Amanda

Announcing Nautical Week

March 7, 2015 by Amanda Leave a Comment

Get ready to set sail for some sewing fun! Monday, March 9th will begin a week long series of nautical tutorials and giveaways. Each day on Instagram I will post a new giveaway from some fantastic companies: Therm O Web, Riley Blake Designs, Tie Dye Diva Patterns, and Indygo Junction. I will be also adding in some fun Jedi Craft Girl items to the giveaway also! So batten down the hatches and keep an even keel as we go totally overboard with Nautical items!!

Join in the hashtag and post your nautical inspired projects!! #SewNauticalWeek

Filed Under: FEATURED, nautical

Lucky Pillow – Version 2.0

March 5, 2015 by Amanda 8 Comments

Since I was already in the St. Patrick’s Day sewing mode after sewing a banner, I thought I would whip up a throw pillow! I’m sure you know by now that I love throw pillows! Last year I also made a “Lucky” patchwork pillow, so I am calling this one version 2.0.

Here’s how you can make one!

Supplies

Scraps of green fabric – I used fabric from Blend: Tea Garden, Turkish Delight, and the Makers

blackish/grayish denim or other fabric for lettering

Heat n bond Lite

Heat n bond EZ print sheets

Sizzix Shamrock Die

Lucky words, click HERE – print in reverse

20″ square natural canvas

20″ square green print for back, I used Yuletide Greetings by Anna Griffin

22″ zipper

20″ pillow form

Begin by ironing the Heat n Bond Lite to the wrong side of the green fabrics and the “lucky” fabrics. Run the green fabrics through the Sizzix Big Shot. If you don’t have a Big Shot machine, you can hand cut the shamrocks.

Print off the “lucky” letters and iron them to the wrong side of the fabric. Cut with scissors. This takes a little bit of patience 🙂 Peel off the backing paper and position the word and shamrocks as desired. Outline stitch around each shamrock 2 times in black thread. There was no way I was sewing around the cursive letters more than once!!

Prepare the back of the pillow by cutting a 20″ square. Make a cut at the 2″ mark for the zipper. You can put the zipper where ever you like, or you can insert an invisible zipper.

Sew the zipper in just like you were piecing a strip of fabric in between the two pieces – only use a zipper foot.Cut off the excess zipper ends. Partially open the zipper and place the pillow top and the pillow back, right sides together. matching and pinning all edges. Sew 1/4″ all the way around the pillow.

Turn the pillow right side out and insert the pillow form.I put the zipper in the bottom portion of the pillow. I like that you can see the zipper.

You’re done! Aren’t you LUCKY!!!!!

Filed Under: anna griffin, appliqué, Blend Fabrics, FEATURED, Heat n Bond, pillow, St. Patrick's Day, Therm O Web, tutorial

St. Patrick’s Day Banner

March 4, 2015 by Amanda 5 Comments

I love sewing quick little banners! This one can be made in 1 hour, or less if you’re speedy! It’s the perfect size to hang in a window, on a frame, or a chalkboard. I rummaged through my stash of fabrics and found these darling green prints from 3 different lines of Blend Fabric: Turkish Delight, Tea Garden, and The Makers. I ironed Heat n Bond Lite to the back of the fabric and used my Sizzix Big Shot to cut out the shapes. Here’s how you can make one:

Supplies

1/3 yard burlap

1.5 yards green lace

scraps of green fabric for shamrocks

scraps of lace & white/yellow fabric for flowers.

Heat n Bond Lite

Sizzix Shamrock Die , flower die, and Flower Layers Die

Cut (5) burlap rectangles 8″ x 5.5″

Fold the rectangles in half lengthwise and cut a 1.5″ angle off the bottom.

Iron the Heat n Bond Lite to the back of the appliqué fabric. Then have your cat run it through the Sizzix Big Shot.

Peel off the backing fabric of the shapes and press it to the burlap flags.

Cut the lace out with the flower die cut. Don’t put Heat n Bond on the lace. Put the Heat n Bond on the center flower instead. I was going to put buttons in the center of the flowers but totally forgot!

Sew around each image using a straight stitch. Then line them up and sew the lace to the tops.

It’s done! Go hang it somewhere fun!!!

Mine is on my front porch 🙂

Filed Under: appliqué, banner, Blend Fabrics, FEATURED, Heat n Bond, St. Patrick's Day, Therm O Web, tutorial

Soccer Zipper Pouch Tutorial

March 3, 2015 by Amanda 2 Comments

It’s the day before my son’s school soccer party and I decided I should make each of the 12 boys a gift. Now what to make? I know – a zipper pouch of course! Why do I do this to myself? Really, 12 zipper pouches in 24 hours? It’s a good thing I buy my zippers in bulk 🙂

I was so happy I decided to make these little pouches because the boys (age 11-13) LOVED them.

Each pouch has their initial appliquéd on it.
The back of the zipper pouch is soccer ball fabric. This is a great size because it can be a pen/pencil pouch, or hold other items like phone, keys, or in my sons case an inhaler and kleenex 🙂

The inside of the pouches are all different black and white prints. I just used up what I had.

These are great for any type of party favor – just change up the fabric!

Heres how you can make one!

Supplies:

Fabric for outer bag and lining and scraps for appliqué square

12″ or longer zipper

Heat n Bond fusibile stabilizer

Heat n Bond EZ print sheets

Begin by printing the desired initial in reverse on the Heat n Bond EZ print sheets. If you don’t have the printable sheets, print the letters in reverse on paper and then trace them to a fusible appliqué paper.

Iron the letters to the wrong side of the soccer ball fabric. Cut out each letter. Or, have your daughter cut them out for you while you sew the bags because the clock is ticking!!

Cut (2) outer bag pieces 8.75″ x 5″

cut (2) lining pieces 8.75″ x 5″

cut (2) fusible stabilizer pieces 8.75″ x 5″

Iron the stabilizer to the wrong side of the outer bag pieces.

Cut a 3.5″ or so square (it just needs to frame the letter) of grey denim fabric. Layer it as pictured below. Peel the backing paper off the letter and heat set it into place.

Stitch around the square and the letter.

To insert the zipper…..lay the zipper face down on the front of the bag. Then place a lining piece right side down on top of the zipper, like this: (note, position the front and the lining piece so they line up perfectly. I moved the lining piece over for the picture so you can tell how they are layered.

Pin the pieces into place. Notice the zipper ends are hanging out – totaly ok. In my other zipper pouch tutorials I have made zipper tabs. I skipped this step to save time.

Sew using a zipper foot along the edge like this:

Now do the same thing to the other side. This is how it is layered: the backing fabric (soccer balls) face up, the letter piece face down then add the second lining piece so the right sides are together. Line everything up and sew.

It should look like this before you sew:

Once the zipper is in, press the sides like this:

Top stitch next to the zipper.

Trim off the excess zipper making sure not to trim the zipper pull.

I spy a kitty paw 🙂

Making sure the zipper is open, place right sides of the outer bag together and right sides of the lining together and pin all the way around.

When you get to the zipper, match the seams and push the zipper toward the lining:

Leave a 3″ opening at the bottom

Sew all the way around using a 1/4″ seam. Turn right side out and top stitch the opining closed. Use a turn stick or chopstick to push out the corners and the zipper.

Now make 32 cupcakes with cupcake toppers and dash to the soccer party!!!

Filed Under: appliqué, FEATURED, Heat n Bond, soccer, Therm O Web, zipper pouch

DIY Soccer Banner – Meet the Stingrays

March 2, 2015 by Amanda Leave a Comment

With spring soccer beginning I thought I would share our last season soccer banner. We were the Stingrays and we had an awesome season! In our town, most teams pay over $100 for a custom airbrushed soccer banner. With a team of only 7 players, this seems to be a lot of cost per family. This homemade version was much more cost-effective and it was cuter than any airbrushed banner I’ve seen. We received compliments on it all season long. You can use canvas or a heavy duty drop cloth as the background fabric. Click HERE for step by step instructions. There is not a predetermined or set banner size. I usually use the width of the fabric as my guide. Cut the desired size of the banner. Notch the top 2 corners about 4″ and then fold the sides and the top in and sew a seam. This leaves a space open in the corners for the PVC elbows. It’s not fancy at all. Then we cut the PVC pipe to fit the measurements of the banner.

I spray painted several blue paints on the canvas to give it a watery look. I drew the stingray shape on some tissue paper and then cut them out of felt. I used a combination of Fabric Fuse and hot glue to adhere the stingrays. I added a little bow on the tail. The eyes, eyelashes and mouth are cut out of felt. I printed the letters out on Heat n Bond EZ Print sheets. I cut out the letters and used fabric fuse and hot glue to attach the letters. (normally you can just iron the letters but the paint makes it difficult.) The names are written with black metallic puffy paint. It was fun to use puffy paint, it always reminds me of high school cheerleading days 🙂 I found a soccer ball image from an internet search and printed it on Heat n Bond transfer sheets. I then ironed the soccer ball to a piece of felt and glued it to the banner.

I painted stingrays on the coaches T-shirts so they matched.

Whats fun about this banner is at the end of the season, during our team party, we cut the banner up and each girl got to take her stingray home.

This year we are the Bengals. I better get working on the banner!!!

Filed Under: DIY, FEATURED, Heat n Bond, soccer

Bunny Banner

February 27, 2015 by Amanda Leave a Comment

I’m so happy Spring is here!!! All the trees have blossoms, the sun is shining, and it’s time to make things with bunnies!! I love bunnies – they are the cats of spring 🙂 This garland is a quick project that lets you use your favorite fabrics and can be mad in a few hours. I choose to use an assortment of Riley Blake Fabrics from lots of different fabric lines. This is a great scrap buster project. The bunny is cut with a Sizzix die cut – It’s my favorite!. You can see my other bunny projects here and here and here 🙂 The bunnies are stabilized by ironing a piece of Heat n Bond lite to the fabric and then ironing it to felt. Here’s how you can make one:

Supplies

Scraps of fabric

felt

cotton twine, cording, ribbon, etc for fabric ties

6-8 feet lace

scraps of lace

Heat n Bond Lite fusible applique paper

Sizzix Bunny die , flower die and bow die

Begin by ironing a piece of Heat n Bond Lite to the wrong side of the fabric.

Peel off the backing paper and iron it to the felt. Be careful when ironing to polyester felt, it can shrink and melt. Place the iron on the fabric side and only press until the felt is adhered.

Trim the piece to fit on the Sizzix die.

Run it through the Big Shot Machine.

Do the same thing with the flower pieces.

Once all the pieces are cut out, lay them on the desired length of lace. Pin in place and sew using a straight stitch. Make sure the bunnies are positioned just so the sewing catches the top of their back, if the bunnies are too high, they will flip over and hang upside down. The same with the flower, make sure they are bottom heavy. Once you have the shapes sewn to the lace, add the flower centers and bows. The flower centers are made by cutting 2 pieces of lace in a 2.5″ or so circle. Gather a little and tack down with the sewing machine.

To make the bows, I used the Sizzix bow die. I cut the background piece with felt, the “loops: with striped fabric and the center with dots. I glued them together. You can use hot glue if you like burning your fingers, or may I suggest Fabric Fuse for a burn free way of gluing fabric 🙂

Glue the bow to the bunny.

Baby Mufasa always loves helping 🙂

For the scrappy fabric garland, rip 1.5″ x WOF strips of fabric. Each strip will give you 2. Cut the strip in half and tie the fabric to the cotton twine. You can also add in lace, ribbon, etc. Keep tying and tying and tying! My friend ties the end of the twine to her foot. I found it helpful to tie the end of the twine to a door knob, you need to be able to pull the twine tight.

I like how the two look layered together.

You can also add a little space between them.

I have another Sizzix rabbit die – it’s a sitting rabbit. I made this smaller garland the same only used a cotton canvas for a neutral bunny. I might add some pom pom tails!

Ok, I just glued the pom pom tails on and I LOVE it!

I found this cute Easter printable from Yellow Bliss Road

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Tea Garden Dress

February 25, 2015 by Amanda Leave a Comment

I am crazy about tea parties, china dishes, tea pots, tea cups, and silver spoons!! When I saw this amazing fabric from Blend called Tea Garden I could not contain myself. I new immediately I wanted to make Sally a Tea Party Dress. I love the blue and white – it just looks like fine china!

It’s not quite an English Garden, but I do have a few flowers growing!!

I absolutely love how this dress turned out – and I pretty much made it up as I went along. It’s a girls size 8 and it is perfect for Sally!

If you would like to make a Tea Garden dress, follow these steps:

Supplies:

Fabric – I only had generous half yard cuts of each of the 4 fabrics. Make sure you have 20″ or more of each fabric.

2 types of lace trim, 3 yards of each

Heat n Bond fusible stabilizer for the sash

Fabric Fuse

velcro

scrap of felt

Create the peasant bodice. I am not a pattern designer. There are so many peasant dress patterns out there. Find one you like and cut out the size you want. Cut the bodice out of the Tea Garden Devonshire fabric and the sleeves out of the check. Follow the instructions until you have a completed bodice.

Assemble the skirt.

Cut (2) 10″ x WOF from the spoon fabric

Cut (2) x 10″ x WOF from the floral fabric.

Sew the long ends of the spoon fabric together (1/4″ seam) joining the two pieces to form one long rectangle. Do the same with the floral fabric. Press the seam open. Next take the spoon fabric and the floral fabric and sew them together long ways using 1/4″ seam. Press toward the spoons.

Top stitch the lace, centering over the seam.

For the hem…. Lay the lace on the bottom edge of the floral fabric right sides together. Stitch along the lace. Ziz zag the seam. Press the lace under so it looks like this:

Top stitch all the way around 1/8″ away from the edge:

Now join the two ends of the skirt with a generous 1/4″ seam. Zig zag to finish seams, press to one side. The skirt is finished! Sew a gathering stitch along the top of the skirt, stopping and starting at each side seam. Sew one gather 1/2″ and another 1/4″ away from the top of the skirt. Pull up the threads and evenly distribute the ruffle to match the bodice, matching the side seams. Sew the skirt to the bodice and remove any gathering threads. Zig zag to finish the edge. Press the edge toward the bodice.

For the sash… Cut a piece of fabric 6.25″ x 30″. Measure your child’s waist to see if this needs to be adjusted. It will need to overlap a few inches for the velcro closure and for seam allowances.

Fuse the stabilizer to the wrong side of the sash fabric. I had a piece already cut and was slightly narrower, it will be fine 🙂

Fold the sash in half, right sides together. Sew using 1/4″ seams along the edge. Leave a 3″ opening in the center of the sash for turning. Clip the corners. Turn right side out. Press and top stitch.

To make the rosette, cut about 2 yards of lace. Sew a gathering stitch along the edge. Pull up the gathers to form a ruffle.

Start twirling the gathers around to form a rosette. Tuck the raw ends under. I used Fabric Fuse because I was too lazy to hand sew the ruffles. Hot glue would work, I just didn’t feel like getting burned 🙂 The fabric fuse is great because it is a super strong adhesive designed for fabric. Cut a piece of felt in a circle. Add dots of Fabric Fuse to hold the gathers in place and finally to anchor it to the felt circle. Let dry for a few hours.

I added a little pleat in both ends of the sash. This is totally optional. Measure the sash to the waist one more time to determine the velcro placement. Sew the Velcro strips. Hand sew the rosette in place.

I think the sash and the flower give it just the right touch!

Whats also is great about this dress? Sally likes it!!! It’s super comfortable and she can move around in it. She didn’t want to take it off!!

Filed Under: Blend Fabrics, clothes, FEATURED, sewing, Therm O Web

Baby Swaddler and Burper Shower Gift

February 23, 2015 by Amanda 15 Comments

I was invited to a baby shower this weekend and I had a hard time figuring out what to give as a gift. I love giving handmade items, especially quilts. Sometimes it isn’t possible to make a quilt in time for a shower. I came across this free pattern for a “Baby Snuggler or Baby Swaddler” by Lotta Jansdotter and I thought I would give it a whirl. You can print the pattern HERE. I read a few reviews and they all mentioned it was hard to print the pattern. I agree. I tried a few different browsers and printed in each. Then I pieced them together the best I could. This was the hardest part of the project. I thought a picture of the pattern pieces all put together would be helpful:

The pattern calls for 1 yard of outer fabric and 1 yard of minky fabric. I choose this cute print from Riley Blake Designs Apple of my Eye. Instead of working with Minky (it’s a love-hate thing) I choose this sweet flannel check also from Riley Blake Designs. I pre-washed my fabrics. The pattern sewed up really quick. It consists of a main body and the pouch part and Velcro closures. I choose to top stitch my snuggler which I don’t think it said in the pattern.

One thing I found confusing was the placement of the Velcro. I had seen this pattern sewn up in person it would have made more sense. I made this little Velcro guide to make it clear which side of the Velcro to put where. The pattern has the placement for the Velcro.

There is enough fabric left over to sew 2 matching Burpers. They are still my favorite! You can download my “Old School Baby Burper” pattern HERE. Cut 2 from the flannel and 2 from the floral. All you need is some ric rac. Baste the ric rac to the yellow floral piece starting and stopping on a straight side. Then put right sides together, sew around, following the basting stitch, leaving a 3″ opening on the side. Turn, press, and top-stitch all the way around making sure to catch the opening.

I think it makes a darling set! I wish I had made these swaddlers when I had babies!!

While I was at the shower, I borrowed my friends baby and tried out the swaddler. It fits perfectly!

I am for sure going to make more of these!!!

Filed Under: baby shower, FEATURED, gift, Riley Blake, sewing

{Pattern Review} The Potato Chip Skirt by The Tie Dye Diva

February 23, 2015 by Amanda 2 Comments

This is not a paid review, I purchased the skirt pattern from Tie Dye Diva’s online shop.

I am so excited to be sharing my experience of making this super cute girls skirt called The Potato Chip Skirt by Tie Dye Diva. I don’t think it’s possible to say how much I love this skirt, how it fits so perfectly and how wonderfully the pattern is written. Tie Dye Diva has many fabulous patterns and this is my first experience sewing one of them. You can purchase the pattern and download it immediately. The pattern was easy to tape together and assemble. The step by step instructions were very clear and thorough. I am confident a beginner could tackle this pattern as it is so well written. This pattern is sized from 12 months to size girls 14.

Baby Mufasa loves helping with the pattern pieces! He chewed one of the pieces and I had to tape it back together!The fabrics are from Blend’s The Makers line. The fabrics are a light whimsical feel with several panel prints. I fell in love with this print of a girl sewing with her kitty!!! The panel was slightly smaller than the skirt pattern so I added some coordinates: 5″ to each side and 6″ to the top.

OK, I really can’t get enough of the girl & the kitty!! I top stitched a little lace around the pockets. Sally is so thrilled to have a skirt with pockets!!!!

I also top stitched along the seams where I pieced the panel so they would stay in place after washing.

I love the scrappy look of this skirt, with the back having a totally different fabric. My teenage daughter was begging for one in her size 🙂

The skirt pattern has 3 options: no lining, lining, and reversible. I choose to make the reversible version. I love the weight the skirt has with the lining – it hangs really nice. The waistband is super simple because it has elastic in the back portion. I used some Heat n Bond fusible stabilizer in the waistband to give it some strength.

This skirt can easily be downloaded, printed, cut & sewn in 2 hours. It’s called the Potato Chip Skirt because you can’t make just one! That’s true, I already have several more in the works! Sally is happy because I pay her $1.00 for each modeling session 🙂

I can’t stop gushing about this pattern. The length is perfect and the fit is perfect. Sally is 7 years old, wears a size 10 and I cut out the size 9/10 skirt. It’s PERFECT!!!!

Filed Under: Blend Fabrics, clothes, FEATURED, Heat n Bond, pattern review

Kitty Mini Quilt

February 18, 2015 by Amanda 4 Comments

My Mini Kitty Quilt Pattern is available to purchase from Emily Ann’s Kloset. The inspiration from this quilt came when I heard from a friend that her 6 month old kitten was diagnosed with a fatal disease. My heart broke in half. Of course this was devastating to her and her children. I have lost 2 kitties in the last 2 years and it hurts really bad 🙁 I wanted to send her something to show I cared. I came up with this Mini Kitty Quilt. I was inspired by folk art paintings of flying cats.