by Sherri Sylvester | Feb 5, 2016
Here’s an easy way to un-stash some of your smaller scraps, and make something useful to gift, or use yourself. These faux-mitred-corner facecloths are quick and easy, and each uses up an 10″-14″ scrap of quilting cotton or flannel. Just grab a towel from your closet or your local store and start sewing!
After a few slower ones for practice, I was able to sew up a facecloth in only 10 minutes – cutting included! There are so many uses for these – baby shower gifts, part of a Spa basket, Spa/Pool party goodie bags, kids’ facecloths…
MATERIALS:
One 8″ – 12″square of towel (8″ is baby size, 12″ is average size)
One square of scrap quilting cotton or flannel, 2″ larger than the towel
Removable fabric marker
Ruler/straight edge
Sewing machine and accessories
Exciting news today – the winner of the latest giveaway!
I’m happy to announce that Terri D has won a $40 gift certificate from Fabric Please! Hooray for Terri! So much fun to get to go fabric shopping for free 🙂
Even if you didn’t win, I hope you’ll head over to Fabric Please and show them some fabric love. Thanks so much for supporting my sponsors!
by Sherri Sylvester | Feb 3, 2016
Today I’m posting a free school-approved non-food/candy Valentine printable! (Spoiler alert for all of our neighbors!)
These supplies are easy to find, so this project comes together super-fast! The erasers were 60 pcs for $1 from Target, the clear bags were 72 for $1 from my local Dollar Store. Sewing (or stapling) them on was simple, since I needed to make more than 70 of them. And I decided to use up my almost-empty thread spools and the fancy stitches on my Janome Skyline S5. My kids happened to like the heart stitch best, so we used it a lot.
The cards are designed in 7 colour-ways. A rainbow of colours, because I have girls – and rainbows always make things amazing. #rainbowtizeeverything Plus I wasn’t sure what to do about the boys in their classes. I suppose they will live with the frilly border and girl-centered eraser choices in blue or teal green!
Make sure, when sewing paper with your sewing machine, to use an old needle and replace it right after sewing these. (You might also want to clean the inside of your machine too!)
Supplies: Small clear bags, Sewing Machine or Stapler, Thread, Small Erasers, 4×6 Photo Paper or Cardstock
Instructions: Print as many cards as you need, cut them if necessary. Place the erasers in clear bags and attach them to the cards. Write names on them and DONE!
More Valentine Tutorials, Printables & Inspiration
by Sherri Sylvester | Feb 1, 2016
Meet Teddy! This very important bear has been through a lot. Up until the moment my daughter decided he was hers, Teddy’s life was pretty standard. He sat and watched life go by and was dusted every so often. While a bit boring perhaps, it was safe.
Then my daughter took over. Now he definitely shows all the love he’s been given in the past eight years! He has patchy fur, threadbare paws and worn ears. Somewhere in him there is a hole that keeps losing those clear weighted “bean things”, but for the life of me I cannot find it. We finally hit a tipping point right before the holidays and had to put him under to fix some major structural damage.
One (very early) morning, while I was (very much) asleep, my daughter showed up beside my bed and said “Mom, look!” Bleary eyed, I looked at her holding Teddy’s body in one hand and his head in the other. Yikes! What a way to wake up!
Needless to say, I made it a priority to fix the problem before she came home from school that day. It was a surprisingly time consuming process, mostly because his head is made so it can turn. I even had to unpick his shoulder seam, harder than I thought with 8 year old fur! More than a little hand sewing and some button thread later, Teddy was back, good as new.
Some things are so important that you should drop everything and take care of them. Even when it feels like your seams are coming un-sewn and your head is falling off! If you keep your priorities straight it will all work out in the end.
by Sherri Sylvester | Jan 27, 2016
I am so, so happy to be a guest on Indiesew again today. This time as part of Coat Month! This post allowed me to move the Marmalade Jacket straight to the top of my to-do list. Plus I got to work with some amazing stretch faux leather, a new-to-me fabric I’ve been wanting to try.
Find out more on the Indiesew blog! (+ why I should not have chosen this as my first coat in faux leather!)
To say I am pleased with how this coat turned out is a big understatement. I’m deliriously pleased with how “un-handmade” this jacket looks. Every time I see it hanging in my closet I smile crazily to myself. That’s not weird, right?!
Have you made a coat or worked with faux leather before? What are your best tips? We’re listening!
(P.S. Don’t forget – only one more day to sign up for the Fabric Please Giveaway! Enter for your chance to win until midnigh January 28, 2016)
by Sherri Sylvester | Jan 21, 2016
I’m happy to have my sponsor Fabric Please! back again with news about their Thank You Thursday promotions, new arolyn Friedlander fabric and a gift certificate giveaway!
Carkai by Carolyn Friedlander
Five gorgeous prints from Carolyn Friedlander’s latest line, Carkai, are now in stock at Fabric Please! They are also going to have the Carkai fat quarter bundlesin stock later this winter. You know these are going to go fast – don’t wait or they might be gone!
Thank You Thursday!
Fabric Please has been running Thursday promotions for a while now and I wanted to let you know because they are such a great deal. Each Thank You Thursday features special discounts available for only 24 hours. They are even nice enough to let you know what the sale is in advance – so you can be ready for it.
Make sure to sign up for their newsletter so you don’t miss out. Here are today’s sales, including 25% off Lotta Jansotter – Eeek!
15% off Mon Ami by Basic Grey – Code: SAVE15
20% off Pearl Essence by Maywood Studios – Code: SAVE20
25% off Lotta Jansdotter fabrics – Code: SAVE25
You could be the winner of a $40 CDN gift certificate to use for anything you’d like from Fabric Please! Might I suggest some Carkai perhaps?!
This giveaway is open to International readers, from January 21-28, 2016 at midnight EST. Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter – and if you don’t have Facebook to sign in with, just use your name and email address. There’s a “click to enter”, no social media login entry too!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
