A Case for Sunglasses

Yay! I reached 200 followers last night! Look for a giveaway next week to celebrate! Thanks, guys, for following me! I don't know where we're going yet, but as long as you're up for a good time. :)

So last weekend, when I was on my sewing binge, I had some scrap fabric from the checkbook covers, so I whipped together a sunglasses case.

This one is a little bit too long for my glasses, but a great width. I'll make another one for a tutorial if anyone is interested.

Have a great weekend, everyone! See you next week!

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Recycled Can Pincushion Tutorial

If you stopped by yesterday and saw the recycled almond-can pincushion inspired by Susan's (from Life with Punks), I've got a tutorial for you today.

What You'll Need
Almond Can (or any can -- This one is just shorter and wider than some.)
1 piece of fabric to cover outside (11 1/2" by 2 1/2")
1 piece of fabric, cut into a circle with about a 5" diameter
Mod Podge
Sponge Brush
Fiberfill
Scissors
Small circle of felt
Button
Scrap piece of fabric for flower

Step 1. Eat all the almonds. :) You can get help with that.


Step 2. Strip the can of the paper wrapping and remove any stuck-on scraps of glue.


Step 3. Cut a piece of scrap fabric to 11 1/2" by 2 1/2". Mod Podge the fabric to the can's outside with your sponge brush. Let it dry several hours.


Step 4. Fill your can with fiberfill with a little extra for height.


Step 5. Cut a circle - about a 5" diameter. With some fiber fill under the fabric cricle, push the edges of the circle down into the can, securing under the can lip as you go.


Step 6. Make a fabric flower any way you know how. I took the edge of fabric (called the selvage or selvedge), folded the material -- about 12 inches for this flower -- into pleats and stitched the pleats with a straight line in a sewing machine. Circle the fabric into a flower and hot glue together. Cut a small circle of felt and hot glue into center of flower (covering up the end of your fabric) and, if you want, glue a button onto the felt circle. For a better tutorial, click here. Attach to the side of the can.



And you're done! A very inexpensive pincushion for your sewing projects.


Have any of you also been inspired by Susan's tin can pincushion?

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Recycled Can Pincushion

Did you see the tin can pincushion Living with Punks shared last month?


Great, right?

I had a few of the almond cans lying around, too, and I've been in need of a pincushion for a few months. (Tomatoes just aren't my thing.) So Susan's tutorial couldn't have come along at a better time.

Here's what I came up with.




And tomorrow, a tutorial.




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Checkbook Cover Tutorial

I'm so excited to share with you all this tutorial on making your own checkbook covers. Now that I've figured it out, all my friends are getting one for Christmas. (Fair warning.)

What You'll Need

1/4 yard fabric for checkbook cover outside (the light blue with white leaf prints or the multi-color dots in my covers)

1/4 yard fabric for checkbook cover inside (the teal with swirl pattern or khaki in my covers)

1/2 yard fusible interfacing for light- to medium-weight fabrics

Matching thread (I matched to outside fabric.)

Rotary cutter or scissors

Cutting mat

Ruler

Disappearing ink pen

Template - needs to be 7 1/2" by 14 3/4"

For the template, I taped together two pieces of paper, then measured a template with my ruler and cut it out. I've seen a few templates around Blogland for download. Those will likely work too.

Step 1 - With your template, cut one each of the outside and inside fabric.

Step 2 - With your template, cut two pieces of fusible interfacing. You may wish to make the interfacing slightly larger than the fabric so you can ensure the entire piece of fabric is covered. In that case, just be sure to trim off any extra around the edges once you've ironed on the interfacing.

Step 3 - Being sure to follow the instructions on the package, attach the fusible interfacing to both fabric pieces (inside and outside).

Step 4 - (I forgot to take a picture of this step.) With right sides of fabric together (interfacing outward), stitch on the long sides of the fabric with a 1/4-inch seam.

Step 5 - Press seams open. Then turn sleeve right side out.

Step 6 - Press the sleeve, making sure seams are flat. For best results, I usually iron the seams out then fold them and press them together.

Step 7 - If you have one, surge short ends. I don't, so I just did a zig-zag on the edges to stitch the material together and keep from raveling.

Step 8 - (Also forgot to photograph this one.) On the outside fabric and with your disappearing-ink pen, measure 3 1/2" from each short end (where you just surged or zig-zagged). Mark across the fabric with a ruler. Then measure 1/2" from each short end (surged or zig-zagged) and mark across the fabric with a ruler.

Step 9 - Fold the 1/2" line toward the inside of the checkbook cover. Iron at the fold, and clip the corners. (See photo.) This is to reduce bulk when you're sewing.

Step 10 - Stitch 1/2" from folded edge, ensuring you're capturing the fold. Now repeat these last two steps on the opposite end.

Step 11 - At your 3 1/2" mark, fold both ends of the cover into the center. Press with your iron. Now your checkbook will look like mine in the picture below.

Step 12 - Being sure to backstitch at both the beginning and end of your line, sew 1/4" seams down both long sides. (If you don't want to stitch in the middle, you can stop at the end of each fold and start again on the other fold. Just be sure to backstitch.) Then sew 1/4" seams along both short ends. Again, backstitch to secure your stitching.

Clip any straggling threads (like the one that I left in the picture below -- oops!). Put your checkbook in, and you're done! Your very own custom checkbook cover.

I realized as I was writing this tutorial that I don't have pictures for adding the ruffle. I will work on that this week and post another tutorial just for that in the coming days.

♥ Kimberly

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Checkbook Covers

I've been crushing on handmade checkbook covers I've seen around Blogland for a while now. (Like The Pleated Poppy.) I currently use the bank-issued checkbook cover, and it's just dull.

Since I'm eager to explore my sewing machine and learn new things, I decided to try my hand at making one or two for myself.









So what do you think? I have a tutorial here.




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Princess Cupcake Toppers

As promised in yesterday's post - printable cupcake toppers for you!

There are two ways to this...
1) Click on the image below, and it'll take you to a full-size picture.
2) Click on the Scribd link, and download the document.

In case you have a 4-year-old party coming up soon, here are some 4 buttons. For best results, I'd suggest printing this on thicker (read: cardstock) paper. Then punch out with a scalloped edge punch. I made the purple background bigger than most punches so that the color will be continuous once you punch it out.

Scribd link here.

Happy Birthday buttons. I'd suggest doing the same for these as suggested above for the "4" buttons.

Scribd link here.

This is another Happy Birthday option. A fun font with hearts over the i.

Scribd link here. (I think Scribd is returning the fun font to Times New Roman. You can also get the fun font on my Photobucket account here.)

This adorable castle topper started out as a black-and-white coloring page and clip art. You can find the original here.

Scribd link here.


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