Love 2 Sew 4 Fun - Newbie at Sewing with My Singer Featherweight

T-Shirt Quilt Tutorial - Gail Pickens-Barger

noreply@blogger.com (Yoga with Gaileee) — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 18:30:00 +0000

And while we are on the subject of t-shirt, turn your t-shirt collection into a quilt! Above is a dance t-shirt quilt that I did for one of my daughters. I took her dance t-shirts, and basically cut the fronts/backs into same sized quilt blocks.

But before I cut the t-shirts into quilt blocks, I backed the shirts with fuseable interfacing, to have a bit more strength to them. Then used a plastic square for my guide, used my olfa cutter and mat and clear ruler, plastic square and cut out the blocks.

I used the techniques listed in Nancy Johnson-Srebro's book Rotary Magic book, for cutting out the strips that I put in between my quilt blocks.

I also used her techniques in binding the quilt (and my Mom's techniques too).

Here is a link to the craft stylish website, that allows you to put together a t-shirt quilt with non-square t-shirt logos. Be sure to take a good look at that site, if you have non-square t-shirt blocks to put together for a t-shirt quilt. Gail Pickens-Barger
http://www.craftstylish.com/item/45413/how-to-make-an-out-of-the-ordinary-t-shirt-quilt-part-one

and part two of the t-shirt quilt tutorial: http://www.craftstylish.com/item/45990/how-to-make-an-out-of-the-ordinary-t-shirt-quilt-part-two

p.s. The other quilt pictured here, was one I made for Stanley School in Victoria, Texas. Took old t-shirts for the quilt, donated by teachers and students. It was a remembrance quilt, in that the students were moving to Chandler elementary school. This was part of a fund raiser for the PTA/School. Made pillows also, with the t-shirt fronts that didn't fit into the quilt.

P.s.S. Getting ready to do another batch of T-shirt quilts. Here is a new website about it. An Aggie T-shirt
quilt. http://craftsbyabby.blogspot.com/2009/04/t-shirt-quilt-tutorial-planning.html

enjoy!!!

Highland Park Elementary - Nederland, Tx Scholarship Pillows Rock!

noreply@blogger.com (Yoga with Gaileee) — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 02:53:00 +0000

Highland Park Elementary Rocks! Got the Scholarship Pillows made for scholarship year 2015! yea

HobbyLock 786 Serging .... A serging question.....

noreply@blogger.com (Yoga with Gaileee) — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 14:30:00 +0000

My bestie from 2nd grade gave me her serger, when she upgraded! How cool is that.....but it has taken me *ahem* many years to finally get it on the table and use it.

Sew, I'm making Aggie Mom scarves for our boutique. We use the profits to fund scholarships.

Here's a couple of pics....

Question: Sew, if you sew strips of fabric together using the serger, then finish off the edges with serger, do you have to go back and fray back each strip that you've sewn? Or just fray back where there are existing thread tails.

My serger experience is limited! Y'all let me know in the comments or a phone call!

Thanks!

Texas A&M Aggie version of the pants!

noreply@blogger.com (Yoga with Gaileee) — Sun, 23 Feb 2014 18:41:00 +0000

Texas A&M Aggie version of the Shabby Mosaic technique! Woo Hoo!

Shabby Mosaic Jean technique on my kiddos jeans

noreply@blogger.com (Yoga with Gaileee) — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 18:31:00 +0000

So, getting tired of putting patches on her knees, so found the Shabby Mosaic Jean Technique, purchased the e-book, and tried it on her pants.

I used my Singer Featherweight sewing machine, and it turned out really well! I wonder how this will work out with my hubs jeans (his rip is at the crotch), hmmmmm.

I bought the instructions from the Brassy Apple Etsy shop. Love it!
http://brassyapple.bigcartel.com/product/shaggy-mosaic-jeans-epattern

Gaileee

Keep Calm and Sew On

noreply@blogger.com (Yoga with Gaileee) — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 16:12:00 +0000

Bibs, sewn on my Singer Featherweight 221 Sewing Machine - Gaileee

noreply@blogger.com (Yoga with Gaileee) — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:43:00 +0000

Looked all over the internet for tutorials for bib making. Didn't really find anything that I liked, and dug through my pattern stash and found my Simplicity 4642. Looked simple enough. Hmmm...

.
Ties around the baby neck. Good. Can use some rick-rack for trimming. Good. Then I look at the instructions. ?!? Okay, I'm trying to figure out how to put the rick-rack on. I look at the picture, I read the instructions, but you know, I'm still not figuring out how this will work.

I'm not too good at reading these instructions, and I'm just dangerous enough to sew, and pretend that I know what I'm doing....argh!

So I do a trial run. Of course I do it wrong, but then I figure out to put the rick rack on the *inside* of the seam....just like the diagram shows....Eh!

Neutral colors!

Can you say *pink*?

So this is what I've come up with, with the material that I have on hand, rick rack, and binding.

.
I ran out of some material so I put somewhat color matching material together with a bit or rick rack.
.
I now have to bind the neckline, find some on hand thread and try to topstitich like I know what I'm doing!

Ohh, frilly ruffles and two tones!

Cute backing!

.

These will go off to grandbaby Dawson, and a niece's new daughter Azeb. Plus a friend locally, who had a baby recently. The friend though, has a sister, who is a super sewer, so my stuff will probably not be as professional as what the sis does.
.

I even pulled out some cloth diapers and did one last minute last night, as I had one more piece of material.

Enjoy my sewing with my Featherweight 221 Sewing machine. Still works great!

Nappy Bag - Amy Butler

noreply@blogger.com (Yoga with Gaileee) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:08:00 +0000

Oh, I need to see if I have this pattern. I want to make this for my new "to be" grandson or granddaughter....

The pattern can be found at:
http://www.amybutlerdesign.com/products/patterns_display.php?id=16

My bestie made one for me, for Grace and I used that bag a long time. Even did some mending on it, as I used it for a LONG TIME! Need to find some cool fabric though.......

Sewing tutorial for Nursing/Breastfeeding top from two ready to wear shirts sewing tutorial.

noreply@blogger.com (Yoga with Gaileee) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 19:44:00 +0000

I had made a lot of simple breastfeeding tops when I was pregnant with Grace. Couldn't find the internet instructions, so these are from memory in making these tops. Making these for my 2nd oldest, who is due at any time now!

Original cowl neck t-shirt

V-Neck crisscrossed t-shirt

Two of the same top & size

Cut up sides, then cut lower part of shirt off. About 8 inches.

Cut a 14 inch tall tube from other shirt.

The tube. Finished off top edge, then cut off back panel.

Separating front from back on the tube. Getting rid of serged edge.

About a 6 inch overlap, between 1st and 2nd shirt.

Folded unde rpanel in half, measured 1/4 inch elastic, plus 2-3 inches.
Top stitched elastic to top portion of the underpanel.


Sew wrong sides together to make overlayed panel effect.

Finished product. Two shirts make into a overlay panel
nursing/breastfeeding shirt.

Finished product. About 2 hours work.

Sewing up some Changing Table Mattress Pad Covers - Tutorial - Singer Featherweight Sewing Machine

noreply@blogger.com (Yoga with Gaileee) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:38:00 +0000

Changing Table Mattress Pad Cover Tutorial.

So this is what I'm working on next.
Just writting down what I'm doing, so that I have instructions, next time I'm making these covers.

I'll add to this description, as I go along. I did a graphic snapshot of the instructions, and copied them as a jpeg on the blog. Photos to come.

All with my Singer Featherweight 221 Sewing Machine.

Using my Singer Featherweight 221 to make Sew Mama Sew Holiday Napkins

noreply@blogger.com (Yoga with Gaileee) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:44:00 +0000

Part IV of the Sew Mama Sew Holiday Sew Along. Here are the napkins that I actually did finish before Thanksgiving (and get to use...)

This turned out nicely. Very methodical in doing these napkins. This would be a great gift (not these....these are mine LOL) idea for someone for a house warming gift or holiday gift. Yeah!

My placemats from the Sew Mama Sew Holiday Sew Along!

noreply@blogger.com (Yoga with Gaileee) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 21:08:00 +0000

Here is the original Holiday Sew Along post. http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/2011/10/color-blocks-placemats-napkins-holiday-sew-along/

Here are my pieced placemats, I finally finished today. I made eight placemats. Using my Singer Featherweight 221 Sewing Machine.

I'm going to put the project away though, so I can start my next immediate project. Making changing table mattress covers, for my DD#2 upcoming baby. We are giving her my changing table that I used with Grace, and I need to make some new changing covers! Bought some fabric from Walmart yesterday, and need to treat the fabric (sew the ends, wash, that type of thing), before I can get started.

So this project will be put into some ziplocks with instructions, so that I can tackle the rest of this job later!

<3 Gaileee

Blackberry Pie Recipe - Love the Pie Party!

noreply@blogger.com (Yoga with Gaileee) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:28:00 +0000

Been making cobblers and pies with PTA bake sale with the Thanksgiving dinners going on. Plus a test pie for home, and a huge cobbler for work. Yum Yum Yum! Took the recipe from Simply Recipes and did their blackberry pie recipe!

Blackberry Pie Recipe

Ingredients

1 pie dough recipe for top and bottom crust
5-6 cups blackberries, rinsed, picked clean, patted dry (if you use frozen berries, defrost and drain them)
1/2 cup to 3/4 cup sugar (depending on how sweet your berries are)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3 Tbsp quick cooking instant tapioca (can usually find in the baking aisle of your local supermarket)

Method

1 Place blackberries, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, cinnamon, almond extract, and quick cooking instant tapioca in a large bowl. Gently fold the berries until they are all well coated with sugar. Let sit for 30 minutes.

2 Preheat oven to 400°F. You should have two balls of pie dough, one for the bottom crust, one for the top crust. Roll out one of the balls of pie dough on a lightly floured surface to 12-inch diameter if you are using a 9-inch pie pan, or 13-inch diameter if you are using a 10-inch pan. Line the bottom of your pie pan with the dough. Chill in refrigerator while you roll out the bottom crust.

3 Roll out the second ball of pie dough for the top crust. If you would like to do a lattice top, weave the dough strips as described in How to Make a Lattice Top for a Pie Crust.

4 Spoon the berry mixture into the dough-lined pie dish. For a lattice top, weave strips of pie dough over the top of the fruit-filled pie dish. For a solid top, place the second rolled-out pie dough crust on top of the pie. Press ends of strips into the rim of the bottom crust. Use scissors to trim the edges to 1/2-inch from the outer edge of the pie pan. Fold the edges back over themselves and use your fingers to crimp to seal the edges. If you are using a solid top crust, score the top with a sharp knife to create air vents for the steam to escape.

5 Place the pie on the middle rack of the oven. Put a baking sheet on the lower rack to catch any juices that might bubble out of the pie while it's cooking. Bake the pie in two stages. First bake it at 400°F for 30 minutes. Then place a sheet of aluminum foil over the pie to protect the edges and tops from getting too burnt. (A pie protector is quite useful here.) Reduce the heat to 350°F and bake for an additional 30 minutes, until crust has browned and filling is bubbly.

Remove from oven and place on a wire rack. Cool completely before serving.

Yield: Makes 8 servings.

Sew Along with Sew Mama Sew!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Yoga with Gaileee) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:24:00 +0000

I'm doing a delayed Sew Along with Sew Mama Sew.

http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/2011/09/no-excuses-holiday-sew-alongs-the-details/

But my fabrics are fall colors for Thanksgiving dinner instead.

Orange, yellows and the variations! Here's hoping I finish it in time for visitors!!

<3 Gaileee

Barbie Doll Dress Tutorial from..... Craftiness Is Not Optional Site

noreply@blogger.com (Yoga with Gaileee) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 13:29:00 +0000

Barbie Doll Dress Tutorial!!!

Up on the Piano again Barbie.
What is up with your hair?
A bit of pink camo going on???

I found this Barbie Doll Dress tutorial over at http://sewspoiled.blogspot.com/2011/01/barbie-clothes.html blog, and then hopped on over to the actual tute at http://www.craftinessisnotoptional.com/2010/08/barbie-dress-tutorial.html

I was searching in how to make a simple Barbie Doll dress for a Birthday gift for a 6 year old. Turns out, uh, well, Grace claimed the dress.

I used the above mentioned tutorial, but since I used my Singer Featherweight and not a serger for this project, I had to re-make the top portion of the dress, as I didn't have enough material! (The dress back would not close!)

In Jess's tutorial (see this following exerpt from her site): I had to change the smaller piece to be 7 inches by 2.5 inches. I was doing fold, then sew, so I used up some fabric, which would not have been done, if you use a serger.
"

fabric: 1 piece 6 " by 2.5" (7 inches by 2.5 inches)for the bodice, and 1 piece 5" by 12" for the skirt

ribbon: 2 pieces-2.5" long for straps if you want them

sew-on velcro: 4 inches long, and a little over 1/4" wide (i cut 3/4 inch velcro in half)

sewing stuff: thread, iron, scissors, sewing machine....yada yada

I'll post a photo later on, of the finished product!!

<3 gaileee

Zumba Cargos into Zumba Capris or Zumba Shorts - tutorial by Charise Richards

noreply@blogger.com (Yoga with Gaileee) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 19:07:00 +0000

Charise Richards converted her Zumba Cargo pants into Zumba Capris (and into Zumba Shorts). Here are her photos and tutorial on how she did this process. Permission to post tutorial was given to me by Charise to share her conversion process and for the love of wearing a bit shorter Zumba pant! <3 <3 Gaileee

Final product.

Cut your pant leg length. Make it long enough though so that you can roll up a cuff.

Cut your other pant. Same length.

What the raw edges look like.

Measure and Fold to the inside your initial hem length. Remember you'll be cuffing and rolling the hem. Fold once, then fold again, that way when you sew, you only sew once. (You can optionally fold once, sew the raw edge, then fold again and sew for the top stitching.)

Left Leg with pins. Right Leg seeing it from the inside of the pant. Pinning close to the edge.

Both sides pinned, and even.

Sewing close to the edge with the pant turned inside/out.

Sewing in action. What kind of Singer Sewing Machine is this? A 500 Rocketeer?

Another nice close up of the sewing.

Wa La! Next is the turning of the cuff.

Cuff turned, but you have to make it secure!

Oh, how "tack"y of you! Tack down in four places.

See how your "tack"y work looks on the outside of the pant.

Finshed product! Great job Charise! Nice photos!!

Oh, one in white.....

And look, a pair of shorts, and a grey pair waiting to be done. Hmm, I may need to purchase some of these!

Lovely work Ms. Charise. Thank you for sharing! <3 Gaileee

Creative......hmmmm....

noreply@blogger.com (Yoga with Gaileee) — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 19:59:00 +0000

About the only creative thing I've done with my singer featherweight lately, has been to make an A&M themed gift bag (thanks for the fabric Fran!!) and make a A&M T-Shirt envelope pillow as my gift giveaway for the door prize. Photos to come a bit later!

Gaileee

Ottobre Magazine

noreply@blogger.com (Yoga with Gaileee) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 14:16:00 +0000

Ah, yes, another Ottobre Magazine in the mail, and it is time to renew my subscription. Oh, what is nice is that they have a free pattern area.

Why not be inspired by sewing and print FREE patterns for yourself! You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the pattern. If you do not have it, LOAD IT by use of this link.Here is the link to the projects:
http://www.ottobredesign.com/en/print/index.html and I like the applique letters project!
at: http://www.ottobredesign.com/fi/kaavat/pdf/sulo_letters.pdf . I'm thinking maybe some appliqued Aggie Pillowcases, for some minature pillows....we'll see!

Not sewing...

noreply@blogger.com (Yoga with Gaileee) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 21:08:00 +0000

But I wore my black Cardi Wrap that my friend Tammy made for me! Lovely! I wore it over my yoga gear. So I truely looked like this *awesome* yogi!

Bought some Chico's jeans yesterday for my birthday, and now I'll have to get the sewing machine in "Jeans" mode. Gotta do some hemming! Woo!

Dora the Explorer - Pillow cover

noreply@blogger.com (Yoga with Gaileee) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 01:21:00 +0000

Had to make a mad dash to make a simple cover for a travel pillow for Grace. She needs a travel pillow for her mothers day out program that she goes to. I went to my stash, and found some "Dora" fabric along with some eyelet lace. Whipped up that puppy pronto! Sorry no photo, but sewing was to be heard in the house!

Sewing again!

noreply@blogger.com (Yoga with Gaileee) — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 21:13:00 +0000

My little featherweight that I recently purchased from a local, has been through the ringer.

I oiled and lubed the featherweight. It was bone dry!
I reconfigured the tension assembly, after acquiring an "e" washer. Still didn't tension correctly, so mom brought down a new tension assembly.
Mom tried to "time" the featherweight, look at the needle hook assembly, but she did all that she could do.
I took the featherweight to a local sewing machine repair place. On the first try, after adjusting the "timing", the "timing" slipped.
I then addressed these issues on Graham's Featherweight Yahoo group, and Graham had some suggestions, as well did other members of the forum, one being, take another featherweight to the sewing machine repair person, so that they could compare a working featherweight, with my little machine.
Took my "zippy" featherweight (looks bad, works great) and that is what Carmen did, she fixed it! The gear underneath that you use to time the machine had to be loosened, and everything else tightened, along with a location of a screw, repositioned. Wow, the stitch on this machine looks great.

So here is my recommendation. Sewing machine problems? Go to Carmen Hardy, owner of Sewing Machine Repair at 6110 39th Street, Groves, Texas 77619, 409-962-7483. She did a great job!

And now I have a nice little featherweight......this thing probably never worked good until now!

gaileee

Another batch of t-shirt pillows!

noreply@blogger.com (Yoga with Gaileee) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:27:00 +0000

Here is another batch of t-shirt pillows! Doing this for a church fundraiser. If you want one, email me, and I'll get your vitals!

Sew here I go!

noreply@blogger.com (Yoga with Gaileee) — Fri, 14 May 2010 13:05:00 +0000

Sewed up some Flanged Envelope Pillows this past month.

The blue pillows are from XL and 2XL sized shirts. Then the Black one is from a Large shirt. The Eskimo Joes T-shirt, which by the way, was my son's but, he'd never wear it, as tie dye and pink didn't go with his personality. That's okay, since it was a size Adult M, it was a good ~~victim~~ prototype to test my pattern on......

Well as it turns out. Using a scant 1/4 inch topstitched seam and a 1 1/2 inch topstitched flange, was a bit *tight* with a 14 by 14 inch pillow form, for the Adult Size M (Eskimo Joe's) shirt. Notice how *tight* the pillow form seams to be by the pillow flange? I like a little looseness to my pillow!

Next time, I'll topstitch either 1 1/4 inch, or 1 inch flange, if I'm using a Medium Adult T. I barely had enough fabric chest width wise from the Adult M. Of course, JoAnn's doesn't have a 12 by 12 inch pillow form. Smallest one is 14 by 14. It will be some creative sewing for lesser shirt sizes. I also had to add some fabric panel on the top (as I had to do with the Bulldog t-shirts, as the design was really close to the neckline.), to make the Eskimo Joe design to come out centered. These shirts were for scholarship winners from the local PTA. I did 15 shirts for High School, then ended up last minute doing 6 1/2 shirts for one of the elementary schools.

Now I'm doing a fundraiser at church. Send me a at least Adult M t-shirt, and I'll convert it into a Flanged Envelope Pillow. You provide the 14 by 14 inch pillow form. Cost is $10 (plus a shipping charge). Shirt should be washed, as I don't want to deal with stinky shirts! email me at yogawithgaileee@gmail.com for more details. The money will go toward our church's children's playground equipment. Thought I'd use one of my "gifts" to help out the church! Thanks! gaileee

Sewing and Gardening

noreply@blogger.com (Yoga with Gaileee) — Sat, 08 May 2010 14:46:00 +0000

Will and Steve built my Rectangular Garden the other day. I finally got my soil in, and now have my little plants planted. Planted carrots, variations of lettuce, spinach, pepper plants, gourds. Used the Square Foot Garden Method for planting. My gourds are the first things that are coming up.

You can also see the fence that my husband, my son, my oldest daughter help to install. All three really know how to use tools.

Below are the Senior Scholarship T-Shirt Envelope Pillows. Yeah, they are finally done. Sure did take a while as, I didn't have much snipits of time. That is why I like to work on them early in the spring.

I'm thinking about making a t-shirt quilt here in the near future.

Flanged Enveloped Backed T-Shirt Pillows - Again!

noreply@blogger.com (Yoga with Gaileee) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:14:00 +0000

The other day I timed myself on each step that it took, to make a flanged enveloped backed t-shirt pillow.

After washing the t-shirt and smoothing it out, and then cutting up the sides of the shirt....after all of that, it took over an hours time to put together the t-shirt pillow. What was amazing to me, was that the ironing part of constructing the pillow was the longest part of the process. I timed the construction process, so I could know how much time it took, and if I was ever asked to make these pillows for the PTA again, I could figure out how much to charge for my time.

Course, that is IF I could get one hours of time in one sitting. That never happens, and if you do this in one session, without getting up and stretching, you might be a little stiff! Sewing Yoga anyone?

This assumes too, that you have ALL the proper tools. Rotary cutter and cutting board, plastic square to go by, a cutting ruler. If you don't have that, it would take much more time to get an accurate square. Plus, I had to figure out, how to "center" the design. Basically had to add 3-4 inches to the top of the square, in order to have the Bulldog t-shirt design be centered on the final product.

Centering the clear plastic template and deciding how much to add to the top of the pillow.
Cutting out the initial square.

Adding a strip of material to the top of the pillow front.

Easy once you've figured it out, not so easy to start the first pillow though.

Gaileee