Sewing Club Update

Hi all. I apologize once again for my absence.... the pregnancy, move, and family events have had me snowed under! With the holidays coming up I'm thinking we'll take a break from meeting until the new year. Lets get together again on Saturday, January 16th 2010. Mark your calendars now! We will also take a break from our monthly club sew along project until January. I don't know about you guys but I need to focus on completing Christmas presents! I'll be looking for January club project suggestions so if you come across something you'd like us to make together please send me the info! If you need holiday gift ideas click here for member suggestions and tutorials.

Amy Butler's New Fabric LOVE

Amy Butler is my favorite fabric designer. Her prints are the whole reason I even started sewing! She has just come out with a new fabric line and of course I love it. Ironically it is called LOVE. Click here to see her new fabric collection.

She even has a few laminates in the LOVE line.... whoo hooo I see lots of beach bags in my future!

Hope you "love" it too.

October Sewing Project - Purse Organizer

You've probably noticed that my posts have been a little scarce lately. The pregnancy and move have left me little time (and motivation) to do much else but eat, sleep, and pack so I was thrilled to get this suggestion for our club sewing project (thanks Lorena). A Purse Organizer for organizing your necessities so that it makes the transition to another purse in your collection easier as you're running out the door. What a great idea! Click here for the purse organizer tutorial.

15% coupon for fabric.com

Use code 5thx9 for 15% your order at fabric.com. The code is good for 30 days and can be used as often as you like. Hope you get some great fabric deals!

Sewing Machine Organizer Tutorial

Great idea from our club member Lorena..... (I apologize for the poor photo quality.... I can't find my good camera!)

She made her sewing machine organizer to meet her needs by combining two different tutorials. I love the little basket for stray threads!

Make your own Sewing Machine Organizer with the help of the following tutorials:

http://www.rainydayquiltschool.com/sewing_machine_organizer2.htm

http://www.sewmamasew.com/store/media/blog/SMSPincushionOrganizer.pdf

Club Meeting this Saturday, Sept 18th 1:30

Our Sew Southern Sewing Club meeting is this Saturday, September 18th in the upstairs room at Beans and Cream from 1:30-4:00. Feel free to bring anyone you think might be interested! I think my favorite part of getting together is seeing what everyone has made or is working on…. I always get great ideas and inspiration from your projects so let’s keep “show and tell” as a staple in our meetings.

• Please bring a sewing project that you’ve completed or want to complete for show and tell.
• One of our club members will give us a little tutorial on button holes. (I’m excited about this since I usually wimp out and use Velcro instead of attempting buttons!)
• If you’ve completed September’s project, the Sewing Supplies Case, bring yours….I’d love to see what everyone came up with. If you’d like to complete the Supplies Case but haven’t had a chance to bring your machine and supplies and we’ll work on it together at the meeting. Click here to see the project tutorial.
• I have several new items in the lending library….. felt toy Robot pattern, Toddler Car Seat Cover pattern, Sewing Books, felt toy sushi pattern…..so make sure to browse through on Saturday and if you have any patterns, sewing books, magazines, tutorials, etc that you would like to donate to the club please bring them.

As always, ideas for meetings, outings, or club projects are always welcome! Since this is a club to help everyone grow as a sewer, you may always bring any questions you have about a project you are working on. We will do our best to work through the problem area together and get you back on your sewing way. I look forward to seeing everyone Saturday!

Sewing Project Ideas

One of our club members put together a list of quick and simple project ideas in case you are in need of sewing inspiration. I added a few ideas of my own too. Click each idea to see a tutorial or pattern.

For Mom's or Mommy's to Be: Great website for patterns and ideas makebabystuff.com

• Burp Cloths
• Nursing Covers
• Changing Pads
• Diaper/Wipe Clutches
• Wet Bag
• Pacifier clips
• Pillowcase dresses

Christmas gift ideas:

• Drink coasters
• Tissue Holder
• Grocery Bag Holder
• Aprons
• Business Card Holders
• Tote Bags
• Cloth Napkins
• Neck Ties

For your Home:

• Iron Board Covers
• Duvet Covers
• Hourglass Pillow
• Dining Chair Covers

Thanks for the ideas Lindsey! If anyone has any project ideas, patterns or tutorials you would like share please email them to me.......I love to see what everyone is working on!

Felt Dinosaur Play Mat Tote Pattern

This Felt Dinosaur Play Mat is so adorable!

When your little one is finished playing everything slips in pockets on the back and folds up. Little handles make it perfect when you are on the go.

You can purchase the pattern on Etsy at Gulf Coast Cottage.

September Sewing Project - Sewing Supplies Case

The Sewing Supplies Case is great for carrying what you need to club meetings to work on your sewing projects. I think I'll use the same fabric that I made my machine cover with....Click here for the Sewing Supplies Case Tutorial.

How to Sew a French Seam

I've been making lots of shoe bags and gift bags lately and skimping on fabric and labor by leaving out the lining. I don't like the unsightly "raw" fabric that is visible on the interior of the bag without a lining so I did a little research and came across French Seams = problem solved. The definition I found says "A French seam is a seam which encloses the seam allowance on the inside of a sewn item" and it is super easy! Click here for step by step directions on how to sew a French Seam.

Fabric Pinwheel Tutorial

When we made our pimpin sewing machine covers Lorena adorned hers with a little fabric pinwheel.

I loved it so much that I "borrowed" her idea and supersized mine.

These would be great to adorn bags or little girl's dresses too. Here are more pinwheels (the designer actually calls them yo yos) in action....

Click here for the fabric pinwheel / yo yo tutorial.

Nap Mat Tutorial

One of our members made this super cute nap mat for her little girl who is headed to Mother's Day Out.

Click here to check out the nap mat tutorial she used. (Thanks for sharing Lorena!)

FREE Software Program for Drafting & Printing Patterns

I just came across this Free Software Program for Drafting and Printing Patterns for hats, bags, wraps, belts, and footwear by Wild Ginger Software, Inc. It is called Wild Things and the web page says it has embroidery design planning tools and you can specify the dimensions for each item to draft accessories for your needs. I haven't used it yet but it sounds interesting so I wanted to share.

Click here for the Free Wild Things Software download.

Club Meeting This Saturday!

Club meeting this Saturday in the upstairs room at Beans and Cream from 1:30-3:30. Feel free to bring anyone you think might be interested! I think my favorite part of getting together last time was seeing what everyone had made or was working on…. I gleaned some great ideas and inspiration from your projects so lets keep “show and tell” as a staple in our meetings.

• Please bring a sewing project that you’ve completed or want to complete for show and tell.
• If you’ve completed August’s project, the Kidlet Wall Pocket, bring yours….I’d love to see what everyone came up with. If you’d like to complete the Wall Pocket but haven’t had a chance to (that would be me!) bring your machine and supplies and we’ll work on it together at the meeting.
• I have several new items in the lending library so make sure to browse through on Saturday and if you have any patterns, sewing books, magazines, tutorials, etc that you would like to donate to the club please bring them.
• As always, ideas for meetings, outings, or club projects are always welcome!

Since this is a club to help everyone grow as a sewer, you may always bring any questions you have about a project you are working on. We will do our best to work through the problem area together and get you back on your sewing way.

I look forward to seeing everyone Saturday!

Fabric Frog Tutorial

My cousin is expecting a baby boy and she chose frogs as her nursery theme. I made this cutie for baby Camden and plan to attach a little blanket for a frog "lovey".

Click here for the Purl Frog tutorial I used to make this little guy.

Dining Chair Slipcovers Tutorial

One of our club member mentioned that she was looking for a dining chair seat slipcover pattern or how to. I came across these 7 slipcover tutorials and thought they were fantastic! I'm motivated to make some myself! I think this is a great idea to dress up your folding chairs too.

Click here for instructions on how to make 7 Simple Slipcovers.

August Sewing Project - Kidlet Wall Pocket

FANTASTIC! The Kidlet Wall Pocket......Something attractive to store toys in that doesn't take up valuable floor space, is easy for my little one to get his toys out of AND put them away in (ha-wishful thinking).

I'm going to make one for me too! I'm always digging around for my sewing stuff while in the middle of a project and I can't leave anything out on my desk or my little one will snatch it up. This will be perfect to hang within my reach to store scissors, seam ripper, ruler, fabric marker, etc in. Oh and I think I'll make one to hang on the front door for mail..... I better get sewing!

Click here for the Wall Pocket Tutorial

Click here to see more photos of the Kidlet Wall Pocket for your inspiration.

Bags and Totes and Sacs Oh My

One of our members requested some suggestions on making a simple tote bag. I thought the following links would do nicely....

Top 7 Tutorials for Making Your Own Shopping Tote

Hobo Bag from jcaroline

Market Bag Tutorial

Total Tote from Simplicity

Water Resistant Tote / Beach Bag

Pleated Tote Bag from artsy crafty babe

Free Tote Bag Patterns and Projects

Lots and Lots of bag links from Henrietta's Handbags and Purse Patterns I did notice some of the links on this site no longer work but there were so many to choose from!

If you have a favorite bag or tote pattern please share it with us!

Check this out!

Wow, this looks like so much fun! A funky Craft Studio and Sewing Lounge.....they even have monthly Crafty Cocktail happy hours – "an evening of craftacular sophistication and socializing" I must think of how to incorporate this into our sewing club calendar! Click here to see the website for Sew Crafty craft studio and sewing lounge.

Wouldn't it be the best to have something like this in Columbus in one of the storefronts downtown or maybe in a Southside cottage? My head is spinning with the possibilities.....Oh, if I were just a little bit more ambitious.

First Meeting This Saturday, July 18th 1:30

Our first Sew Southern Sewing Club meeting is this Saturday in the upstairs room at Beans and Cream from 1:30-3:30. Feel free to bring anyone you think might be interested!

• Please bring a sewing project that you’ve completed or want to complete representative of your sewing style to share with everyone.
• If you’ve completed July’s project, the sewing machine cover, bring yours….I’d love to see what everyone came up with. If you’d like to complete the machine cover but haven’t had a chance to (that would be me!) bring your machine and supplies and we’ll work on it together at the meeting.
• I’d like to start a lending library so if you have any patterns, sewing books, magazines, tutorials, etc that you would like to donate to the club please bring them.
• During the meeting Jenny Brooks will give us a little instruction on sewing patchwork blankets. Here is one of her completed projects......SO CUTESince this is a club to help everyone grow as a sewer, you may always bring any questions you have about a project you are working on. We will do our best to work through the problem area together and get you back on your sewing way.

I look forward to seeing everyone Saturday!

Turn Fabrics into "Oilcloths" Tutorial

I wanted to make a beach bag but couldn't figure out how to make it water resistant then I came across this tutorial: Turn Fabrics into "Oilcloths" on Burdastyle.com. So COOL and looks EASY!By the way, if you don't know about Burdastyle.com check it out. The website is great for project inspiration and they have lots of free patterns too.

Bare Minimum Diaper Tote

For when you don't want to carry the full on beast of a diaper bag...Bare Minimum Diaper Tote.

It holds a changing pad, baby's diapers, wipes, ointment and lip gloss for Mommy (because a girl can never be without her lip gloss:-) Click here for the Diaper Clutch tutorial that I used to make this tote. I made mine a little bigger and added a wrist strap.

July Sewing Project-Pimp My Machine

Sew Southern Sewing Club's First Sew Along Project....... Pimp my Machine aka Sewing Machine Cover

I don't have alot of storage in my home so I have to keep my sewing machine on an open shelf in my bedroom. The ugly plastic cover that houses my machine is just downright depressing to look at all day so when I came across the above photo I was literally giddy. I can't wait to pimp out my machine!

I thought this would be a fun and simple project for us to start with. If you decide to sew along with us I'd love to see your finished product so please email me photos.....I'll post them on our blog site. If you complete your cover in time to bring it to our first meeting please do so....I'd love to have a show and tell!

Following are a few links to some sewing machine cover tutorials that I thought were simple and well written. Martha Stewart Sewing Machine Cover Tutorial

Quilted Sewing Machine Cover Tutorial

Craftblog Sewing Machine Cover Tutorial

Chez Larsson Sewing Machine Cover Tutorial

Member's completed covers below.... now these make for pimpin' sewing machines.

Infant Car Seat Recovering Tutorial

This is so cool!

My infant car seat was a hand me down so, while I was very grateful for it, the pattern was not what I would have chosen. What a great idea to recover the seat! Click here to get more information on the Infant Car Seat Recovering PDF Tutorial available for purchase on Etsy.

Storage Basket Tutorial

Oh my, these are the cutest!

I think I'll have to expand my obsession for making bags into all things storage related to include these. LOVE THEM!

Click here for the Storage Basket Tutorial

Reversible Drawstring Bag Tutorial

OK, so I think I'm going to nickname myself the bag lady.... I seem to be obsessed with making bags of all sorts! I had these adorable home sewn baby shoes to give as a gift and wanted to present them in lovely wrapping representative of the gift inside. No store bought packaging seemed to do the little homemade shoes justice so I thought I would sew a gift bag that could also be used afterward in the baby's room for storage. I used the following tutorial......

Click here for the Reversible Drawstring Bag Tutorial

The bag is a nice size to store toys, pacifiers, diapers, bibs, etc (I have a similar bag that hangs off our changing table where I keep diapers and ointment for easy access) and I like how the pretty coordinating fabric lining peeks out the top.

Next time I think I will add a little pocket to the front in the coordinating lining fabric to hold a gift card!

Shoe Bag Tutorial

There are endless goodies to sew for girls but I was trying to think of something to make for the men in my life and it came to me... Shoe Bags! We are frequent travelers in my family so I thought shoe bags for keeping the dirty soles of shoes away from clothes in a suitcase would be welcome gifts for guys AND girls.

I found an easy shoe bag tutorial and thought I would share....

http://blog.betzwhite.com/2009/02/shoe-bag-tutorial.html

Obviously I will need a bit more manly fabric than is pictured here for the guys and may need to expand the bag's measurements to accommodate big shoes that go along with 6 foot + statures but the basics should remain the same.

HAPPY SEWING

Felt Toy Patterns

One of our members suggested a fun summer project...Felt Toys for little ones! Soooo cute! You can purchase the patterns on Etsy at Gulf Coast Cottage. Thanks for the suggestion Lindsey.

Fabric $5 Gift

$5 coupon from Fabric.com

I don't know about you but half the challenge in getting a sewing project started is rounding up the right fabric with our limited resources around here! I usually end up ordering fabric on the internet. If you do too hopefully you can use this $5 Gift for Fabric.com. It's a one time use coupon valid from June 12th to June 19th. Enter the code blogorange when you check out to cash in your five bucks.

I came upon the offer reading one of my favorite blogs How About Orange. Check it out here. They have some interesting craft tutorials.

Happy Shopping!

Sew CRAZY

I'm new to sewing you know but thought I needed a new tatoo so...... JUST KIDDING this is not my arm; I have no tatoos to date but did think this was worth sharing. Hope you enjoy!