wire cooling rack

8. some acrylic craft paints, colours can vary but I used a tan, and pinkish colour.  A paintbrush and I had a black marker on hand, rather than paints, for details.

Here’s the handy steps!

1. Mix one cup cinnamon with 4 tablespoons of tacky glue and 3/4 cup water.  Mix it around until you have a stiff dough.  Add more of something to achieve that consistency.  Place the dough on the counter and sprinkle with cinnamon so it won’t stick to the roller.  Roll dough out to about 1.4″ thickness.

2. Cut out 9 gingerbread men and transfer them onto the wire rack.  Place the wire rack on a cookie sheet and bake at 200 for about 2 1/2 hours.  Turn the men over every 20-30 minutes.  Your house will smell wonderfully of cinnamon!  Leave the cooked men on the rack overnight.  They might curl slightly.

3. Paint most of the men with the tan paint, leaving a little bit of the gingerbread edge showing.  This may take a few coats to cover the way you like.   Add little rosy cheeks and eyes and a mouth.

4.  Tie the little 4″ strips into bows and glue gun them to the men to look like little bow ties.

5.  Set the men aside and pick up whatever you have for a circle!  Tie the 1″ x 9″ fabric strips around the circle until it is entirely hidden by fabric.  Photo shows the back.

6. Once it’s entirely covered place the ginger men around the wreath with room at the top for your hanging device, be it ribbon or an actual hanger from a door.

As I’ve learned, and you can see from a few of my men, they are fragile and can break so store your wreath lovingly.  The men also smell like cinnamon for some time, so if you can keep it in some sort of sealed box that will help preserve the smell.  What’s more festive than yummy smelling cinnamon!

First birthday shirt.

Tomorrow we’re having Baby Nate’s first birthday party, it is a bit early but with the trip we have to push things up.  Tonight I whipped up this shirt for him to wear.  I really wanted to make one, I got the idea somewhere of a number one appliqued over a star.  Since his party is all about Pixar’s Cars I used my checked flag material.

A friend had given me a bag of hand me down baby clothes and there were some onesies in there that would be too short for Nate.  I cut them right at the bottom to make them into little t-shirts. I used Steam-A-Seam to stick the number 1 on.  But I was still worried it would be a bit short and wanted to add some length so I made my own bias tape to add to the bottom of the shirt.  Can’t wait to see him in it tomorrow!

Place setting stockings.

The other day while looking through the flyers I found this neat idea, for $13.99.   Of course I instantly figured I could make something similar quite easily.  And so I did!

I started with our old stocking.  I believe I got them at the dollar store years ago, and they say our names and I figure we should be Mom and Dad now so it was time for new stockings anyway.  So I disassembled them to re-use the fabric.

With the help of my friend google, I searched for an image of a stocking and sized it to a size I liked and began cutting!

I recovered enough fabric to make 6 stockings.  We’re travelling at Christmas this year and won’t need our stockings and so I have a whole year to make us something snazzy and neat.

I don’t have any wonderful dishes but you get the idea.

Here are the other stocking friends.  They could also be used as place holders if you stitched names on the stockings.  Perhaps I’ll get to that for next year.

Ribbon Christmas tree t-shirt.

Made this today for my big little guy. I didn’t take an action shot for fear he’d get something on it and I hoped he can wear it out tomorrow.

I picked the red and green design just to make it look a little boyish. i didn’t have a star button for the top, and I was eager to finish it so it’s a circle, I’m sure he’ll cope. I cut the ribbons and planned them out based on the sayings. Then I stuck them to my new friend, Steam-A-Seam and ironed away. Once again, I am impressed.

I came across the idea online in the last few days but can’t find exactly where. Today when I searched in google I found some other tutorials on it as well. So while I can’t claim I invented this craft I also can’t really know who did. But I do know it’s neat, easy and I like it!

Soft book tutorial.

I tried to make notes as I went along, and take pictures, but it’s hard enough creating something from nothing and then to document it as well!! But here it goes.  Using some advice from Bella Dia, and what I think is my own good sense here are the steps I used in making my fabric counting book.  Hopefully it’s enough information to help you create one too.

1. Plan – First, because I was lounging at the TV when I was struck with this idea, I sketched out my plan for each page. Knowing what materials I had on hand helped me decide on the page designs.   I made the pages like this:  1 sun, 2 cherries, 3 blind mice, 4 triangles on a kite, 5 fingers on a hand,  6 flowers, 7 colours in a rainbow, 8 fall shapes, 9 buttons and 10 bows.

2.  Cut – I cut 10 pieces of fabric, 6 1/2 by 6 1/2 square. I was going to make the cover out of some other material but I decided in the end to use the same fabric and cut 2 more pieces. So you’ll need 12 altogether, split if you want to vary your prints.

3.  Create (I know it’s a vague step) – Based on your ideas for each page just go to work creating them on each of the 10 squares. I used a variety of methods to put my pages together.  Here’s a layout of all the pages before some finished touches and before they were assembled.

I used Steam-A-Seam, applique, yarn, rick rack, buttons, embrodery, ribbon, rubber stamps and paint to complete all 10 pages.  See my previous post for close up shots of each page.

4.  Page assembly – Pin pages 2 and 3, right sides together, here’s where it takes some thinking, leave the side that will go in the ‘binding’ of the book open for turning.  It’s going to covered by the printed fabric so it doesn’t matter about finishing that edge.   Since I placed all my numbers in the top left corner it was a bit easier to remember what side to leave open.  Turn and Press.  Repeat for pages 4 and 5, 6 and 7, then 8 and 9.  Sew, turn, press.

5.  Cover creation – Since I decided not to use my original cover pieces I went back and cut some from my linen.  But my supply was running low and I had to cut 6 1/2 by about 6, leaving me a bit short.  So I cut a piece of printed fabric to use as a ’spine’ for the book.  I accidentally put my fabric where my cold drink of water had been and it got a bit wet, ignore the spots.  I zigzagged stitched the spine to the front cover and back cover of the book.

6.  Personalize – Attach any sort of label/saying you want on the back page of the book.  Fabric stores have those cute, ‘Made by Mommy’ or ‘For Someone Special’ labels that would work well here.

7.  More Personalizing – Decorate the front cover, I personalized mine and embroidered it.  You could appliqué it, or sew some 3D embellishments on.  Then when finished, sew page 1 to the spine, leaving the binding side open for turning.  (Name blocked out for gift surprise protection)

8.   Cover assembly – Sew page 10 to the back cover, right sides together, sew on the top, right and bottom leaving the left side open for turning.  Then sew page 1 to the front cover , sew on the top, left and bottom, leaving the right side open for turning.

9.  Loop – I also attached a little loop piece of fabric, it was about 2 1/2 by 3 and I just folded it right sides together, sewed along the long side, turned it and pinned it to the top of the binding.  Sorry for the busy pattern of my ironing board.

10.  Top stitching – Top stitch around the edges of all the pages, as close as possible.  I used a brown thread so it showed on all my pages.  You could get fancy and change threads but at this point I was excited to get finished, hence the lack of photos.  Lay the book cover/page 1 and page 10/back cover page flat.   Fold over and press the book spine part to make a little hem.  Top stitch all around that piece.

11.  Inserting the pages – Once I finished all my top stitching I carefully set the pages inside the book making sure to line all the edges up along the inside at page 1 and 10.  Then I realized just how thick my book was and wondered how on earth I was going to get it under the sewing machine foot!!  I’m relatively new to sewing, and mostly I learn just by trying stuff out so here’s what I did in this situation.  I put the pages in, secured with some pins, folded the cover over the book and then slid it under the machine foot in the middle of the spine where it was thinest.  Then I sewed down to the bottom of the book and backstitched.  Turned the book over, inserted it where my stitching started and went in the other direction to the top of the book.

Circle storage for my squares.

I’ve been having fun making squares for my little square scarf, but I’ve also been having trouble storing them, and I’m nowhere near done!

Snazzy storage.

So I came up with the idea to make myself a little storage bucket thingie.  I toyed with embroidering it with some complicated paisley pattern, copying the fabric, but whimped out for a faster and wittier approach.  Here’s how I went about it . . . ish.

Fabric selection. I used some black felt to save on interfacing.

The professional and highly technical template.

The trickiest part, pinning and sewing on a curve. The hand of my little helper.

Witty caption.