FEATURED – Page 33

Nautical Key Fob Tutorial

March 11, 2015 by Amanda 1 Comment

I like to make a statement with my key chains. For Christmas I enjoyed jingling everywhere I went with this keychain. Now that it’s spring, I definitely need to be saying “I love everything Nautcial” with my keychain. These make great gifts and you can sew one in about 20 minutes. I used Riley Blake’s Anchor print for the fabric on the key fob. The gray cotton twill tape I ordered from Everything Ribbons on Etsy. The twill tape and hardware are 1.25″ wide and are available at that shop in a wide variety of colors.

Follow my tutorial here to complete the key fob portion.

To make the anchor tag, you need a few scraps of fabric, cotton batting, and some Therm O Web Heat n Bond Lite EZ print sheets. I used an antique metal grommet to attach it to the key ring.
Cut a piece of navy dot fabric 2.5″ x 3″. Fold in half and cut off an angle like this:

Download the anchor pattern here and print it on the EZ print sheets. Cut out around the anchor, iron it to the wrong side of the anchor fabric. Cut out the anchor and peel off the backing paper.

Cut another piece of navy dot fabric 2.5″ x 3″ but don’t cut the angles. Layer them together like a quilt and sew all the way around the tag shape. Then sew around the anchor.

Cut the excess off around the tag.Attach the grommet and put a split ring on.Attach it to the key fob.
Let me know if you like this project! I love to give handmade gifts and this is a great one to whip up in a short amount of time.

Filed Under: FEATURED, gift, Heat n Bond, nautical, Riley Blake, Therm O Web, tutorial

Ahoy! Nautical Composition Book Tutorial

March 11, 2015 by Amanda Leave a Comment

I am having so much fun with my nautical projects – I hope you are enjoying them. I ready to buy a sailboat!!! (haha) I take a covered composition book with me everywhere I go. I have one in my purse for daily notes, lists, etc. I have one I take to church and keep inspirational thoughts in. I have one as a gratitude journal. I have one for my sewing journal where I write down everything I sew, measurements, etc. I know it’s totally old school – but I love notebooks!!! You can see my other composition book tutorials here, here, and here. I change them up each time I make one. This one has lace, an appliqué anchor and writing that I foiled with Deco Foil!

Here’s how you can make one:

Supplies:

1/3 yard fabric for outside cover

1/3 yard for lining

piece of cotton batting

scrap for applique

11″ piece of navy lace trim

Deco Foil in Red

Deco Foil Transfer Adhesive

Heat n Bond Lite EZ Print Sheets

Anchor pattern, click here

Hair Elastic

Button

You can pin to hold in place, or add a little Spray n Bond basting spray. (You can see my I cut my batting with scissors, I will square it up in a minute.) Fold the cover in half and position the lace as pictured. Use the basting spray or pin to secure. Sew in matching thread along both sides of the lace.

For the anchor, print it on the EZ print sheets, or trace to fusible appliqué paper. Cut out the anchor and iron in place.

Top stitch around the anchor. Cut off any excess batting. Find the center of the left side of the cover. Mark and baste the hair elastic in place:

Lay the flaps on the lining fabric, lining up raw edges. The fold of the flaps should be toward the center.

Place the cover on top of the lining/flap piece, right sides together. Pin all the way around. Sew, using 1/4″ seams all the way around. Leave a 3″ opening at the bottom center. Turn right side out and press. Tuck the opening in, press, and top stitch to secure.

Mark where the button should go and sew the button by hand, careful not to catch the flap. Mufasa was trying his hardest to bite off the button!!

Take the Deco Foil Transfer Adhesive and write Ahoy (or any word you want). This totally brought back memories of cheerleading days in the 90’s – we rocked the puffy paint!!! I was bad at writing with it then, and I’m still not that great at it! Let the adhesive dry until completely clear. I let mine sit for a few hours.

Once the adhesive is dry, rub the wrong side of the foil on the letters. This part feels super magical!! The foil sticks to the adhesive only! This stuff is awesome!!!

Now I am left with shiny foil letters!!

Make more than one and give them to your friends!! I will be giving one away on Instagram later in the week 🙂

Filed Under: appliqué, crafts, FEATURED, Heat n Bond, nautical, Therm O Web, tutorial

Nautical Banner Tutorial

March 10, 2015 by Amanda Leave a Comment

It wouldn’t be Nautical Week without a banner! I LOVE Riley Blake Designs. They have come up with the brilliant idea of printing banner triangles on a panel of fabric. For one panel you get 18 triangles – each one a totally different print! You can cut them up and sew them together or you can embellish them. I added a canvas flag with Therm O Web Deco Foil anchors in-between each triangle.

Here’s how you can make one:

Supplies:

Riley Blake Designs banner panal or red white and blue patterned fabric
3/4 yard backing fabric
cotton batting
iCraft® Deco Foil™ – Silver, Red, Silver Star and Blue
Natural canvas
Navy fringe trim
Anchor pattern, click HERE
Spray n Bond®
Scraps of ribbon, lace, ric rac, pom poms and any trim you can round up!

Begin by quilting the banner panel – I quilted mine with loop-de loos.

After quilting the pane, cut the triangles out on the line and top stitch 1/8″ from the edge to prevent the quilting from unraveling.

Now comes the fun part. Run around your house and gather every bit of ribbon, trim, lace, etc. in red, white, blue, gray, and silver. I even ruffled a few pieces of fabric. Use Spray n Bond® to position the trim in place and top stitch on the triangles. This takes a while – I didn’t want any of mine to be the same.

Once the triangles are completed, move on to the flag portion of the banner.

Begin by cutting (16) canvas rectangles in 5.5″ x 6″. Fold the rectangles in half and cut a diagonal line by angling the ruler from the corner to the 1.5″ mark:

Print out the anchors on the EZ print sheets.

Then cut around the anchors and position them on the back of the Deco Foil. Six fit on one piece of foil. Cover with a piece of cotton fabric and press to set. It only takes seconds.

Cut around the anchor and peel off the backing paper.

Position the foil side up, cover with a piece of cotton and press.

Lay out the banner and use navy blue fringe trim to sew the flags together. This mades a long banner – I divided it in half and made two separate ones. It helps if your kitty assists in this process 🙂

Hang around your home and enjoy!!

Here are a few photos of different segments to give you an idea of the different trims and fabrics. It was too long to photograph all together.

I am the Young Women Camp Director at my church and our theme is Anchored in Christ. The banner was a perfect addition to my table scape for our leader meeting!

Filed Under: banner, decorating, FEATURED, Heat n Bond, nautical, Riley Blake, Therm O Web, tutorial

Nautical Mini Quilt Pattern & Giveaway

March 9, 2015 by Amanda 2 Comments

When I told my daughter I was hosting Nautical Week she said, “Isn’t every week Nautical Week for you?” I had to laugh because it’s totally true!!

I am so excited to announce that I will be teaching a nautical themed modern quilt aboard the Made Modern Quilt Cruise next year in March!

As much as I love to wear sporty nautical wear, I’ve never actually been on a cruise….gasp!!! I am happy to be joining two AMAZING quilters: Allison Harris of Cluck Cluck Sew and Amy Ellis of Amy’s Creative Side. You can read all about the details of the cruise at Stitchin’ Heaven Travel.

Escape to the Caribbean, make new friends, learn a new technique, & sew all you want! How can it get any better? Join us for a 7-night Western Caribbean Cruise! Isn’t this concept brilliant? Quilting & vacationing at the same time!!!

I will be teaching a throw-size version of my Nautical Baby Quilt. Did I mention I love anchors?

Today I am sharing with you a mini version of this quilt – something you can make in an afternoon! It measures 30.5″ square. And even better – you can go to my Instagram and enter to WIN this mini quilt!!

Here’s how you can make one:

Block size 6″ quilt size 30.5″

Supplies:

8 or more 2.5″ x WOF strips of Navy print and Red Print. I used Riley Blake’s Basics.

Fat quarter of navy dot for anchor

1 yard white solid fabric

1 yard backing fabric

Anchor pattern

Heat n Bond EZ Print sheets

1/3 yard binding

cotton batting

Cut the 2.5″ strips in the following dimensions for each block (12 blocks total)

Sew (1/4″ seams throughout) the (3) 2.5″ squares together in a row, pressing toward the dark. Then sew the 6.5″ strips to the top and bottom, pressing toward the dark.

Once you have 6 dark blocks and 6 light blocks completed, have your kitty help you lay them out.

Sew these together in rows.

Cut a 9.5″ x 30.5″ strip from the solid white

Cut a 3.5″ x 30.5″ strip from the solid white

Attach these to the sides:

I added the anchor last, after I quilted it. I didn’t want to quilt over the anchor. I wouldn’t recommend this normally.

After quilting, print the anchor pattern on the Heat n Bond EZ print sheets (or trace it to appliqué paper) and it to the wrong side of the navy dot fabric. Cut out around the anchor. Press the anchor into place and top stitch to secure. Add binding.
Head over to my Instagram and enter to win this quilt!!!

Filed Under: FEATURED, Heat n Bond, nautical, quilt, Riley Blake, Therm O Web

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

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

Nautical Key Fob Tutorial

Ahoy! Nautical Composition Book Tutorial

Nautical Banner Tutorial

Nautical Mini Quilt Pattern & Giveaway

Escape to the Caribbean, make new friends, learn a new technique, & sew all you want! How can it get any better? Join us for a 7-night Western Caribbean Cruise! Isn’t this concept brilliant? Quilting & vacationing at the same time!!!

Announcing Nautical Week

Lucky Pillow – Version 2.0

St. Patrick’s Day Banner

Soccer Zipper Pouch Tutorial

DIY Soccer Banner – Meet the Stingrays

Tea Garden Dress

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