Piano Key border--a Brief Tutorial

For years I have looked at “piano key” borders on quilts and thought there was no way. It looked like way too much sewing. But I wanted to widen the quilt top in my last post and I only had some strips left from my stack of fat quarters. So I decided to finally try making a piano key border. It’s actually really easy!

I wanted fairly narrow keys, so I cut 2 inch strips the width of the fat quarters. That gave me strips 2 x 20 inches. As you can see from the photo above, I sewed 10 of these strips together.

TIP: if you cut strips 40 inches wide (a full width of fabric) or use a 2 1/2 inch strip set, sew the strips together starting the seam at the opposite end of the strips from where the last one started. This will help keep the strip set straight. There is a chance they will start to develop a slight curve if you start each seam at the same end of the strip set.

Press the seams all in the same direction. Then cut the set of piano keys the width you want for your quilt. I chose 4 inches. That gave me 5 strip sets from my 20 inch wide strips.

Cutting a set of piano keys for a quilt border from a strip set

I’d recommend keeping the number of strips you sew together in you wide strip set to under 20 inches long. I think cutting the piano key sections will get really unwieldy if you have a very long strip set. Make a couple of sets rather than one super long set of strips.

Sew you cut piano key strips together end-to-end to make the border. Cut to the length needed. Attach the border to the quilt and press toward the body of the quilt. If you have really light colored quilt and are worried about the seam from the keys showing, add a narrow border between the quilt and the piano key border as I did in my quilt shown below.

Have fun! This is so much faster and easier than it looks!

Piano key border on a quilt top

Making Leaf Peg Dolls: A Tutorial

If you have leaves to trace, it’s not hard to make leaf peg dolls like those shown above. This is a tutorial you can follow to make your own!

NOTE: These peg dolls are intended to be used for decorations, not as toys. They should NOT be given to any child under age three, as they have small parts which are a choking hazard.

Supplies:

• Wooden peg dolls. Medium to large size. They need to be large enough that the leaf you are choosing to trace doesn’t overwhelm the doll.

• Leaves, acorn caps which fit your peg dolls head if using oak leaves (acorn caps are optional)

• Wool felt

• Non-toxic watercolor paint

• Beeswax polish

• Markers

• Wool roving, pearle cotton embroidery thread and a sewing needle with a large eye if you wish to make the crab apples

Making the leaf peg dolls:

• Make patterns for the leaves by placing them on a sheet of paper and drawing around each leaf with a pencil. Leave enough room between them so you can cut out each pattern.

  If making a crab apple, be sure to give the leaf a stem.

• Using the paper pattern, trace the leaf shape onto a sheet of wool felt.

• Cut out the leaves. You may leave them plain, or draw the veins on them with a fine tip marker.

• Paint the peg dolls to match the leaves you just cut out. You can paint the entire peg a color, or leave the face unpainted. Allow to dry.

• Once the peg dolls are fully dry, seal them with beeswax polish. Allow to rest overnight. Then polish with a soft rag.

• Assemble the leaf doll by applying craft glue down the center of the leaf. Put the peg doll down on the glue and press firmly. Allow to dry.

• For the crab apple, just apply glue to the stem of the leaf and attach it on the back of the peg at the neck.

• Add facial details with a marker if desired.

• Your leaf doll is complete!

• To make the felted crab apples, you will need some red or yellow wool roving.

• Pull off a small wisp of roving. Tie a knot in one end. Now roll the piece of roving into a little ball shape.

• Wet the roving ball with hot sudsy water. Rub it firmly, around in circles, between your palms, as if making a clay ball. Continue wetting and rolling until the wool is a tight little ball.

• Drop the wool ball in the soapy water until you have made all the balls.

• Allow the wool crab apples to dry.

• Cut a piece of pearle cotton thread about 6 inches long. Tie a knot at one end.

• Using a sewing needle with a large eye, thread the pearle cotton on the needle and run it through the center of a felt crab apple. Repeat for all your carb apples.

• Take 3 completed apples and tie them around the neck of the peg doll. Trim off the extra thread.

Enjoy your new friends!

Free Motion Quilting a Christmas Tree: A tutorial

I just finished quilting a Christmas quilt. Half of the blocks were pieced 8 point stars while the alternate blocks were 8 inch squares. That’s a lot of negative space in a quilt. For days I thought about how I was going to quilt this quilt. Finally one morning I had a thought. Christmas trees and quilted feathers are essentially the same. Except instead of gradated curves, the Christmas trees have gradated, boughs. I’m not confident about quilting feathers but the tree has straight lines and sharp angles and that seems a lot easier. At least to me!

I quilted all my Christmas trees freehand, so each tree, though similar, is unique. However, by marking the block being quilted, trees can be free motion stitched to be almost identical.

How to Free-Motion Quilt a Christmas Tree

• If you want to mark the points of the tree with dots, draw a template of a tree and cut it out. Place it on the block and mark the bough points and top of the tree with a chalk pencil or other marker which will erase. (See point dots on diagram below).

• Start with tree stand, at the point that will be the middle of the top of the stand. Stitch out a rectangle (or any other shape you like), ending at the top center where the stitching started.

• Stitch straight up to the top of the tree to create the trunk. Stop. It is important to stop at all the points. That insures a sharp corner. The point is more likely to look blunted or have a slight curve if you carry on stitching without a brief stop.

• Stitch down to the level of the first bough. I stitch the left side first, but you may fee more comfortable stitching the right side first. Whichever direction feels comfortable is the way you should go!

• Stitch straight inward toward the trunk but stop before you get there. How wide a gap you leave is up to you, and will depend on the size of your tree.

• Continue stitching all the boughs on that side. At the bottom, stitch straight across to the opposite side and stop.

• Stitch up the tree to add the boughs on the second side. This may feel a bit more difficult because it is harder to see where you are headed. Take your time. Stop as needed and peak ahead to make sure you are on the right track.

• Stop at the top of the tree. You can end there, as I did in my diagram, or stitch a straight line down the tree to create a solid trunk. Either way is fine—it’s your design choice. Or, if you are stitching multiple trees on a quilt, you can stitch off the tip of the tree and loop or meander your way to the next tree.

• You’ll do your best work if you can relax and have fun doing free motion quilting Christmas trees!

• TIP: It helps to practice free-motion by drawing the designs multiple times until you feel comfortable and have created some motor-memory in your hands. Because you quilt with your hands, not your fingers, hold your drawing tool in a fist, rather than using it as a pencil. It really helps to do that. You can draw on paper but I love using a child’s erasable doodle pad. See below.

• See my post on free motion quilting from October 24, 2019 to read about how to set up your work space and sewing machine to do free motion quilting. To see more posts with examples of my free motion quilting, type Free Motion into the search bar at the top of the page.

I didn’t see this exact Fisher-Price® doodle pad when I looked for it, but there are lots of other options available from a number of toy manufacturers.

Notice: This blog is not monetized: I do not use affiliate links. When there are links in a post, they are to give credit to another creative person, because I like or have used a product, or to help the reader easily find supplies for a project.

DYI Easter Basket Made From Recycled Shipping Supplies: A Tutorial

Last week I received a package from Target with some fragile items which were wrapped protectively with honeycomb shipping material. And the next day I got a package with crinkle cut paper used to keep the items from shifting around in the box. I’d saved the honeycomb paper because it intrigued me. Now I had two items which looked like they would play well together. The wheels in my grey matter started to spin!

Shipping supplies

The honeycomb packing reminded me of a bird’s nest. I thought about cutting it in strips and braiding it. Doable, but seriously, way too complicated. When I picked up the paper and starting handling it, I realized that simple folding would get me what I wanted.

Here’s how you can make your own basket.

Making a Paper Bird’s Nest

1. Cut a strip of honeycomb shipping material about 2 1/2 wide and about 12 inches long. It’s better to be generous in the length, as you can easily cut it down if it’s too long.

2. Crimp one edge of the honeycomb paper strip.

3. Start to work into a circle. Once you have part of the circle formed, anchor it with a staple.

4. Continue folding until you have created a full circle. You will need to add about 2 more staples to create the basket.

5. Trim the strip of honeycomb paper so that it is about 1 1/2 inches longer than the diameter of the basket. Fold the end of the paper. Tuck the leading edge of your basket behind the paper you ended with.

6. Apply a couple dabs of craft glue to the inside edge of the front edge fold and a bit to both papers where they overlap. Hold tight until the glue sets.

7. Gently mold the paper to form a nice round nest. It’s fine to slightly stretch and pull up the sides of the nest to even out the depth.

8. Add the crinkle cut paper and your eggs. I used painted wooden eggs (these are tiny and NOT safe for a small child) but candy eggs would be perfect too.

I also made a deeper basket using a 3 inch wide strip which has a 4 inch diameter. It will hold a hen’s egg easily, maybe two. The one in the photo below is a hen-size painted wooden egg. it works but the nest isn’t very sturdy and I think using it for jelly beans is a better idea!

Notice: This blog is not monetized: I do not use affiliate links. When there are links in a post, they are to give credit to another creative person, because I like or have used a product, or to help the reader easily find supplies for a project.

Tutorial: Peg Doll Mermaid

Before summer slips into autumn, I thought it would be fun to design a peg doll mermaid. I used angel/girl 2 inch tall pegs dolls. I painted them with Lyra opaque watercolors. I’m finding it’s great to layer several colors while the paint is still wet, so that the colors run together.

Their tails are attached to the body of the doll with a 1/2 inch band. This band can be glued to the doll, or left loose, allowing the tail to be removed.

NOTE: Because of the small size of the this peg doll, this mermaid is only for children age 3 and older.

One of my mermaids is going to a school age child so I’ve chosen not to glue on the tail. The mermaid told me that sometimes, especially on Thursday, she likes to step out of her tail and hitchhike to school in a child’s pocket!! She’s very interested in geography!

The mermaids without their tails, waiting for a ride to school, in front of two arches of a Grimm’s Playful Blue Grotto puzzle toy.

Instructions To Make a Peg Doll Mermaid

Supplies

• 2 inch Angel/Girl/Women Wood Peg Dolls

• Watercolor paints

• Beeswax polish

• Fine tip markers

• Wool Felt

• Embroidery thread

• Wool roving and 1/8 inch ribbon if you want to add hair to the mermaid, felting needle and foam felting mat

• Craft glue if desired

Instructions

• Paint the peg doll and hair. Leave the face blank.

• When the paint has tried, polish with beeswax polish. Allow to sit for an hour. Rub with a soft cloth (an old cotton sock is perfect) to remove the excess polish and give a mermaid a slight shine.

• Using fine tip markers, give the mermaid eyes and a mouth.

• Print the MERMAID PEG DOLL PDF pattern at 100% on your printer. Make sure the 1 inch gauge on your printed pattern measures 1 inch. Cut out the felt for the mermaid’s tail, fin and body band.

• Embroider them as desired. I used french knots and an open daisy stitch

• Sew the fin onto the tail. Then attach the tail to the body band, bringing the 2 ends of the body band to meet over the tail. Pin. Sew with simple over lapping stitches or a decorative design with embroidery thread.

• Slip the band over the mermaid’s head and bring it down to where the tail can lie flat behind the mermaid. Blue to body if desired.

• If adding roving for hair, pull off a piece of roving the desired length. At the center of the length of roving, gently felt a small section with the felting needle over the foam felting pad just until the strands of wool come together. Apply craft glue the felted section of the roving and glue it to the the mermaid’s head. Add a bow of 1/8 inch ribbon if desired.

Time to go to the beach! (Or to school, hidden in a pocket)!

Here’s a mermaid with painted hair,. I think she is every bit as sweet as the mermaids with roving hair. And probably better for 3-5 year children.

Tutorial: Bamboletta Baby Doll Dress with FREE pattern

This is a tutorial to make a dress for a 12-13 inch Bamboletta Baby Doll. Bamboletta sells Cuddle Doll dresses which often fit their baby doll. But sometimes it’s a pretty tight squeeze! This dress pattern allows for a bit more wiggle room and may make it easier for a young child to dress the baby doll.

Bamboletta Baby Doll Dress Pattern

Supplies:

— 1/2 yard of woven cotton fabric. Quilting weight cotton is perfect.

— Thread to match the fabric

— 3/4 inch sew-on hook and loop tape.

— Sewing scissors and paper scissors

— Sewing pins

— Sewing machine.

— Iron and a surface to iron on

The dress is longer in the back than the front to allow for the baby’s ample bottom! The dress’s hem should look straight once on the doll.

Directions:

ALL seams are 1/4 inch.

1. PRINT the PDF pattern pieces at 100%. Once the pages are printed check the to be sure the one inch gauges on the pattern measure 1 inch.

2. Cut out the pattern pieces with paper scissors.

3. Pin the pattern to the fabric, making sure the long arrows on the pattern pieces are parallel with the fabric’s grain. (That’s the same as the selvedge edges). If your fabric has an interesting pattern, try to cut the bodice so that a focal point of the fabric is located at the middle of the pattern piece. Make sure that the feature you want it is at least 1/2 inch away from both the neck edge and the seam at the bottom of the bodice pattern piece. For example. Your fabric may have a cute rabbit. Position the pattern piece so that the rabbit is centered.

Note: Make sure you have enough fabric for all the other pattern pieces before you fussy cut the bodice piece.

Bodice and back pattern pieces. Note that the chicken is centered on the bodice.

4. Finish the raw edges of the neck on the bodice and back pieces with a zig-zag stitch or an overlock stitch if your sewing machine has one.

This is the overcast stitch on my sewing machine

5. Pin the shoulder seams of the bodice and the two back pieces, RIGHT sides together.

Sew the shoulder seams using a 1/4 inch seam. Press.

6. Turn the edges of the neck under 1/4 inch, along the dotted lines of the pattern with WRONG sides together. Press. An adult should do this pressing. Top stitch along the edge of the neck seam.

7. Turn the hem of the sleeve under 1/4 inch. Repeat, enclosing the raw edge of the fabric. Press. On the INSIDE of the sleeve, sew along the folded edge.

8. If you wish to gather your sleeve, set your stitch length to the longest number it has. Starting at the mark on the sleeve pattern, sew a couple stitches, then BACK STITCH 2 stitches to lock the gather stitches. Sew to the second mark on the sleeve. Do NOT back stitch here. Leave long tails on both threads when you cut them.

9. While your machine is set for a gathering stitch, sew along the top of the dress’s front skirt piece, starting 1/2 inch from side of the skirt and stopping 1/2 inch from the opposite side. Now set your machine back to the normal stitch length.

10. Attach to sleeve to the body of the dress, matching the notch on the sleeve with the shoulder seam. Pin the two pieces at the notch. Pin the short edges of the sleeves to the lower edge of the sleeve openings the body of the dress. Pin again about 1 inch from that pin. Now take the gathering thread on the WRONG side of the sleeve and gently pull it, gathering the upper edge of the sleeve until it matches the length of the arm hole of the dress. Pin those edges together. (If you prefer, you can also make several folds in the sleeve to match the sleeve opening instead of gathering it).

11. Sew the sleeve to the dress. Repeat for the second sleeve.

12. With RIGHT sides together, pin the front skirt to the lower edge of the bodice. Pull in gathering stitch thread on the wrong side of the skirt until the skirt measures the same width as the bodice. Even out the gathers and pin. Stitch the top the skirt to the bodice. A straight stitch is fine, but using an overlock stitch is better if your machine has one.

13. With RIGHT sides together, fold the sleeve in half. Pin at the sleeve edge. Match the side seams of the skirt with the side seams of the back pieces. Pin. Sew with a straight stitch or an overlock stitch.

14. Fold the raw edges of the dress back under 1/4 inch, then 3/8 inch. Press. Pin. Stitch along in inner fold on both back pieces.

15. Turn up the hem 1/4 inch. Repeat doing another 1/4 inch fold. Press. Pin. Sew the hem along the folded edge of the hem.

16. Cut a 1 1/2 inch piece of the 3/4 inch hook and loop fastener. Trim the WIDTH down to 1/2 inch. Sew the rough hook piece to the upper edge of the LEFT back on the RIGHT SIDE of the fabric. Then sew the soft loop piece to the upper edge of the RIGHT back on the WRONG side of the fabric. An adult should sew on the hook and loop tapes.

All done! Great job! Hope your Bamboletta Baby loves her new dress.

Click on this link to download a PDF of the free Bamboletta Baby Doll Dress Pattern.

NOTE: This pattern is for individual use only. Feel free to sell dresses you make at small craft fairs. Doll clothes made with this pattern are NOT for commercial use nor for sale on sites like Etsy.com without my permission. Please do NOT copy and SELL this pattern but feel free to share it with your doll friends. Thanks.

This dress has a ribbon sewn on the edge of the bodice. If you wish to do this, sew on the ribbon before sewing the side seams of the dress.

Notice: This blog is not monetized: I do not use affiliate links. When there are links in a post, they are to give credit to another creative person, because I like or have used a product, or to help the reader easily find supplies for a project.

Water Color Salt Technique: A Tutorial

The covers of the Flag book in my last post were created using a watercolor salt technique. Watercolor salt technique is fast, fun and anyone, young or old, can do it. Here’s how I created my designs using this technique.

Supplies

• Paper that can stand up to getting wet without buckling or rolling up. I used white watercolor paper but mixed media paper and other papers will work too.

• Watercolor paint. Any will do, but watercolors or gouache (opaque water colors) in tubes are a easier to dilute with water.

• A paint brush and surface to dilute the watercolors—the watercolor paint box lid or a plastic or enamel palate.

• Salt. The coarser the salt, the bolder the resulting pattern will be. I used Diamond Kosher Crystal Salt on the green sheet and Whole Food’s 365 Coarse Sea Salt on the aqua and purple sheet.

• A flat surface where the paper can dry completely.

Whole Food’s 365 Sea Salt—coarse Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt

Instructions:

1. Set up your work area, covering it with a protective layer of paper or plastic. My papers for this tutorial were 5 x 7 inches. I used the top of plastic lettuce box as my work area.

2. Using clean water, dilute a color on a paintbox lid or plastic palate to the an easily spreadable consistency and the density of color you want for your design.

3. For a solid color sheet, cover the entire piece of paper with watercolor paint. Or if you wish a design with more than one color paint or drop color on the paper anyway you wish. The sheet needs to stay wet, so it’s easier initially to just use a couple colors.

4. While the watercolor paint is still wet on the paper, scatter salt over the paper. I covered the entire sheets but you can create an secondary design with the placement of the salt on the wet paper.

5. Set the salted paper aside. Allow it to dry completely before preceding.

6. Shake or gently brush the salt off the paper to reveal the design you created with the watercolor salt technique.

7. That’s it! Enjoy your new water color designs!

Notice: This blog is not monetized: I do not use affiliate links. When there are links in a post, they are to give credit to another creative person, because I like or have used a product, or to help the reader easily find supplies for a project.

Peg Dolls - Pea Sprouts: A Tutorial

Ever since I planted my sugar snap peas in my kitchen garden at the beginning of April, I’ve been planning to make peg doll Pea Sprouts. And this week, I finally did! While I used a leaf from my sugar snaps to make the doll leaves, these dolls could be almost any kind of seeding. They are really simple to make.

You will need:

• Peg dolls. These are large regular pegs dolls, 2 3/8 inches tall

• Fine sandpaper

• Non-toxic watercolor paints

• Beeswax polish

• Green Perle Cotton or Embroidery Thread or 1/8 inch ribbon with a needle with a large eye

• Green felt. Wool felt is my favorite

• Markers to draw the face if you want facial features

• Scissors and an craft knife with a sharp blade. (Safety note: The craft knife should only be used by an adult).

Instructions:

1. If your pegs feel rough, smooth them with fine grain sandpaper, following the wood grain.

2. Paint the pegs with the water color paints, leaving an unpainted circle for the face. The wood grain on the peg often can be used as as a guide for the facial placement. I used two different shades of green, applying one green and then the other next to each other on the peg. Allow them to completely dry before preceding.

3. Apply the beeswax polish to the entire peg, including the face. The watercolors look brighter and deeper in color after the polish is applied. Allow the polish to soak in for several hours, or overnight. Then rub the peg with a soft rag before continuing to assemble the doll.

4. While you are waiting for the bees wax polish to soak into the wood, cut out out the leaves for the pea shoots. Each leaf is about 1 1/4 inch long and 3/4 inches wide. You can draw a template or just cut them freehand if you feel comfortable doing that.

5. Using the craft knife, cut a 1/4 inch slit at the base of each leaf so that you can run the braid or ribbon through it.

6. If you wish, use embroidery thread to embellish the leaves. I used a simple running stitch down the center of half of the leaves.

7. Cut three strands of the Perle cotton. I used strands about the length of my forearm and that made a braid long enough for 4 peg dolls. Braid the 3 strands of thread. (I you use embroidery thread, use 3 strands for each piece. If you use ribbon, you can cut that the length you want when you assemble the dolls).

8. Thread all the leaves onto the braid you just made. Pull two leaves the toward one end of the braid, away from the other leaves. Using that end, tie the braid around the doll’s neck, with two leaves behind the head. Cut the braid the length desired and immediately tie a knot in the end on the doll’s side and the new end on the braid with the rest of the leaves. I was worried the braid with unravel right away, but found I had time to tie both knots without any problem.

9. Complete the rest of the dolls if you are making more than one.

10. Draw a face on the dolls using makers if desired. I found that the markers don’t run into the wood grain and can still draw well on wood sealed with the beeswax polish.

I wish I could tell you that I’m enjoying eating the sugar snap peas that I planted in April. So far I’ve only harvested 4 delicious sugar snap pea pods. As it turns out, the neighborhood groundhog thought the pea shoots were very tasty and ate the tips off most of the plants. The peas are in the process of recovering. I’m seeing some blossoms, so there is hope if we don’t have a heat wave too soon.

In the meantime, I am enjoying my little Peg Sprouts.

Completed Pea Sprout Peg Doll

Notice: This blog is not monetized: I do not use affiliate links. When there are links in a post, they are to give credit to another creative person, because I like or have used a product, or to help the reader easily find supplies for a project.

Mending Old Clothes with a Personal Touch: A Tutorial

The hole

The patch

Mending. It was something my mother did and a skill she taught me. But as the 1900s came to an end, clothing became “disposable” and folks stopped mending and started throwing worn or torn clothing away.

The pendulum as swung back with the Millennials who love to thrift! Japanese mending methods are being used to restore and accent old clothes. There are at least 3 books on mending that have been recently published. Imagine that! I’m intrigued. I’ve ordered two of them (the third, just published in the fall of 2018 is out of print but still available as an e-book).

But I wanted to try a patch before I read what others are doing. So here’s a short tutorial for the patch I made for this pair of much loved ( and no longer available) flannel-lined Chino pants. Photos of the steps are shown below the instructions.

Supplies:

• Item to be mended

• Some fabric, preferably the same fiber content as the item to be mended

• #8 Perle Cotton thread

• Embroidery thread if you wish to embellish the patch

• Sharp large eye needle

• Sewing pins and an iron

Instructions:

1. Measure the hole you want to mend. Add at least 1/2 inch on all sides to allow for a 1/4 inch seam and a bit of extra fabric to be sure the hole is really covered.

2. Cut out the patch, then turn under the edges 1/4 inch on all four sides and iron.

3. Pin the patch over the hole

4. Thread the needle and knot the end of the thread. Run the needle through the fabric from the wrong side to start sewing. Stitch around the four sides of the patch using a simple in-and-out running stitch.

5. Your patch is now attached. You could stop here. Or you may keep sewing to make a patch that is stronger and more decorative. I chose to keep sewing, and decided to sew in parallel lines. I can make straight even stitches (I'm a quilter!) but I had problems with the double thick seams in the pant leg. The stitching was OK, but I didn’t love it. So I added the light blue embroidered flower which improved it.

I’m very happy with my newly mended pants! The patch is fun and utilitarian,. I know it’s not a work of beauty which is totally fine for a pair of knock-around-in old pants.

Back in action!

I’m looking forward to seeing the two books I ordered this week. I know from online previews that they do show how to do some truly beautiful mending. I can’t wait!

Making Doll Suspenders for a Bamboletta Cuddle Doll: A Tutorial

There’s just something about the Bamboletta Cuddle Dolls. They are so sweet and they sit so nicely. But they have the hardest time keeping their pants up! After thinking about this, I decided suspenders are a great solution. I set about designing a set of suspenders that only required a little bit of sewing. Photos of the steps are below, under all the instructions.

Safety Notes:

1. Due to the use of ribbons, these suspenders should only be used on dolls played with by children age 3 years and older.

2. Please have an adult sew the hook and loop fasteners to the pants.

Supply List

• 1/2 yard of 3/4 inch wide grosgrain ribbon. Twill tape would be great too.

• 3/4 inch wide regular sew-on hook and loop fastener (Velcro®). Two inches is plenty.

• Ruler or tape measure

• Thread to match the ribbon and/or the pants

• Sewing pins

• Scissors

• Sewing machine. (This project could be done by hand but it’s hard hand sew through hook and loop fastener tape).

Instructions

• Put the pants on the doll. Smooth out the gathering at the front of the pants, pushing the gathers towards the sides of the doll. Place a pin about 1 1/4 inch away from the center seam of the jeans on left and right sides. This marks the place you will sew the fastener to the pants.

• Cut two 9 inch pieces of ribbon. Fold the edge under on one side and press it down with your finger.

• Cut two pieces of hook and loop fastener just slightly narrower than your ribbon. This works best if you turn the tape on its side, rather than cutting it in the direction it comes off the roll.

• Sew the loop portion of the fastener (that’s the soft fuzzy tape) to the ribbon, making sure that the raw end you folded is under the fastener.

• Sew the hook portion of the fastener (the hard loopy side) to the front of the pants where you placed your pins.

• Now attach both ribbons to the pants using the fasteners you just sewed on. Put the pants on the doll and turn the doll over, facing away from you. Bring the ribbons over to the back. Cross the two ribbons and tuck them into the back of the pants.

• Pin the ribbons to the pants on each side. Also put a pin in ribbons where they cross over each other.

• Sew the ribbon to the back of the pants along the line of stitches on the pants that made the channel for the elastic inside them.

• Tack the two ribbons together with a few stitches where they cross each other

You are all done!! Put the pants on your doll and fasten the beautiful suspenders you just made!

Great job! No more droopy pants for your dolls!

If your Bamboletta Sitting Friends need suspenders too, cut the ribbons 9 1/2- 10 inches long. The sewing instructions are the same!

Notice: This blog is not monetized: I do not use affiliate links. When there are links in a post, they are to give credit to another creative person, because I like or have used a product, or to help the reader easily find supplies for a project.

Tutorial: Cut-and-Sew Mermaid Skirt for a Child and a Doll Skirt

In my last post, I showed a child's Mermaid skirt and a Doll's coordinating fish skirt made from the Mermaid Skirt Cut-and-Sew Panel I designed that is for sale at Spoonflower.com.

Instructions for sewing the skirts are printed on the panel. Here is a short tutorial to show the steps of making the skirt.

NOTE: This design works best for children ages 4 to 10.  It can be made as small as a 3T size (maybe a 2T if you cut off the sandy bottom) and as large as a Child's size 12.  The smaller sizes will have quite full skirts and the larger sizes will less full.

Supplies: 
Scissors, sewing machine, matching blue thread (you might think you need tan thread for the hem, but once it's folded, you'll be stitching in the blue fabric), 3/4 inch elastic for the child's skirt and 1/2 inch elastic if you plan to make the coordinating doll's skirt.

Decide how long you want the child's skirt to be. Here's a helpful skirt length link from Craftershours if you don't have a skirt you can measure. (I looked at the original source for these charts but this information is no longer available there). 

1.  Cut the child's skirt the desired finished length PLUS 4 1/2 inches to allow for the elastic casing at the waist and the hem at the bottom of the skirt. Measure from the BOTTOM edge of the "sand" on the ocean flower.  Mark this length several places along the skirt panel, draw a straight line across the panel and cut out the skirt.  Trim off the un-printed white margins on the fabric.

          2.  Fold the fabric in half, right sides together to make the back seam of the skirt. Pin.  Stitch 1/2 inch seam.

          3.  At the top edge of the skirt, fold down the fabric, wrong sides together, 1/4 inch. Press. Then fold over again 1 1/4 inches to make the casing for the waist elastic.  Stitch close to edge of the fold, leaving a couple inches open at the back seam to insert the elastic in the casing.

      4.  At the bottom edge of the skirt, fold down the fabric, wrong sides together, 1/4 inch. Press. Then fold over again 1 inch to make the hem. Stitch close to the folded edge to hem the skirt.

      5.  Cut a piece of 3/4 inch elastic for the waist. Use with waist measurement PLUS to 2 inches.  (If you don't have the child available to measure, waist sizes can be found on line at mail order stores that sell children's clothes--for example Lands End will have this information).  Using a safety pin as a guide, run the elastic through the channel at the waist of the skirt. Make sure not to lose the far end of the elastic in the channel)!

      6.  Overlap the 2 ends of the elastic, taking care not to twist them.  Stitch them together using a zig-zag stitch.   Now stitch down the opening in the casing.

      7.  Great job!  Iron the skirt and have the child try it on!

For the doll's skirt:  Use the same directions to make the doll's skirt with these changes

•   Cut the fish doll skirt panel the desired skirt length PLUS 2 inches.
•   Since the doll's skirt uses 1/2 inch elastic, make the elastic channel at the waist 3/4 inches, rather than the 1 1/4 used for the child's skirt.
•   Cut the length of the elastic for the doll the measurement of the doll's waist. Don't add any extra. Dolls need a tight fit so the skirt doesn't slide off! 
•   The hem in the doll's skirt is made by making the first fold 1/4 inch as with the child's skirt and then folded again 1/2 inch.

The doll pictured here is a Bamboletta Cuddle Doll. Bamboletta sometimes has very cute Mermaid dolls for sale too!  Their Mermaid dolls were my inspiration for this Mermaid skirt design!

Hope the little girl in your life enjoys these coordinating skirts!

Tutorial: Quick Cloth Holiday Table Napkins

Quick-Sew Cloth Holiday Table Napkins,  17 1/2 x 17 1/2 inches, finished

I love looking through my bin of Christmas/holiday fabrics at this time of year. There are usually several multi-yard cuts of fabric picked up at an end of season sales--just perfect for sewing up a quick present of table napkins.  The napkins pictured above are actually from THIS year's fabric sale!  Too pretty to wrap, all they need is a ribbon!

The napkins pictured above where sewn with a serger.  But it is just as easy to fold under the edges and sew them on a regular sewing machine.

Tutorial

Supplies

• 1 yard of fabric (that has been carefully cut) for each 4 table napkins, cut as 18 x 18 inch squares. Quilters cotton is recommended but slightly heavier cotton fabric is great too.
• Matching or contrasting color thread, whichever you prefer
• Pins if you are hemming with a sewing machine

If using a printed fabric, pick one that has a wrong side that isn't too different from the right side. A fabric with dark printing on the right side, and white on the back won't look good. Woven plaids are great as there is little difference between right and wrong sides.

• Cut the selvage off the fabric using a quilting ruler to make a straight edge.
• Cut a straight line across the end of the folded fabric the full width of the fabric.
• Using a 24 inch quilting ruler with a 12 1/2 inch or 16 1/2 inch square quilting ruler makes cutting an 18 inch square easy.
• If the long ruler is 6 inches wide, put the square ruler on the cut selvage at the 12 inch mark. (12 + 6 = 18).  Put the 24 inch ruler on the fabric next to the square ruler, with the 18 inch mark on the cut end of the folded fabric.  The square isn't long enough but you can move it up and down along the 24 inch ruler to make check that the cut square will measure 18 inches.  Leave the square even with the TOP edge of the long ruler. This makes it possible to cut across and then down without moving the rulers.

24 inch ruler is on the left, with the quilting square on the right. The fabric cut will be 18 inches long and 18 inches wide.  Note the fabric at the lower right edge that isn't covered by the shorter square ruler.  That's fine because no cut is needed there.

• Here is a photo of the cut table napkins.  Because the fabric is folded in half, 2 napkins are cut at the same time.  Note the long strip of fabric along the fold that can be used for another project.

The cut napkin with the left over strip along the FOLD of the fabric.

Now you have a choice about how to proceed. The raw edges can be turned under with a rolled edge with serger OR they can be folded a quarter inch, and then folded again a quarter inch and secured with an edge stitch. 

Here is a photo of the napkin edge being rolled under by the serger.  Follow your machine's instructions to set the serger to sew a rolled hem.  If you have a serger, this is the fastest way to finish cloth napkins.

Using a rolled edge hem on a serger

IF USING A FOLDED HEM, the corners can be mitered but the napkins will still look great if you choose not to miter them.

Hemming WITHOUT MITERED CORNERS:

• Fold under the right raw edge 1/4 inch on the wrong side of the napkin, pressing the fold with an iron as you go. Turn under another 1/4 inch, enclosing the raw edge and pin. Repeat on the left side. Once both sides are pinned, turn under the top and bottom raw edges.
• Sew the fold down stitching close to the loose edge of the fold.
• At each corner put the sewing machine needle down to anchor the napkin, then pivot the fabric to sew the next side. 
• That's it! One napkin done!

Hemming WITH MITERED CORNERS

• Fold under the first side, turning the raw edge 1/4 inch toward the wrong side. Press. Turn it again 1/4 inch enclosing the raw edge. Pin.
• At the corner, fold the corner inward forming a triangle approximately 3/4 inches long on each side. See below.
• Then turn the new side 1/4 inch and then another 1/4 inch. It's fine if it gets a little wider.  The second fold in the photo below is 1/2 inch.
• Press, pin.  Continue folding under all four sides.
• Sew the loose edge closed with an edge stitch, right along the free edge of the fold.
• That's it!  One napkin is done!

Once you have sewn all the napkins, fold each napkin in half, and then in half again. Press.  

Wrap the Quick Holiday Cloth Napkins up as a present or put them on the table enjoy them yourself!

Tutorial: "Leave Me a Message" Envelope Pillow

I've been collecting travel/stamp fabric thinking I would use them for a quilt. But when I saw a video on Creativebug.com showing how to make envelopes from magazine pages I realized I could make fabric envelopes!  And what could be more fun than sewing an envelope on a pillow? I'm thinking the pillow could be left on someone's bed or chair with a message tucked in the envelope for a special day--sort of a variation of putting a message in a lunch box!

So here's a TUTORIAL so you can make your own "Leave me a Message" envelope Pillow.

Materials:

1.  14 inch square purchased pillow form. (You could also make your own).
2.  Paper envelope to use a template--at least 4 x 6 inches or use larger a greeting card envelope.
3.  Plain paper to make a pattern for your fabric envelope
4.  1 Fat quarter of a fabric for the pillow front
5.  1 Fat quarter for the inside of the envelope
6.  1 Fat quarter for the exterior of the envelope
7. 1/4 inch pre-made bias double fold bias tape or 2 1/2 inch wide strip of fabric, at least 12 inches long. (Does not need to cut on the bias).  You can make a regular quilt binding or use a Clover Tape Maker: Width 25mm, 1" to make a double fold tape
8. 1/2 yard of fabric for the back of the pillow
9. Matching sewing thread
10. Pearle cotton #8 contrasting color for hand stitching on envelope
11. Chenille needle, or needle with eye wide enough for the Pearle cotton
12. 1 decorative button
13. 1/8 inch ribbon to make loop to close the envelope
14. Tailor's chalk or other non-permanent marking pencil or pen
15. 16 1/2 inch square quilting ruler--helpful but not necessary
16. Sewing machine with open toe foot.  A walking foot also very helpful but not mandatory.

Instructions:

• Cut one 15 1/2 inch square for the front of the pillow
• Cut two 10 1/2 inch x 15 1/2 inch rectangles for the back of the pillow

Using a quilting ruler to cut the cover

• Carefully take a paper envelope apart and smooth it flat
• Cut off the envelope flap along the fold line
• Lay the two envelope pieces on a plain piece of paper. You may need to tape two pieces of paper together to make a piece large enough for the body of the the envelope.
• Trace around the body of the envelope and around the flap. 
• Now draw a 1/4 inch seam allowance around all sides of both the envelope body but ONLY the lower edge of the flap on your pattern.
• Mark the fold lines from the template envelope on your pattern
• SAVE the paper envelope used as the template. It helps to refer back to it when you fold your fabric envelope.

Envelope pattern pieces and intact template envelope

• Place fabric for inside of envelope and outside of envelope RIGHT SIDES together. Pin on the 2 pattern pieces. Cut out the envelope pieces.
• Mark where the two fold lines will be at the top edge of the envelope body
• Using a 1/4 inch seam, sew the two parts of the envelope BODY together, leaving the top edge between the 2 fold lines OPEN. (The envelope flap will be sewn tucked into this opening later).
• Trim the points on the envelope body and clip notches. Be careful NOT to cut your stitches!
• Turn the envelope body right sides out. Press, turning the raw edges under 1/4 inch at the top.

Envelope body turned right sides out and pressed, with raw edges at top turned in 1/4 inch and pressed flat

• Make a double fold tape using the Clover Bias Tape Maker OR make quilt binding OR cut a commercial 1/2 inch bias fold tape the length needed to cover the two upper sides of the envelope flap. 12" is probably long enough.
• Cut a piece of 1/8 inch ribbon about 2 inches long, fold in half
• Turn the envelope flap pieces so they are WRONG SIDES together
• Attach the 1/2" tape or binding to the two upper sides of the flap, leaving the BOTTOM EDGE OPEN. Miter the corners.
• Tuck the folded ribbon into the miter at the point of the envelope flap.  Tack it down.
• Finish sewing the tape to the edges of the flap.

• Tuck the raw edges of the flap 1/4 inch into the opening at the top of the envelope body
• Pin in place
• Sew flap to the envelope body using a edging stitch

• On the INSIDE of your envelope, mark the Fold Lines using tailor's chalk or non-permanent fabric marking pen.  TIP: Check your template paper envelope to see where the fold lines should be.
• Determine where you want the envelope on the front panel of your pillow.  Pin completed the flat OPEN envelope to front pillow panel.
• Sew the open envelope to front pillow panel along the two side fold lines and bottom fold line. Don't sew across the top edge where the flap is.

Sewing the flat, open envelope to front pillow panel. Note blue marking line, drawn along fold line of envelope body.

• Fold envelope and pin. Refer back to paper envelope template if needed.
• Sew on button
• Using the Perle cotton, stitch the envelope closed. Make sure you don't accidentally sew the front of the envelope to the back of the envelope!

• To make the pillow back: Fold one long raw edge down 1/4 inch both back pieces. Press.  NOTE: If the design of the back fabric is directional, turn down the lower edge of the top half and the upper edge of the bottom half.
• Fold over again 1/4 inch. Press. Sew folds closed stitching close to the edge.
• Lay the upper half of the back on top of the front of the pillow, RIGHT sides together.
• Lay the bottom half of the back on top of the front of the pillow, overlapping the upper half of the back. Pin front and back pieces together.
• Sew SCANT 1/4 inch seam around all 4 sides of the pillow cover.
• Trim the corners. Turn right side out, making sure to fully turn the corners. Press.
• On the outside of the pillow cover, top stitch 1/4 inch around all 4 sides on the front of the pillow.  The top stitching will cover the raw edges inside the pillow cover.

• Insert the purchased pillow form.
• Write a note, tuck it in the envelope and leave it for someone special!  You should also find a pocket behind the envelope--a place to hide a little present or a piece of chocolate!

Hope you enjoy your "Leave Me a Message" Envelope Pillow!

Suggestion:  One of my friends thinks this would be a great place to keep a rosary, using it as a Prayer Pillow.  I think that would another great way to use this pillow! Thanks for that idea, Janet!

The Fine Print: Copyright 2016 Judith Tucker. Feel free to use this tutorial to make pillows for friends and family.  It's also fine to make a pillows to sell on craft table at a fair or quilt show. If you do sell pillow covers, please credit the design to www.sleepingdogquilts.com. Thanks!        Use for commercial purposes is NOT allowed.

Tutorial: DYI Double Layer Flannel Scarf using Mammoth Flannel

Have you seen Robert Kaufman's Mammoth Flannel?  It's amazing!  Like fine wool plaids without the itch!   

This flannel makes soft, warm scarfs.  Here's a tutorial for a very quick, double layer flannel scarf. 

Supplies:

• 2 yards of Robert Kaufman's Mammoth Flannel  (makes 2 scarves)
• Thread to match the dominant color in the plaid
• Sewing machine
• Pins
• Rotary blade and ruler or scissors

Instructions:

• Trim the ends of your yardage. Open it up and cut along one of the lines in the plain from selvage to selvage.
• Cut off each selvage.  A rotary blade and ruler makes this job easy but scissors are just fine too.

Trim the selvage

• Cut the yardage in half along the length of yardage. This will make 2 scarves approximately 72 inches long and 20 inches wide.
• Create a fringe along both SHORT sides of the scarf. This is done by removing threads running across the fabric.  It helps to use a pin to pull out a thread so you can grasp it with your fingers and pull it out.  It is possible to pull 2 threads at a time but the threads tend to break if more than 2 threads are pulled out at a time. I made a fringe about 1/2 inch long.

Using a pin to pull out a thread which will be removed, creating a fringe

• Using one of the lengths of cut flannel, fold in half with RIGHT sides together on the LONG side.  Pin along the long side, making sure the plaid matches at the raw edges of the fabric. 

The scarf is folded in half the long way and pinned on the raw edge, matching the plaid carefully

• Sew a 1/2 inch seam along the LONG side of the scarf, backstitching at the beginning and end of the seam to reinforce the stitching.  Press the seam to set the stitches.
• Turn the scarf right side out.  Press the seam flat.

• Sew the 2 layers together at each end of the scarf, stitching about 1/4 inch in from the fringe.

Stitching 1/4 inch in from the fringe (the thread used is a navy blue)

• Trim any straggling threads along the edge of your fringe.

Straggling threads have been trimmed from the fringe.

That's it!  Your scarf is ready to wear!  Now make the other one for a friend!!

Tutorial: Doll clothes--briefs (undies) for a boy doll

I've made 4 Waldorf type dolls so far.  Two of them have been boys.  One was 10" and the second was 13".  I didn't find many patterns for dolls those sizes and even less for boy dolls.  So I drafted clothes for both boy dolls.

This tutorial of for Boy Doll Undies.

My 13" tall doll has a 10" waist.  He is a bit short-waisted.  You will need to adjust this pattern to fit your doll. 

I used a lightweight jersey with Lycra but interlock knits will work too. 

Supplies:

• Knit fabric, jersey or interlock, 1/4 yd (or scraps if you have some).
• Fold-over elastic

Pattern:

• Cut 2 slightly trapazoidlal pieces of knit fabric, 4 1/2 inches by 3 inches at the front seam sloping up slightly to 3 1/4 inches at the back seam. The sloping edge will be at the waist.  The bottom edge of the pieces should be straight.
• One 1 piece 1 1/2" x 4".  This will be the center piece of the undies.  If you have stripes, cut this piece across the width of the fabric to create a contrasting piece.  Or you could this piece from a different color fabric.
• Cut 1 piece of fold-over elastic, 1/2 smaller than the circumference of you doll's waist. You want the briefs to be a bit tight at the waist so they don't fall down!
• TIP:  If you are using jersey, it rolls up easily.  Put a heavy book on top of your cut pieces until you are ready to use them.  That helps to keep them flat.  Ironing with spray starch will also help some if the pieces do roll up.

Construction:  Here are photos of each step. The pin with the red head is in the slightly shorter front edge of the undies. I put them all together to make it more print friendly.

1. Make a small dart in the upper (narrow edge) of the 1 1/2 x 4 inch center piece.  My dart is 1/4" wide x 1 inch long.  It's not critical how big it is.  My boy dolls are not anatomically correct but the dart in the undies creates the illusion that they might be!
2. Fold over and iron a 1/4 inch hem at the lower edge of both large pieces.  Hem with a stretch stitch, zig-zag or overlock stitch. 
3. Now fold each of these hemmed pieces in half the long way, right sides together.  From the LOWER edge sew a 1/2" inch seam to make the leg of the undies. 
4. The center band is going to extend from the waistband in front, through the crotch and up the back of the undies.  Attach it by sewing it, with a stretch stitch, starting at the front upper edge of the large pieces, starting with the end of the center piece which has the dart. 
5. Sew down the front center seam on one side, pivot at the leg seam, and sew up the back center seam.  Your center piece will probably be 1/2 too long.  That can be trimmed so it is the same height the waist band once you have one side attached.  
6. Now sew the other side of the center piece to the other half of the undies.  Pivot at the leg seam, sew another inch and STOP!
7. Attach the fold over elastic.  Pin in about 4-6 places to the waistband of the undies. You will need to pull on the elastic so it will fit the waist of the undies which is long. This will create a slight gather along the waist of the undies. 
8. Once the fold over elastic is attached, sew up the remainder of the back seam.  This is a good time to adjust the fit to the doll. 
9. That's it!  Boy Briefs!

Economy Block for 8 inch Square Potholder Tutorial

Economy Blocks are just so much fun to make and I really like the way this blocks showcases fussy cut fabrics.  The go-to

Economy Block Tutorial

 is on the Red Pepper Quilt blog.  Her blocks have 3 inch center blocks and finish at 5.5 inches.   I recommend you use her tutorial to make the block.

I wanted to make an Economy Block potholder, finishing at 8 inch square. It turns out that that is the perfect size to use a pre-cut 5" Charm square for the outer square!

To make the 8" Economy block you need:

    One  4 inch center square

    Two 4 inch squares cut on the diagonal to make 4 triangles

    Two 5 inch squares (Charms) cut on a diagonal to make 4 triangles.

    One 8 inch square for the back of the potholder

    Bias binding or make your own for the border (about 38-40 inches).  I used binding left over from a couple of quilts.

To insulate the potholder you need:

    One 8 inch square of Insul-Bright insulated lining made by The Warm Company.  This material reflects heat so you don't get burned when you pick up something hot. You'll find it with the quilting products in your fabric store.

    One 8 inch square of

cotton

batting. This is needed to absorb any moisture.

1.  Assemble the Economy Block.  The outer triangles just finish at 8 inches. You won't have much to trim so make sure to keep that 1/4 inch seam on the scant side.

2.  Make the sandwich for your potholder:

        Economy block

        Insul-Bright square

        Cotton batting square

        Backing square

It doesn't matter which way you pair the batting and Insul-Bright. It will work either way.

3. Quilt as desired.

4.   Fold under the raw edge of your bias tape.  

5.  Sew together the folded end and the first 4 inches of your bias tape. 

6.  Place the tape over the top edge of your potholder.  Start sewing about

1 inch from the corner.

 Continue sewing around the 4 sides of the potholder, mitering the corners as you go around the block.

7.  Trim the bias tape at the upper edge of the potholder.

8.   Now tuck the open tape from step 6 over the top edge of the potholder, covering the cut edge of the bias tape where you just finished sewing.  

9.  Make a loop out of the 4 inch of bias tape you sewed together in step 5.

10.   Sew all the layers together, closing the open tape and catching the loose edge of the bias tape loop on the back of the potholder.

That's it!   Time to head to the kitchen to bake something.