Bias Tape Tutorial

Last night, I was working on a project that called for adding bias tape to the edges of the thing I was making. I bought some double-folded bias tape (whatever that is, right?) a few weeks ago and decided to attempt it. I failed horribly because I have no idea how to use it. There is a special trick to it apparently. I was about to give up on the project until I googled "Double-folded bias tape" and the first link was an instructional YouTube video titled, "No swearing bias tape method." Perfect.

Y'all...it's hilarious and SO helpful. If you want to learn how to do it or just get a good laugh, check it out.



I can now finish my project (since that's all that is lacking) and hope to post pictures later this week since I don't have time to work on it again until Thursday.

P.S. Check out Mom's pillow pictures below if you haven't already. :)

Pillow Project

Since I don't have anything new to add in the sewing department, I thought I'd share a photo of the pillows I made back in June of this year. If I had known we would have this blog, I would have documented the process. Since I didn't, I will at least show you how they turned out.

The original pillows were the same color as the sofa on one side, and had a tapestry scene of leopards on the other. I've seen that fabric in stores, so you may know what it looked like.

I went to Material World in Hot Springs, and found this fabric for a very good price. I was very excited, not only because of the price, but because it had the exact green of my sofa in the pattern.


Later, I found a backing fabric that I liked at Walmart for about the same price. I wanted something neutral and the chenille worked for me. To recycle and reuse, I took the 9 year old packed stuffing out of the old pillows, painstakingly separated it, and used it to stuff the new pillows. So, the cost of stuffing was minimal. The total cost for four large pillows, one small decorative pillow and two standard pillow shams, was approximately $15.00.

Another Camera Cozy

I guess I'm addicted to sewing. I did three projects this weekend. The second was turned out bad so it's not worth posting. I didn't finish it anyway. This is the third. It looks a lot better than the first one I did of this pattern and this time I cut it down to fit my Blackberry Curve.

Erin's Tea Wallet

When I saw this pattern, I knew I had to make it for Erin because she loves tea. So, I did it today. Yes, I still used the seam ripper a few times, but not nearly as many as I have in the past projects. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. Erin bought me the fabric awhile back and the blue interior color was sort of hard to sew on. It's thin and sort of slick but I managed.

What do you think?

I used another hair band on this one instead of making a ribbon like the pattern suggests.

Painted Screen

This is a screen I painted a few years back, for a local hair dresser. My father created the wooden screen, and I painted it to order. In this photo, the panels are not connected yet, but it turned out pretty nice. I would love to do something like this again, but not out of solid wood. It was extremely heavy, but at least it would not be easily turned over. Alas, my dear father has gone to meet our Lord, so I don't have anyone at present, who could fashion a screen for me. I'd like one created out of a wooden frame covered with canvas. I haven't seen any to purchase, but would imagine if I did, they would be very expensive. It would be much less costly to create one from scratch I would think. Maybe I can figure something out.

Getting Better

Pattern from here. I made this last night and will be giving it to of my youth kids on Wednesday night. She said she loved the fabric (which came from Mom's scrap pile) and wanted an "out-of-this-world" wallet. Well, it's not exactly out-of-this-world but she likes it and will hold her license, cards, and money. Again, MK put the snap on for me. What would I do without him?

Envelope Purse

I made an envelope purse today using this tutorial. It was SO easy!!! Really, if I can do it, anyone can. Mom gave me some scrap fabric over the weekend so I picked out two coordinating fabrics and used one for the liner and one for the exterior. The tutorial doesn't call for interfacing, but I chose to use that to give the bag a little stiffness. It's still a little flimsy, but for a simple project, it'll do.

I got to test out my sewing machine's zig-zag stitch for the first time. It's not the best job, but it's better than I expected. I'll get the hang of it eventually. This pic is of the interior before I sewed the pocket.
Finished product. It took me awhile to sew the button on but that was because I didn't have a lot of room to stick my hand in the pocket. I also did a zig-zag stitch on the exterior because that's what the picture in the tutorial showed.

This picture is blurry but I wanted you to see how large the bag is. That's a pack of hair bands inside and I used one as the elastic that hooks around the button to close it.

Here's a better shot. The stitching doesn't suck too bad! :) Not sure what I'm gonna use it for yet but maybe I can put coupons in it or put a few makeup items to stick in my purse or another bag. Who knows. It would be cool to use as a gift bag for a CD or something. What do you think?