Small Fry & Co. : Sew Along

Showing posts with label Sew Along. Show all posts

Mar 3, 2011

New Onesie Designs

Here is a look at some new onesies I created. I even got brave and drew my own patterns for the monster and the large owl. More cute new baby things to come.

Feb 5, 2011

A friend asked me about how well this skirt holds up after being washed since the ruffles are not hemmed. I threw this skirt in the wash (with my hubby's jeans just to add a little extra wear and tear) and this is how it came out-pretty much looking exactly like it went in. The only thing that frayed was the jeans part on the inside. I will not guarantee that your ruffles will not fray; it probably depends on what fabric you use-but these from old t-shirts worked great.

Feb 4, 2011

February Sew Along Bonus-Flower clip or Headband

I decided to add a bonus day to the sew along and include a tutorial for these cute flowers that can be made into a clip or a headband. These are made from scraps from the same t-shirts you used in the other two pieces plus a button and hot glue.

To begin cut 4 circles out of your t-shirts (2 of each color). I did not use a pattern-it doesn't really matter about how perfect your circle is but if you feel more comfortable with a pattern-be my guest. You want to try and keep all the circles about the same size. I cut two layers at a time. (A side note for the headband I made my circles much smaller than I did for the hair clip). This is not in the picture but you will also need 1 larger circle of either material.

Take one circle and fold it in half

and then fold over one side but not exactly in half (about a 1/3).

Repeat with your other circles. I laid mine all out on the larger circle I had cut. If you want help to hold them in place put a little dab of hot glue under each piece.

Now take this to your sewing machine and stitch over the centers of each one. I used a little zig zag stitch.

Repeat now with the remaining 4 circles. Place them over top of the first layer only alternate the colors.

Again stitch over the center.

Trim the bottom circle so that it is smaller than the top pieces. Also trim any edges that seem to be sticking out.

Add a button to the center. I sewed it on first then dabbed some hot glue under it and stuck my flower to it.

I added a bit of hot glue in the spaces and folds and added a few tiny folds and tucks with my fingers to get my flower to stand up and a be a bit more 3-dimensional.

Add a fabric covered hair clip or

sew these to a headband. This headband I made by cutting one long strip from my t-shirt material, and sewing the ends together to form a band. I made sure it was the right size before sewing. I attached the flowers with some hot glue.

And this is what I had left over after I made 2 of each project. What a fantastic repurpose don't you think? Well worth the $3.00.

And now for my beautiful models:

And of course the out-takes.

Happy sewing everyone. Thanks for joining me.

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Feb 3, 2011

February Sew Along Day 2- Heart Ruffle Sweater

Today we will be making our heart ruffle sweater using the scraps from the t-shirts from yesterday and a purchased cardagain sweater.

Here are all my scraps left from yesterday ( I may seem to have less scraps but that is because I made 2 skirts).

1. Begin by cutting our a bunch of little hearts. It is quick if you cut through 2 layers at once. No I did not use a pattern. I am sure that makes a few people nervous so if you need a pattern by all means make one. I liked having all my hearts in different sizes and shapes. You will need a lot so cut a bunch and then you may need to cut more.

2. This is the sweater I am using (Walmart-$3.50).

3. Undo the button and on one side begin layers hearts. I start with one larger one at the bottom.

4. Continue adding hearts overlapping them and tucking some under. I used both red and pink-you could use all one color. If you are using both try and evenly space the colors so that you don't have a bunch of one color in a spot. As you layer the hearts try and make sure that they all overlap in the middle a bit so when you sew them you will catch them all. Don't worry if you can't I have a way to solve that.

As you get to the shoulder I reduced my hearts to just one (I just had this thought looking at this picture-this would be totally cute if you just kept going around the back of the neck and then down the next side or had both sides meet in the middle at the back of the neck.

5. Pin in place. Use lots of pins to try and hold at least one part of every heart.

6. Now take this to your sewing machine and sew a straight line all the way up the center of the hearts to the shoulder seam.

Here is my seam. I didn't catch all of the pieces and there are lots that flop over so I go back and sew again...

only this time I sewed a curvy seam to catch more of the hearts. Repeat as many times as necessary so that all of the hearts are attached and any real floppy pieces are secured down.

Like this.

There you have it.

And here is my lovely model:

For links to the materials and other sew along days see:

Materials list

Ruffle Skirt

Help spread the word about this sew along-grab a button.

Feb 2, 2011

February Sew Along Day 1-Ruffle Skirt

Welcome to Day 1 of the sew along. Today we are making a cute recycled ruffle skirt. This is sooooo easy. You are going to love it.

1. Start by laying out your pair of kids jeans. I like to do it back pocket side up because that gives me a good idea of where to cut. Cut below the back pockets all the way across.

2. You will end up with a skirt that looks like this. Now if you were a teenager in today's world you might call this day time wear and head off to school or the mall in it but not here on Small Fry. Notice how the front pockets kinda hang out the bottom. Trim off any that hangs out. First what little kids uses their pockets and second we will stitch over them in the coming steps.

3. Using one of the t-shirts cut off the bottom hem. Discard this.

3. Next cut a strip of fabric to make your ruffle. The skirt I am making is for my 15 month old so I didn't want to have my ruffles too long. If you are making a skirt for an older child you will want to make your ruffle pieces longer or add more all together. I cut my first strip 2" wide.

It should be one continuous piece (forming a circle).

4. Using a basting stitch, stitch all around your piece at 5/8".

5. Start and stop right before and after one of the side seams.

6. Pull on your strings to gather the piece.

7. Turn the ruffle piece so that you will have the right side of the ruffle and the right side of the skirt matching. Match up both of your sides seams on the ruffle (the original shirt seams) to the side seams on the skirt. Pin in place all around and adjust gathers as needed.

Make sure you catch the bottom of the pockets you cut off when pinning.

8. Return your machine to a normal stitch length and stitch all the way around the bottom of the skirt at 5/8". If you are really careful and lucky you will sew right over your basting stitches. Backstitch start and stop.

9. Trim threads and press the ruffle down.

10. Next cut your second ruffle piece from the other t-shirt you bought or the same one as above only this time add an inch to your width (so this strip will be 3 inches). Every ruffle you add you will add an extra inch to the width (though don't get too carried away because it will be a lot for your machine to sew through). Repeat all of the same steps as above to create a ruffle.

11. Pin this ruffle with the right side towards the wrong side of the previous ruffle (see picture). Stitch all the way around like you did before. Trim threads, turn and press ruffles down.

It should look like this. That is it-you did it!!!.

Here is my little pumpkins skirt.

Here is the one I made for Small Fry.

And here are my beautiful models:

For a list of materials see this introductory post

Help spread the word about this Sew Along-grab a button.

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