Tag Blanket Tutorial

I don't about your baby - but my baby loves tags. The best part of all of her toys right now is the tag! She likes to pull on them, suck on them and just generally keep them close at hand.

One of her other favorite things to play with is an empty wipes bag. She loves the crinkly sound it makes and it keeps her busy and entertained while I'm trying to change her diaper.


So with this in mind - I decided to create a blanket that had all of her favorite things!

A tag blanket with a crinkly inside!



It was fairly easy after all the pinning! Here is what I did:

Tag Blanket Tutorial:

Supplies:

- Fat quarters of 2 different fabrics
- Decorations (Ribbons, tags, fabric, hair ties etc.)
- Notions: Pins, Sewing thread
- One empty bag of wipes


1. Cut out your fabrics to your desired size. Mine were about 14 inches square.



2. Grab your empty wipes container,



and remove the plastic bits and open it up



3. Grab your ribbons stash... you can also use fabric, hair ties or anything at all that may be fun to chew for your baby.



4. Cut your ribbon to the desired size, and start pinning them to the right side of one of your fabrics. Make sure the ribbon loops are laying toward the inside with the ends on the end of your fabric.



5. Put your second fabric on top of your ribbons right side down, and add the wipes package on top of that. So - the layers of your "sandwich" will be: fabric one, right side up with ribbons pinned on, second fabric right side down, and finally the wipes package on top.



6. Bring everything to your sewing machine and sew around leaving a hole about 3 inches wide. Make sure to remove the pins as you go. To make neat corners, stop sewing at the corner and lift your pressure foot, turn your fabric 90 degrees and then replace your pressure foot and keep on sewing. BE SURE TO LEAVE A GAP SO YOU CAN TURN YOUR PIECE RIGHT SIDE OUT.

7. Trim your corners and any excess fabric and then turn your piece right side out through the hole you left in step 6.



8. Fold the raw edges to the inside and re-pin any ribbons that were in the hole you left.



9. Top stitch all the way around to close the hole and you're done!




Hopefully it will keep your baby happy and entertained.

Good luck!!

Burp cloth tutorial

Happy new year everyone! I hope you all had a great start to 2012! I thought I'd share a sewing pattern that I whipped up for burp cloths. With a new baby in the house, you can never have enough of these! And, they make great gifts for new moms.

This is a wondering first sewing project for beginners because it's all straight lines.





Materials Needed to make 2 burp cloths:
- 1/2 yard of quilting cotton
- 1/2 yard of terry cloth
- Sewing thread to match fabric
- Rotary cutter
- Cutting mat
- Scissors
- Straight pins
- Iron

Directions:

1. Cut out your fabrics using your rotary cutter and cutting mat – I cut 2 pieces 14 x 22 inches. I tend to cut out pieces two at a time to save time. If you fold your fabric in half you can get two pieces easily by cutting off the fold.





2. After cutting out your fabric – put one piece of cotton and one of terry cloth on top of each other with right sides facing. Pin around the outside to make sure it doesn’t move while you sew.



You are going to turn your sandwich inside out when you are done, so you have to leave about a 2 inch hole in order to do this. I like to put a green and red pin at the start and end of this hole so I know where I am. (sometimes I get carried away and forget to stop sewing at the hole! The red pin helps prevents this.)




3. Using your machine’s foot as a guide for the seam allowance, position your fabric on the machine so your foot is even with the edge. Start sewing at your green pin, but remember to remove the pins before you sew over them so you don't break a needle.



4. When you get to a corner, stop sewing with the needle in the fabric, lift the presser foot and rotate your fabric 90 degrees and put the presser foot back down. Continue sewing on the next side. This helps give you neat right angles at the corners.



5. Continue all the way around until you get to the red needle. At the red needle stop sewing and backstich a few stitches for extra strength since you will be turning your fabric at this point and putting extra stress on those stitches.



You are left with a two inch opening.

6. Clip the corners of your burp cloth to remove extra bulk.



7. Turn your cloth inside out.




8. Find the hole you left and turn the ends of the open fabric under to make a neat seam and pin closed.



9. Iron your cloth to remove any bumps.

10. Starting at one end of your hole, make a top stitch as close to the edge as you feel comfortable and stitch all the way around. Don’t forget to make your neat right angle corners by lifting the presser foot and turning your fabric before starting the next side.



11. Once you are finished with the top stitching, I like to add a few rows of quilting to the top. I ran 3 straight lines down the length of my cloth. This helps the cloth keep it’s shape. You could even get fancy and add some decorative quilting!




12. Trim all your loose threads and you are done! Go find a drooling baby to mop up!





This pattern is for personal use only.

Baby Love

I whipped up a few baby onsies for my friend Lisa's baby shower this weekend...



There were definitely a hit! I highly recommend making these for a quick and inexpensive handmade gift!

All you need is:
- Onesies
- Cute baby appropriate fabric
- Iron-on tear away stabalizer like Pellon Wonder Under Fusible Web



Directions:
1. Cut out your fabric




2. Cut out your stabilizer to the same shape as your fabric. I usually cut this a bit smaller than the fabric - otherwise the sticky stuff will get on your iron... ask me how I know this :)



3. With the paper side of stabilizer down and fusible side up - place your fabric face up and iron them together.



4. Peel off the paper backing - leaving the sticky fusible part attached to your fabric.





5. Place the fabric with the sticky stablizer on the onsie and iron it down. This helps keep the fabric from shifting when you sew on the decorative border.



6. Pick a complimentory thread, and using a zigzag stitch, sew around the border of the fabric. Make sure you catch at least one side of the zigzag stitch in the fabric. Be careful to sew only on the front of the onsie! (It's easy to accidentally catch the other side!)




7. Once you make it all the way around, backstitch for a few stitches to secure and then trim the excess thread on the inside and outside of the onsie.



And you're done!



I'm sure a baby near you will love their new outfit!!

Wristlet Tutorial

Happy Leap Day everyone! In honor of this day - I decided to post another sewing tutorial.

This time it's for my Wristlet pattern.

Remember these?



Well, now you can make one too!

Materials:
- Less than a quarter yard of linen,
- Scraps of quilting cotton in two patterns (one for the lining and one for the outside accent fabric)
- Less than a quarter yard of medium weight fusible interfacing
- Thread to match
- Cutting mat, ruler and rotary cutter
- Zipper (7 inches or larger)
- Pins and other sewing tools


Directions:

Step 1: Select and cut your fabric. I used linen for the body and strap, but you could use anything. Cut out the pieces:
-From the linen:
- Cut 2 pieces that measure 8'' by 6''
- Cut a piece for the strap that measures 22'' by 3.5''
- Cut 1 piece of cotton fabric for your outside accent piece that measures 8'' by 6''
- Cut 2 pieces of Cotton fabric for the inside lining that measure 8'' by 6''
- Cut 2 pieces of interfacing that measure 8'' by 6''

Step 2: Iron the interfacing to the inside lining pieces.

Step 3: Cut one of the inside lining pieces, the outside accent fabric and one of the linen pieces to create the opening for the zipper. Determine where you want the zipper to go - it can be anywhere. I cut my pieces 2'' from the top. (Leave at least an inch and a half on top for the seam and handle)
After cutting your pieces - your fabric should look like this:



Step 4: Pin fabrics to zipper.

Starting with the pieces that will end up below the zipper, pin the inside lining and outside accent fabric pieces to zipper. Make sure to put the outside accent fabric "right side to right side" with the zipper. (The front of the zipper should go against the right side of your outside accent fabric and the back of the zipper should be up against the right side of the inside fabric.)

You are basically making a sandwich with the zipper on the inside:
Like this:



Pin in place, making sure to only pin through the top half of the zipper - otherwise it will make it harder to open and close the zipper if you pin through both sides (more on this later).



After pinning the fabric to the zipper, open the zipper about halfway before you start sewing.

Tip: The reason I open the zipper before I start to sew, is because if you leave the zipper closed, it is harder to sew next to the zipper pull. You will close the zipper after sewing halfway across.



Step 5: Start to sew the zipper to the bottom inside and outside fabrics. Use a zipper foot, or about a quarter inch seam allowance. Stop before you get to the zipper pull.



When you reach the zipper pull, make sure your needle is in the down position (in the fabric) and then raise the pressure foot. Turn your work so you can see where you are, and close the zipper. Now the zipper pull won't be in your way anymore, and you finish sewing across the piece.



Step 6: Press.

After sewing across the piece, iron the piece so the fabrics on both sides lay flat against the zipper.



Step 7: Pin the top pieces to the zipper.

Again, make sure to put the right side of the zipper face to face with the right side of the outside accent fabric and the back of the zipper face to face with the right side of the lining fabric. Pin in place



Your zipper sandwich should look like this.



Open the zipper about halfway again so you can sew more easily and not have the zipper pull in the way.

Step 8: Start to sew the zipper to the top fabrics using a zipper foot or a quarter inch seam allowance.



After sewing halfway across, make sure the needle is in the down position, raise the pressure foot, and close the zipper just as you did in step 5.

Step 9: Press.

Make sure both the top and bottom lay flat when the zipper is closed.




Step 10: Top stitch.

Sew across the top and bottom of your zipper using a quarter inch or an eight of an inch seam allowance.

Tip: It helps to use foot of your machine as a guide. Make sure to line up the foot to the edge of your fabric for a straight clean top stitch.




Step 11: Add your own label (if desired).

Now is the time to add any labels or logos you want to be on your wristlet. Sew around the edge (getting as close as possible to the edge while still catching the label) making sure to leave the needle down when turning the corners.



Step 12: Prepare the handle.

Fold your fabric in half legnthwise and press a middle seam. Then open the handle, and fold the two halfs into the middle seam and press again. Finally, fold the handle in half (after folding and ironing the outside edges into the middle) and press. This will create a sturdy and neat handle with all the raw edges folded into the inside.



Step 13: Pin handle and sew two border seams.

Using your pressure foot as a guide, sew the legnth of the handle with a quarter inch or an eight of an inch seam allowance on both sides of the handle.



Step 14: Cut about a two inch piece from the end of your handle. This will act as a pull to assist in the opening and closing of the zipper.



You should now have two pieces - one long piece for the handle and one small piece for the pull:



Step 15: Fold the handle and pull pieces in half and pin them to your fabric above the zipper.

Make sure the handle and pull are on the inside (you are about to make another fabric sandwich)



Step 16: Make the fabric sandwich.

Layer your pieces as follows:
- The bottom layer should be your fabric with the zipper - right side up.
- Next, add the linen right side down (or the piece of fabric that you want to be the back of the outside of your wristlet)
- The last layer is the lining fabric right side up.



Check to make sure your handle is in the inside of this sandwich.

Step 17: Open the zipper - otherwise you will have a hard time opening the finished piece after you have sewn all the sides.



Step 18: Pin the pieces together.



Step 19: Sew all around the outside.

To reinforce the handle and the pull, sew backwards and forwards over them a few times for extra strength. Be careful when sewing over the zipper, and when sewing over the handle. The fabric is very thick! Go slowly!



Tip: For neat corners, remember to turn your work with the needle in the down position.



Tip: To make sure you don't accidentally sew through your handle, you can pull it through the zipper opening.



Step 20: Trim the corners.

When you are finished sewing, trim the excess fabric from the corners and the outside edges, being careful not to cut through your seams.




Step 21: Turn your wristlet right side out through the zipper.

Iron one more time to press out any bulk.



Step 22: Enjoy your new wristlet!



I hope you try to make one too - and definitely write and let me know if you make one. I'd love to see the finished product!

Have a great weekend!

** Updated**
Many people have asked where I got the labels.  I got them from namemaker.com