Master Craftster Badge

I really love working with wool felt and embroidery floss to create tiny treasures like the badges I've been swapping on Craftster.  I will have to wait until next week to show you the four I've made recently (two for an organized swap and two for a personal swap--they haven't reached my partners in England yet), but today I can show you one I made for myself.

I made this to look similar to a scouting merit badge, although it is bigger--about 1 3/4" in diameter.  This is to commemorate my participation in the Bernina Master Craftsters campaign that was revealed on Craftster last month.  That project was a lot of fun, but also a ton of work, with no remuneration other than the "glory" of basking in the Master Craftster spotlight for a while.  Because I am proud of my involvement with it,  I am using the Master Craftster logo as my avatar on Craftster now, and I made this badge to add to my collection.

The sewing machine was much easier to create than I expected it to be:  I just drew a quick sketch on paper, then held the paper against the light-blue felt and cut along the outline.  The details are bits of felt sewn on with embroidery floss. 

The words were the hard part...I decided to do block letters and started sewing without any kind of a guide.  I wish they were a little better.  I will keep my eyes and ears open to find good methods for transfering lettering to felt.  If you happen to know of one, please tell me!

Scissors Fobs and Blanket Stitch

On my other blog, 365 Sewn Hearts, I am currently in the middle of a challenge to sew one heart every day for a year.  I've been scouring the internet and wracking my brain to come up with new hearts, and last week I had an idea:  scissors fobs.  They're small and cute and useful and relatively quick to make; but the best part is that they can be decorated a million different ways (and I only need about 200 more!).  They are made of wool felt, embroidery floss, baker's twine, and polyester stuffing, and they are finished with a blanket stitch around the edges.

Here are the 8 fobs I've made so far:

The lovely Lime Riot, who is an amazing crafter and embroidered, actually asked ME if I have any tips about the tricky part of the blanket stitch edging:  finishing the last stitch.  Since I do have a standard method that I always follow, I am happy to share it with her, and you.

This is the fob I am using for this demonstration:

Oh, I should mention...I am left-handed.  So if anything looks backwards or upside down to you, that's probably why.

Okay.  I always start sewing the back to the front in the same spot:  midway on the right-hand side, and I work counter-clockwise around the heart.  In the picture below, you can see that I have started the first stitch by putting the needle into the inside of the back piece, and pulling the thread through.

Next, I insert the needle in the outside of the front of the heart, and push the point right into the first hole you made when setting the knot (above).

That's your first stitch.  For this stitch only, I run the thread under the stitch, and pull it out on the right-hand side.

Now I continue sewing the blanket stitch in the regular way all around the heart.  (I just noticed that there's a long, stray filament of the stuffing material right in the middle of the picture!  Please try to ignore that!)

When there's only about an inch left to sew, I stuff the heart, then continue sewing.

When I have sewn the last stitch, I pull the thread through the first stitch I sewed, and tie a small knot there.

Then I tie another knot about 1/4" from the last stitch and pull that inside the stuffed heart to anchor the thread.  Pull the needle up anywhere on the back and trim the end of the thread flush with the felt.

All done!  (I can't believe that stray filament is still there.)

I don't know if I shared any new information, but I know it can be helpful to see how someone else does things...there may be some small detail here that is new to you--and possibly eye-opening.  I hope so!

Cute Shoes

I like cute shoes, but I've never been attracted to novelty fabrics featuring shoes.  Usually, the shoes (on fabrics or anything else) are high heels, which don't speak to me, because I don't wear heels--I only wear flats, like these super cute Crocs I just got:

(Thanks for modeling the shoes for me, Jenna!)

So, when I saw this fun fabric featuring pretty shoes in bright colors and unusual patterns in JoAnn's this week, I was in love!  I quickly bought a yard of it and whipped up a couple of these bags.

I want all these shoes!

But I will just have to settle for this shoe purse.  I can live with that!

Felt Heart Keychain Tutorial

On my other blog, 365 Sewn Hearts, I recently posted some of these heart keychains that I made.  One of my readers, Kay, was interested in them because they are all hand-sewing, so I thought I would show her, and you, exactly how to make them.

You will need:
--cotton fabric with a small print (choose this carefully as it will be the center of attention!)
--wool felt
--embroidery thread
--Heat n Bond Lite, or other two-sided, fusible interfacing that you can sew through
--heavy sew-in interfacing
--key ring
--sewing thread and needle
--heart templates (at the end of this post)--they work best if you trace them onto plastic and cut them out.  You may need to/want to resize the templates when you print them out.  The large one is 2 5/8" wide and 2 3/4" tall.  The smaller one is 2 1/2" wide and 2 3/8" tall.

Start by tracing the smaller heart onto the smooth side of the Heat n Bond. Cut it out, just outside the line, and iron it onto the cotton fabric.  When it is cool, cut out the heart on the drawn line (this cut doesn't have to look perfect because the edge will be hidden under the felt). 
Still using the small template, trace and cut out 2 hearts from the heavy interfacing.  (I used two interfacing hearts for added firmness in my finished keychain.)

Next, cut a strip of your cotton fabric  2" x 3 1/2" for the key fob.

Iron the strip in half lengthwise, then fold each side in to the center crease, and press.

Sew the open side shut.  Don't bother to sew the ends, because they will be covered.

Slip the keyring onto the fabric and fold the strip in half.  Baste the ends together.  Set aside.

Next, using the larger heart template, trace three hearts onto the felt.  A ballpoint pen works great for this.  Only one of the hearts needs to have the center heart drawn onto it.

Cut out the three felt hearts.  Now all your pieces are ready to assemble into a beautiful keychain!

Remove the paper from the back of the fabric heart, and iron it onto one of the solid wool hearts.  Then position the keyring fob behind this heart, leaving about 1/2"-3/4" of the fob exposed, and sew firmly into place.  Remember to only sew in the area that will be covered by the heart with the "window" cut out of it.

Here's the back.  You can trim the cotton fabric to within 1/4" of where you sewed it to the felt heart, if you wish.

Next, layer the two interfacing hearts under the wool heart, and lay the cut-out wool heart over the fabric heart.

Baste the layers together.  The red basting stitches will be removed, so they can be big and sloppy!

This is what the back looks like.  (The heart on the left is the piece that will cover the interfacing after a few more steps.)

Using a blanket stitch, sew around the inner heart with the embroidery thread.

This is what the back looks like.  Now, remove these basting stitches.

Here's the last step:  with the third felt heart layered onto the back, baste all the layers together, then embroider around the outside edge with a blanket stitch.  (There are lots of places online that explain the blanket stitch, like this one at Stitch School.)

Remove the basting stitches, and you are done.  Looks great!!

The back looks great too!

 

Summer Sewing: Soda Can Cozy Tutorial

The Sew Something Summery swap is open for sign-ups on Craftster for a few more days; if you are a member of that site, I hope you will join us!

To prepare for the swap, I sewed the flip-flop bag and soda can cozy, above (I had already made the Happy Cloud Notebook).  I liked the can cozy so well that I want to show you how to make your own.  It's easy and quick to make, and I have just discovered how much more pleasant it is to drink from a can when it is wrapped in a cute cover like this!  I really appreciate not having to hold a cold, wet can, and my husband and I no longer have to ask each other "is this your soda or mine?"  This cozy also adds insulation, so the soda stays colder longer.  It makes a nice gift, too!

 Soda Can Cozy Tutorial

A note before you start sewing: 

Two of the items I used in my cozy are a bit unusual.  For the layer between the outer fabrics, I used Insul-Bright, which is a type of batting with insulation material in it.  If you can't find it, regular quilt batting would work just fine.  I also added a strip of Grip Tight (fabric with little rubber dots on it) to the back of my cozy, to keep it from slipping off the can when I'm holding it.  It is more of a precaution than anything; the cozy without the Grip Tight stays on well, especially if you position the buttons so that it closes tightly, so go ahead and skip it if you wish.  I'm a "better safe than sorry" kind of girl, so I used the Grip Tight!

I pieced together strips of fabric for my cozy.  If you wish to use a single fabric for the outside of yours, cut that fabric 9" x 3 1/2".

Materials:

7 different fabrics.  Cut six of them 1 3/4" x 3 1/2"; cut the seventh one 2" x 3 1/2".  (That last strip is a little wider to make the cozy fit perfectly around the can.  Use the wider strip on one of the ends.)

Backing fabric cut 9 1/2" x 4"

Insul-Bright cut to 9" x 3 1/2"

Grip Tight cut to 8" x 1"

Lightweight iron-on interfacing, cut to 8 3/4" x 3 1/4"

One hair elastic and two buttons for the closure

 
The picture below shows my fabrics.  I find it easier to just cut long strips and make several cozies at once.  Also pictured are the backing fabric and the Insul-Brite and a strip of Grip Tight.

If you use the Grip Tight, center it and sew it to the right side of the backing fabric using a zig-zag stitch.

Using a 1/4" seam allowance, sew your fabric strips together. Press the seams to one side. . Cut one piece 9" x 3 1/2".  Apply iron-on interfacing to the back of it.

Here are the main components of the cozy: Insul-Bright or batting, pieced front, and backing.

Layer the components together in this order:  backing, face up; then the pieced front, face down; then the Insul-Bright (there is no front or back to this product).

Pin the layers together.  For the loop closure, tape a hair-tie in the center and cut it in half.

Postition the loops 1" apart on one of the short ends, between the backing and front fabrics.  Pin in place.

Using a 1/4" seam, sew all around the four sides of the cozy, leaving a 2-3" opening on one of the long sides for turning (my hemostats are pointing to the opening in the picture below).  Trim the excess fabric on all sides and turn the cozy right-side out.  Press.

Top stitch close to the edge of the cozy, all the way around.

The front:

The back:

Wrap the cozy around a soda can, and mark the spots where the buttons will go.  Sew on the buttons and you are done!

The one on the left is the first one I made; I happened to have these fabrics already pieced together in my scrap bag!

Please enjoy your new cozy and your summer!