Showing posts with label how to's. Show all posts
Showing posts with label how to's. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

soft and floppy, two toned crochet basket

 
Supplies:

H Hook
Red Heart Super Saver Yarn in Cherry Red
Red Heart Super Saver Yarn in Aran

Of course you can use any colors you would like to match your décor. These are going in our office to put pens and things in, so I went with red and white to match.
Abbreviations:

SS: Slip Stitch
SC: Single Crochet
DC: Double Crochet
CH: Chain

You can find how to do all of these on YouTube.

Pattern:

**Make sure you are grabbing both colors of yarn for every stitch**

You can start with a magic ring our you can do a simple alternative to the magic ring:  CH2 and work all your stitches in the second CH from the hook. Do not count the 1st CH you skipped as a stitch.

Round 1: 10 SC into the center of the magic ring or in your CH 2 space. Pull tight.

Round 2: CH 3. 2 DC in each SC around. (20 DC)

Round 3: CH 3. *2 DC in next DC. DC in next DC. Repeat from * around. Join to top of CH 3. (30 DC)

Round 4: CH 3. *2 DC in next DC. DC in next 2 DC. Repeat from * around. Join to top of CH 3. (40 DC)

Round 5: CH 3. *2 DC in next DC. DC in next 7 DC. Repeat from * around. Join to top of CH 3. (45 DC)

Rounds 6-9 (or however tall you want your basket): CH 3. DC in each DC around. Joint to top of CH 3. (45 DC)

Round 10: Drop one color of yarn. CH 4. *Skip a stitch and DC in next stitch. CH 1. Repeat from * around. Join to the 3rd CH from bottom of your CH 4.

Round 11: CH 4. *DC in to each CH 1 space from previous row. Repeat from * around. Join to the 3rd CH from bottom of your CH 4.

Fasten off and weave in ends.

Enjoy.

 

 

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Office Transformation...W.I.P

When we were in the process of redoing our office floor, we were both thinking, "what did we get ourselves in to"!?!? It ended up not being as bad as we thought it was going to be originally, but still hard enough. I can't really say much because my husband did all of the sanding, but it was still a pain staining and scrubbing!
 
Oh, and sorry in advance for some of these pictures. They are all cell pics and were taken at night.
 
 
 
This was the lovely orange shag carpet! I'm sure it would have come back in style eventually but it smelled. So it had to go!

 
The wonderful padding and nastiness that stained the beautiful, already finished, wood underneath. We were secretly hoping that we wouldn't have to refinish and we would be able to just take the carpet up and voila...new floors.

 
Not so much!

 
The lovely stains the padding left.
 
 
After scrubbing for HOURS. No change!
 
 
Here we go. Mind you...this is the first time we have ever done this so we started in the closet! Smart thinking right? Right! We rented the sanders from Home Depot. We didn't really think it was necessary to waste the money to buy them. They have really great prices and they were super easy to use! (no HD didn't sponsor me) We used the small sander for the closet and around the outer edge of the walls. What they don't tell you is that the big sander doesn't exactly go all the way to the edge of where you sanded, so this is where we ran in to problems. See, we returned the small sander and got the bigger one not realizing that we hadn't sanded out far enough. So we had to buy a small "mouse" sander and do it all my hand! Fun.

 
Using the big sander and making progress! We pulled all the baseboards off to make sure we got close enough to the wall.
 
 
All sanded

 
First coat of stain. I was debating on whether or not to leave it this color. I loved it but it didn't match the furniture I was going to put in there. The wood wouldn't absorb the stain at first. Not sure why....maybe the stain. So we opened a new can of stain for the second coat and it was sooo much easier and nicer to put on!

 
Second coat...see what I mean? It doesn't even compare to the first coat. Way darker!

 
All finished with baseboards on!

 
Nice piece of furniture that my in laws got us for Christmas!

 
New ceiling fan. The old one was the one that everyone has in their house...you know with the gold detail. Yuck.

 
Unfinished desk that my husband built me. It needs stained and glass put on top but its almost there!

 
My lovely World Market chair. I'm in love.

 
I went with an American theme. Not necessarily red, white, and blue, but American.

 
Don't mind my husband's riding boot box and the level. This is from the inside looking out. I still need to refinish the door, finish the desk, and finish my chalkboard calendar that I'm painting on the wall and we should be good to go. Oh, then there's the filing. We won't go there!!
 
This was a great project and I want to do the rest of the house. It's just convincing my hubs to get as excited!



Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Tutorial Tuesday {coin purse}

Ready for back to school? I don't have to worry about it yet, although I miss school sometimes. What better to send your kids lunch money to school with than a cute coin pouch. Great for girls or boys!

Material Needed
1. two pieces of fabric cut to equal size 7 x 9 1/2"
2. piece of batting that is 6 1/2 x 9 1/2" {you won't see it unless you're using see through fabric}
3. zipper that is at least 9 inches long or longer
4. straight pins
5. scissors
6. ruler
7. sewing machine
8. zipper foot for your machine



Cut out your pieces of fabric and batting. I used the same fabric for the inside and outside, but you can do contrasting if you would like. I just used scrap fabric that I had laying around and had enough for both.
My suggestion would be to cut the batting the same length, but not the same width. This will keep it from bulking up the seams.

 Lay your outer fabric wrong side up and place the piece of batting on top of it. Center the batting, it should be about 1/4" shorter on each side. The length should be the same.

 Lay your inner piece wrong side down on top, so the batting is sandwiched in between your two pieces.



Pin it together.


Using a basting stitch {which is the longest stitch on your machine} sew all 4 sides together.
I tired to show the long stitches in this picture, but it didn't turn out too well!


Now for the zipper. Switch your regular foot to a zipper foot. Don't be intimidated. I used to never want to make anything with a zipper but once you do it for the first time you won't be afraid anymore. Hopefully this is an easy way to break you in!

Lay your sewn piece lining side face up on top of your zipper. Make sure your zipper is facing up too. The zipper handle should be facing towards the ceiling.
Line the edge of your fabric up with the top of the zipper.


This is where it might get a little confusing for you. I didn't really take enough pictures to show you either and for that I'm sorry. But I will try and explain it with words the best I can.

Bend the piece you just sewed back so that the outer fabric is facing up. Then fold it in half and place the other end along the edge of the zipper like in the picture. Your zipper should still be facing up. If you have any questions about this, email me and let me know. I can try and explain it or make another and take some better pictures.

At this point, you're going to want to unzip your zipper a bit. Make sure you do this step. If you don't you will end up sewing your purse shut without a way to get it open again.

As you can see in this picture, how the edges are folded under near the opening of the zipper. That's what it should look like if you did the steps above correctly. {if you could understand my horrible explanation}


Top stitch along both sides of your zipper. This will help keep your folds in place.  I didn't take a picture of this part either but I'm pretty sure you know how to top stitch. {If not, let me know and I can do a little tutorial for ya!}


Turn the purse inside out so the zipper is facing the inside. Now, you should decide where you want your zipper placed. You can move it down, up, in the middle, or on the top. Totally up to you. I chose to have my a little off center.

Sew a 1/4" seam along the two edges. Make sure you sew over your zipper a couple times {neatly} so that your zipper doesn't slip or fray after you cut it.

Trim the excess off of your zipper and you seams if you don't want a lot of seam showing on the inside.

Snip your corners so you have nice crisp points.


This is what you should have before you turn it right side out.

Flip it right side out and poke your corners out. I use a pen that is retracted. {you know a clicker pen} But you can use whatever you want.



And there you have it. A cute coin purse for you littles to take with them to school. Or an extra change carrier if you're like me and never spend your change. Then it ends up bulking up my wallet, so I carry one of these and it doesn't do that! You also have enough space in there to carry an ID or credit card if you don't feel like carrying around your purse or wallet.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Tutorial Tuesday {Make-Up Brush Travel Case}

This project cost me $0 at the time. I had everything I needed laying around the house. There's always something you can do with those extra scraps of stuff laying around. I never throw any fabric or interfacing away because you never know what you can make out of it!!! {thanks Pinterest}


Materials Needed:
1. 3 pieces of fabric that are 10x11inch –contrasting, coordinating or all the same
{I used contrasting because I used scraps that I had}
one piece for lining, one piece for the top, and one piece for your brush pocket
2. 1 9.25×10.25 piece of interfacing {whatever kind you have on hand...I had fusable so thats what I used. I would suggest using a lighter weight interfacing than I used because it was hard to roll up at the end}
3. 16-17 inches of ribbon {I used bias tape because it's what I had on hand. If I made another one, I would definitely buy some good ribbon}
4. Scissors
5. Ruler
6. Iron
7. Straight Pins
8. Sewing Machine


Cut out all your necessary pieces of fabric and interfacing. Like I said in the materials needed, I would use a smaller guage than what I used because it was hard to roll up the fabric at the end and it also made the pockets a little tight.


Then fuse (iron or sew) the interfacing onto the back of what will be the inside of your case. You should have a little bit of extra fabric hanging out the side. My pieces are sort of "pieced" together because I didn't have one big piece.


Iron your pocket piece in half. The measurements should now be 5x11


Now it's time to mark out where your pockets are going to be. As I say in all my tutorials...please, please, please don't use black sharpie to draw your lines on. I just do this for tutorial purposes only! I also used a zig zag white stitch so you could see where I had stitched.


Your measurements will be 2" for the big pockets {one on each end} and 1" for the smaller pockets. Remember to leave a 1/2" seam allowance on the outside edges so you will measure in a total of 2 1/2" from each side if you start your big pockets on the outside. I suggest this because its easier to roll the smaller brushes up in the middle.


Line your pocket up with your inside lining piece and pin in place


Stitch your along your pocket lines. You don't have to sew around the outside edge, because you will do this when you sew the whole thing together. That way you won't have two stitch lines at the end.


Time to add your ribbon which will hold the case closed. It doesn't really matter which side you put it on. Take your outside piece and place it right side up. Fold your ribbon in half and place the folded edge on which ever side you want it on about 4" from the bottom edge.


Then, place your lining piece pocket side down facing the right side of your outside piece and pin in place.



Use 1/2" seam allowance and sew your pieces together. Remember this should be sewn inside out.
Again, I drew the seam allowance on so you could see where it should be.


Leave a 3 or 4" gap at the top of your case so you can flip it right side out when you're finished. You don't want to have an inside out case. :) Snip your corners before you turn it right side out so you don't have bulk underneath.


This is what you should have after your flip it around. As you can see in this picture my interfacing made it a little bulky.




Tuck in your open edges where you flipped the case right side out.
Iron your piece flat 


Top stitch the whole way around the case using 1/4" seam allowance.



Fold down your top pice about 2". This will allow the tops of your brused to have a little more protection while traveling.



Sorry this isn't very well lit. My sewing room has a total amount of 0 natural light so the lighting is less than ideal.


Sew the top of the fold about 1/4" in.





Fill 'er up with your brushes. I don't have enough to fill the whole bag {umm...why?} so I spread 'em out a little!



Roll it up and tie it with a bow or sailors knot. There you have it! :) Safe travels for the brushes!
If you have any questions, or need something further explained please email me!!
theordinarywifeblog{at}gmail{dot}com
This might be a perfect project for our Homemade Craft Swap! Check it out!
The Life of an “Ordinary” Housewife