Fabric Luggage Tags Tutorial

Here’s a way to use up scraps of fabric to make something every traveler will appreciate.
What you will need:

• Two pieces fabric for front and back of tag 4 1/2” x 2 1/2”
• Fabric for strap 2”x 14” (or you could use a ribbon)
• Timtex or other heavy weight stabilizer 3 1/2” x 5 1/4”
• Clear plastic vinyl 2 1/4” x 4” (Fabric stores sell this, but I cut up a vinyl blanket bag)
• Cardstock for name/address 2” x 3 1/2”
• Sewing machine foot for sewing on plastic

For my machine, I used a Teflon foot. Your sewing machine dealer will have a recommendation for your machine.  My regular sewing foot was not cooperative.
Make the strap by folding the 2”x14” strip of fabric in half lengthwise. Press a crease and open, then fold in both side edges to meet in the center and fold again. Stitch close to the edge on both sides.  (You could use a 14” length of ribbon.


 


Attach your specialty sewing foot to your machine and stitch the plastic around the two sides and the bottom.



Remove the specialty sewing foot and attach fold the strap in half and stitch to the right side of the fabric at the top of your tag. The open edge of the pocket will be below. So you don’t sew over the strap when stitching front and back sides together, tuck the end of the strap into the vinyl pocket.



With right sides together, stitch around the two sides and the top, leaving the bottom open



Turn right side out and use a chopstick or other tool to get your corners sharp
Insert the piece of heavy weight stabilizer into the tag through the open bottom and tuck in the back and front of the pocket to close and conceal.



Topstitch all the way around your tag about 1/8” from the edge. (Pull strap out of pocket before topstitching the top)



Personalize the cardstock and insert it into the open pocket. Here; the ones I made this morning.



Other uses:

• Gift tags for packages
• Place cards for holiday gatherings
• Place cards for wedding reception tables.

What’s not to love about this easy project!

Four More Projects for Handmade Holidays

This past weekend the youth at our church had a lock-in. Part of the event was making some items to sell at a Christmas bazaar.  I had four projects planned, coasters, luggage tags, gift pockets, and decorative gift bags. Many of them had never operated a sewing machine before, and I was excited to see them learning.





Here are some of the finished products

Handmade Holidays—e-reader covers

Here’s a project that’s simple and adaptable to a variety of fabrics and techniques.


The pattern is sized to fit the Nook and Kindle e-readers. The pattern could be easily adapted to make an iPad or smart phone cover. I used this tutorial which I found to be an excellent guide. For the two top bags I used fusible fleece and did not do any additional quilting. I also adapted the pattern to add an interior pocket in case the user wants to carry it as a clutch.

The one at the top used a piece of fabric a friend gave me. She purchased at a screen print factory in Hawaii in the 60’s. The fabric was luscious. It will be a gift for a woman who is taking a round the world cruise in January. I had never made a yo-yo before, but the bag told me it wanted it (see below).

The second one is made from a recycled  pair of jeans and a scrap of batik fabric I just loved.

The bottom one is made from a piece of hand stamped batik from Mali. I purchased it at a French Connections, fantastic fabric and art store in Pittsboro, NC.  I quilted it using a pieced scrap of wool batting and a metallic thread. I made an extra one to keep for myself and use as a clutch handbag.

For the closures I used a new to me product, fusible Velcro. Lazy Girl Designs has a product review here. I echo everything she says, the product is fantastic. The only down side is that it takes 90 seconds of heat application with an iron at the hottest setting to fuse to the fabric. I recommend using  press cloth to avoid scorching the fabric. Ask me how I know…the yo-yo. When accidents happen, embellish, embellish, embellish.

Flat iron caddy

I found this idea posted from this website listing easy DIY projects.



I needed a project some novice sewists and this looked simple and practical. Indeed it is, but finding the cute pot holder presented a challenge. I found some I liked for $6, but I needed a less expensive option. The ones for less had undesirable kitchen images, like roosters and cooking pots. Then one of my brilliant sewing companions suggested using one of the kitschy ones and sewing the edges so the design was on the inside.

Off to Dollar Tree where I found them at two for a dollar. But how to embellish, they looked so plain.
I pulled out my scraps of fabrics that had been fused to Wonder Under, and started to play.
Here are two samples, one was turned inside out and fabrics were fused and stitched, the other used a larger piece of fabric which I fused right over the image, then did a zigzag stitch with variegated thread around the edge. 

 

Glasses case anyone?

Serger Envy

My sister bought a new Baby Lock serger that does the wave stitch, and I am jealous. Not jealous enough to actually purchase one, because I have a wonderful Huskylock 936, but I’m just sayin…

I went with her to her serger club where everyone had one of these fantastic self threading wave machines. My envy dropped a little bit when most of the women in the class had trouble threading their machine, changing needles, etc. but I digress. My sister has never owned a serger before and has had this serger for less than a month, and here’s what she’s done.

Here’s the black and white ensemble. She made the skirt and refashioned a black tee from her closet by cutting off the hem, and adding a black and white wave stitch to the neckline, bottom hem and sleeves. The hem of each of the skirts she made are finished just using the wave stitch.


Next up a fantastic multi-color skirt


She made the skirt, then refashioned a blouse by cutting off a white camp shirt from her closet and adding wave stitching to the sleeves and the new shortened hem.
Here’s a combo made from Robert Kaufman’s Stockholm fabric she didn’t cut off the tee from her closet, but did add wave stitching at the sleeves…and made a tote too! Brava!

And the winner is…

Nancy who commented: “Cute bag just right to store all manner of treasures. I like the colors you chose. I'm a follower. Going to check out the pattern, too. Thanks for the opportunity.”

I’ll be sending this bag to Nancy as soon as she emails me her address.

If you missed out on the bag, here’s the tutorial to make one for yourself.

Thanks to all of  you for your kind and generous comments.

Drawstring Bag Giveaway

It’s time for a giveaway. Patti Wagon and I are having a giveaway for patchwork drawstring bags. By following the contest rules on this blog, you can win this bag, then head over to Patti Wagon for a chance to win a different drawstring bag.
The bag on this blog measures 11” wide by 13” tall and has an interior pocket. The ties on the drawstring are long enough to go over your shoulder, but can certainly be replaced. For directions on how to make one, click here.

Enter a comment on this site for one chance to win. As one of my followers or as a new follower, you'll get another chance.  To my readers who know me personally, you have to make a comment on this blog. Although I'd love to hear from you, sending me an email, text or phone message won’t give you a chance to win.
The contest will end on Saturday, August 25 at noon Eastern daylight time.  The lucky winner will be selected by random drawing posted here later that day.  If your name is selected, you have 48 hours to respond. If the winner doesn't respond with a mailing address, I'll pick someone else who then has 48 hours to respond.
Here’s the bag you can win at the Patti Wagon blog.
 
The fine print: Comments with inappropriate content or comments from spammers will be removed at the discretion of the blog owner, and will not be eligible to win. Prizes will be mailed by USPS. I will not be able to send a package outside the continental US.

I love Threads!

I am a quilter. I love quilt shops, I love fabric, I live quilt shows, I love to make quilts, but what I really love to do is machine quilting. And for that, you have to have quality threads.

This Sunday was youth Sunday at our church, our associate pastor wanted a colorful stole for the event and one of the women in our wrapped in love group made a gorgeous stole for her. The fabric she chose is a “cheater fabric” from Malka Dubrawski’s Stitch in Color line. The patchwork and stitching lines are printed on the fabric. My challenge was to quilt it such that the new quilting lines didn’t interfere with the printed lines. The friend who made the stole suggested meandering quilting with gold metallic thread.



I used Superior gold metallic thread in the needle and tawny WonderFil from their Invisafil line in the bobbin.

 

I could not have been more pleased with the thread. I’ve been using Superior threads for a long time. Their metallics are in my opinion, the best available. The company suggests a 90/14 topstitch needle, and a tension setting of 1. I have never found the need to dial the tension lower than 2.5, but that is something you would need to try with your machine and the specific quilt. I always do extensive testing for top and bottom tension before beginning a project.

Wonderfil brand thread is fairly new to me, but their Invasifil line is fantastic. It’s a 100 wt. poly thread that is about the thickness of human hair, maybe even cat hair. It’s strong,  and it is perfect for the top or bottom of your quilt when you only want the quilting design to show. When you use it in the top, you would want to use a 60 or 70 needle. I also used Invisafil when I hand stitched the binding to the back of the quilt.

It’s a joy to quilt when you can just sit and stitch and not have to worry about shredding thread and tension issues on the back of your quilt.

Summer’s Bounty, part 3

Last stop on the summer preservation tour, ripe tomato catsup.
This is different than the red stuff you squirt on a hot dog at a picnic. It’s chunky, spicy, and oh so delicious. I’ve been making this for years, but it recently joined others in my family in making it part of tomato camp. For the past seven years, my daughters have met at their aunt’s home to have a tomato canning marathon. I joined them a couple of years ago, and it’s lots of fun but a tremendous amount of work. We canned salsa, pizza sauce, chopped tomatoes, catsup, and gallons of juice. This year’s count was 275 jars of assorted product totaling  33.3 gallons.
I didn’t get enough catsup for gift giving, so I’m making some today.
You can use any variety of red tomatoes, but I prefer Romas because they are so meaty. I bought 5 dry quarts of Romas at the Farmers’ market.

Here’s the catsup recipe
1 peck of ripe tomatoes*, peeled, seeded and ground*if you are not into the bushel/peck measurement system, 3 quart jars of peeled, seeded, chopped tomatoes is just about right.
2 tablespoons of cinnamon
6 onions, ground
2 teaspoons allspice
1 tablespoon ground hot pepper
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups vinegar
2 pounds brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
To facilitate skinning the tomatoes, drop them in boiling water for a few seconds.

The skinning is easy, but the seeding is labor intensive. It’s a lot more fun to do it with friends or family.
After the tomatoes are skinned and seeded, grind tomatoes and onions using a vintage food grinder


Don’t have a vintage food grinder? a food processor will work just fine. Be sure not to process too much, you want the finished product to be chunky. You may want to grind the onions and tomatoes separately as they will process differently.


Drain ground tomatoes and onions for about an hour, then mix in other ingredients. Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer at least 40 minutes until thick.  This recipe will make about 7-8 pints

No need to use a pressure or water bath canner, just fill clean hot jars with the catsup, screw on the two part lid and wait for the ping that indicates the jar has sealed. Patti Wagon describes the process here. She’s making salsa, but the process is the same for the catsup.
Ready! I found some 4 oz. jars; just perfect for a sample.

How do I  use the catsup?
On home grilled hamburgers, my favorite way!
Meatloaf. Make this humble entree sing by adding a dollop of catsup to each serving. Tom’s favorite way! Hmm. need to make some meatloaf for him
Pour over a block of softened cream cheese when you need take an hors d’oeuvre to a party. The hostess would love to have a jar as a gift.
Enjoy!

Summer’s Bounty, Part 2

Next stop on the summer preservation tour, peach honey.
I have often said that if I had to live on just one food, it would be peaches. I love them any way they are prepared. If you can still get peaches at your local farmers’ market, here’s a recipe for yummy peach honey.
I went from this step

to 14 half pints of delicious peach honey

By following the directions at the Patti Wagon blog.
Other than giving it to friends, here are some of the ways I plan to use it.
Mix with mayonnaise and a bit of curry for a chicken salad dressing, yum, add red grapes and slivered almonds
Glaze grilled pork or chicken
Use as a topping ice cream or pound cake..add rum
Add to Dijon mustard and olive oil for a honey mustard salad dressing
Pour over a block of cream cheese and serve with crackers

If you still have some fresh peaches left over, make this salad for dinner
1 cup sliced peaches (if you don’t have peaches, use melon)
1 cup chopped tomatoes, any variety
1 avocado cubed
1T olive oil
½ lime, juiced
Salt and pepper
Combine all ingredients and toss until juices combine

Summer’s Bounty, Part 1

Preserving the fruits and vegetables of summer is a family tradition. I have always had a garden, sometimes large enough to grow a lot of produce, other times just a pot or two of herbs. In our current house, we have not been successful in growing tomatoes, but our herbs are doing well.

First stop on the summer preservation tour: Pesto

I don’t make pesto by any of the recipes that call for pine nuts and parmesan. As delicious as that sounds, I use pesto in a variety of ways and may not always want those ingredients. You can always add them at the time you prepare your dish. (Think pasta tossed with pesto, walnuts and parmesan cheese)

Here’s how I do it

Snip, wash, and dry the basil in a salad spinner. Pick the leaves and shoots off the woody stems Stems smaller than a coffee stirrer are good. Buds are good, but don’t use the flowers. And don’t put any brown shriveled leaves in there.





Pack the basil leaves into a 1 quart measure, and put in a food processor along with 6-8 cloves garlic. Start the processor and add olive oil as the processor whirls. Stop occasionally and scrape the sides. Add more oil as needed. Your goal is to have a product about the consistency of hummus. It will be a beautiful green shade. Spoon into small jars, cap and freeze.  If you want more explicit instructions, click here, just remember I skip the parmesan and pine nuts. When I want to use it, I put one of the jars in the microwave for 20 seconds or so and scrape off what I need and refreeze. You could put it in ice cube trays and freeze. The amount pictured below was made from four quarts of basil. I use it as an alternative spread for pizza, I add a couple of tablespoons to vegetable soup, I add it to omelets, I stir it into pasta. It makes a fantastic sandwich with tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. (especially yummy when grilled on a George Foreman grill) You can add more oil and drizzle it over fish or chicken. It makes everything taste so fresh and wonderful. Click here for an abundance of ways to use it.

Technorati Tags: Pesto,Recipes

Refashioning Part 2

OK. consider me hooked on refashioning. I was clearing a few things out of my closed yesterday and found a dress I purchased a few years ago. It’s a great color and weight for fall in Florida. I wore it a couple of years, but it was a little short. It was fine when I was standing, but I found myself tugging at the hem when I was sitting.

Before

The chop

Note to self…pay close attention to where the tab of the zipper is located before cutting. I could have saved myself some time had I not had to put in a new zipper.

After

Refashioning

Of late I have become interested in refashioning, the art/skill of making something new from something previously unusable.
In a previous post I pictured my daughter of the blog Patti Wagon and her transformation of Lilly palazzo pants into a fun summer dress.

The refashioning continued with a top and purse from another discarded Lilly dress. You can check out her blog for how she did it.




And while in Kentucky, my niece showed me a purse she had made from three pairs of old jeans. Two years ago she spent a few days with me learning how to sew. Her projects were among the first I blogged about. I'm impressed with the ways she used the elements of the jeans, the hand stitching and the embellishments.


Here’s the back
 

She's sewing with a Singer 237 I found at a thrift shop. Great Job!

Spelling Lesson

Image from a men’s room on a recent road trip

What I’m Reading

It’s been a long time since I have had a reading post, so get ready for some one or two sentence reviews.

Once Upon a River—Bonnie Jo Campbell

A beautiful lyric book by a great story teller. It’s a coming of age book rolled into a gorgeous account of river life. Highly recommend

The Tiger’s Wife—Tea Olbrecht

This is a difficult book to categorize. It’s fantasy and fictionalized history with strong human and animal characters. Highly recommend

The Girl in the Blue Beret—Bobbie Ann Mason

The history behind this story was very interesting. It’s about how the Belgian resistance helped downed Allied pilots get across the European continent to safety in Spain and one pilot’s efforts to rediscover and thank those who helped him.

Buddha in the Attic—Julie Otsuka

The second person plural narration took a bit of getting used to, but it covers the period of time from about 1925-1945 when Japanese women came to the US to marry. Their lives were not what they expected to say the least. Recommend

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter—Carson McCullough

This is a masterpiece of southern literature. The writing and story are superb. It is hard to believe that the author was in her early twenties when she wrote it. The characters are perfectly drawn. Highly recommend

Shanghai Girls—Lisa See

This is the first of the two books about the Chinese American sisters portrayed in Dreams of Joy. It chronicles their early lives in Shanghai and their emigration to the US. An easy summer read.

Sex on the Moon—Ben Mezrich  is the more or less true story of the NASA intern who stole 800 lbs. of moon rocks from a lab in Houston. Good listening while traveling.

Treasure Mountain by Louis L’Amour and Void Moon by Michael Connelly are pure adventure. One is a western, the other a crime novel. The only change is the characters and setting. Easy summer reading or travel books.

The Uninvited Guests—Sadie Jones

I think this review sums it up: Downton Abbey meets Twilight Zone. I did not like this book many others loved.

Our Man in Havana—Graham Greene

Set in Cuba in the last year of the Batista regime, this book chronicles the story of a vacuum cleaner salesman who becomes a reluctant spy for the British. It was funny and enjoyable.

Homer and Langley—E.L. Doctorow

The story of two brothers who become recluses in their once fashionable 5th Avenue home.  Homer is blind and the over the 50 plus years of the story line, his brother Langley sinks ever deeper into mental illness. It is loosely based on the true story of the Collyer brothers chronicled in the book Ghostly Men by Franz Lidz. If you like E.L. Doctorow, you will like this book.

Best of the Bunch

Once Upon a River, The Tiger’s Wife, and the Heart is a Lonely Hunter.

Upcycling

Although I have never been a regular Project Runway viewer, I am fascinated by the process, particularly those that involve transforming an existing garment into something else (usually for the better.)

I picked up some vintage Lilly Pulitzer wide legged pants at a thrift store last summer. I loved the fun alligator print. I wore them once, but they were not particularly flattering, so they were moved  from my closet to a bin in my studio for sewing project.

Enter, Patti, the reckless seamstress. I was never able to pin her down long enough to teach her to sew when she was growing up, but she has flair and since she never learned the rules she is absolutely fearless. She says she hears Tim Gunn inspiring her to “make it work”

Here are the before and after.

Check out her blog for step by step of how she did it. Other refashioning projects coming soon.

Sewing camp finals

Salina came today for her last session with plans to make a backpack. No lunch bag for this fashionista. I found the instructions from a Martha Stewart blog, and just happened to have some orange nylon. We did alter the pattern to add an interior pocket. She did a great job! We are already making plans for next summer’s camp.