Category Archives: sewing tutorial

{be my valentine – a tutorial}

Posted on by Trish

Last year, about this time, my peas and I sat down to this sewing project.  If your son or daughter is begging you to teach them to sew – here is an easy peasy project they can wear.  They will love telling everyone they made it themselves (ok, no, I doubt a boy will wear this BUT wouldn’t he love to give this as gift to his best girl from down the street or maybe a teacher or his sister, etc!  Boys need to learn to sew too – I firmly believe.  Both my husband and my Dad are competent sewers).

This is also an easy project for you!  With a blank tee and some strips of scrap fabric and about 30 minutes, you can create a super cute Valentine tee (and hearts you can wear all year round – not just for Valentines).

To start, you will need 2 strips of fabric cut 1 3/4″ wide x 68″ long and 1″ wide by 68″.  The length may vary based on how big your shirt and thus, how big your heart is but that length should be a pretty good fit for all.

If you don’t like the look of raw edges, you can serge all along the long edges of your strips (or use a zig zag stitch) to finish the edges.

Next, layer your strips together and using your ruffler foot OR a gathering stitch, gather your strips.  I did a gathering stitch on mine using a stitch length of 6 and set my tension at 6.  The higher you set your tension, the more gathered in will be.  Looser tension, looser gathers.  Adjust to your preference.

Next, we are going to draw our outline of the heart on the shirt using a disappearing ink pen (you could also use chalk if you’d like).  I did not use a template but rather, freehand drew my heart.  You could always fold a piece of paper in half and draw half a heart on the fold and cut it out to create your template (remember doing that in school?).

Now, pin your fabric ruffle along your heart outline.  I started at the top center and folded under my end.  I also put a book inside the shirt to make it easier to pin so I wasn’t catching the back side of the shirt.

Stitch right down the center following your gather stitch.  That’s it kids.  Simple.  Cute.  And your kids can do this themselves.

Since the ruffles are 1 3/4″ wide and sewn in the center, when you go to wash this – just a heads up, in the dryer, your ruffles are gonna go wild and not lay flat.  SO, you may want to finger press your ruffles down when it comes out of the wash and air dry your shirt.  OR you can follow this idea from the shirt my Two Peas made last year.

This is the shirt my peas made last year using a single strip of fabric cut 1 3/4″ wide.  They ran a gathering stitch down the center and then pinned the fabric to the shirt.  Instead of stitching down the center, they stitched along both edges as you can see in the photo.  That way, the ruffles stay put and the look nice when you throw the shirt in the dryer.

Sprout LOVES her shirt (she’s napping right now in this outfit in fact – won’t take it off).  She’s also a big ham.

Happy sewing and sharing the L.O.V.E.

{sew inspiring – “sew can she”}

Posted on by Trish

A new year, a new look to my Monday Morning Inspiration posts.  Calling it now “Sew Inspiring” where you can meet some of the very inspirational crafters, sewers and artists right in your own neighborhood.  Or in the next state.  Or across the ocean.  You get the idea.

Join me on Mondays to meet some inspiring artists.  Want to be featured?  Just send me an email…twopeasinapoddesigns at gmail dot com.

It is my pleasure to introduce to you today, the adorable Caroline from Sew Can She.

Sew can she{Since the feature is called Sew Inspiring, can you tell me what inspired you to sew all the time and then start SewCanShe.com?}

It’s funny how life leads you in ways you would never expect. I cannot remember ever not sewing, I guess my mom taught me that young. My sewing machine got packed away for college however, and then I loaned it to my sister for a while. It wasn’t until I had babies that I decided to start sewing again. But then, I might have cracked had I not had sewing to escape into for a while each day. It was like I could sit down at the machine and my worries would fall away. It saved me. Then I started making pdf patterns and a little company started. But eventually I knew what I really wanted to do, and that was make a site where people could be surprised, delighted, and excited each day by a new sewing tutorial. And, where I could help all those great tutorials out there get noticed!

{What continues to inspire you each day and how do you keep your art fresh? Inspiration each day}

My daughter Chloe is my inspiration. She’s only 6 but she has more creativity in her little finger than an entire Hobby Lobby store!  Really. I know you don’t believe me, you think it’s just the mom in me talking, but she blows me away. Someday she is going to really make something. I don’t know what yet, but you just wait and see.

{What 3 words best describe you?}

Dorky, creative, and stubborn. :)

{What could you not live without to get through each work day?  Your phone/computer, sewing machine or your coffee?}

I know I should say computer because I am on it so much, way too much. But I have such an emotional tie to my sewing that I think I would die without a sewing machine.  You’ll never catch me lovingly oiling and talking to my computer, but my sewing machine – all the time.

{What is the best part of your job as a designer?}

This is easy.  Being a part of the online sewing/blogging community.  All of the sewing, blogging moms and grandmas I have met have been so cool, so sharing, and so real.

{What advice would you offer to someone when it comes to living a creative life?}

Find what makes you happy. What makes the stress melt away. And what gives you a chance to share with others. Creative doesn’t have to be sewing or painting. It could be building robots.

{What can we expect to see from you in the coming year in terms of new projects and design?}

Funny, just today my sister said to me ‘the ideas you have next year will be completely different from the ideas you have today.” I hope that’s true. I don’t want to ever get stuck focusing on the same thing for too long. So, we’ll just have to see!

Thanks Caroline for a peek into your inspiring self!  Be sure to visit Caroline at Sew Can She for great sewing ideas everyday.

{Christmas stocking pocket banner – a tutorial}

Posted on by Trish

 

 

Christmas Stocking Pocket Banner – I wanted to come up with a cute decorative item that we could make into a fun activity with the kids.  The idea behind this banner is that the pockets will hold scripture and notes from us to our kids along with something fun like a piece of candy.  I made this banner to have 7 pockets – one for each day of the week but you could also make a smaller version that includes one pocket per child and refill each pocket every day.  You can fill both the little stocking plus the bigger pocket.  Bonus!


I decided I would have one for each day of the week and fill it a week at a time.  I’m hoping their excitement will be contained and they will keep themselves from looking ahead into the next days stocking pocket…I’ll let ya know how that goes!

This is a great project for using up some of the larger scraps you have in your stash.  You could also use fat quarters but I really try to use what I have on hand and use up odds and ends to save money.  I also used on this project a flat sheet that I purchased at a discount store.  I used that for the back of the pockets which is a great way to get a lot of bang for your buck.  Even a pretty Christmas flannel sheet would work well.  Check out your local quilt shops too because I have seen some killer deals on seasonal fabrics!  (if you know of any good sales – list the links in the comments section!)

Materials:

A stack of scraps or fat quarters to create your stockings and pockets – the amount depends on how many pockets you are creating.  1/2 yard of lining fabric, 1/2 yard of pocket front fabric is what I roughly used.  Plus my scraps for the stockings.

You will also need ribbon or other fabric scraps to create some ruffle embellishments on your stockings.  Get creative here!  Embellish with ribbon, ric-rac, lace, textured fabric from old clothing scraps like wools, etc.

 And you will need bias tape for hanging.  I again, used scraps of ready made bias tape I had on hand and patched them together.  You can also make your own bias tape but cutting your scrap fabric 2″ wide and pressing each long edge in towards the center and then in half again. 

1)  To start, click on the pattern and print it out.  It has been designed to fit perfectly on an 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of paper.  I found that when I went to print this direct from the photo from the blog post, that I needed to increase the size to 125%.  You can see that the pockets are the size of a sheet of 8.5″ x 11″ paper – simply place the corners to the bottom of 8.5″ x 11″ sheet and cut the corners rounded out as shown on the pattern.  Those bottom corner pieces should fit perfectly to the bottom corners of your sheet of paper with 2 1/2″ of space between them along the bottom.  Make sense?  You will need to cut 2 per pocket – a front and a backside of pocket.  I used nice fabric for the front and just an inexpensive cotton sheet for my backside of pocket.

2) Cut your stockings out using the pattern – cut them all facing the same way.  Your stockings should be about 8 1/2″ tall from the longest points.

3)  Pick out your embellishments for each stocking.


4) Next, embellish your stocking.  Leave them raw edged (remember, I’m a nap time sewer and frugal – no lining these guys.  Leaving them frayed and vintage looking).  I used ribbon on all of mine to make it quick and just gathered them by hand and pleated and created ruffles.

5)  Press under the top of your outer pocket 1/4″ and then again about 3/4″ – 1″.  Topstitch to hold in place.

6)  Pin your stocking on to the front of your pocket.  I used black thread and stitched multiple times haphazardly along the edges (DON’T sew across the top – leave it open so you can stash little treats inside.) to attach my stocking.
7) Lay the front of your pocket onto the backside of the pocket with right sides facing, pin and stitch.  Clip your corners.  Say what?  That means all along the edges that are curved, use your scissors and carefully, cut a slit in the fabric but DO NOT cut into the seam.  This helps to let the item pull and then lay flat instead of puckering along those curves.  Turn your pocket right side out and press your seams.

**NOTE**  When I’m piecing something like this together, I use a stitch length of about 2.5.  I also will use a fresh universal needle for a project like this.  FRESH because each time you sew – you dull your needles.  If you wait to change out your needles until they break, chances are you are pulling your fabric and distorting it some by using a dull needle.  SO change them out frequently.  When I topstitch, such as I did when I attached the stocking to the pocket front, since I was doing multiple lines of stitching and doing what I consider a decorative stitch method, I moved to a stitch length of 3.5.

8. Because our pocket is lower than the backside, it leaves us with a bit of a raw edge showing along the edge on the backside pocket – I simply just tucked it under a bit and gave it a press.  When it goes into the bias tape, that will hold it in place.


9) Last, to finish up our banner, use your bias tape to attach the pockets all together.  Leave about 14″ at the end for tying it up.  Start placing your pocket into the bias tape.  Place your pockets 2″ apart along the bias tape.  Obvious maybe but just to clarify, open up the bias tape and place the pocket in the center (just the backside of your pocket will reach into the bias tape), pin and stitch down the full length of your bias tape.

10)  At the end, fold your ends under and stitch to create loops for hanging.

NOW…let’s hear your ideas about what to fill them with!!  I had planned little notes and small treats but what suggestions do you have?

And if you don’t have a mantle to hang this on, this would work perfect along a staircase railing or on the wall.  OR you could even sew a much larger version of the stocking onto an old vintage pillowcase and put it on your child’s chair at the dinner table – then fill it up and let them find some goodies in there when they go to eat breakfast!

Of course, when I hung this inside on our mantle, Sprout was super excited and wanted to know if Santa was coming TONIGHT.  Sadly, no honey.  Not tonight but soon.  Actually, I was a little leary of her trying to reach into these pockets with them strung from the mantle so for safety sake, I’m hanging this down low and along a wall in our kitchen where the kids can easily get into the pockets and I don’t need to worry about somebody pulling the entire mantle from the wall down onto themselves.  What?  In my house, that would totally happen.  Right?  Kitchen it is…


Happy Turkey Day – enjoy some relaxing time in your sewing room over the weekend.  I know I will be sewing away and I can’t wait!

Here’s my TURKEY week sale….I have loaded up my etsy shop with handmade goodies, perfect for gift giving and at already great prices.  But to sweeten the deal, over the turkey holiday this week – now through Sunday, enjoy 20% off.  Just enter the code TURKEYDAY.

AND…you can also enjoy $5.00 off my Tie Tote online sewing class!  Sweet deals!!  {discount on class received via paypal refund – please mention TURKEYDAY in comments section at purchase time}

Eat turkey, be merry and SEW!