written by admin

“Handmade Holidays: 30 Days of Gifts to Sew!”, a feature of Sew Mama Sew, is featuring a DIY-namite tutorial on Novemeber 16! It’s part of a daily series on sewing projects to make for the holidays (over 100 tutorial). It looks really awesome so everybody should bookmark it. It’ll make the Handmade Pledge easier.

written by marieann

When I decided I wanted to make a crazy quilt (for small projects, tuts to come) I searched the internet for a tutorial. I was completely confused by the text-only tutorials. It took a few mess-ups and some stress before I figured it out. So I hope that this post, very image heavy, will be a useful “crazy quilt tutorial” to get you started with this really fun and quick technique. As always click on images to see full size (it’s particularly important here to see how the pieces are lined up an sewn).

1. Cut a piece of thin muslin (or any other thin light colored fabric) that you would like your completed block to be. I made a journal front cover for a composition book so I cut a piece 11 x 12. It does not have to be perfectly sized. If you’d like to make a large quilt (or baby quilt) like this, you must make a bunch of smaller blocks then sew them together (like 10 x 10 blocks).

2. Collect a bunch of fabric scraps. I had leftover strips, squares, and triangles from another quilt that were already matching.

3. Choose a piece that is perfectly square to act as the center of your block. Pin it right side up to the muslin in the center.

4. Next, pin a piece wrong side up to the muslin, lining the edge of the fabric even with the edge of the center square.

5. Sew along the fabrics, with about an 1/8 of an inch seam.

6. Clip any extra fabric behind the seam (this is really important when you use light fabrics). Press open the seam you just sewed so that now only right sides are facing up. This is a very important step. Do it with each piece. Don’t be lazy because it will make the design wonky.

7. That’s all there is too it. I will show some more pieces to be sure that what I’m doing is clear.

8. Pin another piece, wrong side up, lining up the edge.

9. Sew.

10. Clip (see that yellow rectangle above the brown? that’s what needs to be clipped away) and press.

11. Again, repeat.

12. More progress.

13. You just keep building out as you go.

14. When you get to the edges, just let fabric scraps hang over the muslin. When all the muslin is covered, square up the piece by cutting with a rotary cutter the pieces hanging off.

15. Make your little crazy quilt into something! Here’s my journal cover.

I used my tutorial here to make the journal once I finished the mini quilt.

More journal photos (of inside and back) are here.
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written by threadslinger

I tend to believe that sometimes patterns are more of a headache than they are a benefit, especially for a simple design. I always have to alter it to fit my body which takes time. So, this time I decided to draft my own skirt design. It turned out really nice and is something that I can wear both for work and for going out. It was also super simple to make.

Materials needed:

Nice stretchy cotton fabric
Sewing machine
Zipper

Directions:

1. Measure your waist where you would like the skirt to hit. Measure out desired length as well.
2. Cut out two squares of fabric (divide your desired waist length in half.)
3. Fold over a quarter seam on the top and bottom of each fabric square to seal off the edges.
4. Sew each square together (if you want a slit like I have then only sew to the point you want the slit to fall, seam off the edges.)
5. For the zipper, it is best to have a zipper foot and to not have lost it in a move (like I did). Then it is not so difficult. But, smarter crafters than I have written on this before, I followed this tutorial and it worked out fine. After the zipper is done that is it, you are done! Woo hoo super easy sexy skirt!

written by threadslinger

I wanted a new crocheted hat that would be very distinctive when I hit the slopes this season (so I can’t get lost) and I came up with the most girly hat known to humankind. I posted a tutorial here about a year ago (can’t believe we have been around that long!) that is a good tutorial for those of you who (like myself) cannot read crochet patterns. I will do a quick write up of how to do the ear flaps as well.

Materials needed

2 kinds of yarn
large crochet hook

Directions

1. Follow the steps outlined in the previous post until you get to the end.

2. Switch the color of your yarn and do 3 more rows.

3. Start on the side of the hat and go about 15 stitches. Double back and continue down for 2 more rows. The drop a 2 stitches each additional row until there is no more and it turns to a point. Then to a crochet chain. If you want you can do a little yarn poof ball at the end but I figured my hat was girly enough. And you are done and have a very warm, awesome hat.

written by marieann

Caro found this tutorial for making a covered measuring tape. I thought it was really cool but I don’t have the retractable tape holder like this. But it did remind me that I hate that the measuring tape is connected with the one inch at the end of the roll to cardboard. (If yours is like this, it will make sense to you). The result is that I always have to uravel the whole thing even if I just need to measure something six inches long. So I whipped up this alternative. It’s pretty functionless but it is cute and recycled.

Materials:
Empty ribbon reel (slightly wider than your measuring tape)
Scrapbook paper scraps
Cardstock scraps

Tools:
Glue stick
Piece of scotch tape
Measuring tape
Circle cutter (or a compass and scissors)

Directions:

1. Cut four circles the same size as your ribbon reel — two out of scrapbook paper and two out of cardstock. Mine was 3.5 inches.

2. Glue the scrapbook paper circles to the cardstock circles.

3. Glue these circles to the empty ribbon reel.

4. Tape the long end (the 60″ end) of the measuring tape to the reel.

5. Wrap up the measuring tape.

written by marieann

This is a twist on my belt hanger tutotorial, here. My mom and I made an earring holder which I’ll post at some other time. I still had the pesky problem of what to do with pins, necklaces and bracelets.

You follow the basic directions of the belt tutorial. The two main differences are this:

- You don’t need to fit the whole thing to the hanger as it won’t be holding as much weight, so instead you can make a rectangle that fits over the bottom rung of the hanger.
- You can’t have all complete loops like the belt hanger because some of your bracelets and necklaces might not have a clasp (as in, they are permamently connected to slip over your neck or wrist). For those, I did two short pieces right next to each other so that I could tie them around the bracelets.

written by threadslinger

I have a friend who is 7 months pregnant and realized 4 days before that we planned to visit her and I hadn’t made her anything yet! Time was of the essence since crafting isn’t my full time job (yet) and so I had to make her something quick that I could do after work. After a few craft blog searches I found this super easy idea for a fleece blanket

As you can see I modified it a bit and only did it 4 x 4 instead of 4x 5 but that was mainly because I ran out of time. And, I had a ton of extra material left so I made this blanket for my boyfriend:

Its based on the same concept of fringing the edges and it turned out really cute and was easy to make.

Materials needed

1. 3 kinds of fleece
2. sewing machine plus thread to match
3. scissors

Directions

1. Cut out 2 10 inch strips of fleece material of each kind of fabric.
2. Sew them together length wise, make sure you keep the seam side on the same side of the blanket.
3. Fridge the edges and you are done!

written by marieann

I found this great tutorial here for a fabric bucket. I didn’t know what I was going to use it for until I realized we had nowhere to put our controllers. So I whipped up this bucket to store them and it works great. I wanted to try out the bucket with scrap fabric first to be sure I liked it. And I did! I made a few changes as I’ll explain below.

I made the bucket larger so that I could store all the controllers so,

For each bucket you will need:
· 9 ½ x 18 ½ inch strips of outer fabric, light wadding and iron–on interfacing.
· 9 x 18 ½ inch strip of lining fabric (note it is a bit bigger so you get the nice trim at the top.
· Circles measuring 9 inches across in outer, wadding, interfacing and lining for the base.

I also did not use any wadding (batting) because I used the fleece lining. This actually worked great. However, I didn’t know that you cannot iron fleece until it burnt the fibers and made my iron blue. Don’t do that.

Also I didn’t have iron on interfacing so I used sew-in interfacing. This worked alright. I think it would have been an easier project if I didn’t have so many layers to control but it was still really quick.

written by marieann

I love my Swiffer. But I hate throwing away the little rags. Especially when you’re floor is dirty and you need to use two for a single cleaning of your kitchen floor. I saw this link on craftster and was I so happy there was a solution. I don’t knit and I wanted an easier version so I whipped this up. I was using little leftover yarn balls so that’s why it’s funny colored. I am shocked how much it works. It picks up hairs and dirt and pushes the large dust bunnies like a broom. I made this watching an episode of Joey. So each!

Materials:
Yarn remnant(s)
Safety pin

Tools:
Large crochet needle

Instructions:
1. Chain a bunch so that you’re along as long as the swiffer head.
2. Double crochet a couple of rows.
3. Drop some stitches so that you have little envelopes on the corners to tuck around the swiffer head.
4. Double crochet a bunch more rows.
5. Add some stitches at the end again to make little envelopes on the corners.
6. Make a long braid of three pieces of yarn.
7. Tuck the corners around the swiffer head. Tie the braid to one back side of the swiffer rag and wrap it around. Safety pin it so that you can remove it to wash it.

written by threadslinger

Being a native Oregonian, activist and lover of the environment (these are all practically synonyms where I grew up) I am always looking for ways to do crafts that are fun but also help me reduce the amount of waste that I put into the world. Sometimes this means doing the little things, which is why I was super excited to see this post on Ready Made about crocheting (or knitting) coffee cozies. To be honest, I think a better way to cut down on waste is to bring your own reusable coffee cup and that is what I usually do (hence the picture). But, if you are a “grab n’ go” coffee person this is a way that you can save on waste while also not burning your hand.

Materials needed

3 colors of yarn
crochet needle

Directions

1. Single crochet stitch about 25 rows depending on the size of your hand and cup. I did it about 30 stitches long.
2. For my cup I crochet the words “Earth first” around it but it is pretty impossible to take a picture around a cup so you will have to use your imagination. But, if you are interested I created the letters by dong 2 rows of a single crochet stitch formed to the letters I wanted. And, you are done, quite possibly one of the easiest crochet projects on the planet.