Make a much prettier magnetic pincushion..

I love the concept of magnetic pincushions...using them while sewing on the machine, I pull the pins out and throw them in the general direction of that ubiquitous blue donut thing without slowing down, and it grabs them from almost midair and keeps them safe from landing under my feet. I love it. Not so much, the blob of blue plastic in my sewing room.

So, I decided to make my own, using a little porcelain dish I loved. And cause I could, I took pictures while doing it, and you can make your own, too. I promise you, you'll love it SO much more! :D

Needed:

Dish you like, not too thick, otherwise the magnets can't hold well through it

Strong magnets..I got mine from eBay, but you can find similar at any decent craft supply store

Strong glue that will hold both surfaces..I used Gorilla Glue

First, spread your glue on the spot you want the magnet (or on the magnet itself...I had a slight curve to my surface, so I wanted to make sure it was well filled with the glue so it would hold)..

Decide how many magnets you need for your particular dish (I needed three stacked together to be strong enough...other dishes might need more or less...test your one out), gluing together layers if need be..

Attach to the dish (like I said, I needed to stack mine up...if you have a wider, flatter dish, you might need to spread them around a little, to cover the surface to make it workable)..

And if you have a glue like mine that needs to be held firmly together while drying, put a weight on the magnets to keep it together.

And that's it. You now have your gorgeous little magnetic pincushion, ready to hold those pins in place without having to stop and stab them in, or leaving piles next to the machine while you work, and then the next time you rotate the garment to sew another seam, you sweep the whole mess onto the floor. Gah. It's like having a superhero working next to you. Seriously. I am in love. Hope you love yours just as much. :D

Threads of life..

Threads sewn on a machine over water soluble stabilizer, and then rinsed to reveal magic. Amanda McCavour is the magician. I wish I had that much talent with just a pen and paper, even, much less cramming all that thread through the machine! :o

Credits:

1. Fashion In Motion 

2, 3. Amanda McCavour 

4. In the Sky and On the Road  

5, 6. Kim Yokota

7. Kat Hyun 

8, 9. DudeCraft 

Oh...THAT army..

Meet my Army of Evil Minions.

I had seen Moonstitch's adorable "tutowlrial" a few years ago, and have had it sitting in my bookmark folder ever since. Til I got a request for beanbags in a swap, and knew this was PERFECT for them! :D I filled the top half with fiberfil, and the bottom half with rice...worked perfectly, with a great heft for tossing. All was going well, til I needed to do the eyes..the best material I had was this dark brown sweater I had felted ages ago, and I thought it would be just the thing.

So, made a couple up, sat back a little, and realized I was staring back at an army of evil little owls. Whoops. I hope she is feeling the need for some minions around the house! :D

PS: Her favorite color is orange, and also tiedye, of which I had neither. But I had a yellow based red fabric, so I made reverse tiedye with it, using bleach (you can't see it in the pic, but it looks really cool, and way more orange)...look for the coming tut!!

PPS: I didn't have the printer going, so I just drew my own pattern looking at her pics...result, my owls came out a little more high-and-mighty, versus chubby and cute. Prob contributed in no small part to the evil results.

I found it...

I found my next birthday present. Or maybe even Christmas.

I am not sure I have started even breathing after that first gasp.

Cori at Starview Sonnet is a crafting goddess, imo. :p

(If you aren't broke, like me, you can buy her HERE.  Just don't tell me about it and break my heart. )


Credit: Starview Sonnet 

Make an upcycled water bottle carrier..

NOTE: FULL CREDIT FOR MY IDEA CAME FROM THE TUTORIAL BY BETZ WHITE AT PETITE PURLS!

Okay, so...I saw Betz's tut and LOVED the idea. But my family...we are..uh..active. In other words, I needed to make sure it wouldn't fall out, which meant completely changing how to put this together. Oh, and I wanted an adjustable strap, too. Upshot, I ended up making a tutorial of my changes, and you get to try it out! Heheh :D :D

I did this over a period of weeks, since I kept not having this or that, and so missed properly documenting every single step clearly, but I think they are clear enough, and I will elaborate when necessary. (Note: the strap on my model is a touch different to how my tut will show. Don't ask. I messed something up the first time, and when I fixed it and put it back together, I didn't notice til JUST NOW that I forgot to put one of the D rings back on. Sheesh. :p )

MATERIALS:

one leg from a trashed pair of cargo pants, including pocket

lining fabric of choice

1.5-2 yards 1" nylon webbing

2 D-rings

1 slide buckle

1 swivel clip

1 cordstop

12-15" cord for drawstring

Okay, take the pants....split it up the inseam as far as you can go, so you can spread it flat easily.

Figure out the dimensions you want, to fit your bottle; I measured my bottle, and then added an inch all around, plus seam allowances. Center it on the pocket, and cut out your square. Cut a matching lining from your contrast lining fabric. Cut a strip as wide as the square, but only about 3.5-4 inches tall, from the extra leftover pants fabric.

Fold the pants square lengthwise right sides together, and sew across the bottom and up the side.

Repeat for the lining, but only sew a couple inches up the side, and then leave a gap of a couple inches, and then continue on to the top. Backstitch a couple stitches at the end and beginning of those lines to keep them from coming undone when you are flipping the finished back through the hole at the end.

This is one of the steps I didn't get the best pic of, but it's really simple. At the bottoms of the lengthwise sewn lining and  outer pieces, pinch up the sewn corners and flatten them so they look like this. Sew straight across the corner, about 1 1/4 inch down from the point. When you open them out, voila, you suddenly have your 3-D bag shape. :p If you need a better pic of this step, let me know, and I'll hook you up. :D

Now, the drawstring casing. Fold the long strip you previously cut, the long way, short end to short end, right sides together. Sew up the side about 1.5 inches, and then backstitch a little to reinforce.

On the open section where you didn't sew, fold back the seam allowance, and press open. Repeat on other side.

Topstitch from top to bottom.

At the top edge, fold over your seam allowance, and press....

...and fold again, matching the folded seam allowance edge with the very end of the backstitched bit of stitching. Press.

Now sew all around, forming your casing.

The strap.

Take a three inch piece of webbing, loop it through a D ring. Sew back and forth across a few times, to reinforce. Repeat for the second D ring.

Loop the length you have chosen for a strap through one of the D rings.

At one of the ends, get out your lighter, and seal the raw end, so it doesn't keep fraying, by holding the end close to the flame til the raw ends melt (CAREFUL! Don't touch the melted plastic, and be aware of the flame!!). Loop it through the slide buckle, and sew back and forth neatly a few times, to reinforce. Weave the other end through the buckle.

Here is supposed to be a picture that I completely spaced. What you are doing here is attaching the swivel clip in the same way as the buckle, including singeing to seal, to the other end of the strap.

Okay, here is where I messed up the strap, cause I SUCK at spatial thinking, and put the whole shebang together backwards, twice. :p I am holding the bag in my hand, and am going to tell you how to do it right, so you don't have to get all comfy with your seam ripper like me. :D

So. Make a sandwich of all your layers, in this order:

Outer layer

D ring strap ends tacked into each side, right side of buckle to right side of outer layer (the rest of the strap should all be assembled, so it's all one piece)

drawstring panel, right side to right side with the outer layer

lining , right side to wrong side with the drawstring panel


Sew all around the circle, going back and forth a few times when you go over the d ring strap ends to reinforce.

Pull everything back out through to hole you left in the lining. Tuck the seam allowances back into the lining, and sew closed.

If you are using a synthetic cord or shoelace for a drawstring, you should singe the ends in the lighter, too.

Pull it through the casing, wrestle it into the cordstop by pinching it open as wide as you can and feed the ends through, and tie the ends together.

Tada. Done!!!

If you have any questions, just ask, and if you make one up, I'd LOVE to see!!!! Please!! :D


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