Project #29 The Stamped Washer Necklace Tutorial

Challenge: Crafty project with household items

Project: Stamped washer necklace

Hooray for my first non-sewing project this year.

We (and when I say we I really mean I) made a commitment this Christmas to try to make at least 90% of our gifts this year. So far we are on track and I will be sharing our progress through the next two months (kind of cheating as I have to make at least 22 more projects before the end of the year to make my 52 project goal). To make things even more interesting, I am trying to use what I already have to make all of these gifts. 

One of the challenges is that I have to try and make gifts that even teenagers will want. This is my attempt at a homemade teen gift. I have seen a lot of really great hand stamped jewelry around lately and I decided to give it a try. 

It does not require a lot of equipment:

Hammer

Washers

Black Permanent Marker

Cording

Rubbing Alcohol

Letter Stamping Kit (I got my 36 piece 1/8" steel letter/number stamping kit from Harbor Freight tools.)

After some struggling with spacing, I decided to mark the washer for each letter.

Position letter on washer and hit with hammer two or three times keeping letter steady. 

ALERT: Most important part of this whole tutorial. Make sure you are doing this on a hard surface, like cement or marble. A table will not work. I tried to use a table and could hardly make an impression on the washer after 20 consecutive strikes with the hammer. 

After the all the letters are on your washer, color over them with a permanent marker (I use Sharpie).

To wipe away the excess, use some rubbing alcohol with a paper towel.

I made one for each of my girls for Christmas. On the front I put their names.

On the back I put a virtue that I wished for them in their lives right now.

A mother's wish for her daughters that they can wear. 

Week #19 Converting the Stained T with Tutorial

So I cheated a little bit. I did make a dress for Lily Bear, but it was not the same kind of T-shirt dress that I have been making. That counts right?

Challenge: Using the Stained T
Project: T-shirt Dress with Cotton Skirt


We have an 11year span between Lily Bear and Elle Bean (our second youngest) and as such, we had next to no baby gear when we found out we were expecting Lily. 

Elle Bean is a big sister!

We must have timed it just right because we had baby items thrust upon us from every direction from friends who declared definitively that they were, capital D O N E, done having kids. I think the only thing we bought was the changing table (okay my dad actually got that one for us, thanks dad). 
Along with the equipment came the piles of baby clothes. Wow, all I can say is wow. I probably really won't have to buy anything for Lily Bear for years to come (not that that will stop me from sewing some things here and there). 
As happens with baby clothes, some of them came to us with little stains. Some  items were so cute, it hurt to not figure out something to do with them. 


Case in point:

This shirt came to us from our friends Karl and Natalie and their daughter Clara (they had twin boys born two weeks before Lily Bear was born, so we got all their girlie stuff). It was so cute, but had a stain just above the belly button.
The sheet I found at a garage sale. 
Let's put them together and see what we get. 


First I cut the shirt above the stain.

I measured the width (a) of the new bottom of the shirt and multiplied (a) x 2 for the width of the skirt then multiplied  x 1.5 to add fullness to the skirt.   (I AM GOING TO CHANGE THIS TO x2 NEXT TIME, I WANT IT A LITTLE BIT MORE FULL) So the width of the skirt = a x 2 x 1.5


I then  took one of Lily Bears dresses that I liked the length (b) of and used the skirt measurement. I took (b) + 1.5 inches for hem and seam allowance. So the length of the skirt = b + 1.5 inches

After cutting the skirt, I hemmed the bottom and sewed up the side seams.
Next I sewed a long stitch (4 on my machine) around the top of the skirt; a gathering stitch. Pulling the bobbin thread, I gathered the skirt to be the same width as the shirt.
I then pinned the skirt and the shirt right sides together and sewed them together. 

Turn the dress right side out and: ta da, the stained shirt is now a cute dress for Lily Bear.
I made a little head band from some of the left over T-shirt and the fitted part of the sheet.

Lily Bear was much more interested in the flowers than a photo shoot.

"Purple round puffy thing. . .  my favorite."

"I am sure I can reach it if I really stretch, and give mom a heart attack in the process"

"Now I have two pretty round puffy purple things. Yea!"

Selvage Bag Tutorial

This is my first tutorial. . . so please, be kind. I tried to take pictures of everything, and my dear husband (Mr. HowDoYouDo) was so helpful.

 Tara over at Tinkerfrog taught the class where I made my prototype at the Mama Said Sew craft party in Fort Collins, CO last Friday night. 

What you will need:

*Muslin
*Duct tape
*Metal measuring tape you don't mind cutting up (the dollar store is a great place to pick one up)
*Lots and lots of different selvage edges




1.Cut one piece of muslin approximately 7 inches wide and 14 inches long. This is going to be the base fabric that you sew your selvages on to. 
(The size can be modified depending on how large you want your bag, the instructions following are assuming this starting size and will make approximately a 6 inch x 7 inch bag.)


2. Sew your selvages on to the muslin. Sew close to the uncut edge of the selvage. Sew each selvage on top of the one before close to the uncut edge (am I making any sense yet???).

3. After all your muslin is covered, use your quilting ruler (that is what this tool is called right?) and rotary blade and cut your block to 6 inches wide, making all sides straight and even.

4. Measure your block and cut in half to make two blocks.

5. Cut two pieces of muslin, 6 inches by 3 1/2 inches.


6. Sew the first piece of muslin to the top of one of the blocks, right sides together.
(Repeat with second block.)

7. Sew sides and bottom of your selvage blocks right sides together stopping just before the muslin.

8. Clip corners and seams and turn right side out.

9. With wrong sides together, sew both sides of muslin (trust me it will make sense eventually, maybe).

10. Fold muslin out and down twice creating a casing. 

.
11. Stitch casing (this was the hardest part trust me) leaving an opening large enough to insert measuring tape pieces.


12. Cut two pieces of measuring tape the width of the bag.

13. Cover measuring tape pieces with duct tape (so there are no sharp edges).

14. Insert measuring tape pieces into casing, one on each side of bag, with the curve of the tape facing out.

15. Hand stitch casing opening.


16. Fold casing down and into the bag. The pieces of tape will be curve out creating a closure in the bag. 

My favorite part is how the measuring tape creates a tight closure. It is such a cool idea. You just bend the tape to open the bag. It has a tighter closure than some of my bags with magnetic snaps! If your bag does not close tightly, it is because the tape is too short for the casing. That happened to me on my prototype, so I sewed some decorative buttons on the bag to make the casing shorter. Worked great.

Hopefully this made some kind of sense. It was a really fun project to make and a definite challenge making the tutorial. If anyone tries the project, let me know how it goes or if you have any questions.

And because most people are here just to see Lily Bear. . . here is the money shot: