Like many of you, I'm becoming very aware of the amount of paper waste I alone generate each day. But the great thing about being sewers is how easy it is for us to do something about it!
So, in addition to the cloth napkins I made recently, to reduce our use of paper napkins, I am going to try to make cloth gift bags whenever possible, instead of using wrapping paper.
This is a bag I made for a friend's baby shower gift. The gift inside is a book, but the bag itself can be used to hold toys or any small items. Or my friend can even use it to wrap a gift she gives.
Making the bag was a cinch. Cut the fabric to a few inches wider than the width of your gift. Wrap the fabric around the top of the gift to see how long the bag needs to be in order to close around the gift. Cut to that length.
Sew the two sides of the bag closed (with right sides of the fabric facing each other). Hem the opening of the bag by folding the edge in 1/4-inch, then fold over again, this time 1/2 to 3/4-inch (to accommodate the width of the cord you'll use as a drawstring). Sew the hem down.
Cut two parallel slits in one fabric layer of the hem for the cord. Whipstitch the edges of the slits with a needle and thread to keep the fabric from fraying. Attach a safety pin to one end of your cord and thread it through one slit in the hem and out the other. Tie a knot in each end of the cord, and dab the knots with a bit of fabric glue to secure.
I simply used nylon cord for the drawstring and applied even more glue to the cord ends to keep it from fraying. The embroidery design is one I had made from a drawing by my sister.
My goal is to create these for as many Christmas presents as I can this year, too. I know I have a few Christmas fabrics in my stash that will work perfectly.
How are you doing on your Christmas sewing? We'd love to hear all about it in the comments.
My boyfriend and I have been talking about cutting down on our paper waste by buying fabric napkins. We hadn't gotten around to it yet, luckily, when I looked at my fabric stash. Hey! The perfect source for fabric napkins that I know I'll like!
So this weekend, with football playing in the background, I was busy at the sewing machine making my napkins. I cut the fabric for each napkin to 18 inches square. I worked on opposite sides first, pressing a 1/4-inch hem, folding a pressing a second 1/4-inch hem, and then sewing the hems down on the two sides. I repeated the process for the remaining opposite sides.
I made just two napkins of each pattern, since it's just the two of us. That way, too, I didn't get bored while I was making them.
Hope you had a fun and/or productive weekend, too!
I love a good printed T-shirt. But before you know it, the T-shirt itself is looking a little too loved. Or stained. Or holey. And when that becomes the case, I've found that I can turn my T-shirts into pillows. Here is one I made for a co-worker. It's from his favorite radio station, but the logo was printed off center, so he didn't like to wear it.
To make a T-shirt into a pillow, cut the out the logo, leaving plenty of room on all sides. Measure your pillow form (in this case 16 inches), and then piece fabric around the logo to equal that measurement.
Cut 1 back piece to 17 inches wide by about 12 inches long. Cut a second back piece to 17 inches wide by about 9 inches long. Create a hem on one short side of each piece (I rolled up the edge up twice before sewing the hem down, to prevent fraying). With wrong sides facing, pin the longer piece down first, creating two small tucks to align the 16-inch side of the front with the 17-inch side of the back panel. Sew the second back panel on the opposite end of the front panel, again wrong sides together and creating tucks. The second back panel will overlap the first by a couple of inches.
Turn the pillow right side out. Slip the pillow form inside the pocket formed by the two panels on the back of the pillow. Easy and fun!
Do you have old T-shirts that you've gotten creative with? If so, share your story in the comments!
As they used to say on The A-Team, “I love it when a plan comes together!” This was very much the case with my latest sewing project. A small cylindrical pillow that I use for my back had a pillowcase but the zipper broke. So I decided to sew a new one (sans zipper, since they scare me—to sew anyway).
For projects like this, I tend to do a lot of thinking. Not necessarily a lot of sketching or creating of patterns. Just thinking. For this project, I thought about how I was going to make the ends round; about how I wanted to close the case; about how much bulkiness I’d be able to live with.
This past weekend, I put all my thoughts in motion. I used a tape measure to measure the pillow’s length (and added about 1 inch) and circumference (and added about 7 inches). Then I went to my stash of circle templates and found one about 1 inch bigger than the ends of the pillow.
I double hemmed the long ends of the case, then pinned one short end around one of the circle ends. Since the case was longer than the circumference of the circle (even after I hemmed the ends), I simply overlapped the fabric, which resulted in the envelope flaps show above. Sewing the end was easier than I thought (I tend to think of myself as a straight stitch kind of person); a ton of pins seemed to be the way to handle it. I even went around twice to make sure the seam was secure. I repeated the process on the other end.
The envelope closure was so long that I felt it needed some extra security, so I sewed three pieces of Velcro to the flap to keep it closed. Ta da!
The whole thing turned out better than I had expected, and my very sweet boyfriend said it was even better than the case the pillow came with. Have you ever had a project come together better than you thought possible? Share your story in the comments below!
This weekend my craft room was finally orderly enough that I could actually create! What a great feeling! So, the first project I tackled was the flag window treatments. I got the idea from the book Happy Voodoo Gris Gris, and put my own spin on it by using favorite fabrics for a brighter look.
I cut the fabric to 8.5 inches tall by 7.5 inches wide, then hemmed the sides and bottom and made a sleeve at the top through which I ran the ribbon. I hand-sewed the flags onto the ribbon, by putting two stitches in the upper corners of the fabric.
The effect wasn’t quite what I expected, and it makes it clear that I need to get new blinds (something with a little more flair), but they definitely add a sense of playfulness for the time being. And by making a smaller string for the closet door, I was able to carry the design around the room more, making the window look not quite as spare.
Did you get a chance to create over the Labor Day weekend? If so, share it with us in the comments below.
