In A Snap; Kids Wallet Tutorial

Here's a quick project you can whip up in a snap!  Makes a nice little stocking stuffer for some lucky little one.

What you'll need

• 2 pieces of exterior fabric, 5 x 9 inches
• 1 piece of exterior fabric for pocket, 5 x 5.5 inches
• 1 piece of contrasting fabric, 5 x 7 inches
• 1 piece of medium weight fusible interfacing, 4 x 8 inches
• 1 snap fastener

Fold pocket pieces in half, press and top-stitch along folded edge.  Your pocket pieces should now be 5 x 3.5 and 5 x 2.75 inches.  (note, depending on what size snap you use and the weight of your fabric, you may want to insert a small piece of interfacing between the layers of your smaller, exterior fabric pocket, so the snap doesn't tear the fabric over time)

Lay the larger pocket on top of one exterior fabric piece.

Layer the smaller pocket on top.

Place the other exterior fabric piece on top.

Pin through all the layers and round the top.

Sew around with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  Leave an opening just above where the pocket begins.

Carefully turn right side out and top-stitch all the way around.

Fold the flap down and add a snap.

Super fun and easy.  Make 1....or 8.

Girls Tunic Dress - TUTORIAL

 I've had this tutorial in draft form for over a week now!  I've got a few variations that I wanted to add, but I think I'll share them in a separate post. 

In an effort to whip out some fast and functional back to school clothes, I came up with this sweet tunic dress.  It's super easy, so grab your supplies and let's get started.

You'll need:

a shirt that fits

craft paper for making your pattern

cotton jersey fabric

1/4 inch elastic

amounts will vary depending on what size you're making

 Lay your shirt on your paper and trace all the way around.

 Add your preferred length and angle the sides out a few inches.  Add whatever seam allowance you prefer to all sides, then cut out your pattern.  Fold it in half to make sure that it's symmetric.

 Cut the pattern in half to make a front and back pattern.  On the pattern piece you want to use for the front, drop the neck an inch or so.

 Cut one front piece and one back piece, with the pattern on the fabric fold.

 With right sides together, sew one shoulder seam.

 Since jersey knits often roll and can be a little tricky, I'm going to show you a trick.  There's a wonderful product called Steam-A-Seam.  It's basically a double sided tape that you can use on fabric.  It's sticky on both sides and you can choose to permanently fuse it or not. 

 So, to finish the neck, cut a strip of fabric that is 1.5 inches wide.  The strip should be an inch or so shorter than the length of the entire neck, front and back.

 Notice how the fabric wants to curl.

 On the wrong side of the neckband, apply the Steam-A-Seam.  Don't iron it, just stick it.

 Remove the paper backing.

 Fold the neckband in half, with wrong sides together.  The beauty of this is that if you don't fold it perfectly, you can unstick it and redo it.  Once you have it folded nicely, lightly iron it.

 With the raw edge of the neckband aligned with the raw edge of the neck sew the neckband in place, gently stretching it as you go.

 Press the neckband and sew the other shoulder seam.

 Hem both sleeves.

 Sew both side seams.

 On the inside, measure down about 3.5 inches from the sleeve.

 Draw a straight line across the front and back.

 Mark the center of the front and back.  As a side note, I use this pen.  The line disappears with heat.

 Cut a piece of elastic that is about 2 inches shorter than the total width of the dress front and back.

 Sew the ends of the elastic together to make a loop and mark the elastic in quarters.

 Pin the elastic to the dress matching the quarter markings to the side seams and center markings on the dress.

 Using a long zig-zag stitch, sew the elastic to the dress, gently stretching the elastic as you sew.  You don't want to stretch the fabric, just stretch the elastic so it is flat on the fabric.

 You should end up with a nice gathered waist.  Hem your dress and you're done!  My dress took me less than an hour from start to finish and taking pictures along the way. 

The dress is really easy to wear, light and breezy. 

Paired with leggings and a cardigan it transitions to fall really well. 

Like I said at the beginning, I've got a few little variations that I'll share in separate post soon.

Happy almost long weekend!

Kid's Messenger Bag Tutorial

(remember, this is for personal use only.  contact me if you'd like to become a licensed seller)

We've had a lot of birthdays to celebrate this month. It's always fun to give something handmade, so I came up with this cute messenger bag that we could fill up with other fun presents. It's super easy to make and can be made for a boy or girl depending on the fabric.

Here's what you need:

2 pieces of fabric for bag outer, 12" X 9" (I used denim)
2 pieces of fabric for bag lining, 12" X 9"
2 pieces of medium weight fusible interfacing for bag bottom, 12" x 9"

2 pieces of fabric for flap, 9.5" X 8" (I used a contrasting fabric for one side and denim for the other)
1 piece of medium weight fusible interfacing for flap, 9.5" X 8"

1 piece of fabric for strap 28" x 8" (I used denim)
1 piece of batting for strap, 28" x 4" (this is optional)

Start out by fusing the interfacing to the outer bag pieces.


In the bottom corners of the 12 inch side of both outer pieces, mark a box that is 1.5 x 1.5 inches.

Then, cut those corners out. Do the same for the bag lining.

With right sides together and 1/2 inch seam allowance, sew the outer main bag panels along the sides and bottom. Do the same for the bag lining pieces. Press seams open.

Now match the side seam to the bottom seam on each corner. Trim and sew across with a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Do the same for the bag lining.
When you turn the outer part of the bag right-side-out, you should have something that looks like this.

Now, let's work on the flap. Fuse the interfacing to the wrong side of the fabric that you want to the outside of the flap.

Next, we'll round the corners. Lay the 2 flap pieces out with right sides together.
Fold in half matching the shorter (8 inch) sides. Use something round like a CD or jar cover to trace a rounded corner and cut.Here's what you'll end up with. Now along the long rounded edge, leaving the top, straight edge, open.
Clip curves, turn and top-stitch.
(ignore the fabric change....I was working on 2 bags and took a picture of the wrong bag...)
Next, we'll do the strap. Take your strap fabric and fold it in half the long way. Open it up and fold the edges in to fold line you just made, essentially folding your fabric in quarters. Place the batting inside.Top-stitch along each long side and down the middle.

Now we just need to put it all together. Pin the strap to the right side of the bag and then baste in place.

Pin the flap to the right side of the bag and baste in place. Double check to make sure that the fabric you want to see will show when the flap is closed.
This is the hardest part of the whole project. With right sides together, pin the bag lining over the bag exterior. You'll really have to pull it up to match the raw edges since you've got the strap and bag flap in there.

One it's all nice and pinned, sew around the top, leaving an opening for turning.
Turn and top-stitch making sure to close up the opening you left for turning.
There it is! Fill it up with some fun little presents and give it to someone special.