Sewing

‘No pill – ache ease’ rice pad

~ guernseyjane ~ Leave a comment

4B6C132C-48C1-43C6-BD82-315CFB9F5A0BA quick and easy sew that is very practical…

1. cut two rectangles of a cotton or fleece, any size that suits you. Hand or forehead size about 4” by 6”, neck size a bit wider, up to 12” by 8” for a big tummy comforter.

2. With right sides facing,  sew along the edges of both long sides and one short side. A small seam allowance is fine as long as you don’t leave any gaps. Start and finish 1” inch from the end to give yourself wriggle room at step 7

3. Turn right sides out and press. Fold in a half inch hem on the remaining raw edge and press.

4. Sew a straight line along the middle of the rectangle from one closed short side to the open short side, again stop 1” from the open end

5. Sew two more lines, each equally spaced between the centre line and edges so you end up with three parallel lines that form four tubes in the fabric.

6. Fill the tubes with rice that is scented with your choice of essential oils. I chose peppermint and lavender but whatever you have that will soothe and relax you. Fill to create a firm pad but don’t fill over the end of your lines. You might want to pin or clip the open end closed to avoid rice spilling out.

7. Sew closed the remaining edge closed.

I keep my rice pads in sealed bags until needed and then pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds bursts until warm then hug until aches are soothed.

Key Ring Pocket – ideal for Mother’s Day

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These little pockets fit on your key ring and usefully hold a lip balm or some pooh bags or emergency fiver. I made a bunch of them with co-ordinating tissue pockets (see post from 2015 A-tishoo! A tissue …) for a sweet little handbag accessory gift. The original idea came from Lorrie Nunemaker but I simplified her project a bit.

All you need is a piece of fabric that is 5″ x 9″ plus a 2″ square for a tab that will slide on your key ring. If your fabric is lightweight cotton interface the main piece then fold it in half  (right sides facing and iron it so you have a piece that is 2.5″ x 9″.

Sew around the open edges with a 1/4″ seam leaving a turning gap between 2″ and 3″ from the top.  Clip the corners and turn right sides out then iron flat again.

Now make your tab by ironing the 2″ square in half opening it out and ironing two sides towards the centre fold and then folding in half again so you have a strip that is 1/2″ x 2″. Sew around the four sides of the strip with a narrow seam.

fold the tap in half and push it inside the turning gap  left in your main piece as shown

Now fold the top down to about 1 1/2″ from the bottom to form the pocket

In this picture I have now rotated the fabric 180 degrees – I didn’t poke out that corner very well did I?

Now sew around the sides and top with a tiny seam allowance to finish the pocket and fix the tab in. Take it slow over the tab as it is quite bulky.

If you have KAM snaps this is the time to use them, if not some old fashioned poppers or velcro tabs would work as alternative  fasteners.

Bonus for middle aged users: the brighter the fabric the easier it is to find your keys at the bottom of your handbag!

quick and simple hot water bottle cover

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So quick yet makes such a difference…

I laid the bottle on the fabric, traced round it leaving a half inch seam allowance then cut out a matching pair of fabric pieces.

With wrong sides facing, I sewed the sides from neck to bottom before flipping fabric right sides out and sliding in the bottle.

On one version I hand stitched the bottle in permanently, on the pictured version I used kam snaps to close up the bottom. With IKEA fleece I don’t have to worry about hemming the exposed edges.

This is a huge success as it keeps the bottle water hot for longer and is nice and cuddly too. Great return on the time spent on this one.

custom pillow case

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I am ridiculously proud of this make as it really is better than bought

I couldn’t find pillowcases to go with a bargain duvet cover As I had some dotty fat quarters that would complement my purchase I decided to make a trim for some custom pillowcases.

I recycled a retired duvet cover rather than buy sheeting as this was an experiment, gosh it worked out well as the duvet was good quality cotton. I made the trim by combining strips from fat quarters, the new blade in my Rotary cutter made short work of this stage.

I followed the magic pillowcase aka sausage pillow case aka burrito pillow case technique. This sandwiches a 24″ x 40″ panel and a 12″ x 40″ panel around the 2″ x 40″ trim and encloses all the seams to make it a really nice, clean make.

The folding seems ridiculous but it does work. I watched an old Crafty Gemini video as she explains the steps most clearly to me.

 

 

Infinity scarf (twisted)

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A long standing ‘to-do’ is finally done.  It was so quick and easy I am inspired to make more.

This is another simple sew where you cut a long rectangle of  fabric – here I used some Ikea fleece which I love as it is so forgiving.

I cut nearly 60 inches long (could have done with being 70 inches for less stretchy fabric) and 20 inches wide. I folded it in half (right sides in if the fabric isn’t double sided and then sewed a half inch seam down the long side leaving about four inches and top and bottom open.

I turned it right side out and twisted the tube once before matching up the short ends and sewing the ends together with a similar half inch seam. It works because you’ve left the four inch gaps, but if you get confused there are multiple ‘you tube’ tutorials to demonstrate how easy it is.

Pull the fabric straight and then machine or hand stitch the four inch gaps together (on fleece the stitches disappear) to finish the project off.

Tip: Apparently very long scarves which can be wound round multiple times are popular with younger wearers…

 

 

 

jeans to oven mitts …

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A quick sew which turned out more rustic than planned so will be used for picking up logs and coal.

I cut around the pockets of some old jeans making four pads from one pair and trimmed batting and a fabric remnant to match.

Making a sandwich with the pockets and fabric right sides out around the batting. I then sewed the raw edge of a strip of denim binding made from the same jeans (see previous post) to  one side of the sandwich then flipped it over and sewed the folded edge to the other side.

The bulk made this a bumpy sew, so next time I will cut a bigger square around pockets and use traditional binding for a neater finish that can grace the kitchen.

Top tip: Although I have run out of insulbright I have worked out that old ironing board covers do just as good a job with less bulk…

 

 

 

Toothbrush travel cover

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Just back from a trip where my toiletries bag wasn’t quite perfect, so this cover for my toothbrush is ready for next time. It keeps the toothbrush head clean away from other items but doesn’t take up room in your bag.

I cut a strip from a bargain IKEA shower curtain, my strip was 55 cm by 10cm – this is big enough for brush and toothpaste so you could go narrower and shorter if you take a manual brush.

The short ends were each folded under by about 1 cm twice to enclose the raw edges. I then folded the short ends together and sewed a 1cm seam along each open side to make a tube

(Tip: clip rather than pin shower curtain to avoid visible pierce holes and use a long straight stitch and a walking foot to minimise slippage on slippery fabric).

Finally. turn the tube inside out to hide the seam. I used snaps to close mine but you could fasten with a hair clip or paper clip.

nb Although it looks like I boxed the corners, I didn’t. I just didn’t poke the corners out fully as the sewing isn’t super hardy on this fabric.

 

Jeans to bottle bags…

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A worn out pair of jeans is repurposed so the bottoms of both legs have become bottle carriers.

This is a quick job suitable for heavy weight fabric, such as denim. Lighter weight material will need lining. With straight leg adult jeans the resulting bag is big enough for champagne or magnums if you are feeling generous.

method

Cut the bottom of the jeans leg off.  I took 15 inches off. Cut up one of the seams so you have a rectangle 15 inches tall and the width is the circumference of your jeans leg. Mine were straight leg jeans so plenty big enough for the next step. (If your jeans are skinny, cut a further 3 inch strip from the remaining jeans leg to make your handle)

Cut a strip about three inches wide from the side of the rectangle. Turn in the raw edges , fold this strip in half and then sew down both sides to make a 15 inch long handle. Set aside.

Turn the remaining fabric so the hem is at the top then fold it right sides facing  and seam down the side and across the bottom of the rectangle. This leaves the hemmed edge open so it becomes the neat, finished top of your bag. I boxed the corners of my bag, but it isn’t essential.

Sew the ends of the handle inside opposite edges of the top of the bag. I took care to double stitch the handles in to avoid breakages.

As a finishing touch I added a heat transfer vinyl ‘cheers’.

 

Magnetic wristband

~ guernseyjane ~ 2 Comments

6439824B-416C-4B62-B868-C3C6504B21BFGreat for sewing or diy. No more dangerous pins between the teeth or dropped screws with this quick stitch wristband.

Materials

fabric about 11 by 2.5 inches for a woman’s wrist – light denim ok, cotton better

velcro, 7 mini magnets, 6x 0.5 inch strip of magnetic sheet from craft shop, glue, needle and thread

Method

Fix Velcro towards opposite corners of the fabric i.e. top right and bottom left so that when the fabric is folded the strip will fasten comfortably around the wrist, stitch Velcro in place

Fold the fabric in half, with right sides facing, to form a thin strip and stitch round the three open sides, leaving a turning gap about half way along the long side. Turn fabric right side out.

Stick mini magnets along the magnetic sheet, spacing them evenly. I used multi medium glue. When dry, slide the strip in to the fabric through the turning gap – make sure the magnets are facing up to what will be the top of your wrist band

Top stitch all around the edge and you are done.12A02BF1-0859-481A-9AF6-8A0D0859AA31