Sew an old-fashioned tomato pincushion.

You can make all sorts of pincushions from scrap fabric you happen to have on hand.  They make a beautiful gift for anyone you know who likes to sew.  And don't think that just because they have one, they don't need another.  I have one near my regular sewing machine, one near my serger and one in my sewing basket, and there are still times when I feel like that isn't enough.  Of course, that's usually when I've forgotten to take one to whatever table I'm working at, but I digress.  The point is, anyone who sews would love another pincushion, and by raiding your fabric stash you can make one in their favorite color, or maybe in a color that would match their sewing box.  

Here's how to do it.

Start by cutting a piece of fabric on the bias. 

You can make it any size, just make sure it's twice as long as it is wide.

Mine was 6" x 12"

Fold it in half, right sides together and sew along the side using a 1/4" seam.

This forms the fabric into a tube, open at the top and the bottom.

Sew a running stitch around one end.

Pull this closed and knot it off.

Then run a few stitches through this gather.

This just reinforces it.

Next, turn it around and make running stitches around the other end.

Just make sure the thread comes out on the right side of the fabric.

Turn it right side out and fill with stuffing.

You can use regular fiber fill, but natural fiber fillings are kinder to your pins and needles.

When filling it, make sure you don't put too much in.  You want it nice and plump, but if you pack in too much it can become difficult to get the pins in quickly while you're sewing.

To help gauge, fill it as full as you want and then pull the threads to close the top.  If it's not full enough, open it up and add some more filling.  If you think it is full enough, stick a few pins in various places to make sure there's not too much stuffing for them to go in well.

Once you have it where you want, knot it off.

Then thread a long needle (I'm using a doll needle - available at places like Joann's or Hancock Fabrics) with some sort of thick thread.  I'm using pearl cotton embroidery thread.

Take off a nice long piece because you will be wrapping this around the pincushion to form the sections.

Draw the needle through the center of the pincushion, leaving a long enough tail on the other end that you won't risk pulling it through by mistake, and so you can tie the other end off.

*My thread was cut off the skein.  I just put the thread there so you could see it better.  I didn't realize until later that it looked like I had left it attached to the skein as I sewed.

Once you pull the thread through the pincushion, put the needle back through, slightly to the side of where you came out, pulling the thread until you flatten the pincushion slightly. Using the tail you left, knot it off, but don't cut either end of the thread yet.

Now we'll form the sections.  

Take the needle, that is now at the top of the pincushion, and wrapping the thread around the side, insert the needle back in the bottom of the pincushion.  Do this several times around the body of the pincushion, forming the sections. Odd numbers seam to be the most visually appealing, so I made five sections around this pincushion.  Knot it off using your tail.  Do not cut the threads yet, and leave your needle in as well.

Cut a star shaped piece of felt to make the cap for the top. Don't worry about being precise. In fact, it looks better if it's not perfect.

This is just an example - I didn't actually like any of the shades of green felt I had, so I made a cap out of another scrap of green fabric that better complimented the color of the "tomato".

If you want to do it the way I did, you need to apply fusible fleece to the wrong side of a small piece of fabric (about 4"x4") and, using fusible web, attach the wrong side of another piece of the fabric to the fleece side of the part you just made; in essence, sandwiching the fleece between the two layers of fabric.  Draw a star and use a narrow, close zig-zag, or a satin stitch to sew around the star, then cut it out. 

In all honesty though, if I had the right color of felt, I certainly wouldn't have gone to this much trouble for the cap, despite how nice I thought it turned out.

I'm sorry - please excuse the lighting change, which resulted in poorer photos.  A storm blew in and I lost all of my natural light.

To attach the cap, put your needle through the center of the cap and then push the cap onto the top of the tomato.  The tail thread will hang out from between the cap and cushion.  

Stitch the cap in place (I just go back through the entire tomato a couple of times).

For the record, if you ever have trouble getting the needle through, you can use something firm to help.  

Here I turned the pincushion over in order to use the table to push the cushion down onto the needle.  I wouldn't do this on a nice table top though. :)

You may also have a bit of trouble on occasion with pulling the needle out.  If you do, a needle pull (the small disk to the right in the picture) can help you get a better grasp on the needle.  If you don't have one (I've found them in the quilting section of the fabric store) you could use a small piece of non-slip shelf liner.

On the last stitch, push the needle out between the cap and the cushion, near where your tail is,

and knot it off, clipping the ends of the thread close to the knot.

Add a couple of pins and it's ready to go.

Now, while I was busy in the sewing room, Bree was busy in the kitchen.

Don't these look delicious?

You will just have to excuse me - this one has my name all over it.

I've linked this post with the Farm Girl Friday Blog Fest. 

I'm so pleased to have been chosen as one of their featured posts last week.  You should check it out.  There are plenty of good ideas being shared over there. 

I've also linked with the Homestead Barn Hop.  There is always plenty to be learned there too.

Sew a simple, hanging kitchen towel

I've shown a few of these towels in other posts on my blog, but as I got ready to make a couple of new ones recently, I realized that I'd never shown how easy it was to make them. 

All you need is a kitchen towel, a pot holder, and a large button.

I picked these up in the clearance section of our closest discount store, so they were very inexpensive.  You could even pick them up at the dollar store; my only caution is that although the printed ones are often cute, they are not usually made from very durable material.

Also, if you pick out a printed potholder, bend it in half to see what it will look like before you buy it.  Not all prints look good when folded in half.

Start by using a washable pencil to draw a line across the middle of the wrong side of your pot holder.

Then run a long, gathering stitch on either side of the middle of your towel.  I just used the fold line that was already there as my mid-line.  This is just one long piece of thread for both lines of stitching.

Pull the threads to gather your towel.

Lay the right side of the pot holder on the right side of the towel and pin in place.

I fold the hemmed edge of the towel under when I pin it.  I just think it looks nicer in the finished product.

Before stitching, flip it over to make sure the gathers were pinned fairly evenly.  The towel does like to slide away while you pin, so if you don't check it you may end up with a bunch of gathers on one side and not many on the other.

Then sew down the line you made on the pot holder.  Pulling the pins out slowly as you stitch will help ensure the gathers run under the presser foot evenly,

but I'll reach under the pot holder from time to time, just to make sure they do.

Once it's together, don't forget to pull out your gathering thread, then run a second line of stitching to reinforce the seam.  

The last step is to sew a large button on the pot holder, across from the loop.

There you go, all finished!

These are very quick and easy to make, and using towels and pot holders you pick up at the discount store or on clearance, they are also very inexpensive.  They would be great as a gift.  If you picked up an extra towel and wash cloth, you could have a matched set to give and it still wouldn't cost very much.

If you want to be super frugal, you could make two hanging towels by cutting the towel in half and sewing each half on it's own pot holder.  You'd just need to overcast the cut end of the towel, using a close zig-zag stitch after you've sewn it on the pot holder. The upside is that you would have two hanging towels, and though I've done that many times, I've gotten to where I prefer to use the whole towel when I make them.  That way, if one side gets too wet, you can turn it around and use the other side.  Since mine hang on the stove, the wet side will dry quickly if the oven is on.

I've linked this post with the Homestead Barn Hop.

I have also linked with the Farm Girl Friday Blog Fest.

Tote Bag Tutorial

Have you ever seen a piece of fabric that just called to you?  I certainly have, and the fabric pictured below was one of those.  One of the ladies in my sewing class suggested a tote bag as one of our projects, and I just had to use this fabric, even though most of my girls wanted to lay claim to it when they saw it.  I can't blame them - it's so pretty.  I got the general idea for this bag from a book I have, but I changed the size, the straps, and I added a pocket.

You'll need outer and lining fabric, and braided belting. 1 & 1/3 yard of each fabric, and 6 yards of belting will make two bags. 2-4yd of interfacing may be needed, depending on your fabric choice.

You can use cotton fabric, but both the outside and the lining will need to be lined with fusible interfacing to give the bag strength, or you could use a lightweight duck instead.  For the bag I'm showing, I used duck for the outside and cotton, lined with fusible interfacing, for the lining.

If you need it, clicking on the pictures will make them larger.

For solids, or an all-over print, cut a piece that is 32"x21" for the outside of your bag.

My fabric was a one way print so I cut two, 16.5"x21" pieces.

I placed them, right sides together, and stitched using a 1/2" seam.  

Then, since duck frays pretty easily, I overcast the edges.

After that, I pressed the seam to the side and top-stitched it in place.

Next, cut the lining fabric 35"x21".

The fusible interfacing was about 20 1/2" wide, so I only had to cut for length.  

I cut it a little less than 35" so the lining fabric would overhang by just a little.  It's just easier to do that than to try and line everything up exactly when you're ironing them together.

Go ahead and attach the interfacing to the wrong side of your lining fabric.

Now cut the fabric for the pocket.

One 10 1/2"x8" piece for the outside, and one 12"x8" piece for the lining.

Cut a 12"x8" (or slightly smaller) piece of interfacing too, and attach that to the lining.

If you have a one way print, make sure the 10 1/2" length goes with the grain/pattern.

With right sides together, sew the top edges of the pocket and lining together.

Press the seam flat.

Then fold it so the bottom edges meet.  You'll have a strip of the lining showing at the top.

Press, and then overcast around the three raw edges.  You can use an overcast stitch (if your machine has one), or a wide zig-zag.  I ironed a piece of fusible web along the bottom, between the outside and the lining to help keep it from shifting while I was sewing, but you don't have to do that.

Fold your bag in half (with the 21" sides together) and press so you'll have a line that will be the bottom of the bag.  I didn't have to do that because there was a seam right down the middle of this one.  Then, at the bottom, mark the center of the bag and the center of the pocket and line them up, right sides together.  You'll want to make sure the bottom edge of the pocket overhangs the bottom line of the bag by 1/2".  Pin in place and then stitch 1/2" from the bottom of the pocket.  Your stitch line should line up with the crease you made in  bottom of the bag.  

If you have a one way print and are constructing the bag like this one, you can assemble the pocket first and then sew it in when you're sewing the front and back of the bag together, but since a lot of duck isn't a one way print, I wanted to show how you'd do it if there wasn't a seam.

Press the pocket up, pin in place, and then stitch around the sides and bottom, 1/4" from the edge of the pocket.  Don't worry about the raw edges - the straps will cover it.

Now you'll add your straps.  You'll need about 3 yards of braided belting.

Starting at the bottom crease/seam, pin the strap in place.  You'll measure 6" from the sides of the bag, and then lay the strap down.  

When you get close to the top edge, place your last pin 1" from the top.  You will not sew past this pin.  You need the last bit of the top free from the strap so you can sew in the lining.

Let the strap loop about 24" from the last pin to the first pin on the other side.  Continue to pin the strap in place down the front of the bag and then keep going onto the back side, remembering to stop pinning an inch from the top of the back, make a second 24" loop, pin again 1" from the top and meet the starting point.  You may need to trim the belting just bit.  If this confuses you, just take another look at the picture above this one.  The belting forms a continuous loop around the bag, forming the straps at the top edges of both sides.

Stitch down both sides of each of the straps.  Just slide the pins over a bit during your first pass, but leave them in to keep the belting from shifting as you go.

You'll want to stitch over the point where the two raw edges meet.  Use a wide zig-zag, but set your stitch length short so that you're basically forming a satin stitch.  

Next we'll fold the bag so that the right sides are together, and stitch down the sides.

Repeat for the lining, and don't forget to overcast the edges.  You can use a wide zig-zag for the overcast.

Now we'll square the corners. 

Fold the side seam down so that it lines up with the bottom seam.  This brings the corner to a triangle.  Measure 1 inch from the point of the corner and sew across.  Do this for each side of both the bag and the lining.

Leave the lining inside out, but turn the bag right side out.  Place the bag in the lining (the right side of the lining will be against the right side of the bag) and pin around the top edge.  You'll want to leave a section open for turning later.  I left the area between the straps on the back of the bag open.  This area is marked by the red pins that are pinned in perpendicular to the edge.  Pinning it this way helps you know where to stop and start your stitching so you don't accidentally sew it all closed.  You also need to make sure the straps are down out of the way so they don't get caught in the stitching.

Reach in your opening and start pulling it right side out.

When everything's turned, take a second to reach in and finger press your squared corners to the bottom.

Push the lining down into the bag, fitting it to the bottom.   About 1 inch of your lining should show above the top of the bag.  Press and then top-stitch around the top of the bag.

In this photo the strap is pulled down out of the way, but as it got close to the presser foot, I pulled it up so the top-stitching ran right across.  I even backed up so the stitching was re-enforced across the strap.

As you can see here, the top-stitching is very close to the seam. 

All finished.

The pocket was a little on the small side, but this was a trial run.  I want the pocket deeper in the future, so the dimensions I gave above will make a pocket that is a couple of inches deeper.

I hope the instructions are clear.  Happy Sewing!!

I've linked this post with the Homestead Barn Hop.