Prep at the Beach: sewing

Showing posts with label sewing. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Apex Embroidery Designs

I have had my Brother PE 500 embroidery machine for about 2 months now, and I couldn't be more happy with it. When I first got it, I was struggling because there are only 5 built in fonts and it was difficult to make monograms from any of them. I determined that I was going to have to go online and find fonts to buy and download. It turned out to be super easy; I wrote a whole tutorial on it here . My absolute favorite place to get fonts is Apex Embroidery Designs. Their website is so well laid out and easy to use; they also have specific instructions on how to download the fonts and which type of file to use. I only have 5 embroidery fonts and 3 separate embroidery designs, but they are all from Apex Embroidery Designs. If you have an embroidery machine and are looking for fonts I would definitely check them out!

Excuse the user error on the "c" in this one. It was late at night.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

DIY Frat Collection T-Shirts

I love the look of The Frat Collection t-shirts, but the price is not to my likings. I understand that they give some of the proceeds to charity, but still its just a t-shirt. I had some friends over a while back and we decided to make these. My friend Laura had already made one so she was the mastermind behind them. Thanks, Laura! I've seen a few posts about how people have done these, but they used fusible backing to just put a piece of fabric on an already existing pocket. This method just looked sloppy and unfinished, so I prefer my way of doing it.

Materials:

Plain solid color t-shirt

Scrap fabric or fabric quarter

Thread

Straight pins

Shears

Ruler

Sewing machine

Iron

Step 1:

Cut out a 6" by 7" rectangle of fabric (adjust size based on how big you want your pocket)

Step 2:

Fold one of the shorter ends of the rectangle down about an inch and press it (this will be the top of the pocket)

Step 3:

Fold both of the longer sides in a half an inch and press

Step 4:

Sew a straight stitch at the top of the pocket

I sewed about a quarter of an inch away from the fold to make the pocket look like a pocket

Step 5:

Fold and press the bottom corners of the fabric up to create the point. You may have to cut some of the fabric off of the bottom to get it to look right. Also, I would recommend using another pocket shirt as a guide for how to point should look.

Step 6:

Next, try on the shirt and pin the pocket where you would like it to go. Then pin all around the edge of the pocket.

Step 7:

Using a straight stitch, sew all around the pocket. Make sure you don't sew over the top of the pocket, so that it remains a functional pocket.

I decided to make another one and monogram it. I think this one looks much better than the first. I guess I learned from my mistakes.

Link Ups:
http://chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.com/2012/08/flaunt-it-friday-113.html
http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/2012/08/frugal-friday.html
http://what-about.co/show-friday-15-august-3-2012/
My Repurposed Life
Whipperberry
http://www.mysimplehomelife.com/2012/08/features-simply-creations-link-party-68.html
http://www.504main.com/2012/08/tickled-pink-no-109.html
http://joyfulstamper.blogspot.com/2012/08/inspire-me-fridays-70-anything-goes.html
http://tatertotsandjello.com/2012/08/weekend-wrap-up-party-and-borsa-bella-design-co-giveaway.html#more-38180
http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/08/pink-saturday-august-4-2012.html
http://www.funkyjunkinteriors.net/2012/08/sns-146-diy-link-party.html
http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com/2012/08/show-and-tell-saturday-080412.html
http://www.iamonly1woman.blogspot.com/2012/08/check-me-out-saturday.html
http://snips-and-spice.blogspot.com/2012/08/sunday-slice-its-party-6.html
http://www.iheartnaptime.net/sundae-scoop-link-party-37/
http://www.raisingmemories.com/2012/08/2012-summer-sharing-time-giveaways.html
http://itssoverycheri.com/2012/08/05/its-party-time-8-5-2012/
http://diyshowoff.com/category/other/diy-project-parade/
http://www.serendipityandspice.com/2012/08/manic-monday-linky-party-29.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SerendipityAndSpice+%28Serendipity+and+Spice%29
http://www.craft-o-maniac.com/2012/08/craftomaniac-monday.html
http://www.ishouldbemoppingthefloor.com/2012/08/mop-it-up-mondays-28.html
http://www.sumossweetstuff.com/2012/08/market-yourself-monday.html
http://www.sewcando.com/2012/08/crafttastic-monday-link-party.html
http://www.marvelouslymessy.com/2012/08/a-marvelous-mess-74-and-features.html

Sunday, July 15, 2012

DIY Chevron Print Bow Wall Art

While on Pinterest I came across a picture of a really cute canvas wall art. I clicked on it and it brought me to an Etsy shop. Frustrated, I decided to try to make something similar myself and this is what I came up with. Click here for my inspiration.

Part 1: Make Your Bow

Materials:

Fabric (Scraps or Fat Quarters will work great)

Thick ribbon

Fabric Shears

Rotary Cutter and Mat (Optional)

Ruler

Thread

Sewing Machine

Step 1:

Fold the fabric in half, measure and draw an 8 inch by 10 inch rectangle, and cut out the rectangle. You will now have two identical sized rectangles.

Step 2:

Using your sewing machine, straight stitch all the way around the rectangle pieces. Make sure they are right sides together. I used a quarter of an inch seam allowance.

Step 3:

Find and mark the very center of the fabric.

Step 4:

Cut one piece of the fabric at the mark you made in step 3. Make the cut about an inch deep, bigger if you are making a bigger bow. You need to make sure that you do not cut all the way through both sides of the fabric.

Step 5:

Pull the fabric right side out through the slit that you just made.

Step 6:

Pinch the fabric in the middle to make it look like a bow.

Step 7:

Wrap the ribbon around the pinched part of the fabric and keep it held tight.

Step 8:

Sew a straight stitch on the ribbon to keep it holding the bow together.

Step 9:

Cut off the extra piece of ribbon from the bow.

Now your bow is finished!

Part 2: Make the Canvas

Materials:

Blank canvas

Paint

Painters tape

Paint Brush

The bow you made in part one

Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Step 1:

Tape off the chevron print on your canvas

Step 2:

Paint around the chevron print

Step 3:

Tear off the tape to reveal your print.

Step 4:

Hot glue the bow to the canvas.

This is going to look super cute in my dorm room!

Link Ups:

http://www.thegirlcreative.com/2012/08/i-heart-chevronparty.html

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Easy DIY 4th of July T-Shirts

I'm a tad early with my crafting post this week. Oh well!

I am a huge fan of the 4th of July, so naturally I must dress up for it. Unfortunately, I didn't have a good tee to wear over my American flag bikini, so I decided it was necessary to make one. This is a super easy and cheap tutorial. It uses a technique of appliqué, but not really.

You will need:

A plain solid color t-shirt (Patriotic colors are a must! Red, White, or Blue)

Double Sided Fusible Interfacing

Scrap Patriotic Fabric

Either a drawing or a stencil of a desired shape for the fabric (I chose a star)

Thread that corresponds with the decorative fabric, but it doesn't need to match

Paper scissors

Sewing Shears

Iron & Ironing Board

Sewing machine or hand sewing needle if you do not have a machine

Step 1: Cut out the stencil of the shape you have chosen

Step 2: Cut out a square of interfacing that is big enough to fit your shape

Step 3: Place the square of interfacing in the corner of the wrong side of the fabric

Step 4: Using the iron adhere the interfacing to the fabric by pressing the interfacing onto the fabric. Make sure the you have the paper side of the interfacing up and not the sticky side.

Step 5: Trace the stencil to the interfacing.

Step 6: Cut out the shape from the fabric

Step 7: Peel off the paper of the interfacing

Step 8: Place the shape onto the shirt wherever you would like it. I chose to put right where my left hip would be.

Step 9: Iron the shape onto the shirt the same way you did in step 4.

You can be done here if you don't want to add the last step. The shape is secured onto the shirt; the next step is more of a decoration.

Step 10: Straight stitch all around the edge of the shape. Go slowly and do your best to keep it straight. Also, make sure you aren't sewing the front of your shirt to the back or your shirt because I totally did that when I first started.