You’ll need:

16″ pillow form

1/2 yard of fabric

1 4″ invisible zipper (I get mine from ZipIt on Etsy, she ships fast and the prices are awesome!)

Coordinating thread

Your machine’s zipper foot

Let’s talk zippers and zipper feet for a minute:

My zipper foot for my Janome looks like this:

It’s got two different bars that can attach to your machine. One on the left and one on the right. We’ll use both sides for this project.

Before pinning and sewing an invisible zipper there’s a little bit of prep work we need to do. Set your iron set on a medium-high setting. While you’re waiting for the iron to heat up, let’s talk about the zipper for a bit. Invisible zippers look backwards compared to a regular zipper. A regular zipper has the zipper pull and the teeth showing on the same side. An invisible zipper has the zipper pull on one side and the teeth showing on the opposite side.

This is what the back of an invisible zipper looks like. Notice that the teeth are curling back and facing up. The zipper pull is facing down. Now for the prep work! We need to use the tip of a hot iron to press the zipper teeth flat. It will be easier to sew alongside the teeth if they are pressed flat or standing up instead of curled back and around. To do this, unzip the zipper as far as it will go, unroll the zipper teeth, and press flat.

When you’re done with your pressing, the back side of your zipper should look like the zipper side on the left. Now we’re ready to sew on your zipper and complete your pillow.

Pillow Time!

First, cut two squares of fabric that measure 16 1/2″ x 16 1/2″.

To make sure that we’re sewing on the zipper to the right spot on both your front and back pillow pieces we’ll draw a couple of marks on both squares and the zipper. Stack both of your fabric pieces right sides together and place your zipper on top. Measure 2″ in from one side and make a small mark on both fabric pieces and both sides of the zipper with a fabric marking pen. You can see my small ones in the picture above. (I did serge my ends before doing this. That’s optional though! I’ve done plenty of pillows without serging the ends and it’ll be just fine.)

Repeat the process with the other side. In the picture above you can see my small marks 2″ in from both sides.

Zipper Hint: When we sew ANY zipper on, we need to make sure we know which side is the right side of the zipper. Just like sewing two pieces of fabric with right sides together we’ll need to attach the right side of the zipper to the right side of the fabric. It’s super easy to figure out which is the right side of the zipper. It’s ALWAYS the side with the zipper pull! Whether you have a regular zipper or an invisible zipper just look for the zipper pull and you’ve found the right side of the zipper.

Now that you’ve found the right side of your zipper, place it down touching the right side of your front pillow piece. (It should be along the bottom of your fabric.) Match up the marks you made, slide the zipper tape right along the edge of the fabric, and pin.

When you’re done pinning it should look something like this. Now we’re ready to sew! We’ll also use the marks that we made as our stopping and starting points for our sewing.

Attach your zipper foot to your machine, using the bar on the left of your foot to attach it. When you sew on a zipper you’ll use the little channel underneath your presser foot to help guide the zipper teeth through. Start sewing at one mark (making sure to backstitch) and sew as close as you can to the zipper teeth until you reach the other mark.

It should look like this when you’re done sewing this side.

Now we’re ready to attach the other side of the zipper to the back piece of your pillow. Place the back fabric square right side down on top of your front piece. Fold it back slightly. Pull up the zipper side that’s not attached and follow the same steps above. Match up the marks, move the tape to the edge of your fabric and pin in place. Notice that the right side of this zipper side is also touching the right side of your other fabric piece.

It should look like this when you’re done pinning. Now sew this side of the zipper on using the same methods we used above for the first side.

Unfold both your pieces and zip that zipper up! Pretty cool huh?!?

Now we’re ready to finish up our pillow cover! First we’ll need to finish up sewing the bottom seam. The zipper takes up most of the bottom seam but we’ve still got about 2″ on either side to finish up.  To do this, unzip your zipper halfway, then fold it up so that the right sides of the fabric are together and the zipper is along the bottom.

Move your zipper foot so that it’s attached to the machine using the bar on the right side of the foot. Place your pillow underneath the foot and slide it so that the zipper teeth are as close as possible to the right side of the zipper foot. (You may have to feel for the teeth through your fabric.) Find the mark we used to line up the zipper. Start sewing here (backstitch too!) and sew off the edge. Repeat this process with the other side of the zipper.

Now the bottom seam of your pillow is complete. You can breath now too! That was the hardest part. Now we’ll use a 1/2″ seam and sew around the other three sides of the pillow!

Keep your pillow folded with the right sides together and your zipper along the bottom. (Make sure your zipper is still open halfway! We’ll need the opening to turn it right sides out once we sew the other sides together.) Pin the other three edges and we’ll start sewing!

Start on one edge and go all the way around using a 1/2″ seam to complete sewing the sides and top. Pull your zipper away so you don’t sew through it. (I actually did this step in my serger, though you can use a sewing machine for this step too! I was just trying out my new serger!)

Reach through the zippered opening, unzip your zipper all the way, and turn right sides out! Voila! You’ve got a fancy pillow with no zipper showing at all!

Hope that wasn’t too many pictures for you!! I just wanted to make sure that I made it as easy as possible for you to sew on an invisible zipper! Let me know if you have any questions or if this was helpful for you!

Happy Sewing!

Erin

It’s super easy to do! Want to try?

Layout your fabric on your cutting board. Grab your straight edge and rotary cutter for this technique. Start cutting 2″ strips (or any other size you’d like) at a 45 degree angle to your selvedge. (Some need to be cut in opposite directions. Cutting them all the same way and flipping them doesn’t work.)

Once you have 6+ strips you can lay them out to get a feel for how it will look.

I tried laying it out so it looks a little more pieced but ended up liking the matched look a little better for this specific project, or so I thought. Once I got everything trimmed down I wished I had used the more pieced look above because I had to trim off most of the gray and olive color. :(  It’d make an awesome bag front though!!

Start pinning and sewing. Because these strips were cut on the bias they can get a bit stretchy. Be sure you use the pins as much as you need. Just to be safe and ensure that my strips didn’t slip and get wonky I also used my walking foot on my machine.

Once you have them all sewed together press the seams flat.

Trim to the finished size that you need for your project, and finish sewing it up!

{Front}

{Back}

I made a cute little zippered pouch with mine! (I might have to see if Melissa will sign it for me!)

Happy Sewing!

Erin

P.S. Make sure you go see the entire collection, Cabana Blooms, from Windham Fabrics. The colors and patterns are perfect for all your summer projects!

I knew this jacket had to be mine the minute I saw it at my local Goodwill store! It was my size, in perfect condition, and only $5! Thinking it was too good to be true I made a closer inspection and noticed that a few buttons were missing, and a few others were loose. That seemed to be the only thing wrong. (Kind of sad that someone got rid of a perfectly good lime green jacket because of a few missing buttons!) I bought it, washed it, then got to work fixing it. I decided that I wasn’t too fond of the buttons currently on the jacket (kind of boring if you ask me),

and it would be pretty difficult to try to find a replacement button that matched the others so I cut off ALL the buttons. Then I had to decide what type of button to replace them with. I ran across some of this lovely laminated cotton houndstooth print that I had in my scrap bin. The color matched perfectly so I used a button cover kit from Dritz, covered some buttons in the laminated cotton,

stitched them onto the coat, and voila, a practically brand new coat!

I absolutely love this jacket and wear it anywhere I can! I’ve also gotten a lot of compliments on it, so I must not be the only one that loves a lime green jacket! It’s the perfect jacket for spring too!

Happy Spring!!

Erin

Neon is all the rage this spring and I love it! I’m a color lover and was so excited to pair some fun neon brights with a charcoal colored linen for this project!  You don’t need any fancy hardware for the pouch closure either. We’ll use a little bit of measuring tape to make the top closure!

Ready to get started?

You’ll need the following:

Fabric scraps (You’ll need less than a 1/4 yard of fabric for the whole pouch!)

12″ of a 3/4″ wide measuring tape

12″ of 6/32″ cotton cording

Coordinating thread

Cut the following pieces:

Main Fabric (This was my charcoal colored linen.)

4- 3″ x 5 1/2″ rectangles for top band and bottom band

2- 1 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ strips for inner top band

Neon Fabric

2- 3″ x 5 1/2″ for lining

1- 1 1/4″ x 12″ strip for your cording

Let’s start sewing!

Cording:

First make your cording. (You’ll use your zipper foot for this. See this tutorial from Brittany at Pretty Handy Girl for cording.)

Cut your strip in half. It’s a little too long at this point, but we’ll trim off the extra later. Set this aside for a moment while we make your pull tabs.

Pull Tabs:

From your neon fabric, cut out 4 of your desired pull tab shape. Triangles, Rectangles, and Half Circles would all be good options.

Place two of the pieces right sides together and sew the tab, leaving the straight edge open.

Clip your corners, turn right sides out, and top stitch the edge of the pull tab.

Construct the Exterior:

Place your exterior rectangle right sides up on your work table.

Center the top of the tab along the top of your exterior base piece. Baste it in place a scant 1/4″.

Place your cording with the flange of the cording lined up along the top of this piece.

Baste this to your base piece, using the stitching line you used to make the cording as your stitching line. You should be sewing directly over top of this line. I used my zipper foot and moved my needle over as far as it would go to easily sew along this line.

Fold your Top Band Piece in half, then line this up along the edge of the top, placing it over your cording and tab.

Pin, then flip this over and use your basting stitching line as a guide as you stitch the band to your base piece.

Repeat this process for the back side of your pouch and set these pieces aside for a few minutes.

Construct the Lining:

Place your lining face up and your interior band face down and stitch along the top using a 1/4″ seam.

Repeat for your other lining piece.

Attach Lining and Exterior:

Place one lining piece right side up and one exterior piece right side down on top of the lining piece. Attach the top band of your lining to the top band of your exterior. This will be the folded top of your exterior piece too. (You will be sewing through two layers of the exterior band and one layer of the interior band.)

When sewn and unfolded it will look like the picture above. From the back side, press all seams towards the lining. Repeat for your other interior and exterior piece.

Apply Interfacing:

Apply Pellon SF101 (or another lightweight interfacing) to the wrong side of both pieces with a hot iron.

Prepare your Measuring Tape Pieces:

Cut two pieces 4 3/4″ long. Round the edges and set aside. (I used regular scissors for cutting mine and they worked just fine. If you are worried, try scissors made especially for metal.)

Sew it all Together:

You can trim off your extra cording at this point!

Slide one piece of measuring tape inside the little casing we made by folding over the exterior band piece. You’ll want the marks on the measuring tape to be facing the back of your piece.

See how I slid it into the channel just above my cording? Do the same with your other piece.

 Place your two pieces right sides together and pin. We’re going to sew a 1/4″ seam around this entire piece, leaving a small 3″ opening in the bottom of the lining. When sewing the first side, slide the measuring tape out the opposite side so you don’t sew through it. I definitely don’t want you breaking a needle because of me!

 When you get around to the other side be sure to slide in the measuring tape pieces all the way! If you’re worried about hitting the metal tape pieces on this edge, use your hand wheel on your machine to walk the needle past that point. That way if the measuring tape isn’t in far enough you’ll be able to feel the needle hitting it before it breaks!

Clip your corners, and turn right side out!

Finish it Up:

Once turned right side out, press the opening in your lining shut.

Edge stitch the opening, closing it up completely.

Slide the lining down inside the pouch and you’re done! Give the sides a pinch and open up your pouch!

 Or use the cute little pull tabs to open it up, either way is fun! Can you believe that a measuring tape will do that?

You’re finished! Now I just need to decide which color to use on my next one!

Happy Sewing,

Erin

I’ve had this fun little project in my sketchbook for a couple of months. I wanted a way to use some clear vinyl and some smaller oilcloth scraps that I had hanging around. I loved the idea of using both to make a cute little storage bag. I also loved that the oilcloth would add some color and the clear vinyl would let me see right inside the bag.  These would make great gifts for teachers, party favor bags, cosmetic bags for friends, on-the-go sewing kit, and so many other uses! (I’m thinking that for Father’s Day my dad might get a travel toiletry pouch with some of this awesome wood-grain oilcloth from CityCraft!)

Well, let’s get started, shall we?

You’ll need:

1 – 12″ or longer zipper

1 – 6″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Oilcloth fabric

2 – 3 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ pieces of clear vinyl (I used the 12 gauge vinyl. Not to thin and not too thick.)

Coordinating Thread

*Use a 1/4″ seam for all seams unless I let you know otherwise.

Place your zipper facing down on one long side of the clear vinyl. Stitch about 1/4″ down the edge of the zipper to attach it to the top of your vinyl.

Fold the zipper up and top stitch 1/8″ down the seam. It should lie flat after this. Repeat the process with your other piece of vinyl and the other edge of your zipper.

Place your oilcloth piece right sides up facing your clear vinyl piece. (The right side of the zipper should be facing down, touching the oilcloth.) Attach both long edges with a 1/4″ seam.

Turn right sides out, finger press the seam you just stitched down, towards the oilcloth. Top stitch 1/8″ seam on the oilcloth to hold this seam down and help it lie flat.

Turn inside out one more time, unzip your zipper halfway, line up the sides with the zipper along the top. (Don’t forget to unzip your zipper halfway! Otherwise you’ll end up with a bag that’s stuck inside out after this step!)

Stitch the sides 1/4″ remembering to back stitch at both ends. Clip off your extra zipper, turn right sides out. You’re done!

Happy Sewing,

Erin

Looks pretty bad huh? And I promise that I made them all nice and neat less than a week ago and didn’t make it more messy just for a picture! When you go to get one bobbin out, the others just unravel more making an even bigger disaster!

I searched online for bobbin clips to purchase. The only ones I found were for a pack of 10 for almost $10 on Amazon.They included the bobbins too, but they were for Brother machines. I sew on a Janome… Although they use very similar bobbins I didn’t want to pay $10 before shipping for it.

I knew there must be a better way. I needed something clear (so you can see your thread colors), flexible (to accommodate the different amounts of thread on each of your already wound bobbins), and cheap.

Enter my local home improvement store. Surely I could find something clear, flexible, and cheap there! I did! I present to you:

DIY Bobbin Covers

You’ll need just two things:

Clear Flexible Tubing (Found in the plumbing department at your local home improvement store. I got the kind that was 3/4″ on the outside with a 1/2″ diameter on the inside.)

X-Acto Blade

Ready to get going?

Being careful with the sharp blade, slice off some 1/4″ rings from the tubing.

Then cut down one side of each ring, opening it up.

Wrap up your bobbins and slide the ring on top of your thread.

Place back in your storage container. That’s it! How easy and cheap was that? I’m thinking this would make an awesome little gift for the sewer in your life, quilt group, sewing swap, etc.

I love that they are useful no matter how full or empty your bobbin is. You don’t need a different size of tubing, it works for all your bobbins!

Happy Crafting,

Erin

What you’ll need to make one pouch:

Print the PDF pattern pieces from here. (Make sure that the 1″ box on the pattern actually prints at 1″ square.)

1 Fat Quarter (or 1/4 yard fabric) per pouch front

1 sheet coordinating felt

1/2 yard lightweight fusible interfacing (I used Pellon SF101, my favorite!)

1 – 12″ (or longer) coordinating polyester zipper

EDITED:

You can also use scrap fabric for the front and back, and fusible fleece instead of the Pellon SF101. Pictures are from one of the first ones I made, but everything is the same. If you use the fabric on back instead of fleece, just be sure you attach fusible fleece to the back of this piece also.

Cut out the following pieces:

Heart Top – 1 Main Fabric, 2 Interfacing

Heart Bottom – 1 Main Fabric, 2 Interfacing

Apply Interfacing:

Following the directions on your interfacing, iron the pieces to the back of your main fabric. By adding two layers we get a good thickness, without using the super firm interfacing that’s more difficult to sew with.

Attach the Zipper

Lay the zipper, right side down, with the pull on the right, along the top edge of your bottom heart piece.

Use your zipper foot on your machine and attach the zipper to this piece.

Fold the zipper up and press the seam flat.

Place the heart top face down, on the other edge of your zipper.

Attach this side of the zipper to your heart. Press this side up as well.

Top stitch on your machine (or do a running stitch by hand) along the top to hold this seam down.

Cut the Back

Zip the heart up and use this as a guide to cut the back felt piece.

Make the Arrow Pieces

Cut out the arrow tip pattern piece. Place small edge along the fold of your felt. Pin the pattern in place.

Stitch around the pattern.

After you’ve stitched it, go ahead and cut closely around your stitching line. (It’s easier to stitch this way!)

Repeat the process to make the arrow zipper pull.

EDITED:

After making this project with my after school group yesterday we found it easiest to attach the pattern to the felt,

sew directly on the lines,

remove the paper,

then cut out your shape. (If you use this method, don’t worry about placing the pattern piece on the fold, just sew along that line instead.)

Finish Up

Unzip your zipper half way. (Don’t forget this step, otherwise you’ll be stuck with a pouch that’s inside out!) Place your front, right side up, on your table.

Place your arrow tip piece lined up on the edge where your zipper is on the left side of your heart. Pin.

Place your felt back on top of this.

Pin.

Stitch 1/4″ all the way around the edge. Clip off the extra zipper ends. Finish your edges with pinking shears or a zig-zag stitch on your machine. (I forgot to do this on the one pictured.)

Clip the bottom excess fabric and snip around the curves. Turn right sides out through the zippered opening. Press flat.

Attach your arrow tip to the zipper pull. I used a little jump ring on the one above. Needle and thread works just fine too!

Happy Sewing,

Erin

You’ll need:

Dish towel (I get mine in a 4 pack from Home Goods. Less than $10.)

Scrap fabrics

Pencil, Scissors

Heat’n Bond Heavy – paper backed fabric adhesive

Ready to get going?

On the paper side of your heat’n bond, sketch or trace your image. (Remember that if your image has a direction, like a letter, make sure you trace it backwards so it will be the right way when we’re done. Some XOXO’s would be cute on the towel too!)

Roughly cut around your image.

Then iron it to the wrong side of your fabric scrap. (The plastic side of the Heat’n Bond should be placed down facing the wrong side of your fabric.)

Cut around the shape and remove the paper backing.

Place your fabric images where you’d like them on your dish towel and iron them on.

Let them cool and they are ready for use!

(If you’d REALLY like to add some stitching, use the Lite Heat’n Bond and then add hand or machine stitching around the shapes. If you used the Heavy Heat’n Bond it’s a permanent adhesive and there’s no need to sew. Light washing will be just fine for your finished towel.)

Happy Crafting,

Erin

This is a fun color wheel clock I made for my mom’s sewing room. It’s a great intro into hand embroidery too if you want to give it a try!

You’ll need:

7″ Embroidery Hoop

1 Clock Kit

1/4 yard linen (or other fabric) I used linen because I liked the texture, but a plain cotton would work fine too.

1/4 yard extra firm fusible interfacing

Embroidery needle

Various colors embroidery floss

Fabric transfer pen or pencil (My favorite is the FriXion Gel Pen. Draw on your fabric, then erase it with the heat of the iron. As with any fabric marking tool, test in an inconspicuous area first!)

Clock Number Pattern (Download the PDF here for free.)

Ready? Let’s begin:

Start off by printing the number pattern. Make sure that it’s printed at 100% and is not scaling so that it’s too large or too small. The little red box in the center should measure exactly 1″.

Place the pattern underneath your linen and use your fabric transfer pen/pencil to trace the numbers onto your fabric. Also mark the center. The center is where the cross hairs are in the red box. We’ll use this marking later to determine where our clock hands will be. (I had to tape mine to the window to make my own light box so tracing was easier.)

After tracing you’re ready to stitch away. Layout your floss colors to make sure you like how it looks before you start. Use your embroidery hoop and fill in the numbers with the floss however you’d like. I used a variety of stitches (including the backstitch and satin stitch.) Try this website if you need a refresher on your stitches. On the left column is a directory to a large variety of embroidery stitches.

When you’re finished punch a small hole in the center where the cross hairs are. Remove it from the hoop and press your clock front to get out any wrinkles left from the embroidery hoop.

Cut out a 7″ circle from the interfacing, center this over the back of your embroidery and iron in place. Poke a hole in the center of the interfacing circle.

Place your clock front into your embroidery hoop and tighten. Trim your extra fabric off . (Leave about 1″ all the way around.)

Tuck the extra onto the back and glue into place.

Insert your clock kit.

I hope you enjoy this!

Happy Sewing,

Erin

First up for January is a vinyl covered zippered pouch. This project came about because I wanted to laminate some cute fabrics that aren’t available in oilcloth or laminated cotton. (There is an iron on vinyl product but I tried it and really didn’t like how it turned out!) So this is my fix! Hope you like it!

Gather the Following:

1/4″ Wonder Tape

(1) 14″ or longer coordinating zipper

Small binder clips (We’ll use these instead of pins.)

Cut the following for the Large Bag (Finished size is: 10″H x 9″W):

(2) 11″ x 4 3/4″ rectangles for top part of bag

(2) 11″ x 6 3/4″ rectangles for bottom of bag

(2) 11″ squares Pellon SF101 Woven Interfacing

(2) 11″ squares 12 gauge clear vinyl

Cut the following for the Medium Bag (Finished size is: 7″H x 9″W):

(2) 11″ x 4 3/4″ rectangles for top part of bag

(2) 11″ x 4 3/4″ rectangles for bottom of bag

(2) 11″ x 9″ rectangles of Pellon SF101 Woven Interfacing

(2) 11″ x 9″ rectangles of 12 gauge clear vinyl

Notes:

Follow these instructions for either sized bag. (The pictures in the tutorial are for the Large Bag but the Medium bag will look the same and be sewn up the exact same way!)

Sewing Machine Settings: For sewing with this thicker vinyl I used a size 16 needle and set my stitch length to a 3. Your machine shouldn’t have a problem sewing through everything with the right needle and stitch length.

Step 1: Making the front and back

Attach rectangles. Use a 1/4″ seam and attach one smaller rectangle to one long end of the larger rectangle. After sewing, press seams towards the bottom piece.

Using a hot iron, press your 11″ square piece of woven interfacing to the back of the front piece. Repeat for the back piece.

Step 2: Attach Vinyl

Using your Wonder Tape, attach the vinyl to the front of your fabric piece. Tape as close to the edge as possible. This will be our way of basting the vinyl to the fabric as we sew it up. (We can’t pin the vinyl because any holes from the pins will be stuck in there permanently.)

Once you have your tape on, peel off the tape backing and attach your vinyl to the front, making sure it’s adhered around all the edges.

Step 3: Attach our Zipper

Don’t sweat! It’s easy, I promise!! See how my zipper is longer than the top? It’ll make it easier to sew because our zipper pull won’t get in the way. We’ll trim it off when we’re done.

Clip it to the top with the right side of the zipper facing the right side of the fabric.

Stitch down the side using your zipper foot.

It should look like the picture above when you’ve sewn on one side of the zipper. (Sorry about the glare…the vinyl can be a bit shiny!)

Unfold the zipper, finger press the vinyl down and topstitch along the edge.

Now take the piece with the zipper attached to it. Turn it right side down, facing the other piece of your bag. Line up the top of the zipper with the top of this piece. Clip in place and sew the same way we did the first piece.

Unfold and finger press the other side open.

Topstitch along this edge. (Congratulations on your zipper!!)

Step 4: Sew it Up

Unzip the zipper half way. Unzip the zipper half way. Before you clip the sides and bottom, please make sure that the zipper is half way undone. :) Yep, I know that I included that instruction a few times. It’s because I don’t want you to curse me later when you realize that you’ve sewn your bag shut because you didn’t leave the zipper half way open to turn it right side out when it’s time!

Clip and sew around the sides and the bottom. Use a 3/8″ seam. This way the Wonder Tape will be all the way in your seam and won’t show from the outside when we’re done.

Remember your long zipper? You can trim it off the extra pieces handing off the side now!

Step 5: Gusset the bottom

To make the bottom we’ll need to make a gusset on each corner of the bag. With the bag unzipped all the way and turned inside out, squish the corners down so that the side seam and bottom seam are lined up. You may have to look inside the bag at the corner to make sure the seams are lined up.

Clip each side once you have it in place. (A & B) From the corner, use a ruler and measure 2″ up both sides and mark it with a fine tipped pin or fabric marking tool. (You can see my little black marks inside the red circles.)

(C & D) After you have each mark, use your ruler or another straight edge to connect the two lines. Repeat this process on the other corner.

(E) This line will be your stitching line. Stitch directly on the line. Don’t forget to backstitch at either end! Once you’re done stitching, trim off all your extra threads. (F) Then clip off the corners. Turn right sides out and have a look at your finished bag!

I use these all over my house. They make great storage containers, reusable gift wrapping for birthday gifts, and storage for cosmetics in the bathroom! If you make one, be sure to let me know in the comments! I’d love to see it!

Happy Crafting,

Erin