Chevron Birthday Quilt

A while ago I decided that I wanted to try and make a quilt for my nieces and nephews on their 10th birthdays. My oldest nephews birthday came up faster than expected but I did get a quilt made for him. I asked him several months ago what he would want to decorate his room like if he had his choice and he said he would want a Kansas State room. Of course I was totally happy to make a K-State quilt.  

I used old jeans to make the denim part of the chevron pattern. I used this tutorial for making the chevron pattern without having to make triangle pieces. 

I used interfacing to cut out the letters and the powercat and stitching them on using a blanket stitch on my machine.

I decided to tie this quilt and it was a pretty simple process.

I am so happy with how this quilt turned out and I hope that Garrett likes it just as much!!

Thanks for stopping by!

I will be linking up with some of these parties!

Felt Applique Picture

I posted this on Saturday on Home Savvy A to Z but I am posting it again in case my readers missed it! I will show you how to make a felt applique picture.

For Christmas we did a gift exchange draw and I got my sister Camille. I decided to make her a appliqued picture with embroidery over it. I am not sure when I came up with the idea, but I like the way it turned out- I hope she likes it too!

Here is the tutorial on making a felt applique picture.

First find your inspiration picture (or sketch one up if you are that talented!).

You want to look for something that doesn't have too much detail or else it may get a little tricky. This picture did have a lot of detail, but I chose just to do the main shapes out of felt and add details with the embroidery floss.

I found this vintage clip art on The Graphics Fairy. I liked the layout of it but I didn't want to put the boy in it, so I just didn't cut him out.

Using a copier resize the image to how big you want your picture to be and make several copies.

Cut out each element of the picture that you want to make a different color.

I used a couple different shades of green for the grass.

Use the paper as a template for cutting out different colors of felt. I got all of my felt from the Etsy seller Giant Dwarf- it is a really nice fancy felt and there were so many colors to choose from. Regular acrylic felt may work for this, but I would be afraid it would fray too easily.

Then I traced the outline of where I wanted to put it on my embroidery fabric.

 I used 28 Ct Sky Blue Lugana. You can use regular cotton fabric to stitch this onto as well, I just liked the color of Lugana I had. I sell cross stitch/embroidery fabrics like this in my Etsy store and they are great for projects like this!

Then I used temporary spray adhesive to hold the pieces of felt together until I could embroider around them. You have to think a little bit here and layer them correctly but it isn't too difficult.

After that I used embroidery floss to stitch around the edges and add details to the picture.

I mostly used backstitches but if you are really good at embroidery and depending on the picture you are making I think specialty stitches would look pretty cool.

The only thing I wish I would have done differently was the white pieces. I couldn't get right on the edge of the felt without it fraying down and I don't like the brown outline inside of it- oh well, lesson learned!

The finished embroidery- I think my favorite part is the details of the leaves on the ground and the grass.

Now to Frame the Project:

This is the method I use for framing cross stitch and embroidery projects. I am not sure if this is the best way or the correct way but it has worked for me.

I get a 1/4" piece of foamcore in the size a little larger than the inside section of the matboard.

Center the front of the project on the foamboard and wrap the edges around tight.

Using T-pins pin the fabric into place on all four sides.

Then take thread and sew the raw edges together on the back to hold them firmly in place- I forgot to take a picture of this step.

Place foamboard centered on matboard opening, tape into place. I use masking tape and go across it both ways multiple times.

Place matboard in frame, cover back with posterboard or paper.

Here is the finished framed project- I hate taking pictures with the glass in the frame!

I like the way it turned out- hope my sister likes it!

 I will be linking up with some of these parties!
Linking up with BRAG MONDAY at The Graphics Fairy

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Zipper Bag Tutorial

 I decided to make this bag for my nephew I posted about here. The first thing I did was I embroidered the dinasour and his name onto gray linen. Then I picked out the fabric for the bag- I had some old pants that were too short for me but the material was in good shape.

Here is how to make the zipper bag with waterproof lining:

I cut the fabric to make two 12" X 14" rectangles and sewed the dinosaur embroidery in the center of one side.

Fold the top of each piece of fabric over about 1 inch towards backside of fabric and press.

Pin 14" zipper in place to folded fabric so that the right side of zipper will be outside of bag.

Sew zipper to folded flap of fabric on both pieces of fabric using zipper foot on the machine.

When you are done sewing zipper it should look like this:

Cut out two strips for handles- 4" X 24"

Fold in half, right sides together and stitch down seam.

Press seam open, turn right side out and press again. Tuck in raw edges on ends and topstitch all the way around the handles.

Pin into place on right side of bag. Make sure and leave at least 1/2" from top of the bag in order to stitch in lining (I didn't do this and had a bit of trouble :( )

Sew handles on in all four places. Sew around and then sew an x through to reinforce.

Unzip zipper and place both right sides together- lining up the zippers edges. Sew around outside of all edges.

Set bag aside and cut out 2 vinyl pieces 11 1/2" X 14".

Sew around sides and bottom and then fold top over about 1 inch.

Place inside bag with wrong sides together. Pin at the top, making sure that vinyl is not touching the zipper- it won't close if this happens.

Starting at zipper pull end stitch all the way around the top with contrasting thread. Backstitch at beginning and end to secure.

Enjoy!!

Here is a picture of Eli with his new bag- sorry about the blur- my camera was acting funny that day!

Linking up with some of these parties!

Thanks for stopping by!

Waterproof Bag with Zipper

I love making homemade presents for my nieces and nephews for their birthdays. Unfortunately I don't have all of the time in the world so often I don't get to make them homemade gifts. I was a little upset when I realized the only homemade gift I had made him was his birth announcement and his fifth birthday was in November! 

So I made him this cute little bag with a dinasour embroidery on it.  I made the pattern for the dinasour myself and embroidered it onto charcoal gray Jobelan.  I then made the zippered back with a vinyl lining so it is waterproof.

After seeing the pictures I realize they are not very good- sorry about that, but you get the idea!

I plan on posting the tutorial for the bag later this week, it is a quick project that would be a great Christmas or birthday gift.

I hope he enjoys it!!

Linking up with some of these parties!

Have a great day!

Interchangable Welcome Sign

As you know, I like to handmake most of the gifts that I give. I got the idea for my sister's birthday gift from Lolly Jane's Interchangeable Bunting Board. I wanted to make mine a little different- wrap the hangers around from the back instead of using the mini-clips like they did. I like the way mine turned out. 

Materials:

12" X 12" board- luckily I had some leftover from this project (Hmmm, maybe I should make one of those for our house!)

Paint

Printer

Pencil

Nails

Scrapbook Paper, Felt Cut-Outs

Ribbon

I sanded down the board, painted it cream and then watered down some brown paint to give it a light brown wash.

For the lettering I don't have a fancy Silhoute or Cricut or anything so I used old fashioned tracing.

I printed "Welcome" out in a size and font I liked and traced it onto the board.

I painted it with two coats of brown paint.

For the bunting I nailed 4 nails in the back of the board and measured out ribbon to fit onto the nails.

The Christmas bunting is made out of Ric-Rac and felt cut-outs I bought from Hobby Lobby.

The Halloween bunting is made from Ribbon and Scrapbook Paper embellished with Glittery Bat stickers.

I have made a few more buntings to send to my sister, but I will let her see them before I post them on here.

I love this project because it can be displayed all year round either on a frame stand or with a sawtooth hanger!

I hope you enjoy it Camille!!

Linking up with some of These Parties!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Zoe

Purple Ruffled Towel

So trying to stick to the Stashbusting September rules when you have birthday presents to make can be a little tricky- but I am very happy with what I came up with!

I really love this ruffled towel- it is sweet and simple! I think my favorite part is the fabric- you can't see it that well in the pictures but it has glitter in it!

I have seen these all over the place and it is pretty basic sewing but just in case you wanted to know-
Here is how I did it:

Ingredients:
Huck Towel
Fabric (enough to make a 2 3/4" X 48" strip)
Sewing Machine
Thread
Pins

Cut your strip of fabric 2 3/4" X twice as long as the towel you want to put it on. My towel was 24" wide- so my fabric was 48" wide.

Sew into a long tube and turn inside out.  Iron so that seam is on the middle of the backside.

Fold in both ends and topstitch all the way around the strip of fabric.

Set your stitch length on the highest it will go (mine goes to 5) and sew lengthwise down the middle of the strip for a basting stitch.

Pull on the thread and make the fabric ruffle until it is the same length as the width of your towel.

Pin in place and sew down the middle (make sure and set your stitch length back to normal ~2.2)

See- wasn't that easy! And Pretty! You can do multiple ruffles if you want!

Linking up with some of  these great parties!!

Make sure to check in tomorrow and see the companion to this great gift idea!

Thanks for stopping by!