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Handmade (not really) Redwork Dish Towels

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I’ve been busy making gifts!  I love the way these towels turned out.  Looking at how beautiful these are, you’d think I was really talented at embroidery work.  Well, not so much.  It’s all about the machine! I hardly did anything.


This is my beloved sewing machine. My first sewing machine was my aunt’s old machine from the 60’s. I replaced it with a very basic sewing machine from Sears, about 15 years ago. Four years ago, when my Sears basic machine died, I bought this one from Costco. It has some basic embroidery features. Nothing fancy, but it does a little. I have the redwork embroidery card, so making dish towels is one of my favorite embroidery projects.


It’s not a whole lot of work, once you figure out how the machine works. Push a few buttons and watch the machine do its thing.


I usually buy packs of flour sack towels from Target. Last summer, I found these basic towels for .49 each at IKEA. The red stripe down the side make them perfect for the redwork design. I have a whole stack of these ready to go. I can’t wait to show you everything else going into the gift bags!

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Another Goodwill Sweater, Turned Pillow

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Earlier this week I shared my sweater pillow. I turned a $3.99 Goodwill sweater into a pillow to rival Pottery Barn’s sweater pillow.

When I was at Goodwill, the same day, I spotted a hand knit, very thick, wool sweater. I didn’t know how it would work, being so thick, but the price was right. I brought it home, washed it in some lavender detergent, and went through the same process for making my sweater into a pillow.

Here’s the sweater.

 

And here’s the pillow!

 

I’m in love! I love the texture, the neutral colors, and the warmth it adds to any room.

 

 
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I really should have scoured every thrift store around before posting this. Mareen and Diane are probably at Goodwill right now!

Happy thrifting!

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How to Make the Pottery Barn Knock Off Sweater Pillow

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Yesterday I shared my Pottery Barn knock off sweater pillow. Here are the super easy directions for how to make it. If you’ve never sewn anything before, this is the project for you.

Start with any old sweater. Mine was $3.99 from the Goodwill. I washed it in lavender soap when I got home, so now it smells good too. My pillow form was 14″x14″. Pillow forms go 50% off at JoAnn Fabrics, so keep an eye out for a good sale, or use a coupon.

 

I cut the arms off my sweater so it would be easier to work with. I’m also going to use the sleeves for another project, so I wanted to set them aside. When I make pillows with decorator fabric, I leave a 1/4″ around the edge for a seam allowance, cutting a 14 1/2″ inch square. I wasn’t sure how much of a seam allowance I’d need for this project or if the sewing would be bulky. I started big, with 2 15″ squares, just to make sure the sweater wasn’t too tight and pulling. No one looks good in a sweater that’s too tight and pulling. This sweater wasn’t bulky, so I ended up cutting two 14″ squares. I still used a 1/4″ seam allowance. The sweater stretched just enough and wasn’t saggy. Lesson learned: thin knit sweaters don’t need much seam allowance because they stretch.

 

I pinned the right sides together and sewed all the way around, leaving about a 5 inch hole. After flipping the sweater right side out, I stuffed the pillow form inside and hand stitched the bottom.

 

 

Hello, Pottery Barn Knock Off Pillow!

Ok, neighbors, if you want to give it a try and don’t have a sewing machine you are welcome to bring your sweater and pillow form over and I’ll walk you through it. It takes no more than 10 minutes. (No, you can’t use that liquid-stitching-glue stuff… you know who you are.)

Happy Sewing!

toolsareforwomentoo

The Girl Creative

Making

Keeping It Simple

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Pottery Barn Knock Off Sweater Pillow

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Don’t you just LOVE this sweater pillow from Pottery Barn? Every time I see this, I just want to grab a book and cozy up on the couch. Unfortunately, the $39 price tag is not in this teacher’s budget. So, I decided to try my hand at making it myself. A $3.99 sweater from the Goodwill, a 50% off pillow form from JoAnn, and about 5 minutes of my time. That’s all it took.

 
 

Let’s take another look at the comparison:

I think I’d better run out to Goodwill before I post this. All of my neighbors will rush out and buy all of the good sweaters!

Happy sewing!

THOSE AREN’T PILLOWS!!!

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In the middle of the night I thought of the title for this post. It’s a favorite quote of my hubby’s from Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll probably remember the line. If not, you have no idea what I’m talking about.

 

I saw this project twice in Bloggland a few weeks ago and immediately fell in love. If you were the writer of one of those posts, please let me know. I can’t seem to recall where it came from. Anyway, these are not really pillows!!! They were inexpensive placemats from Walmart. All I needed to do was rip the seam open a little, stuff them, and sew up the edge again. Super easy and super cute!!!

Happy Sewing!

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Wild About Embroidery

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A few years ago, when my sewing machine died, I decided to buy a new machine with embroidery capabilities. It’s not an amazing fancy-pants embroidery machine that I can scan an image and then create it. It does basic lettering and has a few Disney images built into it. When we went to Disneyland a few years ago I made the kids Mickey and Minnie sweatshirts to wear on the plane. I’ve made tea towels to give as gifts and a couple of aprons, but that’s about it. It makes me nervous because I’m afraid I’ll mess up and mess ups are expensive when you’re making something like a sweatshirt.

So, when my friend Debbie asked me if I would do some lettering for her I told her that I didn’t trust myself. Then she told me that it was just simple patches to tie onto her team’s packs when they do the 3 Day Walk. I could do that! No pressure and if I messed up, it was only a small piece of felt that I’d have to throw out. It was a perfect time to practice and learn how to use this feature on my machine.

 

Her team’s theme is “Wild About the Cure” so that’s what I wrote. She only asked me to do the embroidery, so I hope she doesn’t mind that I cutsy-fied the patches a little and added ties. Hope you like them Debbie! Have a great weekend!!!

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Quilt Progress

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Two weeks ago the quilt in the picture above was just a pile of scraps. I must have bought this fabric a while back and then forgotten about it. I had already cut the fabric into strips, so I had to guess which quilt pattern I was thinking of using.

 

I needed a new project and this one just fell into my lap.

 

 

After sewing the blocks, I assembled them into strips.

I numbered the strips so I’d remember how to put the puzzle back together.

The quilt top is now finished. I’ll probably wait until fall to do the actual quilting. It gets a little warm when you’re sewing with a blanket on your lap.

A Quilt in the Making

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At the beginning of the summer, when it was still cool and cloudy, I started going through fabric scraps. I found a few great piles that I forgot I had.

 

I even found some fabric scraps that I had already cut into strips.

 

I can’t wait to show you my new quilt!

 

 

Don’t you just love it when you come across an old project and fall in love with it all over again?

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My Love of Quilts

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After college and before I had kids, quilting was my biggest hobby. We had a great quilt shop down by the school I worked at. I made quilts for beds and babies. I made wall hangings and table runners. The grandmas in the family handed down a few family favorites to me, since they knew I loved quilts.

The flower garden quilt is from my husband’s side of the family. It is very tattered, but I just have the good part of the quilt poking out of the basket. The star quilt was made my great grandmother.

This one was made my great grandmother and my great, great grandmother as a wedding gift for my grandparents. The patterned fabric was made from old shirts and dresses. They didn’t have a lot of money and they used the scraps they had available.

This was an antique store find.

These were the quilts I made for my kids when I decorated their nurseries.

I display quilts all over the house.

The red pinwheel quilt is on the rocking chair, in the kids’ bathroom.

Old or new, I love to decorate with quilts. I love the quilts that come with stories of family members sewing by hand, and creating gifts that people will cherish. But I also love that someday, someone will wonder about the stories behind the quilts I have made.

Here are a few parties I like to participate in.