Showing posts with label tutorial. Show all posts

Duct Tape, Undercover.

| Published 3.01.2013


Recently I've been taking Gertie's online bombshell dress course. It involves a lot of fitting, and she does most of it on a dress form. For those of you that sew, you know fitting or draping a garment on yourself is very hard, if not damn near impossible. So I did what many people do, and made a duct tape dress form.


While not the most flattering thing to look at, it's very true to my actually shape. I'm not going to give you a tutorial on how to make one though, the web is already over flowing with those. This is going to show you a quickly make a jersey slipcover to make the look of the dress form a bit more professional. 

Note: If you're interested in my stand, I actually slipped my duct tape form over a vintage form I had, and stuffed around it using fabric scraps and newspaper. 


You'll need
-Serger/Sewing Machine 
I'm using a serger because it trims and has a better stitch for jersey. If you're using your sewing machine you'll need to use a zig zag stitch and trim all your seam allowances. 
-1 yard of jersey, either 2 way stretch of 4 way. I used two way stretch, although 4 might have been better. 
-Duct Tape to finish the bottom
-Lots of Pins 
-Scissors

Take your yard of fabric and cut in half on the fold. Start pinning around your form. If your using 2 way stretch fabric, make sure the stretchy side is running horizontal, so it stretches out wide ways instead of tall ways.

Leave the bottom and neck hole unpinned. 



































Trim all the excess fabric around your form, this will be your guide for where to sew.







I then used my serger to serge up the matched sides. Make sure to leave the neck hole and bottom open. 
Flip inside out so the seams are on the inside of the cover. Slide over your dress form. I used a scrap of the jersey to pretty up the unfinished neck opening with a bow. I also taped the bottom of the jersey using black duct tape. You can't see it unless your laying on the floor, so I wasn't too concerned with how the bottom looked. You could also make the cover longer and sew a draw string in if you're really concerned with how finished it looks. 

Over all though I think it looks much better! 


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How I Store My Vintage Patterns

| Published 2.26.2013

I know I've mentioned my sewing pattern hoard collection before. I own a lot. Probably too many.
I'd say my collection is about half vintage, and half modern.

I just had them stuffed in a box haphazardly for a long time, which made it hard to find anything. Also it wasn't doing any favors for my delicate paper patterns. (I have some dating back to the 20's!). So I decided to do something about it.

I got an idea from the most unlikely of places, my nerdy boyfriend Brian.

Isn't he handsome? PS this is totally at epcot, excuse the hat. 

Brian likes LOVES comics. In fact, I'm pretty sure the only reason we bought our house is because he could walk to the comic store from it. 

Who loves and wants to protect paper more than sewing pattern hoarders? 

COMIC BOOK NERDS.

In fact they have very specific products to protect and preserve their comics. I guess I just lucked out that my paper product was similar in size to theirs. 

Here's what you'll need. 
\
Backer Boards & Bags

 
Long Boxes (I mean you could use the shorts, but my collection barely fits into the two long ones.)

I of course purchased these at my local comic book shop, any comic book shop should carry these supplies. 

I used the backing boards to stabilize my extra delicate vintage patterns. You can use them on the modern ones or not, it's up to you. You then put the pattern with or without the backing board into the bag and seal with a piece of acid free tape. The bags and boards are already acid free, which is awesome. You should end up with something like this. 



Easy peasy right?

Here's the entirety of my pattern collection, taking up way less room, and so much safer, than before.

 I used the backing boards, with tabs I cut from other backing board tape on them, to serve as dividers in my vintage box. I'll eventually organize the modern side into the big four pattern companies.

No pattern is safe around Taco though, his name should be paper destroyer. 

 A plus I've also found for using these comic book bags is that if you can't fit your pattern into the envelope, it's much easier just put it in the comic book bag. Better yet, for printable patterns you have an envelope to store your pieces.

I hope this helps you fellow pattern hoarders at least get your "situation" organized. Let's just all thank my boyfriend, with his nose in his Absolute Dark Knight book shall we?





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DIY Rice Heating Pad

| Published 10.17.2012


When I'm sore, cold, or sick there's just something about a heating pad. Since I'm basically queen of making do with what I have, I've been known to fill a long sock with rice and heat it up in the microwave  The rice stays nice and hot, and is easy and cheap to use.

Yesterday as I was cleaning out my sewing room, going through my huge scraps box, when an idea struck me. 

Instead of using socks, I'm sure I could scrap bust and make something a bit prettier and functional. 
Thus was born my rice heating pad. Mine ended up being the exact same side as my ipad, which works well for me. If you made yours a bit longer it could be great for using around your neck. 

It took me about ten minutes to make, which probably explains the lack of pictures. I tried my best to diagram it out for you. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. It's really simple, I promise.


Cut a piece of fabric that is going to be about an inch longer double the amount of height you would like your final heating pad to be. 



On your long sides, press the seam allowance in. 
Then Fold it in half, hot dog style, so the right sides are touching. Sew using about an inch seam allowance. Trim your seams.

Flip your pouch out again so the right sides are on the outside. Press so your seams are neat. 
Then sew channels along the pouch on the outside. Leave enough room so it's not hard to get rice in. You sew the channels so the rice stays evenly distributed, and so it can easily wrap to you body.
I used a funnel to get in my rice, leaving enough room to sew it shut. 
I sewed a double row of stitching just to make sure it was secure.


And your done. This is a handy little heating pad, and make great gifts. Now that it's getting colder, we all could use a little heat, no? 

To use, simply place in your microwave and "cook" for about a minute at a time until it reaches the desired temperature. If it's too hot, wrap it in a hand towel until it cools down. 

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Ikea Hack A Tall Hyllis Unit

| Published 10.08.2012

I have a problem about not using my vertical space. I live in a small home and should really be taking advantage of it. I'm in the middle of my mini living room makeover for fall. I got the sofa situation sorted out (read about that here), and now I'm working on the other parts of the room. 

This is the view from our new comfy couch. 

Look at that stout little shelf. It's at the same height as the TV. It gives us this huge dead space on that wall, and makes the room feel shorter. Raising the TV higher is a no go, my boyfriend is a major cinema-file and has last say on everything that is related to his viewing experience. So I turned to the shelf. It's the Ikea Hyllis   shelf. It's simple and cheap, coming in at just fifteen dollars. I use them a lot in my basement, and needed something to hold a few vinyls and my ever growing magazine collection. I just grabbed one I already owned from the basement and have been using it there for the past few months. 

I wanted a taller shelf though, but new more new furniture isn't really in my budget at the moment. Time to get a little bit crafty. I thought I could probably double up the shelving and create a taller unit. Buying another hyllis would only set me back 15 bucks, and if it didn't work I could just use it in the basement for storage. 

So I set to work. 

I assembled the second shelf as the instructions said. The I removed on shelf from each unit. 
One one the top, and on one the bottom. You won't need these shelves, so set them aside. 
You will also need to remove the screws from the shelves where the support pieces need to overlap. 

Stack them on top of one another and match the holes as best you can. I had a small issue with the hole not being perfectly round when I matched everything up. It wasn't a big deal, using a drill/screw gun to screw in the screws made it easy. 

It only took a few minutes really, and I think makes a big difference. 


In fact, a wall of these double tall hyllis might look very cool as a library. 

Now I just need to figure out what to do above the tv, maybe some art? 

Any Ideas?  

PS Sorry for the crappy iphone photos, they were kind of an after thought. 

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Sewing 101 : Envelope Pillow Tutorial

| Published 10.01.2012



Basic Envelope Pillow
Supplies
-Fabric
-Seam Gauge
-Sewing Machine
-Pillow Form
-Measuring tape/Ruler
-Scissors
-Iron/Ironing Board
-Thread
-Pins

I know a lot of my friends in real life are amazed when I sew things that I consider very simple. I thought I'd start sharing some easy sewing projects for those of you who are just starting out. Sewing machines are pretty cheaply attainable now a days. Even Ikea has a basic one for 70$! This project is a good starting place, I'm writing it with the intention that you at very least know how to operate the most basic of sewing machine functions (threading, bobbin winding, using the presser foot, and actually sewing). This can also be done sewn by hand, but it won't look nearly as professional. Either way I think this is a good beginner project. I even added some buttons to mine as you'll see at the end of the post. I'll be doing a button hole tutorial a little latter in the week for those of you that are interested.

I tried to be very detailed, let me know if you need any help with the instructions!

Read more »

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Post Labor Day Hangover

| Published 9.04.2012

I didn't get nearly as much done as I wanted to this week, in fact I only really got one thing done off of my to-do list.
I ~finally~ installed some transition strips in the living room. We installed the VCT floors last summer and I'm just now getting to it. IT was looking pretty gross, basically holding dirt, and it was starting to chip up a bit. Something really needed to be done.

Why no, I don't procrastinate. Why do you ask? 

It was pretty simple but a bit time consuming. First I cleaned up and scraped the paint off that bit of floor seeing as the transition isn't really that wide. I tried using a paint scraper but it was gouging the wood a bit. I tried a few different things until I settled on the handle of a butter knife being the perfect tool. 

Once the paint was scraped and the area cleaned I bought a few transition strips. These are actually a metal product, they cost around 8 bucks for a 36 inch length at Lowes. I cut them to fit (30 in) using a hand saw and box (which took forever, maybe it's time to invest in a power saw?) . I then just nailed them down. The floor looks weird in the pictures because I just swiffered, it dried without looking all crazy.

 I'm going to start painting the trim nice and white here shortly, after the new bedroom is completed. 

Speaking of the new bedroom, sad news on the white floor front. The poly I used ended up yellowing really really bad. So I'm in the process right now of sanding the poly off and putting at least one more coat of paint on the floor. I hope it ends up covering the yellow. You live and you learn right? Never ever ever used an oil based poly on white paint. It will always yellow. 

Just for some reference, here's the floors when we moved in... 


Thank god there's no such thing as smell'o'vision. That doom carpet might be the most cat pee saturated carpet of all time. 


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A Tangible Budget

| Published 8.08.2012



I am so terrible at keeping track of my money. So last night the boyfriend and I decided that we needed to set a firm budget, even for the fun stuff. Knowing myself I thought it would be best to keep my budget tangible. I'll be taking out the money I've budgeted for different things and keeping them in labeled envelopes. It's pretty fool proof. If I've only got 20 that week for fabric, no sale will make me spend more than I want. 

But since I have a surplus of pretty paper and labels I thought I'd make my own envelopes. I made a template for them if you'd like to make them as well! They'd make for a much prettier presentation of a monetary gift than most people are used to! 

The template is here. 

Basically all you need to do is trace and cut your desired paper. Fold all the edges in, and glue the over lap on the long sides. Then glue one of the curved flaps on top of the longer sections. To close them I just fold the top flap into the envelope. 




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DIY dropcloth rug

| Published 5.30.2012



To be honest this is less a rug and more a floor cloth. It's also one of my new favorite way to incorporate prints into my home. Oh and did I mention it's cheap? Pretty much one of my favorite DIY's of all time. For some of your time and about fourty dollars you can have an awesome new floor covering. This project could be more or less expensive depending on how much your fabric of choice costs, but since you only need around two yards I can't see this getting too crazy.

Supplies
Alene's tacky glue spray (11$)
Home depot 6x9 drop cloth (10$)
2 yards of wide heavier weight fabric, I used ikea's Stockholm print (18$)
Carpet gripper (already owned, but you can pick one up super cheap at Ikea, like five dollars cheap)
Sewing machine and thread
Seam gauge
Iron

Step one
If you plan on ever being able to throw your floor cloth in the washer, please prewash it as you plan on doing so in the future. This will save you from getting some funky shrinkage and ruining all your hardwork! I didn't use any fabric softener though, because I felt like any stiffness would help keep it from curling up. 

Step two
Iron out all those wrinkles once your fabric and drop cloth are dry. I even starched mine a bit. This will help you be able to sandwich the two pieces neatly with the glue. 

Step three
Smooth out the dropcloth and start applying the tacky glue spray. I then started rolling out the fabric, right side up and sticking it to the drop cloth, slowly removing any bubbles with my hands. I ended up using the whole can, so feel free to be liberal with your spraying. It'd be a good idea to wear a mask and do this part outside. Unless glue fumes are your thing. 

Step four
Once everything is nice and glued, give it a few minutes to set, trim the drop cloth to the edge of the fabric. Flip it so the fabric side is down and start ironing over about a 1 to 1.5 seam allowance using your seam gauge. That seams kind of big, but I think it adds even more weight to the finished product. 


Step five
Once everything is ironed go ahead and hem everything up. You can pink your seam allowance if you want but I really didn't think it was required.




Step six
Trim your carpet gripper to fit and lay that bad boy down. Stand back and admire your work.





I think I might even tack some thick felt or wool to the back of this to add some cushion, but besides that I'm very happy with it! For those of you worried about it not staying put, never fear! I did the twist and shout test, plus the crazy dog after a bath test. In my very scientific studies it moved nay once. I even vacuumed it, with my sweeper brush on, and it worked out fine.

Really theres no reason not to give this little rug a try! 

For your time, here's the previously mentioned crazy dog photobombing my rug shots.




Inspired by this tutorial.

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DIY Clothing Label Tutorial

| Published 5.10.2012

Supplies
  • Iron on transfer printer paper
  • Computer & Printer
  • Scissor 
  • Iron
  • Sewing Machine
  • Twill Tape
  • Photoshop or Other Image editing Software. 








Step One
1.Open up Photoshop, or a similar program. Select the dimensions of Letter Paper or 8.5x11 inches. Depending on your twill tape size your going to want to size your font accordingly. I used 1.5 inch twill tape. Leave enough room so it's easy to sew around. Try to fit as many labels per sheet you can.













Step Two
2. In photoshop go to the Image tab in the file bar.
Image>>Rotate Image>> Flip Horiztonal  That will reverse your image. This is basically the most important step! If the labels do not print out as a mirror image they will read backwards when applied! Before you print I recommend doing a test sheet just take make sure everything is a-okay!











Step Three
3. I found it easiest to use my junk rotary cutter* and a ruler to cut all the transfer out. Cut them small enough to fit on your twill tape!
*Please don't use rotary cutters or scissors that are for fabric! You'll kill your blades! I have a special rotary cutter that I cut anything besides fabric with! 













Step Four
4. Cut your twill tape in lengths about and inch longer than you need! Center the transfer on the twill tape and iron those suckers down! Follow the instructions provided with your iron on transfers. Peel off and marvel at how awesome you are! 







Step Five
5. I fold the ends over about a half inch towards the back, using a pressing cloth I iron them. Pin into your garment and sew around the edge! These can also be sewn on lining if you don't want the stitching to show on the back of the garment. Most of the time it's really not noticeable anyway! I make a few at a time and pin them to my IRL pinboard. It keeps the ends tucked under so I can just grab one when I'm ready! 









*For those of you worried about these tag standing up to washing; I took the dress with me on vacation, it was worn through theme parks, in the ocean, and multiple washings and dryings. It still looks great! 

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Scrap Killing

| Published 1.25.2012

Everyone that sews has scraps. Finding creative and resourceful ways to kill those scraps is one of my favorite things. Today I'm going to make Bias tape, using the continuous method. It saves so much time, because you don't have to piece together all your tape like in other methods. In fact two small seams is all the sewing you'll be doing! 



Supplies
  • Bias Tape Maker (1/2 inch version)
  • Scrap Fabric
  • Iron and Ironing Board
  • Starch (helps the tape keep it's shape.)*
  • Ruler
  • Shears
  • Marking instrument (I'm using an air dissolving ink pen, but you could use chalk or pencil)
  • Pins
  • Sewing machine
  • *optional


Read more »

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