Skirt Refashion

For Mother's Day this year my husband took the kids and let me have the entire morning to myself to sew. I was in desperate need of a new skirt, so I got to work. I wanted to make a tiered skirt, but didn't want it ankle length. I decided to go with knee length.

I had some really cute fabric in mind, but was too scared to cut into it just yet, so I got out some fabric I'd been saving for a couple years to make a "wearable muslin." I spent hours on it. There was a lot of gathering. (I do not love gathering!!)

I got it all finished and tried it on, and... It was AWFUL!! And I mean Really, Really Hideous! I was SO glad I hadn't cut into my cute-cute fabric! So I tucked it away for a "someday refashion." (Fortunately for everyone, I don't have a "before" photo of me wearing it!)

Well, months later, its day has come. I picked out the waistband, busted out my elastic thread (my friend!!), and shirred the top. Then I added ribbon ties, and --

VOILA!! Super cute dress for my super cute niece's birthday! Since the weather is turning colder, it just needs a long-sleeve white shirt to go underneath.

I can't wait to see her in it!

Pot Holder Quiet Book -- TUTORIAL

My final project for POT HOLDER WEEK!

Quiet books are a ~L~O~T~ of work. First there's the "fun part" of it all: coming up with ideas, drawing, cutting, carrying it all out -- HOURS of work, to say the least! Then there's the "less-fun part" of making quiet books: batting, binding, quilting, "finishing" work.... UGH. Here's a way to minimize the the "less-fun" work so you can focus your time and energy on the "fun stuff" -- by using POT HOLDERS as the base of your pages!

Here are photos of the pages I've done so far:

Here's my cover -- probably temporary.


Build A Snowman page
(I love colored velcro!)

I think I will still make more "wardrobe" options for him!

Santa's Cookies page
(Really, I just wanted an excuse to make little felt gingerbread men!)

I especially like the one with green buttons!

Wrap/Unwrap A Present page
(This page is my boys' favorite!)

All the potential gifts....

The bow velcros shut. I learned my lesson quickly that it would have to, or I'd be tying bows all day long!

Toy car!

The temporary back cover.
Since I wasn't sure exactly what my next page would be, I sewed a simple little pocket on the back of the present page.


Okay, are you ready?

Let's start with the BASICS:

Choosing your pot holders:

~ Go cheap! Chances are you're going to need a lot of them! I found mine at the dollar store -- 2/$1!
~ Pick a size that will be suitable for your page ideas.
~ As far as what they look like: Really, the binding (edge) color is all that REALLY matters. Pick something you like!
~ If you plan to use the quilted (back) side of the pot holders, keep that in mind as well.
~ Depending on how you plan to bind your pages together, the loop placement may or may not make a difference.


Basic page construction:

1. Place your pot holder on top of your background fabric and whack around it. Leave a small edge for turning.

2. I don't have a photo of this part, but sew everything you need to onto your background fabric before attaching it to your pot holder. For example, if you are doing a snowman scene, sew the snowy ground on, as well as velcro or other needed fasteners, BEFORE you sew the whole background to the page.


3. Here's where you have to think ahead! The back side of the page you are working on will be the next page of your book. Sew on anything that needs to be sewn on now! If you wait until after you sew your background onto the other side, you will have telltale stitch mark "shadows!"

4. When you're ready to sew on your background, pin it flat onto your pot holder, with the pins in from the edge about 1". I placed four pins, one on each side.

5. Fold the edge of your background under, so that the fold overlaps the pot holder binding just a little bit. Sew right on the fold. You can get those corners to curve around just by fiddling and folding. Fold a few inches in front of the presser foot as you sew. (Isn't all this much easier than starting from scratch??)

Basic felt piece construction:

I sew all my removable felt pieces in two layers. On one piece I sew the velcro, and on the other piece I sew the "good stuff." I always sew the "scratchy" side of the velcro on my pieces, and the "soft" side on my backgrounds.

Then I layer the two pieces together and sew around the edges.

A double layer gives extra durability, plus it means your velcro stitch mark "shadows" won't show on the front of your pieces!

For my pages, the right side of each activity "spread" has the background, and the left side has some manner of storing the pieces. For my snowman page, I simply sewed little pieces of velcro to the quilted side of the pot holder for all the snowman parts to stick to. (I also used my free-motion foot so I could zip around those silly little velcros -- no stopping, lifting the foot, and turning the pot holder a million times for me!)

Ta-Da! Snowman bits stored!

For my gingerbread man cookies I sewed all the good stuff on the front piece first.

Then I sewed a velcro piece on a larger piece of felt, turned it so the velcro was down, and laid my gingerbread man on top. This way I could sew around the little fella without worrying about whether the front piece was lining up perfectly with the back piece. (I tucked the edges of the rick-rack frosting under as I sewed too.)

Then after they were all sewed on I cut around them again.

Here they are on their background before I sewed it onto my pot holder.


EASY Zippered Pouch:

You just need a zipper and a piece of felt!

Sew a small rectangle of felt on the top edge of the zipper.

Sew a larger rectangle of felt on the lower edge of the zipper.

Cut out a rectangle.

Sew all the way around.

Trim edges if desired.
DONE!
Felt doesn't fray, so you don't need to worry about finishing any of the edges!


As for binding all the pages together, I am currently just using a carabiner to hold mine together because I still plan to make more pages. You could do the same, or use a metal book ring. I plan to bind mine permanently somehow so it looks less pot holder-y -- but I don't have a plan yet. It's one of those things I will have to figure out as I go along!
Any ideas?

I hope all of this is enough information and inspiration to make you brave enough to try creating a quiet book! They are so much fun to make, and so much fun to play with!

Pot Holder Clutch/Wallet -- TUTORIAL

Today's project is a quick little pot holder clutch or wallet with pockets and a divider. It's easy!

SUPPLIES:

~ two pot holders (mine were 2/$1 at the dollar store!)
~ matching zipper and/or button

STEP ONE: Overlap your pot holders as shown.

STEP TWO: Fold down center to see how your clutch/wallet will look. (The loop goes on the BACK side.) You will have an outside pocket as well as an inside pocket or divider! Mark the fold with pins or a disappearing ink marker.

STEP THREE: (Optional!) Open and sew down the center of your outside "pocket" down to the marked center (bottom) line of your clutch/wallet. This will create two outside pockets -- perfect for receipts, chapstick, etc!

STEP FOUR: (If you are skipping the zipper, go to Step Seven.) Unzip your zipper and sew on front side of your clutch/wallet, much like Step Two here. You can attach it to just the top edge if you like, but I wanted mine to curve over the edges a little so it would open wider.

STEP FIVE: Zip your zipper shut, and pin it in place on the opposite side of your clutch/wallet. This is where you will decide whether you want the loop on the outside so you can button your clutch/wallet shut, or...


...on the inside to hook your keys onto.
Sew zipper in place.

This is what it will look like. You're almost done!

STEP SIX: Zip your zipper shut.

STEP SEVEN: Fold the loop over to the front and mark where your button will go, then unzip and sew button in place.

STEP EIGHT: Cut off excess zipper, leaving about 3/4" length.

Tuck the end in as shown.

Pinch edges together. Using a needle and thread, sew a few stitches to ensure your zipper tab won't zip right off the end. Tie a knot, but don't cut your thread.

STEP NINE: Continue stitching down the side of your clutch/wallet, tucking the inside edges of the pot holder inside and sewing just the outer edges together for a clean finish. Repeat on other side.

You now have a little clutch/wallet with a divider on the inside...


...and two pockets on the outside!

Pot Holder Makeup Bag -- TUTORIAL

POT HOLDER WEEK continues!!

How about a little padded makeup pouch?
It's perfect for travel!


All you need is one pot holder and a matching zipper. Make sure your zipper has adequate extra length so you can sew it onto the pouch without too much trouble!


STEP ONE: Fold your pot holder in half to decide how you want it to look. I decided I liked the stripes to run vertically.



STEP TWO: Open your zipper and stitch one side of the zipper onto one side of the pot holder.


STEP TWO: Zip your zipper shut, then line up the zipper on the other side of the pot holder and pin in place. Unzip the zipper and sew.

This is what it will look like. Having all that extra length in your zipper makes it much easier to sew on!

STEP THREE: Zip the zipper shut and cut off the excess, leaving about 3/4" of extra length beyond the pot holder.

STEP FOUR: Fold the end of the zipper back as shown.

STEP FIVE: Hold it in place as you pinch the side of your pouch together, then sew the side.

STEP SIX: Fold in the ends of the other side of your zipper so they are pointing down into the pouch, and pinch the side shut. Sew the side shut.

You're finished! Easy-peasy, and it's padded and lined!