Felt Easter Bucket-TUTORIAL

 Easter is right around the corner.  Here's any easy way to add something handmade to your Easter tradition.

Download Pattern for the bottom HERE

(or you can draw a circle with a diameter of 9 inches)

Here's what you'll need:

1 piece of felt for exterior - 8  x 28 inches

1 piece of medium weight fabric for interior - 8 x 28 inches 

2 circles - one from felt, one from interior fabric

about 1 yard of double fold bias tape 

By the way, this is a great project to try out making your own bias tape.  You don't need much, so you can grab any fun fabric off your shelf and give it a try.   

 I added a cute bunny applique. If you are going to add your own, be sure to do it now.  The side with your applique will be the right side of your felt.  If you don't add applique, there is not right side.

Okay, so match up the shorter sides of your felt rectangle, right sides together, and sew with a 1/2 inch seam.

Pin the felt circle to the felt rectangle, with right sides together.

TIP: if you mark the quarter points on the circle and quarter points on the felt tube and match them up, it is much easier to make it fit together nicely. 

 Clip the seam allowance to help it sit flat.

 Do the same for the interior fabric.

Then place the interior inside the felt bucket.  Trim the interior so it matches nicely to the felt exterior.

Pin the bias tape all around the raw edge at the top of the basket.  Overlap the ends and fold one raw edge over.

 Sew around with a wide zigzag stitch.

 I was ready to stop here with this bucket, but then my son saw it and wanted a handle.  The handle is definitely nice for egg collecting.  But, I think I'll probably take them off later so the kids can use them as storage buckets.  Anyway, here's what I did for a handle.

 Cut 2 handle pieces, one from felt and one from your interior fabric, 2.5 x 20 inches

With right sides together sew around the exterior with a 1/4 inch seam, leaving a few inches open along a side.

Turn right side out.  Pin the opening closed and top-stitch.

 Pin the handle to the sides of the bucket and sew in place.

 Too cute!

 What will you fill your Easter buckets with?

Stripey Plantain

 

I've had the Deer and Doe Plantain pattern cut out and sitting on my table for quite some time now.  I'm so glad I finally took the time to make it. If you haven't seen it yet, it's a free pattern and it's really great!

 I couldn't decide what fabric to use and finally settled on this blue and white striped knit from Girl Charlee.  I bought the fabric this summer intending to use it for a jersey  summer dress (tutorial HERE).  But it ended up being a bit too slinky and so on the shelf it sat. 

 I'm not sure how I feel about the elbow patches.  Maybe I should have done them in something more subdued. 

Overall, I love this pattern and will definitely make it again.  The fabric ended up having a really nice drape and is very comfortable.  I even got a compliment in the hall at work.  Check out the Deer and Doe Pinterest page for more inspiration.

Forget the Brown Bag, Lunch in Style

 One of the things I enjoy about blogging is that my blog serves as a personal journal of my creations.  I recently decided it's time for a new lunch tote and was kind of shocked to look back and see that the one I'm using is almost 3 years old!  Back then, I was asked to do a guest post and wanted to make something really functional.  An insulated, zippered, washable, lunch tote fit the bill.

 It was really fun to follow my own tutorial.  Since I have this problem of never wanting to do the same thing twice, I of course changed things up.  I used nylon on the inside instead of PUL and added interfacing to the exterior fabric.

The size is perfect and it stands up nicely.

I'd also been getting quite a few comments on the original post asking for dimensions of the finished bag.  I finally updated the tutorial page and added the dimensions as well as a few clarifications.  If there are any readers out there that have been waiting for that, sorry it took so long!  But if you head over to the original tutorial HERE, you'll find all the updated info.

 I'm really excited to head off to work tomorrow with my new lunch sack.  And, I'm working on a slightly smaller version to send to school with my kids.  Their current lunch bags get so stinky and I'm tired of not being able to throw them in the wash.  

Check back soon!