I have an old pair of capri jeans that are my favorite.  They are just so comfortable and fit where they are supposed to fit.  However, I ended up with a hole in one of the knees.  I was originally going to buy a patch for it but I just never got around to it and the hole in my knee became bigger and bigger and bigger.  It finally got to the point where I thought that I better not wear them anymore.

While looking through my Pinterest Sewing board for a bag pattern that I had pinned, I came across a pin for adding cuffs to jeans.  Perfect timing!  The tutorial can be found at Hopeful Threads and was for full lenth jeans but I figured that I might as well try it out on my jean capris.  I couldn’t wear them anymore so I had nothing to lose.

I laid my capris out on my cutting table and made sure the legs were even and I used my rotary cutter to cut the jeans just below the hole in the knee.  I was being very careful because, since they were already capris, I didn’t want them to be too short.

 Once I cut my capris I then cut my fabric.  The fabric piece that I used was 8″x16.5″.  The original tutorial suggested 8″ so that when you fold the length in half you still have 4″ of your pattern showing.  It just depends on how wide you want your cuff to be.  I arrived at the 16.5″ number by measuring the width of my jeans and multiplying by 2 and adding 1/2″ for the seam allowance.  The width of my leg on my capris was 8″ which I muliplied by 2 and added 1/2″ = 16.5″.  You then need to cut two pieces of fabric that fit your measurements.

I folded the cuffs lengthwise, wrong sides together.  I chose to press the fold so that it was nice and crisp.

I kept the fabric folded as pictured above and sewed each piece into a tube by sewing the short ends together.

I then slipped one tube/cuff over each leg of my capries with the raw edges together and right sides together.  Since both sides of the cuff are using the right side of the fabric just be sure that your side seam on the cuff is on the outside facing you.  I didn’t do this and then when I turned my cuff the seam of the cuff ended up being on the outside.  I had to rip the entire cuff off of each leg and re-sew them back on.  Once I had the cuffs slipped onto the capris I pinned them in place.  I put the seam of the cuff against the inseam of the capris.  Once pinned I sewed them in place using a 1/4″ seam.

When I had finished sewing the cuffs in place I turned the cuff down so that the seam joining the cuffs and capris was now inside the capris.

I turned the capris inside out and pressed the seam up towards the capris.  I then turned the capris back to right side out and topped stitched all the way around on the capri fabric making sure that I caught the seam in there too.

That was it!  I couldn’t believe how easy it all went together.  It took me a bit longer than it should have since I sewed the wrong side of the cuff to the capris.  If it wasn’t for having to rip out that mistake I would have had the whole project done in about 30 minutes.  I may need to take a drive out to the thrift store to find some old jeans that I can turn into capris.  This was a great project!

Happy Sewing!!

When we were up at the Lake this weekend I was trying to be good and get in my exercise.  I couldn’t go to the local Curves because they were closed for the Memorial Dayweekend so my mom suggested that I go to the Meadowland Marsh.  She said that paved walking trails were put in and a lot of work was done. 

I was so glad that I went there.  It was so peaceful and I was able to get in some walking and running.  As I walked through the marsh I could hear the birds chirping, fish splashing in the water and I saw a cute little white tailed bunny.  I thought that I would share a few pictures that I took while I was there.  Enjoy!

Recenty, when we were up at the Lake, I stopped in the local quilt shop.  I hadn’t been there since last year so I figured that I would stop in for a look.  One of the first things that I saw was a display of the most adorable flip flop sandals.  They had a fabric sole and a fabric bow on top.  I just had to buy that pattern.

The pattern is the Bow n Go Flip-Flops by Aunties Two Patterns and can be purchased here.  It is pattern number AT214.  Apparently there is a companion pattern, the Bow n Go Bag, but I did not see that one there.  It was very simple to make the flip flops and I’m really happy with how they turned out.  There were a few mistakes but with the black fabric you really can’t see them.  In hindsight, I should have just used some scrap fabric to practice sewing on the bias tape as that was the hardest part for me.

While I was at the quilt shop I found this great black fabric with yellow flowers on it so I ended up just purchasing all of my supplies that I needed while I was there.  I had to wait for a couple of days until we were back home so that I could start on my flip flops.  Once I started on them I just sailed right through the project.  All you basically do is to follow the pattern to make a fabric flip flop, cut the top plastic foot piece off of a pair of rubber-type flip flops and glue the fabric flip flop to the rubber sole.  I paid $1.97 for my flip flops.  It was that simple!

I now want to make more of these to match some of my other outfits.  I feel very happy wearing these flip flops.  I am proud of something that I made, they are totally adorable and they really dress up my outfit.

I think that knitting a swatch for a new project is the worst part of the project for me.  I recently purchased some Cotton Fleece Pink-a-Boo by Brown Sheep Company to make a vest from the Spring 2011 issue of Vogue Knitting.  Since this is actually something that I hope to wear someday I figured that I better make a swatch so that I  have at least somewhat of a chance that the vest will fit me when it’s finished.

The swatch is a 4″ x 4″ swatch knit in the pattern stitch.  I measured the swatch when I was half way through it and the length was just right at 2″.  However, when I measured the width is was just a little better than 3″.  Now what?  If I use smaller needles then the width will be fine but the length will be too short.  The pattern stitch is only used on the front of the vest and the back of the vest is stockinette stitch.  My mother suggested that I knit a swatch in stockinette stitch to see if I get the same gauge as what is on the yarn label.  If I do, I will probably stick to the suggested needle size.  If it’s not on gauge I will try the smaller needles.

It is so frustrating to have all of this new yarn just sitting in my bag waiting to turn into something on my needles and then my swatch does not come out right.  I know that the swatch usually takes at least a couple of attemps and in the end it is so worth it when the garment then fits you.  However, I just get too excited about my new yarn and I just want to start on the project.

So, now I am off to work on another swatch.  Hopefully this one will work out better and I can start my project tomorrow night.  If not, I will swatch again until I make one that works!

How about you?  How do you feel about making a swatch before you start your project?  Do you make a swatch or do you just take a chance?  I would love to hear from you!

I posted my yarn tote here the other day.  As I had mentioned in the post I was not real happy with the size of the cover.  When I opened up the cover to reach into the tote there was just too much cover and it was in the way.

I decided to take the scissors to the cover.  I took off about 3 inches which included the finished casing.

After I trimmed down my fabric I needed to re-do my casing for my ribbon drawstring.  I ripped out and inch or so of each of the two side seams.  At that point I folded the raw edge top of the cover down 1/4″ and I pressed it.  I folded the top again so that the 1/4″ fold rested where the sewn side seam began.  Once that was all pressed I stitched it in place.

I was much happier with the second version of my yarn tote.  The cover on the first one was just too big and was in the way when I would be trying to see into the tote.  This version is much easier for me to take my yarn and knitting accessories in and out.  I’m very glad I went back and re-did the cover.  Now I need to put my new yarn and project into it but that will be a post for another day

WELCOME

to the second What’s Hot in the Firehouse Linky Party.

Each Wednesday I feature a few links from the previous party.

Guidelines:

1. The item must be made by you. You can also link to your Etsy shop. Please no link parties or giveaways though.

2. Please link directly to your blog post, not your blog’s home page.

3. I would love it if you would grab my button on the sidebar and post it somewhere on your blog or in your blog post. If you would like to follow my blog or follow me on Facebook or Pinterest, I would love that too!

4. We all love comments on our projects so please stay and visit and comment on some of the other links.

Thank you everyone for linking up to my first linky party last week!

Here are some of my favorites:

Little Monkey pillow at Sewing Miles of Smiles

That One Dessert at Melissa’s Cuisine

Please grab a Featured button from my sidebar if you were featured!

THANK YOU FOR LINKING UP TO WHAT’S HOT IN THE FIREHOUSE!!

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I really liked the lunch tote that I had made a couple of weeks ago. The only problem was that I wanted to use it for a knitting tote for a larger project and it was just too small.  It will work for a smaller project such as socks are or scarf but I wanted something that would hold a larger project like a sweater or a vest.  So, I pulled the tutorial back out and enlarged the pattern.

These are the measurements that I used:

Outer Bag:  Two 15″ x 20 1/2″

Lining: Two 15″ x 20 1/2″

Cover: Two 14″ x 20 1/2″  *See note below

Rim:  Four 3 1/4″ x 20 1/2″

Outer Handle: Two 3″ x 20″

Inner handle:  Two 3″ x 20″

Fusible fleece

* I made the cover according to the measurements above.  However, the cover was too big.  When I open up the cover to reach into the tote there is just too much of the cover getting in my way.  I think this week I am going to cut down the cover and make it smaller.  If I do that I will gladly post the change.

Another change that I made to this tote was to use fusible fleece instead of Decor Bond.  The original tutorial called for Duck fabric or cotton fabric with Decor Bond.  I wanted the tote to have a bit more body to it and to hold it’s shape a bit better so I used fusible fleece.  I had quite a bit of it in my stash so I used that instead wherever the tutorial called for the Decor Bond.  I found that worked much better for what I wanted.  After just sewing the outside of the tote and fusible fleece the tote had a very nice shape.

When I went to do the lining I decided that I wanted some pockets so I added them in the same manner as I did here.  I forgot to measure the pockets that I had cut out but you can make them any size.  One thing to remember is that if you make some longer vertical pockets you have to take into account the placement of the pockets.  Since the corners on this tote are box corners the bottom of the tote and the liner will be flat.  I did not think about this in advance so now the bottom of my vertical pockets are on the bottom of the tote.  In other words, I should have placed them about two more inches closer to the top of the bag.

Other than the changes that I have listed here I followed the tutorial from the Pink Penguin just like I did for the lunch tote.

One of my favorite hobbies is knitting.  I love the yarn, the patterns, the knitting needles and especially the accessories.  One thing that I tend to collect is stitch markers.  I really like the beaded ones and ones with charms.  I know that my knitting project is the same when it is finished whether or not I use pretty stitch markers.  I know that I don’t need to use a cute tape measure.  I know that I don’t need to use cute little sock shaped point protectors on my needle.  I just like them and they make me smile!

For me, part of the fun of knitting is the stuff that goes along with it.  I enjoy the feel of the yarn between my fingers at a yarn store, the look of my stitch markers on the needles and using a cute tape measure brings a smile to my face.  I have two Knit Kits which works out great since I usually have a couple of knitting projects going at the same time and the tools in the Knit Kit are usually enough.  However, for me, I really, really enjoy the pretty accessories too.  In the end, I usually have my Knit Kit and a big pouch full of too many knitting accessories.

When I was in Target the other day I came across these two adorable Mary Englebreit tins in the dollar rack.  I have always liked Mary Englebreit’s artwork and when I saw these cute little tins I knew that they would be perfect for my knitting accessories.

The first thing that I did was spread out all of my knitting accessories into two groups.  This way I could put together two tins of accessories and have one for each of my projects.

Once I decided which items would go where I just put them in the tins…

…and closed the lids.

I find knitting even more enjoyable and relaxing with these cute little accessories.  It is even better when these accessories are only $1.00!  So simple, yet so satisfying!

Happy Knitting!

I found this great key fob tutorial on Pinterest awhile back and decided to finally give it a try.  The original tutorial can be found here at the Creative Little Daisy blog.

These are the materials that I used:

12″ length of 1″ wide webbing

1 3/4″ x 12″ piece of fabric

1″ d-ring

1 jump ring

I started out by folding the long raw edges of the fabric into the center of the fabric and pressing them in place.

I then took my fabric piece and placed it on my piece of webbing with the folded side of the fabric against the webbing.  I stitched down each lengthwise folded edge to attach the fabric to the webbing.

I slid my d-ring onto the fob at this point.  Make sure that the flat part of the d-ring is under the webbing and that the rounded side of the d-ring is on the fabric side of the fob.  Otherwise your d-ring will be on backwards once your sew your seam and turn the fob right side out.

I then folded my key fob in half and slid the d-ring over to the folded side.

I stitched the short raw edges together with about a 1/4″ seam…

…and turned it right side out.

I then slid the d-ring over to the seam that I had just sewn and I stitched another seam as close to the d-ring as I could.  I had to use my zipper foot for this step.

The last thing that I needed to do was to attach the jump ring and my key fob was all finished!

This little key fob made up so quickly that I think I will make a bunch of them up for Christmas.  They are so easy to make I may even make some up for the other Holidays and Seasons as well.  I hope you enjoy making your key fob!

Happy Sewing!!

WELCOME

to the first What’s Hot in the Firehouse Linky Party.

Each Wednesday I will feature a few links from the previous party, some of my favorites and the some of the top viewed links.

THANK YOU FOR LINKING UP TO WHAT’S HOT IN THE FIREHOUSE!!

Guidelines:

1. The item must be made by you. You can also link to your Etsy shop. Please no link parties or giveaways though.

2. Please link directly to your blog post, not your blog’s home page.

3. I would love it if you would grab my button on the sidebar and post it somewhere on your blog or in your blog post. If you would like to follow my blog or follow me on Facebook or Pinterest, I would love that too!

4. We all love comments on our projects so please stay and visit and comment on some of the other links.

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Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…