DIY: How to Sew a Quiet Book

What is a quiet book? A quiet book is a soft book typically made of fabric or felt full of interactive activities to help babies/toddlers learn and keep them preoccupied. I’m not sure whether it’s called a quiet book because the book is made of soft/quiet materials or if it makes your child stay quiet because they’re engaged… but either way, they are fun to make and to play with!

I had never heard of a quiet book until my sister tagged me in a Facebook video about one as a “subtle” hint to make for her then 1 year old daughter, my niece! So I had it in the back of my mind to make one for her and then ended up CRAM crafting the week before xmas to make it! I actually made this quiet book a whole YEAR ago, but it’s never too late to post about it! I’m really happy with how it all turned out!

This blog post will:

·        Go through my process of how I went about figuring out how to make a quiet book

·        Walk through how I created the individual pages and bound the book together, step-by-step. I’ll also include any helpful links as additional reference material!

DIY: Turkey Sweatband

During last year’s Thanksgiving, I came up with the idea to make turkey sweatbands to wear during the annual 5K Turkey Trot and amazingly, my friends agreed to wear them! Scouring the web for inspiration and possible tutorials, I only saw a variety of turkey hats, but no turkey sweatbands…. So I made my own tutorial!

This year, we are running it again and recruited some new friends into the group and they wanted to wear them too! A tradition has been born! Based on a few people’s comments about our sweatbands looking like Princess Leia hair (LOL), I made a few modifications to last year’s design, specifically around the placement of the drumsticks on the sweatband. Hopefully, this year people will be able to tell we are turkeys! ... although being mistaken for Princess Leia would be rather applicable this time of year…

Quilted Zippered Ipad Mini Case Review

Just wanted to do a quick post about the quilted zippered ipad mini case I sewed last night! (that's a mouthful) I ordered myself an ipad mini during Cyber Monday week and it finally came!! I wanted to whip up a case so that I could safely take it on the plane with me this week; I followed Sew Caroline's tutorial. I do have an iHome smart book cover on it. Here's my finished product and some thoughts about the process.

Isn't it so cute?? I got the fabric in Taiwan and had no idea what I was going to use it for so it sat in my closet for over a year. I also added a "From Woo to You" tag :D

Quilting
This was the first time I had attempted free motion quilting, where you control the fabric under the needle to create a pattern. And yes, I had to google, "what are quilted lines called" to get to the term "free motion quilting" haha! Notice the black wavy lines in the picture below? It's actually pretty satisfying! In order to get comfortable with free-handing the wavy line process, I practiced on a scrap piece of fabric. I actually initially chose a yellow thread to match the inside fabric, but it seemed to clash too much with the cats. The cats need to stand on their own!

Also, I thought using safety pins to pin all over the fabric instead of using straight pins was interesting. Apparently, that's so you don't stick yourself since you have to have a good number of them across the fabric to hold the layers in place and move the fabric around under the sewing needle. No bleeding on the project, please!

Zipper
I've completed a few zippered projects (e.g., pencil skirt, zippered pouch) but I'm still afraid of installing zippers! The whole process confuses me so I have to always double, quadruple check that I'm sewing it the right way. Sew Caroline's tutorial kind of glossed over this step so I had to spend quite a bit of time trying to figure it out!

Sew Caroline's Instructions:
Step Four: Place your zipper face down on the RIGHT side of the outside of your pouch. The zipper teeth should be about 1″ from the top edge. Stitch in place.

Step Five: Repeat this with the other size of the zipper and the other side of the outside of the pouch.

Instructions Deciphered:
Step Four: Stitch in place along the TOP edge of the zipper, like where the pointed needle pokes out in her picture.

Step Five: Then flip this piece over and place it on top of the other piece so that the Right sides are facing each other on the inside, and Wrong sides are outside. Fold the top piece down, so that you see the zipper. The zipper pull should now be on the left side and the stitched line should be on the bottom. You'll sew along the top edge of the zipper now to the bottom fabric. Does that make more sense??

The thing I don't like about this method of installing the zipper is that once you flip it inside out, you see the outside fabric sticking out... The next time I sew this, I'll have to figure out a way to hide this...

Also, I used a 7" zipper. I'd probably use a 9" zipper next time, just because the opening to put the ipad mini in is a bit tight...

Machine Feet
I used a walking foot for the majority of this project, except for the zipper part where I used a zipper foot. A walking foot is good for quilting or working with slippery fabrics since it pulls the top fabric along with the bottom fabric. Ever sew pieces of fabric together and then they don't line up at the end? So frustrating! A walking foot helps with that. I used this YouTube video to understand how it works and how to install it.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the end product. What do you think?

DIY: How to Hem Your Dress Pants

What a relief it is to be able to hem my own pants! No more taking them to the tailor to be hemmed for $20! The last time I got them professionally hemmed, they were still a little too long and then I tripped on them in the parking lot mid-sentence while talking to my manager! I'm actually surprised he didn't burst out laughing because I would have! I ripped my pants at the knee, scraped my palm, and bruised my ego... but I was more upset at the wasted cost of getting them professionally tailored! Well, no more of that wasted nonsense because I can do it myself! Now... if I can just start a side business of hemming my coworkers' pants I could made a side fortune...... hmmmm haha 

This was the 4th pair of dress pants I hemmed myself, and it really boils down to a couple steps.

- Cut off the excess fabric while accounting for the seam allowance

- Zigzag stitch the raw edge of the fabric to prevent fraying

- Hand sew the hem

I'll break down the steps now in more detail.

Here's what you'll need.

Materials: 

- pants you'll be hemming 

- needle and matching thread

- seam ripper

- fabric scissors

- pins

- chalk

- ruler

- seam gauge

- iron (not pictured)

- shoes you'll be wearing your pants with (not pictured) 

DIY: Embroidered Cards

I know it's a little after Christmas, but I thought I'd share with you a quick tutorial on ways to sew your own cards! I embroidered some Christmas cards and one New Years card this year (inspired by Next to Nicx), but you could totally embroider cards for all occasions. I had this glorious plan to sew like 10 cards this year and I thought it was going to take no time, but the first one took me... pause... about 8 hours to complete
>.< ahh! (the one pictured above) I ended up giving it to my sister and her husband so I hope they frame it and keep it forever! So I quickly nixed that idea to make 10 cards and with such an elaborate design, figured out quicker ways to do it, and simplified it so each card afterwards ended up taking me about 30 min. each. Phew!

I don't have as many detailed photos as I usually do for my tutorials, but it's easy enough!

DIY: Makeup Brush Case

Whenever I go traveling, I always stuff my makeup brushes into a ziploc bag, which mushes the brushes and spreads my makeup onto the other brushes...but no more!

I now have a functional and cute case to store them in! Deborah Moebe's book, Stitch by Stitch, has a tutorial on how to make a picnic placemat, and I modified her instructions to make a laminated makeup brush case. I wanted to line my case with a plastic lining so that it can be cleaned easily, but I couldn't find any laminated fabric with a cute design at Jo Ann's and I was too impatient to order it online, so I used a shower curtain! It's a lot cheaper that way too, and mildew and bacteria resistant! Perfect!

The instructions below will be how I made the orange case, but I'll list out how I modified them to make the black cases. (see modification notes within the steps).

DIY: Bias Tape

My next post will be how to sew a makeup brush case, but first, I'm going to teach you how to make bias tape, which will be the first step to making the makeup brush case. This was the first time I made bias tape and honestly while I was making it I was like, this does not make sense!! but with patience and diligence, it worked out! I'm sure I'm going to be making more in the future and it'll be way easier now that I know what I'm doing!

What is bias tape?
Bias tape (aka bias binding) is basically fabric that is cut at the bias, the 45 degree angle to the selvage, into a long strip. It's a little misleading that it's called "tape" when it's not sticky at all.
Because bias tape is cut across the woven threads as opposed to along them, it is flexible and durable. It is used mainly for edging projects, especially curved ones, such as armholes, necklines, placemats, bags, etc.

You can buy them already made but the selections are pretty limited (see Wrights bias tape above), or make them yourself.

DIY: French Seamed Envelope Pillow

I discovered this amazing website called Craftsy about a month ago, an interactive platform where you can sign up for a ton of craft-related courses taught by experienced instructors. I learned how to make this french seamed envelope pillow from the course, Sewing Studio: Fashion Fitting, Home Decor & More taught by Diana Rupp. I'll show you how I did it step-by-step so you can follow along and create your very own one too!

What is a french seam? A french seam is a double sewn seam where the raw, frayed edges are enclosed within the second seam. Gives the project a nice, clean look.

What is an envelope pillow? This pillowcase has two overlapping panels in the back for a hidden opening for the pillow.

Skills You'll Learn:
- Sewing a double turned hem
- Pivoting around corners
- Sewing a french seam

DIY: Sew a Garter

My sister tasked me to make her a garter for her wedding, and thankfully with the help of a tutorial on weddingbee, it was pretty easy to make my own version. You basically only need to know how to sew in a straight line on a sewing machine and you're set!