Love Bug Living: sewing

Showing posts with label sewing. Show all posts

Friday, September 2, 2016

Monogram Pocket Nightgown

Monograms seem to be everywhere right now. A hot trend that can be found on almost anything you want to personalize. Last Christmas I decided to make some Monogram Pajamas as gifts. My mom has an embroidery machine, so I love to use it to make gifts when I go to see her. Don't have an embroidery machine? You could also cut your letters out of iron on material. Or even applique your own fabric letters!

I had found a couple of nightgowns that I decided to personalize with monograms. Instead of embroidering straight onto the pajamas, I decided to put the initials onto a coordinating piece of fabric and create that into a little pocket.

Embroider your monogram towards the bottom of a piece of scrap fabric. Fold your fabric down on top of your monogram, right sides together. Sew up the two sides of your pocket. Now turn it right sides out. There should be an opening on the bottom of your pocket square. Tuck the edges in. It will be closed when you sew the pocket to your pjs.

Place your pocket square where you would like on the garment. I did one as a chest pocket and one as a hip pocket on another nightgown.

Pin in place and sew around the two sides and the bottom of the pocket. You now have your own personalized monogram PJs. Great to make for yourself or as a gift.

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Easy Monogram Fleece Blanket

Need a last minute gift idea for someone on your list? This is an easy monogram blanket and can be a great gift for anyone on your list! Kids, pets, friends, neighbors, teachers...everyone loves to cuddle up on the couch with a cozy blanket. Fleece is always on sale this time of year. Plus there are so many great patterns and prints to choose from! You can find the perfect fabric for anyone on your list.

This is a quick and simple sewing project that even a beginning seamstress can make. I bought a piece of fleece material. One yard is usually good for a baby or small child. I like to use closer to two yards for an adult throw blanket. Make sure your edges are square. You can round your corners if you would like to. Zig zag stitch around the outside edge to give your blanket a finished look.

I found a printable letter coloring page that I printed and used as a pattern to cut out my monogram letter. Cut a piece of fusible web for your letter and follow instructions to adhere your letter where you would like on your blanket. Attach your letter by using a zig zag stitch around the outside edge. That's it! A nice comfy blanket in any kind of fun print! I made this C monogram letter blanket last year for one of my Christmas angel gifts for a child from a foster home. All kids deserve to feel safe and warm!

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Monogram Tote Bags

My weekends have been all wedding, wedding, wedding lately. The big day is next Friday for my sister-in-law. In honor of the upcoming day, I thought I'd share some of the things we've had going on. A few weekends ago we headed out to the beach to celebrate the Brides in a little get together and fun filled night. All of the Brides and Bridesmaids stayed at our condo, so I wanted to have a little something for each of the girls in a little gift tote filled with things they might need for our bachelorette beach weekend.

I wanted to personalize the totes for each of the girls. I bought these 13.5 x 13.5 tote bags in a 3 pack set at Michaels. Always a good idea to use your 40% off coupon! I bought white totes for the brides and black totes for all of the bridesmaids.

I found my letter templates online Here and printed them out. Next, cut out the letters. Iron a piece of wonder under big enough to fit your letter onto your chosen fabric. Trace your letter, backwards, onto the back of your wonder under and cut it out. This should make your letter face the right way after you cut it out.

Now it's time to place your fabric letter with the wonder under onto your tote bag. Iron it in place according to the directions on your wonder under.

Sew in place around the outside of your letter with a zig zag stitch. This really secures the letter in place.

You can pick either a complimentary color or a contrasting color for the zig zag stitch thread.

For our bachelorette bags, I filled them with things I thought we might need out at the beach. The brides got white flip flops and the bridesmaids got a tan color. Everyone got an extra large plastic solo cup and a towel. Of course we needed some snacks and gum!

The beach weekend was a great time! So much fun hanging out at the beach, great time at dinner and more fun checking out New Smyrna beach night life! These tote bags would be great for any party favor and could be done with smaller totes. You could also make them for Halloween treat bags with Halloween fabric for the monogram. How about a child's dance bag? Travel toy bag? Reusable gift bag? So many versatile ideas. Make yours in no time today!

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Goodwill Stools Makeover

I love finding a hidden gem among the trash. That's why I love browsing at Goodwill stores and thrift stores. You never know what you might find. We had been looking for a new set of stools for our kitchen counter. We were looking for backless stools because our space is kind of limited.

However, when I saw these beauties, I couldn't pass them up. Ok, so they needed some work, but you could tell they were well made by just the weight and feel of them. The wood was in good shape, they rotated well, and they were very sturdy. For just $10 each, it was a deal I couldn't resist.

The seat cushions had definitely seen better days though. There was quite a variety of paint colors and dirt. Someone may have taken a marker to them as well. The wood was easily cleaned with a magic eraser sponge, but we decided to just recover the seats.

I found our material at JoAnn's in the home decor section. It's from the HGTV Home collection, called Turtle Shell. I love the bright colors and geometric print. I was able to get enough fabric by purchasing 3/4 of a yard. With my coupon, I was able to get the fabric for around $15. This brought our project total to $35 for two stools. This is less than half the price you would pay for just one new stool. After unscrewing the stool cushions from the stools, I unattached the black back fabric. Position your fabric in place on the top of your stool cushion. Be sure to center any design if your fabric has one.

Fold your fabric under on one side and staple in place around the edge. Stretch the fabric to the opposite side of the stool and staple in place. Now staple the other two sides, stapling a few staples on what would be the four sides. Now pull and position your fabric evenly between these four "sides" and staple the rest of the fabric in place on the bottom of the stool seat.

Trim the excess material. Replace your black cover fabric and attach it in place with staples around the outside edge. Screw the seat back to your stool base.

I was very pleased with how these stools turned out. They are the perfect pop of color for our kitchen. Off to do a little more treasure hunting!

Linking to:

Tatertots and Jello

Monday, December 29, 2014

Friday, December 5, 2014

Handmade Christmas Gift List

If you haven't started already, now is the time to start making your Christmas gifts. I've started my planning, but really need to get going on the completion part of it! Christmas time really flies by for crafters! Shopping takes some time, but shopping for supplies and actually creating a gift from the heart is even more time consuming. However, some of us are just gluttons for punishment. Kidding, kind of! I love making gifts, I just usually bite off more than I can chew and end up procrastinating and stressing to get it all done at the last minute. If you love making gifts but don't have much time to make them, I have some ideas for you. There is something for everyone, and they can be made pretty quickly. Happy crafting!

For The Kids