Being Featured!

So I am very excited today!  I am being featured over at Ashley's site The Latest Find.  Ashley is a wife and mother of two young children and has a passion for sharing all things crafty!  She loves to scope out other blogs and compile her favorites! Go visit her site and become her newest followers!  Thanks Ashley for being so easy to work with and featuring me on your site!

Jean Pocket Wristlet

I would definitely consider myself to be a girly girl. I love ruffles, glitter, clothes, nail polish and purses -just to name a few. Ever since I had my son, Jacob, about 10 months ago, carrying a purse around in the grocery store can be more of a nuisance than helpful. It's hard enough trying to keep the little man happy, keeping his chubby hands off the shelves and making sure I get every bag off the checkout counter, to then have to worry if I have my keys ( there are some bad stories involving me and lost keys) if I have Jakey's diaper bag and "Oh, Yeah" my purse. I decided I needed to destress my shopping experience----whaalaa--- I made a Jean Pocket Wristlet!! The best part was the joy of cutting up some pre-pregnancy jeans. It was fun to use something that other wise would make me sad, because they don't fit and turn them into something so cute! I guess I can now have a love hate relationship with those jeans :)

MATERIALS:

Jean Pocket

(off of an old pair of jeans)

Velcro. 

My jean pocket was about 6 1/2 inches wide, so to be sure stuff wouldn't fall out I cut a piece of velcro about 5 inches long...sizes will vary depending on the size of your pocket)
Decorative Fabric

Lining Fabric

Batting

( you could even use a piece of felt for your batting )

Find a pair of jeans you aren't using anymore.
The back pockets can have either a button or zipper. Both would work great!

Cut your pocket out and leave about 1/2 inch around all 4 sides. This is for seam allowance.
It also made it easier to sew through one layer of denim, rather than if I cut right around the pocket.
I would have been sewing through multiple layers.

Using your jean pocket as a guide, cut out 2 lining pieces, 1 decorative fabric for the back, a strip of fabric for your handle and one piece of batting ( you don't need a piece for the jean side since that is already stiff) I cut my handle 3 in. wide x 14 in. long.

 

Fold your handle strip in half and press with a hot iron. When you open your fabric you will see a crease.

Take one side of your handle and fold it to the crease. Do the same thing to the other side.

Fold in half and stitch down the side that is open. Stitch as close to the edge as possible.

Placing your fabric at the end of your presser foot and moving your needle as far over as you can will make it easier.

Place the two ends of your handle together and pin it to the front of the jean pocket. Stitch in place.

Place your decorative fabric and jean pocket right sides together.
Lay your batting on top of your decorative fabric and sew down both of the sides and the bottom.

Clip your corners.

Turn your bag right side out.

Place your velcro about an inch down from the top of your lining and sew around.
Do this to both pieces.

Sew around both sides of your lining. When you get to the bottom sew in a few inches, stop, and backstitch leaving a hole in the middle of the bag. DON'T SEW THE TOP OF YOUR BAG CLOSED.

 

Put your jean pocket into your lining ( Right sides together).  Make sure you match up your side seams.

Sorry this picture is a little blurry :(

Sew around the top of your bag.

Pull your jean pocket through the opening at the bottom of your lining.

Stitch the opening in your lining closed.

Put your lining into your bag and top stitch around your wristlet.

This wristlet is going to work perfectly!  My cell phone will fit nice and snug in the jean pocket and my wallet/money can go in the pouch part :) It's even small enough to fit in Jakey's diaper bag if needed.

 Enjoy cutting up some old jeans and making yourself something cute!

"Create" Rug using Freezer paper

I have seen so many posts floating around the internet using the Silhouette Cameo for stencils and obviously so much more. I do not have a Silhouette Cameo unfortunately :( It will definitely be my next craft purchase when I can gather up the money to buy it! Since I don't have the Cameo, i'm using the old tried and true method of freezer paper stenciling. So for my first stenciling project ever I repurposed an older rug and made it specifically for my craft room.

Materials:
Rug ( new or used)
Paint ( fabric paint would probably be best...but I actually used acrylic and it worked fine)
Sponge brush
Freezer paper



Decide on the word you want to stencil onto your rug and pick one of your favorite fonts. I used "GOUDY STOUT" which comes with Word so it's not a font you would have to download. Try to use a font that's fat and wide so it's easier to cut out. In Word I made my font size 200. You can make yours smaller if you have a smaller project.

Cut and tape your letters together. Make sure you have equal spaces between each letter.

Tape your letters to the table space you are working on.
Tape your freezer paper ( shiny side DOWN) on top of your letters.

 

Trace the outline of your letters.

Using scissors or an exacto knife carefully cut out your letters.
Make sure you keep your center pieces from letters such as A, R, P etc.
Tape your freezer paper to your rug and using a hot iron press your freezer
paper stencil to the rug. This will make the freezer paper act as a temporary adhesive


Using paint & a sponge or spongebrush start filling in your stencil with paint.

Allow your paint to dry. I did one thick coat and it took about 2 hours to dry
Slowly remove your freezer paper and enjoy your new rug!

Fabric Basket Cover

   The fact that my little 9 month old LOVES to grab all the TV controllers and Wii controllers out of a basket that is on our entertainment center was my original reason for this tutorial, but as I was getting ready to sew all my pieces together I thought " This would be even better for a bread basket!"  Especially during summer picnics when you don't want the flies to keep landing on your hamburger/hot dog buns that aren't being used yet. I know... I know. What am I doing thinking about the summer already? I can't help it!  If I don't think about those hot summer days I get lost in the dreariness of this winter chill!  This basket cover would work great with anything though.  Going back to my first thought, maybe you have stuff in a basket that you don't want little fingers getting into, or maybe you knit and your cat loves to sit on top of all your yarn?  The reasons are endless! 

                             

Find the size basket you want to make the cover for. This tutorial will work for any size basket.


Place you basket upside down on top of your fabric. Measure 4 inches away around outline of your basket and cut your fabric. My basket wasn't a true circle. The edges were round but the sides were straight.

Measure around your basket to determine how much elastic you will need. I wanted my cover to fit nice and tight so I cut my elastic 3 inches shorter than what the basket measured at. My basket was 34 1/2 inches so I cut my elastic at 31 1/2 inches.

Serge or blanket stitch around your fabric ( This will prevent your fabric from fraying)

Cut your piece of elastic.  Take a scrap piece of fabric the width of your elastic

and sew your elastic to that piece of fabric a few times.  Take the other end of your elastic and place it right next to the piece your just sewed and repeat.  Then sew a line through both ends of the elastic to hold them both together.

This is what it should look like when finished.

Fold the serge edge of your fabric over the elastic and sew. Make sure you don't sew through the elastic.

Around the corners of your basket you will need to fold your material over in a few places.

As you sew, slide your fabric across the elastic so that you always have enough elastic to work with.
Finish sewing around your material until you get to the end. Make sure you sew slowly. Sewing around a circle requires you to stop and pivot your pressure foot quite a few times.

Enjoy your new basket cover!