Crochet Purse & Pattern

I made this purse while watching my girls in their swimming lessons back in August. They had lessons every morning and while they were in the pool I sat in the observation lounge and crocheted. Half an hour every morning for two weeks and I was all but done - the only thing left to do was whip up the flower and leaves and sew them on at home.

Are you interested in making a bag like this? Do your children have soccer or hockey practice and you are wishing you had something to keep your hands busy while you watch? Well, this is a great little project for exactly such a situation.

I used a 5.0 mm hook and some cotton yarn. It might be Bernat Handicrafter Cotton, but I am not completely sure as I bought it as a mill end several years ago at a sale.

Here's what I did:

Bag Sides (make 2):
ch 35
sc in second ch from hook and then in each chain across (34 sc), turn
*ch 1, sc in each stitch across* repeat until piece measures 6 1/2 inches
To join sides of bag, put wrong sides together and whip stitch the side and bottom seams together.

Handles (make 2):
ch 70
sc in second ch from hook and then in each chain across (69 sc), turn
*ch 1, sc in each stitch across* repeat until handle is 1 inch wide
Attach handles to each side of bag directly beside the side seams.

This pattern is for a fairly small bag, perfectly suited for a little girl.

Of course, you can make your bag larger or smaller by simply changing the number of chains in your foundation row, and/or changing the height of the bag. The possibilities are endless.

And while I added a flower and leaves (click here for the pattern) to my bag you could embellish your bag with stars, pom-poms, or whatever else you can think of.

Happy crocheting, and if you have any questions please ask.

Yarn Ball Ornament Tutorial

To add a little yarn to my holiday decor, I decided to make some yarn ball ornaments - super easy to do.

Want to make some of your own?

Well, let me show you how.

To begin, you will need several clear plastic ball ornaments. I bought mine in the after Christmas sales at Michael's last year for maybe $1.00 each.

An assortment of Christmas yarns. The ones that I used are from here, there, and everywhere, eventually finding themselves in my yarn bin, waiting for such a project.

And you will also need a handy dandy glue gun.

To begin, put a gob of glue on your ball and push the end of your yarn into the glue. Once this piece is firmly dried in place, add glue gobs all over your ball and start wrapping your yarn randomly around.

Sorry that I do not have step by step pictures of the gluing and wrapping - I needed to work fast to get the yarn wrapped around the ball before the glue dried.

Never the less, I am sure you can see how this all goes....you keep wrapping. And wrapping. Around and around you go.  Until the clear plastic ball is completely covered and you are left with this.

I finished off by putting a gob of glue near the silver thing on top, putting my yarn into the glue and then snipping the end.

Wrap your remaining clear balls with the other yarns that you have.

I hope you have fun making yarn ball ornaments of your own.  They are a great way to make your love of yarn part of your holiday decorating.

Sew an Envelope Pillow in 7 Steps

A while ago I showed you the first envelope pillow that I ever made.  I was figuring out the process as I went and did not take photos along the way; I was too excited and anxious to see how it would turn out.

Since making that first pillow, I have made two envelope pillows for the patio chairs on my deck.  I love them and am very happy with how they look.  

Today I would like to share with you the steps I follow to make an envelope pillow so that you can make your own.

Let's begin:

Step 1: To make a 18x18 inch pillow, I began by cutting 2 pieces of fabric, one 19x19 inches for the front of the pillow, and the other 19x27 inches for the back.

Helpful Tip: My fabric had a distinct pattern that repeated and I wanted to make sure that the pattern would be centered on the front of my finished pillow. Because of this I needed to measure and cut my 19x19 inch piece of fabric carefully to ensure that the pattern was positioned correctly.  The positioning of the pattern on the larger piece of fabric (19x27 inches) which was used for the back of the pillow was not as important as you will soon see.  To eliminate the need for this additional fiddling, you could choose a fabric with a more random pattern - one that no matter where you cut, it will look the same.  But if you do choose a fabric with a repeating pattern, consider the position of the pattern before you cut.

Step 2: I then cut my 19x27 inch piece of fabric in half.

Step 3: Taking the two halves that I just made, I folded the fabric about 1 inch to the wrong side along the 19 inch edge, pinned it, and then sewed it in place using my sewing machine.  I did this on each half.

Step 4: Next I laid my 19x19 inch square on the table right side up. I took both of my halves and laid them on top, right side down, matching the outer edges to the outer edges on the smaller square, and overlapping the halves in the center.

This is what your pillow will look like from the front:

And from the back:

Step 5: I pinned everything in place and then sewed all the way around, 1/2 an inch in from the outer edge.

Step 6: Next I trimmed my seams and corners. I also over-edged the seams using the zig-zag stitch on my sewing machine to keep them from fraying.

Step 7: I turned my pillow cover right side out and stuffed in my form.

Here is the finished pillow from the front:

And from the back:

Helpful Tip: You may want to press your pillow cover before you turn it the right way and/or before you stuff in your form.  I did not press mine because I was using a fairly sturdy outdoor fabric and there were no wrinkles, but a lighter weight fabric may look more finished after a pressing.  

I hope you find this tutorial helpful.

If you have any questions, please ask?

Happy Sewing!

Card of the Week: Grid Card Tutorial

When I was working on my One Pad Challenge I made several grid cards. They are very simple, which I love, and they make it so easy to combine different patterned papers.

Today I would like to show you how I make two different style grid cards.

To make a card with nine small squares in the grid like this one begin by making a 5.5 x 5.5 inch card base.

Cut a 5.5 x 5.5 inch piece of cardstock.

Adhere the cardstock to the front of your card base.

Select three coordinating patterned papers and cut three 1.75 x 1.75 inch squares out of each paper.  Arrange the squares on your card.  How you arrange the patterned paper squares is a matter of personal taste.  You may want to think ahead to where you want your sentiment to go and place a less busy/detailed square of patterned paper in that spot.

It is optional, but I always ink the edges of my squares so that they pop against the solid background.

Adhere your small squares to your card.  To get the same spacing between all the squares I just eyeball it, but you can measure if you would like.

Mat your sentiment with a small piece of cardstock and adhere it to the bottom right square.

Card Base: Recollections; Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned Paper: Dream Street Papers; Rub-On: American Crafts; Ink: Ranger Inks; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives

To make a card with three large squares in the grid like this one begin by making a 5 x 7 inch card base.

Cut a 5 x 7 inch piece of cardstock.

Adhere the cardstock to the front of your card base.

Cut three blocks 4.75 x 2 inches from three different patterned papers and arrange the blocks on your card.  Again, how you arrange the papers is totally up to you.

Ink the edges of the blocks and adhere to your card.

Mat your sentiment with a small piece of cardstock and adhere it in the bottom right corner.

Card Base: Recollections; Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned Paper: Dream Street Papers; Sentiment Font: Century; Ink: Ranger Inks; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives

And there you have it - two lovely grid cards.

I hope you have fun making your own.

Easy DIY Artwork: Reusing Picture Frames

Both my girls had these pictures hanging in their nurseries.  I bought the plaques way back before my oldest daughter was born and had them professionally framed.

When my youngest daughter moved to a big girl bed and the decor of her room changed, I knew that I could easily reuse these frames to make artwork that would match her new room.

To complete this project I gathered the following supplies:

• my frames
• ruler
• exacto-knife
• scrapbook paper
• paper trimmer
• guillotine cutter
• corrugated cardboard

I began by removing the paper backing.  Using my exacto-knife I cut around the back of the frame being careful to only cut the backing paper and not the frame or the plaque.  

I then lifted up the metal prongs that were holding the plaque in place, and popped the plaque out.

Next, I measured the opening of the frame, and using my paper trimmer, cut a piece of scrapbook paper to fit.  

I also had to cut a piece of corrugated cardboard to size using my guillotine cutter.  The plaques were much thicker than scrapbook paper, so I needed the cardboard in the frame to provide enough thickness so that the metal prongs would hold everything in place.

When everything was secured, I turned my frame over and loved what I saw.

I then did the same with the other two frames.

This project was very inexpensive since I already had everything that I needed on hand.  It was also very quick to finish - I was done everything in about an hour.

And now I have some artwork to hang on the walls in my daughter's big girl room.  

What do you think?  How have you reused picture frames?

Simple Fabric Bookmark Tutorial

My oldest daughter Bridget has recently learned to read and to celebrate this milestone, and show her how incredibly proud we are of her, I decided to make her a bookmark.

My inspiration for this project came from this tutorial at Make and Takes - an incredible blog full of truly inspiring craft ideas.

I did make a few alterations to the Make and Takes tutorial so I have provided my own project instructions here.

First I gathered all my supplies:

• fabric
• pins
• measuring tape
• ribbon
• sewing machine

I had a piece of fabric 14 inches wide so I folded it in half with the wrong sides together, decided that this was long enough for a bookmark (7 inches), and cut a strip 4 inches wide.

I then cut a length of ribbon and pinned it to the center point at the top of the bookmark on the right side of the fabric.

After pinning the side and top seams in place, I sewed the edges together making sure that the ribbon was secured in the seam.  I also left an opening along the one side seam to allow for turning.  The ribbon was on the inside of my bookmark at this point, and the wrong side of the fabric was facing me.

I trimmed the edges and turned the bookmark right side out.  After slip stitching the opening closed, I pressed my bookmark and ran a line of top stitching around all four edges.  All done!

When Bridget was reading a Cinderella story later in the evening and she needed to pause for dinner, her new bookmark was ready to hold her place.

A very simple project requiring very few supplies.

And a great way to celebrate and encourage reading.     

How to Sew a Window Valance

A year and a half ago we renovated our kitchen extensively and since then my kitchen window has been naked.

I wanted to add a splash of color and personality to the space so I decided to sew a simple valance.

I always wash my fabric before I sew.  I don't want to go through all the effort of sewing something only to wash it and have the color run all over the place; better to find that out when all you have is a piece of fabric.  

To begin, I assembled my supplies: fabric, curtain rod, pins, thread, measuring tape, sewing machine.

The amount of fabric that you need depends on your window size.  You want the fabric to gather, but the amount of gather (or fullness) is really a personal preference.  It can also depend on your fabric.  If you have a very large or symmetrical pattern you may want to make your curtain less full so that the pattern is visible.  If your pattern is small or the design is random you can make your valance fuller.  Bottom line: it is really up to you and how you want your valance to look.

Step 1: Pin and sew side seams.  If they are raw edges, fold over 1/2 inch first and then fold again to hide the raw edges.  On my curtain the side seams were finished since I used an entire width of fabric, but they said "Ikea of Sweden" on them.  I folded the sides over far enough to ensure that this writing was on the back of my curtain.  A typical side seam would be about 1/2 inch.

Step 2: Measure your curtain rod to determine the width of rod pocket (where the rod will be inserted) needed.  My rod was 1/2 inch wide so I needed a 5/8 inch rod pocket to allow for the rod to slid in easily.  You want your rod pocket to be only slightly wider than your rod;  if it is too tight, the curtain will look crammed on the rod, and if it is too loose the curtain will not gather as nicely.

Step 3:  Fold the top edge of your fabric over about 1/2 inch (this fold will hide the raw edge), and then fold the top edge down again towards the center of your fabric accounting for the width of your rod pocket and the amount of fabric that you would like to have above the rod.  Since my rod was 1/2 inch wide, I folded my fabric over 2 3/8 inches to allow for a 5/8 inch rod pocket and about 1 1/2 inches of fabric above the rod.  Pin.  Sew along bottom fold.

Step 4: Knowing the width of your rod pocket, measure that distance from the line of sewing that you just completed toward the fold and pin this point as you move along the length of your curtain.  I measured 5/8 inch from the line of sewing that I completed in step 3. (My rod pocket needed to be 5/8 inch).  Sew along line of pins.  Your rod pocket is now complete.

Step 5: Insert rod into rod pocket and hang curtain.  Determine the final length that you would like the valance to be and pin the fabric at this length.

Step 6: Returning to your sewing table, measure 1 inch from the line of pins you inserted in step 5 (when curtain was hanging and you were determining the final length).  Cut excess fabric off at this line, fold bottom edge over 1/2 inch to hide raw edge, and then 1/2 inch again.  Pin.  

Step 7: Sew hem along fold.  You can use a "straight stitch", but I like to use the "blind hem stitch".

  

Step 8:  Press and hang valance.  Marvel at the color and personality that it brings to your window and room.

 
I am very happy with how my valance turned out.  The kitchen feels much cozier now that the window has something to wear.