Hello readers,
Last week I started my job at the school again and this year I'm going full-time. Because of this I won't have as much time to devote to my crafts. It is a HUGE stress reliever for me so I'll definitely still be doing it, but I won't be able to post as much as I did over the summer. Still check in with me though! I'm almost done with one project that I'm very proud of and very excited to show all of you! I also have everything gathered for another project that should be pretty quick :) Thanks for the support everybody!
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Re-covered pillow #4, Weaved Pillow
I had one last pillow that came with our couches and I wanted to save it for a really good idea. And I got it! I'm way excited about this pillow and it's definitely my favorite. I got the idea from an old lady's dress :) haha Here it is...
Materials:
~ Old, ugly pillow
~ Fabric
~ Ruler
~ Pencil
I knew that I wanted a plain back for this pillow and a solid color underneath all the weaves in the front. I decided to do white in the front and red in the back. But when I went to cut out the white I realized that I didn't quite have enough fabric! So I decided to just cut up the stuffing of my old, ugly pillow to match the size of the fabric that I had left :) Problem solved! Now it's a kidney pillow instead of a square one.
Next was to measure how many strips of fabric I would need for my weave. You can do this with just one color but I decided to alternate red and gold. I took a ruler and drew out lines everywhere I wanted a weave strip to be. I drew this all out on the wrong side of my fabric (although since it's a solid color it didn't really matter which was the wrong side).
Then I measured how many pieces of red and gold I would and how big they each needed to be. I ended up doing 14 red pieces and 12 gold pieces. I sewed right along the edge and then turned them inside out.Two quick tips about sewing these strips together. When you're sewing a bunch of stuff all right after the other don't worry about cutting the thread and re-starting your sewing line for each one. Just sew them all on one big seam. Does that make sense? So when you get to the end of one piece, leave a little space and start the next one. Here's what you end up with, go ahead and just snip the extra thread in between each piece. This saves a lot of time and headache!
Tip #2: Most of you have probably seen this. If you ever have to turn something small inside out pin a safety pin to one side of the fabric at either the top or the bottom and then push the safety pin all the way through until the fabric is totally right side out. This saves even more time and headache!
Once I had all my strips of fabric right-side-out and ironed down flat I pinned them onto my fabric. Then I sewed all the way around the outside edge.
To make sure that the pieces of fabric stayed in place once the pillow got on my couch I tacked them down in the back. Every time the strips crossed each other I tacked down the bottom piece, making sure to not poke through to the top piece so as to keep my thread hidden. The back is ugly but this ended up in the inside of my pillow and it didn't matter what it looked like :)
After that was done I sewed the front and back together, turned it inside out, stuffed it, and hand-stitched the last few inches. That's it!! What do you think?!
Cost:
~ Old, ugly pillow: $0.00
~ Fabric: $0.00
~ Ruler: $0.00
~ Pencil: $0.00
Materials:
~ Old, ugly pillow
~ Fabric
~ Ruler
~ Pencil
I knew that I wanted a plain back for this pillow and a solid color underneath all the weaves in the front. I decided to do white in the front and red in the back. But when I went to cut out the white I realized that I didn't quite have enough fabric! So I decided to just cut up the stuffing of my old, ugly pillow to match the size of the fabric that I had left :) Problem solved! Now it's a kidney pillow instead of a square one.
Next was to measure how many strips of fabric I would need for my weave. You can do this with just one color but I decided to alternate red and gold. I took a ruler and drew out lines everywhere I wanted a weave strip to be. I drew this all out on the wrong side of my fabric (although since it's a solid color it didn't really matter which was the wrong side).
Then I measured how many pieces of red and gold I would and how big they each needed to be. I ended up doing 14 red pieces and 12 gold pieces. I sewed right along the edge and then turned them inside out.Two quick tips about sewing these strips together. When you're sewing a bunch of stuff all right after the other don't worry about cutting the thread and re-starting your sewing line for each one. Just sew them all on one big seam. Does that make sense? So when you get to the end of one piece, leave a little space and start the next one. Here's what you end up with, go ahead and just snip the extra thread in between each piece. This saves a lot of time and headache!
Tip #2: Most of you have probably seen this. If you ever have to turn something small inside out pin a safety pin to one side of the fabric at either the top or the bottom and then push the safety pin all the way through until the fabric is totally right side out. This saves even more time and headache!
Once I had all my strips of fabric right-side-out and ironed down flat I pinned them onto my fabric. Then I sewed all the way around the outside edge.
To make sure that the pieces of fabric stayed in place once the pillow got on my couch I tacked them down in the back. Every time the strips crossed each other I tacked down the bottom piece, making sure to not poke through to the top piece so as to keep my thread hidden. The back is ugly but this ended up in the inside of my pillow and it didn't matter what it looked like :)
After that was done I sewed the front and back together, turned it inside out, stuffed it, and hand-stitched the last few inches. That's it!! What do you think?!
Cost:
~ Old, ugly pillow: $0.00
~ Fabric: $0.00
~ Ruler: $0.00
~ Pencil: $0.00
Re-covered Pillow #4, Weaved Pillow: Total Cost ~ $0.00
Monday, August 9, 2010
Hang It Up
We got these three little decorative pillows for our wedding. I've always loved them but it's also always been a bit of a struggle trying to decide where to put them. They're too small to set on the couch, they just get sat on and last in the cushions. They're too big to put on a shelf and they lay flat so you can't even see what's written on them...that defeats the purpose! Well, today I came up with what I think is a splendid solution :) I hung them up! Ok...duh, I know, but they didn't come with anything to hang them up with so I hadn't thought of it before. Today I just fixed that minor little problem and ...voila... I have something "new" hanging from my wall, I can show off these cute pillows, and they don't get in the way anymore!
Friday, August 6, 2010
Enjoy the Journey Clock
When I saw this project I knew that it was something I wanted to do! We own two clocks so I started deciding which one to use. I hadn't mentioned anything to my husband but he is so supportive I knew that he wouldn't really care if I took our clock apart and totally re-did it :) ...as long as I could put it back together! I took the clock apart and had it sitting out on the table when C. got home from work. He took one look at it and just started smiling and asking me what I was planning next. He's awesome!
Materials:~ Clock~ Map~ Mod Podge~ Scrapbook Paper
Like I mentioned before I got this idea off another blog but, true to form I changed it a little bit. Where's the fun in making something if you don't add a little of you in it right? The first step was to take apart the clock. I should have taken a picture of this, it was actually kind of fun! Just remember how to put it back together!
I went and bought a road map at the gas station and traced out how big of a space I would need for the face. I loved her idea of cutting out a map of where she met her husband. I cut a little slit in it so I could fit it over the arms of the clock. I wanted to still be able to tell what time it is, so I drew out the 12, 6, and 9 (something else was over the 3 spot...stay tuned to find out what! haha) and then drew little lines for the other numbers.
I wanted to add something extra special and I have always loved quotes. So I decided to add a quote onto my map dedicated to my husband. This is the one I decided on. I love it! Life is a journey and I'm so grateful that I have someone so wonderful to share it with!
"The trick, my brethren and sisters, is to enjoy the journey, traveling hand in hand, in sunshine and storm, as companions who love one another." -President Gordon B. Hinckley
After all the drawing I went ahead and mod podged the map onto the face of the clock.
I wanted to change the border of my clock too. I found the perfect scrapbook paper at Hobby Lobby! It has letters and postcards and stamps...all things having to do with travel. So cut out strips and mod podged that all the way around the outside of the clock.
After the mod podge was dry I took a sewing pin with a big head and cut off the pin part. Then I super-glued it to where I first met C.
I put the clock back together and showed it off to my hubby :)
Total Cost:
~Clock: $0.00
~Map: $4.00
~Mod Podge: $0.00
~Scrapbook Paper: $0.59
Materials:~ Clock~ Map~ Mod Podge~ Scrapbook Paper
Like I mentioned before I got this idea off another blog but, true to form I changed it a little bit. Where's the fun in making something if you don't add a little of you in it right? The first step was to take apart the clock. I should have taken a picture of this, it was actually kind of fun! Just remember how to put it back together!
I went and bought a road map at the gas station and traced out how big of a space I would need for the face. I loved her idea of cutting out a map of where she met her husband. I cut a little slit in it so I could fit it over the arms of the clock. I wanted to still be able to tell what time it is, so I drew out the 12, 6, and 9 (something else was over the 3 spot...stay tuned to find out what! haha) and then drew little lines for the other numbers.
I wanted to add something extra special and I have always loved quotes. So I decided to add a quote onto my map dedicated to my husband. This is the one I decided on. I love it! Life is a journey and I'm so grateful that I have someone so wonderful to share it with!
"The trick, my brethren and sisters, is to enjoy the journey, traveling hand in hand, in sunshine and storm, as companions who love one another." -President Gordon B. HinckleyAfter all the drawing I went ahead and mod podged the map onto the face of the clock.
I wanted to change the border of my clock too. I found the perfect scrapbook paper at Hobby Lobby! It has letters and postcards and stamps...all things having to do with travel. So cut out strips and mod podged that all the way around the outside of the clock.
After the mod podge was dry I took a sewing pin with a big head and cut off the pin part. Then I super-glued it to where I first met C.
I put the clock back together and showed it off to my hubby :)
Total Cost:
~Clock: $0.00
~Map: $4.00
~Mod Podge: $0.00
~Scrapbook Paper: $0.59
Enjoy the Journey Clock: Total Cost ~ $4.59
Re-covered pillow #3, Multi-Colored
I wanted to do a pillow that was more than just that tan/gold I've used (see my other pillows here and here. I do like that color, but it's nice to add a splash of something else too right? The same color can get boring if it doesn't have anything else with it! So I decided to add some red in a pillow. I've mentioned before how much I like red--it adds so much to a room even if it's just something small.
Sorry, this post doesn't have very many pictures. I didn't do very well with picture taking on this camera. It starts out just like my other two pillow cases though, you need an old, ugly pillow :) Most people have one of those right?! And if you don't, go to a thrift store and I'm sure you'll find one real soon :) haha
Materials:
~Old, ugly pillow
~Fabric
This time I took two pieces of red fabric (the same fabric I used on my shower curtain shown here) and placed a white strip in the middle. I sewed the white onto the back sides of the red pieces and I decided to be a little bold and use some dark tan thread on the red fabric! I like it a lot!! There are two reasons I did this: 1-I'm feeling more confident in my sewing abilities and have always liked the look of thread that's a different color than the fabric, 2-I didn't have any thread that matched my red fabric. Haha :) Creativity comes out of necessity right?
Well, next I cut out two strips of a gold fabric I have, different that I used on my other pillow cases but same basic color. I cut them out zig-zaggy to add a little s.t.y.l.e. to my pillow. I tried adding little bows on too, to bring in more of the gold color, but it looked too kid-ish so I took those off.
Anyway, sorry for the lack of pictures throughout the process, but here's the final product. What do you think?
Total Cost:
~Old, ugly pillow: $0.00
~Fabric: $0.00
Sorry, this post doesn't have very many pictures. I didn't do very well with picture taking on this camera. It starts out just like my other two pillow cases though, you need an old, ugly pillow :) Most people have one of those right?! And if you don't, go to a thrift store and I'm sure you'll find one real soon :) haha
Materials:
~Old, ugly pillow
~Fabric
This time I took two pieces of red fabric (the same fabric I used on my shower curtain shown here) and placed a white strip in the middle. I sewed the white onto the back sides of the red pieces and I decided to be a little bold and use some dark tan thread on the red fabric! I like it a lot!! There are two reasons I did this: 1-I'm feeling more confident in my sewing abilities and have always liked the look of thread that's a different color than the fabric, 2-I didn't have any thread that matched my red fabric. Haha :) Creativity comes out of necessity right?
Well, next I cut out two strips of a gold fabric I have, different that I used on my other pillow cases but same basic color. I cut them out zig-zaggy to add a little s.t.y.l.e. to my pillow. I tried adding little bows on too, to bring in more of the gold color, but it looked too kid-ish so I took those off.
Anyway, sorry for the lack of pictures throughout the process, but here's the final product. What do you think?
Total Cost:
~Old, ugly pillow: $0.00
~Fabric: $0.00
Re-covered Pillow #3: Multi-Colored, Total Cost ~ $0.00!
Sewing Snip-Its
I went to my last sewing lesson yesterday. I am so close to finishing my table runner quilt! I can't wait to show it to you all. I didn't specifically learn anything yesterday, but here are just some general things that I've learned about sewing:
1. I can do a lot more than I thought I could! It's like anything else, it just takes practice. Duh right? haha, I guess I just wasn't willing to put in the time before. I wanted to be good right away.
2. Getting to know your machine can help you so much!
3. You don't have to go fast. I used to try and sew really quickly, try and take the pins out without stopping, etc. But I just need to slow down. I'm not trying to impress anyone, I'm just trying to make something beautiful. As with many things in life, faster does not mean better.
4. Follow patterns, but don't be afraid to change it a little to fit your personality.
5. And the two things that have saved me from all the jamming that used to happen to me!
-Make sure the thread uptake is all the way up before you start sewing
-Hold the bobbin and needle threads when you start so they don't get caught underneath.
(These 2 things are so simple and can save A LOT of trouble!)
Thank you so much to my in-laws, my wonderful husband, and my parents for getting me my sewing machine and the lessons. I've loved them and learned a lot! I've also gained a lot of confidence which is very important :) I love you guys! THANKS!
1. I can do a lot more than I thought I could! It's like anything else, it just takes practice. Duh right? haha, I guess I just wasn't willing to put in the time before. I wanted to be good right away.
2. Getting to know your machine can help you so much!
3. You don't have to go fast. I used to try and sew really quickly, try and take the pins out without stopping, etc. But I just need to slow down. I'm not trying to impress anyone, I'm just trying to make something beautiful. As with many things in life, faster does not mean better.
4. Follow patterns, but don't be afraid to change it a little to fit your personality.
5. And the two things that have saved me from all the jamming that used to happen to me!
-Make sure the thread uptake is all the way up before you start sewing
-Hold the bobbin and needle threads when you start so they don't get caught underneath.
(These 2 things are so simple and can save A LOT of trouble!)
Thank you so much to my in-laws, my wonderful husband, and my parents for getting me my sewing machine and the lessons. I've loved them and learned a lot! I've also gained a lot of confidence which is very important :) I love you guys! THANKS!
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