Sprocket Pillow

Sprocket Pillow

At the latest sewing class I attended we made sprocket pillows based on the pattern and tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew, we did do one thing differently, we added piping to the pillow. Now this pillow was made from scraps that the instructor provided, as well as a solid polyester/cotton blend. It isn't the best quality pillow but for my first time attempting piping, circles and wedges I think I did pretty good.

The button was from my personal stash, a silly button but it works.

I choose colors that would work well with the color scheme I have going in my craft room and I think I could have added in some teal to balance it out but maybe on the next one. I didn't care for was the size of the piping but it was the only size the store had so we just had to go with it. I did find that after stuffing the pillow little bits of the poly-fil were sneaking through the fabric of the pillow, I don't know if it was the quality of the fabric or something else.

Here it is on my craft chair that I recovered

Enjoy!

Reversible Wrap Skirt

Reversible Wrap Skirt

A little less than 2 weeks ago I attended a sewing class taught by a new instructor on post and the project we made was a skirt. In this class we learned how to make a pattern based on our own measurements, how to make non-bias tape, and button holes.

I figured I might as well share the process, it will also be a great way to refer to the pattern if my pattern pieces disappear.

Basic measurements all measurements are in inches. (I am going to use made up numbers since my real measurements scare me sometimes)
Waist: A =24
Hips: B =36
Waist to Hip Length: C =6
Desired Length: D =20

Now the tricky stuff:
V: (A+2)/4  =6.5
W: (B+2)/4 =9.5
X: C+1.5 =7.5
Y: D+2.5 =22.5
Z: W+3 =12.5

Okay so now the if I didn't confuse you, I made a diagram on how the measurements are laid out for the Back piece of the 3 panel skirt. The unlabeled section is just a connecting line from the end of W to the end of Z.

Now using the Back pattern as a guide add 6 inches to the straight side to create the Front pattern pieces.

Basic construction of the skirt is this pin the angled sides of the skirt together using a 5/8" seam, sew together for both Fabric A and Fabric B. Once all three panels are sewn together press open the seams. Now you will need to pin both sets of panels together pin along the sides and bottom leaving the waist area open for turning. Turn the skirt inside out and press it flat, once pressed top stitch all the way around (sides and bottom.)

Close up of the top stitching on the front panel

The next step is to make the waistband and ties, using extra fabric cut 4 inch strips of fabric, going from selvage to selvage, roughly 45" long or whatever the width of your fabric is. This is cut with the grain instead of on the bias which means that the fabric won't stretch. I did 3 strips just to make sure I had enough but 2 should be enough for average sized women.

Sew the strips together, seams can be any size desired,  then press the seams to the side. Now that you have a really long strip of fabric you are going to iron it in half, open it up and fold the sides to center, iron, then fold in half and iron again. You iron it like you would for double fold bias tape but if you don't know the basics of bias tape this link has some good illustrations on how to do it with out the bias tape making tool.

The last step is to attach the non-bias tape to the skirt. To start fold one end of the non-bias tape in 1/2" and pin. Measure 20" from the end that you just pinned either place a pin or mark there because that is where you will start attaching it to the skirt. Pin the non-bias tape all the way around the waist portion of the skirt making sure that the fabric is sandwiched all the way into the non-bias tape. Now while the skirt is pinned together you are going to carefully try it on to see if you need to trim the other end to the tie.

To wear the skirt properly line the side seams up on you sides and the front panel with the longer tie is going to wrap around the back of the skirt to the front. This is where you will carefully tie it together to check the tie length. If it is to long just cut off the excess, if not proceed to fold the end in like you did before. Carefully remove the skirt and sew the ties and waistband with a minimum 1/4" seam (1/4" from the bottom of the non-bias tape.)

Reverse side of the skirt to show the contrast waistband

The skirt is almost finished! But if you noticed how awkward it was wrapping the skirt around,for example the longer tie having to come up from under the front panel. This is where learning how to make a buttonhole comes in. Now you get to try on your skirt again and this time you are going to mark where you would like the tie to come through the waistband. I suggest at least a 1/2" buttonhole opening to make sure you can pass the tie through easily. My instructor recommend making more than one buttonhole, one to make the skirt tighter and one to make the skirt looser. This makes the skirt easily adjustable for weight loss/weight gain or if you are making it as a gift for someone and had to guess on the measurements.

I would tell you how to do a buttonhole but this was my first time making them so I suggest searching online for a tutorial that will help you.

Here is the finished project! 

If you have any questions leave a comment and I'll try to answer the best I can.

Enjoy!

January Scrapbooking Class

I know this is really late but I forgot about my January scrapbooking pages because the February class had been cancelled and this month has been really crazy and hectic. The first layout I have to show is travelled themed and it going to come in handy next month when we head to Paris. The second layout it a really cute spring one and the last layout is a kitchen/recipe layout.

France Travel Layout

 

Exploring Spring 2013

 Recipe Layout

December's Scrapbooking Class

December's scrapbooking class was fun, we only had two people show but that just gave us time to chat and get to know each other better.

So here are the layouts we did this time

Spring Butterflies

Valentine's Day

 Christmas Ornaments

 

Scrapbooking Class

To get out and meet new people I signed up for a scrapbooking class offered by the USO. This class was quite interesting considering I have been scrapbooking for years now and due to the move I didn't have any of my supplies with me. The one nice thing is that for $20 they provided a all the supplies needed to create three two-page layout designs.

I was a little disappointed when I saw that the layouts were not Christmas themed as I had hoped but they were still cute none the less.

Here we have the  News Years layout with a pocket to stick all your resolutions in.

Next up is the Saint Patrick's Day layout

Lastly we have an adorable Easter layout. Sorry about the quality of the last picture, for some reason it wouldn't photograph well at all.

Of the three my favorite was the St. Patrick's Day one and I can see myself doing similar layouts in the future. I plan on continuing the classes every month so look forward to next months layouts.