tuttie tute:girly party gift

I LOVE making kids gifts because:

they are often free and made with scraps

they use up scraps

they are fast

always original

FUN

satisfying

are you convinced of making kids gifts yet?

this is my quickest go to girls purse

I used Amy Butler Lacework /Olive for the outer, Garden Maze/Olive lining and Martini Dot/Blush for the straps and flower. We are going to fill the purse with nail polish and pretty tissue then it will be our gift bag also!

Here are the basics:

2- 13x13 outer and lining

1- 13x13 fusible interfacing

2- 12x1 1/2 for handle

1- 2 3/4x 5 3/4 piece of plastic, cardboard or anthing sturdy for bottom (it wont be seen)

embellishments

1. Cut your outer, lining and interfacing together 13x12 1/2

then fold in half short end to short end and cut out a 1" square at the fold on both sides, this will give you a box bottom

2. Iron on interfacing to wrong side of outer fabric

3. Cut Handle cut 2 pieces, bias tape can be used or you can make your own, ribbon is also nice here.

4. If using your own fabric, fold in half lengthwise and iron

open and fold over 1/4" on each side to incase raw edges, I like to sew 2 rows of stitching 1/8" on both sides

5. Assemble purse

sew side seams on outer 5/8"

sew lining sides seams the same as outer only leave a 2" opening in the middle for turning later

6. Press side seams and stitch bottom seam 1/2" across, this creates the box look

7. Attach handles to top 2" in from side seams

8. Turn lining inside out and push outer into lining to top edges line up and stitch 5/8" seam around

9. Turn through opening in lining side seam, press, top stitch as desired

10. Cut bottom and insert in the lining opening then stitch opening closed, press

The purse is finished and no time to embellish

Fabric Flower:

-rip 2 strips of fabric one aprox. 2x10 and one aprox. 1x8 I just eyeball this for the size of flower I am wanting, and I like to rip the fabric to get frayed edges, they could also be pinked.

-sew a long running stitch on one side of each strip

-pull the thread to gather, as you do this the fabric starts to curl, let the fabric shape itself and once you get ot the desired fullness spiral the gathered ends around and add a needle to the gathering thread and stitch flower middle to secure it, add a button ad pin back or stitch directly to purse.

quick mother's day gifts

there are many gift ideas that I come across and want to make, what it really comes down to is:
do I have to go to the store to make it and do I have the time?

I know this blog is about sewing but I also LOVE to crochet
so I had all of the supplies to whip up this nice set of body scrubs
here is what to do:

to crochet a little scrubbie:
use a small hook about H or so any size will do
cotton yarn or whatever you have, I used peaches n cream its nice and soft

chain 4 and join with slip stitch
in circle DC 17, join
2 SC in each DC around, finish off
repeat for a second piece but dont finish off
hold the two discs together and SC through both loops joining the 2 discs together, ch3 continue around
I made a loop on some:
2 strands SC 10 and fasten
or
2 strands SC10 and fasten at 2 points for a little holder

Body Scrub:
Lidded Glass Jar
2 cups epsom salt
1 cup carrier oil (I had olive oil)
8 drops essential oil (I used lavender)
food coloring

drop essential oil in the carrier oil and stir into salt, then add a little coloring and stir until color is even makes 2 cups, press into jars and decorate.
We made a personalized label and added some fresh lavender to top it off for a nice presentation

tuttie tute: dishtowel

Finished Dimensions: 16"x24"
Supplies: Main fabric totaling to 17" wide x 27" long
Backing Absorbant fabric such as Cotton Birdseye (what diapers are made of)
Matching Thread


Cutting Fabric:
Use one solid piece or piece several fabrics together as I have done.  An easy way to do this is cut several strips and sew them together then cut your final dimensions.  I used flat fold cloth diapers that I had on hand for the backing.  I did not want the white to show on the front so my backing fabric is 1" shorter than my front

Stiching:
Sew the short end pieces first, this way you can fold the front to the back then do the side seams.  Below is a picture of the end seam pressed.

Then smooth out the front and fold over to back.  This is where the back pice being shorter comes in.  I iron a crease on the ends to give me a guide for when I turn wrong side out to stitch the sides.

Line up both ends and stitch side seams, dont forget to leave a space for turning the project like I almost did.  It is better to leave this opening sometwhere in the middle.  Trim corners.

Turn project and push out corners with corner tool.  Press.

I like to top stitch all the way around 1/8" to keep the towl together.

I love this Rober Kaufman fabric so much, it is very kitcheny, once again I wish they were for me.  Sometimes it seems that all I do is make gifts, but I love doing it.

The store had the beater frbric in black and white which I must go back and get for myself.

Excellent gift.  Pair it togehether with a pot holder, and ruffle gloves. tute comming soon.

lovin' Amy Butlers Love collection

EASY yoga bag, free pattern from Amy Butler Nigella Yoga Bag, I used the new Love Home Dec fabric Trumpet Flowers in Pink.  This bag took about 2 hours, it is lined and simple to sew.  I just wish it was for me :-(  But....this fabric will be making a re-appearence, I LOVE IT!

braided headbands

made these headbands for my daughter and her friends.

• 3 pieces of fabric in 3 colors cut to 1"x20"
• 1 piece of elastic cut 4"

1-stack up the fabric strips, lay elastic ontop and stitch over a few times to make it sturdy

2-pull the elastic back and top stitch over the fabric, I spread out the fabric so it was less bulky under the presser foot

3-braid, keeping the printed side up

4-repeat step 1
try it on!
they are a little snug at first but stetch out over time

well I promised a picture of binding....but its not on my quilt

had to finish a birthday present, once I learned how to make little zipper bag from here, I went crazy making all sizes and shapes, once you learn the basic technique you will love to make bags of all kinds, and you really don't need patterns. Sometimes I shop around online a famous makers to see whats out, they usually give the exact dimensions of their bag. Then I sketch it out with what I want and get to cutting. You can get a stash of zippers in a variety of colors from a couple of supply sellers on etsy, then its fun to go to your fabric closet and pull out scraps then get a funky zipper to match, its cheaper this way also to buy 10 at a time. So since i discovered binding my seams on Vera Jean I have been doing it ever since, on almost every project I make.I quilted free motion around the deer and put her name in for fun

stiching and stiching and stitching......

Down to my last 18 rows of machine quilting on quilt #1 for the twins "little bits quilt". This portion of the process has taken much longer than I had anticipated, stitching rows the length of the quilt every inch, BUT...that's what will make it pretty later. The only thing keeping me going right now is that I will get to do binding VERY SOON!

I hope to have a binding picture tomorrow if I don't get too side tracked making another birthday present.