Little Toes Sock Bag

Growing up at my parents house we always had a full basket of unmatched socks.
My sister Courtney (who is the second oldest of five children...yes I am the oldest) and I hated the job of matching socks. We would empty the basket and start sorting through them all. There would be black ones, pinks ones, big ones, small ones and ones that just needed to be thrown away, and after all that sorting we were lucky if we came up with 10 matching pairs! Where those socks go will always be a mystery to me!

Being married and having a family of my own makes no difference, we still have socks that seem to disappear never to be found. It's hard enough keeping adult socks from being lost but then throw in some baby socks and its a lost cause. In order to keep my little mans toes warm in this cold weather
 I decided to make a sock bag that will keep all his socks together when I throw it in the washer and dryer
I wanted to make one for my husband and I, but I just didn't get around to it yet.



Materials Needed
White Mesh 7 inches x 18inches
Cotton/Flannel 7 inches x 4 1/2 inches ( this will be for a decorative band)
Serger/ Sewing Machine
Cording
Iron

Cut a piece of white mesh. My measurements were 7 in. x 18 in.
You can certainly makes yours bigger or smaller.

Cut 2 matching pieces of your fleece/cotton material. My measurements were 7 in. x 4 1/2 in.
Again, you can adjust my measurements to fit the size bag you want to make.

Take one end of your mesh and one piece of your band material
and place them right sides together and serge/sew. Do this to the other end as well.

Finished serge end

Using your Iron press your band outward so the right side is showing and serge the top part of your band.
(This will help the material look nice when you fold it over to make the hem
 and not fray when its being washed)

Find the center of your band material and place one pin 1/4 inch to the left of the center.
Do the same thing to the right side of the center.
( For example my band was 7 inches wide making the center of my band be at 3 1/2 inches. You need 1/2 inch between the two pins so I put one pin at 3 1/4 inches and the other pin at 3 3/4 inches
Using your sewing machine put a button hole where each pin is.

(This picture is just showing that there is 1/2 inch between the pins)

Fold your material in half and place right sides together and serge/sew down both sides of the bag

Serged edges

While your bag is still inside out fold your band fabric over

to make a hem/casing for your cording. I folded mine over about 1 1/2 inches and stitched around the bag below the elastic.
 Just make sure you fold your fabric over enough to cover the button holes you made. .

Turn your bag right side out.

Normally I would use a safety pin for this part but my little man was crying and I needed to grab something quickly that was on my desk. I ended up finding a paper clip which worked just as well! I taped one end of the cording to the paper clip and pushed it through one button hole moving it along through the fabric until it came through the opposite hole.

Tie a few knots at each end and your done!! Missing or unmatched socks?? NO MORE!

TIP: Make sure you tie your string together in either a bow or a loose double knot so all your socks don't go flying out when it's in the washer or all your hard work would have been for nothing :)

Winter Ear Warmers

Here in PA we have actually had a mild winter, but the past couple of days have been bitter cold.
I had some extra fleece lying around and decided to make ear warmers for one of the 3 sisters I have.



I first measured my sisters head from the back of the neck, around her ears, to the top of her forehead.
It was 21 inches.
I cut a piece that was 19 inches x 7 (the picture shows it folded)
I decided to make the fabric 2 inches smaller than the size of her head because fleece naturally stretches.

I folded it in half wrong sides together.

and sewed a 1/4 inch seam on the side

Turn it right side out. Then start to fold it inside out again by using one end and slowly bringing
it to the other end...make sure you match the seam lines together.

Using a 1/4 in seam sew around the edge. Be sure to stop occasionally and re-adjust your fabric.

Continue to sew around the edges until you get close to the center seam. Stop and back stitch ( to reinforce while turning) leave about 2 inches open

You will then have a hole big enough to pull your fabric through to make it right side out again.

This is what it should look like after you pull all the fabric through the hole.

Squeeze the hole shut and sew. ( You could use hot glue if you want)

Sew a straight line on either side of the center seam. This helps keep the fabric in place.

I then made a Ruffled Lace Flower from
the wonderfully talented Jamielyn from http://www.iheartnaptime.com/. Her tutorial can be found (HERE)

Thanks to my sister Ashlea for posing for the picture!! Hope it keeps your ears warm sweetie!

I {Heart} You Pillow

With Valentines Day coming soon I figured what would be better than using a tutorial I posted recently to make something I can use right now! My husband and I don't really go all out over Valentines Day so I don't have any decorations, but I thought this would be something cute and simple to make to put on a hutch, rocking chair..anything really.





Materials Needed:
Pink Felt
White Felt
Rolled Fabric Flowers ( Tutorial found HERE)
Pink Fleece ( you can use felt for this part too...I didn't have anymore left but I did have fleece)
Hot Glue Gun
Sewing Machine ( you definitely could do this by hand as well)


I started off cutting a heart shape out of pink felt (Obviously the heart shape does not need to be perfect :)--you will be covering the edges with the rolled flowers... its more of a guide.

I glued the heart to a piece of white felt (which will be a background)
Start placing your rolled flowers around the edge of the pink heart

I suggest putting the hearts down first then picking them up one by one and hot gluing them down
( once you hot glue it down its very hard to get back off.... :) )

I then cut two 10 1/2 in x 9 1/2 in pieces of pink fleece. You can cut whatever size you want your finished pillow to be.
I didn't want mine to be an exact square.

I used pinking shears around the edge of the white background.
 This was just for the look....because felt doesn't fray.

I sewed a straight line around the white square as close to the edge as possible. You could also use Fabric glue for this step...just make sure you smooth it out really well so you can't see it through the white.

I placed the wrong sides together...

...and sewed around three of the four edges with a 5/8 inch seam

While your sewing don't go straight from the top to the bottom.....make sure you stop and pivot your presser foot so that when you turn your fabric you are at a 5/8 inch seam again.

When you get to your last side sew in a few inches and back stitch ( this helps reinforce the fabric so the stitches won't break as your stuffing the pillow) I did this to the top of the pillow but the bottom would work as well and might be better to hide mistakes :)

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Stuff your pillow with stuffing.

Bring your pillow back to the sewing machine and sew the pillow closed ( continue sewing with the 5/8 inch seam) you will have to move slowly and push the stuffing into the pillow even more to help---you can always fluff it back up after your done.

I then used the pinking shears around the edge of the finished pillow. TIP : USING PINKING SHEARS--After you make your first cut and go to make another one make sure your fabric is matching your scissors. Put the triangle shaped pink material in the triangle shaped hole on your scissors. Its easier to see what I mean if you have the stuff in front of you.

Once you use your pinking shears around the whole pillow...Re-fluff it and your done!!