Simply Sew-per!

Tutorial : headboard recover

2011-08-21T12:01:00.000-07:00

We need an office space in our house. AAAAnd we don't have the room. So we decided to get a Murphy bed so we could move things around between our work-out room and our guest room and end up with enough space for a little desk. You know, the beds that fold down from the wall... We managed to find a great deal on one on kijiji.ca, but it was 20+ years old and needed a face lift. The frame had some rust spots, so a wire brush and some paint took care of that quite nicely (it's drying as I write this), but the headboard was another story...

As you can see... dated and damaged. We decided paint wouldn't cut it, so we covered it in fabric. Here's the basic steps..
Materials
-headboard (you could make one if you wanted)
-staple gun and lots of long staples (I used at least 2 rows)
-fabric (I got 1.5 m of 150cm wide, but adjust as needed)
-quilt batting (I did 3x thickness, but 2 would have been lots.)
-scissors

1) choosing fabric. This was possibly the hardest part. There were lots of fabrics I loved, but they wouldn't have been suitable for a first time. I avoided anything with lots of stripes and bold patterns because they would show too badly if I ended up a little crooked. It also had to be fairly tough to be able to stand up to being pulled and tugged during the covering process. And I wanted it to complement a beautiful quilt we were recently given that I intend to use on this bed. Make sure to buy enough extra to go around the edges. I lucked out and found one on clearance!

2) prep the head board. If you have an old one like I did, clean it up. pull staples, give it a good wash or two, glue loose bits down, paint legs if desired. Remember that you won't be able to clean it after, so do it now.

The frame's in the background!

3) Put the quilt batting on. I'm pretty sure this could be combined with the cover, but I didn't feel comfortable doing so. Leave the corners for last and start at the top, then bottom, then one side and the other side. Make sure you pull it very snug and staple on the back. For the top corners, just cut a wedge out so it's reasonably flat when you pull it around and staple it down. To go around the legs, cut straight across from the front to the back and staple away.

(my helper!)

4) Put the fabric on.
a) To do the legs nicely, start at the bottom. Staple the bottom nice and snug. Now, flip the board over so the front is up. Cut a slit on the inside (both sides if your legs are more in the middle) of the leg from the bottom up to about where the leg meets the head board. You are going to fold the piece of fabric under so you have a clean edge. I flipped the entire piece of fabric down so I had lots of room to work in. Staple fabric (wrong side up) onto the leg, about where you want it to fold over, near the bottom of the headboard. Make sure to do the outside if your legs are on the edge! Flip the fabric back up and you won't see any staples! (Sorry, I forgot to take pics of this!)

b) Staple the sides. Make sure to pull tightly. Trim and arrange neatly the fabric around the legs before you staple down.

c) Staple the top. Nothing magical here... Pull tightly and staple. When doing the corners, expect to put in a couple of staples as you pull and arrange so it looks smooth.

d) cover the back (optional). Don't worry too much if your back looks like a mess, it's probably going against a wall anyway, so who's going to see it? If you've followed my steps, you probably have alot of fabric at the top. To cover the back, just fold the edges over, trim excess fabric and staple down. Pull it fairly snug as you go.

And there you go! New headboard for about $20 and a couple hours of time!

Coupons!

2011-08-07T09:08:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to get into couponing with mixed results. The usual stuff... Some things are more expensive with a coupon than an alternate product regular price. Some things we can't get due to allergy or sensitivity. Some things I just can't find.

However, I have compiled a list of the Canadian coupon sites and made a handy-dandy download file for you. Just click this link to the
Coupon file which will take you to a site that says "start download" Press that and save it to your local computer. You can then set it as one of your home pages in your web browser. If you want to edit it and set your own user name and password information in it, you just need to right click the file and open it in note pad, make your changes, and save it.

I strongly recommend you sign up to Save a Loonie on Facebook or through an rss feed. They are fantastic about getting information out about the latest Canadian coupons.

Good luck!!

Floral Swags

2011-08-01T16:06:00.001-07:00

One of the things I've been working on is creating floral swags. The photos are never as nice as they are in person, but here's a few anyway:

Here's the steps I've used. Not really a tutorial, but general steps.
Find your supplies. You will need:
-eucalyptus (or other greenery base)
-flowers (at least 3 kinds and an odd number of each)
-filler (I use a dried flower usually)
-floral foam
-Spanish moss
-ribbon
-hot glue gun and glue sticks
-(optional) something fun like a fake bird or unusual dried thing or single different flower

1) Make the swag base. Take a piece of wire flower stem, bend it in half and bend the ends back. Shove the ends of the wire into the back of 1/2 piece of floral foam and glue into place. Cover the floral foam block with Spanish moss and glue into place, don't cover the side with the wire. It doesn't need to be perfect. Note that if you use lots of glue and moss, it may get in the way when you're putting flowers in and you'll end up cursing it!

2) Put the greenery in. Start with the longest in the middle on both sides and work out. Try to keep it balanced and don't be afraid to cut pieces so they match a little better. Use a little glue when putting them in. When using natural items like eucalyptus, ensure the natural arch is the correct direction. If it is put in upside down, it will look funny, but you won't quite be able to place why.

3) Start putting flowers in. Start with the flowers that will be the furthest out and work in. It's MUCH easier. Make sure to glue when you're happy.

4) Put filler in. Start furthest out and work in. You'll find that there will be a limited number of long filler stems, so be careful about where they're used. Depending on the filler used, there may be a right and wrong way like the eucalyptus. Try to make sure it looks 'right'.
5) Ribbon. Make a nice bow, stick it in the middle and work the ends into the flowers. It will help fill empty spots and balance out the colors.
6) Fun thing! Now is when you'd add your bird, wheat, whatever odd-ball thing you want.
7) And it's done!

A few tips:
* Flower selection is key. Some flowers just won't 'work' together, but work just fine with others. Some just look fake and awful. Price is not necessarily an indicator... Dollar store flowers can be ok if you are careful about what you pick.
* Size can vary greatly. It can be anywhere from 12 to 48 inches. So be careful when you start to ensure you get the size you want.
* It shouldn't be symmetrical. If it's too even, it won't look right. It should be a little wild to look good.
* expect it to take at least 4 hours. This will not be a quick project and it will make a huge mess.

This is one item that I will do consignments and custom orders on. I'm trying to use up alot of my stash, so if you're a little less picky you can get a fantastic deal!
There has also been some requests for me to do a seminar on how to make these. If there's interest, I'll see what I can do.

Summer!!!

2011-08-01T15:22:00.000-07:00

I know I've been slack on posting... I'm hoping to remedy that shortly. So what have I been doing instead?

Enjoying my Strawberry patch. And weeding my garden. It's a new garden, so it's pretty bad...

Completing an Introduction to Paleontology Course. We went on a field trip!

In Alberta, it is legal to pick up bones from the surface, but not to dig them up unless you have a special permit. You also need permission from the land owner to be there. However, any you do collect do not belong to you... They belong to the people of Alberta, but you can hold on to them. Here's one that I collected... It's part of a rib and the impression of another bone.

What kind of bone is it? It's from a Pachyrhinosaurus. There are two major bone beds for this animal in this region, one on Pipestone Creek and one on the Wapiti River. We went to the Wapiti River one. They are in the process of building the Phillip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum so that the public can more easily access information on this amazing find.
As a side note... I've even managed to find fossils in gravel in a path. Once you know what to look for, they're everywhere!

I'm going to get back to crafty posts soon, summer's just too short to spend indoors!

Tutorial: Boob cover.

2011-04-30T14:51:00.001-07:00

We all have one. A great shirt that is just a little too low cut to wear. Not enough to get rid of, but enough to leave it in the closet a little too much. We can stitch it or wear a shirt under it, but that's about it. I've had issues finding a shirt I like to wear under my low cut shirts and sometimes I wouldn't want the extra bulk anyway. So I created a boob cover!

Materials:
About 1 meter of 6 inch wide stretch lace.
About 1 meter of wide clear elastic.
Matching thread.

Instructions:
1) measure how long you need the lace and elastic. I made the elastic about 1/2 inch shorter than where it will sit above my boobs. The lace will need to be a couple inches longer.
2) Sew the elastic on the lace near the top edge.

3) Sew it into a tube.

Tada! Wonderful boob cover! Now I just need a black one...

Tutorial : Quiet Busy Book - Part 4

2011-03-28T11:41:00.000-07:00

Lock and Tic Tac Toe

This page is intended to work on fine motor skills (insert and turn key, put lock on ring) and have a fun game!

Materials
felt or interfaced fabric for the back of the page.
interfaced felt for the chest to hold pieces
ribbon for the tic tac toe grid and to hold the lock on the page.
ring for the lock to loop on.
felt pieces for the game.

1) prepare the "Treasure Chest" I interfaced some felt so it had extra strength and then cut it into two pieces, a lid and a body. Cut a hole in the lid suitable for the key ring. Next sew along all edges to provide extra enforcement. Stitch down on the page. Do the bottom first, remember to leave the top open! Then just stitch the top of the lid. Hand sew the ring on.
2) Prepare the lock. Securely attach ribbon to the lock and key. I tied and glued it. Tie knots in the lengths of ribbon remaining to ensure it wont' get tangled our caught.
3) Cut ribbon of suitable lengths for the Tic Tac Toe grid and sew it down.
4) Cut pieces of contrasting felt to use as Tic Tac Toe pieces.
5) When we get to sewing the pages together, don't forget to insert the ends of the lock and key ribbons into the seam of the page!

Magnet Page

This page is intended to explore magnetism and fine motor control.

Materials
felt or interfaced fabric for the back of the page.
Clear plastic table cloth (same stuff as the photo page)
Magnets
Items to go under the plastic. I put metal buttons, a fishing lure and a wooden sheep with a magnet on the back. The sheep seemed to work the best.
Ribbon
Edging material (I chose felt)

1) It is extremely frustrating and moderately ugly to sew directly on to the plastic stuff. I strongly suggest having ribbon or felt or fabric between the presser foot and the plastic.
2) Cut a square of plastic table cloth stuff 10-11 inches square.
3) Cut edging material to go around the full edge of the plastic.
4) Lay it out and sew it down on 3 sides.
5) Sew some ribbon on top of the plastic to provide a bit of a maze. I did it pretty simplistically (just two little lines), but you can be much more elaborate.
6) Insert your items and sew it shut!
7) The magnet wand needs to be made semi child resistant. How you go about doing this will depend on the magnets you choose. I piled the magnets up with glue between each layer and then tied ribbon around the whole works with extra glue. I also chose not to sew this into the page edge and just put it in the ring. That way it can easily be removed if it's damaged or deemed not to be appropriate yet.

I purposely put these pages next to each other to encourage magnet use on things like the lock.

Tutorial : Quiet Busy Book - Part 3

2011-03-20T20:16:00.000-07:00

Kitty collar page

This page is intended to work on different buckling techniques.
Materials
Felt for page or interfaced fabric. Approx 13x14 inch.
Fabric for cats. I used fleece.
Collars. One per cat. preferably different ones.
Eyes. Find sew on ones!
Embroidery floss.
Ear fabric.

1) Find a suitable template. I used this cat as my inspiration. Feel free to find a dog or rabbit or anything else!
2) Cut out your critters! Stitch on faces and ears. I just free handed it...
3) Stitch your critters down. Make sure to leave spaces to put the collars through!
4) Put your collars on!

Photo Page

Materials
Felt for page or interfaced fabric. Approx 13x14 inch.
Felt for the house. Wall, roof, something for ground.
Other decorations. I thought flowers or a sun would be cute but didn't do it.
Clear plastic table cloth for 'windows'.
Buttons for 'handles'.
Some photos.

1) Cut out your house shape, including door and windows.
2) overlay it on to the clear table cloth stuff.
3) Stitch around the the doors and windows. This will hold everything in place.
4) time to stitch it onto the background! Stitch the two sides and bottom down. Leave the top open to allow for changing of the pictures. Depending on your tablecloth stuff, you may need to partially stitch around the doors and windows to hold the photos still. Some of it is very static and you won't need to.
5) Stitch the roof down. Just do the top, leave the bottom open so it folds over the house.
6) Stitch the ground down. Cover the bottom of the house.
7) Add any embellishments. A sun, flowers, puppy, whatever you'd like!
8) Stitch the knobs on the windows and doors.
9) Put your photos in!

St Patrick's day buns!

2011-03-12T14:57:00.000-08:00

There's a St. Patrick's day potluck coming up and I thought I'd like to try something different! A bun with a surprise!

If you want to try it too, here's the basic steps:
1) after mixing your dough, take 1/3 and color it.
2) allow to rise and beat down as your recipie calls for.

3) when making the buns, divide coloured and plain dough into portions. I made 24, so 24 balls! The plain ones should be bigger than the colored ones.

4) flatten the plain portion, put the green on it and wrap. Repeat over and over...

5) cook and enjoy!

This was an easy project and I will definatly do it again. Just be careful about how thin the outer shell is or there will be a few colored bits showing. Not a big deal in my books though!

Tutorial : Quiet Busy Book - Part 2

2011-03-12T12:44:00.000-08:00

I'll do these guides to making quiet book pages two at a time. It will be a quick and easy page and a more time consuming or complex page.

Flower page

This page is intended to work on color matching, buttons, bows and creativity.
Materials:
Felt for page or interfaced fabric. Approx 13x14 inch.
Felt for 5 flowers (10 colors) approx 3 inch square.
Felt for flower pot.
Ribbon for flower stems and pot decoration.
5 buttons to match the felt for flowers.
Thread.

1) Find a suitable flower template. I used one like this
flower template.
2)Cut the flowers out. I made each flower with two similar colors, so my niece could flip the flowers over and see something different. So a light pink and a dark pink, light blue and dark blue.
3) Cut your stem ribbon and insert it into the flower pairs and stitch them together. Cut a button hole and stitch around the hole.
4) Cut out a pot shape. Stitch it together if needed. Add the decorative ribbon. The ribbon on this page can be untied and tied to practice knots and bows.
5) Arrange everything on the page and decide if it's what you like. Remember to leave more room on one side for the binding.
6) Stitch the buttons down. Button the flowers on and stitch the stems where the pot will be. Then stitch the pot down, leaving the top open so it can be used as a pocket.

I did alot of hand stitching on this page. It would be a much faster page if you choose to use a machine to put the flowers together.

Rainbow page

This page is designed to work on colors, counting and fine motor control through sliding objects.
Materials:
Rainbow fabric. I found a fat quarter that worked great!
Interfacing.
Various ribbon colours.
Various bead colours. I found a mixed pack of non toxic wooden beads at the dollar store.

1) Iron the interfacing onto the fabric.
2) Cut the fabric to size.
3) Cut 10 inch pieces of ribbon.
4) Space the ribbon out on the page so it looks good. Remember to leave more room on one side for the binding.
5) Stitch down one side of all ribbons.
6) Add the beads and stitch down the other side.

I'm a nerd, so I decided that I'd arrange the beads in order of what's in the Rainbow. The longer the wavelength, the more beads!
I made this page fairly late in my project, but wish I had done it earlier. Mostly because I discovered that I liked how the interfaced fabric worked compared to the felt. I would have done far more pages this way!

Some inspiration of similar pages (some have button wheels...):
Tidbits
simply complicated
leafy tree top spot

How to : Use Google to find Templates or Patterns

2011-03-12T10:30:00.000-08:00

For the Busy/Quiet book Tutorials, there will be instructions to "Google a suitable template" and I thought I should explain my methodology when doing this.

There are a couple ways I find templates. The first (and usually fastest) is with Google Images.
Go to http://www.google.ca/ (or your regional site) in the top, left hand corner is a "Images" link. It will take you to Google Images.
Enter your search terms. I suggest that you do several searches for your desired pattern. for example, if you're looking for a flower template, search each of: flower template, flower pattern, flower silhouette.
Scan through the results and see if something suitable comes up!

The next option is a Google Advanced search . You can access this link from the main Google page, right beside the main text entry field. The reason I suggest trying this is because you can set the File Type to a .pdf, a very common file type for patterns or templates. However, it's not as nice to scan over as the image search and will probably take more slogging through to get the results you want.

The last option is a regular Internet search. Sometimes people don't label images well or they have a great "how-to" but no pictures.

Hopefully this will be helpful to someone!

Tutorial : Quiet Busy Book - Part 1

2011-03-07T21:00:00.000-08:00

Lots of my freinds have seen my photos of the Busy/Quiet book I made my neice for Christmas and have asked for tutorials or patterns. I'm hoping to get a group of people together on the Facebook group "Simply Splendid Sew-Along" to make a set of books. Either each person makes a book or each person make several copies of a page or two and shares with the other participants. Whichever, I still need some instructions...

Step one
Decide what activites you want in the book.
Good activities include:
Buttons
Buckles
Matching
zippers
lacing
Counting
Manipulating things
Braiding
Anything you can think of that would keep little hands busy or teach a skill. Preferably QUIET activities... :D

Step two
Brainstorm ideas to accompish the goals and sketch the plans. Keep in mind that what works for one child may not work for another. A girl might like flowers with buttons, but a boy might like vehicle tires to button on and off. One might like cats, the next might like dogs. One would like a shoe for laceing, the next might like a football. Keep your mind open!

Step three
Make a supplies list and find them!
I would suggest making the pages 13x14 inches. This will leave lots of room for gromets and seams and the page. The cover should be a touch bigger.

Step four
Create your beautiful book!

There are LOTS of ideas out there... Just google quiet book template or quiet book ideas and see what comes up. I'll post the general how to for the pages I made along with as much of the source material I can find about where I saw it or where I found the templates in the next few days. Here's my pages as a preview:

Stay tuned!

Tutorial : Scrapbook album recover

2011-03-06T14:12:00.000-08:00

I've been looking for the "perfect" album for our wedding pictures for quite some time with no success. So I decided to make one and share the process here!

Materials:

plain album. Cheaper is better.
1 yard fabric. you might be able to get away with a little less.
1 pieces of fleece the size of the album.
cardboard. I used a cereal box. Ensure it is clean!
hot glue gun and lots of glue sticks. I used a low-temp, but I think hot would work better.
embellishments if desired. I used ribbon.

1) Take apart your album.

2) Cut your card board. It should be about 3/4 to 1 inch smaller than the cover.

3) Iron your fabrics and ribbons. Once it's on there it will be too late!

4) cut your fabric. You will need 2 pieces per album. 1 piece should be about 2-3 inches bigger all the way around the album. the other piece should be about 2 inches bigger than the cardboard.

5) Cut your fleece. This will pad the cover and help hide a multitude of sins. It needs to be just barely bigger than the front of the cover.

6) Now we start glueing! Start with the fleece. Trim the corners and pull it snug. run a bead of glue along the spine edge to keep it down.

7) Line up the spine edge. It needs to wrap around once. Trim the outside corners of your fabric. Glue it down on the top and bottom, leaving a little room around the spine side. Tuck the raw edges of the corners under as you glue the outside edge.

8) When doing the spine side, ensure to leave some extra fabric to make it easier to bend the corners. mark the holes for the posts. cut a small X into the fabric where the marks are. put glue around the holes (to help prevent fraying and moving) and press the fabric down. now glue it down the rest of the way. Be VERY careful to minimize the amount of fabric and glue that will be caught in any folds or bends of the cover.

9) Now we attack the piece of cardboard! glue down the top, bottom and outside edge, trimming the corners. Before you glue down the last side, size it. You should find that you need to pull the fabric to the the inside of the album a bit. So, you'll have a bit of fabric without cardboard. Figure out how much and glue it down.

10) Attach any ribbon you want. I did a simple wrap around.

11) Glue the cardboard down on the inside to cover the last of it!

12) Save some fabric to use as binding cover. I'll add some pictures of this when I get new posts, the ones that came with the album were crappy and are alreay stripped...

Yay!! Perfect for my wedding pics!

The #1 thing to be aware of is the bulk in the folds of the album binding. I wasn't and it probably won't close nicely on it's own. I'll probably add ties of some sort so it stays closed.
So, go out and give it a try!

Simply Splendid Sew-along - project1

2011-02-19T16:12:00.001-08:00

I chose to do Butterick 5354. It's a top with darts in the front and it's rated Very Easy. I chose a fairly heavy knit in a dark grey.

So, how'd it turn out?

I'd say it's wearable. Next time, I'll try a thinner fabric... this one's a bit thick.

Since I didn't know how to do understitching, I found this video helpful:

What I did last weekend....

2011-02-19T11:37:00.001-08:00

Last weekend I did a little scrapbooking... Still working on stuff from the wedding.

And what am I up to this weekend? I'm working on my project for the Simply Splendid Sew-Along. We've got a group on Facebook and our first project is a simple top for yourself.
Here's what I'm going to make:

Tutorial : Reusable Shopping Bag

2011-02-06T19:36:00.000-08:00

Reusable shopping bags are gaining in popularity. Some stores don't supply bags any more, making them a necessity. This isn't the largest bag, but it is much tougher than a plastic one and can hold quite a bit of weight. It can also be folded up quite small and put in a purse.

This is a "use what you have" sort of project. Make it bigger or smaller, depending on the fabric available. Make contrasting handles if you don't have enough of one kind. It's a great way to use up left overs, particularly for the quilters out there!

Materials: Non stretchy fabric approx 24 x 36 inches.

Coordinating thread

Sewing machine

Iron and ironing board.

Scissors

Makes life easier if you have measuring tape and pins.

1) Pick a piece of fabric. I found a piece from a project from many years ago. You'll want a piece about 24 x 36 inches. Try to find a piece that isn't too stretchy, is easily washable and is moderately tough.

2) Iron and cut to size. These are suggested sizes... To make a bag that's similar in dimensions to a plastic bag, bag should be about 19 inches tall and 18 wide. Handles should be up to 5 inches wide and as long as the bag is wide. If possible, cut one long piece for the handle and cut into two handles later. It will make some of the middle steps much easier!

3) Iron the handles lengthwise, good side together. Since I'm paranoid about strength and functionality, I leave the bag good sides out for the first seam. Sew the handles lengthwise and sew the bag together. Make sure to leave the top open!

4) Turn and iron the handles right side out. Trim the seams on the bag. Turn the bag wrong side out and iron.

5) Sew the bag again. You will now have a double seam with no raw edges that is very hardy and prevents fraying. I don't bother on most projects, but this type of item kinda calls for it.

4) Sew along the handle to provide strength and stability. Depending on the width of the handle will determine how many times to sew it. For my 2 1/2 inch wide handles, I did 6 times. Start on the outside and work in.

5) Cut the handles to length. Iron the ends over about 1/2 inch.

6) Prep the hem on the bag opening. Fold over about 1/2 inch, press, and again about 1 inch and press. Your hem will be 1 inch and have no raw edge. Sew it up!

6) Final step! Sew the handles on. Place them on the inside of the bag about 1/3 of the way (4 inches in my case) from the edge. I sew a square and then put an X in the middle. Start at the bottom (ensure to sew the turned under edge), make a square around the edge. Sew one diagonal, then across the top and the other diagonal. Make sure to match the two sides of the bag to each other. If you're more careful than I am, you should be able to match the bottom line of stitching with the stitching on the hem for the opening

So, was this easy to follow? Do I need to add a picture or two?

First!

2011-02-06T17:44:00.000-08:00

I'm Tracy and here's my blog. I want a way to keep myself motivated in my crafty pursuits, so I figured a blog might help. I want to post projects, ideas, reviews and tutorials. My ultimate goal is to learn to sew clothing for myself. I find off-the-shelf stuff doesn't quite fit right.

In my off-blog life, I'm a database administrator (AKA total nerd!), am married to a great guy and we have a dog.