Lady pants for everyone!

I made a couple of pairs of pajama pants for Christmas. One for me, and one for the Mister. I used McCall 5248. That's right, we're both wearing the lady pants!


In case you didn't catch it, Joann's had flannel for $1.49 or something like that for Black Friday. I bought two yards for myself, and two yards for Mr. Thinks He Can. Neither of us have rear ends, so while I was a little short on fabric, I managed to eek it out.

On mine, I have no rear and am short waisted. I took out an inch in the crotch and an inch in the rear and they fit near perfect. I also took out an inch in the length. As you can see by my weird stretch move, they fit quite nicely.

Check out the cute owl print flannel. The white print reads "Hoot" up and down the pants. Love it!

My assistant dubs them cuddle approved!

Then I had the Mister try them on. I don't know how to say this, but you can read between the lines. You should not put a man in lady pants and cut his crotch depth any. It was vulgar. Like Bruno. So, I added the depth back to the crotch and back. I did take an extra inch out of the length though. Lucky for me I am four inches shorter and my inseam is an inch longer. What's up with that?

The fit turned out pretty darn good. He says they are very comfortable and is actually wearing them. That is unexpected!

He got the cute frog print.

For both pairs I skipped the drawstring. I serged around the raw edge at the top and folded it down and sewed it into place and ran some elastic through. When I make these again, and I will because they are quick and easy, I will add pockets and a fly for the Mister. That is the only thing he is suspicious of. An evil genius I am!

Lined tote bag tutorial

I've been sitting in this one because I gave it as a Christmas present, but remember the tote bag I made for my Secret Santa?

I finally put together a tutorial for that.

You need:
1/2 yard of lining material
1/2 yard of outer material
8 inches of strap fabric cut into 4 inch strips.

Cut your half yards of fabric along the fold so you have two pieces of each fabric the same size.

Sew the outer fabric together right sides together on three sides leaving what you would like to be the top open. Repeat with the lining fabric. I used a 5/8 inch seam, but it doesn't matter from what I can tell.

Take your outer fabric and on the bottom corners you will line up the bottom and side seam while pulling out the fabric along the new fold to form a V coming from the corner where the bottom and the side meet.

I measured 2 inches from the stitched corner and made a mark.

Draw (or eyeball) a straight line and follow it with a straight stitch. I reverse at the start and end of this stitch to reinforce it.

Cut off the excess material and your new bag bottom will look like the one above. Repeat on the bottom corners of the lining material as well.

Now for the straps. Iron your 4 inch strip in half with right sides facing out.

Unfold your strap.

Now, fold and press both sides in to meet that seem you just made down the middle.

Now fold that piece in half and press. (See, you made giant bias tape.)

Sew a straight stitch down the open side of the strap. I sew one up the other side as well because I like the way it looks.

See, this is what you wind up with. Repeat it with the other strip, so you have two straps. You may want to trim some off each end to adjust the strap to the length you like.

Now, place the lining and out fabric right sides together with the straps sandwiched between the two. Make sure they line up on both sides. Sew along the top and leave about a four inch opening.

Pull the fabrics and handles out that opening you left in the top. (It doesn't have to be left in the top, but it was easiest for me.)

This is what you should be seeing. The right sides of your fabrics and the handles.

Push your lining down into the bag, so the handles are at the top, making it resemble an almost completed bag.

I like to press the top seam here to make it look crisp as well as ensure I catch the opening I leave when I top stitch.

I used a decorative top stitch all around the top of the bag. This closes the opening and helps reinforce the handles.

Your bag is done, washable and reversible!

Nice work.

The bottom is so fancy and the bag holds more because of the stitches you made along the bottom corners. Please share a picture if you make one of your own!

Just for kicks, how cute is this sewing apron Holly made me for Christmas? Love it!

Secret Santa for teachers

So, I'm trying to do some handmade presents this year. At work we do Secret Santa. Monday - Thursday we give $2 gifts and on Friday we give about a $20 gift. Then we leave for Christmas break, which is really the greatest present of all. :-)

The person I drew had a few things I honed in on. Here is how my days are looking:

Monday: Six pack of Sprite Zero
Tuesday: Hot chocolate mix in a zippered pouch
Wednesday: Lanyard and a Reese's Peanut Butter cup
Thursday: 100 calorie pack rice cake things
Friday: Tote bag and a gift card

We fill out a questionnaire about our favorite things to give our Santa, so everything was chosen from that list, wait did I mention she loves zebra print and her favorite color is pink? Bingo!

I made this pouch from Patty's tutorial again. Super fast.

It has a hot pink inside.

And I measured it to fit this cute hot chocolate packet I found at the store.

I made a lanyard out of a 6 inch strip of the same fabric folded up like a strap and stitched down both sides. I added on a clasp to the end. Teachers always wear these for keys and ID badges. Vera Bradley ones are hot right now, but why pay for someone to manufacture something homemade looking? I saw a cute one with small yo-yos on it...oh, the possibilities.

Here is a close up of the clasp I used from the jewelry department at Joann's.

For Friday's big gift I mad a matching tote and I will put a gift card in it. I didn't use a pattern for this, so if anyone is interested in a tutorial let me know. It's four rectangles and a strap. It took about 20-30 minutes total. Oh, and it is reversible.

I did different colors of thread in my bobbin and needle. That gave me hot pink top stitching on the zebra side and black top stitching on the pink side. 

I made it flat bottomed so when she carries binders or paperwork in it it will stand up a little better.

All stuff a teacher can use right? I would have gone more handmade, but I hardly know this lady. I was scared I would turn into a Secret Santa horror story..."One year my Santa made me an entire week of zebra stuff she made herself. I was so tired of zebra I never wanted to see one again!"

Holly and the big-bottomed, special needs chicken

LOL, I bet that gets Holly's attention!

So I was working on a pot holder Christmas present today that I have been playing with for awhile. Holly and I were inspired at the quilt show by all the cute owl stuff. I thought, "How nice would it be to make one for Holly for Christmas?" She even bought purple fabric to make place mats, so I coordinated!

Behold, Prototype 1: The big-bottomed, special needs (square headed) chicken.

I traced a pot holder I already have and used scraps to make the design on it. I used Wonder-Under to attache the scraps to the body of the potholder (corduroy). It went together really fast and looked great until I sandwiched it between the Insul-bright and batting. When I turned it inside out I had lost a bit of the owl's head.

I tried to rip it out and sew it again closer to the edge, but I still didn't get the results I want.

Here is a shot of his large bottom on the left side.

I really like how the tree and his feet turned out. I think I just need to make his head a bit wider.

Sorry I ruined the Christmas present surprise, but he was too funny not to share.

Tree Pants update

OK, I am declaring an October redo. I blew October for various reasons, mostly beyond my control. At the beginning of October I cut out a billion little pieces for the Christmas Tree sew-along on Sew, Mama, Sew.

Check me out I finally made some progress!

The sew along really lays things out for anyone making tree pants. I did not know it, but I have stumbled along my most intensive quilting project on this one. As you can see it is not perfect, but I'm pretty darn proud of the results.

This tree skirt is make of more Moda Countdown to Christmas fabric, so it matches my Christmas Crazy quilt. I don't have enough of this fabric to bind the tree pants with the same, so I may use plain black. If you have a brilliant idea for a binding please let me know. I am game on this one.

For more fun news, I got my Colette Book last week and have been reading through it all. It is very well written and beautiful. I have a trip to High Fashion Fabrics with my awesome friend and sewing teacher Jenny this afternoon, so I will be on the hunt for some fabrics to try a few of the projects with.

I am off all this week, and am hoping to be able to get several projects done. That will help make up for all my slow times lately. Thanks for hanging in there as a reader and for all your support in the last month. Even though most of us have never met, your kind words really mean a lot to me. Stay tuned!

Stocking Tutorial

I'm so excited to be a part of the Crafty Christmas Club. This is a blog I heard about from Tilly, and I just posted a stocking tutorial. If you guys see anything weird on it, please let me know!

I have a baby shower coming up this week, and since I have so much Christmas Spirit I have to let it out or explode, I thought I would make the family some stockings!

As you can see I machine embroidered mine, but you could use a billion different kinds of embellishments on them. I'd love to see what you do, so please share.

The fabric amounts depend on your pattern, but a half yard of lining and outer fabric should suffice. I used about an eight inch tall piece for my cuff and 6 inches of ribbon.

Now on to the tutorial. I took this class from a most excellent seamstress and teacher of all things sewing, Jenny. I have to give her credit for teaching me, but she was kind enough to give me permission to use her method for making a fully lined stocking.

First, draw out a stocking and a matching cuff.

Here is my pattern that Jenny created. She told me she googled stockings, and used a template off one she liked. The cuff is just a rectangle twice as wide and twice as tall as the cuff you would like, plus a little extra for seam allowances. 

Second, cut out two stockings out of your outer fabric, and two stockings out of your lining fabric. I just used muslin to line it as well as for my cuff.  

Now place the two lining pieces right sides together and on top of that place the two outer pieces right sides together. Sew around all four pieces, leaving the top of the stocking open, with about a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Turn the stocking right side out, and place it to the side.

Get out your cuff piece.

Turn your cuff with right sides together, and sew along the short side. Be sure to press that seam open.

Now turn your cuff right sides out, but folded in half to make a circle with wrong sides together. At this point, you should be looking at your cuff as you would expect it to look on your stocking. Press.

Now, place a 6 inch piece of ribbon inside the stocking, aligning it with the seam on the heel side of your stocking with the end of the ribbon aligned with the top as seen above. I like to baste mine in place.

Now, take the cuff and slide it into the stocking touching the lining material and matching the raw edges of the cuff with the raw edges of the top of the stocking.

The view you should see is the cuff and stocking lined up. The print direction of the cuff should face the correct way in alignment with the outside material.

Now sew around the top edges of the stocking sewing the stocking outer pieces, lining, ribbon and cuff together being careful to catch all pieces. I reverse stitch at the start and end of this step.

Pull your cuff out, it should look something like this.

Simply fold your cuff over and pull your ribbon hanger out and press!

I can do a few of these in an hour when I attack them assembly line style. I hope they are a hit at my baby shower, and I hope you make a couple as well. 

This pattern could be sturdier by using fusible fleece attached to the lining pieces.