Sewing Archives - Page 5 of 13

accessories, decor, drop cloths, Gift Ideas, gifts, Sewing

Finger-printed Envelope Star Pillows

Make Your Own Finger-Printed Star Pillows | Pretty Handy Girl

Personalized finger-printed envelope star pillows are an easy and fun gift item to make. My boys and I enjoyed making these pillows for their home room teachers. We got the idea from Cristina’s beautiful seaside themed thumb print pillows.

Materials:

Fabric (I used bleached and washed leftover drop cloths)
Pillow insert
Thread
Sewing machine
Freezer Paper
Fabric Paint
X-acto knife
Small Flat Brush
Permanent Marker
Scissors
Piping (here’s the tutorial to make your own piping)

Instructions:

Cut your front fabric with 1 inch excess around the pillow form. Cut the two back pieces of fabric with a 1 inch excess on all sides, plus allow for a 3″ overlap in the center.

Fingerprinted Star Tutorial:

Here’s a great way to customize your pillow for the recipient. Let your little ones finger-print inside the star. Read more

August 24, 2015/9 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

arts and craft, Contributor, DIY, drop cloths, fabric, gifts, Sewing, stencil

21 Ways to Make and Decorate Totebags

Have you been enjoying all of the awesome tote bag tutorials this week? Today we’ve rounded up even more sewing tutorials, decorating ideas, and an amazing crocheted tote bag. Let’s talk about 21 ways to Make and Decorate Totebags.

How To Sew Totebags:

Who can resist an adorable lined tote bag with a monogram. Can you believe this beauty is all DIY! Jaime of That’s My Letter whipped up a classic monogrammed canvas tote.

Drop cloths aren’t just for catching paint anymore! Heather of The Sewing Loft shows how to make an Easy Canvas Tote Bag out of painter drop cloths!

What does the fox say? He’d say he’s head over heels in love with this tote bag. Perfect for back to school, Heather shows how to sew or iron on this fox applique with sweet embroidery details.

Sandra from Sawdust Girl is famous for her amazing woodworking so it should be no surprise that she has a fabulous tutorial for Reversible Reusable Ruffled Grocery Bags.

It’s okay to cheat a little. Grab a store bought tote and dress it up that plain tote bag with piping. This tutorial also shows a cheat for the non-sewer!

Old shirt + another store bought tote = Adorable! Customizing a Totebag With an Old Shirt in an hour.
This goes straight on my Christmas to-do list!

I know, it’s hard to discard that favorite t-shirt. Now you don’t have to! Repurpose that favorite tee into a library totebag? Jessica from Mad in Crafts shares how easy it is in her step-by-step tutorial.

What’s better than repurposing one t-shirt? Of course, recycling two shirts! On Creative Green Living, Carissa shares another t-shirt-to-totebag tutorial using two shirts. One makes a stylish liner.

No-Sew Totebags: Read more

August 7, 2015/3 Comments/by Colleen Jorgensen

accessories, arts and craft, gifts, Sewing, tote bag

Customizing a Tote Bag with an Old Shirt

Customize a Tote Bag with an Old Shirt | Pretty Handy Girl

Welcome to another Tote Bag Week Post! Are you getting lots of ideas for how to make and dress up tote bags? If you’re just joining in here’s the line up:

Monday: How to Sew a Canvas Tote Bag
Tuesday: Dress Up a Store Bought Tote with Piping
Wednesday: Reusable Tote Bag Sewing Tutorial
Thursday: Customizing a Tote Bag with an Old Shirt
Friday: 21 Ways to Make and Decorate a Tote Bag

Today I have a fun tutorial for Customizing a Tote Bag with an Old Shirt.

Materials:

Canvas tote bag
Long-sleeve button shirt
Scissors
Pins
Sewing machine (or needle and thread)

Instructions:

Begin by cutting off the sleeves and cuffs on your shirt. Save the sleeves to use on another project, like Adding Piping to a Tote Bag (or piping on a pillow, an upcoming tutorial.)

Cut off the pockets (cut as close to the seams as you can.)

For the customized tote bag, we’re going to use the cuff and two pockets.

Fold the cuff in half and cut it.

Stitch the end of the raw edges on the cuff closed.

Pin the cuff halves to the inside center of your tote bag (buttons facing out.)

Stitch the cuff end to the tote bag until secure.

Pin the pockets to each side of the tote bag (if your tote bag doesn’t have sides, the pockets would look just as cute on the front and back of the tote bag.)

Stitch along the top of the pocket. Then lift the pocket flap up and sew the rest of the pocket to the tote bag.

Feel free to finger print a star on your tote bag (tutorial for finger-printing stars here.)

These shirt embellished tote bags are perfect for a day at the beach. Or as a gift for a friend, teacher or grandparent.

Personally, I think I’ll be making many more of these in the future.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial for customizing a tote bag with an old shirt. Get ready for a grand finale tomorrow!

Pin for later!

August 6, 2015/4 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

arts and craft, Crafts, gifts, Sewing, tote bag, Très Frugal, Tutorial

Cute Reversible Reusable Tote Bag Tutorial by Sawdust Girl

Are you enjoying Tote Week?!

If you’re just joining in here’s the line up:

Monday: How to Sew a Canvas Tote Bag
Tuesday: Dress Up a Store Bought Tote with Piping
Wednesday: Reusable Tote Bag Sewing Tutorial
Thursday: Customizing a Tote Bag with an Old Shirt
Friday: 21 Ways to Make and Decorate a Tote Bag

Today I have one of my closest friends and blogging buddies here. If you don’t know who I’m talking about, she’s the amazing, the incredible and the always vivacious Sandra from SawdustGirl.com. And she’s going to give you a tutorial for sewing those cute reversible and reusable tote bags!

Howdy Handy friends! I’m Sandra of Sawdust Girl – formerly Sawdust and Paper Scraps. I try to reduce, reuse and recycle anyway so this tutorial for reusable, reversible, ruffled totes is fitting. Don’t ya’ think? I like to use my totes as grocery bags and have given a pair of these as gifts along with a few reusable produce bags found at the dollar store.

I used an old sheet and a set of pillowcases to make mine but for a gift item, maybe use new fabric. If you look for sheets on clearance you can get a LOT of fabric for just a few dollars.

This is a really easy pattern that I made from looking at a canvas tote. (It fits perfectly on a standard pillowcase.)

*Seam allowance? I run the fabric along the right side of the foot. I think it’s a waste to take a wide allowance and then trim!

Instructions:

1. Use the same pattern for the bag and the liner. You could use the same fabric for both or mix it up for fun. I like to use 2 different fabrics so I can flip it inside out and have a totally different bag!

2. Sew all 4 pieces (excluding the bottom) together like this: front/side/back/side making one long piece of fabric.

3. If you are going to add any kind of embellishment, now is the time. I’m adding three rows of ruffles! Read more

August 5, 2015/6 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

accessories, DIY, drop cloths, fabric, Sewing, Uncategorized

How to Sew a Custom Canvas Tote

Hey guys! Do you know what today is? It’s the beginning of Tote Week! What, you had no idea? Tote Week here on Pretty Handy Girl is five days devoted to Tote Bags! Learn how to sew adorable tote bags and how to customize store bought tote bags.

If you’re just joining in here’s the line up:

Monday: How to Sew a Canvas Tote Bag
Tuesday: Dress Up a Store Bought Tote with Piping
Wednesday: Reusable Tote Bag Sewing Tutorial
Thursday: Customizing a Tote Bag with an Old Shirt
Friday: 21 Ways to Make and Decorate a Tote Bag

To start us off, Jaime is here to give you the basic sewing tutorial to make your own lined (and monogrammed) tote bag. Jaime is from That’s My Letter, a blog filled with DIY Tutorials. Today, she’s showing you How to Sew a Custom Canvas Tote complete with painted monogram:

This tote makes a great everyday bag or purse, just big enough for all the important stuff but not too bulky. The finished size is 16″w x 9″h x 8″ square at the base, and the handles extend about 6″ in height.

The tote is fully lined and includes an interior zippered pocket. The zipper is easy as pie I promise! I’ll show you how down below.

You can add any monogram or name to personalize the tote. Then you’ll be making canvas totes as gifts for all your friends.

The square base makes for a nice wide tote and the canvas is super durable:

Materials:

drop cloth canvas (1 yard)
blue canvas (1/2 yard outdoor patio fabric Sunbrella or the like)
lining (1 yard)
medium weight fusible interfacing (1 yard)
firm interfacing – 9″ x 9″
1 1/2″w cotton webbing (1 yard)
9″ zipper
lightbox
small paintbrush
acrylic paint
sewing machine, thread to match, iron, seam ripper

Materials Cut List:

Base:

1 – blue canvas 9″ x 9″
1 – lining 9″ x 9″
1 – drop cloth canvas 9″ x 9″
1 – firm interfacing 9″ x 9″

Body:

2 – drop cloth canvas 10″h x 17″l
2 – med. fusible interfacing 10″ x 17″
2 – lining 10″ x 17″
2 – blue canvas 4″h x 17″w

Handles: 2 – 1 1/2″w cotton webbing @ 17″l

Instructions:

Step 1: Cut materials (see cut list above).

Step 2: Prepare base. Sandwich drop cloth, firm interfacing then blue canvas. Read more

August 3, 2015/15 Comments/by Jaime Costiglio