tutorial! pincushion jars

As I mentioned on Facebook, my sewing buddy Hillary brings the cutest little pincushion to sewing night. I couldn't stand it any longer and had to make one for myself.  Turns out they're super-easy, and no sewing is involved!  Why didn't I shamelessly copy these earlier?

Supplies

• Scrap of high density foam (at least 6”x 3”, I used ¾” thick foam) *see note at bottom
• Scrap of fabric (at least 12”x 8”)
• Scissors
• Small glass canning jar, including the lid and band (I used a Ball 4 oz quilted jar)
• Hot glue gun & glue

1. Draw one large circle onto the wrong side of the fabric, about triple the width of the lid (mine was about 7.5" across).  Trace the lid to make another circle the same side of the lid, also on the wrong side of the fabric.  Then, trace the lid twice onto the scrap foam.  Cut all the circles, using pinking shears on the fabric circles if you have them.

2. Stack foam circles in the middle of the large fabric circle.  Holding the fabric with the foam on top in your palm, wrap the fabric around the foam so the edges of the fabric cover the top and sides of the foam pieces, gathering the fabric at the top. 

3. Push the foam through the band, so the fabric-covered foam is sticking out of the top and the raw edges of the fabric are inside the band.

4. Put the lid over the bottom of the foam, under the edges of the fabric.  Pull gently on the edges of the fabric while holding the lid in place to squeeze the foam into a nice rounded shape. 

5. Hold the edges of the fabric outside of the band and run a line of hot glue around the edge of the sealing lid.  Carefully push the edges of the fabric into the glue.  Let it cool off for a bit.

6. Trim any extra bits of fabric that are sticking up.  Glue about ¼” inside the edge of the lid, on top of the gathered-up fabric.  Place the smaller circle of fabric wrong side down on the gathered fabric to cover all the raw edges.  Let it cool, and try to remove any glue that may have ended up on the threads of the band.

7. Make sure the foam and lid are pushed all the way up into the band and screw the whole lid onto the jar.  The foam stays put pretty well without being glued to the band on all of the pincushions I’ve made, but if you’re super-handy with a glue gun you can try gluing it in place.  Now go make some for your sewing buddies!

note: I think my buddy Hillary made hers with batting instead of foam – just stuff the big fabric circle full of batting and you should be good to go!

quick braided fabric bracelet with snaps

The original Bobaloo and I were making bracelets for Craft Hope last week and we came up with these little cuties to use up some of my fabric scraps.  Using snaps makes this project silly quick – it took me longer to type this up than to make the bracelet – but if you don’t have snaps, Velcro would work too.

supplies:

• three different fabric scraps, at least 16” long and 1 1/2” wide
• pinking shears or regular fabric scissors
• One set of snaps (I use KAM snaps and love them)
• snap pliers or press, or whatever you use to attach snaps 
• awl

1.  Cut one strip from each of three fabrics, 1 1/2” wide by 16” long, using pinking shears or regular scissors.

2. Stack the strips on top of each other, right sides all up, at one short end.  They don’t have to match perfectly – we’ll trim them up at the end.  Using your awl, poke a hole about 1/2” from the end of the strips. 

3. Attach one snap with the cap side up.

4. Braid the pieces of fabric (I had my cute little helper holding the snap end for me).  Try to keep the right sides of the fabric up – you may need to twist the strips a little to keep them facing the right direction.  Braid loosely for a wider bracelet, tightly for a narrower bracelet.

5. Once the bracelet is near the length you’d like it, stack the strips on top of each other just like you did at the beginning. 

6. Install the other snap with the cap on the wrong side of the bracelet. 

7. Using your pinking shears or scissors, trim the ends of the bracelet in a nice rounded shape.

8. Put that bracelet on the nearest kiddo or pack it up and send it off to Craft Hope!

If you make one, be sure to add it to the bobaloo! flickr pool – it’s about time we started using it, right?

Tutorial! Phone Case

I got a fancy new smart phone a few months ago. My former phone looks like a dinosaur chewed on it – it is a minor miracle the thing lasted as long as it did. In the interest of preventing my new phone from suffering the same fate, I whipped up a cute little case to keep it safe in the depths of my giant purse.

 

 

 
Here’s what you need:

• A super-cute fabric for the outside (I used home-dec weight fabric from Drawing Room by Anna Maria Horner)
• Fleece
• Matching thread
• velcro

Measure your phone. Cut a piece of both your fabric and your fleece to the same size – the length should be the length of your phone x 2 + 4”, and the width should be the width of your phone + 1 3/4”.  Here are my calculations:

length: 5” (length of phone) x 2 = 10”.  10” + 4” = 14”.
width: 2 1/2” (width of phone) + 1 3/4” = 4 1/4”.

So my pieces of fabric are 14” by 4 1/4”.
 

 
Lay your fabric and fleece pieces on top of each other, right sides together.  Cut a little slit 1/2” long 3 1/2” down from one edge (perpendicular to the edge).  This is easier to see in a picture than describe, so look at the picture to get a better idea.  Remember you’re cutting through both layers – I’m showing the fleece side because it’s easier to see the cuts in the picture.
 

 
Now we’re going to stitch the end that’s going to become the flap.  Starting at the end of one of the slits and using a 1/2” seam allowance, sew toward one end, along the short edge, and down along the opposite edge until you reach the end of the other slit (the little arrows in the picture point to the slits).  Again, easier to understand in the picture!  Clip the corners.
 

 
Sew along the opposite short end in a straight line, also using a 1/2” seam allowance.
 

 
Flip the whole thing right side out.  Use a chopstick or pencil to poke out the corners of the flap so they’re nice and sharp.  Press it flat, but be careful your iron’s not too hot because burning fleece smells really bad.  I wouldn’t know from experience, of course.
 

 
Topstitch all around the flap and across the opposite end of your fabric sandwich (the short end).
 

 
Cut a 2” piece of velcro.  Stitch the loop piece (the softer of the two pieces of velcro) to the fleece side of the flap end of the pouch, about 1/2” from the edge.  Stitch the hook piece (the scratchier of the two pieces) to the fancy fabric side, also about 1/2” from the other end of the pouch.  (I realized after making this that my hook piece of velcro was too far down, so the placement in the picture is wrong.  Do as I say, not as I do.)
 

 
Fold the pouch in half, right sides together.  Line up the straight-across short edge with the slits in the flap end of the pouch.  I evidently failed to get a good picture of this, so I hope it makes sense!  Stitch down both sides, starting where the slits are and using a 1/2” seam.  I use my serger for this, but you could also use a regular sewing machine and trim down the seam allowances.  I usually thread the serger thread tails back through the stitches to secure them.
 

 
Flip that bad boy right side out and put that fancy phone inside!

Let me know if you have any questions!  If you make one, I’d love to see it!

Tutorial! Crayon Apron

Jaime at Prudent Baby invited me over for a guest post yesterday, so I wrote up this Crayon Apron Tutorial.  I thought you guys might like to see it in case you didn't catch it over there (but you really need to go over to Prudent Baby, it's one of my favorite blogs).  Crayon aprons are also available in my Etsy store – stop by and take a look! 

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1/4 yard main fabric (a fat quarter works, too)
• 1/8 yard contrast fabric (for the waistband)
• thread, scissors, and pins
• a marking pencil or pen with water soluble ink
• ruler

 

1. First, cut two rectangles from your main fabric - one that measures 20” x 6” for the body of the apron and another that measures 20” x 3.5” for the pocket.  For the waistband, cut a 4” x 40” strip of your contrasting fabric.

2. Finish one long edge of your pocket.  I usually use my serger, but you can also just zigzag it on your regular machine.  Turn the finished edge under about 1/4” and press.  Topstitch close to the folded edge.

3. Lay your finished pocket right side down on the wrong side of the main apron piece, matching up the long unfinished edges.  Serge (or stitch a 1/4” seam) the bottom edges together, open the pieces up, and press the whole thing flat.  Flip the pocket piece to the right side of the main apron piece and press again, enclosing the bottom seam.

4. Serge or stitch the short sides of the main apron piece, joining the pocket and main piece together.  Turn both short edges under 3/8” or so to the back side of the apron and topstitch close to the folded edge.

5. Now for the fun part – the little crayon pockets!  Starting in the middle and working your way out to both sides, use your ruler to make little marks at the top of the pocket every 3/4”.  If you’re worried about stitching straight lines, you can also mark the bottom of the pocket (and even draw in the whole stitching line if you’d like).

6. Moving top to bottom, stitch straight down the pocket through both the pocket and main piece of fabric, making 24 individual pockets (you’ll have a little space left at each end).  Don’t forget to backstitch a few stitches at the top and bottom of each line of stitching to keep the pockets nice and secure.  I usually don’t bother snipping the threads until the very end – it’s faster that way and easier to just lift the needle and move to the next line.

7. After trimming all those little threads, gather the top edge of the apron.  I usually set my machine to the highest tension (9 on my Brother machine) and longest stitch length (5.0), but you may have to fiddle with your machine settings a little.  Run a line of stitching about 1/4” from the top unfinished edge of the apron.  It should gather up quite a bit on its own.  Pull the bobbin thread to gather the fabric tighter if you need to – the top edge should measure about 11” once it’s all gathered up.

 

8. Match up the center of the apron piece and the center of one long edge of the waistband right sides together with the raw edges even.  Stitch the apron piece onto the waistband with a 1/2” seam.

9. Now we’ll finish the ends of the waistband.  Turn under both long edges of the waistband 1/2” and press flat.  Fold the waistband in half lengthwise, right sides together, and stitch a 1/2” seam at each short end.  Clip the corners and flip right side out, so the waistband is folded in half lengthwise, wrong sides together, and the pressed-under edges are sandwiched inside.

10. Match up the long folded edges of the waistband and pin together, aligning the folded edge with the row of stitching on the apron piece.  Stitch 1/4” away from the long edge of the waistband to join the two layers.  Iron the waistband flat.

 

Now load that crayon apron up with a fresh box of Crayolas and put it on your favorite kiddo!

Please use this tutorial to make adorable little aprons for your own kiddos or as gifts, not to sell.  Thanks!

Tutorial! Super Easy Embellished Tray

My monthly Craft Night got cancelled last week after I had already bought my supplies.  I really wanted to make an embellished tray, so you guys get a tutorial and we can have our own virtual Craft Night!  I am by no means a Mod Podge expert (unlike Amy or Emily), but I do love the stuff.

First up, you'll need some supplies.  I bought everything at Michael's.

• A plain wooden tray (this was about $4 in the unfinished wood section)
• A can of spray paint (more on this later)
• Mod Podge
• Paintbrush
• Fancy paper (the paper I used was heavier weight, like cardstock - did you guys know there's Amy Butler paper?!  You scrapbookers have the coolest stuff!)
• Scissors
• Spray sealer (optional)

1.  Spray paint your wooden tray so it's nice and even.  I knew I was going to cover the inside bottom part with paper, so I didn't worry about spraying that too well.  I used Krylon spray paint for this and it took three coats for it to look good.  In my opinion, the Krylon paint doesn't hold a candle to the Valspar spray paint, which I used for my craft fair signs.  The Valspar paint covers so much better and is glossier.  Moral of the story - get the Valspar if you can.  My Michael's didn't have it, but I bought Valspar spray paint at Home Depot last time.

2.  Let the tray dry, then pick your paper - I picked two prints from this pack of 12 x 12 Amy Butler paper.  The inside of my tray is about 13" wide, so I'm using one main print then adding a stripe border.  To cut the main paper to size, line up the edge of the paper on one long edge of the tray.  Holding that in place, push the paper against the opposite long edge to make a crease, just like in the picture.  Then, take the paper out of the tray and cut along the crease. 

3.  Paint a layer of Mod Podge on the tray bottom - don't be stingy, but don't glob it on or it just makes a mess.  Lay your cut piece of paper in the middle of the tray bottom and smooth out any bubbles.

4.  Next up - the border.  The stripes made it super easy for me to cut even strips of paper to make the border - they're all 1 1/4" wide and I just cut along a stripe.  You may want to use a paper cutter like this one to make nice even cuts, or use a ruler and draw your straight lines before cutting.  Cut 4 strips, all the same width.  Add another layer of Mod Podge on each long edge of the tray bottom and press on two of the border strips as shown.  Smooth them out like you did with the main paper.

5.  Use the same method you used with the main paper to cut the short-side border strips to the right size - just lay them in the tray where they go and crease where they need cut.  Trim them down, paint some Mod Podge on the short sides where the border goes, and glue 'em on.

6.  Paint on a nice, even layer of Mod Podge over the entire tray bottom.  You can see in this picture how sometimes the paper gets a little bumpy and uneven - don't worry, it usually smooths out as it dries.  Let it dry and add another coat for good measure.

7.  All done!  Now aren't you proud of yourself?

I decided to spray mine with a clear sealer because with two kids in the house, durability is pretty high on my priority list.  I also am not great at painting Mod Podge evenly, so it covers up my brush strokes a little bit.

If you make one, I'd love to see pictures!