Category: sewing

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Eyelet Headband on CRAFT

Today kicks off the start of the 1, 2, 3 Sew blog tour with a free project over on CRAFT. I’m excited to start things off with CRAFT because they were one of the first crafty blogs I started reading and still one of the few that I read on a daily basis. I’ll never forget how giddy I was the first time they linked to one of my projects. Thanks to Michelle, Rachel, Natalie, Diane and all the others at CRAFT who have featured my projects over the past few years!

Anyway, today we are sharing a tutorial to make the Eyelet Headband from 1, 2, 3 Sew, perhaps the easiest project from the book — simply cut, punch, sew and you’re done. All of the projects in this accessories chapter are vintage inspired — the eyelet headband is the first project, then you’ll build your skills by making a tea towel apron with shell tuck hem, and then move on to a more challenging scarf, made with 42 tiny yo-yos.

Book photos above by Laura Malek.

My daughter is wearing the headband shown here, in her favorite color of course. The pattern is designed for an adult, but is very easy to adapt for smaller heads. For each project in the book, I suggest possible variations. Here you could make this into a bracelet or necklace, add embroidery or beading, back it with fabric, or try cutting a more intricate pattern in the felt using a craft knife. I think it’s important that you make every project your own. You’ll also find a list of resources in the back of the book. For this thick 2mm wool felt, I recommend FilzFelt.

Check out the post over on CRAFT for the template and complete instructions. As you can see, this headband goes with any mood!

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Show Your Stripes

I told my kids that this would be the “summer of fun”, so unfortunately for you, I think it’s the summer of me not paying much attention to my blog. But really, playing and relaxing has made some significant improvements for us this summer. Maybe one day I’ll write a post about my return to 70s era parenting techniques.

But today I thought I’d share a couple of sewing projects. I am fully on board with this stripe and chevron trend, so I made a swimsuit cover up from Anna Maria Horner’s Mixed Signals voile (below), and a skirt with a nice twill ticking stripe (above), both bought locally from Whipstitch.

I didn’t use a pattern for either, but the top of the cover-up is similar to the Liberty of London top I made a while back. It has a sash and a split at the side hem. Next time, I am adding darts because I think that would help. Part of sewing clothes for myself really needs to be about finding a flattering fit since everything can be customized. That may take years to figure out. The skirt is lined with a side zipper and apparently I couldn’t be bothered with perfection in lining up the stripes. But perfection is totally overrated.

Anyway, I also wanted to let you know about a couple of current giveaways for my book, 1, 2, 3 Sew. Naughty Secretary Club is hosting a giveaway that you can enter here through Monday and Chronicle Books has a giveaway that you can enter through Tuesday by leaving a comment on their facebook post here. I’m really excited to kick off a blog tour in a couple of weeks and I’m thrilled about all the great blogs who have agreed to be part of the tour!

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Market Tote Instructions

Chronicle Books wrote this fun post about tote bags and included the instructions for my Market Tote from 1, 2, 3 Sew, like this one that I made last week. Made with burlap and fully lined, this tote is the first of three in the tote bag chapter and is the most simple to make, perfect for a beginner or anyone who wants a grown-up tote bag.

It’s a great bag for the summer, and even though my latest version is in linen and cotton, it’s proven to be a perfect pool carry-all, holding 2-3 towels and our gear. You could also use a vinyl-coated cotton liner and outer bottom for wet swimsuits. I need to go ahead and invest in a teflon presser foot for working with slippery fabrics, but now I simply use a strip of painter’s tape on the edge of the fabric and then remove it after I’m done stitching.

I’m still waiting for the days when I can just take a magazine to the pool and relax in the shade while the kids swim on their own, but we’re not quite there yet. Although when my daughter practiced her “dead man float” at the pool last week, the lifeguard did jump in after her, which gave me some reassurance. But oops. She’s not allowed to do that anymore.

Note: Included with the book for some of the projects are full-scale paper patterns to make your life easier. But since this tote pattern is larger than the printable page, they were having some problems with the template file on the Chronicle blog, so I sent over a diagram of the pattern (which is posted there now), but then I figured out an easier way! Here’s a tiled version, so you just print out these six pages and put them together like a puzzle. Everyone loves a puzzle, right? Here’s your hint: it will look like the image above when done.

Please let me know if you have any questions! Happy Sewing!

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Photos from 1, 2, 3 Sew

More pictures! I’ve updated my 1, 2, 3 Sew page here to include photos from all of the chapter openers as you can see above, which shows you all 33 projects from the book. Also included on the page is the table of contents.

Be sure to also check out the book designer’s site here and the photographer’s site here to see more photos from the book.

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