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​Pattern Reviews, Easy Projects, Tips, & Sew-a-longs 

11/21/2020 0 Comments

Handmade In A Hurry

Sew gifts quickly this season. Handmade in a hurry
The holidays are here and it's time to whip up those handmade gifts. Eeep! Hopefully you started sewing for the holidays back in the summer but, if you're on team procrastinator, I got you. These are all quick sewing ideas and range from baby to grandpa.

Below you will find some tutorial links and free patterns. Although, I've created this list to get you brainstorming and ideas flowing. Less talking and more making.

​Get ready, get set, sew! 

Baby Items

Baby gift idea to sew quickly for gifts
Gift ideas to make for a new baby
Basket of tiny baby blankets.
Gifts to make quickly to sew for Christmas
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

Makeup Bag

How to sew a quick gift for Christmas.
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. 

Keychain

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!! 

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10/1/2020 0 Comments

Bat Wing Top

Halloween is almost here! Do you know what that means? Halloween project time. Whether you plan on sewing costumes, home decor, spooky gifts, or something else, it's time to dust off the sewing machine. 

It's finally October, which is Halloween month. We start decorating around mid-September and my whole house is transformed into a "haunted mansion". Halloween is my most favorite holiday ever!! After Thanksgiving of course, because... mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. Yum! 

This is 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.
Bat wing top sewing pattern free halloween costume
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. 

What you need:

  • 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)

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9/25/2020 0 Comments

Halloween Sewing

How to make a Halloween pillow and other Halloween sewing projects
Once upon a time, there was a not-so-old lady who bought some fabric she didn't have any plans for. She saw it online and had to have some. No clue what she'd sew with the fabric, she bought 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 just love fabric. Give us aallll the fabric!!

​Here are some spooky things you can make with your new or old Halloween fabric. Disclaimer: they're not really spooky. ;)
Halloween pillow DIY sewing tutorial
Halloween sewing AGF spooky and sweet fabric panel
Art gallery fabric Happy Halloween sewing project
Trick or Treat fabric from art gallery
Halloween fabric panel AGF DIY project
Halloween sewing projects sweet and spooky fabric panel
AGF sweet and spooky fabric panel
I recently bought a Halloween fabric panel online. The designs were much larger than I anticipated because...online shopping. There are six rectangle designs in the one-yard panel. So, I made two pillows with my favorite ones and trick or treat bags with the other ones. I had orange Kona cotton in my stash which was perfect for the backside of the pillows. These are not lined and are meant to be an easy sewing project.
​
The fabric is Art Gallery Fabric and from their Spooky and Sweet line. ​​Which one is your favorite design?

Halloween Pillows

You will need:
  • 1/2 yard of Halloween fabric
  • Bag of fluff to stuff the pillow or a pillow form
  • Sewing machine and notions
  • Invisible zipper (or regular if that's what you have on hand)
Halloween sewing projects
Cutting out the large pieces. Ignore the wrinkles. It was easier ironing each piece individually.
Fun Halloween projects
I chose the witch hat for one pillow. Pinned a matching invisible zipper in place. See those cute pumpkin pins? My friend made them for me. Squeee!!

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9/18/2020 3 Comments

Sewing a circle bag

How to make a circle shape bag
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.
How to make vinyl purse straps for a 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!

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12/1/2019 2 Comments

DIY advent calendar

Sewing an Advent Calendar sewing to the moon blog

Are you itching to do some holiday sewing? This advent calendar is a quick-ish sew if you want to whip up a fun Christmas item now! Get some stash busting done too.
Tools needed:
  • rotary cutter or scissors
  • ruler
  • 1/4 yard of a few different fabrics or scraps
  • 1/2-3/4 yard of sturdy solid fabric for the front and back. (duckcloth, canvas, denim, etc.)
  • Matching thread
  • Iron on numbers, cutting machine with HTV vinyl, or template for sewing them on, if you don't embroider them. 
  • All the sewing notions and a machine
  • A piece of 1/2" wooden dowling and twine for hanging. 
Pockets for a handmade advent calendar
Machine embroidered numbers on the pockets
diy advent calendar christmas stash buster
I machine embroidered the days on each pocket
Make an advent calendar this holiday season. Sewing to the moon blog
I chose Christmas fabrics similar in color, grabbed them and started cutting. I liked the size of my phone, so I used it as a pattern. Find something around the house that is the size you want, and use that as a pattern template.

​My phone measures 6.5" by 3". I added 1 inch to the width and length for seam allowances to make rectangles. Fold them in half RTT (right sides together) and stitch with a 1/2" seam. Sew the sides only. Leave the bottom open, clip corners, turn out, and press flat. 

**If you decide to sew or embroider the numbers on, do this before sewing the pocket together. If you use vinyl or iron-on numbers, you can add the numbers after the pockets are sewn and turned.

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    Author

    Hi there, I'm Annette and I love eating and sewing. I usually have a cup of coffee or tea with me, but not next to my machine because I'd probably spill it. I am the reason we can't have nice things.

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