Monogrammed Applique Towels

About a week ago a friend let us use his beach condo for the weekend. It was an amazing weekend and the condo was perfect! We had such a good time.

When we returned I wanted to get something to thank the owner, like a gift card or something but B insisted that I MAKE something for him. I was at a loss. What the heck to you make someone who has a beach condo?

At some point I got the idea that I should make monogrammed beach towels. How hard could it be?

Well, not hard, I guess....if you are good at cutting things out or if you are more patient about the method you use to do that.

I used:

1 towel

fabric scraps

fusible interfacing

iron

sewing machine

scissors

The first thing I did was to draw my letter on the fabric. The smart thing to do here would be to use some sort of stencil and not just free hand it...but...I just drew a "J."

Then I pinned it to the fusible interfacing (I used stitch witchery) and cut out the letter from both of them at the same time so they would at least be the same.

I set the iron to wool as instructed on the stitch witchery packaging. Then I layered the cut outs on the towel where I wanted it. I used a damp cloth (a bandanna) to fuse the cloth to the towel. The package said to press down and not to slide the iron so that's what I did.

I REALLY pressed it on. I didn't want it to go anywhere. Then I flipped it and did the other side. I probably did it longer than was really necessary. (The package says not to do it too long....but how will you KNOW until it is TOO LATE?!)

Then I loaded up some contrasting thread onto my machine and set it to a zig zag stitch. I then proceeded to s-l-o-w-ly sew around the edge of the letter. Since I'm not so great at sewing, and I hardly ever sew curves, I really took my time on this step. I still messed up a little. Whatever. It's a design element. It's folksy. Plus, it was a J...it could have been much worse. I only recommend making towels for people with easy initials.

That was it. It probably took me about an hour to do both of them. They are obviously not perfect. I made a practice one and two real ones...and I think that if I made two more I'd start to get the hang of it! Luckily my initial is a "J."

I rolled the towels up together and tied a big pink grosgrain ribbon around them. They were well received. B heard the owner telling one of their co-workers that I was really crafty. :D


ETA: This just in! The wife of the owner flipped out and wants more towels! The owner said to B today, "SO when are ya'll going to the beach again?  My wife wants you to stay at our place and make her more towels!"

How to Make a Very Easy Dress

I wear a dress or a skirt just about every day and even though I like to shop for deals I have always thought that it'd be wonderful if I could just learn how to make dresses and skirts. Alas, while I have been learning to sew, there will always be some user error because I am not a very patient or precise person.
"Measure once, cut once, realize it's wrong, cut it again, try to fix it and then end up with a disaster," has always been my motto.

Pinterest always makes everything sound so easy, and I have gotten better at sewing, so I've pinned and tried a few easy looking skirt and dress recipes. The results have been so awful that I haven't even wanted to donate them to Goodwill. They've been frumpy, misshapen and a waste of cloth.

Then I saw a recipe that made total sense to me but I was worried, that because I have what the pioneers would call an, "ample bosom" that it wasn't going to fit over my head. The basic idea was that you take a shirt, make a skirt and then sew them together. The comments said that you could get around the stretching problem and the problem of trying to gather the skirt part by just stretching your shirt as you go.

And that's what I did! My first attempt was silly. The skirt was too long and using an unflattering shirt just means you end up with an unflattering dress.

My second attempt was great except....I messed up a part right in the front by leaving too much extra fabric.

The third time was the charm. Let me tell you how I did it!

First find about two yards of cotton fabric that you like and a matching shirt. Here I am using a super cheap men's tank top that I got 2 for $3! I've also used regular t-shirts. I'd recommend using a shirt that is a size smaller than what you would normally wear as a shirt so that it will be fitted more like a dress. If the bottom is tight around your stomach it doesn't matter. It just needs to fit over your...ample bosom.

Next put the shirt on inside out and go stand in front of a mirror. Mark your shirt at the spot where you waist is the narrowest. Then take it off and go make a straight clean cut where you just marked.

Put the shirt half aside and stow away the bottom half for a future project. You won't need it. Next take your fabric and iron the heck out of it. Don't skip this step! Ironing is sewing magic!

Next, hold the fabric up to your waist where you marked your shirt. Figure out how long you want to make your skirt, add an inch, and then cut the fabric to the right length.

Go get your 1/2 shirt and lay it over your fabric.

Hold the left side down and use your right hand to pull the bottom of your shirt as far as it will stretch and make a mark on your fabric. This will keep you from having too much or too little.

Next fold your skirt fabric over so that the two print sides are facing each other and the back is facing you. Try to make sure all of your sides are lined up nicely. If you did a good job of ironing you won't even have to pin. (I mean you can but I don't, cause I'm lazy.)

Sew the open side closed and leave a pretty good seam allowance..

Next fold your skirt hem. Fold the bottom up about an inch and press it with the iron.

Then you can sew that up and it'll lay nice and flat.

Now it's time for the only real tricky part...getting the top ready to attach to the bottom. Turn your shirt thing right side out and tuck it into the waist band of your skirt so the top of the skirt is lined up with the bottom of the shirt. Make sure the right side if facing the right side. Double check that the sides of your skirt are lined up with the sides of the shirt. I like to pin only the middle of the front and the middle of the back and leave everything free. It provides a good visual cue.

Start at the middle of the back of your skirt and begin sewing. You can back sew a little to make sure it's sturdy. As you sew stretch the shirt as far as you can while keeping it flat against the skirt. I do this in in sections and I sew very slowly while I do this. So I stretch and then when my knuckles hit the machine I stop...straighten it all out and stretch it again...and do small sections bit by bit. This is the last step so take your time. The stretching that you're doing is going to gather when you have the dress on and make it look nice.

When you sew all the way back around you're done. The less segment is the toughest because you have to make sure that you're stretching in a way that uses up the rest of your skirt.

Then when you're done you just pull it right side out and ta-da! A dress. It looks really boxy and weird on the hanger and without you in it. When you put it on it'll look better. You should add a cardigan or a belt to give it even more of a shape.

I'm no model but this is a cute dress! Total cost of this dress was $5.45. You can't beat that.

ETA: And then you can make dresses that you see on websites that have been discontinued....

Some Things I've Made Lately

I made this for my front door!

I made this baby quilt for B's friend Lisa's new baby.

She's Crafty: T- Shirt Quilt

I knew I was going to make this quilt before I learned how to make quilts. Heck, I knew I was going to make this before I learned how to sew at all or even had a machine. I've been collecting t-shirts for years in a big back.

This is my practice t-shirt quilt and it's made with shirts I liked but not loooooved. Do I need to be on hoarders? I hope not.

Clockwise from top left:
A science club shirt that has a pin up in a lab coat that says, "She blinded me with science!" We had all female officers that year so we said we had an "all girl staff." LOL.

A layer cake geology shirt that my friend Martha got me. It's amazing but they only had XXL.

A Durham Bike Co-op shirt. We have a few of these. They re-use old t-shirts and make them by hand so the sizing is a little random.

A shirt that I've had since high school.

A shirt from the now defunct Durham Food Co-op. I loved this shirt but I got a stain on it the first time I wore it from my sunscreen.

A highland cow shirt my dad got me in Scotland.

A GIS shirt from a conference.

Another Durham Bike Co-op shirt.

PUT A BIRD ON IT. Owls + fleur de lis? YES AND YES. I bought at ear-x-tacy in Louisville, KY and I'm so sad that it got holes in it. I love this shirt. Please find me another one posthaste.

She's Crafty: Beach Chairs

A few weeks ago you saw my warehouse sale bench redo. Since that worked out so well I decided to try again! Reupholstering furniture is so fun. I bought these butt ugly mauve chairs and a "matching" mauve loveseat for $35 total at another warehouse sale.


Pompom likes to help. (I apologize for having a toilet in this picture but I really think you can handle it.) The bottoms unscrewed easily and then it was simple to staple the fabric onto the seats. Each piece probably took me about half an hour. It took me much longer to pick out the fabric. I bought water resistant canvas (I live with barbarians.) at JoAnns for 60% off in wacky, cheerful, colors.


I really love the way this turned out. I know it's not for everyone but it's a very sunny room and the prints make me imagine that I'm at the beach. Not bad for less than $100 total. Now I'm looking for a round rug to pull everything together.

She's Crafty

When we moved to this house we had a horrific transition that involved closing on our old house, stuffing our worldly items in storage and then squatting in our friend's house that was for sale. It all worked out well in the end but for a while there I was in panic mode and even though we were moving to a much larger house I sold a lot of our furniture.

The "new" house has been kind of empty for the last year so I decided that I needed to get some more furniture and as always I was working on a tight budget.

My work holds a giant surplus furniture sale in the warehouse a few times a year and I've started scouring those sales for things I can transform. I bought a very dated hunter green bench for $15. I took reupholstered it in grey velvet from a flea market ($4 for yards and yards) and made some giant pillows out of some square samples of sunbrella canvas (2 for $2). Then I stuffed those pillows with grocery bags and fabric scraps.

TA DA!!



If this was a shelter magazine I would have scooched the bench over so it would have been centered but it was much more important for me to have the puppers in the picture.

Also, I promise my kitchen doesn't slant downhill one way.

It's Curtains for You!

The other day while I was at the Gdub I picked up a gorgeous skirt that was way too long and way too big. I bought it anyhow because I figured that I would be able to repurpose it somehow.

When I got it home inspiration struck! I would make skirtains! All I did was measure how long I wanted it, cut off the top part, fold it over and sew! Et voila....skirtains.

They are so cheerful and it makes me happy to look at them. I'll get to see that pretty fabric every day.