November 17 - No Show

Well, no sewing today because it was the release of the Cities 97 Sampler! More on that later, but enjoy the sewing break!

November 16 - Banners

I've seen homemade banners popping up and I think I need one.

I set out to do this project with my plethora of red fabric and - you guessed it - some more of that sweatshirt fabric. That has sure come in handy!

I began by cutting triangles out of the red fabric. I didn't finish the edges because I wanted something simple and somewhat rustic.



Online I found some letters I printed, cut out, and used to cut my black sweatshirt fabric. I then sewed the letters onto each triangle by hand. This whole step took about an hour, but I was watching TV also so I don't know how long it would have taken me if I had focused solely on the project!



After that, I folded the top over and made 4 cuts vertically on the fold. Two cuts were placed on the outer edges and two close together in the center.



I grabbed some ribbon from my ribbon jar and strung each flag on.



Without attaching the flags permanently to the banner, I can rearrange them at a later date for other banners. This would be more helpful if I had more letters prepared, but as it stands I can now make another banner that reads "Am" or "Yam" or "Aim" or even "Film." :)

November 15 - Little Mittens!

I was given a Christmas basket a few years ago and I found it much more versatile after I pulled out the Christmas lining. That lining was the inspiration for today's project.

Using a cookie cutter, I traced the outline of a mitten onto my fabric.



I cut 2 mittens and put the opposite sides together. I had to trace one of my mittens on the back side of the fabric to make sure my thumbs were pointing in the right direction! After I lined them up correctly, I sewed along the edges, leaving the top of the mitten open. I came across some homemade stuffing (recognize the sweatshirt fabric?) and decided to plump up my mittens!



Here is a finished mitten.



Now, the tricky part was getting them to be the same size. I didn't quite achieve that, but I think they still hold some charm. To increase the cuteness factor, I pulled out my scrap ribbon jar and found some shimmery ribbon to connect the mittens.



I folded the ribbon over at the top seam of the mitten and sewed it on. It was simple. Here is the finished product!



An extension of this project would be to make a garland. My mother in law has some great garland with stars and mittens and maybe even gingerbread too that she puts along the top of her kitchen. Using felt scraps would make the garland project go quicker because you wouldn't have to sew the edges together, you could just leave them unfinished and do some whimsical top stitching for decoration.

November 14 - Shirt Bag

I had the best time making today's project! I heard murmurings from friends about a bag you can make out of a t-shirt, and with a little searching online, I found more details.

This is the shirt I chose from my scrap bin. This shirt has seen its better days. It's stretched out, shrunk in length, and the fabric is fading.



I followed the directions in the linked videos above, and look what I made!





I did one thing differently than the directions showed. I kept the neckline just like it was on the shirt. The directions said to cut down deeper on the neckline to make longer handles, but I liked the reinforced neck. I think it will make a stronger bag in the long run for all of my farmer's market finds!

November 12 - Jar Toppers

I hope to give some homemade goodies for Christmas this year, and I plan to use my leftover scraps to jazz up the jars. Here's an example...




And if you wanted to get really creative, you could cut out a small paper circle for the top and label it or write a message to the recipient.