creative little daisy

Belt Tutorial

Another day, another belt. Here's a little rundown of how I make a belt. I'm sure there's a better, faster, easier way, but this is the method I use.

Determine the size your belt should be (measure around the outside of your pants where the belt loops are) Add to this about 8.5 inches.

I have 1.5" d-rings so my finished belt width will be about 1.5". I cut the fabric strips 3" wide by various lengths or if you want a more uniform look you can cut them all the same length. Cut enough to make up the finished belt size. (remember to take the seam allowance into consideration) I just cut a pile of strips and keep sewing them end to end (right sides together)  until I come up with the length I need.

Once the strips are all sewn together press your seams.

Now cut a strip of fairly stiff fusible interfacing (I use decor-bond by pellon) 1.5 inches by the length of the belt.

This will be fused to the back of the length of strips. Fuse the interfacing so that it is centered (top to bottom) on the length of strips.

Press the raw edges in toward the center 3/4" on each side. (to give you a width of 1.5")

Cut a piece of grosgrain ribbon 9.5" shorter than the strips. Pin in place to the back of the length of strips. (or use a fusible tape to secure for stitching)

Place ribbon 7" in from one end

About 2.5" in from other end

On the end with ribbon 7" from end fold down 1/2" to hide raw edge and then fold the fabric back onto the ribbon.

Stitch down both long sides close to the edge.

On oposite end fold back 1/2" and fold again 1" through d-rings. Stitch in place and you are finished.

You could also skip the interfacing and back the belt with cotton webbing instead of ribbon. I happened to have interfacing and ribbon so I used what I had. All the measurements are approximate. The important thing is to allow enough extra length to attach the d-rings on one end and to fold back enough on the other end so that when the belt is on you see fabric on the part that folds back. (does that make sense?) It is really easier than this bunch of writing makes it sound. Just give it a try. If you make one send me a picture. Next I think I'll try a quilted one.

Making this belt was quick an easy and without any snafus. Later I worked on a wristlet. I have some pearls of wisdom to share about that experience as well:

• When cutting down a zipper to make it shorter, the instructions tell you to sew over the teeth at the point you want to shorten the zipper. Even though you will be enclosing the end in a seam, don't skip this step. It is a necessary step and doesn't take very long. In fact it takes a tiny fraction of the time it will take you to take apart the outer bag and lining pieces you have just attached nicely to the zipper before you carelessly open the zipper and slide the pull right off the teeth and onto the floor. Those guys don't go back on. So now instead of taking a couple of minutes to stitch across that zipper end, you have to spend 30 or so minutes to take everything apart and start over. AARRGGGGGGG!!!!
• If it is called a wristlet, you should actually make a wrist strap and put that strap on the wristlet before it is completely sewn up. Otherwise, it's just a zippered pouch.
• If you want to cut a length of fabric 4 inches wide and are using your 4 inch wide ruler and rotary cutter to cut this fabric. Make sure your ruler is actually a 4" wide ruler and not 3 inches. Otherwise you will have a 3" wide length of fabric. Go figure!

Friday Post: part 1

I have enough to say for three posts! I hate to overwhelm anyone with a ridiculously long post so I'll divide it up into bite sized chunks. Speaking of bite sized, have you seen the beautiful miniature sweets that Vicki's (Turkey Feathers) daughter, Grace makes. Go now, I'll be here when you get back......Oh my goodness!! Do you want a donut now or what? Grace is following beautifully in her amazing mom's footsteps.

OK part one, a follow up to yesterdays mini tutorial post. I tend to over think everything. After I published that post I went to bed and couldn't sleep worried that I had left something out or been more confusing than helpful. This morning I got the book out to look over the pattern again. I saw something I had never seen before as much as I had studied this pattern. Or should I say I looked at one of the illustrations with a different perspective. This one:

I must have looked at this same drawing 50 times and never "got" what it was telling you to do. I even emailed this wise lady to ask her some questions. When I first saw this picture it looked like you cut and quilted each strip individually, then sewed them together, and I guess that is what this picture shows but not the way I imagined. I imagined cutting batting for each strip, quilting the strip and sewing a bunch of quilted strips together. That would make some bulky seams, I thought. So I have been doing it the way I demonstrated in yesterdays post. Cut the strips, sew them together and then machine quilt. This morning it dawned on me that what this picture shows is you start with a square of batting, sew one long side of the first strip to the batting with the right side down, flip it back right side up and quilt, then the next strip and so on until you have all 8. Duhh. So I tried it this way. I don't know if it is because I have become accustomed to doing it the other way but I don't like the book's method. My final piece was crooked and all out of shape. For the back piece I sewed the strips together and basted them to a piece of batting slightly larger and quilted starting at the center working to either side. Much better.

A second follow up to yesterdays post. I used the mitered square to make a pillow cover and thought I would share that with you too. I know you experienced sew-ers will find this very elementary but for a beginner it is a great project. You veterans are excused now. 

This is going to be a cover for an 18" square pillow. The top I made yesterday is 19" square.

 

I start by cutting a piece 19" by 27"

Cut that into two pieces (19" x 13" and 19" x 14")

Press and stitch a double turned hem on one long side of each piece.

Lay the top piece down with right side up. Place the back pieces right side down with the hemmed edged overlapping in the center. Pin around all sides and stitch all the way around.

Clip the corners to reduce bulk so the corners will be sharp when turned.

Turn right side out and insert pillow form.

Easy as pie!!

You can also add a ribbon or buttons to the back to dress it up.

Two little tuts

I am going to attempt a couple of mini tutorials. The first will be for a mitered square from striped fabric and the second will be a very mini tutorial on the quilted patchwork purse.

For the mitered square you will need:

Striped Fabric

Paper for pattern

Tape

Ruler

Rotary cutter optional

Cut a square out of paper the size you want the pillow to be (mine will be 18")

Draw intersecting lines from each corner and cut along these lines to make four triangles.

Lay the pattern on your fabric so that the long part of each triangle is at the same place on the fabric. (mine is at the bottom of the yellow stripe each time)

Cut the triangles 1/2 inch wider on each side for seam allowance.

Sorry about the change in fabric. I experimented with two different prints for this tut.

Match up the triangles along one short side, making sure your stripes are matching. Pin heavily. I also used my walking foot to avoid any shifting. If you don't have a walking foot heavy pinning should work.

Sew down one short side. Repeat with the other pair of triangles.

Iron the seam open and it should look something like the picture above, a bigger triangle.

Place the large triangles together along the long side, matching the stripes and again pinning heavily. Sew along this line.

When you're finished it may look something like this. I bet you're saying " I hope not." I agree. It looks kinda wonky there in the middle. I don't think this fabric is the best choice for this technique.

This helps. Oh, this one is miniature. I only had a little of this fabric so it will probably become a pin cushion.

This one is bigger and I'm happier with the look of it.

It will be an 18" pillow cover when it is finished.

Several people have asked about how to make the quilted patchwork purse.   I found the pattern for this purse in a Japanese craft book called Machine Made Patchworks.  Since I can't read Japanese I don't know if I am following the pattern correctly or not, but here is how I construct the outer purse pieces. 

Each side of the purse is made up of 8 strips that are a wedge shape. Each strip is 11" long by 3" wide at the bottom and tapering to 2" at the top. You can use any combination of fabric you choose. I've seen it done with two different fabrics or you can use 8 different prints. After you have cut your strips lay them out in a pattern that is pleasing to you. Once you are happy with your layout, sew the strips together. I use a 1/4" seam allowance.

Here they are sewn together. Use this as a template to cut your lining pieces, your batting and interfacing for the lining. I use pellon craft fuse to interface the lining pieces and I have used quilt batting or a heavy fusible fleece for quilting the patchwork pieces. For this one I used fusible fleece.

I fused the fleece to the back then machine quilted. I quilt straight lines from top to bottom starting about 1/2 inch apart widening as you go to the bottom to follow the shape of the strips.

Here it is quilted.

From this point I assemble it like this, except for the square bottom.

Super Easy Keychain Tutorial

Here are some key chains I made last night and this morning. They are so easy to make and take no time. I made lots of these this past Christmas to give as small gifts and I include them with some of the purses I sell.  The first one uses brown fabric and grosgrain ribbon. The one in the middle I used gingham fabric, daisy ribbon and iron on transfer for the Daisy Bags writing. The last one is black fabric with aqua grosgrain ribbon and the monogram was done on my embroidery machine. The brown and pink one will go with this purse.

I decided to do a tutorial in case anyone is interested.

Materials needed:

Fabric, fusible interfacing (optional), ribbon (optional) 1" d ring and a split ring.

I find it easiest to cut most things using a rotary cutter on a self healing mat. If you sew much and don't have one I highly recommend getting one. One of my best investments.  Mine is 33" x 58".

Cut your fabric 4" x 9" and if you use the interfacing cut it 4" x 8" (this is to decrease the bulk when sewing the ends together). When fusing onto the fabric center it so that there is no interfacing on either end.

You can skip the interfacing unless your fabric is very lightweight. Even on a medium weight fabric the ribbon usually adds enough body to it. If you want a key chain out a printed fabric and choose not to add ribbon I would suggest using the interfacing.

Iron fabric in half the long way. Open and fold either side in to meet in the center. Fold this in half. You should have a strip that is 1" wide and no raw edges visible.

If you aren't going to add ribbon at this point you just sew down either side close to the edge and you are almost finished. I used  fusible tape to secure the ribbon on the strip for sewing.

Stitch down either side.

Now slide the d ring onto the strip and fold in half with right sides together. Stitch the open end using about a 1/2" seam allowance.

Turn it around with the right side facing out and pull the d ring up to the end that you just stitched together.

Stitch as close to the d ring as you can. Sometimes I use my zipper foot for this step.

Put the split ring on the d ring and you are done! Easy as pie and you can make one to match every purse. I know you creative geniuses can come up with all kinds of clever variations. These are just 3 I did in less an hour.

I bought the split rings at hobby lobby but who doesn't have those lying around from old key rings. I use the d rings on my purse handle sometimes so I bought mine on eBay. I think the shipping was more than the actual auction price. It was a total of less than $5.00 for about 100 d rings. When I put short cloth handles on a purse I use cloth or ribbon tabs and d rings to attach the handles.

Basic Purse Tutorial

I was working on purse orders today and decided to take pictures as I went along and attempt to post a tutorial. I don't know who may see this and if it will help any one but I am constantly searching the internet for tips and suggestions and there aren't a lot out there. craftster has lots of great purse tutorials but I don't think I have seen one there just like this. Here is a picture of the purse I made. You can make changes to this basic concept and make lots of different styles.

I use this basic pattern for all my purses.

You will need about 1/2 yard of each fabric for outer bag and lining and about 1 yard of stiff fusible interfacing. I use pellon craft fuse. For this bag I made cloth handles attaching them with 4 1" d rings. You can use purchased handles if you want instead.

To begin cut 2 of your outer bag fabric and 2 lining fabric and 4 interfacing  in a 13" x 12" rectangle that is slightly wider at top than the bottom.

Iron fusible interfacing to each fabric piece

With right sides together cut a 2 inch square out of the bottom corners of the outer bag

Now right sides together sew down sides and across bottom of outer bag

Iron seams open and bring side seam and bottom seam together at bottom corners

Sew across this 4 inch line on both sides. This will form the bottom gusset of bag.

Turn bag right side out.

I forgot to mention the pocket. Cut a piece of fabric  12 inches by about 13 inches cut interfacing 6 inches by 13 inches. Fold the 12 inches in half and fuse the interfacing to the wrong side. Sew down the long side leaving the ends open. Turn to right side and iron. This will be the pocket.

Fold the lining pieces in half to find the center point for marking for your magnetic clasp. I measure 1 1/2 inch from top for placement of my clasp. Make a mark on each lining piece.

Now place pocket on one side of lining 3 inches from top edge and pin in place. Mark for pocket divisions. I use a 4" ruler and place it on center and mark both sides. Sew pocket in place on lining piece by sewing across bottom edge of pocket and down the division lines.

Now sew lining pieces together down sides and across bottom just like you did the outer bag. Also sew the corners as you did for the outer bag. Now place the magnetic clasp in the lining. I reinforce it by using the square piece I cut from the lining corner.

To make the handles cut 2 pieces of fabric 20 inches long by 4 inches wide and 2 piece 10 inches long by 4 inches wide. Cut 2 interfacing 19 inches long and one 10 inches long.  Fuse interfacing to fabric. For the 20 inch long pieces fold and iron in half the long way, open the fold and fold short ends in 1/2 inch, fold each side of the long sides into the center fold and then fold in half. Stitch close to the edge on both sides. Do the same with the 10 inch pieces except for folding in the short sides.

Cut the 10 inch piece into 4 pieces 2 1/2 inches each. These will be the tabs that attach the strap to the bag. Using a 1 inch d ring sew each tab piece to the flat side of the d ring then attach the strap folding down about 1"

Repeat for both straps. Pin straps to top of outer bag 3" in from outer edge.

Zig-Zag across top of bag going over straps several times to be sure they are secure.

Now insert bag  right side out into lining  with right sides touching matching side seams and pin into place.

Sew around top leaving a section for turning. Section needs to be about 5-6 inches so that a 4 inch piece of card board can be inserted.

I use a fabric glue stick and apply glue to both sides of a piece of cardboard cut the size of the bottom of the bag- this one is 4 inches by 8 inches after turning bag insert the cardboard in between the bag and lining.

Now turn down the edges of the opening and pin closed. Top stitch around the top of bag and you are done.

I hope this will be helpful and not too confusing. I have never written a tutorial.

*For this bag in addition to the pellon craft fuse I used a layer of fusible fleece to make the bag a little thicker. It is not necessary and I don't always do this. I just fused the fleece to the outer bag after the craft fuse.

I make a book bag or diaper bag using this same pattern just increase the dimensions and make the handles longer.

You can also add ribbon to the outer bag or monogram. You should do this before sewing the bag sections together.