Just to make sure she doesn’t see the picture of what may be her Mother’s Day gift I included this filler picture of my cat trying to help with the project. What you can’t see is that he’s sitting directly on top of what I’m trying to photograph! I can’t tell you how many pictures never make it into the tutorial because it’s got a cat nose, paw, tail, or ear in it somewhere!

So for Mother’s Day I wanted something simple but useful to send to both my Mother and Mother-In-Law and I think I succeeded! I made them each a pair of teardrop shaped earrings with a colored bead hanging from the center. They were so easy and I loved how they looked so much I might just make a few pairs in different colors for myself!

You’ll need the silver tear drop piece, pin heads, colored beads, and the earring hook.

Place one bead on each pin head and bend it down where you’d like to attach it to the tear drop piece. Thread it through the bottom hole in the tear drop, clip off the extra wire and bend it around to secure the bead to the tear drop piece. Attach the earring hook to the top and you’re finished! Pink for the MIL and purple for my mom.

Happy Crafting,

Erin

P.S. Bear with me the next few weeks, my tutorials may be a little on the super easy side! I’m working on packing up my house as my husband and I make another move for his job! We’re sad to leave the Dallas area that we love, but happy that we’re moving for his dream job to the San Antonio area.

I was a bit apprehensive because there are lots of little steps and tricks to follow in order to get the “perfect” macaron. The biggest thing I was worried about was that you’re not supposed to bake them on a day with high humidity…well, I live in North Texas and there is no such thing as a day like that so I figured that any day was just as good as any other day so I armed myself with the ingredients and got to baking.

The ingredient list is actually pretty small:

Confectioners Sugar, Almond Flour, Egg Whites, Cream of Tarter, and whatever you’d like to put inside. Some have jam or icing filling. I chose to use my favorite buttercream recipe and add in some Blackberry flavoring.

I used this recipe from AmberLee at Giverslog, followed all the instructions with exactness (for the most part) and they turned out pretty good! They were VERY similar to my favorite ones from Ladurée in Paris:

{The flavors I tried while I was there included Coconut, Green Apple, Vanilla, Salted Caramel, Raspberry, and Violet & Currant}

The only differences I made were to add the pulp from one vanilla bean into the macaron part and I cooked it on my Silpat mat instead of parchment paper. I waited until they were cooled completely and they peeled right off!

The filling was a simple buttercream frosting with some Blackberry flavoring. (I wanted to use some fresh ones blackberries, but not bad enough to make a trip to the store just for berries.)

Here’s my favorite buttercream frosting recipe:

1/3 cup softened butter

4 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar

1/4 cup milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla or your favorite flavoring (I used blackberry this time.)

Food coloring if desired

In a mixing bowl beat just the softened butter until fluffy. Gradually add in about half of the powdered sugar, milk, flavoring, and coloring. Once all this is combined, continue adding in the powdered sugar until you get a consistency you want. (I’ve also made a delicious lemon buttercream by substituting the milk and flavoring for lemon juice! Yum!)

I’ll admit, when they were waiting on the mat for the slight crust to harden before cooking, I was a little nervous:

They really don’t look all that great at this stage, huh? In the end, I was pleased that when I crave macarons from now on I can make my own instead of dream about when I can go to Paris next. (Though I’ll probably still do that anyway!)

Happy Cooking,

Erin

You’ll need:

16″ pillow form

1/2 yard of fabric

1 4″ invisible zipper (I get mine from ZipIt on Etsy, she ships fast and the prices are awesome!)

Coordinating thread

Your machine’s zipper foot

Let’s talk zippers and zipper feet for a minute:

My zipper foot for my Janome looks like this:

It’s got two different bars that can attach to your machine. One on the left and one on the right. We’ll use both sides for this project.

Before pinning and sewing an invisible zipper there’s a little bit of prep work we need to do. Set your iron set on a medium-high setting. While you’re waiting for the iron to heat up, let’s talk about the zipper for a bit. Invisible zippers look backwards compared to a regular zipper. A regular zipper has the zipper pull and the teeth showing on the same side. An invisible zipper has the zipper pull on one side and the teeth showing on the opposite side.

This is what the back of an invisible zipper looks like. Notice that the teeth are curling back and facing up. The zipper pull is facing down. Now for the prep work! We need to use the tip of a hot iron to press the zipper teeth flat. It will be easier to sew alongside the teeth if they are pressed flat or standing up instead of curled back and around. To do this, unzip the zipper as far as it will go, unroll the zipper teeth, and press flat.

When you’re done with your pressing, the back side of your zipper should look like the zipper side on the left. Now we’re ready to sew on your zipper and complete your pillow.

Pillow Time!

First, cut two squares of fabric that measure 16 1/2″ x 16 1/2″.

To make sure that we’re sewing on the zipper to the right spot on both your front and back pillow pieces we’ll draw a couple of marks on both squares and the zipper. Stack both of your fabric pieces right sides together and place your zipper on top. Measure 2″ in from one side and make a small mark on both fabric pieces and both sides of the zipper with a fabric marking pen. You can see my small ones in the picture above. (I did serge my ends before doing this. That’s optional though! I’ve done plenty of pillows without serging the ends and it’ll be just fine.)

Repeat the process with the other side. In the picture above you can see my small marks 2″ in from both sides.

Zipper Hint: When we sew ANY zipper on, we need to make sure we know which side is the right side of the zipper. Just like sewing two pieces of fabric with right sides together we’ll need to attach the right side of the zipper to the right side of the fabric. It’s super easy to figure out which is the right side of the zipper. It’s ALWAYS the side with the zipper pull! Whether you have a regular zipper or an invisible zipper just look for the zipper pull and you’ve found the right side of the zipper.

Now that you’ve found the right side of your zipper, place it down touching the right side of your front pillow piece. (It should be along the bottom of your fabric.) Match up the marks you made, slide the zipper tape right along the edge of the fabric, and pin.

When you’re done pinning it should look something like this. Now we’re ready to sew! We’ll also use the marks that we made as our stopping and starting points for our sewing.

Attach your zipper foot to your machine, using the bar on the left of your foot to attach it. When you sew on a zipper you’ll use the little channel underneath your presser foot to help guide the zipper teeth through. Start sewing at one mark (making sure to backstitch) and sew as close as you can to the zipper teeth until you reach the other mark.

It should look like this when you’re done sewing this side.

Now we’re ready to attach the other side of the zipper to the back piece of your pillow. Place the back fabric square right side down on top of your front piece. Fold it back slightly. Pull up the zipper side that’s not attached and follow the same steps above. Match up the marks, move the tape to the edge of your fabric and pin in place. Notice that the right side of this zipper side is also touching the right side of your other fabric piece.

It should look like this when you’re done pinning. Now sew this side of the zipper on using the same methods we used above for the first side.

Unfold both your pieces and zip that zipper up! Pretty cool huh?!?

Now we’re ready to finish up our pillow cover! First we’ll need to finish up sewing the bottom seam. The zipper takes up most of the bottom seam but we’ve still got about 2″ on either side to finish up.  To do this, unzip your zipper halfway, then fold it up so that the right sides of the fabric are together and the zipper is along the bottom.

Move your zipper foot so that it’s attached to the machine using the bar on the right side of the foot. Place your pillow underneath the foot and slide it so that the zipper teeth are as close as possible to the right side of the zipper foot. (You may have to feel for the teeth through your fabric.) Find the mark we used to line up the zipper. Start sewing here (backstitch too!) and sew off the edge. Repeat this process with the other side of the zipper.

Now the bottom seam of your pillow is complete. You can breath now too! That was the hardest part. Now we’ll use a 1/2″ seam and sew around the other three sides of the pillow!

Keep your pillow folded with the right sides together and your zipper along the bottom. (Make sure your zipper is still open halfway! We’ll need the opening to turn it right sides out once we sew the other sides together.) Pin the other three edges and we’ll start sewing!

Start on one edge and go all the way around using a 1/2″ seam to complete sewing the sides and top. Pull your zipper away so you don’t sew through it. (I actually did this step in my serger, though you can use a sewing machine for this step too! I was just trying out my new serger!)

Reach through the zippered opening, unzip your zipper all the way, and turn right sides out! Voila! You’ve got a fancy pillow with no zipper showing at all!

Hope that wasn’t too many pictures for you!! I just wanted to make sure that I made it as easy as possible for you to sew on an invisible zipper! Let me know if you have any questions or if this was helpful for you!

Happy Sewing!

Erin

It’s super easy to do! Want to try?

Layout your fabric on your cutting board. Grab your straight edge and rotary cutter for this technique. Start cutting 2″ strips (or any other size you’d like) at a 45 degree angle to your selvedge. (Some need to be cut in opposite directions. Cutting them all the same way and flipping them doesn’t work.)

Once you have 6+ strips you can lay them out to get a feel for how it will look.

I tried laying it out so it looks a little more pieced but ended up liking the matched look a little better for this specific project, or so I thought. Once I got everything trimmed down I wished I had used the more pieced look above because I had to trim off most of the gray and olive color. :(  It’d make an awesome bag front though!!

Start pinning and sewing. Because these strips were cut on the bias they can get a bit stretchy. Be sure you use the pins as much as you need. Just to be safe and ensure that my strips didn’t slip and get wonky I also used my walking foot on my machine.

Once you have them all sewed together press the seams flat.

Trim to the finished size that you need for your project, and finish sewing it up!

{Front}

{Back}

I made a cute little zippered pouch with mine! (I might have to see if Melissa will sign it for me!)

Happy Sewing!

Erin

P.S. Make sure you go see the entire collection, Cabana Blooms, from Windham Fabrics. The colors and patterns are perfect for all your summer projects!

I knew this jacket had to be mine the minute I saw it at my local Goodwill store! It was my size, in perfect condition, and only $5! Thinking it was too good to be true I made a closer inspection and noticed that a few buttons were missing, and a few others were loose. That seemed to be the only thing wrong. (Kind of sad that someone got rid of a perfectly good lime green jacket because of a few missing buttons!) I bought it, washed it, then got to work fixing it. I decided that I wasn’t too fond of the buttons currently on the jacket (kind of boring if you ask me),

and it would be pretty difficult to try to find a replacement button that matched the others so I cut off ALL the buttons. Then I had to decide what type of button to replace them with. I ran across some of this lovely laminated cotton houndstooth print that I had in my scrap bin. The color matched perfectly so I used a button cover kit from Dritz, covered some buttons in the laminated cotton,

stitched them onto the coat, and voila, a practically brand new coat!

I absolutely love this jacket and wear it anywhere I can! I’ve also gotten a lot of compliments on it, so I must not be the only one that loves a lime green jacket! It’s the perfect jacket for spring too!

Happy Spring!!

Erin

Neon is all the rage this spring and I love it! I’m a color lover and was so excited to pair some fun neon brights with a charcoal colored linen for this project!  You don’t need any fancy hardware for the pouch closure either. We’ll use a little bit of measuring tape to make the top closure!

Ready to get started?

You’ll need the following:

Fabric scraps (You’ll need less than a 1/4 yard of fabric for the whole pouch!)

12″ of a 3/4″ wide measuring tape

12″ of 6/32″ cotton cording

Coordinating thread

Cut the following pieces:

Main Fabric (This was my charcoal colored linen.)

4- 3″ x 5 1/2″ rectangles for top band and bottom band

2- 1 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ strips for inner top band

Neon Fabric

2- 3″ x 5 1/2″ for lining

1- 1 1/4″ x 12″ strip for your cording

Let’s start sewing!

Cording:

First make your cording. (You’ll use your zipper foot for this. See this tutorial from Brittany at Pretty Handy Girl for cording.)

Cut your strip in half. It’s a little too long at this point, but we’ll trim off the extra later. Set this aside for a moment while we make your pull tabs.

Pull Tabs:

From your neon fabric, cut out 4 of your desired pull tab shape. Triangles, Rectangles, and Half Circles would all be good options.

Place two of the pieces right sides together and sew the tab, leaving the straight edge open.

Clip your corners, turn right sides out, and top stitch the edge of the pull tab.

Construct the Exterior:

Place your exterior rectangle right sides up on your work table.

Center the top of the tab along the top of your exterior base piece. Baste it in place a scant 1/4″.

Place your cording with the flange of the cording lined up along the top of this piece.

Baste this to your base piece, using the stitching line you used to make the cording as your stitching line. You should be sewing directly over top of this line. I used my zipper foot and moved my needle over as far as it would go to easily sew along this line.

Fold your Top Band Piece in half, then line this up along the edge of the top, placing it over your cording and tab.

Pin, then flip this over and use your basting stitching line as a guide as you stitch the band to your base piece.

Repeat this process for the back side of your pouch and set these pieces aside for a few minutes.

Construct the Lining:

Place your lining face up and your interior band face down and stitch along the top using a 1/4″ seam.

Repeat for your other lining piece.

Attach Lining and Exterior:

Place one lining piece right side up and one exterior piece right side down on top of the lining piece. Attach the top band of your lining to the top band of your exterior. This will be the folded top of your exterior piece too. (You will be sewing through two layers of the exterior band and one layer of the interior band.)

When sewn and unfolded it will look like the picture above. From the back side, press all seams towards the lining. Repeat for your other interior and exterior piece.

Apply Interfacing:

Apply Pellon SF101 (or another lightweight interfacing) to the wrong side of both pieces with a hot iron.

Prepare your Measuring Tape Pieces:

Cut two pieces 4 3/4″ long. Round the edges and set aside. (I used regular scissors for cutting mine and they worked just fine. If you are worried, try scissors made especially for metal.)

Sew it all Together:

You can trim off your extra cording at this point!

Slide one piece of measuring tape inside the little casing we made by folding over the exterior band piece. You’ll want the marks on the measuring tape to be facing the back of your piece.

See how I slid it into the channel just above my cording? Do the same with your other piece.

 Place your two pieces right sides together and pin. We’re going to sew a 1/4″ seam around this entire piece, leaving a small 3″ opening in the bottom of the lining. When sewing the first side, slide the measuring tape out the opposite side so you don’t sew through it. I definitely don’t want you breaking a needle because of me!

 When you get around to the other side be sure to slide in the measuring tape pieces all the way! If you’re worried about hitting the metal tape pieces on this edge, use your hand wheel on your machine to walk the needle past that point. That way if the measuring tape isn’t in far enough you’ll be able to feel the needle hitting it before it breaks!

Clip your corners, and turn right side out!

Finish it Up:

Once turned right side out, press the opening in your lining shut.

Edge stitch the opening, closing it up completely.

Slide the lining down inside the pouch and you’re done! Give the sides a pinch and open up your pouch!

 Or use the cute little pull tabs to open it up, either way is fun! Can you believe that a measuring tape will do that?

You’re finished! Now I just need to decide which color to use on my next one!

Happy Sewing,

Erin

We place ours directly behind the recipe it’s referencing in our recipe binder!

Happy Cooking!

Erin

I’ve had this fun little project in my sketchbook for a couple of months. I wanted a way to use some clear vinyl and some smaller oilcloth scraps that I had hanging around. I loved the idea of using both to make a cute little storage bag. I also loved that the oilcloth would add some color and the clear vinyl would let me see right inside the bag.  These would make great gifts for teachers, party favor bags, cosmetic bags for friends, on-the-go sewing kit, and so many other uses! (I’m thinking that for Father’s Day my dad might get a travel toiletry pouch with some of this awesome wood-grain oilcloth from CityCraft!)

Well, let’s get started, shall we?

You’ll need:

1 – 12″ or longer zipper

1 – 6″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Oilcloth fabric

2 – 3 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ pieces of clear vinyl (I used the 12 gauge vinyl. Not to thin and not too thick.)

Coordinating Thread

*Use a 1/4″ seam for all seams unless I let you know otherwise.

Place your zipper facing down on one long side of the clear vinyl. Stitch about 1/4″ down the edge of the zipper to attach it to the top of your vinyl.

Fold the zipper up and top stitch 1/8″ down the seam. It should lie flat after this. Repeat the process with your other piece of vinyl and the other edge of your zipper.

Place your oilcloth piece right sides up facing your clear vinyl piece. (The right side of the zipper should be facing down, touching the oilcloth.) Attach both long edges with a 1/4″ seam.

Turn right sides out, finger press the seam you just stitched down, towards the oilcloth. Top stitch 1/8″ seam on the oilcloth to hold this seam down and help it lie flat.

Turn inside out one more time, unzip your zipper halfway, line up the sides with the zipper along the top. (Don’t forget to unzip your zipper halfway! Otherwise you’ll end up with a bag that’s stuck inside out after this step!)

Stitch the sides 1/4″ remembering to back stitch at both ends. Clip off your extra zipper, turn right sides out. You’re done!

Happy Sewing,

Erin

Looks pretty bad huh? And I promise that I made them all nice and neat less than a week ago and didn’t make it more messy just for a picture! When you go to get one bobbin out, the others just unravel more making an even bigger disaster!

I searched online for bobbin clips to purchase. The only ones I found were for a pack of 10 for almost $10 on Amazon.They included the bobbins too, but they were for Brother machines. I sew on a Janome… Although they use very similar bobbins I didn’t want to pay $10 before shipping for it.

I knew there must be a better way. I needed something clear (so you can see your thread colors), flexible (to accommodate the different amounts of thread on each of your already wound bobbins), and cheap.

Enter my local home improvement store. Surely I could find something clear, flexible, and cheap there! I did! I present to you:

DIY Bobbin Covers

You’ll need just two things:

Clear Flexible Tubing (Found in the plumbing department at your local home improvement store. I got the kind that was 3/4″ on the outside with a 1/2″ diameter on the inside.)

X-Acto Blade

Ready to get going?

Being careful with the sharp blade, slice off some 1/4″ rings from the tubing.

Then cut down one side of each ring, opening it up.

Wrap up your bobbins and slide the ring on top of your thread.

Place back in your storage container. That’s it! How easy and cheap was that? I’m thinking this would make an awesome little gift for the sewer in your life, quilt group, sewing swap, etc.

I love that they are useful no matter how full or empty your bobbin is. You don’t need a different size of tubing, it works for all your bobbins!

Happy Crafting,

Erin

What you’ll need to make one pouch:

Print the PDF pattern pieces from here. (Make sure that the 1″ box on the pattern actually prints at 1″ square.)

1 Fat Quarter (or 1/4 yard fabric) per pouch front

1 sheet coordinating felt

1/2 yard lightweight fusible interfacing (I used Pellon SF101, my favorite!)

1 – 12″ (or longer) coordinating polyester zipper

EDITED:

You can also use scrap fabric for the front and back, and fusible fleece instead of the Pellon SF101. Pictures are from one of the first ones I made, but everything is the same. If you use the fabric on back instead of fleece, just be sure you attach fusible fleece to the back of this piece also.

Cut out the following pieces:

Heart Top – 1 Main Fabric, 2 Interfacing

Heart Bottom – 1 Main Fabric, 2 Interfacing

Apply Interfacing:

Following the directions on your interfacing, iron the pieces to the back of your main fabric. By adding two layers we get a good thickness, without using the super firm interfacing that’s more difficult to sew with.

Attach the Zipper

Lay the zipper, right side down, with the pull on the right, along the top edge of your bottom heart piece.

Use your zipper foot on your machine and attach the zipper to this piece.

Fold the zipper up and press the seam flat.

Place the heart top face down, on the other edge of your zipper.

Attach this side of the zipper to your heart. Press this side up as well.

Top stitch on your machine (or do a running stitch by hand) along the top to hold this seam down.

Cut the Back

Zip the heart up and use this as a guide to cut the back felt piece.

Make the Arrow Pieces

Cut out the arrow tip pattern piece. Place small edge along the fold of your felt. Pin the pattern in place.

Stitch around the pattern.

After you’ve stitched it, go ahead and cut closely around your stitching line. (It’s easier to stitch this way!)

Repeat the process to make the arrow zipper pull.

EDITED:

After making this project with my after school group yesterday we found it easiest to attach the pattern to the felt,

sew directly on the lines,

remove the paper,

then cut out your shape. (If you use this method, don’t worry about placing the pattern piece on the fold, just sew along that line instead.)

Finish Up

Unzip your zipper half way. (Don’t forget this step, otherwise you’ll be stuck with a pouch that’s inside out!) Place your front, right side up, on your table.

Place your arrow tip piece lined up on the edge where your zipper is on the left side of your heart. Pin.

Place your felt back on top of this.

Pin.

Stitch 1/4″ all the way around the edge. Clip off the extra zipper ends. Finish your edges with pinking shears or a zig-zag stitch on your machine. (I forgot to do this on the one pictured.)

Clip the bottom excess fabric and snip around the curves. Turn right sides out through the zippered opening. Press flat.

Attach your arrow tip to the zipper pull. I used a little jump ring on the one above. Needle and thread works just fine too!

Happy Sewing,

Erin