I'm Creating a Studio

I made a decision. If I'm going to make a go at Etsy, I need a true studio. Usually, I work at the coffee table. Not comfortable because I have to sit on the floor. Plus, I have to clean up all my supplies after a crafting session. The living room is, after all, a common area.

Also, for the last year I've been doing a lot of sewing. So much so that I got a brand new fancy sewing machine for my birthday. My old machine just wasn't cutting it, only one stitch worked, and the speed control broke.

I had my old sewing machine set up on an old rickety metal table in our loft, which used to be the nursery. The loft had become a catch-all storage space since the youngest moved into her sister's old room.

Turning the loft into a studio made me decide to upgrade a few things. If you dream it, you can be it! (or however that phrase goes). I use to be all into visualization. I digress. Got a new sewing machine, so I Need a new table to put it on. Poof! It should be here before Mother's Day! (Thanks Honey!)

A couple of years ago, I decided to re-purpose my daughter's changing table. Now it serves as my craft supply storage space. So, storage is taken care of. We got a folding table for an anniversary gift one year.  So, I'm going to use that as my cutting table (temporarily, I need a bigger table). 

The loft is a huge space so I'm going to set up my ironing board up there too. Though I hate ironing clothes, I don't mind ironing a sewing project.

This studio is going to be awesome when I'm finished with it! 

• There is a ton of natural light because of a skylight. So, taking pictures for Etsy will be a breeze. 
• The square footage leaves me ample room to incorporate all the tools I need for crafting.
• If I'm in the middle of a project, I won't have to put it away.
• There's even enough space left over for an exercise area to pump some creative iron. 

I don't know why I didn't think of doing this years ago. This is still a work in progress, but here is where I'm at thus far...

Before

Looks pretty sad with the old metal sewing table and a shopping (trash) bag hanging on the lamp. Let's not forget to mention the old bed frame and child gate leaning against the wall. And, what about that clutter on the old changing table? Nice!

Midway Progress

Love, love, love my new sewing table. It's by Sauder. Now, it's not the most fancy, or expensive (hubby paid $129, with free shipping), but it really works for the space. Soon I'm going to re-upholster my grand mother's old chair with a great fabric I found on clearance at Joann's. Eventually, I plan on replacing the changing table with a true storage unit with drawers and a better color match to the sewing table.

I'm happy with my crafting space so far. As more gets done, I'll post another update.

How to make a Girl Scout Patch Pillow (Part 1)

Recently, a friend tagged me in a post on Facebook of a picture of a pillow. This wasn't any old pillow, this one was special. It was one that someone had made for all the patches their Girl Scout earned over the years. There's a lot of patches, badges, journeys, awards, etc. going on in Girl Scouts. We had been looking for a way to commemorate all the years our girls have been in Girl Scouts, and by God, I think she got it!

The picture was just a picture of the pillow. There was no link back to a tutorial on how to make the Girl Scout pillow. So, I sat down and sorted out a pillow design and a plan for a Girl Scout Patch Pillow-Making meeting.

Just in case you have already read part one: Visit Part Two.

What you will learn to make in this tutorial:

Now, really, anyone who knows how to sew on a sewing machine, even just a little bit, can do this project. It's just a little time consuming. Getting to the finished product took me several days. Preparation is key. If you read through this thoroughly, you will see bold Tips where I could have saved myself some time and frustration.

Materials:

1. Sewing Machine
2. Transparent Nylon Thread for sewing on the patches
3. Girl Scout green Thread for assembling the pillow
4. Straight pins
5. Daisy, Brownie, Junior, and Cadette vests (or fabric matching those colors and weight)
6. Patches, pins, and Journeys sorted into each year earned + one set of insignia emblems
7. A stapler
8. A ruler
9. Pinking Sheers (if you don't have pinking sheers good sharp scissors will do)
10. One 18 inch All Purpose Zipper to match your vest material
11. One 18 inch square pillow form or poly-fill stuffing

Step one: Preparing your patches

This took me the longest because I had a mix of sewn on and ironed on patches. Some of you may just have bags of patches just waiting to be used, like I said, the girls get lots of them.

Turn on your favorite show, pull out your seam ripper (or scissors), and get to work. Carefully rip enough stitches off the back to free the edge of your patch, then rip away. BUT, be gentle because I found out some of my stitches were so tight I tore through the material. Always keep in mind, you will be using the vest material for your Girl Scout Patch Pillow.

As for the patches you ironed on, a lot of those will just pull right off, adhesive and all. Tip: For those more stubborn patches, warm up your iron. Just heat up the backside of the patch. The heat will help with removal and leave the vest pretty much ready for cutting.

Tip: I had my Ziploc bags labeled and ready for sorting as I removed the patches (NOT!). I threw the things in a pile and had to do double duty after everything was removed. Take my advice, don't do it like that. Try to sort your patches by year/grouping as you remove them. You will be a much happier camper when you get to patch placement.

Step two: Preparing your material for the backside of the pillow

I decided to put most of the smaller patches and Journey groupings on the backside of the pillow. I cut four 8.5 in x 8.5 in squares. One of each color: Daisy (blue), Brownie (brown), Junior (green), and Cadette (khaki).  Use the cleanest, most presentable parts of the vests for your pillow squares.

Now, our group opted not to do Cadette vests or sashes this year so I went to Walmart and found the closest thing. It was much cheaper than going to the Girl Scout store and buying a Cadette vest. Plus, the design I came up with called for extra material. I purchased one yard of heavy khaki material for just under 7 bucks, which is enough for at least four pillows using my design. If you're only making one pillow, 19-20 inches of material will do. However, you will have leftover scraps.

Step three: Patch placement on the backside of the pillow

Take your four squares and pin them right sides together. You are creating an imaginary 1/4 inch seam, blue to brown side by side and green to khaki side by side.  (You can mark where the seams should be on each square instead. However, I like the idea of seeing  how the patches are working together). Once your squares are pined, pin the top, blue/brown to the bottom green/khaki. Again, with an imaginary 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Blue   Brown
Green  Khaki

• Now, I'm sure you see a pattern here. You have four squares. If your girl was only in girl scouts for two years, say Brownie to Junior, you could do the back side of the pillow like this:

Brown Green

Green Brown

Now place your patches! Blue should have your Daisy patches. (This square I used as a flex square for extras because my daughter did not start Girl Scouts until Brownies). The brown square is for Brownie journey's and patches. The green for Juniors and so on. Tip: don't forget your seam allowances for the outer edges you did not have to pin! 

You're still going to have a lot of patches, I'm sure. Don't forget you will still have room for them on the front side of the pillow. I decided to not use duplicates either. I reserved the front side for the larger patches, troop insignia, and pins. The back for the smaller patches and Journeys.

You don't have to follow my patch placement. Do what works for you!

Huge Tip: Don't even bother trying to pin those blasted patches on for sewing. After umpteen failures, several bent pins, and ten bloody fingertips, the light bulb went off in my head. Use a stapler to temporarily attach the patches for sewing. However, don't forget to remove the staples after the patches are sewn on. Also, don't use a traditional staple remover to pull those little buggers out, it may damage your material. 

Remove the pins you used to create the seam allowance for patch placement. Now thread your machine with the transparent Nylon thread (I used a white bobbin). I set my tension to 4, you should do what's best for your machine. Start sewing all those patches on each square, slowly. You'll find as you go, you can go faster on the round and square patches the oddly shaped ones are the most difficult.

Tip: don't try to assemble the four squares before sewing on the patches. Working with the smaller squares is much easier than one big one.

Step four: Sewing the back side together

Once your patches are sewn on, and staples are removed, re-pin your Blue to Brown squares, right sides together. Turn it around and make sure the squares are blue to brown and all the patches are facing the right direction. At this point I re-thread my machine with green thread. The Nylon was more expensive. And, if I made any mistakes, I wanted to be able to see them easily. 

Sew that seam and take it slow and easy. You want the seam to be as straight as possible. Your machine's foot will have to negotiate a lot of bumps during the run because of the patches.

Now do the same thing for your Green to Khaki squares.

Next we're going to attach the top to the bottom. Line up your center seams and pin them together. Be sure to press down those seam allowances to prevent a huge bump in the center of your pillow. Then continue pinning the edges together.  Turn it around and verify that everything is square and right facing.

Sew up that seam! The back side of your pillow is complete! Remove any leftover or forgotten staples and admire your work.

To be Continued...

Next post: How to make a Girl Scout Patch Pillow (Part 2)

 

How to make a Girl Scout Patch Pillow (Part 2)

Since the How to make a Girl Scout Patch Pillow tutorial is long, I broke it in to two parts.

(Here is Part 1) 

Some of you may be asking yourselves, "Why did she make the back side of the pillow first?" Well, the truth is, I was debating on if I should purchase a Cadette vest for the last square or try to match the material. Originally both sides were going to be identical. Then, I knew the two sides had to be different because of the troop insignia patches. You will see with this post the design I came up with...

For me the Girl Scout Sash has always been so cute. I remember being little, wearing my little uniform, and was especially proud of my sash. Of course, way back then there weren't so many fun patches. So, today the best option to show off all those patches are Girl Scout vests.

Now, I wasn't about to go buy another vest or sash and rip it up for this project. Plus, I had all that closely matched khaki material to work with. I had bought my daughter an extra large Junior (green) vest. I had plenty of green to make a sash for the front and the square for the backside. I also had plenty of khaki for the front side background, which resembles a uniform shirt.

Step five: Creating a sash

I went to the attic and found my dwindling box of memories. There I found my old sash and I was able to trace it onto the scrap green vest material. If you don't have an old sash laying around to trace, I'm sure you can eyeball this part. Just draw a slightly curved line and another parallel to it approximately 5 inches apart. Your hemmed sash should be about 41/4 inches wide.

If your daughter has a sash, use it! You will have to cut the top and bottom of it to fit your background. Your insignia will just have to be sewn on for extra security.

Note that I cut outside of the line a quarter inch extra to allow for a hem. Then I pinned the hem.

 After I sewed both sides of the sash, I had something that is almost identical to my sash!

Part six: Creating the background panel and patch placement

Take your completed pillow back side and lay it on top of your khaki material. Line up the edges. Grab your ruler, trace the edges, and cut out your large square for the background. Place your sash on the background and start planning out your patch placement.

Just like the back side, staple your patches in place.

Part seven: Be true to your sash! 

Now grab your sash and pull up the official sash patch placement. I'm pretty sure it's the same for all United States Girl Scouts, but you better check your council. I wanted this part of the pillow to be as true to our troop as possible.

Again, staple the patches on to your sash and get ready to sew!

Thread your machine with your transparent thread and sew the patches onto your sash. Tip: After all your insignia, numbers, and pins are lined up like they're supposed to be, remove those star pins and such. The sewing machine foot does not like them.

When you finish sewing the insignia on, put you award pins back on the sash and remove all those staples. Then pin your sash back in place and carefully sew it onto the khaki background. Now your award pin backs will be safely hidden between the sash and khaki fabric.

Once the sash is finished, sew on your other background patches. When all the patches are sewn on, remove all those staples. The front of your Girl Scout pillow is finished

Part eight: Putting it all together!

Now we're on the home stretch. (If you don't want to install a zipper, scroll down for the zipper free instructional). At this point I debated on putting a zipper in just in case the pillow form needed to be removed for cleaning or repair. I tend to over think things sometimes. But I imagined my daughter having this pillow in her first apartment and someone spilling something on it. Things happen. Zipper won.

installing a zipper was actually easier than it sounds, especially at this stage. We still have two separate panels. It had been a long time since I put a zipper in, so I turned to you tube to refresh my memory.

I could not get a zipper the exact size I needed. So, I had to make it fit my Girl Scout Patch Pillow. Do this by determining the size, make a mark, and hand stitch a tight loop around the zipper. Tie it off and cut the excess zipper off.

By this time in the process, I was ready to be done with the Girl Scout Pillow. Rather than going through all the basting and ripping, I opted to pin "baste" the zipper where I wanted it. For aesthetics, you should put the zipper on the bottom of the pillow. Create an imaginary 1/4 inch hem. Ensure both sides of your pillow are still the same. Pin the zipper in and start sewing. Be sure to do a few back stitches after you start the run to "lock" the stitches in.

Once you get to the pull, stop your machine and zip the zipper back up.

Then continue your run until you get the side in. 

Don't forget to lock the stitch at the end of the run.

Next pin in your other side the way you did the first. Make sure both edges line up properly and repeat the process.

Now you zipper is installed!

Line up all your edges and sew a 1/4 inch seam all around the remaining 3 sides.  Tip: at each corner I did a few locking stitches for added security. Be sure to either pin or press open any seams before you sew your edges together.

Once you finish, turn your patch pillow inside out and insert the pillow form.

Now your Girl Scout Patch Pillow is complete! Enjoy! 

Part eight: Putting it all together, Zipper free!

If you don't want a zipper, you don't have to have one. If you decided to use fiber fill instead of a pillow form for the project you may not want a zipper.

If you're opting out of the zipper, put your panels right sides together. Make sure the top and sides are all facing in the right direction, pin the panels together. Start sewing the pillow together from just off the middle of the bottom seam. After you start the seam do a few back stitches to "lock" the material together. Continue sewing around the pillow a quarter inch seam. Go slowly because your sewing foot will be encountering the patches and a bumpy run. At each corner, do a few locking stitches for added security. Once you get back around to the bottom half of the pillow leave about a 5 inch opening.

Turn you pillow right side out through the opening you created. Stuff your pillow to the desired plumpness. Fold in the rough edges of the opening to create a neat edge and sew it closed. Congratulations! Your Girl Scout Patch pillow is finished, enjoy!

How to Create a Pattern for a Felt Ornament

Last Christmas I had a goal to give handmade gifts instead of store bought or boring gift cards. I had done it a few of times over the years with great success and appreciation. In this tutorial I'm going to teach you how to turn a picture into a working pattern.

First, had to decide what I was going to make. Well, it was for a Christmas gift.. Instantly, my thoughts turned to ornaments. The new Peanuts movie had just came out, so I decided to make a set of Snoopy ornaments.

Off to Pinterest I went to brainstorm. I came across several Snoopy ornaments that Bucilla made a kit for in the 1980's. I am very familiar with Bucilla because I made both my daughter's Christmas stockings, among other things, from their kits. 

The Bucilla kits come with everything you need to make the project, all stamped out, ready to cut, and assemble. 

Considering the ornaments I wanted to make were out of production, I set out to create a pattern.

Step one: Find a picture

Search Pinterest, Google, Flickr, or your favorite platform for the pattern you want to create. Pick a picture that is clear and has a plain background.

Here's a picture of one ornament I wanted to make a pattern for:

From Etsy

Step two: Prepare and print your image

Once you have your picture, save it to your computer. I like to save it as a document because I have a complicated photo editor. In the editor I can adjust the size of the image and print it in color or gray scale on plain 8.5x11 inch white paper.

Once the image is on the screen, I like to play with the size of the image. I like my felt ornaments to be roughly the size of my hand. So, I drag a corner of the image until it's the right size.

Then I print the document. Sometimes I print them in color, sometimes gray scale, it's a matter of preference and how much ink you have in your printer.

Step three: Create your felt pattern

If you've looked at ornament patterns on Pinterest, you've probably seen a lot that already have a pattern you can print out, cut, and assemble. They have limited instructions like "cut two" or "cut one" and you're left on your own to putting it together.

If you take those pattern pieces and put them together like a puzzle, you use a picture of the finished project as reference. Creating a pattern is the opposite. Look at the picture and determine which part, or parts, are the most prominent. For this Snoopy pattern his ear, arm, candy cane, and stockings should be made with the most detail.

After you have a three dimensional image in your head, you can begin to trace the individual pieces of the pattern.

Step four: Trace your pattern

This part can be tricky. If you have tracing paper, you're good to go. Just start tracing the pieces. If you don't have tracing paper, you can do what I do. Grab a piece of plain paper. Light up the back of the image you want to trace, place the clean paper on top of it, and start tracing the pattern pieces. One advantage to using regular paper over tracing paper is the pattern will be more usable over time. Tracing paper is a little thin, and expensive, for my taste.

In the beginning I would sit at our glass coffee table, set a flashlight up on the floor under my image, and trace the pattern pieces. Since then, I made a pattern tracing tool with my daughter's old Light Bright toy, which made the process so much faster and comfortable.

Step five: Develop your pattern

Now that you have the pieces of your pattern traced, determine how many pieces you will need for each part. For my Snoopy: two each of the nose, ears, arms, snoopy body, candy cane, stockings, and house. You only need one collar, two heals, and two toes because these pieces are appliqued on. Mark your quantities on each piece and cut them out.

Here is what I created using this process:

 

If you would like to see all of the ornaments I made for Christmas gifts, visit this post!

Thank you for visiting!

Christmas Ornaments