DIY

 Is this cute or what?  That little teddy sitting on those adorable pillow cases. 

I’ve had this idea pinned for quite some time.  Besides loving that fabric, I like that the cuff of the pillow case wraps the pillow.  Looks so “custom”. 

I wanted to make the pillow case to fit 12″ x 16″ pillow forms.  I’ve made three “name” pillows for Riley, Piper and Jack and still need to make some for Addison, Kendall, Courtney, Justin and Adley.  (Whoops, looks like I need to get another pillow form.) I thought this version might be a fun idea.

The instructions are fairly simple from www.aspoonfulofsugar.com but I couldn’t get my head wrapped around changing the size from a full-size bed pillow to the 12″ x 16″ size.  I can usually draw and figure out the dimensions but after spending way too long trying to calculate the exact measurements, I decided to just make the full-size pillow so I could understand the directions from A Spoonful of Sugar.  

I had this fabric:

This was a really quick project.  I had already cut the fabric out on Tuesday and when I got home after volunteering at the animal shelter, it took me about 1/2 hour to sew it all together.  Seriously.  It took longer to take the pictures!  And a whole lot more time to put all of these words here.

So here’s the finished full-size pillow:

I need to make at least one more.  Maybe two.  I have three granddaughters that are just at the right age to LOVE mermaids.  And if they have a slumber party at my place they will all want their own mermaid pillow!

I followed the instructions from A Spoonful of Sugar  It’s quite easy.  The only question I had was about the seam allowance.  The tutorial doesn’t mention what it should be so I went with 1/2″.  Seams are supposed to be finished with an overlock stitch on a serger but I don’t have one of those so just zig-zagged all the raw edges.  I hate unfinished seams so I plan to try to make the next version with something like a french seam.

And the ultimate goal is to get the pattern re-sized for the smaller version and put some names on them.  So much to do, so little time!

Terry and I have moved a lot over the years.  Every time we make a move, we get rid of all the extra crap in the cupboards, closets, and all the other storage spots.  But we’ve had this house for 11 1/2 years and things have accumulated.  Way too much “stuff”.  it’s time to get rid of some things. 

(Otherwise I can’t buy new)

I’ve been clearing out junk from all the nooks and crannies that I cram things into. With no basement or attic storage I have become very creative!  (Okay, I do have an attic but things tend to melt up there and the steps leading there are very wookity.) 

So I haven’t been sewing much lately and I have no project for today. 

I did get a bunch of fabric, though.  Fabric.com gave me a 20% off coupon for my birthday so I waited until some of the stuff I need (want) was on sale at 15% off and ordered a bunch.

Here it is…

Other than the top and bottom blue fabrics which are going into a quilt, I don’t have any real plans for the rest.

Since her room is pink and brown, I thought I might make something for Piper out of this piece but then decided she might not like those pigs.  I can just hear her saying “Pigs are for boys”.

This will probably turn into something for a couple of the granddaughters.  Pillow cases?

And I had to have these zebras.  Pillow? Tote?

The one project I am actively working on is a denim quilt for Riley. I’ve been saving old denim plus Lauri gave me a bunch of Riley’s old jeans.  I’ve “pinned” several denim ideas but decided that I didn’t like any of them.  I finally designed this block which I’m happy with.

There will be 1″ black sashing between all of the pieces and it will end up being a 20″ block.  The entire quilt will be three of the 20″ blocks across and four 20″ blocks down.  The back will be navy blue minky and the binding will be a navy blue cross hatch. 

Well, that’s my plan today.  Could change.  And could take a very long time to finish because it’s not as easy to cut the denim up into the correct sized pieces as I thought it would be. 

And I still have a lot of cupboards to go through! 

 

I’ve been tossing out a bunch of old stained or worn out linens. I was thinking about hitting some sales to pick up more dish towels then it struck me “hey, I make tea towels!, why don’t I just get into my fabric stash and whip up some towels for myself!” So far I’ve given all of the tea towels that I made away.  This would be a good method to find out how those towels hold up under regular use!

I had some red and white fabric left from Christmas which is perfect for a Valentine’s project! And that holiday is just around the corner! I found three pieces that didn’t have any snowflakes or other holiday themed objects on them.  I had one piece of the red and white striped material that was 35″ by 4″.  So that’s how I decided what size the color band for the bottom would be. 

I also had just enough of Kaufman Essex Linen Blend White to make three tea towels! 

I cut the tea towel fabric 17″ x 20″ then hemmed three sides (two long and one short) using the tutorial for clever corners from Sew4Home.com.  The towel was then 16″ x 19 1/2″ with one raw short edge.

I used heat ‘n bond lite on a couple of small pieces of fabric then used a heart shaped cookie cutter for the appliqué.  Just drew around it with a Mark-B-Gone pen.  The blue wipes right off with a damp towel.

After hemming the the tea towel fabric, it was 16″ wide. I’m using a ½” seam so I cut the color strips for the band at the bottom of the towel 1” wider than the towel–17”.

I cut:

2  strips of the candy stripe 17” x 4”

1  strip of the white and red polka dot 17” x 7”

Pin the two 4″ strips to the 7″ strip right sides together and sew with a 1/4 “ seam.

Press seams open.

Center the color band under the unfinished end of the towel fabric, right sides together. The band should be ½” wider on each side than the towel. 

Stitch, press seam down.  Press raw edge of color band under ½”

Fold color strip right sides together up to meet the seam on the towel.  The ½ “ pressed edge will be on that seam. 

It’s very important that the seams on the color band line up. You might be able to see in the above picture that I have pins on that seam. Sew ½“ seams along edges of the color band, making sure not to catch in the towel sides.

Clip corners.  Turn strip right side out and poke the corners out so they are nice and sharp.  Press.  

On the back of the towel, the pressed under edge should be right on the seam between the strip and the towel. 

Stitch 1/4″ away from that edge.  I did this from the right side of the towel because I wanted to make sure it looked good.

I did a “stitch in the ditch” on the middle seam  of the color band then some top stitching 1/4″ away on both sides of that seam and along the bottom. 

I centered the applique on the towel, 1″ from the color band and pressed it–follow the instructions that come with heat ‘n bond lite.

Then I did a little zigzag stitch around edges of the appliqué.

And I had enough of the two polka dot fabrics to finish a second towel.

 

 Now I have to decide how I’ll make the third towel.  Two heart towels are enough for me!