Bag Lady Week- Bias Tote Bag Tutorial

I love me a good bag for toting stuff! I guess that comes with being a mom of 3...never enough hands! So here we go, another bag hopefully help you schlep stuff around like me!

You will need:
approx 1/3 yard canvas or decor weight material (vinyl would also work)
one package of coordinating bias tape
strap material...such the cotton webbing seen here
coordinating thread
Cut:
2 pieces measuring 17.5" by 16" for front panels
1 piece measuring 46" by 6" for side/bottom panel (Note- the fabric I used had a wide WOF of over 50". If your fabric is less, this length can be pieced together) straps- cut 2 piece of 26" each

Let's go!
1. Place 2 bag pieces wrong sides facing, and cut slight curve to bottom edges as shown. 2. Fold over top of each piece 1/2 ". Press. Fold over 1". Press.
3. Insert edge of strap under fold, 5" from each end. Fold over so handle is facing up as shown. Pin in place to secure. 4. Sew 1/4" from bottom fold and from top fold to finish top and to secure handles. Repeat with second piece and handle.
5. Fold over short ends of long piece of fabric (sides and bottom of bag) as you did above- fold over 1/2 inch, press, fold over 1 inch, press. Sew at 1/4 inch from top fold and from bottom fold.


6. With WRONG sides facing, line up bottom/side fabric along length of one of the front panels. Unfold bias tape, and pin along, with folds facing downwards and with about 1 inch extending over the top, and all raw edges lining up as shown: (NOTE: I goofed in this picture and did not have the extra 1" of bias tape extended past the edge of the hem. You will need this later to finish the corners)


7. Sew along pinned edges, using 1/4 " seam allowance. Fold bias tape back up over the raw edges.


8. Tuck ends of bias tape in to finish corner:

9. Sew, close to edge of bias tape, to finish edges.
10. Repeat steps 6-9 to add second front panel to other side of side/bottom panel. This will complete the tote!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial for the Bias Tote. Please feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions or problems! As with all of my tutorials, this is intended for personal use only. I would love to see your creations! Please feel free to blog about them, but credit and a link back to this tutorial would be appreciated. Happy sewing!

Pillowcase dress tutorial- Style 2: "Party Girl"

Like "The Classic," this dress was made from a pillowcase, and for less than $2! The big side bow at the neck is perfect for a party princess.

You will need:
- a pillowcase
- coordinating fabric for the bow and hem band (1/3 yard)
- coordinating thread
- safety pin

Steps:
1. Measure your little girl from her armpit to about the knee (I usually go a bit longer because I try to make it to last 2 summers!).
2. Fold your pillowcase lengthwise, and cut a j-shaped section from the top (closed) end, with the bottom of the j starting at the distance you just measured from the bottom (open) end of the pillowcase. This will be the armhole. The j should extend about 3-4" into the fabric horizontally, then continue up to the top vertically (see first photo below).
3. Cut a diagonal line along the non-folded side, starting about 2" into j shape of armpit and extending towards hem (open end of pillowcase). This helps give the dress some taper along the sides, otherwise I found it to be too boxy. 4. Cut 6 inch band of coordinating fabric to width of fabric. Fold over long raw edges 1/4 inch. Press. Fold in half. Press. Align along bottom hem of dress, and stitch into place near top of band. Trim excess. (Sorry! I must have forgotten to take a picture of this step!)
5.Sew side seems of dress with a straight stitch. Reinforce with a zig zag for good measure.
6. Fold the armhole area over 1/4 inch. Press. Fold 1/4 inch again, press again. 7. Sew along folded edge to finish armhole. Repeat for other side. 8. Fold the top edge (neck) of the dress over 1/4 inch. Press. Fold over again 2 inches and press. Sew, staying close to edge, leaving ends open. This will be the channel for your bow fabric. Repeat for other side. 9. Cut a 4.5 inch strip of your coordinating fabric, length the width of fabric.
10. Fold fabric in half, right sides facing. Press. Sew length to close strip using 1/4 seam allowance. 11. Use safety pin to invert strip tube you have just made, using fingers to work the safety pin out the other side. Press. 12. Tuck ends of strip in. Press.
13. Sew ends closed, and sew along all edges so that all of strip has a nice stitched edge as shown.
14. Attach safety pin to strip and use fingers to work it through the front channel until it emerges on other end. Continue through the back channel so that the 2 strip ends end up on the same side of the neck.

15. Measure 15 inches from end of each strip, then sew strip to dress as shown to secure. 17. Evenly distribute ruffles of neck. At other end of neck, sew dress to strip, arranging so that top part is shorter than the bottom, as shown. This will help the dress to sit flat on the neck.

Put it on your little princess and tie a big bow! You are finished! Congratulations! I hope you have enjoyed the Pillowcase Dress Tutorial series. I would love to see a picture of your finished creations in my Flickr group. Have fun!

Pillowcase dress tutorial- Style 1: "The Classic"

I first learned about pillowcase dresses last summer, and loved the idea. This spring I found a selection of sweet vintage pillowcases at a local thrift store for only 29 cents a piece, and started thinking about the unlimited number of ways this sweet swatch of fabric could be transformed into an adorable outfit for my daughters.....and here is what I came up with.

I love the simplicity of this dress- not only in style, but also in fabrication! You can seriously make this up in about a half hour. It will probably take you longer to read my over-wordy instructions!

These pillowcase dresses will fit children from age 2-6. If made with an old pillowcase from home or a thrift store one like mine, this dress will cost only about $2 to make. Lord knows I am not in this hobby to save money (as my designer fabric stash will attest), but I must confess that my Scottish/Ukrainian genes vibrate in joy when I can make something adorable, and for cheap.

Want to make one? Here we go!

You will need:

- a pillowcase

- 2 pieces of 1/4" elastic, roughly 6" in length

- a package of coordinating bias tape, or make about 2.5 meters/yards of your own

- coordinating thread

- a safety pin

Steps:

1. Measure your little girl from her armpit to about the knee (I usually go a bit longer because I try to make it to last 2 summers!).
2. Fold your pillowcase lengthwise, and cut a j-shaped section from the top (closed) end, with the bottom of the j starting at the distance you just measured from the bottom (open) end of the pillowcase. This will be the armhole. The j should extend about 3-4" into the fabric horizontally, then continue up to the top vertically (see first photo below).
3.Cut a horizontal strip off the top (closed) end about 4" from the bottom (horizontal) segment of the j (see second photo below). Discard, or save scrap for a future vintage sheet quilt!

4. Cut a diagonal line along the non-folded side, starting about 2" into j shape of armpit and extending towards hem (open end of pillowcase). This helps give the dress some taper along the sides, otherwise I found it to be too boxy.

5. Unfold pillowcase and turn inside out. Sew side seems of dress with a straight stitch. Reinforce with a zig zag for good measure.

6.Take top raw edges and fold over 1/4". Press. Fold over 3/4". Press again.

7. Sew, staying close to edge, leaving ends open. This will be the channel for your elastic.

8.. Attach safety pin to elastic and use fingers to work it through the channel until it emerges on other end.

9. Sew ends of channel shut, being sure to catch elastic in stitching to secure. Fabric will gather around elastic.

10. Repeat with second elastic. Your dress should now look like this:

11. This next part might seem tricky if you have not worked much with bias tape, but is really quite easy once you play with it a bit. I will try make this as clear as possible- here goes. Take the bias tape and cut 2 pieces, each of 36" length. Look at the tape. You will notice that one folded side is slightly shorter than the other side. Unfold. Pin raw edge of the wider side along the wrong side of the raw edge of armhole from elastic to elastic. Ensure that length of bias tape is centered (i.e 18" on either side of the armhole center) and folds of tape are all facing down towards the pillowcase fabric. Sew along raw edges from elastic to elastic.
12. Refold bias tape. When you do so, the line you just stitched becomes covered and disappears, the center fold of the tape will cover the raw edge of the armhole, and the short folded side will be on the outside of the dress. Pin in place to secure.

10. Tuck in ends of bias tape, and start stitching along strap portion, short fold side up, to close the tape and make your strap. Continue over the elastic into the armhole area. Since the longer folded side is in the back, if you follow the edge along the front, you sound "catch" the back as well. Continue all the way to the end of the strap.

11. Repeat for second strap/armhole.

Congratulations! You are done!

I hope you enjoyed the Classic Pillowcase Dress tutorial. Come back next week to see my second pillowcase dress style! I'd love to see a picture of yoru dress in my Flickr group ;-)

The Mckinley Quilt Pattern

I have had several e-mails of late asking for details about how I made the Mckinley quilt originally blogged here. I thought I would share my pattern for those who would like to give it a try. It is a very simple pattern, suitable for beginners, but has a big impact. I did not take pictures as I went along, so this is an entirely verbal tutorial. But it it pretty simple so I am sure you highly intelligent beings can figure it out with no trouble!

You will need the following to make a baby quilt measuring approximately 30" by 41" in size:

1 charm pack

2/3 yard sashing material

1/2 yard for binding and trim on quilt top

1 yard backing fabric of choice

coordinating thread

embroidery thread

buttons

batting

Preparing for the quilt top:

Choose 30 squares from the charm pack for the front and set the remainder aside for flowers. These will be arranged in 6 rows of 5 (5 rows above the name bar, one row below). Determine the order in which you would like the charms to be pieced. Set aside.

Cut sashing as follows:

A- 24 pieces cut 1.5" by 5"

B- 6 pieces cut 1.5" by 27.5"

C- 2 pieces cut 2.5" by 27.5"

D- 2 pieces cut 2.5" by 30.5"

E- 2 pieces cut 2.5" by 8"

F- 1 piece cut 3.5" by 31"

Trim fabric (for above and below name bar)- cut 2 pieces 1" by 31"

To assemble quilt top:

Make rows by starting with charm, then alternating with sashing piece A, using 1/4 inch seams. Continuing across row until you have used 5 charms and 4 sashing A pieces, ending with charm. Repeat until all 6 rows are made. Press seams.

To connect rows, start with row 1 and sew a sashing piece B to its bottom border. Add row 2. Continue until you have added 5 of the 6 rows, and 5 of the 6 sashing B pieces. Press seams and set aside. Next, sew the final sashing piece B to the top of row 6. Press seam.

Attach sashing piece C to the top of the group of 5 rows, and to the bottom of the single sixth row. Press.

Attach the 2 sashing pieces D along the right and left of the 5 row segment, and sashing pieces E to the right and left of the sixth row segment.

Embroidering the name bar and adding to quilt top:

Take sashing piece F and embroider the recipient's name. This can be done by hand or machine. I used 3 embroidery threads and stitched it by hand. First, I found a font I wanted to use on my computer, printed the name out to scale, then taped it to a window. I positioned the sashing as desired over the print out and taped it in place to secure. Using a washable quilting marker, I traced the name onto the fabric. Next, I completed the embroidery.

Once satisfied with the embroidery, sew trim pieces to top and bottom of embroidered sashing. Press. Then, sew top of this band to the bottom of the 5 row segment, and the bottom of the band to the top of the single row segment. Square up to trim any excess. Your quilt top is now finished!

Finishing touches:

Prepare quilt back, baste, and quilt as desired. Bind as desired. There are many tutorials on the web for these steps; Crazy Mom Quilts is one blog that has useful instructions for quilting, basting and binding should you need a demonstration.

Making and attaching flowers:

To make flowers, gather remaining charm pieces. I used a Big Shot with a Sizzex scallop die to cut the flowers in different sizes and stacked them. However, a template can be created and pieces cut by hand. Stack and arrange the pieces until it pleases the eye, then hand sew them into place, using embroidery thread to match the name stitching, and with button centers. Fabric centers can also be used if you are concerned about safety with buttons on a baby quilt.

(As a side note, if you would like to make a Mckinley-style quilt for a boy, why not substitute the flowers for things such as circles, squares, etc, or maybe applique on a little car?)

Your quilt is complete! Great work! I hope your recipient treasures it. I would love to see a picture of your completed quilt! Please add a photo to my Flickr group or send me an e-mail.

Thank you for your interest in the Mckinley Quilt Pattern. This pattern is intended for home use only. Feel free to blog about your creations and to post the link to this pattern for others to enjoy.

Happy quilting!

Preview of upcoming tutorials

I will be home from my Most Excellent Holiday next week, and back to the grind as they say...... When I am, I have some new tutorials I plan to get ready for you all. Here is the preview:

Ever heard of pillowcase dresses? They are exactly as they sound- made from pillow cases! You may recall that I picked up a bunch of vintage ones this spring for only 29 cents a piece. I will show you how I transformed 2 of them into sweet dressed for my girls, in 2 different styles, for under $2 each!

I have also been on a roll with bags. I will have a cute tote tutorial ready for you as well, using bias tape for the edging.

See you next week!

Summer's here! Mesh beach bag tutorial

This tutorial is inspired by this really cool mesh material I recently found at a little quilt store called Keeper's Quilts in the tiny beach town of Winnipeg Beach. It is unlike anything I had seen before (though I don't get out much...it may be everywhere). It is a soft plastic texture and came in a variety of bright colors. It was labelled "pet screen" but the owner, Shelly, had made a small purse from it, and immediately I thought that if I enlarged it, it would become the perfect beach tote. So I don't take credit for the design! While this fabric is awesome, I think this bag would look equally cute substituting a canvas material, so whatever you have on hand, give it a try! Or, give Shelly a call and she will mail you out some:-)Let's go!

You will need:

-a piece of mesh or canvas measuring 20" wide by 27" long (you can vary this for the size of bag you need)

-a fat quarter of cotton quilting weight fabric for the trim

-a small amount of coordinating fabric for the handles (28" by 6 "), plus some narrow stips of quilt batting (I used my scraps) or interfacing (26" by 2")- or use an alternative handle material!

-coordinating thread

(Look at me, cutting in to my Nicey Jane. Sweet!)

Cutting

- from your fat quarter, cut a piece 20" by 9", and 2 pieces 20" by 4.5"

- for the handles, cut 2 pieces 28" by 3" from the fabric, and 2 pieces 26" by 1" of batting
Instructions:

Take all fabric pieces and press ends over 1/4" along long sides only.

Take large piece and gently press in half, wrong sides facing, to mark center. Similarily, press the 2 handle pieces in half. Take other 2 trim pieces and press 1" over with wrong sides facing (see below).

Fold mesh in half. Center large piece of fabric over fold with wrong side to mesh, so that it extends equally on either side.

Pin, tucking under the 1/4 seam you just pressed.

Sew along length, close to edge.
Take trim piece and line up fold on one top edge of mesh, wrong side on mesh. Pin short side to mesh on back side (i.e. side that does not have fabric sewn to it yet), pulling remainder out of the way, and sew it to the mesh. Once done, fold over other (longer) half, pin and sew. Repeat with other trim piece on remaining raw edge of mesh.
Take handle fabric and insert batting, tucking under folded seam.

Line up edges, and sew closed. Sew along opposite (fold) side for esthetics.

To attach handle, measure 6" in from side edge of mesh , then fold raw end of handle on itself.

Sew in place using a cross box as shown. (Note- originally I did this on the wrong side of the bag to hide it, but liked how it looked so much I attached them on the outside of my next bag.) Repeat to attach other 3 handle ends.

Flip bag so right sides are facing. Ensure that trim and bottom fabric seams line up (trust me, it is not fun to stitch rip this stuff!), trim excess fabric from sides to make straight, and sew from top to bottom along each side.

Reinforce with a zig zag stitch.

To finish, finger press this seam to one side, and sew down with a straight stitch (sorry, not shown!). This step is awkward, but you don't need to go entirely to the bottom of the bag, just enough to flatten the seam as the material is stiff. Turn the bag right side out, and you are done!

Fill 'er up with towels, a good book and a cold drink. Enjoy your new mesh beach bag, and most importantly, enjoy the beach!

As with all my tutorials, they are intended for personal use only and not for production for sale.
Feel free to blog about your creations, and a link or credit back to this tutorial would be appreciated. I would love to see your bag, so do send me a link or email with a picture, or add one to my Flickr group! Happy sewing!