Tutorial: Headband Holder

I was officially tired of trying to stuff all of my little girl's headbands into a bathroom drawer, when I thought of making one out of an oatmeal container. And yes, there are other ways to make headband holders, but I didn't want to spend any money! My directions are a bit vague but this is pretty much self-explanatory with the pictures. If you have additional questions just comment below. 

So here's how I did it:

Supplies: Oatmeal container, hot glue gun, fabric scissors, piece of cardboard, ribbon, and half yard of fabric 

 1. Lay out your fabric and leave some extra on the ends, then cut. 

2. Put some hot glue on the fabric end and stick it to the oatmeal container.  

3. Wrap the fabric around and glue it to the container again. I folded the end so there wouldn't be a raw edge that could potentially fray. 

4. While you have your hot glue out, wrap fabric around your cardboard square. This is to keep your container from rolling around. I also thought of putting something heavy inside your container before you wrap it so if you want that option scratch this idea :) 

5. Hot glue the cardboard piece to the bottom of the container. I put it right on the seam.  

6. Now tie the ends with ribbon like a piece of candy. I did little bows. 

There you have it, a headband display! 

Buttons

This is a cute project my mother did. It's a wall hanging but is unique because all of the buttons are from my great-grandma's collection. It's special projects like this that make quilting fun and a great way to use for gifts. The strips in between the buttons are skinny strips of fabric sewn down in the middle. 

Quick-Tip: How Much Fabric For Binding A Quilt?

I always use 2 1/2" wide strips for binding my quilts. 

Here's a formula to figure out how much fabric to purchase to bind your, well, any project that requires binding really! 

(width of quilt in inches + length of quilt in inches) times 2 + 24" = amount of inches for total binding. 

Divide the total by 40 and round up, that = the total amount of strips. Times that total by 2.5 and that = the amount of inches of fabric needed.

Make sense? Here's another way to look at it:

(width of quilt in inches + length of quilt in inches) x 2, + 24" = amount of inches for total binding.

Amount of inches for total binding divided by 40 = the total amount of strips to cut (round this # up if a decimal). 

(Amount of strips to cut) x 2.5" = amount of inches of fabric needed

Tutorial: Thanksgiving Banner

In trying to make my own Thanksgiving decor, here's a banner I made to hang on the wall. I only spent $0.74 on the burlap since I already had the other supplies!

Supplies:

4" Cut of Fabric (for the letters)

1/4 Yard of Applique

1/4 Yard of Burlap

1 1/2 Yards of Ribbon

Here's how I made it:

1. I grabbed a fabric I liked and ironed on applique to the wrong side. 

2. In Microsoft Word, I used "American Typewriter" font, size 250, and in Text Effects I picked an outline of the font for easy cutting. 

3. Trace the letters backwards onto the applique and then cut them out.

4. I also made my triangle shape in Microsoft Word using the Shapes button.

5. Then I cut out the burlap using my triangle pattern and sewed a 1/4" seam around the edges of them to prevent fraying. 

6. Peel off the applique and iron on the letters to your burlap.

7. Cut 1" straight lines into your triangles for the ribbon to go through.

8. String through the ribbon and you're done! 

Tutorial: Scrappy Thanksgiving Wreath

This Thanksgiving wreath is quick and easy to make, especially if you have a lot of scrap fabric! I wanted to decorate for Thanksgiving but didn't want to spend any money, so this is what I came up with: 

All you need is a hanger, fabric scraps, and fabric scissors.

1. Start with your hanger, bending it into a circle.

2. Cut your fabric into strips - I used different widths but kept the length at a foot.

3. Tie your fabric onto the hanger in square knots (right over left, left over right). Switch between colors in a random order and continue until your wreath is complete.

Feel free to trim up your fabrics if you want, and you're done!

Tutorial: Crib Dust Ruffle

I couldn't believe how quickly I was able to make a dust ruffle for my soon-to-be baby's crib. Now I'm contemplating making one for my king size bed! Oh boy. 

Forgive me for not having step-by-step pictures, but really this is a VERY simple and straight-forward tutorial.

Supplies Needed:

2 yards of fabric for underneath the mattress

3 yards of fabric for your dust ruffle (about 3 times the length of your crib sides)

*These measurements are based on a standard size crib*

Steps:

1. Cut your fabric for underneath the mattress 28" x 50".

2. Cut your ruffle fabric 3 times the length of the side it will be sewn on to. I first cut strips of 12 1/2", then made them 150" long for the two sides. For the short side of the crib I did 12 1/2" x 84".

3. I hemmed each panel of my ruffle fabric by doing a rolled hem on my serger. I did this to the short sides and one long side to prevent any fraying. 

4. Ruffle the remaining long side.

5. Sew your ruffle fabric onto the other one (right sides together). I did a rolled hem again on my serger.  With each panel, leave an extra 3 inches on each side to sew to the next panel so you have extra coverage on your corners. 

Done! Enjoy your incredibly cute and custom-made dust ruffle! 

Quick-Tip: Rounding Corners

I wanted a rounded corner for a project. But how do you get rounded corners that all match? Use a paper plate! I folded all of my corners into the same spot, placed the paper plate down, and took a rotary cutter from one side to the other. You can also just mark this curve and then cut with scissors. That's it! 

Quick-Tip: Preparing Fabric for Cutting

If you are interested in cutting your fabric straight (especially for strips), use this tip to help you do so:

First, fold your fabric in half with the salvage edges together, as well as the already cut edges from the fabric store. Line up the edges that have already been cut and don't worry about the salvage edges. 

 Now fold the fabric again and lay it over the top of your seams so you don't get distracted by it. 

Put your ruler over the fabric and line it up to make sure it is straight on either side. For example, in this picture I lined up the ruler at one inch on the top and half an inch on the bottom. No matter what, you'll want your fabric to be the same length from one side of the ruler to the other to show your fabric is straight. Go ahead and cut!

Quilt #1

Here is a simple quilt for you to start on! I made this quilt out of scraps but if you want to purchase new fabric for it I'd get 1/3 of a yard of each. Use 1/4" seams while sewing. I grouped the fabrics randomly so there is no rhyme or reason to where they are placed!

1. Cut your fabric for the blocks into strips that are 2 1/2 inches wide. The lengths will vary if you are using scrap fabric but it is best to just make the longest cut you can.

2. Sew together your strips in sets of three. You'll use these for the long strips down the side of the block as well as one set on each side of the middle three strips. (The middle three strips have that white square of fabric so there's no short cut to making those!)

4. Now cut 6 rectangular 3-strip sets 18.5" long.

5. Do the same type of cut in step four 12 times and this time only 6.5" long.

6. Cut individual strips of fabric into
a) 12 single strips 2.5" x 6.5"
b) 6 single strips 2.5" x 4.5"
c) 6 squares 2.5" x 2.5"

7. Sew together from step six B and C to make what we'll call D!

8. Sew together from step six A to D, then D to A again. That will make the middle three strips in the block.

9. Now sew together your strip sets from steps 5 & 8. Basically you sew one 6.5" long set to the middle strips you made in step 8, and then sew that to another 6.5" long set. (I apologize for the lack of pictures but I already made this quilt before making this blog!)

10. Sew step 9 to step 4. Repeat steps 9 & 10 until all of your blocks are finished! Remember to measure all of your blocks and make all of them equal to the size of your smallest block.

11. The inner border (brown fabric) is 5.5" wide with various lengths. Cut first 6 strips 18.5" long. Then sew those to your blocks. It will be like this: brown strip sewn to a block, then brown again with a block, etc.

12. The top, middle, and bottom strip of brown fabric measures 5.5" x 58.5" (This second measurement may vary due to the actual size of your blocks so just cut off any excess material if needed).

13. As for the binding, I usually use (as I did on this quilt) leftover fabric. Sew together end to end your leftover fabric strips that are 2.5" wide. Iron the seams, then iron the long strip folded in half with the back sides together. I plan to go over binding a quilt soon so I'll explain the process at that time!

Good luck and I promise this is much simpler to make than it is to write down all the steps! So take it one step at a time and if you have any questions write it in the comments section and I'll get back to you ASAP!