TUTORIAL: Lil Cutie Pouches

Ask and ye shall recieve!  Here's the tutorial for the Lil Cutie Pouch.

You need:

• 8 x 6.25 piece of exterior fabric (interfaced)
• 8 x 6.25 piece of lining
• 2 x 3 piece of fabric for key ring loop
• split key ring
• 8" zipper

This one's quick! Make a couple at a time and keep one for yourself this time (I did!).

{1/4" seam allowances throughout}

Cut your exterior & lining pieces in half (measuring 4 x 6.25 each, you'll have 4 pieces)

Take your 2 x 3 piece of fabric, fold right sides together the long way, sew.  Turn right side out and press with the seam in the middle of the fabric.

Lay down the first exterior fabric right side up, place your zipper teeth side down with the zipper pull to the left.  Lay one of the lining pieces right side down.  Pin if you'd like.  Using your zipper foot sew together.

Flip wrong sides together. Next lay your remaining exterior fabric piece right side up, place your zipper teeth side down with the zipper pull to the right this time.  Lay the remaining lining piece right side down on top of the zipper.  Pin.  Sew.  Flip wrong sides together, press. 

Flip right sides together (be sure to open your zipper about half way now).  Tuck in your tab that you made earlier between the exterior pieces of fabric, with the tab's raw edges pointing out. 

Sew around entire parimeter leaving a 2 to 3" opening in the lining for turning.

When I'm sewing around the parimeter, I make sure to push the zipper towards the exterior fabric on both sides when sewing across the zipper (zoom in on the above picture if you need to).  Clip corners, exess zipper.  Pull inside out through the opening.  Poke your finger or chopstick to push out the corners now.  Sew opening in lining shut with small seam allowance.  Push lining into exterior.  Press. 

Attach your key ring, you're good to go!  Stuff in all those gadgets and whatever else you might need, a camera, cell phone, iPod, you name it.  Let me know if you have any questions, I'd be happy to help.

Terms of Use:  For personal use only.

Lil Cutie Pouches

Oh, I think these are just too sweet!  I definitely will be making one for myself.  I always say that when I get done making something, but never do.  These lil cutie pouches are just the right size to hold a cell phone, iPod, change, credit cards, lip gloss, whatever!  I also added on a loop with a key ring, handy to attach to a diaper bag or backpack or purse.  How fun. 

I finally decided it was okay to use the japanese fabric that I had gotten a long time ago.  It doesn't seem so bad now to cut into it and actually use it.  Now I want more japanese fabric of course, go figure.

Yes, the jelly beans, nice touch, eh?  We've been busy buying Jelly Bellies buy the pound lately.  Thought it would be fun to throw them in.  Anyway, I have another craft show coming up on Halloween.  I've been busily making and making and making.  More to do tonight though, it's never enough!

If anyone's interested in a tutorial on these I can get it posted pretty quick...

Grandma's Chair, renewed!

I'm really excited to show off this finished chair!  I had fun recovering it with some of Amy Butler's new Love collection.  I ended up ripping some seams from the old cover to make sure I would have the proper fit.  I just cut the pieces like they were a pattern. 

The chair is pretty interesting, here's some of the info on the underneath of the seat:

It also came with a handy tool (an allen wrench) secured by a loop, for when you need to take the chair apart.  I needed to replace the foam padding as part of this project as well.  Not sure if I used the right stuff, but it looks pretty good to me.  The old padding was so gross! It had disinegrated into tiny crumbs of sand = not good for sitting.

Go vote!

It's time to cast your for the Sew, Mama, Sew Scrap Buster Tutorial Contest! I entered my first tutorial and am very excited to see it on their site, what an honor. There are tons of awesome ideas for all sorts of projects. Click here to vote.  And thanks to everyone for stopping by my tutorial, I hope to get my second tutorial up in the next few days....here's a sneak peek:

Fun with noodles!

My husband made homemade pasta from scratch the other night for dinner, yum!  Just thought I'd share a few pics:

Possible new header someday?

Grandma's Chair

Have you seen this kind of chair before?  It's a really cool idea, very ergonomic.  You rest your knees on the two pads and sit on the seat.  Good for the old posture.  No slouching in this chair.  It's been at my Grandma's house since I can remember.

I've always loved it.  We had such fun using the chair when we came to visit while growing up.  Luckily (and sorry cousins) I am the lucky recipient of it!  She actually gave it to me a few years ago, I just didn't know the right place to put it.  I'm glad I waited, and it's ready for a makeover!  Maybe some new padding and fabric of course.  Here are my before shots, so you'll just have to wait until a little later to see the After shots.

Natalie and Emily love it.  They think it's some kind of tandum rocking chair.  It's pretty funny actually.  They've been having a blast on it since I brought it out of the attic.  We'll see if it ends up in Natalie's bedroom or mine, we might have to fight over this one...

Pattern Tester

I was really lucky to be selected as a pattern tester for The Handmade Dress' newest dress, Miss Alice.  This was really fun to make and I can't wait for the release of the pattern.  I made this one for Emily and it took barely any fabric, yay!  I think we'll be layering it over a long sleeve tee and leggings, it's cold here baby! 

I was really excited because I got to make good use of my serger, it's so nice.  Here's a detail shot of the inside:

Earlier this week I tried my first Ottobre pattern, a pair of corduroy pants for Emily.  I screwed them up majorly.  I must not have added the correct seam allowance on the top and I did the applique upside down and on the bottom of the pant leg.  I can't even show the disaster picture because I gave to pants to my mother-in-law to put into the quilt that she's making for Natalie.  Oh well! 

Any advice on the Ottobre pants from the Autumn issue?  #4 Yogi pants?  They are the easiest thing in the whole book, where did I go wrong?

Fabric Basket

When I saw this tutorial, I knew I had to make one - immediately.  And just for fun, I decided to make two, why not?!  I was able to use up some super cute scraps from this quilt.  I loved the fabrics and since I sent the quilt away as a gift, I could still have a little something to remember it by. 

I'm sure you've already visited the Pink Penguin blog by now, she's so talented.  I love all of the vintage fabrics she uses.  The tutorial was very easy to follow and the pictures are lovely.  I didn't have any linen at the time, so I used canvas instead - same effect I think.  Right now they are sitting in my sewing room holding some miscelaneous junk, waiting for the 'appropriate' place. 

I think next on my list to try would definitely be the camera case, a gift for Christmas for someone special!

Oh and by the way, there was a monster lurking near my ironing board this morning...rarrr!

Gift for friends

I'm sending out gifts to a couple friends of mine tomorrow, thought I'd share what's inside:

This is a diaper keeper (you've seen this fabric before ;)).  I love this idea, my diaper bag will never be the same without one.  I think it's so useful and keeps the diapers just how they're supposed to be, not all smooshed and full of crumbs at the bottom of the bag.  Yay!  Whoever came up with this idea is pretty cool in my book.  I used this tutorial, it's really great, lots of great photos and well explained.  This tutorial was one of the first tutorials I ever used.  Hope baby Parker's mom & dad can get a little use out of it!

My second gift I'm sending out is a make-up bag (with my favorite fabric so far), to my dear friend Toni.  She's been a great friend to me, and we had some fun times back in college.  Hope you had a great birthday Toni!

I love these!

Do you love these as much as I do?  I have been in love with Erin McMorris' prints since I found them in my local quilt shop earlier this spring.  I don't normally consider myself a 'blue' person, but I love them!  I got this selection of blues from my newest fabric friend MaterialGal, check her out she's really great! And it's quite handy for me that she's not too far away.  :)

This one is a home dec weight from Amy Butler's new LOVE collection. I can't wait to show you what I have in store for this.  With the others, I'm planning on making a quilt for my bed.  I hope to get started after Christmas because there are just so many other things on my to-do list right now.  I feel like I'm playing catch-up to all the other amazing bloggers out there (you know who you are, lookie over there on the left)!  There are so many things I want to try, it's so exciting!

These are a few picks I made on my trip on Saturday.  I love them, L-O-V-E!  Aren't the bears and bunnies so cute?!  It was a great sale, I could have stayed all day and brought home all the fabric (they have a ton of Kokka fabrics - not very common to find around here). 

Oh yeah, did I mention that my husband think I'm crazy?

Fleece Hat - Camo Style

My mom commissioned me to make this hat (haha mom, if you're reading this you can get a sneak peak) for a co-worker's baby boy.  The dad likes all things hunting and camo, so here you go!  A camouflage hat!  This hat was beyond simple and quick to make, maybe 15 mintues tops.  I highly recommend Martha's instructions, plus she gives a ton of variations to try.  I made these before about 7 years ago for my cousin's daughters.  I guess I've been sewing longer than I thought. Anyway, hope it keeps him warm and cozy...

Trick-or-Treat Bag

I was pretty excited to makes these for the girls.  I figured they'd be able to get quite a bit of use out of a nice trick-or-treat bag.  I made one for each so far, Natalie's isn't quite finished yet.  Here's Emily's bag:

I used this tote tutorial to make both of the bags, it was pretty straightforward and I liked how they came together.  I thought it looked a little too simple after the bag was done, so I did some freezer paper stenciling and added the scary cat!  I embroidered the eyes with some orange embroidery thread to make the thing look even more menacing, meeoow! (Hopefully Emily doesn't think it's too scary)

Here she is in her fall dress that I made her earlier this fall.

Oh, yeah, and I'm super excited for tomorrow because I'm going to one of my favorite fabric shops, Yellow Bird Art, in Lansing, IA.  It's worth the drive and I'm excited to see what they've done with the place since they remodeled.  There's a huge sale going on ($3 off per yard on all cotton fabrics!), which I can't resist.  Hope I come home with a bunch of goodies, somehow I know I will - wink wink.

Christmas Tree Skirt

I know, I know, Christmas already?  Yes!  I saw this Christmas tree skirt tutorial maybe a month ago and knew I had to make one for myself.  Remember this pile of fabrics at the bottom of the post? It's Heather Bailey's Pop Garden.  I love that it's not the traditional Christmas colors.   I bought 1 1/2 yard cuts of four prints and I'll have enough to make stockings, maybe some dish towels, some potholders, ooo I can't wait.  Don't worry, I also have a couple Halloween goodies to show, but that'll have to wait for another day - just have some finishing touches!

And the winner is.....

By randomness at random.org......number 62!!!!

Mary from Mary on Lake Pulaski you are the winner!!

Her winning comment:

Congratulations on winning the wallet and ponytail holders Mary!  I sent you an email, can't wait to hear from you!

A huge thanks to everyone for entering, I really loved reading all your comments.  Some great Christmas gift ideas out there.  Please stop by once in a while and see what I'll be up to next!  Be sure to check out the wallet tutorial and make one (or a bunch!).

Kitty Pocket

I'd been dreaming up this idea in my head for a while after buying these cute red pants for $1 at a rummage sale.  I didn't realize when I bought them that they didn't have pockets in the back.  I thought it looked kind of silly and came up with a quick fix.  Hello Kitty pockets!  Natalie is in love with pockets of course, what 3 year old isn't?  Since I grew up with Hello Kitty I couldn't resist.

To make the pocket I traced a simple image of Hello Kitty to make the pattern.  I used white linen (two layers) and lined the pocket with red fabric with tiny red hearts.  I embroidered the face on the kitty and added the bow by using some ribbon.  Then I stitched the whole thing on the pants, a little tricky, but not too bad. 

Apple Gadget and some instant gratification

Check this out, your next must have kitchen gadget.  It's one of the most amazing things ever - if you like apples that is (of course it can be used for pears, and possibly other things as well).  My mom had gotten me this last fall and we LOVE it!  It's so easy, it literally takes about 10 seconds to peel, core, and slice an apple!  I think it cost around $12, so it's pretty reasonable, too.  If you like baking with apples or just eating them without all that work, this is your thing. 

From this:

To this:

The funny part is that when I used it today miss picky decided that eating the peel wasn't so bad after all.  Go figure.

And for some instant gratification - a super quick project, a pillow case.  Natalie is going to pre-school a couple days a week and needs a pillow for naptime.  She picked out the outrageous Dora fabric (yes, I tried to convince her to use some fabric I liked, but you know how that goes).  I think it turned out pretty cute for 15 minutes.  It's one of those travel size pillows, $5 at target, nice.  I did the back envelope style, but added some snaps so it would stay shut.  I got away with using just a 1/2 yard.  Done.