pouf tutorial

time for you to make a pouf! here’s the recipe:

ingredients
about a yard of fabric, or a bunch of good-sized scraps (i used embroidered linen and wide-wale cotton corduroy)
2 to 4 pounds of stuffing
thread
fusible interfacing*

tools
sewing machine
hand-sewing needle
ruler
scissors
pins
marker/chalk
iron
tailor’s ham

cooking time
an hour or two, depending on your sewing and stuffing skills

finished size
approximately 17″ across by 9″ tall

i’m going to assume you can sew relatively well, and that you know common sewing terminology and whatnot.

first off, grab the pattern for the top/side piece. enlarge to the measurements written on the pattern (should be 200%). cut six of these from your fabric.*

for the bottom pattern piece, draw a circle with a 17″ diameter. cut one of these from your fabric.*

* if you’re using lighter-weight or loosely-woven fabric for your pouf, i suggest that you add fusible interfacing to the back of your fabric. heavy-weight or upholstery fabrics shouldn’t need the interfacing.

time to start sewing!

pair up your top pieces and sew each pair together.

sew the remaining seams like the first three, but be sure to leave an opening in one of the edges.

the opening should be in the side portion of the piece, and it should be big enough for your hand to fit through it. this is going to be the opening through which you place the stuffing.

clip the curves, and press the seams open. a tailor’s ham will help with pressing the curves open.

fold your fabric circle in half, then into thirds. mark the half/third edges.

pin the marked parts of the circle to the seams of the top/side piece.

sew the top to the circle, all the way around.

clip the circle or finish with a serger.

turn right side out and stuff it. stuff it and stuff it and stuff it, handful by handful, making sure each curve is filled. really, stuff the hell out of it. when you think it’s stuffed enough, pin the opening and try it out. chances are you may need to keep stuffing it.

once it’s truly completely stuffed, sew the opening closed using whatever stitch works for you. i used a ladder stitch so the stitches would be invisible.

you are now DONE.

prop your feet up!

or sit on it! your choice.

some pictures are worth a few dozen words

recently finished projects

wavy scarf:

scant hat #2:

another recombined flower pin:

and a pouf prototype (drafted my own pattern and used scrap fabrics from the stash):

step on it!

ever since i saw this post about selvedge pin cushions, i’ve been trying to remember to save my selvedges so i could make something of them. if only i’d thought to save them long ago! when i think of all the selvedges i’ve thrown away over the years… sheesh, what a waste.

last week, i started a new project using the selvedges i’ve been saving, and i finished it saturday afternoon.

it’s a new rug!

it’s about 25″ X 37″. the selvedges were sewn to a backing that consists of two thicknesses of old bedsheets.

looks like i’ve purchased a lot of fabric from jo ann over the years. no big surprise there! they’re pretty much the only game in town these days.

i used black bias tape for the edges.

so much sewing involved in this project! i went through two full bobbins while sewing the selvedges down. phew!

i made some more stuff

some old t-shirts were culled from the collection, and boy is my dresser happy to be carrying less weight. it sure is easier to put away the clean laundry now – plenty of room for the remaining shirts! a few of the shirts were used in a hat-making experiment:

one of the shirts was used to fill in the gaps in a pants-to-skirt project:

and then there was some knitting. spherey is done!

and the collaged cards can now be shared:

with any luck, there will be a sewing project in the works over the weekend…

the last of the october projects

i didn’t make any more skulls! shame on me. i did, however, make:

a batch of blueberry shrub. delicious!

pretzels. also delicious!

an oven mitt.

i used insulated batting this time. safety first!

and it’s fully lined.

and i knitted a blanket, and took a kind of cruddy photo of it. awesome!

now… ON TO NOVEMBER!

i can’t believe it’s already sunday

i woke up thinking it was saturday. what the heck happened to my weekend? so sad.

last month, i picked up a copy of Simple Modern Sewing at jo-ann (using a 50% off coupon, thankyouverymuch). i like the styles in the book, so i figured i’d try it out. i started with something simple, pattern #2c, a raglan-sleeved ruffled-edge jacket.

the pattern is pretty straight-forward, and thank goodness i read through the directions so i knew to add seam allowances. i don’t like that extra little bit of fiddling, but whatchoo gonna do?

i traced the pattern and transferred it over to an old bed sheet. i’ve learned my lesson about using an unfamiliar pattern and cutting up nice fabric, only to find it doesn’t fit in any way, shape or form. so YAY for old sheets!

the sewing directions were easy to follow, and it took no time at all to get it all put together. so thumbs up on that.

HOWEVER…

i have to agree with some of the book reviewers who mentioned the fact that these patterns are cut for a slimmer person. i made the LARGE (long-sleeved) version, and had two issues:
1) it was too snug under the arms and
2) the sleeves were too short

fixable problems, to be sure, but like i said, i’m not big on doing a lot of extra fiddling. i’ll try some of the other patterns and see how they work out.

in other crafting news, i experimented with some more linen scraps.

napkins!

quick-and-dirty machine embroidery. serged edges on three of them.

and then there was some hand-stitched embroidery:

not sure if i’m finished with it yet…

is it finally fall?

the seasons don’t change dramatically around here, so the best way for me to tell that it’s fall is when all the pumpkin-flavored products hit the shelves. i think it must be fall by now!

so much delicious pumpkin-y goodness.

the anticipation of cooler temperatures made me pull out my box of velvet scraps a couple of weeks ago.

i pieced together some big scraps and some little scraps, mostly leftovers from random projects over the years. and rather than take the time to get rid of the wrinkles, i decided to leave the pieces as is.

some of it was left over from little velvet pouches i used to make and sell over 20 years ago; some of it (like the light purple millinery velvet) from hat-making projects around the same time frame. some of it was embossed using a wooden printing block. the dark red used to be part of a set of theater curtains.

all in all, it was a nice way to decimate part of the slowly-decreasing fabric stash. but MAN, it sure did serve to remind me how much i really don’t enjoy sewing velvet.

i also pulled some leftover linen out of the stash, cut a square out of it and hemmed it to make a napkin.

i don’t have any linen napkins, so i wanted to try one out to see if i like them better than plain ol’ cotton.

added some quick and easy embroidery, and the napkin is ready to go! i’ll be trying it out this weekend and if i like it, then i’ll make a few more, hopefully in time for thanksgiving.

last week’s craftwork

through some trial and error, i learned how to knit the brioche stitch. i practiced it and worked up some swatches, which i then turned into beer bottle sweaters.

or “beer cozies”, if you prefer.

i don’t know why i didn’t think of making some of these before.

and then i pulled out an old pattern that i’ve been meaning to try for years – folkwear’s rosie the riveter. i made the shirt, and despite some errors on the actual pattern pieces and some slightly wonky directions, i think it turned out fine.

it’s a good thing i have a lot of sewing experience and could figure out what needed to be done.

i added a second pocket. goodness knows i love pockets.

the fabric is from ikea. kid stuff. fun!

see, i told you there would be more skulls

this was one of the leftover stuffed skulls from last year’s dia de los muertos project. i decided to practice my embroidery.

the eyes are sparkly paillettes, attached with a net of embroidery stitches, like shisha mirrors.

the sides and top of the skull have paillettes as well, but they are the plain silver kind.

the threads are size 5 perle cotton and 6-strand embroidery floss in cotton and in rayon (split into 3 strands for the actual embroidery).

i learned the van dyke stitch while working on this skull (in bright green on the sides). i’ll be using that one more in the future.

time to get back to the craft table!

stash-busting and covering up stains

thank goodness for embroidery floss. sometimes a little embroidery can save a piece of clothing. have some random oil stains that won’t come out of a favorite shirt, skirt, etc.? pull out your needle and some floss, and hey, no problem!

i suppose you could also cover the offending marks with fabric patches or maybe some flowers. speaking of which, i pulled some fabric strips out of my stash and tried out some quick-and-dirty flower-making.

i foresee more flowers in the future. i may have to cover a vest or purse with them, just for funsies.

SPEAKING OF PURSES… over the years, i’ve made loads of purses and shoulder bags, for myself and for friends. i started out winging it, with a couple rectangles of fabric and some webbing for a strap. nothing fancy, strictly utilitarian. eventually i learned how to add lining, flaps, pockets, handles, different types of straps… and i eventually found some patterns here and there, but mostly i’d just wing it, using whatever fabrics and trimmings struck my fancy at the time.

earlier this year, i figured i’d come up with a nice basic shoulder bag pattern. something that’s the size i tend to find useful, that i could modify with pockets, zippers, whatever, but that i wouldn’t have to “wing” every time i needed a new version. i made a few prototypes, two of which were sent to friends. the third was made from my “fancy fabric scraps” stash, and is now kind of falling apart after half a year’s daily use.

the flap is fabric i printed with my inkjet – it’s a scan of a page from a “strawberry moshi” book.

there are pockets on the front, sides and back. it’s fully lined, and has an inside zip pocket for my wallet.

you can see where that back pocket silk is tearing. so sad.

but that’s what prototypes are for! see how they wear, see how the pockets work out, whether the strap is long/wide enough, etc.

so i changed a few things with the pattern. made the sides wider, added some different pockets, and used cottons instead of random polyesters, rayons, nylons and silks. and this is what i got:

i used fabrics from the stash, mainly in red colorways.

the outside is reinforced with heavy-weight fusible interfacing. the flap has a layer of cotton batting, as does the strap (in fact, i think the strap may have two layers).

i forgot to check the strap length before sewing the lining to the outside, so it ended up being too long.

no problem – i just made a loop in it, which is a perfect place to clip my keys.

there’s a zipper pocket on the back, and another one on the inside.

i added a fabric divider in the middle, which was a bit of an experiment in itself. if i make another of these, i’ll have to reinforce/stabilize that middle divider a little better.

in any case, i call this one a success! it fits all my stuff, and it reduced my stash. win-win!