The holidays sure came quickly, didn't they? Summer comes and goes, then, BAM! November hits, and it hits hard. If you're like me, you're on team procrastinator. Ha!! Always waiting until the last minute to make something handmade. Eeep! 
Here's a list of easy-to-make gifts. There are tutorial links and free patterns although, I've created this list to get ideas flowing. Less talking and more making. Get ready, get set, start sewing! 

There's always someone who's having a baby. You can whip up a bib, burp cloth, and blanket in about 30 minutes. All you need is some fabric and a snap or velcro for the bib fastener. Read my baby items post here. 

• There are tons of free bib patterns you can find online. Or make a bandana style bib. 
• Here's a super easy burp cloth tutorial. Hint: it's just a rectangle.
• For an easy blanket, cut one square yard of flannel and one of cotton fabric. Sew them RST, leaving a gap for turning out. Topstitch the opening closed, and you're done. Sew easy!
• If you have more time, you can make a fabric alphabet set, baby outfit, fabric book, or sleeper bag. You could even add an easy to sew teether, pacifier clip, or mittens. Pinterest is your friend. LOL

Do you have a zipper and some scrap fabric? Sew a zipper pouch in less than 30 minutes. Follow this tutorial for an easy refresher on zipper installation for a makeup bag. Make them as big or little as you want. 
​
Teens love these. Little kids love these. Everyone needs a zip bag for something. In the era of mask-wearing, sew one for everyone on your list. They would love to keep their mask inside a clean bag. 

Sew a quick keychain following Melly Sews tutorial. Grab some lip balms, lotions, and hand creams to complete a gift set. This is perfect for the babysitter, pre-teen, teacher, or neighbor. Heck, even dad uses lip balm.
All you need is a scrap of fabric and a metal keyring. If you have a pack of key rings, batch sew a few of these for gifts. Lip balm holders for everyone!! 

Do you love wearing leggings? Yes, no, maybe? We are 100% team leggings in this house. My girls are on the slimmer side so, I've always had a hard time finding pants to fit them, even in their baby and toddler years. Enter in the legging fad that returned from the 80s. Yay!! I don't buy my youngest daughter any other kind of pants. Heck, they are even my go-to pants (that double as acceptable Pajama pants) to wear out of the house. So, if you aren't on board with making your own leggings yet, you will be after reading this. At least, I hope you'll be on board.

​If you're not interested in making leggings for yourself, scroll to the bottom. I share a tutorial I use for making little kid leggings.

If you've been dying to make leggings that actually fit your body, look no further. Grab this FREE pattern to get started. You'll be cozy and cute in no time. Lately, simple patterns have been more my jam. Take all your measurements and write them down on paper.

I measured my waist, hip, knee, calve, thigh, and ankle widths. The sizing put me into a size Large waist, Medium hips, and narrowed down to an X-Small in the ankle department. I love my weird body. Buying leggings from the store is never fun because they are baggy in all the wrong places. You might be the exact opposite. We're going to make these leg prisons according to your own measurements. Wooo!! 

My original plan was to follow a tutorial and draft my own pair. Well, my brain couldn't do all the math. So, in the end, I found this pattern that worked perfectly for me! Let's get started.

Click here for the FREE pattern. You will add to cart but, it is a free PDF. After you "purchase" you will be able to print out the pattern. 
Match the lines and arrows, then tape everything together to form your pattern. Figure out where your measurements lie in the legging pattern size range. You might have to grade between sizes. Grading is easy and doesn't take any extra time. You simply blend the sizes to fit your unique body shape.

You can use a highlighter or other light colored marker to grade your sizing, directly onto the pattern. Or, Take your tracing paper and lay it over the pattern. Trace your new pattern size. Doing this saves the PDF for future use or if you decide to make a smaller or larger size for a friend. 

I suggest making a muslin before cutting into your beloved fabric. If you have stretch fabric you're not in love with, use that. you want to get the length correct too. If you're taller or shorter, you will need to make adjustments accordingly.

Sew each inner seam with right sides together. You can use your sewing machine or serger for this.
Then, take one leg and turn it right side out. Place your arm back through and feed the leg through the other leg, making sure right sides are touching. Straighten the leg, matching the seams together. You're going to sew the large "U" shape crotch seam from one side to the other. Use pins or clips to keep the layers from shifting around. You can use the sewing machine or serger for this as well. After the crotch seam is sewn, pull out the legs.

If done correctly, it should look like a pair of pants. If not, grab that seam ripper because something went wrong. Uh-oh!

Try them on. They should fit nicely. 

• If they fit too snugly, use your seam ripper to let out the seam in the snug areas.  
• If they fit too loose, go back over those spots with the sewing machine to make them fit more snug.

If the length is too long, you can shorten them at the ankle hems. If you want them to have a lower rise, shorten the waist. If you need more length, add those inches to the pattern. 

All you have to do is sew the hems at the ankles and put in your elastic waistband. Comfy and super simple. 
Hopefully, you found the PDF pattern easy to print out, tape together, and use. I will be making more leggings for myself soon.
I LOOOVE leggings!! And, now they will fit my funky shaped bottom half of my body. Hahaha!!!

Will you be making leggings for yourself? If not, keep reading. I include a tutorial for making leggings for a little one.

Maybe leggings still aren't your cup of tea. But, they are great for kids.

Followthis fun tutorial on how to make a pair for a child. My youngest daughter wears leggings every day. They are the only leg prisons she allows in her dresser. When we go camping, she may or may not wear the one pair of jeans we keep in our RV for her. Yep, she's that committed. Ha!

• The tutorial
• Elastic for the waistband
• 1 Yard of knit fabric
• Sewing machine or serger
• Thread
• Ball point needle
• All the regular notions
• A small child ;)

You use a pair of leggings that already fit or are too short. You trace off the pattern based on that pair of leggings. Add length if needed. Sewing them is the same as the adult pair I made. Easy-peasy. I've made quite a few pairs for my daughter. She loves them. Mom-win!

So, that's it. Go make some new leggings for yourself and everyone around you. Hooray for comfy pants!! 

Check out my Bat wing top here. It's fun and makes a quick costume! Oh, and it's perfect for those chilly October evenings.

Thanks for hanging out today,
Annette

​

Halloween is almost here! Can you believe it? 
I mean, it's finally October, which is Halloween month. We start decorating around mid-September and my whole house gets transformed into a "haunted mansion". Halloween is my most favorite holiday ever!! After Thanksgiving of course, because... mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. Yum! 

Any-who, I want to share a fun top that you can make in a jiffy. You can wear it at home or around town, to the office, or trick or treating with your little ones. I recently made it and had to share it! It's too dang cute to keep it a secret.

Quick, grab the FREE Gone Batty top from Patterns for Pirates here. Then, click here for the sewingtutorial. It's the cutest!! Talk about a last-minute costume that's appropriate for work and/or school. You can wear it as an everyday top as well. It comes in one size fits most, so no fussy fitting issues to worry about. All the wins with this one! Yes, please!!

I've had a long history of bats through caving experiences and I've grown to love them most of all. Bats are my favorite Halloween creature. When I saw this pattern last year (why did I wait so long??) I had to have it. Umm... a shirt with bat wings, yes please! Bonus, you could even sew white topstitching thread to make it a spiderweb instead, if you wanted. Oooohhh maybe that'll be next year's project. 

• P4P Gone Batty PDF pattern 
• 1 5/8 yard of Knit fabric
• Sewing machine with zigzag stitch
• Sewing supplies and notions
• Halloween music playing in the background (this is a must)

Once upon a time, there was a lady who bought some fabric she didn't have any plans for. She saw it online and had to have it. No clue what she'd do with the fabric, she decided to buy it anyway. That's the tale of every sewist at one time or another, right? We buy fabric without a clue what we'll use it for. We love the fabric. Give us aallll the fabric!! Here are some spooky things you can make with Halloween fabric. Disclaimer: they're not really spooky. ;)

The air is crisp and the leaves are sprinkling the ground as I type. Apple picking season is among us. I tried to hold on to summer but, there's no escaping it. Fall is here. Yay! I am ready, bring on my favorite season.
My creative side has been lacking lately so, I wanted to try something new. Usually, I only share patterns that I love or havecreated myself. But, I wanted to shake things up around here. So, I'm sharing one of my sewing fails. Yes, a fail. A major sewing fail. Face-palm.
​Here's the circle bag.

I wanted to try my hand at something new for the upcoming season. I saw a circle bag in a shop and knew I wanted to make one. I had light brown vinyl and planned on using it for a cute Autumnal bag. After scouring the interwebs for a free pattern, I settled with what I thought was a good one.  Welp, the pattern was not great. I don't want to throw anyone under the bus so, I'm not saying where I got the pattern. But it was "meh" at best.


I knew from the beginning this was going to be an experiment. Yay for experiments! I created a Fall themed embroidery file to place on the front, just in case the purse turned out cute. I didn't want a boring brown circle bag. 
The embroidery design has leaves, pumpkins, and a scarecrow. Fun! Although, the scarecrow was a little wonky.... don't look too close. ;)

​
Following the instructions, I gathered everything that was needed and cut out the pieces. I embroidered on the front circle only, that's the only area everyone will see. I used mismatched hardware for the strap (it's what I had on hand) and I used a brown zipper. Fall bag, here I come!