Burp Cloths

Burp Cloths are easy to make from scraps of flannel cotton.

 

Each of these is about the width of my shoulder and about 18 inches long.

 

I added lace to the end of one of them to be fancy. I had all of this blue and yellow fabric leftover from making baby boy things for a friend (5 years ago) so I decided lace would make it a little more girly... ha!

Slipcovered Glider Chair

 

 

This chair is the Graham Glider by West Elm, which is gorgeous and comfy, but I am afraid of getting baby goo all over the nice grey velvet. I really want this chair to last for years to come.

 

Graham Glider by West Elm





So I decided to make a slip-cover for the chair (and matching bolster pillow). Going with my fantasy forest theme, I found this fabulous fabric at JoAnn's. Using coupons, I purchased the fabric for more than 50% off; the original price was $9.99/yard. It is a sturdy cotton and easy to pull off and throw in the wash if I need to.

 



 

 

Clearly I didn't have a sewing pattern, and I didn't want to fully reupholster the chair, just make a slip-cover, so I decided the best method to make this slipcover would be draping.

 

I draped fabric over the chair wrong-side out, and pinned it to the chair one piece at a time, starting from the back. At the seams I pinned two piece of fabric together, then pulled it off, sewed the seam and put it back on the chair to add another piece. I worked symmetrically, doing two seams on opposite sides at once. But I still ran back and forth between the nursery and sewing machine a lot.

 

When I finished the slipcover the way I wanted it, I serged all of the seams to reduce the selvages. I love how it turned out!

Flannel Booties for Baby's First Cosplay

I made more baby booties. They are irresistible. This pair just happens to be made of soft green flannel so they will become part of baby's first handmade costume.

Here is what the pattern (McCall's M6342) for these baby booties looks like once you cut out the pieces (2 of each):

More: Itty Bitty Baby Booties

Itty Bitty Baby Booties

I made baby booties!

JoAnn's had patterns on sale for $1 so I picked up McCall's M6342 and a few others to make baby clothes and so far I have had a blast just making a bunch of baby booties!

 

This is a great project for using up scraps because the pattern pieces are so small!

Enchanted Cloak and Cape

I love making cloaks and capes! I made two in one night using the same aqua velvet crush fabric.

ENCHANTED CLOAK ~

First up is a cute off-the-shoulder short hooded cloak. I wanted to make the cloak kid-friendly so I used Velcro for the closure and hid the stitches under a pair of pretty gold buttons.

The cape is short or half-length on an adult. But it would be a nice long cloak for a kid. The back of the cloak is squared (pointed corners).

I added a charm at the point of the hood. It's a nice detail and the added weight keeps the point hanging down properly.

View the Enchanted Cloak on AvalynArtistry.com

ENCHANTED CAPE ~ 

Next I made a simple cape that fastens in front with a little snap. Again, it's a short style for an adult, but it would be nice and long on a little princess.

This cape is rounded at the bottom instead of being square-edged like the cloak. I left the neck opening huge so it drapes down the back. This also gives the option to pull it up and tie it in front instead of using the snap.

Or, I suppose you could wear a pair of wings on your back and have them poke out of the back opening from your shoulder blades.

Note: Both the cloak and cape are pictured with my Shimmering Mage Blouse.

Winged Backpack

It's wings AND a lightweight drawstring back pack AT THE SAME TIME.

I made this with convention cosplay in mind.

Drawstring backpacks are my favorite way to carry things when I am in costume if I don't have a back or purse that matches my costume, because the strings are slim and subtle and the bag isn't bulky or heavy; it hides well in photos. Then I figured, why not take it one step further and make it a part of the costume by sticking wings on it? Viola! Instant cosplay for any cute dress.

View the Winged Backpack on AvalynArtistry.com

Inspiriation: Scrappy Chevron Strip Pillows

Wouldn't this be a fun sewing project? What an excellent way to use old swatches and fabric scraps!

Inspiration:

Anthropologie Pillow $78	West Elm Kantha Chevron Pillow Cover $29

Construction Observation:

The West Elm pillow is created by stitching strips of colored fabric onto textured white fabric with one or two lines of stitching down the center of the fabric strip. This is quick and easy (thus the cheaper price) but could lead to frayed edges, gives the pillow a chenille texture.

On the Anthropologie pillow, each strip of fabric is stitched closer to the edges, on both edges. This is twice the work, but should reduce fraying. Also, there is more space in the "gutters" between the rows of angled strips. This calls more attention to the fact that the strips are appliqued on instead of patchwork, whereas the West Elm pillow could just as easily been constructed with four rectangles pieced together. I also like the sharper angle of the chevron effect, and I like how the addition of darker colors adds more contrast against the white.

Materials:

• Two squares of medium or heavy-weight white textured fabric, 18-inch square plus seam allowance (19-20 inches square)
• Ruler
• Protractor
• Pencil
• Blue chalk
• Cutting board and rotary cutter
• Piece of scrap tagboard (for a template) or thin cardboard or card stock
• scissors (for the tagboard)
• one 18" pillow form
• zipper (optional)
• iron & ironing board
• sewing machine & thread
• Fabric scraps, 7 or more different fabrics (15 is a good target). 
• TIP: Make sure to include a yellow/gold, a red, and a turquoise/aqua fabric. This will help the overall random combination look cohesive.
• Include neutral, tan or beige fabrics to coordinate with home decor.

How to Make One:

1. Decide if you want 4 or 6 vertical stripes. 
2. Determine the width of each "gutter". Write this down.
3. Determine the width of each "stripe". To do this, multiply the number of "gutters" by the gutter width (from step 2), then subtract that length from 18 inches. Divide that total by the number of stripes and you have your exact width for each stripe. Write this down.
4. Create a template for your fabric strips. It's a parallelogram! On a piece of tagboard, draw two parallel lines (the width between the two lines is your choice, try a half inch?). Use the protractor to determine the degree of the angle you want, then draw an angle across one end of the parallel lines. Turn the tagboard piece so that the angle line you just drew is now a vertical line. Measure from that line with a rule the width of your stripe (from step 3) and draw another line bisecting both parallel lines. Now you have your parallelogram for your strip template. Cut it out of the tagboard. Trace it onto a scrap paper several times in the chevron pattern to see if it looks right to you. If it looks wrong, change your measurements or angles and make a new template. Get your template correct before you start cutting fabric!
5. Iron/press your fabrics to get out the wrinkles
6. Using the rotary cutter and cutting board, cut out strips of fabric, perhaps 3 to 7 strips per fabric. Calculate how many pieces you need - perhaps 84 to100 strips.
7. This is the fun part! Put all of the strips in a bag, then randomly take them out one at a time and arrange them in the chevron pattern (on the floor, table, or on an 18"x18" mat). When you are done laying them out, adjust a few pieces so your reds, yellows, and aquas are evenly distributed and make sure you don't have two of the same pattern next to each other.
8. Mark placement lines on the white fabric using blue chalk.
9. Stitch the strips onto the white fabric. (Easy method is to just sew one line down the center of the strip. Better method is to sew down both sides of the fabric strip, close to the edge.)
10. Trim edges of fabric strips
11. Sew the front and back together, add zipper on one edge.
12. Insert pillow form and zip it up!

Button Bracelets and Cuffs

This is a fun, unconventional accessory, a soft fabric alternative to a bracelet. It could dress up an everyday outfit or add some bling and color to a Steampunk costume.

 

This cuff is like a cuff of a shirt, but it's not attached to a sleeve! Wear it like you would a cuff, but with a sleeveless or short-sleeved shirt, in place of a bracelet. Show off the decorative button with an attractive splash of color.

DIY Fabric Labels - Printed Method

A few years ago when at SteamCon I fell in love with a girl's hat.  I asked her where she got it.  She took off her hat and showed me the label underneath.  I copied down the name and searched it up online. Aren't labels useful?

As many of you know I have an Etsy store and recently I've started putting labels onto my orders before sending them out.  But how do I make them?  I'm not going to glue paper on to a hat, that would look cheap.  But I'm not going to pay to have them mass made, nor am I going to use a Sharpie to write them all out.

Here's what you do:  Iron-on transfer and ribbon!

Here I've printed my Artist Name SmallRiniLady with the Etsy link.  READ INSTRUCTIONS.  This transfer paper needed me to print revered, although I believe I've also used other transfer papers that didn't require the backwards printing.  

 Iron

Peel.

Look look, isn't that cool?

I keep my labels on the roll and cut them off as I need, that way it stays a little more organized.

You can make little ribbon bows or puffs to make it look a little glamorous, but since I used cheap ribbon I simply just cut around the logo and glued.

DIY Fabric Labels - Handmade Method

This week we are sharing our techniques for making fabric labels (i.e. tags) to put on your creations.  So why would you want to put labels on anything?

1. If it's an item you are selling, you want the buyer/recipient to know where it came from so they can tell other potential customers where to get one.
2. If it's a gift or personal momento (quilts, etc.) you'll want to put your name and date on it for posterity's sake.

There are many different ways to go about making labels, so you should choose the method that makes the most sense for you!

First, I'm going to share the one-off handmade method. This is great for:

• quilts
• custom personal items (e.g. a ring bearer pillow for your friend's wedding)
• unique, handmade gifts
• artsy creations
• one-of-a-kind costumes or garments

Example 1: Hand-embroidered lettering on a quilt label

Find a coordinating scrap of fabric without a pattern on it, secure it in an embroidery hoop and use thick embroidery thread to create lettering. Trim it down to a square, press under the edges, then hand-applique it onto the back of your quilt near the bottom corner.

Example 2: Discrete hand-embroidered lettering in metallic thread

Hand-embroider the letters directly onto the back of your quilt, making sure you only go through one layer of fabric. Use a thread that coordinates with your quilt design but blends into the quilt. This gives you a discrete label that you can find if you look closely, but it won't be obvious from a distance.
Example 3: Hand-painted garment labels

Use fabric paint to paint lettering directly onto a piece of fabric. Use a serger to finish the edges, then stitch the tag into your garment.

There are some reasons why you might not want to hand-make your labels.
- it's time-consuming just to make one label
- if you need to make a lot of labels, they will not be uniform/identical
- legibility may be a challenge
- limited room for cramming in text

All of these reasons could make this method quite daunting. That's okay. SmallRiniLady has a Printed Method she will share, and you'll find that her method solves these problems very well. You'll want to use her method if you are making items to sell!

Riven Cosplay - Shirt Upgrade

I like to make costumes I can wear over and over again. Sometimes I have to do a rush job to get the costume done on time, but then I have the opportunity to go back and redo something, give it an upgrade.

It looks a little droopy in front because my dress form is rather flat-chested...

I made a new shirt for my Riven costume. The first shirt was literally three pieces of cotton gauze fabric sewn together at the shoulders and sides. It was really rough, not wearable in public.

This shirt took four (4) hours to make, a nice after-work evening project. The fabric is super-soft, stretchy, and also breathable!

I didn't use a pattern, but I did have a store-bought shirt of a similar fabric, so I traced it to get a pattern for the back, then I draped the rest. If I didn't have a serger, this stretchy fabric would have been a lot more difficult to work with, I would have had to roll all of the hems, yikes! As it is, I just serged the edges every piece of fabric after I cut them out and ended up leaving the arm holes and the bottom hem rough. The bottom will be tucked into the skirt anyway!

I hope I can finish the rest of my upgrades to this costume before PAX. It's less than two weeks away!

Ethereal Layered Skirt

This skirt makes me want to dress up like a fairy princess!

front of skirt

I made the skirt in two layers, one layer of lilac/lavender prom dress satin beneath a layer of a shimmery translucent white fabric. It gives the skirt an ethereal look and adds dimension.

back of skirt

In the back of the skirt I used the eye sides of hook-and-eye tape to create a lace-up corset back. The lilac fabric underneath covers the small gap.

I bet this would be cute bustled too!

styled as a dress!

Look, you can also wear it as a dress! It's totally cute and ends just below the knees. I think it needs a different belt, maybe a darker purple? Alas, I don't own many belts...

French seam on translucent fabric, seen from the outside

I found that french seaming worked very well with the see-through material of the skirt since all of the hems would be visible even from the outside.

How to Sew French Seams
French seams work best when the seams are straight (not curved). When you cut your fabric, leave 3/4" - 1" seam allowance. 

First sew the seam with the WRONG sides of the fabric together, sewing 1/4" or less from the edge of the fabric. 

Press the seam allowance to one side of the seam, then fold the fabric so the RIGHT sides are together, press the seam so you have a nice folded edge along the seam with the seam allowance inside. 

Now sew the seam with the RIGHT sides together, greater than 1/4" from the edge (the remainder of your seam allowance), encasing the raw edges inside a thin tube.

Shimmering Mage Blouse

Sometimes fabric inspires me. I found this shimmery cotton which looked like something I thought a mage should wear. Flaming gold, icy blue...

I started making this peasant blouse using a Simplicity pattern. This was back in 2003 I think... and I never finished the project! Nine years later I pulled the half-finished shirt out of my closet and attacked it with my new serger.

When I finished the blouse I decided it really needed something more, like a necklace. I had this charm I had taken off of locket necklace (from Pier 1) and it went with the dress so beautifully that I decided to figure out a way to attach it.

I added an extra ring to the top of the pendant and then sewed a button onto the shirt so the ring could hang from the button. This really worked well! But you know what would make this even better? If I could somehow rig an LED behind that magical orb in the center of the pendant...

The sleeves have a nice opening -- because mages need flowing sleeves that automatically pull back when you raise your hands to cast Ice Bolts and Fireballs.

I hand-stitched gold thread around the sleeve opening for an added touch of magic.

Here's a better shot of the fabric so you can see how shimmery it is! I love it.

Cosplay Progress - Power Puff Girls Z Dresses (Working with Fleece)

As promised, continuing on the Power Puff Girls Z cosplays

Because of the rushed job I went ahead and used fleece instead of fancier material.  Why this makes a wonderful shortcut

• no hemming necessary, cut edges don't fray Just make sure it’s cut straight

• comes in every color ever necessary  Go to the store with your mobile device so you can compare to an actual photo while picking fabric colors
• Puffy Material, helps hid any seams if you dont use a tight stitch

 

• Easy to maintain,  Throw into the wash without a care, and no ironing needed
• less measurements needed because it stretches I didn’t need to measure any waistlines or chest areas; it’s basically a bag with rectangle cuts for the arm and neck holes.

Time to show off the cosplay.  Me and two friends decided to dress up as the PowerPuff Girls Z for SakuraCon.  YAY

Additional things I learned about fleece after wearing the outfit:

• The Uniformity looks great
• It's so cozy and soft we just wanted to wear it to and from the convention because if was comfortable,warm, and easy to travel in.

Whimsical Purse Pattern

Every girl needs a cute purse to go with their outfit, even when cosplaying! Isn't this adorable?

See, look, it matches my Sunday Afternoon Capelet!

I just came up with the idea and the pattern myself as I thought of what kind of purse I would want to carry around all day at a convention while in costume. There is an open slot in the back of the back (for quickly sliding handout flyers and business cards), plenty of space along the top of the front flap and on the strap for pins and your name badge, and ample open room inside for a wallet, phone and camera. I added an extra slip-in pocket inside as well.

I saw this pink and white button at JoAnn's and thought it was adorable and it just happened to match my pink-and-green plaid fabric. I'd been looking for a good place to put it, since the cloak didn't have a place for it!

I added the ribbons on the side to make it fun and flirty and nod to the ribbon on the front of the cloak.

Here is my concept sketch and pattern piece:

I used this one pattern piece as the pattern for all of the fabric pieces just by folding it in different places or turning it over. If you want to make your own, just pick a width and height and make it squared and symmetrical. The folds determine how wide and how tall the purse will be.