Friday, July 30, 2010

Creating your own applique design using a cricut

Here is my guest post that was at Tator Tots and Jello, just in case you missed it! 

Today I am going to share a tutorial with you on making an appliques tote bag. I like to make things that are unique and I use all my own patterns. So here goes! 
Step one is to gather your fabric choices, I love to use scraps for this project.
Once you have your fabric for the applique design, iron each piece onto heat and bond, let cool.


Now, you can either create your own design, or use something like a cricut to help you out. I used the cartridge walk in my garden, and selected the leaf design for this project. You will want a fresh cutting mat and a new blade for cutting fabric for the best results.


I cut 2 leaves of each fabric, 1 1/4, and 2 inch leaves. I used 6 different pieces of fabric. 
Once you have all your pieces cut, peel the paper backing off of them and place on your front tote piece.
My tote is made from a sold medium weight fabric. I cut the pieces 12 x 13. 2 for the outside and 2 for the inside. Iron applique pieces in place. 
Once Ironed on, you are ready to sew them in place. I use the embroidery stitch on my machine, but any stitch will work for this. 


Once all the petals are in place, you can sew the stems. I free hand this, but you could lightly draw your line with a pencil. I also like to make random line stitches all over the front of the bag. 


I then apply fabric circle to the ends of all the other stems, and sew a button in the center. 
The applique part is done, you can do as much or as little as you would like. 
Now I assemble the tote, again, this is all up to you. I like pockets, so I add a back pocket, an inside zipper pocket and extra inside pockets for phones, lipstick, etc. This is all up to you. 


I cut an apply more of my coordinating fabric to the top edges of all 4 pieces. Make sure to line with a heavy weight interfacing, and sew the front and back of the outside together. For the lining, apply all your pockets, top edge, and again sew the front and back together, wrong sides facing each other. You will want to leave a 6 inch opening at the bottom of the lining to turn when finished. 
This is also where you add your straps. Pin them into place on the outside front of bag. With wrong sides together, sew the inside to the outside at the top edge. Turn right side out, then sew opening shut. 


Add a top stitch to the outside edge if desired. And you are done! 


You now have a fun new tote bag all your own design! 
Thanks for checking this out, now be sure to stop by my blog and see some of the other fun things that I like to do! 



Thursday, July 29, 2010

Guest post today at Tator tots and Jello

Hey everyone, today I am guest posting over at Tator tots and Jello, come by and see what we are up to!

http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/2010/07/guest-project-applique-tote-bag.html

Missy

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Candlelight Beige & Antique Glaze


My kitchen is very large, with lots of cabinets and plenty of counter space. I did a post about it a while back when we added an old entertainment center in the dining room it looks just like it was built for the space. You can see that post here. The kitchen/dining room area only needed one other thing. PAINT, not on the walls, but the cabinets. So I decided last week, thanks to miss funky junk herself that now was the time, Gitter done!!! 
So we dismantled all the doors, and emptied all of the cupboards, what a chore that was! 


All the hardware was removed too, and I decided to paint that as well. I used Krylon's old rubbed bronze spray paint. 


29 doors, 14 drawers, so that means 118 screw heads, 58 hinges and 43 handles all needed to be spray painted! I used foam board to stick the screws in so they stood upright. I put 3 coats on, just to be safe. 
I painted all the cabinets candlelight beige, and then applied a layer of glaze over the top. 
Our kitchen looks like we added about 20 lights, I can not believe the difference it made! 



I also decided that all my little wood accent pieces needed a makeover as well, so I painted my bread box, knife block, & paper towel holder red. 


Now if only I had a red kitchen aid mixer....


Now if you didn't read the dining room post, here is what the cabinet looked like before:
I applied the same paint and glaze to this piece as well
Yesterday was the grand opening of my good friend Krista's new shop, Snowman Hill, be sure to check her out, AMAZING stuff! And I picked up a few things that look perfect in my newly painted kitchen.


She really has some of the best stuff around, so if you live near Duluth, stop by to see her, you will not be disappointed! 
Above my island is an old window hung by chains, that is a fun little display that I like to change out with each season. 
And finally the jars that I made, inspired by Miss Mustard Seed, we keep cereal in them for the kids, they love to write on the outsides of the jars each time we put a new kind in there! 
Thanks for looking at my kitchen, now be sure to stop by Donna's at Funky Junk Interiors, and the next Gitter Done post is August 4th, you still have time!!!! 

Addendum to this post. after seeing my kitchen I had a few suggestions to paint the chairs red too. 




My little helper was busy taking them apart for me. 


MUCH better!!! Now I am done, really I am! :)





Sunday, July 18, 2010

It only took about 13 years

I started re finishing this table about 13 years ago.
It was my grandmothers, and had about 17 coats of paint on it.
I sanded it down, repainted the legs, stained, and decided to paint a floral design on the top.
I never finished the flowers and it has sat in my shed, unfinished until today. 

I pulled out the paint pens and finished it up. Then I sanded it down to give it a vintage looked, repainted the legs, 13 years ago I was into forest green....now the legs are black, glazed and sealed. Now it is in my house and makes the perfect little work spot for my compter. 

I needed more room than the old sewing table I once had here. 

Stacked some old crates, Funky Junk Stlye for my books and I was done! 

My new fun little work space. 



Thursday, July 15, 2010

His & Her aprons

So I was recently asked by a friend to make her some aprons for a gift. She needed a guys and girls apron.
So I found some fun coordinating fabric and got to work. I decided that the guys should be pretty basic, my hubby agreed! I used him as my "fit" model. 

There is a double pocket for grilling tools, spoons, etc!

The girls apron just had to be girly, and since I am so in love with my new ruffler foot, I wanted it to have a ruffle. I saw an apron on a blog, and made mine very similar. I drew & cut a pattern from old wrapping paper. I think I must make sure to save my pattern fot it, I love how this turned out!

I hope they are a hit! I think I may just make another one for myself!!! 


Sunday, July 11, 2010

My must have feet!!!

It's all about the accessories, I am talking feet for your sewing machine! They can be true time savers, once you learn how to use them! 
Recently I bought a rolled hem foot, a ruffler foot and a piping foot. I consider all 3 a must have! 

The rolled hem foot:
I am not going to lie, this one takes some practice to get just right, so get out your scraps and keep trying! 
The way I finally got it to work best was to fold over the edge 2 times to start the hem. place under the presser foot and stitch 3-4 times to hold. Then keep the needle down, raise the foot, and feed your raw edge into the open front of the foot. Lower it back down and stitch slowly. 
Hold the edge the entire time slightly rolling it with your finger to help keep it feeding correctly. Like I said this part takes time, don't get discouraged! 


Now you have a nice finished edge! Without burning your finger tips on the iron. 
Now time to talk ruffles! If you like to pleat, ruffle, gather, you need a ruffling foot. About $29 bucks, but I had a 40% off coupon for Hancock. 
I always serge my edge prior to ruffling to keep it neat. 
Place your finished edge in the ruffler, set your stitch to 1, 6, or 12, that is the number of stitches between ruffles. I like sewing with the 6 and a 3.0 stitch length, again this will take a bit of playing with if you need specific size ruffles. There might be some math involved and I don't want to go down that road! 




I find this one essential when making my skirty purse! A huge time saver

My next must have is the piping foot, this is so easy to use and it adds so much detail to what you are making! You will need small cord, I use some the size of shoelaces, but any size cording will do! 
I cut a strip of fabric the length of the item I am trimming, and 1 1/4 inch wide. Cut the cord the same length. 


Fold the cord in the middle of the fabric and place under piping foot. 
Sew the entire length of the fabric, backstiching to secure the ends. 
Place finished piping in between the layers of fabric. Matching up raw edges.


and you are done!! I started making piping with a zipper foot, but the piping foot works so much better, it made a huge difference, and was only about $8! 



I hope that was helpful to some of you! What sewing machine accessories are a must have for you? I would love to know what else I might need!!