Search results matching tags 'projects' and 'Designs'

Keeping It Simple - Tags All in the Hoop

db1921 — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 20:45:00 GMT

I went to have lunch with my granddaughter this week. It was fun but one thing that amazed me was how many lunch boxes looked just alike. And they were all jumbled together in huge tubs so it took the kids some time to find the one that belonged to them. So, this week we made In-the-hoop tags.

Here is what you need:

The tag which you can download here

Two scraps of fabric about 5.5" square

Ribbon

Embroidery designs of your choice (here is where I got the horse)

Alphabet Xpress or Ann's Alphabet for lettering

Temporary spray adhesive

stabilizer (not lightweight tear away)

Here is what you do:

1. Hoop a double layer of stabilizer. I used a medium cutaway but a good tear away or wash away mesh could work as well.

2. Embroider the first color of the tag design.

3. Place one piece of fabric on top covering the stitches and secure edges with some temporary spray adhesive. Embroider the second color

4. Now embroidery your design or monogram. (If you do not have software to combine these you will have to leave this design and go to the one you want in the center. We'' come back later.)

5. Remove the hoop. Turn it over and place the second square face up on the back making sure it covers the tag outline. Secure the edges with a little temporary spray adhesive.

6. Reload the tag design and advance to the third color. Carefully slide the hoop back on the machine and if possible check to be sure the fabric underneath stayed in place. Embroider the third color.

7. Remove the hoop and lay it face up on a flat surface. Carefully cut around the edges of the tag outline. Turn the hoop over and do the same on the backside.

8. Load the bobbin with the same color as the top thread for the satin appliqué outline thread you want to use. Carefully slide the hoop back onto the machine and embroidery the fourth color.

9. Embroider the rest of the tag.

10. Remove the stabilizer from the hoop and carefully cut (or tear or spritz depending on which stabilizer you used) to remove the stabilizer.

11. Slit the small hole for the ribbon. Insert the ribbon. Sew across to secure it in place if desired. Tie on and your ready to go to school.

Note: Emma loves horses. The Horse design came from this collection.

Anna hasn't had a chance to sew hers yet but she picked frosty and here is what it will look like.

I think I will sew velcro onto her ribbon so it won't have to tie and won't come off too easily since she is only two.

Be sure to have fun sewing this week.

Take care,

Keeping It Simple Embroidered Magnet Mania

db1921 — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 20:45:00 GMT

Kids love to display their art on the fridge. Adults too seem to stick up lists, reminders and notices where they can be easily accessed.. So, many marketers send information to us printed on these soft magnets in hopes that we will put them in this often viewed place in our homes. They can be great for holding all our stuff but they certainly do not add to the planned décor. And we receive so many so what to do except recycle them? OK, I admit it, maybe I am going too far with this recycle thing but this was fun anyway.

Here is what you need:

Some of these soft magnets

Tear Away Stabilizer

Scraps of felt

Embroidery design (download my fun design below)

Temporary adhesive spray

Sharp craft scissors

Good quality craft glue

Here is all you do:

1. Hoop the Stabilizer.

2. Center the felt in the hoop and secure with a little adhesive around the edges.

3. Embroider the design. Remove the stabilizer.

4. Carefully cut around the design.

5. Cut the magnet to fit inside the design.

6. Cover the ad side of the magnet with craft glue and press onto the back of the design. Let dry.

Click here to download this design

If you want to make an appliqué like this flower do this:

1. Hoop the Stabilizer.

2. Center the fabric in the hoop and secure with a little adhesive around the edges. Turn the hoop over and center a piece of felt on the back securing the same way.

3. Embroider the first two appliqué runs of the design. Carefully cut around the design on both the font and back of the hoop. Embroider the rest of the design. (To see my appliqué blog go here.)

4. Carefully remove the stabilizer from around the design.

5. Cut the magnet to fit inside the design.

6. Cover the ad side of the magnet with craft glue and press onto the back of the design. Let dry.

My appliqué flower is available in this blog. I simply rotated it here and added the initial. You can use Ann's Alphabets, Alphabet Xpress or ELS Lettering to add lettering to your magnet designs.

Almost any design can be made into a magnet. Embroider ones that match your kitchen décor and put those advertising magnets to good use. If you are testing thread colors the felt is an inexpensive base. Here is a rooster that my mom tested for colors before putting on some towels. I just pinked around it and glued the magnet on.

These could make great stocking stuffers and little gifts for students too since they have lots of art and school notes that must go on the fridge.

Some of the other designs can be found here:

The little bee design

The rooster design

The zebra design

Take care,

Keeping It Simple - Big Kid Hooded Towels

db1921 — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 19:22:00 GMT

The girls are growing fast. They love their baby towels with the hoods but are outgrowing them now. When they complained about being cold after their bath the other night mom and I decided to make them larger "big girl" hooded towels for Christmas. Then we remembered that Noah had a birthday coming and mom decided she wanted to make one for him. With it too hot to go out we started these the very next day. Here is the first one for Noah.

These are so easy to make and we think the kids will love them.

What you need:

1 bath towel

1 hand towel

embroidery design or lettering of yur choice

(We used this monkey applique without any fabric from Sew Many Designs.)

medium to heavy tear away stabilizer

temporary adhesive

wash away stabilizer

embroidery thread

sewing thread

Here is what you do:

Wash and dry your towels before beginning .

1. Cut the hand towel in half widthwise.

2. Center the raw edge of the hand towel with the center of the long side of the towel. Pin slightly below the edge like this.

3. Flip the hand towel up. Sew a seam along the edge so the raw edge is enclosed.

4. With right sides together fold towel in half and sew the top edges of the hand towel together forming the hood. Note: If the finished edges are too thick for your machine you can cut it off, zig-zag the edges and then sew together.

5. Decide where you want your embroidery and mark the spot with a printed design template or other method of choice.

6. Hoop the tear away stabilizer. Spray around the inside edges with temporary adhesive. Center the design area on your towel and press down lightly. Carefully lift all to the machine area and secure the hoop on the machine. Make sure your towel cannot slide underneath and get caught in the embroidery but don't let it hang down if it is heavy.

7. Place the wash away stabilizer on top of the hooped area of the towel. (you can secure with a little temporary adhesive on the corners if you like.

8. Embroider the design. Remove the tear away stabilizer carefully. Remove most of the wash away stabilizer. Wash the towel or spritz to remove the rest.

Have fun making towels for the kids. These make great pool towels too if you walk to the pool like we do.

Take care,

Keeping It Simple - Sewing for Sunday

db1921 — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:30:00 GMT

It has been a busy couple of weeks. Our youngest has a baby girl now overdue. But for several weeks she was put on bed rest - mostly due to extreme swelling. So the rest of the family shared taking care of the other two (five years and two years old). We kept them at our house on Saturday nights and took them to "Sunday Church" as they call it. As with most two-year-olds we have to be prepared for an accident and since my purse is very small this is what it looked like when I was walking around the church building.

Needless to say, I received many varying comments on my new style but the diaper bag seemed like overkill when all I really needed was some extra trainers and a bag of fruit snacks. This inspired the quick Sunday bag - perfect for those quick trips when you need just a diaper (or trainers), some wipes and a bottle (or cup). Here is the one I made for our little girl.

And since I have had a number of questions lately about trimming appliqué in the hoop I decided to address that here as well and give you a design to practice with.

Here is what you need:

One placemat 12' X 16"(mine are repurposed ones that were never used much)

Half yard of fabric cut as follows:

2 strips 4" X 44"

2 rectangles 6" X 15"

1 Square 4" X 4"

Another square of solid color fabric that coordinates 3" X 3" (for daisy center)

Embroidery and Sewing Threads

Cut-away Stabilizer

8" piece of 1/2" elastic

Appliqué Design (Click here for the flower appliqué)

Here is what you do:

1. Fold the placemat in half so it is 12" wide X 8" tall.

2. Place the center of your design about 3 1/2" from the top edge and in the center of the horizontal width. (You will lose 1" of the height when you make the box bottom so do not center vertically)

3. Unfold the placemat. Hoop the stabilizer and the placemat centering your mark or template in the hoop.(See note*1)

4. Embroidery the first color of the flower. It is important that you use a color that you can see for the first two colors.

5. Place the 4" X 4" square over the top so that is completely covers the outline of stitches. (You can use a bit of temporary adhesive on the edges if you like.)

6. Embroider the second color of the flower. Carefully remove the hoop and lay it on a flat surface. Trim the top layer of fabric around the outside of the stitches as closely as possible.

I have these great little trimmers that were given to me as a gift years ago. They work tons better than any other scissors that I have for appliqué trimming. I couldn't find where mine came from but Annthegran has some here.

7. Carefully place the hoop back on the machine and embroider the third color.

8. Repeat steps 4-7 for the flower center.

9. Make the pockets. With right sides together fold the 6" X 15" rectangles in half so they are 6" tall X 7 1/2" wide. Beginning at the fold and sew, using 1/4" seam, all the way around leaving an opening at the bottom for turning. Trim corners, turn and press. Repeat for the other pocket.

10. Place the first pocket on the backside of the placemat (on the half that will be the bag back) centering horizontally and placing the top pocket edge 1 1/2" from the placemat edge. Sew, around three sides, using 1/8" seam, leaving the top open.

11. Turn the placemat over and using the stitching from the first pocket place the second pocket and sew in on leaving the top open.

12. Make the straps. Sew the ends of the two long strips together creating a long strip 4" X 88". With right sides together fold in half and press to make a strip 2" X 88" long. Sew, using 1/4" around the raw edges leaving an opening near the center for turning (this just makes it easier to turn in my opinion. Clip corners, turn right side out and press.

13. Make sure the placemat is folded in half so that it is 12" wide by 8" tall. Beginning at the fold and measuring in 2" from the side pin the strip up the of the placemat. Align the other end butting the ends together and pin up the back side of the placemat 2" from side.

14. Using the seam where you sewed the two strips together at the fold do the same for the other side up the front and back. Pick your bag up by the top of the straps to be sure you do not have them twisted.

15. Beginning at one end of the strip, to stitch across the end and all the way around both sides of the straps ending with the other end of the strip.

16. Add the elastic loop like this:

17. Fold the placemat again to make the bag. Sew down both sides of the placemat.

18. Turn the bag inside out. Pull the corner out to a point aligning the side seam with the bottom fold. Draw a line 1" in and sew along that line. Turn bag right side out and tack the points down inside if desired (I did not cut them off since the bag is not really lined)

Optional: You can make a sturdy bottom for your bag if you like. I glued two layers of heavy Timtex together to make mine.

Emma thought we needed one for the new baby. Here is the one we made for her using lettering.

The flower design is pretty easy to trim but if you want to practice with simple shapes Annthegran has some you could try.

*1-Pat has come design centering ideas in one of her blogs.

If you find you like applique as much as I do Sew Many Designs has lots of great ones.

Here are some that I have sewn.

And this naptime quilt and pillowcase were made with test sews and Ann's applique Frames.

I guess this ends my new purse fashion since I will no longer be hanging panties on my purse strap. Anna is thrilled with her "Big Girl Bag" as she calls it. Maybe by next week we will have another little girl and momma will be back in action.

Take care,

Keeping It Simple- Lampshade Makeovers

db1921 — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 20:45:00 GMT

Our oldest grandaughter is getting a new room. This has been in process for some time since her parents are updating their house at the same time. So new trim, new doors and flooring were needed as well as paint and décor. Papa will paint the trim next week end and the room will be ready for the finishing touches. She picked a yellow, pink and green bedding set with flowers and butterflies so everything else will revolve around that. This week has been very busy but I did get the lampshades done. I revamped the old ones so the only cost was the green fabric to match the green in her bedding. You can buy the self-adhesive lampshades and nightlights at many craft and fabric store if you don't have an old one to reuse.

Here is what she had before in her toddler room.

This is all you do.

1. Carefully remove the old trim and fabric.

2. Using that old fabric for a pattern cut out a new piece to fit the shade. (If you buy one the pattern will be included.)

3. Choose a design and thread colors that closely match an element in the bedspread.

4. Hoop tear away stabilizer and fabric centering the design. Embroider the design

5. Remove the stabilizer and trim loose threads on the back as well as the front if necessary.

6. Carefully place the center section on the shade and smooth the fabric all the way around. (Ours was still quite sticky after five years but you can use craft glue and a paint brush if needed.)

7. Fold the end under and glue with fabric glue.

8. Glue trim around the top and bottom of the shade. (We were able to use the same trim that was on the old one.)

It took me about 1 1/2 hours to do the lamp and the night light. Here are the results.

It really doesn't have to cost a fortune to add accessories to a child's room. Next time I hope to share the large wall canvases we are making. The ones that were shown in the store were $70 each and there were four in the set. Our set of four will cost under $30 for the whole project. Here is another idea for a child's room.

Stay cool and take care,

Keeping It Simple - Embroidered Boxes for Trinkets and Gift Cards

db1921 — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 21:00:00 GMT

Summer is here to stay I think. The vegetable garden that I planted in April has started to produce... I have little green tomatoes on each and every plant. We will soon be able to pick the first zucchini and I think there will be lots more coming on! I have cucumbers that will be ready to pick in a couple of weeks and the peppers and tomatoes that will be ready in July. Dad, Mom, Jon and I are in a race to see who will get to pick the first tomato of the season. So far, I have been able to keep the weeds under control and if the squirrels, rabbits (which have eaten all but one eggplant already) and deer don't get the ripe veggies before we do there should be a bountiful supply this year.

What I do know about gardening I learned from my Dad. As a child we had a huge garden. Thinking back now, I really didn't pay much attention to what my Dad grew, but we always had fresh veggies all summer. We ate them, canned them and sold them all around the neighborhood. Now I grow a garden too, because that is what my Dad did and I really do find pleasure in watching things grow. My Dad can't plant anymore but my brother and I planted a small garden in his yard this year. He and Mom are having fun checking it each day to see how it is growing.

Father's Day is just a couple of weeks away. So for this week's Keeping It Simple project I made these little boxes. The first box we made was a gift card box but I forgot to take a picture and it is gone now.. My husband loves golf so Emma and Anna can give him this one.

Here is what you need:

A small box or tin

fabric

an embroidery design that fits (you can download the butterflies below and add your own text)

Trans-Web or Appliease or other two sided fusible for appliqué

tearaway stabilizer

Embroidery thread

temporay adhesive (optional)

What you do:

1. Cut your fabric slightly larger than the area that you want to cover (Or larger than your hoop if you like to hoop it)

2. Iron the transweb on the backside of the fabric.

3. Mark the center of your embroidery on the fabric or pin a printed template in place.

4. Hoop the stabilizer. spray a little temporary adhesive around the edges of the backside of the fabric area and place face up so the center is aligned in the hoop. (Or hoop the stabilizer and fabric.)

5. Embroider the design. Remove the stabilizer.

6. Cut the fabric to fit the area on the box or lid that you want to cover (I traced around it and then cut it out. The transweb will keep the fabric from fraying.

7. Glue (or iron on if the surface of your box allows). Embellish as desired with ribbon, crystals or whatever you like.

It's an easy idea to help you give something special to the Father in your life. If he likes the guitar do a pick box, for the computer lover a USB box, or just do Dad's Stuff.

Here are a couple of other cute ideas for little boxes. They are great for gift cards, jewelry and other small gifts such as flavored tea, mints or whatever you can think of. Save any little box you get and recycle it like this. I hope you have fun creating unique boxes of your own.

Click here to dowload the little butterflies border.

In the meantime I had better start looking for some more ways to cook zucchini!

Take care,

Keeping It Simple - Themed Baby Burpies

db1921 — Fri, 21 May 2010 18:00:00 GMT

May, June and July seem to be big months this year for babies. Our daughter and most of her friends all have babies due within weeks of each other. One friend is having her first though and the rest are really excited for her. They are throwing a big "couple" shower for her this weekend. Andrea and Brook have spent hours and hours working on this event so I hope the wind dies down and the weather is nice on Saturday.

Andrea always makes something herself as part of the gift to her friends. So she bought several nursery items in the zoo theme that Amy picked. Then she decided to dress up some burp pads to match. Amy is having the only boy of the bunch and since I am always getting requests for boy projects I had to post this one even if it is so simple you might laugh.

Here are Andrea's Themed Baby Burpies

What you need for each one:

One pre-fold cloth diaper
On strip of fabric
Cut away stabilizer
Design in the nursery theme (Here is where to find the ones Andrea used)
Embroidery thread
Sewing thread

What you do:

1. Cut the strip 1" longer than the length of the diaper.

2. Measure the width of the center padded area of the diaper and cut the strip width 1"wider.

3. Position a printed template of your design on the strip and pin in place. (Many software programs such as Catalog Xpress and Alphabet Xpress will let you do this.)

4. Hoop the stabilizer and center the design template in the hoop. Use a little temporary spray adhesive and a couple of pins if necessary to secure the strip in the hoop. (You can use Magna hoop too if you have one.)

5. Slip the hoop in place and make sure your design is positioned as you like. Remove the printed template. Embroider the design. Remove from the hoop and cut most of the stabilizer away.

6. Fold the ends under 1/2" and press. Fold the sides under 1/2 " and press. Pin the strip in place over the center padded area of the diaper. Sew all the way around about 1/8" - 1/4" from edge.

That's it. Burp pads that match the theme of the nursery but are unique as well. And even the beginner can make these. It could really be fun to match them to these Emboridered Infant Ts.

I have another cute burp pad project coming later but our baby will be another girl and lady bugs and flowers are the theme of the day. If you do anything exciting and fun be sure to post it in the gallery. I love new ideas and there are lots of babies on the way in our neck of the woods.

Take care,

Keeping It Simple - Covered Cookies for a Charity Auction

db1921 — Fri, 07 May 2010 20:45:00 GMT

My Brother is quite involved with a fundraising group here for kids with cancer. Last week they had a group walk, a big dinner and a silent auction. There were all kinds of items in the auction for almost any dollar level including a $10.00 purchase table that did not require any bidding. Just a few days before the auction they found that they had a lot of higher dollar auction items but were short on items for those with less money to bid on. And they still needed more selection for the $10.00 table. So, what does my Brother do... he starts soliciting the family to provide things. We have a very large family with talents from making furniture to roasting coffee blends. And my mom can bake up a storm. She volunteered to make her famous applesauce cookies but wanted to dress up the jars that she put them in which inspired this week's Keeping It Simple project. A great gift for any season it really doesn't get any easier than this.

These designs are from Morango Heart and Home

Jar Toppers:

What you need:

Fabric squares that are 6" larger than your lid measures across (Mom's lids were 4" across so the squares were approximately 10".)

Ribbon to tie around the finished jar topper

Embroidery design that fits inside the lid area

Tear away stabilizer

Pinking shears

Embroidery Thread

What you do:

1. Mark the center of your square. Hoop the fabric and stabilizer.

2. Embroider the design. Remove from the hoop and carefully remove the stabilizer.

3. Mark and cut the circle using pinking sheers. We used a 10" plate from the kitchen and traced around it.

4. Center the design over the jar lid (after filled and the lid put onto the jar). Fold the sides down and tie a ribbon around the top to secure.

Include an in-the-hoop applique label like this:

Click here to download the Yum tag

or punch a hole in a card with the recipe and attach. Make smaller for homemade jams and larger for big jars of fancy snack mixes or popcorn. Makes a great quick gift.

Now I know my pictures do not show the applesauce cookies. Since they were not yet baked I used the peanut butter ones from my freezer for the photos, a jar of homemade jam and a jar of candy. See below for Mom's famous applesauce cookie recipe and mine for "no flour" peanut butter cookies.

I also sent this basket to the auction with embroidered towels and coasters. I will post a blog about these in the near future.

I hope you are enjoying your spring days and finding time to do what you love most.

Take care,

Famous Applesauce Cookies

3/4 cup butter, softened (or Crisco) 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup packed brown sugar 1/4 tsp cloves

1 egg 1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup applesauce 1 cup raisins

2 1/2 cups sifted flour 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 tsp salt or pecans

In large bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and applesauce and mix well. Combine flour, salt, baking soda, cloves and cinnamon and gradually add to creamed mixture until mixed. Stir in raisins and nuts. Drop by heaping teaspoons onto parchment lined or ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Makes about 3 dozen.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup peanut butter (we like Skippy all natural)

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp pure vanilla

Combine all ingredients. Make into walnut sized balls and place on parchment lined or lightly greased cookie sheet. With fork dipped in sugar press down to make criss-cross pattern on cookies. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes. Makes 18 cookies

Keeping It Simple - Embroidered Baby T-shirts for Cool Summer Fun

db1921 — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 21:00:00 GMT

I am not sure why but many of our favorite shops for infant clothes have gone out of business over the past year or so. These shops featured handmade items that were unique but really reasonable in price. In the past, when life was too busy to sew we frequently bought clothes for the girls at these cute little boutiques. I know there are shops online with cute things that you won't see on every other child and maybe we are nuts but we really like to see and touch what we are buying as often as possible. Plus with this being the third little girl on its way our daughter wants to use as many things as possible from the two before her. So, one day she brought over all her old "designer" diapers and we tried to figure out what to do for a July baby (both the others were born in the winter). After digging in my stash and a quick visit to the fabric store here is what we came up with:

Baby Wrap style T shirts washed, dried and ironed if needed.

Two sided fusible interfacing such as Trans-Web^TM or HeatnBond®

Fabric Square that is larger than the embroidery appliqué shape (I cut mine 5")

Soft cut away stabilizer

Temporary adhesive spray

Large straight sewing pins

Embroidery appliqué shape (To download free ones see the link below)

Embroidery thread to coordinate

What you do for appliqué T:

1. Following directions on fusible package fuse the interfacing to back side of the fabric square. Remove the backing if there is one. (You do not have to use the fusible but since infant items are washed so often I always do.)

2. Print out a template of the appliqué shape. Cut it out and pin in place on the T-shirt front.

3. Hoop 2 layers of the stabilizer. Spray a little adhesive around the edges of the inside of the hoop. Gently center the T-shirt with the template and press in place. Be careful that you do not pull it out of shape. I put a pin at the top and bottom of the hoop as extra security. I also roll up the rest of the T and pin so it will not get caught under the hoop later.

4. Carefully place the hoop on your machine making sure the template center is lined up with the needle. Remove the template and embroider the first color.

5. Place the fabric square in place on top of the T-shirt. Embroider the second color. Carefully remove the hoop and place on a flat surface. Cut around the outside of the embroidered shape close to the sewn line.

6. Carefully place the hoop back on the machine and embroider the rest of the design.

7. Cut around the stabilizer. Press the appliqué to fuse it to the T-shirt.

Note: These little irons are great for this but you can use your big one if you like.

For T-shirts with embroidery designs that are not appliqué:

Baby Wrap style T shirts washed, dried and ironed if needed.

Fabric Square that is larger than the embroidery appliqué shape (I cut mine 5")

Soft cut away stabilizer

Temporary adhesive spray

Large straight sewing pins

Embroidery design

Embroidery thread to coordinate

What you do:

1. Print out a template of the embroidery design. Cut it out and pin in place on the T-shirt front.

2. Hoop 2 layers of the stabilizer. Spray a little adhesive around the edges of the inside of the hoop. Gently center the T-shirt with the template and press in place. Be careful that you do not pull it out of shape. I put a pin at the top and bottom of the hoop as extra security. I also roll up the rest of the T and pin so it will not get caught under the hoop later.

4. Carefully place the hoop on your machine making sure the template center is lined up with the needle. Remove the template and embroider the design.

5. Cut around the stabilizer.

Here are some more we embroidered since babies use lots of these:

Here are links to the designs we used:

The dragonfly

The paisley

The Giraffe

Click here to download the the flower and heart appliqué shapes.

And here is a whole collection of applique frames.

I know we look back at the baby pictures of our girls and sometimes have to take them out and look on the back to remember which one it is since they often had on the same outfit. With these we will surely be able to tell which pictures belong to this special little girl. And there will be little chance that we will see another child sporting the same outfit this summer.

If you have little boys to sew for here are some design links that could work as well as using the appliqué rectangle.

Kids Toys

Nursery Decor

Once Upon a Time

If you are sewing for infants you might like these blogs as well

Designer Infant Gowns

Touch and Feel blanket

Enjoy the spring but be sure to take time to do what you love.

Take care,

Keeping It Simple - Water Bottle Carriers From Recycled Jeans

db1921 — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 21:00:00 GMT

We have been out and about the last week or so with the grandkids in tow. They love the park, walks by the lake and riding bikes around the neighborhood. The weather has been great here (quite unusually so for March). Of course we have to take along snacks and something to drink. Somehow though I keep ending up holding all the water bottles and then trying to juggle them and help the toddler at the same time. Since our youngest daughter is having a more difficult pregnancy it looks like we will have the girls quite a bit until mid-summer. With this in mind I decided we should do something so that I will not have be the "bottle keeper". Surely, we could make a water bottle carrier of some kind and have fun doing it. Since we use refillable water bottles (to support going green) I decided to use old jeans and scraps from other fabric projects. And of course there had to be embroidery.

Here are the ones we have made so far.

Now the girls are little so we picked the design and some fabric and they "helped" with the embroidery and a little sewing. Most of the construction I did after they went home to bed. The carrier will hold a 20 oz. Rubbermaid bottle so it should be good for a standard 500ml purchased bottle of water. The instructions are as follows:

What you need for the full size carrier:

An old pair of jeans or denim fabric. From this cut:

a rectangle 10 3/4" wide x 8" tall

a circle 3 3/4" in diameter (my 6oz custard cups were just right)

two strips for the strap 2 1/2" wide x 25" long

Accent and Lining fabric. From this cut:

a rectangle 10 3/4" wide x 8" tall

a circle 3 3/4" in diameter

a strip for the accent edge if desired 10 3/4" x 2"

Embroidery design of your choice

We used:

a bookmark design from Amazing Designs In the Hoop for Home

a butterfly from Morango Heart and Home

a ladybug from an ATG collection that will be coming out soon

Stabilizer (cutaway or tear away)

Embroidery and sewing threads

What you do:

1. Make the handle. With right sides together sew the two strips together to make on long strip. With wrong sides together fold in half lengthwise and press. Open and place wrong side up on the ironing board. Fold the sides into the center crease and press. Fold closed and press again. It should now be 3/4" wide x 49" long. Pin and sew just inside open edge all down the strip. Sew again along the folded side. Set this aside.

2. Make the carrier bottom. With wrong sides together sew across center of the circle. Rotate 45 degrees and repeat. Now sew between the others creating a pie look. Zig zag all the way around the outer edge of your circles. Set this aside.

3. Add the accent border. Wrong sides together, press a 1/4" crease on the long edge of the 10 3/4" x 2" strip. On the denim rectangle measure down 1 3/4" from the top and mark on both sides. With right sides together align the crease with the marks. Sew along the crease. Turn up and press.

4. Embroider the design. Mark the center of your design on the denim rectangle. Hoop your denim rectangle and stabilizer. (Depending on the design placement and size of your hoop the denim might not hoop at the top and bottom. You can place a small pin in both places to help hold it or use a little temporary adhesive. My hoop was tight enough that I did not do either.) Embroider your design. Remove the excess stabilizer.

5. Lay the embroidered rectangle face up. Measure and mark 2 3/4" in from each side. Pin the ends of the strap aligning the raw edges with the top of the embroidered rectangle.

Lay the line rectangle face down on top aligning all edges. Pin across the top and sew 3/8" seam. Sew along the same line a second time to reinforce the straps. Press open.

6. With right sides together fold the whole piece lengthwise. Pin and sew the long side using 3/8" seam.

Pull the front to the inside so you have a tube that is inside out with the front on the inside and the lining on the outside.

7. Pin the circle to the bottom of the tube. Clip the edges of the tube bottom if needed to help fit the circle but not more than 1/4" deep. Sew the around the circle through all layers using a 3/8" seam.

8. Turn the carrier right side out.

Embellish with crystals if desired. You are ready to go traveling with your water bottle carrier.

Note: I made the straps on the ones for the little girls 40" instead of 50".

Now if I stuff these with some shredded green fabric and a few chocolate eggs I have a useful Easter gift that the kids can use all summer long. What fun!

Take care,

PS: Here are the daffodils that so impressed my grandaughter.

"Meese, these are sooo beautiful and glorious!", she said. "Why did God give you so many?"

I wonder what she would say if she saw this:

Click here to learn more about this real garden.