DIY: Plastic Bag Holder

I try to carry reusable bags when I remember, but, there are times when I forget. Or when my hubby has to pick up some things on his way home from work. So we have a lot of plastic bags around our house. I had been keeping them in a bag in the kitchen but I was having to take all the bags out just to get one. While we were at the grocery store the other day I spotted some plastic bag holders and figured I could just make my own! This is another project that I just used fabric scraps that I had in my stash.

 To start I took two pieces of fabric 8 inches wide and 20 inches long and sewed them right sides together. On one side I left some room at the top so I could create a space to hang it from.

Then I hemmed the edges of those pieces.

Next I stitched a portion of the top closed.

After that I just made an elastic casing, on each side, and added 8 inch elastic pieces. That's it, easy peasy, this whole project took me maybe 10 minutes to complete and now the plastic bags in my kitchen are organized! 

 

I'm linking up at:

DIY: Book Sling

 

I saw this when I was looking around on Pinterest and just knew I had to make it. All the tutorials I saw for this required that the sling be bolted to the wall. Like this one I found at Penny Carnival, which is what I based my sling portion off of.  But we rent and can't really do much to change how our place looks. So I figured out a way to put the sling up, without messing up the walls. 

To start you need to gather your supplies. For the sling you need fabric, wooden dowels, thread, and pins. For mounting it to the wall you need two double rod brackets, some sort of wall safe adhesive, and wood to act as a buffer. I used Oval Rossette fittings. 

For the sling portion I just took some fabric sewed it up right sides together, snipped the corners (to reduce bulk), turned it right side out, and top stitched the opening closed. here are some pictures to help you see what I did. 

Then once that was all sewn up I used the dowels to measure out the casing.

After I finished up the sling I started on the mounting. I took my wood piece and my rod brackets (that I got at walmart for $.97!) and put them together. If you get a different kind of bracket just attach it to the wood as you would to the wall.

Then I took my UGlu (that I won in a giveaway! Yay!) and attached it to the back of the wood. You can use any kind of wall safe adhesive just make sure that it will hold the weight of the books.

 Next I measured the space where I wanted to put the sling and "glued" the wood with the brackets to the wall. I ended up with a great storage solution and a cute addition to my girls' play space! 

What do you think would you make this? 

I'm linking up at:

and
 and

The 15 Minute Maxi Skirt

This skirt is so easy and it only takes about 15 minutes to make! 

To start I cut a piece of material, on the fold, to the length that I wanted it. In this case to my ankle, about 38-40" from just above my hips. I then measured around where I would be wearing it. For me that is just above my hips, so it wouldn't be my usual waist measurements. We'll call this measurement A. Next I measured out half of "A" across the top of my fabric. I began slowly cutting on a diagonal at the end of "A", until I met with the end of the fabric. 

Then I cut out a rectangular piece, on the fold, 10" wide and half the length of "A". Next I sewed up the edge of my long skirt piece and the edge of my waist band, with a straight stitch. 

After that I folded the waistband in half. 

Then I turned the skirt right side out and put the waist band piece on the outside with the folded edge down. And pinned it in place.

From there I just did a zig zag stitch around the top to allow for stretch. That's it! If you want to hem the bottom you can but knits don't fray and they usually end up rolling. 

I'm linking up here! 

(Mommy by Day Crafter by Night)

And I'm linking up here! 

(Crafty Cousins)

and here!

Men's Dress Shirt Refashion

My husband had this lavender dress shirt he wasn't wearing and our newly painted living room needed some color. So I figured a refashion was in order :o)

I started by cutting the top and bottom off of the shirt. If you want a taller pillow you could cut it closer under the arms. But that's not the look I was going for.

Then I just  turned the shirt inside out and sewed up the sides, leaving an opening so I could stuff it. I also sewed the button portion closed. While the shirt is inside out you'll be able to see where the two sides meet. You don't want the seam to show, you just want it to look like a buttoned up shirt.

Next I turned it right side out, stuffed it, and sewed the opening shut. I used filling from an old pillow to stuff it. So I had to really fluff it once it was all stuffed, because it was really lumpy. If you buy stuffing for it then you'll get a much smother look.

This is what I ended up with. 

You can cut the shirt to be any size pillow you want, I just personally like the jelly roll look. 

Dress Success!

I did it! And I'm so stinking excited! I made a wearable dress! This was less of an on a whim type of thing. I saw a dress online that I liked and then I drew it out and broke it down in to pieces. My dress doesn't look like the original one because I used a totally different type of fabric, and I changed a few things, but it was a great starting point.

I used a knit fabric that I found at JoAnn's on red tag sale. I'm normally not an animal print type of gal, but, I thought I could make some really cute leggings for my girls. Once I went to get it cut there was only like 3 yards on the bolt so I just decided to buy it all. Yay for that decision because now I have a new dress!

To make this dress I used some of the same, successful, techniques that I used to make my first dress. I took my measurements and measured the the space between the dress collar and where I wanted the top piece to end. Then I took my hip and length measurements. Both pieces were rectangles cut to match my measurements. The sleeves were rectangles cut to the length I wanted and the width of my upper arm. To make the collar I folded my top rectangle in half and then cut out a piece.

When I opened it up it looked like this:

Then I just pieced everything together and sewed it all up. 

I ended up cutting my collar space too big so I made a facing for it and then threaded elastic through to pull it up.

finished collar

I also added elastic to the portion just under the bust to pull it in more so it would be fitted and less bag like. I have so many ideas for cute summer dresses I just need to find the right fabric. I seriously love sewing! :o)

Working with Knits!

The first time I ever tried to sew with a knit fabric it. was. a. disaster. The fabric got all stretched out, the hem was too thick, and the thread kept popping. Clearly I had no idea what I was doing. But I didn't let that deter me and I decided to try again.

As I've mentioned I'm sewing through Brett Bara's book Sewing in a Straight Line. In her book she has a very cute cardigan that is made from, you guessed it, a knit fabric. So I went out and I found a very nice knit fabric that went really well with the fabric I got for my one hour skirt.

I'll admit I was really nervous because it was the first time I had made a top, and obviously because I was working with knits. But I think it came out pretty good. 

                                                     

Now that I've completed this project I'm actually a huge fan of knits! There are just some things that you have to do to make it successful:

1. Let the fabric move at it's own pace, you can't rush knits.
2. Don't tug on the fabric as you're sewing, that will stretch out your fabric.
3. Use a zigzag stitch or another stretch stitch.
4. Leave your hems undone if you're nervous about hemming, knits don't fray! :o)

My First Dress....

So I finished my on a whim dress. It actually didn't come out so great. But for it being my very first one, and my not using a pattern, I think it turned out well. I used an old sheet, and some fabric that I purchased to practice on. Now that I've gone through the whole process I feel confident that I can make a great dress the next time. So here are my mistakes and successes.

I started out by tracing a shirt that fits well. This was mistake one, because the shirt was stretchy and I didn't take my measurements. 

Then I traced a dress that I like the shape of so I could make this dress a similar shape.

Next I cut it out. At this point I was supper excited and I started sewing. But this whole portion was a bust. I couldn't get things to line up properly and the top was way too small. So I decided to scrap this idea. What I ended up doing was cutting the top portion off of this piece.

Armed with a much better idea and new confidence I took a piece of fabric I had and folded it in half then in half again. I then traced a t-shirt on the fold. I added extra room for my measurements. 

Then I drew on a neck line. 

I cut out the neckline and the rest of the top.

The top piece should look like this when you unfold it.

Then I matched up my pieces and sewed them together. 

Next I made facing for the neckline. Again I made a mistake here by not adding an inch or two to the length of the facing. But what I did right was measure the neck line and cut out a piece to fill it. 

Once I cut out the pieces I sewed one of the ends together. Then I folded the fabric length wise and sewed it again. 

The facing was way too big so I cut it down to 1 1/2".

Then I added the facing, hemmed the sleeves and the skirt hem. I had originally added cap sleeves to the dress but it wasn't working and the top was falling in a good position so I took them off and just hemmed it. I ran some elastic through the facing because it wouldn't lay down properly, which actually looked very cute. I also added a bow to the shoulder. I really didn't like how the dress was hanging so I repeated the steps for the facing and added it to the middle portion as a band. When all that was done the dress was too short so I added some material to the bottom to make it longer. 

Sorry I don't have pictures of this portion, at that point I was in the zone lol but the finished product came out like this... 

Happy Sewing!