Papier-mâché Dish

This is an easy project that's basically free, but it requires a bit of a time commitment. Papier-mâché uses only a few ingredients, but you need to give each layer time to dry, and then each coat of paint takes time. For this project, I tried a recipe that requires cooking the papier-mâché mixture. This extra step is supposed to give you a harder, glossier finish (and it wasn't very difficult, so it was probably worth it!). 

To make the papier-mâché, I mixed a half cup of flour into two cups of cold water. After stirring out all the lumps, I added this mixture to two cups of boiling water. I let it boil until it thickened, then took it off the heat and added two tablespoons of salt (this helps prevent mold). The recipe was thick and custardy, which is great, but I ended up with way too much. If you are doing a small project, I recommend making just a quarter of this recipe.


To start, choose a dish to use as a mold. I used a little storage container, and covered the outside with plastic wrap to keep the project from sticking. You can use a thin layer of vaseline instead of plastic wrap, but then you end up with some grease on your finished project. Here's the dish wrapped up and ready to papier-mâché!

Now you dip paper into the papier-mâché mixture and let it soak a few seconds, then lay it on the mold. Lay strips down in one direction, then lay more strips in the opposite direction. Try to remove most of the goop from each strip before laying it down, or you will end up with a sticky finished project that will take days and days to dry. 

Ideally, you should do a couple layers of paper, give it a day or two to dry, then do another layer (or two). I did two layers, giving it a day to dry in-between. My finished project is thin and fairly flexible, but seems strong enough. The papier-mâché mixture can mold fairly quickly, so it's best to refrigerate it in between uses and try to get the project done within a week or so. 

Once it's good and dry, carefully remove the papier-mâché from the mold. To neaten the edges, trim off the excess at the top. 

Now you're ready to paint! I did a few coats of paint and finished it with Mod Podge to seal it and give it shine. It's perfect for holding earrings or other odds and ends, and you can decorate it however you want. 

Thanks for reading! 
Cate

How-To: Blind Hem Stitch

This will not be a normal craft post, but I just learned this technique so thought I'd share in case anyone else has been meaning to try it. It's a blind hem stitch, and it makes a nearly-invisible hem so your garments look more professional. I've been hemming by hand for years or trying to make neat rows of machine stitching, and this is so much easier. I wish I'd tried it sooner!

You will need:

• a machine that has a blind hem setting (almost all of them do)
• a blind hem presser foot
• something to hem, such as a dress, skirt, or curtains (or pants, but those are a little difficult to do on the machine and I would probably just hem them by hand)

Start off just like normal - finish everything except the hem and determine your finished length. As with a handsewn hem, trim to the desired length plus about 1.5" on the bottom for the hem. Now fold the raw edge up about .5" and press. Fold it again, this time about 1" and press, then pin in place. Same as usual, right?

To prepare for the blind hem, fold the pinned edge up the other way, so it's folded up along the right side of your garment.

 

 

The top of your folded hem should show about .25" above this newest fold, as you can see above. Now let's set up our sewing machines for a blind hem stitch. You'll want to check your sewing machine's manual for the exact settings, but look for a stitch pattern that is a straight line interrupted every few stitches with a little zig-zag. On my machine it's stitch B in the pattern selector, and then I set it on a medium zig-zag stitch. More modern machines probably let you set the pattern with just one button.

I did several practice runs since this is my first time trying this technique, and I would recommend that you do the same. Lay the fabric on your machine with the fold up against your presser foot's guide. The blind hem foot holds the fold in place so that the zig-zag will catch just a few threads every few stitches. Most of the stitching happens at the top of your hem, which will be inside your garment.

As you sew, keep the fold snugly against the guide, but there's no need to push it. Watch out for getting the foot caught in your seams, like I did. If that happens, stop the machine and carefully pull the foot free without moving your fabric out of place (after pausing to take a picture for your craft blog!). 

Once you get all the way around, you've finished the hem! Easy, I know. It should look like this before you fold it down:

 

Open the hem and press it. It should look like this on the inside:

It is nearly invisible from the outside (especially after you get it completely flat). This is the finished hem:

If I'd known how easy this is, I would have tried it years ago. The only caveat is that it's not the strongest hem, so it's best on garments that you can be a little gentle with. It's fine for a sundress, but I probably wouldn't use it for kid's clothes.

Thanks for reading!
Cate

Purse with Patchwork Inset

I've been making a lot of bags lately, and I wanted to make one that would show off the pretty new fabric I just bought. For this project, you'll need swatches of fabric for the patchwork (I used eight 4" squares but you could adjust this depending how you want your patchwork to look). You'll also need about half a yard of your coordinating fabric (I used plain, black cotton) and half a yard of lining. 

These are the pretty fat quarters that inspired this project:

 

I started by cutting a bunch of 4" squares from the fat quarters and then lining up squares until I found a pattern I liked. I lined them up right on my black fabric so that I could see how the finished bag would look.

The next step is to attach the panels to make a strip of patchwork. Attach the panels to each other on their sides and press the seams open. For this purse I did two panels with four squares on each, which made two strips that were 4" tall and 14" wide.

Now lets cut out the plain fabric. I used black because I thought it would make my patchwork really stand out. My patchwork strips were 14" wide, so all my black fabric pieces are also 14" wide. I cut one 14" x 15" piece and two pieces that were 14" x 3". Attach the patchwork strips along the 14" edges of the big piece, then attach the two long, skinny pieces to the other side of the patchwork. If your fabric needs to be placed in a certain way to look right, note that the edges of the patchwork that are attached to the 14" x 3" panels will be the top edges of the bag. Sew all the pieces together and press the seams flat. 

Make the handles in the same way as the tote bag in my first post (two strips 20" x 4" folded in half lengthwise; sew down the long edge; turn rightside out; topstitch both edges).

Now fold the purse body right sides in and sew up the sides. Cut the lining to the same size and sew up the sides. 

Insert the purse outside into the lining, wrong sides together. For the bottom corners, mark 2" from the bottom and the side of each corner and connect these two marks to make a triangle. Sew along the edge of the triangle and trim close to the stitching, as shown in the picture below. Do this on both sides.

Turn the purse rightside out - I love this part because you can see what the finished project will look like!

Now carefully fold both the lining and the outside fabric in about half an inch and press. Insert the handles where you want them to be (I measured 3" from the side seams to place my handles). Make sure the handles match on both sides and pin them in place. Make sure the lining is folded slightly more than the outside so the lining won't peak out when you're done.

Topstitch around  the top of the bag. I topstitched twice around for extra stability.

And you're done! This project was really quick, and I think I'll be inserting patchwork panels into other projects when I have little bits of pretty fabric to use.

Thanks for reading!
Cate

Simple Pouch Tutorial

This is a simple pouch that has lots of great uses. I made several of these to go inside the tote bag from my previous post. I'm a big fan of fabric pouches to keep things separate in a suitcase or bag, especially when traveling. I made some slightly bigger pouches for myself to keep clean and dirty laundry separate in my suitcase. By the way, if you like to embroider, these pouches are a great way to show off simple designs. Your life will be much easier if you do all the embroidery before you start sewing!

Let's get started. I used a little scrap of fabric for this small bag (about 10" x 20"). The bag was fine for holding small things, like tubes of lotion or a few packs of playing cards. If you want a different size bag, figure out your finished dimensions, multiply one side by 2, and add seam allowances all around. That should give you plenty of fabric. 

Start by pressing down both short edges about .5" and sewing along the edge. This will be the top of the bag when you're done.

 

Now fold it in half (hamburger-style, not hotdog-style) and sew all the way up one edge, and almost to the top of the other edge. Stop about 2" from the top, as marked by the pin in this picture.

This gap that you left will be where you thread the cord through the top of the bag. Press the side seams open, then secure the gap you left by sewing all the way around the hole. If you skip this step, the raw fabric edge will end up poking out. Yuck!

Now fold the top edge down 1" toward the inside of the bag. You're making a tube for your cord. Press in place and sew close to the edge of the fabric. There are a lot of loose ends in the picture below, but they will all be inside the bag and out of sight. If you want your bag to look more professional, neaten the ends as you go by tying off the loose threads and finishing the edges. You can see the tube for the cord in the photo below.

I didn't have any cord and didn't want to buy any, but fortunately I had some shopping bags lying around, so I took the cords off of these for my pouches. 

Turn your pouch rightside out, press it flat, thread the cord through the tube, and you're done! I had a toggle so I attached that, but this pouch would be just fine without the toggle.

Thanks for reading!
Cate

Tote Bag Tutorial

I made this beach tote as a gift for a bridal shower I went to with my mom. We packed it full of goodies for the bride's honeymoon in Hawaii - beach reads, flip flops, lotion. It was a quick and fun project and took less than a yard of my main fabric! The second bag I made (picture at the bottom) took just one fat quarter of the main fabric, but I had to use the contrast fabric for more of the pieces.

Here are the pieces for the flowered bag (it's a dogwood blossom pattern, but I thought the colors were tropical enough for a beach bag) -

• Two 18" x 22" rectangles of fabric for outside of bag
• Two 18" x 22" rectangles of contrast color (or lining) for the lining of bag
• Four 4" x 18" rectangles of fabric for top of bag (you can use the contrast color for this if you only have a little bit of your main fabric)
• Two 6" squares of fabric or contrast for a pocket
• Two 6" x 22" rectangles of contrast color for handles
• Two 5" x 16" rectangles of fusible interfacing to stabilize the bottom of the bag

Great! Now let's make a pocket. Put the two squares you cut right sides together and sew along one edge. Flip them right side out and press flat. Now press in .5" on the raw edges on the three unsewn sides so you have three sides with the raw edges pressed out of sight and one finished edge. Pin the pocket to the right side of the lining in the center, about three inches from the top.



Sew the three raw edges and tie the loose threads on the back of the lining so they will be hidden inside the bag. I sewed it twice for extra stability.



Great! Now we'll give the bag a flat bottom. Cut two inch squares from the two bottom corners of both the outside and inside of the bag's body (your 18" x 22" rectangles - you can see these cuts in the picture above). Sew the body of the bag by putting the rectangles right sides together and sewing along the bottom and sides of the bag. Do the same with the lining. Press these seams open and flat.

Now pinch these newly cut edges right sides together and sew. This will be about a 5" seam because of the seam allowance. Sew this seam on both corners of the bag and both corners of the lining (4 seams). Now the outside of the bag and the lining have rectangles (about 5" x 16") that will be the bottom of the bag. Stabilize both by attaching your interfacing to these rectangles.



I like the bag to stay attached to the lining because it seems neater that way, so I sew the bag to its lining at the bottom corners. Simply put the bottoms together (interfacing to interfacing) and sew along the two side seams as shown below.



Turn the bag rightside out. It's starting to look like a bag! Take a moment to admire it (and make sure everything's right): you should see the basic shape of the bag with your fabric on the outside and the lining in the inside, seams between the fabric and lining where you can't see them. You can also see where the pocket is and decide if it needs to be adjusted. If you want to move the pocket, now's the time!



Now make the handles by putting the right sides together and sewing along one long edge. Turn them inside out and press flat. I topstitched each handle on both sides to make them extra sturdy.

To make the top of the bag, Take the top pieces and sew each end right sides together. You'll have two circles - press each seam flat. Turn one of the circles and place one in the other, right sides facing each other. Put the handles in place: put each end about three inches from the side seam and leave an inch or more sticking out the bottom, as in the picture below. Sew along the bottom edge, being careful not to catch the tops of the handles.



Now turn both sides of the top of the bag under and topstitch. This is the top of your bag and the topstitching gives the handles a little extra strength.



Fold under the bottom sides of the top of the bag and press. If one side looks better than the other, you can turn this whole section inside out. Make sure the better-looking side is facing out, of course. Now make the pleats in the bag's body by measuring two inches from the side seam and pinching a 1" pleat in all four top corners of the bag. Pin the pleats in place. Slide the top onto the bag so that the bag's body is inside the top. Adjust the pleats so the bag's body and top are snug. Pin in place and sew along the bottom edge of the top of the bag.



Tie off the ends and you're done!



It was such a fun project that I also made a watermelon bag for my mom!



I hope this is clear. I've never written a tutorial before.

Thanks for reading!
Cate