Another birthday gift

My youngest daughter has a birthday party to go to this afternoon, so I whipped up a little gift for the birthday girl.

My brief was that her favourite colour is orange - but she also likes blue, and she loves pens and pencils etc.

Oh - and she's a big fan of our local basketball team - the Taipans!

So - I pulled out some fabric from my stash - plus a pair of jeans from my upcycling pile...

And made a pencil case!

Nice furry letters for her name, and a keyring with the basketball team's name on (cut from a foam supporters hand we had from a match we watched a couple of years ago - see I knew it was worth keeping and I'd need it one day!!)

Some cute Japanese fabric for the lining to add some colour and interest there...

And we can stop at the shops after school to buy a few bits and pieces to fill it up with!

A nice, quick, personalised gift!

Ruffle knit top

My daughters both have ruffle knit tops that are getting worn out (because they wear them CONSTANTLY as they love them so much!)

So I thought I'd try my hand at making one for them.

I used one of their other tops for a template:

Then joined the front and back pieces together at the top and the sides:

Binding is not my forte - but it worked pretty well when I followed some online instructions - so maybe with a bit more practice I'll get it!

Not bad for a first attempt!

And my daughter LOVES it which is the most important thing!

But who wouldn't love all those lovely ruffles!

You can go here to see the ruffle knit skirt I made

 (very simple - with a little tutorial too!)

And stay tuned for a couple more ruffle knit projects!!

Ruffle knit skirt - a tutorial

The Waistband

I also got to sneak in a little clothes upcycling into this too - as I had a skirt of my elder daughter that was a bit too small for her, and also a little ripped and frayed:

I checked to see if it fit my younger daughter (which it did) and so unpicked the elastic to use for a skirt for her!

If you want to make a skirt from scratch - then you need a band of elastic around 2 or 3cm (1") shorter than your waist measurement (depending on how stretchy your elastic is).

 This wide black elastic I used here is very firm, so I cut the actual waist measurement and the overlap when stitching the loop makes it firm enough to stay up when worn as a skirt waistband!

 Stitch this elastic together in a loop using a few lines of zigzag stitching.

Now for the main fabric..

As a general rule for the width of fabric needed for a skirt you cut one and a half times your waist measurement.

(I used the folded (in half) elastic waistband to measure mine - and cut 3 times this length.)

For the length - I wanted it a little longer than the discarded black skirt - so just lay this next to the fabric and guestimated!

Choose what length you want your skirt to be - remembering the width of the elastic that will sit at the top.

Now fold the fabric in half so the short edges are together.

Pin then stitch down the edges:

If you have an overlocker (serger) you can finish the seam edge off with that. I did, but knit fabric tends not to fray, so you don't really have to.

Now all you need to do is attach the skirt fabric to the waistband!

Fold the waistband in half and put pins into the folded edges. Then fold it in half the other way - so that your two pins are together, and put two more pins in the other edges.  So now you should have 4 pins evenly spaced around your waistband.

Repeat this with the top of your skirt, then attach the waistband to the skirt at those 4 points - matching the pins.

Note: you need to pin the elastic to the RIGHT SIDE of the skirt fabric!

Then stitch around the waistband using a zig zag stitch.

As you can see between the pins there is a lot more length of fabric than elastic...

As you stitch, stretch the elastic to fit the fabric.

Try to stretch the elastic from both behind and in front of your machine foot (I just needed one hand to take my photo here!)

And that's it!

Again the hem doesn't need finishing off as the knit fabric shouldn't fray. Plus the ruffles add a nice finish!

For the downloadable PDF version of this tutorial, click here.

If you liked this tutorial - there are over 100 more free sewing tutorials on my tutorials page, so do go and take a look!

More clothes upcycling - a new shrug!

Another upcycle from my stash today.

This top I've had since my girls were babies. I remember buying it thinking that it might be one I could wear when breastfeeding as it was nice and stretchy and the cut would allow good 'access' so to speak! :)

Well - I have to admit that I have NEVER worn this top!

So something had to be done with it.

It's really not very flattering..

Being so fitted, nothing can be 'hidden'!  So I decided to just transform it into a small shrug!

It was a simple upcycle - I literally cut where I thought the shrug would end - trying it on a couple of times to get the length and cut right, then matching up the two sides so it was even.

I then decided to finish it off with a rolled hem - after playing around with my machine last week and discovering all the cool things it can do - I figured I need to actually start doing them!

And here is my new shrug:

Black so it can be worn over most outfits, and the fabric also doesn't crease - so it is perfect to scruch up and pop in my handbag in case my shoulders get cool when I'm out!

At least now, this might get worn!! 

 (only around 7 years since I bought it!!)

Do you have any items of clothing that you bought years ago, but have NEVER worn?

Rag Patchwork Jeans Pencil and Notebook Folder

Using up some of the denim jean scraps I've got - I made another of my Pencil and notebook folders for one of my daughter's friend's birthdays.

I've found these folders make great gifts for both boys and girls. You just have to find fabric to suit.

I like this denim one. It helped use up some of my smaller scraps..

The squares are patched together with wrong sides together so the seams are on the outside. I then clipped the seams and washed it all (inside a pillowcase to catch all the fluff).

The seams will fluff up even more and look better over time as the folder is used.

I really like the effect - and hopefully the birthday girl will like her present!

A little clothes upcycle for my girls

One of the simplest things I've ever made - and subsequently my most popular tutorial, having been pinned and repinned like crazy - is for this simple iPod or MP3 player armband for use when exercising.

It's a simple clothes upcycle - using an old t-shirt top.

For the tutorial you can go here - it's one of my 5 steps in 15 minutes tutorials that ANYONE can sew!

Here's one of the comments on the tutorial post:

"I just used this tutorial (found via craft gossip) to make a quick arm band holder for my phone. It literally took 10 minutes (would have taken less but my 2 year old was "helping" me) and works great! Thanks!"

Now my girls have their own MP3 players that they like to listen to their music on - and sometimes they listen and dance around too - so I thought they might like their own little MP3 player armbands too!

So - I found a couple of old t-shirt tops in my stash - they're stretched and have some holes in them, but there's plenty of useable fabric there...

And now my girls have their own cute little MP3 player armbands so they can listen to their music and dance around hands free!!

Their armbands will also roll up and fit inside their little

MP3 player cases that I made them from some denim and cotton scraps too: 

(you can find the tutorial for these here)

Fagoting

The final thing I learnt about with my sewing machine this week is Fagoting!

Now to be honest I'd never heard of this until I read it in my instruction book. Have you?

Fagoting is a method of joining two hemmed pieces of fabric together with decorative stitching, and leaving a gap between the two pieces.

This one was nice and simple to do.

Just fold the two edges of the fabric over and press, then pin onto a piece of paper leaving a small gap in between!

Then using a regular sewing machine foot and these stitch settings (number 9)

Line your machine foot centrally on your seam and stitch away!

Then pull away the paper from the back and you're done!

(I used regular white paper, but would choose tissue paper or similar next time as it would be easier to remove without pulling the stitches)

So here you have my test example of Fagoting!

Another decorative stitch to keep in mind for future projects!

Have you ever tried this?

I hope you've enjoyed these mini tutorials on things sewing machines can do! They included rolled hems, blind stitch hemming, smocking, pintucking and fagoting.

I learned lots of new useful techniques that I'm sure I'll be using again soon!

How well do you know your machine and do you make full use of all it can do?

Next I shall have to start to explore my overlocker (serger)! I'll add that to my to-do list and look at it gradually over time! I have two large books with overlocker projects in, so I know there are lots of possibilities to discover!