DIY: FABRIC WALL POCKET TUTORIAL

Abernathy Crafts has taken a whole new twist on making fabric wall art by making it not only aesthetic but also functional!  This is quick, easy and financially friendly.  Just the way we like our crafts!

Here’s another no-sew project for you!  This is super simple and will add color and organization to your space.  Read on for the quick and easy tutorial.

The tutorial I’m about to show you is completely no-sew, but you could easily modify it with a few straight stitches for a more personalized or practical end product.

Materials needed:

• Embroidery hoop (any size)
• Fabric (2 coordinating)

Lay out your background fabric over your inner embroidery hoop.


Lay your pocket fabric, folded in half, over the background fabric.  You can place it half way in the middle, higher or lower, depending on what you plan to put in the pocket.  Just make sure there is enough excess fabric to hang over the edges of the embroidery hoop.


Slip on the outer hoop and tighten.  Gently tug the fabric around the edges to make it taut inside of the hoop.  This is the part where you make sure you are happy with the placement of your pocket or how the print on your fabric is situated.  If not, do it over again, this is a very forgiving project.  If you’d like, you can add a couple vertical stitches down the pocket for pencils or one in the middle to divide the pocket into two.  This, of course, would be done before you place the fabric in the hoop.  When you are satisfied with it you can cut the excess fabric or tuck it behind the hoop.  Be sure to tighten your hoop real tight so that the fabric doesn’t slip out.

So that’s it!  Quick, huh?  And so easy, not to mention clever.  And since there is no glue involved, you could easily change out the fabric whenever your mood calls for it!

DIY: Shabby Fabric Flower Tutorial

Thanks to Ali Foster Patterns, this tutorial for how to add some jazziness to anything is just a little fabric away!

Step 1: Cut out circles of fabric.  The number of circles you cut and the size just depends on the size of the flower you are making.  My circles are about 2.5″ in diameter.  You can use something circular for a template (like a cup) or you can just cut them without a template at all.  They don’t have to be exact.

Step 2:   Take one circle of fabric and fold it from the center as shown in the picture. There is no exact way to fold it.

Step 3: Using you needle and thread, stitch the center of the “petal” to your  fabric. Make sure you go through all the folds so you keep the shape. 

Step 4: Continue stitching your petals around until you get your desired look.

 

Pretty easy, right?  For  a different look, try cutting squares of fabric instead of circles.

T-Shirt “Yarn” Tutorial

Thanks to Gracious Rain's blog we now know how to make T-Shirt Yarn!  Go forth and make beautiful things with it and who us what ya got! 

Oh, yeah…it’s cotton “yarn” made from a spiral cut T-shirt.

does everyone on earth have a huge pile of orphan T-shirts that nobody wears, but they can’t seem to part with…

or is it just me?

So let’s get real green and do something useful with some of them…shall we?

Start with a regular t-shirt that has lived a good life…no guilt now. It’s going on to a better place…really.

Cut off the bottom hem.

Now cut the top off just under the sleeves…

so you have a tube of fabric.

Fold it nearly in half, leaving the under side sticking out about an inch.

Now cut from right to left all the way up to and just past the top fabric, but leave the one inch margin of the lower fabric uncut. Repeat about 1 inch apart. Now unfold the fabric…

it should look like this.

The easiest way for you to hold the fabric and cut it into one continuous strip is to slide your arm through the two layers of fabric 1 inch uncut margin running along the top of your arm. I drew dotted lines  showing where you’ll cut your fabric–but you don’t need to draw the lines. You’ll be amazed at how fast you can figure this out and it’s really fun too, and for some reason deeply satisfying.

If you need more instructions click HERE for a sweet little diagram and bag pattern.

When you’re finished cutting, you’ll have one long, long, strip of fabric. Are you ready to make it more “yarn” like? Here goes!

Going down the entire length of your fabric, take a hold of it by one end and gently stretch it. It will magically curl up and behave it’s self just like it should. Very obedient stuff, I tell you.

Next, roll it into a ball and think of the stuff you can knit or crochet or weave with it. I’ve seen trivets, handbags and rugs…

DIY Ruffled Ice Cream Cones

DIY Ruffled Ice Cream Cones

Adorable and great for just about any party you could ever want to have!  Check out Icing Designs blog for more fun tutorials!

 Materials:

2 1/2" styrofoam balls

1 1/2 yards of lightweight cotton fabric

Sewing machine or needle and thread

Hot glue gun/glue

Glue

Scrapbook paper

Cone templatea

Polyester stuffing

Ribbon

Pins

Cut fabric into strips about 44" long x 1.5 " wide using pinking shears. Sew down the middle of the strip, ruffling fabric as you go with sewing machine. You can also ruffle the fabric by hand if you do not have a sewing machine. Your finished ruffle should be 8" long. You could also use pre-ruffled fabric or ruffle trim if you do not want to make your own!

Trace cone template onto your paper and cut out. Glue edges to make cone shape. I recommend not using hot glue for this step since you need a bit of extra time to get the edges together just right. Fill your cone with stuffing to help hold the shape.

Cut a circle roughly 8" in diameter out of your fabric. Wrap the fabric around the ball and hot glue to bottom, gathering as you go. Do not worry about how the bottom looks, it will be hidden inside your cone.

Place hot glue around inside edge of your cone and stick the covered styrofoam inside. Hot glue your ruffle around the top of the cone, twisting as you go around. Be sure to glue it to both the paper and the styrofoam ball. If you would like to hang the cones, cut ribbon to desired length and use a pin or hot glue to secure it to your ice cream!

Braided Headband Tutorial

MaryJanes and Galoshes blog has a wonderful braided fabric headband tutorial.  It has minimal materials and it's budget friendly!

What you need:
Thick hair tie
Six 1" strips of fabric
Bulldog clip or safety pin
Sewing machine (or needle and thread)
Fabric tac

I ripped my fabric strips so they were a bit frayed on the edges, personal choice.  Clip three strips together and braid. Did I mention this is going to be really easy! Your braids should be about 6 inches short of going around your head.

Tack each end of the braid just enough that it doesn't come undone .
 

Then tack both braids together on each end, be careful not to twist the braids.

Cut your hair tie so it's one strip of elastic.
 

Sandwich your elastic ends between the ends of your braids on each end, again, careful not to twist the braids.
 

Sew over the elastic so that it's secure.  With a scrap of your fabric, wrap the ends of the braids for a finished look.  I used fabric tac for this.
 

Your done! 
 

Making Fabric Covered Binders

The Uncluttered Lifestyle has a gorgeous tutorial on how to cover those institutional looking plastic binders with fun and elegant fabric!  Do your own take and shoot us pictures!

Supplies: 

- Fabric (For 4 binders use approx 2 yards)

- Binder

- Spray Adhesive

- Book plates 

 

Cut the fabric to size, leaving a 1/2" to 1" to fold over all the way around.

Cut each corner so there is not a bulge when you fold over on the top and bottom of the binder.

Adhere the fabric to the front first flap. Then close the binder and adhere fabric to the spine, following with the back flap. If you adhere the fabric while the binder is open, the fabric will be too snug when you do try to close it.

It should look something like this. Yes I know my "hem" is uneven but it doesn't matter because...

The next step is to cut a piece of fabric to cover the inside and adhere it. Now it has a finished look when it opened.

Lastly, I applied the book plate.  I think the silver looks gorgeous with the ticking.

Pretty simple, right. Each binder costs a total of $6.50 to make. The most expensive part was the ticking fabric at $6.97/yard. So really, this project could be accomplished for less. But I think the end result is just darling!