How to Sew Fabric Appliques

Here’s my video tutorial for fabric appliques / patches. Appliques are a great way to embellish or customize a project. You can add them to bags, clothes, Xmas stockings, and more. Appliqued handmade goods make great gifts because you can tailor each one for the recipient!

If you scroll down, there’s also a photo tutorial version so you can go at your own pace, or go to a specific step.

Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel!  There are lots more tutorials on the way!

And if you have any tutorial requests, leave me a comment!

appliquetut

This tutorial was filmed using a Creative Labs Vado HD Digital Video Camera, a Canon Rebel (for still shots), and edited in Sony Vegas Movie Studio.

 

Here’s the photo + text version of the tutorial:

Read more…

What’s cookin?

All moved in and (mostly) unpacked! Party time!

One of my first projects for the new house is kitchen curtains. Maybe I should specify SEWING projects, as the non-sewing projects we’ve already done on this house are innumerable. Yesterday I drew some mockups and picked out fabric. I still haven’t decided between the two designs.

Try to look past the weird graininess- I was using picture of the kitchen from the online listings and they are teeny tiny and crap quality. But I’m too lazy to take my own, plus the kitchen has lots of boxes stacked all over the place, so it wouldn’t have been a very helpful photo anyway.

My dilemma right now is that bottom curtain – bows or scallop top? I’m kinda leaning scallop. I like the idea of the bows, but I’m scared they’ll look a little too… precious. A precious kitchen I shall not have!

I did decide on the fabric. Michael Miller’s Fifties Kitchen and Dumb Dots:

Michael Miller Fifties Kitchen

Michael Miller Dumb Dots

This was my runner up… I don’t know how I resisted the little anthropomorphic dishes. In fact, I think I’ll probably wind up using it for cushions on the Future Kitchen Bench Project I have planned.

Michael Miller Any Cup Will Do

How to Design and Sew a Slipcover, Part 1 – DIY Home Decor Tutorial

So you’ve got a perfectly comfortable, functional couch… it just looks like hell. With a custom made slipcover, no one will know what evil is lurking underneath all that handmade awesomeness!

We scored a couch, loveseat, and chair set at a secondhand furniture store when we first moved in.  The upside is that it’s the most comfortable couch I’ve ever had the pleasure of napping on. The downside is that the couch takes quite a beating, especially from our two cats. It also doesn’t help that we’re total movie and tv junkies, so we spend a lot of time EATING on it. So even though it was in Like New condition when we bought it, five years later… not so much.

I’d been thinking about slipcovering it for a while, and once Spring Fever hit me, I decided now was the time to do it.

Step 1
I decided on the fabric first. Actually, I decided on the fabric, and then I started doing rough estimates of cost and started asking myself if it was worth it. I even decided I wouldn’t make my own. I started looking at some of the “cheap” slipcover options (meaning not custom made and under $200, which was my estimated fabric budget). I liked none and all had mediocre-to-bad reviews, so I made the final decision that DIY was the way to go.

I saw a commercial a few years ago that featured two women sitting on a couch that was covered or slipcovered in a sort of crazy quilt type patchwork. I fell in love. I was initially going to cover each surface with a different print (left side plaid, right side polka dot, one cushion in damask, another cushion in stripe), but after doing a few sketches I decided to scale it back. It was looking busier than I wanted, and would have required more extra fabric/expense to do it that way. I decided I’d do the base of the couch in one fabric, the cushions in another, and the back pillows in a third fabric.

Too busy.

To choose my fabric, I did a few sketches on the computer, inserting various Home Dec fabrics I found online, until I found the ones I liked. After I sketched it out, I decided to also do the backs of the pillows in a different fabric.

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How To Make a Square Bottom Bag

As promised, the very first WhatTheCraft video tutorial is here!

how_to_make_square_bottom_bag

Check it out for step by step instructions for making a square bottom bag.

And while you’re at it, go subscribe to my YouTube channel!  There are lots more tutorials to come (including applique, inserting snaps, and t-shirt collars)!

squarebag

This tutorial was filmed using a Creative Labs Vado HD Digital Video Camera, a Canon Rebel (for still shots), and edited in Sony Vegas Movie Studio.

Lots of people ask about making different sized bags. Here are a few sizes to use as guides, but you can of course make a bag of any size with this tutorial.
(Click for larger image.)

bagsizesRemember, these are guides only! If you want to try a different size, I’d suggest making a paper pattern first. That way, you can fold up the gusset and get a better feeling for what the bag size will be like when it’s completed.