Easy Hem For Pajamas

I love sewing but like anything there is a down side and it comes in the form of “Can you hem my pants?” While hemming pants is not a big deal it is not my favorite thing to do even for myself and my family, just ask my husband.  Thanks to this post I hemmed two pair of pajama bottoms for him that had been in my studio for so long he forgot he had them and though I had bought him new ones! That said here is my tutorial for easy hemmed fleece pajama bottoms and this is a great place to start learning to hem your own clothes.

First off wash and dry pants to make sure that if they are going to shrink they have done so before hemming. Put them on and have the person stand on a flat surface, preferably a raised surface. I use my step stool. Then fold the pants under and pin in place when you get them the correct length.

Notice that he is not wearing shoes. These are pajama bottoms so he wanted the length to be correct when barefoot. If they were slacks or jeans he would have worn shoes to get the correct length when pinning. You can pin just one leg or both depending on how sure you are of your measurements.  I am doing one leg because I have done this many times. If I were hemming a non family members pants I would err on the side of caution and pin both pant legs. Now take the pants and carefully turn them inside out so you can see how much fabric is turned under.

These need to be taken up about 4 1/4 inches not including leaving some for the hem. The original hem is 1inch so I am going to cut off 3 ¼ inches from each leg. Now if you have a surger you can surge the raw edge of fabric before turning it under then straight stitch in place like this. 

Since this is fleece it is fine (and faster) to just turn the edge under and stitch using a zig-zag stitch. If you use matching thread its barely visible when finished since the fleece is kinda fuzzy.

 See easy peasy and you have the satisfaction of knowing you hemmed your pants yourself! Give it a try! 

Linda Belcher Feltie

My submission for this weeks fan art Fridays. On of my favorite moms Linda Belcher, Alriiight!! I think I quote Linda more than any other Belcher family member. Its almost Christmas and I have yet to stop singing her Thanksgiving song. That voice of hers, I love it!!! John Roberts is one funny guy, its not just the way he does her voice but the enthusiasm behind it is perfect! They could not have chosen a better person to bring Linda to life. To all of the Linda feltie fans out there "Thank you for loving me!"

Gene Belcher "holiday" Feltie

Busy week but I do have a new tutorial on the way! In the mean time here is my submission for this weeks fan art Fridays.  @BobsBurgersFOX threw a curve ball and asked for holiday fan art so I quickly added a Santa hat to my Gene Belcher feltie lol! I love this show!

Fan Art Friday: Louise Belcher

Its time for FanArtFriday! Here is my latest Bob's Burgers feltie:  Louise Belcher!!!

Port Pillows

As you can probably tell by now I make a variety of things. Most of them are for other people either by request or as gifts. On that note today I wanted to share a small but special gift I made for a friend- a port pillow. If you have never heard of them here is a picture of one I made.

 

I had never heard of them until my friend was diagnosed with cancer.  Like most people I wanted to help in some way but wasn’t sure how (and without being intrusive), so a few google searches later I found these. Port pillows are small pillows that attach to a seat belt to keep it from pressing down on a chemotherapy port. I whipped one up to give her and it just so happened she had been looking for one! These little pillows can make a big difference in comfort levels when traveling. My personal favorite tutorial for these comes from fellow blogger Carole at From My Carolina Home. Her tutorial is perfect and so easy to follow! You can find it here:  https://frommycarolinahome.wordpress.com/  Thank you Carole for the wonderful tutorial!

 

These would also be great for people with pacemakers, or a larger version for after heart surgery or mastectomy. Surgical incisions are painful enough but imagine a seat belt pressing down on it, ouch! Not to mention this is a great way to use up scrap fabric or learn to sew while helping others. In times of illness any comforts are always a good thing!

    

Amazing Polymer Clay

With the holidays upon us I am seeing lots of cute ornament ideas on Pinterest. So today I thought I would share one of my favorite ornament making mediums- polymer clay. In case you have never heard of it, it is a "clay" that stays malleable until baked in the oven. Once baked its becomes a semi-flexible, but sturdy plastic. Here are a few ornaments I have made using it.

There are several different brand brands and lots of colors to choose from. I usually use Sculpey or Fimo, because they are readily available at my local craft stores.

The colored blocks are small, 2oz, but one block can go a long way.  If you are making a large project or want to paint it yourself, Sculpey sells a large 1lb package of white.  The Sculpey website,  is a great resource for tips and project ideas.

As you can see, I've been playing with this big block! I love these big white blocks for kids hand print ornaments.  I have aggravated my nephew on a couple occasions trying to get him do multiple hand prints for Santa ornaments! In the end, he was really excited to give them to his grandparents and tell them how he made them. Once baked the clay can be painted and since it turns into a firm plastic they last really well even if dropped! Here are his Santa ornaments we made. Little hands are so cute!

Even the more intricate ones are pretty durable and if a piece does break off its easily fixed with super glue (ask me how I know lol).  Another good thing about polymer clay is that it doesn't take much to get started you can probably find most sculpting tools around the house. Just be sure to have clay dedicated tools, meaning don't use your good pan to bake the clay in then plan on using that same pan  to bake cookies. That's a big no-no! When I started doing more clay work I even invested in a toaster oven just for baking clay so I wasn't scrubbing down my oven after every clay baking session. I may seem overly cautious but I didn't like the thought of any plastic residue being in there and it never hurts to have a clean oven! I also like to keep some baby wipes handy to clean my hands between color changes. I will leave you with one final picture of a polymer clay item I made and was super proud of.
I made this for Andy Runton the creator of Owly; an adorable comic about a little owl and his friend wormy. Here is a link to his site because I know you will want to see more of this adorable little owl! http://www.andyrunton.com/ This was a piece of fan art I made and gave to him at a comic book convention over 10 years ago! So proof that it holds up well, but more importantly you can even make new friends with polymer clay! Thanks again Andy for the picture!

Tina Belcher Feltie

Today I though I would share one of my favorite crafting materials- felt. I love working with felt!!  It is inexpensive, super easy to work with, and best of all doesn't fray.  The possibilities with this stuff are endless! Usually I make ornaments or small figures but last week I decided to take it to a new level and make some fan art.  So here it is! My feltie Tina Belcher from the Fox tv show Bob's Burgers. I love this show, it's hilarious!

I uploaded it to Twitter last Friday but I forgot to give Tina her signature yellow hair clip. I cant believe I did that. In the words of Tina "uuuuhhhh!" I must have been too excited when I finished stitching her glasses and forgot about it. That's ok though it was an easy fix and you guys get to see the corrected picture.  If you're a Bob's Burgers fan like I am keep checking back, I have a few more ideas in the works!

Ink Stain Removal

Today I though I would share a tip for removing ink stains. The other day my husband had an ink pen leak in his pocket.

We both thought these pants were a lost cause, but me being me I thought I would try to salvage them. I remembered reading that ink could be removed using alcohol and a quick google search confirmed this, but also said it depended on the type of ink pen. Well that pen was long gone so who knows what kind it was ,but again what did I have to lose.  So I got some cotton swabs and alcohol and had at it!

It was definitely doing something even if it was just making the stain bigger! If you try this make sure to have something behind the stain to absorb the ink because it does run!  I got a few ink blots on the inside pocket before I realized what happened. I ended up using a paper towel in front of a plastic baggie just to make sure I wasn't transferring the stain somewhere else. I just kept dabbing on alcohol and blotting it with paper towels.

It was getting lighter but still not good enough. So I poured a cupful of alcohol on it and let it set about 5 minutes then blotted again and let it dry.

Much better but still there.  Not wanting to give up I decided I would give it one last try so again I dabbed on alcohol and blotted with a clean paper towel and let dry.  And it worked!!!!

I couldn't believe it but it got the ink out! Not sure if it works on other fabrics or with all pens but these cotton khakis are good as new. If we have another mishap on a different fabric I will definitely give this a try and report back!

 

Equilateral Triangle Quilt Part 4- Finished Quilt Top

My apologies for the delay with the tutorial.  I was in England, and yes I had a wonderful time! I will have some blog posts about the trip and my crafting adventures there in upcoming posts.  For now lets finish up this quilt top!

So picking up where I last left off I finished sewing all of my rows together and pressing them.

This is the back to show you how I pressed each row in alternating directions.

Then I began sewing the rows together making pairs.

Remember how I said I alternated which direction I pressed my seams? This is where that comes into play.  When the edges are lined up for sewing the intersecting seams just nest together against each other.

If you managed to keep a consistent seam allowance during the piecing of the rows, and did a good job pressing and nesting your seams your finished quilt will show it.  Look at those intersecting points!

Keep sewing the rows together until your quilt top is complete.  Then step back and enjoy your beautiful work!

So what do you think?  I will admit the triangles may be a bit challenging if this is your first quilt, or even your second. I had to rip out a few seams myself and I have been sewing for years, it happens.   However, if you are patient, think about each step as you go along and pay attention to your seam allowances you can do it! As always questions, comments and sewing tips are always welcome and appreciated!

Equilateral Triangle Quilt Part 3- Piecing

Time to start putting this quilt together!  Today I am going to walk you through how I piece a quilt.  Piecing consists of sewing fabric together and pressing it, that's pretty much it.  When I work I try to space out my work stations and alternate tasks, otherwise my neck and shoulders tend to get stiff and sore. So I have my quilt laid out down stairs by my ironing board and my sewing machine upstairs. 

To keep things orderly, and because my machine is upstairs, I am going to work one row at a time  Here I am starting with a blue triangle and I am going to pin it to the charcoal triangle where I want to stitch it. 

I do this for the entire row, pinning one to another and then take the stack to my machine for sewing. I use cotton thread, a stitch length of 1.8, and sew a scant 1/4" seam using a 1/4" foot.

To make this process faster I chain pieced, which simply is continuously stitching one after the other without cutting my thread. It's really easy to do. As soon as one piece is finished take a few stitches before feeding the other piece into the machine.

Once I stitched all the pairs for that row I cut them apart.

Then I bring them to my ironing board for pressing.  First I press along the seam using a hot iron, no steam.

Then I open the pieces and press the seam to one side. I do this for each piece, making sure I press all seams in that row in the same direction.

Once pressed I then join those two pairs to each other, and on and on until I have a completed row.

This is the back, see how the seams are all pressed in the same direction.

Now I'm going to move on to the next row working in the same way except I am going to press my seams in the opposite direction as the first row. I am going to continue working in this manner until all my rows are sewn together.

Its starting to take shape! Like I said piecing is repetitive, but also rewarding when you start seeing all those pieces come together.  I am going to get to work finishing up those rows and will continue as soon as they are completed.  

Equilaterial Triangle Quilt Part 2-Layout

Now that I have cut my triangles I am ready to layout my quilt. I always do this on the floor.  Some people lay quilts out on their beds or a table but I prefer my freshly vacuumed dining room floor. I dont know why, but I can't layout a quilt on a bed. It's very awkward an uncomfortable for me.  However, crawling around on the floor is fine lol! I must be part monkey! So here is my quilt during layout. 

I just randomly placed my triangles row by row until the size was what I wanted. This is the point where I like to step back and really look at what I have done so far. I think of it the same way as looking at art work: up close to see details then back to view as a whole. I do this in two different ways. First, and probably the easiest and most accessible, is to take a picture with your phone.  Which is what I did in the above picture. Second, I have this handy little tool called a quilt viewer.  It is a reducing lens that lets you see what a quilt will look like from a distance.

It was one of my Tuesday Morning clearance finds (I believe it was a whopping 80 cents! I love a deal!) and has turned out pretty handy.  Also in case anyone was wondering no, I am in no way affiliated with Tuesday Morning nor did they compensate me in anyway for saying nice things about them. I just really like that store! So, here is what the quilt looks like through the viewer.

Pretty neat right? Again either way works. I just stumbled upon the viewer and though why not try it and thought I would share how it works, but you don't need it. The objective is simply to step back, look at it as a whole. This helps me see if I like the color placement and where to make changes.  Once I am happy with that I take another picture. I always take a picture of my final layout. This way if a piece gets moved, a pet decides to run through the room, or if I have to get it up out of the floor I can lay it right back out the way I wanted. Now its time for the next step: Piecing!

What do you think? I am pretty excited about it! I like how colorful it is.  Perfect for a bright nursery. Please feel free to comment and let me know what you think, or if you have any questions or tips!

Equilateral Triangle Quilt Part 1-Cutting

A few months back I kept seeing equilateral triangle quilts on Pinterest. I loved them! Especially those made from solid fabrics. I usually gravitate toward cute prints, but the bright, simplicity, of some of these made me want to try something different. I have already chosen my fabrics, 6 in all- turquoise, pomegranate, grey, charcoal, pumpkin, and lime; all cut into 5 1/2" strips. Now the fun part cutting the triangles!

This is so easy to do you just use the marking on your quilting ruler and your rotary cutter. I want equilateral triangles so I find the 60 degree mark and line it up along the bottom of my fabric strip:

Now cut along the long side of the ruler.

Now rotate the ruler to the other 60 degree mark, line it up along the bottom of the fabric while simultaneously aligning the long edge of the ruler to the top of the now formed triangle.

Cut

Tada! Easy peasy triangles. Now just keep rotating your ruler lining up the 60 degree mark and continue cutting out triangles until you have the desired number. To make this faster you can cut multiple layers at once. Up next:  Part 2-Layout

Craft Supplies

Lets face it, as much fun as it is to make things supplies are not usually free.  At times just buying all the supplies needed for a project is enough to make any crafter think "Maybe I should just buy this instead of making it myself."  So today I though I would share one of my favorite places to find discounted art and craft supplies:  Tuesday Morning.  I love this store! For the longest I thought it was just a home goods type store but they have a great craft section and very good prices.  Here are a couple of pictures from their crafting isle.

Yes, that's right they have fabric!  While they dont have a vast selection they do have some adorable prints at great prices.  Today I mostly found fat quarter bundle packs which started at $3.99 for five fat quarter fabric pieces. To put this into perspective one $4 bundle is enough to make a baby size quilt top!  If sewing is not your thing they also have a variety of arts and craft supplies such as scrap booking paper, paint brushes, paint even oil paints, die cuts, yarn etc.  You never know what you might find.  Today I was lucky and found a 6"x24"June Taylor quilting ruler for $6 and a Sizzix die for $8, I left very happy!

Woodland Themed Quilt and A Tiny Human

Good morning!  Yesterday I finished this adorable woodland quilt. A big thank you to Jedi Craft Girl for sharing this pattern on her blog! Here is a link to her page with the pattern http://www.jedicraftgirl.com/?s=birdie

Usually I take my photos indoors. Yes I know outdoors is better and more interesting, however nothing frightens me faster than the thought of getting a fresh from the sewing machine, brand new quilt grass stained or otherwise dirty! That said I decided to give it a try and was pleased with the outcome.  Ironically the one time I do try this someone was mowing their yard off in the distance so if you look closely at the top you can see what looks like the tiniest human head ever!  Too funny!  How about you, any tips for outdoor photos or funny mishaps?

Hello There!

Just wanted my first post to be a little bit of an introduction and a welcome to anyone reading-so here goes.  I am an artist named Rae.  I love to sew paint and do anything crafty!  To me nothing is betting than making something (or fixing) something yourself.  I decided to write a blog to share some of my crafting know how as well as my current projects, and to meet other craters along the way.   So please feel free to comment and be engaged!  I think we can all benefit from each others talents and experiences.  Now on to some fun!