Friday Night Tutorials! - Flat Bottomed Purse by sewtogether.com

I've been ultra busy this week putting together a really nifty store for us so I didn't have the time to actually make something. However, I came across this awesome tutorial and I simply must share!

This is an amazing blog and I suggest checking it out by clicking the link.

See you next week! Happy Easter!

Friday Night Tutorials! - Easy Pet Bed

I've had dental surgery the other day and I'm a little off. A little off meaning highly medicated. There is no way to spend a Thursday like getting a piece of metal worth more than my car jammed in my face. So while this is tutorial, it is more of an excuse to show off pictures of my cats. (Like I said, I'm medicated.)

This is a super easy and fun project that you can do with fabric pieces laying around.

What you need -

- A piece of thick fleece, I used stuff that looks like faux sheep skin that they use on jackets.

- Fabric like a heavy cotton or canvas. I was lucky that I had these large manufacturer swatches that are 25" by 25". I used 2 of those. If you are using other fabric you can use a quarter of a yard which is 24".

- Scissors or rotary cutter.

- Sewing machine. I am sure you can hand sew this but with the thick fleece stuff I think it would be a pain.

- Needle and thread for finishing.

- Optional - Polyfill stuffing.

Directions -

- If you have a long piece of fabric simply cut it to make it 2 - 24" by 24" square pieces. If you have swatches or if the piece isn't perfect simply lay the fabric on top of the fleece and mark all the way around. I don't think the cats will mind it is wonky. Have fun with sizes.

- Cut your 2 pieces of fleece.



- Place right sides together and begin to sew. Leave an small opening on one side so you are able to turn it right side out. Repeat with the other fabric and fleece. NOTE - When sewing the loft of the fleece was crushed so I ended up with a lot of it over the edge. Don't worry just cut off the excess.

- This step is totally optional. Take the stuffing and stuff it to give it some body. Don't overfill like you would a pillow. You need a little give for fat cat butts.

- Hand sew the openings closed.

- Take the 2 pieces and place them on top of each other. Hand-sew three corners while leaving the other open. Fold that side open.



And you're done! To be honest I think the cats would have been happy if I just threw the fleece on the ground and were probably laughing at me for going to all the trouble but I think it's a cute little project for beginners and kids. It was fast and the kitties loved it.



Thanks so much for reading. Remember our Spring Stock Up sale is still going on. Visit our Etsy and Artfire shops for more info. Also, remember to follow us on Groupon so we can offer awesome coupons!

Friday Night Tutorials! - Trim Headband

When you deal with fabric as much as we do suffice it to say it gets the ol' creative juices flowing. I was in the drugstore not too long ago and saw these elastic and lace headbands for sale for 7 bucks. Insane. Making these types of headbands are so easy and so inexpensive I am sort of embarrassed to post this tutorial. The hardest part of this project is picking out the trim you want to use. You can use any sort of trim for this project. Lace, gimp, rope, strips of fabric (like the ones in Jellyrolls or what have you), ric rack, sequins...the options are endless.

They work up really quick and you can make a headband to match any outfit. You could even make headbands for your bridesmaids or even for a children's party. It is that easy and the results are beautiful.



What you need -

- Trim of your choice. I used some of our kitty trim, floral trim and rhinestone trim. You could actually use any trim for this.
- Sewing machine or needle and thread if hand sewing.
- 1/2" Elastic
- Scissors
- Tape measure (Couldn't be there for the photo, the cat was trying to eat it.)

Instructions -

Measure your head in the way a normal headband would lay. Remember that number.

Cut piece of trim so it runs from the bottom of one ear, over the top of your head and then the bottom of the other ear. I find that this is best since you get the most trim coverage.

Measure that trim piece and subtract that from the whole measurement of your head. That's how much elastic you need. Then again I winged it and I am sure you can too. If you want the headband tighter then make the elastic less, looser use more elastic.

Thread a needle and lets get sewing!

With the floral trim I simply overlapped the trim and the elastic and zigzagged across a few times one both sides. This is easily hand-sewed.




With the kitty trim the trim end is larger than the elastic. So I just folded into a nice point, placed the elastic underneath and sewed across. If you are hand sewing you can iron the point so it stays while you sew.



It was a little more difficult with the rhinestone trim. I wanted to make a double headband, sort of a Grecian look. I love my machine too much to subject it to hard little rhinestones and plastic so I hand-sewed this one.

- First sew the 2 strands together.



Then start to sew them on the elastic. Repeat for other side.



And voila! You have awesome headbands that cost mere pennies. We all have random trim hanging around so this is not only great for using your remnants but also wonderful as a first sewing project.

I hope you liked this tutorial. Check out our Etsy and Artfire shops for all sorts of interesting trim! We also have a great sale going on so get clicking. Check back next Friday for a new tutorial.