Want to Make: Wall Art

When we get moved into our new house, (if the weather ever breaks so they can start building it!!) I have got to make some wall art for our bedroom and my son's! Some ideas:

made from a burlap coffee sack!
cute for a kid's room
again, for a kid. These are GREAT!
I'm not so good at painting, so maybe this is a good idea
oh, Pottery Barn, how you do inspire the masses to create!
a tree...for our room, not a kid's room!
for out little boy's room.
let my little boy create his own! fingerprints and footprints!
squares
without a canvas. apparently you can buy the wood and stretch it yourself.
you don't have to paint for this one! just mod podge and scrapbook paper!!! I love this!!!


here's the actual blog post for the mod podge

Simple Fabric Cuff Bracelet Tutorial

This is a great project to try if you have a small scrap of great fabric sitting around. Also, if you wanted to practice your button hole making skills, this is for you!

Start with a piece of fabric. Mine was 3 1/8" x 10". I used some interfacing. I have no idea what kind of how large (it was smaller than the fabric!)

I folded the fabric with right sides together and then put the interfacing on the wrong side. I pinned it together.

I sewed a tube out of the fabric, leaving one end open. I clipped the pointy corners and turned the tube so right sides were out.

After ironing the whole thing flat and making sure the open end's raw edges were pressed in, I top stitched around the whole piece. Then I made a button hole.

I hand-sewed on the button and was all done! I am thinking of adding more buttons for decoration. This is pretty plain.

Stuffed Elephant Tutorial

I have another friend having a baby in March! She and her husband are having another a little boy and I wanted to make them a little gift. I had made burp cloths with elephants appliqued on them a few months ago and wanted to find an elephant pattern so I could make a small stuffed elephant.

I found the template for this elephant on this website. I did add a few ribbons to it and enlarged the pattern a bit. Mine is reversible (one side is from a repurposed towel and the other is blue flannel).

Steps for this project:
1. Print pattern.
2. Cut pattern out.
3. Cut fabric out around the pattern.
4. Pin fabric in place (right sides together) with the ribbons between the right sides of fabric.
5. Sew around the fabrics' edges, leaving a space for turning.
6. Clip the pointy corners and clip the curves so the elephant lies flat.
7. Turn the elephant right sides out. Use a pencil to poke out the spots like the trunk and legs. 8. Stuff the elephant!
9. Blind stitch the elephant's behind closed.
10. Stitch the ears onto the elephant's head.
All done!

Sewing Machine Cover Instructions

I decided to use up some more of my upholstery fabric to make a sewing machine cover. (When we get our new home built, I'll have a sewing area that doesn't involve semi-permanent takeover of the dining room table.)

These are the dimensions my cover had to be to fit my machine (it is a little more generously sized than necessary):

1 piece for the top 9" x 18"

2 (front and back) 18" x 12"

2 (sides) 9" x 12"

To begin, I sewed the front, back, and sides together first in one long strip (right sides together). I zig-zagged all my edges and then I hemmed the bottom.

Next, I sewed the sides together to make a box (no top yet!) I then carefully pinned the top onto the box (right sides together), sewed around it, and then zig-zagged to finish the top's inside edges.

All done! Make sure if you're using any type of striped or patterned fabric, you m

atch the pattern at the edges. This was the first time I had to do that and didn't meet perfectly at all the corners. Oops. Learn from me.

Stuffed Hippo Pattern

I really like hippos. I made two blue stuffed hippos awhile ago but just posted the picture, not the pattern. Here's a picture of a scrappy pink stuffed hippo I made as well.

As for the pattern, I'm sharing it now! Click here to download the pattern!