Using faux fur (or fake fur) can add a really special – and professional – look to your handmade stuffed animals and quilt. Furry dogs! Furry cats! Furry monsters! They’re all wonderful!
But fake fur is not an everyday fabric, and a lot of people feel like it must require a lot of special knowledge or skill to use it, so they avoid it. That’s such a shame because it’s actually fairly easy to use – if you know just a couple of simple tricks.
So here’s the first in a little series of videos showing you some tips and tricks for working with faux fur. This video covers the most basic basics – how to cut it out without having fur fly all over your sewing room, and how to sew it together so the fur ends up on the outside of your softie, instead of hidden inside your seams. 🙂
Here are a few more helpful posts about working with faux fur. . .
And here are some of my favorite patterns that can be used with fake fur. . .
Spot the Dog – that’s Spot made up in a fabulous scruffy grey fur in the top photo. He’s actually a dressable rag doll, so you do need to be careful when making him with fur. If your fur is too full and shaggy, his clothes will be quite tight. 🙂
When my daughter was little I made her a fabulous pair of pants. They were a super simple pattern, made of deep green velvet. What made them extra special was the pink rickrack I embedded in the side seams so the little waves peeked out between the two layers. That turned them from nice, soft velvet pants into Dragon Pants – and she wore them All The Time. Such a simple addition – and so much fun.
In this video I show you how to embed rickrack in a seam. Use it to make some Dragon Pants of your own – or add it as an easy (and sturdy) embellishment to all kinds of things.
Using rickrack this way makes a great trim at the top of a lined purse or tote bag – and it makes perfect monster teeth in lots of projects – like this tissue pack. . .
There’s no reason to settle for the bland fabric that comes on most ironing boards – making a new cover is super easy!
I loved my old ironing board cover, but it had gotten badly waterstained and really faded in the sun. Plus – I made all kinds of new sewing room accessories using the Ed Emberley Happy Drawing fabric collection and I wanted my ironing board to match. So time for a new cover!
This time I needed to replace the pad too, so it was a great time to shoot a video showing you how to do the whole thing from start to finish.
If you want even more padding, I recommend a couple of layers of 100% cotton terry cloth. A towel won’t fit the length of most ironing boards, but you can buy it by the yard at the big box fabric stores.
Here are handy links to all the posts about quilting tools and supplies.
I love making softies with fleece. It’s sooooooo soft and cuddly and (mostly) easy to work with.
I say mostly. There are a couple of things you need to be careful of when you sew with it, and I show you in this video.
Update: After making this video I discovered sewing clips. Most people use them for binding quilts but they are AMAZING for holding fat fleece together – without distorting it like pins can. If you work much with fleece – get them. You will love them.
One thing I didn’t mention – buy the good stuff. It’s called no-pill or anti-pill fleece and it costs $1-2 more a yard and is totally worth it. Some of the less expensive fleeces can start to pill after only a little bit of play and they look pretty dang grubby pretty dang quickly.
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I designed the Franklin the Fat Cat pattern especially for fleece – and that’s what you see me working on in this video. If you want to make your own you can get the pattern here.
These pattern weights are sooooooooo easy to make. Seriously. Each one takes less than five minutes. Dig into your fabric scraps and make a big batch of them for a sewing friend. This fabric (to match the rest of my sewing room) is designed by Ed Emberley for Cloud 9 Fabrics.
I’ve tried a lot of different styles of pattern weights and these are, hands-down, my favorite. The pyramid shape makes them really easy to grab, and they’re super heavy. My secret ingredient is aquarium gravel. I actually weighed all kinds of possible fillers to see which one weighed the most by volume. Gravel weighed more than twice as much as the next closest option!
Ready?
Cut a piece of fabric 6 1/2 inches wide x 3 1/2 inches tall.
Fold it so the right sides are together. Sew across the short ends using 1/4 inch seam allowance.
Turn the little tube right side out. Flatten it so the seam is running up one side. Sew across one end using 1/4 inch seam allowance.
Using contrasting thread is fun. 🙂
Fill it with 3 tablespoons of aquarium gravel. Flatten it this time so the seam is running up the center. Sew across the end using 1/4 inch seam allowance.
Careful not to spill the gravel while you’re getting it under the presser foot. 🙂
Trim up the edges using pinking shears. Not too close to the seam!
Done!
If you’re making these for a friend, 6-10 is a nice quantity. That’s enough to hold down just about any pattern.
These are really handy for more than just cutting patterns. I especially love using them for holding down the corners of freezer paper when I’m tracing applique designs.
Here are handy links to all the posts about quilting tools and supplies.
So these are the new curtains I made for my studio. I love them! And I thought I’d show you how to make them. They’re so easy.
I’m pretty particular about curtains. I hate the ones that actually block light. 🙂 I’ve made lined curtains once – for Jo’s nursery when she was a baby. They were total blackout curtains and they were totally unnecessary. I love natural light and the only reason I have curtains is to block glare. So I like curtains that are light colored, not too heavy, and that open and close really easily. I do not like curtains that have the rod threaded through a pocket at the top. They are difficult to slide open and closed – and they never seem to open all the way. I love rings like this.
They slide really easily over the curtain rod. And because they clip on – really all you have to do is make a large rectangle. Easy peasy.
First – you need to measure the inside dimensions of your window and figure out how wide you want the contrasting band at the bottom. Mine is 5 inches, but you might need to adjust that to be proportional to your window.
Now calculate the size of your pieces.
For the main part of the curtain, make it roughly 1 1/2 times the width of the window. My window is 3 feet across and my fabric was 45 inches – close enough!
Calculate the length of the main piece. It should be the inside height of the window – 5 inches (for the lower band) + 1/2 inch for the seam allowance where the main part joins the bottom band + 1 inch for the top hem.
For the bottom band, it should be the same width as the main piece. The height should be twice the height of the finished band + 1 inch for the seam allowance where it joins the main piece.
One more note. . . most people would want to cut off the selvedge edges and hem the sides. I happen to love selvedges – especially when they’re this cute. (I love this collection!)
Update – a couple of people have asked and you can still get the Happy Drawing fabric here. There are also lots of Etsy shops that still have it in stock too.
🙂 Plus I think it’s totally ok for the curtains in my sewing room to have visible selvedges. But if you want finished sides – do that now.
Ready? Time to put it all together.
Turn the top edge down 1/2 inch and press. Now turn it down another 1/2 inch and press again. Stitch the top hem in place.
Fold the bottom band in half the long way and press a nice crease in it.
Sew the top edge of the band to the bottom edge of the curtain using 1/2 inch seam allowance. Press the seam allowance towards the contrasting band.
Now turn under 3/8 inch on the other end of the band and press.
That way, when you refold the band in half along that center crease line, the bottom fold comes just a smidge past the seam joining the main curtain to the contrasting band. Like this.
Now pin it in place. Flip the whole thing over and stitch right over the seam line joining the main curtain to the contrasting band. That’s called stitching in the ditch.
And here’s what it looks like from the back.
And see? All the seam allowance messiness is buried – hidden in the folded bottom band. Neat!
Give the whole thing one more good pressing and clip it to your curtain rings. Done!
Sewing Camp last week was a huge success. I’m so glad I brought my camera and made time to snap some photos on the last day. Look at the fabulous things they made. . .
A cute bunny and some snakes in her lap – but don’t miss the silly monster on the floor near her. And that grey pillow is actually a cat pillow.
Another bunny, some snakes, a couple of skirts, a pillowcase, and some beanbags. Busy!
Some doll clothes, an owl, and more snakes!
More softies! She made a bunch of snakes and a few pillowcases too.
She wanted to make things for her pets, so that’s a dog bed and a cat toy.
That quilt. That wonderful quilt!
He was the softie-making king. That bear and bunny are for his sisters; the owl, hen and snake are for himself. Yes – that’s a GIANT version of the snake draped across his shoulders. 🙂
We haven’t had paper towels in our house for a couple of years now. Besides the environmental downsides to disposable towels (which really, probably isn’t all that bad when compared to take-out containers, excessive packaging in shipping and the oodles of other wasteful things us Americans do)… I just couldn’t bear paying money to wipe up an orange juice spill.
I have a stash of cotton crocheted dishcloths that do the job and have held up incredibly well. But I was looking to diversify.
Bring on the Cloth Towels!
I was chatting with my friend Ellen, who was experimenting with sewing unpaper towels. Ellen is extremely crafty, I usually wait until she’s done all of the hard work perfecting something brilliant, and then I jump in and give it a try (since she already knows it will work). Perfect arrangement, if you ask me!
Ellen’s unpaper towels work fabulously, so I’m going to show you what she showed me!
The Materials
The towels are made using one layer of cloth diaper fabric (makes sense, right? Absorbent and washable!) and one layer of flannel (the more fun the print, the better!). Diaper fabric is apparently called Birdseye… news to me.
The amount of fabric you need will depend on what size you want your towels to be, and how many you make. Mine are 9″ square, and I used 2 yards of the birdseye and 2 yards of flannel. I ended up with 24 towels. Ellen opted to make hers 12″ square… I think it’s just personal preference.
I recommend pre-washing the fabric (to make sure any shrinking gets out of the way) before you begin.
You’ll also need some standard sewing supplies: thread and scissors, a sewing machine (technically optional, but makes the process much quicker) and perhaps some pins and an iron if you’re the tidy type.
How to Make Unpaper Towels
I’m not a genius at sewing… so believe me when I say that these are pretty easy!
Step 1: cut your fabric
Cut your fabric into the size you want your towels to be. Remember that a little bit will get used up as seam allowance, so account for that in your cutting.
Here’s my shortcut for cutting: fold your fabric in half. Cut along the fold line. Repeat until you have squares that are the size you want! Easy!
Cut both the fabric and birdseye into squares (or rectangles if you want) of the same size.
Step 2: sew squares together
Pair up one square of birdseye with one square of flannel, right sides together. Ideally, they’ll line up perfectly… but mine didn’t. No big deal, you can trim them, later!
You need to leave a 3″ or so space unsewn, so that you can turn the towel inside-out.
Once you’ve sewn around (most of) the edges, trim any excess fabric and clip the corners.
Step 3: turn! (and maybe iron)
Turn your towels inside out. They’ll look a little puffy:
I ironed mine before top-stitching… because I’m picky like that. (I find that the ironing makes the top-stitching easier) Ellen didn’t iron… and hers turned out great, too!
Step 4: top-stitch
The top-stitching is how you’ll close up the hole that’s left from turning the towels inside-out. It also adds a tidy, finished look. I top-stitched around, about a 1/4″ from the edge:
So pretty!
Step 5: use and enjoy!
I’ve been using my unpaper towels all week long, and I love them! They’re lightweight and absorbent, and the birdseye is very slightly abrasive, which is good for wiping up stuck-on stuff.
Give it a try!
If you sew some of your own, you’ll have to report back and tell me how it went!
Give any old pincushion a good squeeze and you know what you’ll find buried in the middle?
A bunch of needles.
Seriously.
Tons of them!
Unlike pins, there are no heads to keep them from disappearing into the middle of the cushion – never to be seen again. I’ve tried leaving a bit of thread through the eye of the needle, but that just makes it messy and doesn’t help much.
So I invented a needle cushion. 🙂 It’s shallow – so the needles can’t disappear inside. It has a hard surface on the bottom so it stays flat, and so the needles can’t poke through and scratch the table underneath.
I LOVE my new needle cushion! I need to make a couple more – including one to hold sewing machine needles. I usually have a stretch needle, a heavy duty needle, a fine needle and/or a standard needle sitting on the table next to my machine at any given time.
And they’re super easy to make. I’m not even going to do a PDF for this one because there are just a couple of steps. Ready?
First – cut two fabric rectangles 4 inches wide and 2 3/4 inches tall. Put them right sides together. Using 1/4 inch seam allowance, sew it up around three sides. Trim off the corners close to, but not into, the seam allowance.
Turn it right side out. Turn the raw edges in 1/4 inch and press so you have a nice crease to follow when you do the hand stitching to close it up after stuffing.
Slide an old credit card or gift card into the sleeve. Best use of a credit card ever. 🙂
Now – pack a few pinches of stuffing in on top of the credit card. Use a chopstick or other pointy tool to get it neatly into the corners.
The button dimples on the top and bottom make it sit nice and flat.
The two colors for the top and bottom are fun.
And the rickrack around the seam?
Rickrack always makes me smile. 🙂
I’m love the Ed Emberley Happy Drawing collection from Cloud 9 Fabrics – it’s making my sewing room an even happier place. And you know I’m all about the happy. 🙂 This uses the frogs on one side, and the green scribbles on the other.
It’s an easy pattern – the hardest thing is packing in enough stuffing to make it really firm.
Here’s how to make it. . .
Materials
two scraps of fabric, at least 6 inches square
approx. 17 inches of rickrack (get the big or jumbo size – they’re easiest to work with)
lots and lots of stuffing
two buttons (I used 3/4″ and 5/8″)
sewing machine, thread, basic sewing tools
Step 1
Cut one circle from each fabric. The circles should be about 6 inches in diameter. You can measure it with a compass or do what I did – trace around a dessert plate. 🙂
Step 2
Put the two circles right sides together and sew almost all the way around the edge. Use 1/4 inch seam allowance and leave a few inches open for stuffing.
Don’t forget to backstitch at the beginning and end of your stitching.
Step 3
Turn it right side out. Press the raw edges around the stuffing opening flat. This will really help you when you’re ready to sew up the stuffing opening.
Step 4
Fold your disk into fourths to find the exact center and mark it with a small marker on the top AND bottom.
Stuff the heck out of it. I’m not kidding here – the best pincushions are REALLY hard. It gives the pincushion weight AND makes the pins slide in and out with no resistance. A loosely-stuffed pincushion tends to “grab” the pins. Stuff. Stuff. Stuff until you can’t get any more stuffing in.
Sew it closed using whipstitch. You’re going to cover up the seam line with rickrack so there’s no need to get fancy with ladder stitching.
Step 5
Hand sew the rickrack over the seam.
I take a tiny stitch at the top of each peak, the bottom of each valley, and midway up and down each hill. I do that on the top and bottom edge of the band of rickrack. Trim off the frayed ends of the rick rack and hit them with a dab of Fray-check or clear nail polish.
Step 6
Using the center marks you made in step 4, sew buttons to the top and bottom of the pincushion – pulling tight to make the pincushion dimple in at the center on both sides. This is the trickiest step of the whole project – watch this video to see how to do it without swearing.
Finished! Stick in some pins and put it to work. Then make another. I keep one at my sewing machine, one at my cutting table, and one at my ironing board. You can NEVER have enough cute pincushions. 🙂
You could even make yourself a pincushion to match your other sewing room accessories. Here are links to the free patterns for all those other projects. . .
