Sewing Business Blog » craft project

Free Sachet Patterns – Don’t Miss This!

Sarah J. Doyle — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 09:16:11 +0000

I love free patterns, but this one is one of the BEST I’ve seen lately!!! A corset sachet from FeelingStitchy — now does this bring back memories of the “good old days” – or 1880′s days (before our time)!

It’s getting close to Christmas, and I’ll just bet you could make a few of these to give as gifts, or use in tying a bow to a package!!

Thank you so much for the free pattern!

Make A French Memo Board

Sarah J. Doyle — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 09:08:11 +0000

With school starting, we’ll all have a difficult time keeping track of all the school events, personal appointments, work schedule, etc, so I think this French Memo Board by Jen Madsen is just the perfect thing. It’s so pretty that I’m not so sure I’d want to “clutter” it up with notes, grocery lists, to-do lists, etc.

Jen gives us a great tutorial on how to make the memo board. I’m also thinking about making some for gifts.

If you’d like to try a small simple-to-make memo board, check out the fabric message board tutorial we had on a previous post.

There are many ways and methods to making message boards. If you have done a great message board and would like to share a tutorial with our readers, just submit the picture and tutorial to us for review.

Watch Pin Cushion

Sarah J. Doyle — Sun, 17 May 2009 15:46:00 +0000

Amy Adams at LucyKate Crafts blog always has some of the cutest handmade goodies, and sometimes I wonder how she comes up with so many neat ideas!

Her current tutorial, posted on May 9 is a watch pincushion. As I was looking at the pin cushion and the tutorial, my own “Ah ha” moment happened — the lightbulb lit up in my head! Check out the pincushion, and what else do you see in it????

I see a child’s wrist watch —- PERFECT for my 3 1/2 year old quadruplet grandbabies and their 4 1/2 year old big brother!! And even better, the background (brown shown here) can be made with their favorite colors — purple for Sienna, orange for Sarah, Blue for Brandon, red for Zachary and big brother Jacob loves green!!!

Amy, you have just hit a jackpot here!!! And all other little children who love watches will be thanking you too!

How To Make 3-D Pompom Poodle Pictures

Sarah J. Doyle — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 15:57:00 +0000

Fido and Fifi are two of the most engaging personalities you will hope to meet as they smirk at you from their frames. These poodle pictures are especially nice for childrens’ or teen rooms. Each poodle is made using six yarn pompoms.

To make Fido, cut a piece of cardboard 2″ x 6 1/2″; wind with 2-ply yarn. If heavier yarn is used, fewer turns around the card will be needed for each pompom. Wrap the yarn lengthwise around the card.

Wind the yarn around the card 12 times and cut. Slip the yarn off the card and tie tightly in the center with a short length of yarn. Clip the loops at both ends. Comb out the strands until the ends fuzz. Hold the pompom tightly at the center so whole strands will not be pulled out during combing. Make 3 more pompoms. Two should be of a light color yarn for the top whiskers – we used tan; the other two a contrasting color such as black or dark brown for the ears. Tie the two dark ones together at the center and the two light ones together at the center.

Make two more pompoms, winding the yarn around the card 20 times. These pompoms are for the topknot and chin whiskers.

Choose a picture frame to suit your fancy. We prefer a narrow frame about 9 x 12 inch size, but this is optional. Remove the glass and cover the cardboard with burlap or other desired cloth in a color you prefer.

Cut the face pieces from felt. Cut eyes from white felt, pupils and nose black, and tongue red.

Now you are ready to begin assembling the pompom picture.

Glue the face in place and glue on the eyes. Arrange the ear pompoms and lay on the topknot. Fasten by tacking with thread or glueing to the background. Next arrange the chin and top whiskers. Fasten in place. Glue the tongue in place spreading the glue only along the top edge and tucking the tongue under the upper whiskers. The top of the tongue should be free. Glue the nose in place.

Fifi is assembled in the same manner. The arrangement of her topknot and ears is a bit different. Her bangs are trimmed straight across so they are about on the same level as her ears. She was made entirely of white yarn and wears a bright ribbon bow in her hair.

The pups can be made in other sizes by varying the length of the card around which the yarn is wound. They are cute, too, if they are both placed in the same frame and the pupils of the eyes are arranged so they seem to be “making eyes” at each other.

Have You Ever Made Shrinky Dinks???

Sarah J. Doyle — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 18:00:00 +0000

I have not seen shrinky dinks for years, and now I found out how to make them from scratch — from #6 recycleable plastic (the kind that restaurant take home food containers are), or sheets of purchased plastic.

Materials needed:

Clean Plastic, permanent markers, scissors, aluminum foil and oven mitts. How easy can it get??

Wouldn’t this be an awesome project for the kids on New Years’ Day while the men (and some ladies as well) watch all the football games!

Chrisjob, on his blog, gives complete instructions on how to draw, color, cut and bake the shrinky dinks. There are unlimited designs that can be made — simply draw your own design, or copy something from a coloring book — whatever suits your fancy!

Here’s another example of what you can make doing the shrinky dinks.

As usual, we thank you for the time spent in preparing your tutorial!

Clothesline Hot Plate Mat Set

Sarah J. Doyle — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 16:40:00 +0000

An attractive set of hot plate mats can be easily made with ordinary clothes line that is finished with a fringed edge. Clothesline is treated heavily with sizing and is subject to much shrinkage. Soak it well in hot water to relieve all foreign matter and to prevent any shrinkage after the mats are made.

Use a strong thread, such as buttonhole-twist to sew the clothes line together. Keep all the stitches on the wrong side of the mat. The clothes line is composed of several strands of fiber woven together. The needle will easily pass from one strand through another, making an evenly beautiful finished work.

For the round mat, fray out about 3/4″ of the clothes line. Begin to coil the rope tightly, holding the frayed end to the wrong side. Sew each succeeding coil of rope firmly to the preceeding row. When the mat is the desired size, cut the rope and fray out the end. Fishish off like a jelly-roll, twisting the frayed end to the wrong side, and sewing it firmly in place.

For the oblong mat, follow the same method, but instead of starting with a coil of rope, start with a length of rope, and keep working around it, making the oval effect.

Fringe edge in crochet — crochet a chain the desired length. It is good to leave a length of thread, in case you would need a little extra after sewing. Fasten the thread in the first chain made. * Chain 40, slip stitch in each of 2 next chains, repeat from * to the end.

These look great as the instructions recommend; however I’m not a crochet person, so I simply made the round and oval mats without the edging, and they looked just fine. I also made a set that I used purchased finge and attached it to the mats with the buttonhole twist thread and those looked very nice as well. Give them a try – I think you’ll like them!

Stay At Home Mom Reinvents the Fanny Pack for a Water Bottle

S. Denise Hoyle — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 06:15:00 +0000

Joey Carlile has been credited with creating “the fanny pack of today.” Her Orange County, California based company, JoeyJean Inc., makes a new kind of fanny pack that goes around a water bottle and holds your keys, cell phone and other necessities while jogging, walking or working out.

Carlile invented her modernized fanny pack to make her own life easier, and accidentally stumbled upon a successful business.   She was a stay at home mom with three children that liked to go for walks, but she hated struggling to carry a cell phone, keys, water bottle and identification along.

“I would go on walks and fumble with all of my gear,” Carlile said. “I wanted to carry one thing that would hold all of these items.”   So out of frustration she did something about it. Her first design was created from an old weight belt of her husband’s to which she added pockets and wrapped around a water bottle. She started carrying her creation on walks and people began asking about it and encouraging her to market the design.

At first she worked the business part time while focusing on being a mother. She started with samples of nylon, neoprene and other materials and found a seamstress to help make her first “Joey Jam Pack”. The design is insulated, has pockets and an adjustable hand strap. The pack can be wrapped around a bottle or kept flat and in addition to the hand strap, it can be worn around the waist or over the shoulder.

JoeyJean Inc. has taken off from there. The product was originally marketed at trade shows and sold through fundraisers at schools and non-profits. Big companies like Carnival Cruises and Nestle eventually asked JoeyJean to make them promotional products. Carlile’s packs have since been promoted on the QVC shopping network and have appeared on CNBC’s “The Big Idea” with Donny Deutsch.

Carlile credits her family as being her main driver.  Her husband, son, mother and sister all help out with the business which was recently honored at the annual Family Owned Business Awards luncheon with the Up-and-Coming Award.

The family currently works from a 1,300-square-foot office, where they perform functions such as research and development, warehousing, marketing and sales. Family members have also inspired new products for the JoeyJean collection, such as a washable pouch to hold dental retainers call the Joey Retain ‘Um, and the Pooch Pouch, similar to the Jam Pack but created with a foldable water bowl for pets.

Read more about Carlile’s story in the Orange County Business Journal, or visit her website at JoeyJean.com.

Acorns and Leaves

Sarah J. Doyle — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 17:46:00 +0000

Where we live there are literally thousands of acorns falling off the oak trees! Somebody told us last year that if there are tons of acorns, it means we’ll have a bad winter, and that the squirrels will be storing them as fast as they can to make it through the long cold winter. Well, I’m not exactly sure if that’s true or not, however I’ve found a couple of crafty things that can be done with those acorns that are really cute!!

Acorns can be “glittered up” and made into a really cute garland for hanging across a fireplace or on a tree or in windows – wherever you want to hang them. Read about these at TheLongthread’s blog. We’ve done a personal interview about TheLongthread.com in our business spotlight awhile back and we love the things she has.

To go along with the acorns, she also has a little tutorial for really cute leaf design coasters. These are quick and easy to make and would make great hostess gifts for those Holiday parties you will be attending.

The complete tutorial is on TheLongthread’s blog, using this link.

Some people are just so crafty, and so many times I wonder why I didn’t think of doing this!! Anyway, thank you to TheLongThread for providing our acorns and leaves projects of the day!

How To Make A Fabric Dollhouse

Sarah J. Doyle — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:50:00 +0000

Oh boy! Did I ever find a good one for you today!! A fabric dollhouse that is just as cute as it can be. And like we mentioned last week, there’s plenty of time to get some of these made up for those little girls on your Christmas gift list! Our quadruplet grandbabies just turned 3 years old on Friday, so I think I REALLY need to make the dollhouse ones for the two girls, then make the little barn one for the little boys and their big 4 year old brother Jacob. These are just too cool — put a little doll and accessories in for the girls, and some farm animals and vehicles in the barn for the boys and you’ll have some very happy little children!!

This tutorial came from uklassinus.blogspot and we thank her very much for doing this fine tutorial. Check her blogspot for additional tutorials and good reading.

:: Fabric for the interior: 9 inches by 21 inches and two pieces 6 inches by 9 inches (I’m being generous with the seam allowances here, as the actual size needed will depend on which batting you use)

Fabric for the exterior: (same as interior) 9″ x 21″ and two pieces 6″ x 9″

:: 2 10.5″x 13.5″ sheets of plastic canvas (I used #10 mesh)

:: Batting / wadding

:: Duct tape / insulation tape (optional)

:: I used tiny hairbands) or velcro or 2 zips (if you do not have my fear of sewing zippers) or some ribbon

:: 2 Sewn fabric strips for handles (optional)

Sorry about the diagrams – my bloomin’ husband has managed to unload my scanner software, most likely while messing around loading and unloading things for the computer game he is obsessed with… Anyway, I just did these quickly on the computer, so please use your imagination when trying to decipher them!)

three 4″ by 6″ rectangles
two 2¾” by 6″ rectangles
and 2 house-shaped pieces with 4″ base, 4″ sides and 2see diagram) nb. When making the barn, I wrapped duct tape around the batting to keep it in place, so that the sharp points of the wood were safely padded. I found that the duct tape made the shaped pieces nice and easy to handle, so this time around, I wrapped the batting covered plastic canvas with insulation tape).

The dimensions on the diagram show the dimensions I used, but yours may differ, depending on the thickness of the batting that you used, so I suggest using this pinning method to ensure a good fit). Turn right side out and slide the batting covered end panel back in. Repeat for the other end panel.

one of the end panels
elastic loops (or flap for velcro or zip or ribbons for ties at both ends – whichever you chose)

Again, I like to first sandwich the batting covered panels between the fabrics – in the order shown in the 2nd diagram above – and pin the fabrics around them, including a pin between each panel, to ensure that I will have a good fit and also to mark the correct placement of the end panel and the loops for the buttons. I place the button loops at the corners of the roof panel (the 2 3/4″ x 6″ panel). After I have marked the edges and the correct placement, I then remove the panels, leaving just the end panel and the button loops sandwiched, ready to be sewn on.

7. Sew the opening closed, catching the ends of the handle and button loop, if used.

Recycle CapriSun Containers

Sarah J. Doyle — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 15:02:00 +0000

A couple of years ago my granddaughter, then a senior in high school, made CapriSun purses. Small purses, just what all the girls wanted, and she sold TONS of them! She sold them for $15 each, and had a waiting list for them. Now if I’d been smart, I would have watched her make them, written some instructions to pass along, or at least would have been able to make them myself! She is now in Italy with her Air Force husband and baby, so can’t “run down the street” to get the information.

HOWEVER, I did find a super tutorial on making kids pencil bags out of the CapriSun containers at SkipToMyLou.org, and I think this is an awesome idea. Here’s the tutorial for you to try.

I made this juice bag pencil pouch for my son’s first day of school. He really wanted the Kool-Aid Sport juice bags (because they look Cool) but the store was out and this is what we had.

You need 4 juice bags and an 8 inch zipper for this little pencil case. If you need a larger pencil bag try 3 bags lined up vertically.

Cut a slit in the bottom of each empty juice bag and rinse. Allow bags to dry.

Lay two bags end to end, one on top of the other. They should measure 9 1/2 inches in total length. Stitch through the bags at the bottom of the top bag. I found a heavy duty needle (like for denim) helpful. I was also using a heavy duty thread. Repeat for other size.

Stitch one side of the zipper to the top of the bags —right sides together.

Notice carefully where to stop stitching. Do not stitch to edge.

Stitch the other side of bag to the zipper, again right sides together.

Lay zipper and bags flat and top stitch down each side of zipper.

Bring bags together wrong sides together. Fold zipper ends down on each side.

Starting at top side stitch down the side, across the bottom and up the other side.

I trimmed off just a little on each side to make it even.

There you go, a recycled pencil bag!