Boys Hair cuts 2013: Gift Ideas

Kamis, 04 Oktober 2012

Patchwork Kindle Pouch

Remember that Flouncy Bag tutorial I did for Family Ever After?

That was a crazy long tutorial, but goodness, I love that bag! :)

I also love my Kindle Fire

I decided to show it some love by making it it’s own little pouch, and of course, I made it to match my bag!

Patchwork Kindle pouch tutorial from the Crafty Cousins

I’m not going to give you exact measurements for this project.

Because I lost them.

{hanging my head in shame}

So, just measure your Kindle or other tablet (or whatever else you’ll be using this pouch for) and cut your fabric accordingly. You’ll need the (pieced together) fabric at least 2 1/2 times as long as your tablet so that you can fold/sew it into the pouch. Cut it a few inches wider, too, so that you have room for seam allowances, and so that the pouch is bigger than the tablet. Got it?! Great.

…and sorry I lost the measurements. I hope we cans till be friends.

If you want to make a pouch for your Kindle Fire or other tablet but don’t want a patchwork one, scroll down a bit and follow the directions after the patchwork piece is put together. Just be sure you have a piece of fabric measured to fit your tablet.

I started off with the scraps from the flouncy bag and cut them into 2 inch strips and arranged them into the pattern I liked.

So sorry for the quality of the pictures. I sewed this after my kiddos went to bed and didn’t have any natural light to work with.

Anyway, arrange them how you want them, then sew them into place--each strip sewn with the right sides together. Like ‘zis:

Be sure to press your seams flat. Now cut more 2” strips, but do it horizontally so that you’re making strips of small squares. Like so:

Now sew the strips together (with the right sides facing each other) and alternate the strips so that you get that patchwork pattern.

Sew a 2” strip to the top and the bottom of the patchwork piece to make it longer, and to add a top and bottom border.

***IF YOU AREN’T MAKING A PATCHWORK POUCH, START HERE!***

Round off the corners of the fabric. I used a can of painter’s putty as a guide, but you could use whatever you want. A bottle of jam. Or mayo. A frisbee? It really doesn’t matter! :)

I marked around the corner with a fabric marker, then cut out the curve.

Take your top piece and use it as a pattern to cut the batting and the lining of the pouch. I used white fabric for the lining, so it’s kinda hard to see.

Cut your batting the same size as the other pieces.

Put the right sides of the fabric together with the batting on top, and sew around the top and bottom of the fabric pieces leaving the sides open.

See that seam around the top? You have to sew part way down the sides of the top to shape the flap that closes the pouch.

Now turn the pieces right sides out so that the batting is on the inside.

Top stitch around the entire piece, then quilt it however you want. Free motion quilting would be awesome, but I’ve never done it and I didn’t dare try it this late at night. I was getting tired and didn’t want to have to un-pick anything.

Need help machine quilting? Check this out.

I just quilted diamonds into the pouch and I used the patchwork squares as a guide.

Let’s add some pockets to the pouch, shall we? This way you can keep track of the chargers and other accessories you have for your tablet.

Make the pockets the same way I did for the changing pad diaper clutch.

Measure them where you want them by folding up the pouch into a pouch shape. Pin where the fold comes together, and that’s where you’ll pin the bottom of the pocket.

Pin the pocket into place.

Sew the pocket down the sides and bottom of the pocket. Sew a straight line down the middle so that it magically makes TWO pockets! Ha ha! You are so clever!!

Now fold the pouch back into a pouch shape, but do it inside out. It’s time to sew the sides together.

Sew the sides together and serge the raw edges. Or not. I won’t tell! Turn the pouch right side out and you’re almost finished! You still need a button and a button hole to keep the pouch closed.

Find a button and position it where you want it on the pouch itself. Sew it into place.

Follow your sewing machine directions and sew the button hole on the flap.

Put your Kindle in it, and you’re done! :)

This is really cute with two different fabrics and ric-rac. I also used an elastic band to keep it closed, rather than a button hole.

You could do a lot of fun and different things with this pattern.

They make great gifts, too! ;)

P.S. Want a Kindle Fire? You should totally get one. I have one and love, love, love it! :)

Garden Wedding Flower Girl Dresses

Are you still dying to find out what my huge shirring project was?

I had to make about a million and a half of these:

Okay, not really a million and a half, but aren’t they adorable? They were really easy to make, too.

For this dress, you need:

1 yard of fabric
elastic thread
ribbon for the sash
lace for the hem
1/4 inch elastic for the top
a cute little girl to wear the dress.

The one I’ll show you how to make is size 18 months. You can adjust your measurements if you need it smaller or larger.

Cut two pieces of fabric 18 inches high by 22 1/2 inches long.

Place the two pieces on top of each other with the right sides together. Cut it at a slight angle so that the dress pieces are now A-line shaped. The shorter width is the top.

Now, with the right sides together, sew the side seams together.

Serge or zig-zag stitch the raw edges.

Sorry for the picture quality. The lighting at my sewing table isn’t great.

Serge or hem around the top and bottom of the dress. Sew the hem lace to the bottom right side of the dress.

Once the lace is sewn on, turn it over and topstitch it into place.

There. The hem is done. Now, for the top, you need to sew a casing fir the 1/4 inch elastic--just like I did with this tiered skirt.

Is the casing done? We’ll thread the elastic through later. Now let’s shirr the top of the dress, just like I did with this shirred sundress. When it’s shirred, be sure you add the elastic to the casing, close the opening, then steam press the shirring to shrink it down.

Dress shirred? Pressed? Awesome. Let’s work on the sleeves now.

For the sleeves, I cut two 6” x 7.5” rectangles and serged around the edges.

Hem the 7.5” sides of the sleeves.

Sew three pleats in both the tops and bottoms of the sleeves. Need help with pleats? I used pleats on the flouncy bag. (you’ll have to scroll down a bit)

The pleats should look like this:

This is what the sleeves should look like now:

Press the pleats flat--unless you want a more puffed sleeve. If that’s what you want, then skip the pressing. If you go for the puffed sleeve, this is what it will look like:

I pressed the pleats, and this is how my sleeves turned out:

Backside…

…and front side.

Now we need to attach the sleeves to the dress.

With the dress and sleeves inside out, measure one inch in from the sides of the dress. Pin the sleeves down and sew into place.

Do the same thing on the other side--with the same one inch measurement.

Turn the dress right side out.

How about we make a sash now? Oh, do lets!

Measure how long you want the sash and cut the ribbon to the desired length.

Take the ends and fold them in half. Make one diagonal snip so that the ends of the sash are forked--like a snake’s tongue. (Why, yes! I am the mother of all boys! Why do you ask?!)

Anyway…once the ribbon looks like a snake’s tongue, you need to heat seal the edges so it won’t fray. To heat seal the forked edges, just fold it in half again, then hold the raw edges in the heat wave above a flame.

…fold it…

…and seal it. Perfect.

Now sew the sash to the sides of the dress.

The tricky part about this was attaching it so that the sash wasn’t too loose or too tight around the waist. Only sew it to the side seams so that the ribbon won’t have stitching around it.