Little projects

Yesterday was the last class of the session so I decided to do some little fun projects. The first was this car trash bag. There are two pockets: the straps obscure the opening of the top one. I am thinking I might use one pocket for recyclables and the other for trash. I also think I sewed that strap on the wrong side of the pocket but I am not going to change it.

The second project was a cute bib. Made of two fabrics, a cotton and a flannel, it closes with velcro. Unfortunately, I packed it up to mail before I took a picture of it. Maybe I will get a pic of it on the actual baby and can then insert that here.

The third project was yet another grocery tote bag! Fun to make, with french seams inside and bias tape on the handles, I didn't quite finish it in class. I added the bias tape last night at home, and the little bit of velcro to the ties this morning:

In rather a klutzy way it folds up so it can be tucked away more easily. I think if it were a lightweight, strong material it would fold better.

A jewelry roll

I made this jewelry roll in sewing class yesterday. It is another of the projects in the One Yard Wonders book. I can make good use of this project because I make many small trips and never have a suitable case for any jewelry. So I rarely bring any along. This way I will have a small assortment of earrings, necklaces, and possibly bracelets.

The roll contains two pockets, each with a zipper, and those ribbon straps in the middle are to hold rings (and then be tied). I don't wear rings so that may find another use.

Here it is folded and tied. I clearly laid out the pattern in the wrong direction - those cats should be face up! But no matter. It works and it looks pretty cool.

Baby Bunting

I made this bunting partly in class, almost two weeks ago, and partly at home. I started it in class because I was afraid of it. By starting it there I can focus better and if I run into issues there is usually somebody who can help me.

I used a Butterick pattern that is designated "very easy". I think this means very easy for an experienced sewer. It was reasonably easy for me, but I had to take time on the zipper and I had a time getting the cuff edges lined up right. As usual, there were places in the directions where I wasn't quite sure what was meant but I did finally work it out. It's good to remember that "very easy" and "very quick" are two different things, also.

A Quick Grocery Bag

Last August I made a shopping bag from a T-shirt, following directions in the book Generation T. See that post.

The directions in the book had me measuring and cutting a shape from the front to make it very much like the plastic bags. That shape bit into the design on the front, however. So those T-shirts that have designs fairly close to the top would not be suitable for that project.

Martha Stewart has another version. You can go to marthastewart.com and hunt it down but I'll tell you the directions right here because it's so easy:

1. Turn the T-shirt inside out. sew the bottom closed, using the seam as a guide.

2. Take a medium-sized mixing bowl (about 9" diameter, more or less). Lay the T-shirt on a flat surface, flat. Place the bowl over the neck opening, making a half-circle shape wider than the neck. Use an air-erasable or water-erasable pen to draw the half-circle onto the T-shirt.

3. Cut out the larger neck opening.

4. Cut off the sleeves along the inside of the seamline.

That's it.

You can, of course, modify it. To make the bag handles narrower I tucked the ends under and sewed a zigzag through the layers. You can also zigzag the raw edges or serge them if you want to get fancy.

Oh, and that's Henry Miller on my t-shirt bag up there. Cool is the goal here.

Coasters

In sewing class I learned a way to make some simple coasters. They are meant for wine glasses but work perfectly well for other glasses and cups. This is a quick, simple project that can use up small pieces of fabric.

Start by cutting five squares of fabric. In this example, the squares are five inches square. They could also be four inches.

Fold and press each of four of the five in half, either on the diagonal or straight across. In this example, it's diagonal:

Now there is one open square and four triangles:

Place one of the triangles on top of the square, lining up the raw edges:

Lay another on top, one quarter turn from the last:

Do the same for the third:

For the fourth, tuck half of the triangle under the first flap:

How it looks (click on the pic for a larger view):

Sew a seam around all four sides. I made it 1/2" You could go with 1/4" if you like:

All sewn:

Clip corners and trim seams:

Turn it inside out - or rather, right-side out. And it's done!

Here is how it looks on a wine glass:

You can wander around the room and set it down wherever and the hostess won't have a fit. This type coaster could also serve as a wine identification tag, if each were different in some way.

Organizing patterns

I have struggled with how to organize my patterns. Where to store them, how to store them, so I can find what I want easily. Then an idea came to me. I have a couple of boxes I bought from Costco that originally contained greeting cards. They were organized by type of card, with dividers. I thought maybe patterns would fit in the space. I was right.

The box. I turned around the dividers to label them with the type pattern:

One box is clearly not enough, as I have many other patterns. My second box still contains greeting cards. So now I am thinking of storing them somewhere else... In the meantime at least some of them are organized.

More pillowcases

I made another pair of pillowcases for Valentine's Day presents. I did the same thing with the appliques that I did on the previous pair, with different fabric.

I really like how they look.

This time I used the instructions in one of my Sewing with Nancy books for the construction of the cases. Here is how it goes:

* Cut out the pieces: in this case I cut two pieces approximately 45" X 27" of the main case fabric, and two of the "cuff" approximately 45" X 9".

* I folded one main piece , selvages matching, right sides together, and stitched the long side seam. I overcast the seam, then ironed it toward the case.

* I stitched the top seam, starting at the fold and catching the folded seam. Overcast the seam. Repeated these steps for the second case.

* I appliqued the cuffs, positioning the pieces on the upper half of the cuff fabric.

* I sewed the cuff side seams, right sides together, after lining them up with the case seam so they would be as close as possible to the same width when sewn.

* I folded the cuff pieces, wrong sides together, raw sides together.

* I sewed the cuffs to the main cases, right sides together. I finished the seam with an overcast stitch.

* I ironed them both.

I am not the best at cutting pieces exactly. That's why I had some trouble matching the pieces when I sewed them together. I think this is a skill I need to work on. Cut carefully and the rest should be easier. In the meantime I think I'll sew the cuffs to the main parts before sewing the side seams in the future. It's just a lot easier for me, although it leaves the finish of the cuff raw edges to deal with. No, wait, seems like that's really not an issue if I just sew them on as above, then do the sides. Yes, that's the trick.