NANA'S CRAFTING

CARD DESIGNING

2013-05-15T15:51:00.001-07:00

This is my cabinet in use. It has been a lot of fun to design cards. I had read a blog where a lady used her scraps to write Bible verses and give them to people.

Here are some of my cards I made.

I am looking into the Cuttlebug machine. I do not have the Cricut Machine as it is a little to expensive for me. It looks like the cuttlebug machine would do what I wanted for cards.

This was one of my favorites. A great idea place is looking up cards making on Pinterest.
I am trying to find a crafts I can take in a RV if hubby and I go full time.
Looking forward to doing more.

DIY SCRAP BOOKING CABINET

2013-02-26T22:00:00.000-08:00

Scrap booking is a craft that I really enjoy. The problem is that getting all the supplies out and doing it on my kitchen table is not the best place.
With some inspiration from Pintrest I decided to refurbish my old farm antique dough boy cabinet.

The only room I had for it is in my bedroom, so the cabinet would be a good place to do the work and also be able to keep it neat and organized.

I got out my delta water based paint and started to paint it Ivory. After painting I distressed it with some sand paper to make it appear old. Of course it is old-but old is the look I am going for.

I spray painted the drawers a celery color. It would match with the comforter on my bed. The hardware for the top cabinet doors were sprayed the same color. I have not put the doors up yet. I am still in the process of getting some thin peg board and putting it in the middle of the doors.

The peg board idea came from another Pintrest inspiration
Then I will cover peg board with fabric to coordinate with the bedroom colors. The fabric will face the bedroom and the peg board on the inside to have easy access to tools.

I found some contact paper and put it on the shelves and in the drawers also.
As you can see I have started to add some of the supplies to the shelves and the drawers.

My next project will be to cover the chair that fairly dirty from being in storage.

Pintrest has given me some great ideas for covering the chair.

Since it is a bedroom I am thinking of going for the skirt version. It will depend on how much material I have in storage. Since this is a frugal project I am hoping to use as many things that I already have.

Hopefully soon I will post the finished cabinet. Just wanted to give you a glance at my project and how it is going.

RELINED TRAVEL CASE

2013-02-14T21:32:00.001-08:00

This travel case was given to me years ago by my mother. It had been a very useful travel cosmetic case for many years.

As you can see although it is still useful it has seen better days. I had attempted to glue in a piece of fabric to the top several years ago. Not my best work for sure. Must have been done in a big hurry to go some place.
This case definitely needs some TLC and a new look to take on vacation.

This was the results of my endeavor to reline my cosmetic case. Try finding an older case at a thrift store or redo one of your own and get many more years of usefulness for just a little time. The Tutorial of how I relined it follows.

1. Carefully remove old lining. Use these pieces as your guide to make all pieces.

2. This is just an example of how I made the bottom pattern. First measure the lining bottom piece and then measure the bottom of the case. I found the case did not match up with the lining. Over the years somehow it had shrunk or they had a great industrial machine that made it fit at the time. SO BE CAREFUL THAT THE CASE MEASURES THE SAME AS THE LINING PIECES. Then use them as an example to make your pattern pieces.
3. After measuring the bottom of case use a cutting board to measure and make a bottom pattern piece. I use wax paper as it is inexpensive at the Dollar General store. Use a permanent marker to out line your pattern, it does not go through the wax paper. I have made hundreds of patterns this way. Just use see through tape such as scotch tape to make larger pieces.
4. NOTE: Because the other pieces are going to overlap the bottom piece make the bottom piece a little larger so that it goes up the edge a little.

5. To make the curved edges a soup cup was used. Any curved object that will give you the desired curve will do.
6. Use the above technique for making the other pattern pieces.

7. The main new lining was cut out of a drapery curtain that was bought at a thrift store.
8. I wanted the lining to have a little more sturdiness to it, so with a piece of quilted fabric I cut out one of each of the pieces. I used the lines on the quilted fabric as a guide and sewed the fabric to the lining giving it a quilted look. You could use 2 pieces of fabric with some kind of lining in the middle like the kind used for quilts.
9. The next step was to cut out plastic from quality Zip-Lock bags for protection to the fabric. [Gee, wish there was a craft or fabric store closer than 2 1/2 hours away. Iron on vinyl would have been great. The zip lock bags did fine and with stood my vacation travel for a month.

10. Using your largest zig-zag stitch (so the plastic will not tear) sew around the edges of fabric and plastic.
Do this to all lining pieces in appropriate places.

11. After securing the plastic I used bias binding around all the edges. It is easy to make bias binding for yourself and be able to create the binding of your choice. Visit my post on making bias binding http://nanasknoll.blogspot.com/2009/09/bias-tape-instructions.html

12. Apply glue to the bottom of the case. In my case the pieces overlap other pieces, so you will have to observe how your case went together. Taking pictures of the different areas will help when making pattern pieces and reassembling and gluing. A fabric glue was applied and then a little hot glue to hold it in position until the fabric glue set up.

13. The next piece is the side piece. As you can see 3 pieces were used to make the length of the side pieces. Where the pieces are joined, bias tape is used to hide the seams. This side piece is made with the same procedures as steps 1-3.

14. Apply fabric and hot glue in the same way as the bottom on the sides, leaving the top edge unglued.

15. Once the side is secure apply glue to the top edge all the way around.

16. The next piece is the flap that hangs down from the lid to the center of the travel case. The top section of this piece does not have the zip-lock bag sewn on it as it is not needed.

17. I measured the old piece that held bottles in the case. I made a narrow piece and inserted elastic. The elastic was pulled a little tighter as the old piece was a little stretched out. The elastic piece was sewed with a tight zig zag stitch on each end. Measure the same distance from either end and sew again allowing for 3 sections.

18. This flap piece needed a little weight and stiffening so this plastic piece was cut and hand sewn to the section that would hang in the bottom back.

19. NOTE: This piece is glued ONLY on the lid piece. This allows the lid to open and shut without restraint.

20. The lid is done the same as STEP 3-NOTE: make this piece the EXACT SIZE of the top to fit to the edge.
21. Glue in place.
This travel case is now ready for many more years.

BIAS TAPE INSTRUCTIONS

2012-03-03T11:29:00.000-08:00

When I learned this technique for making bias tape, I have been decorating and embellishing projects and clothes ever since. I now have a tool for folding the bias tape. If you do not have this tool the instructions for making the bias tape without it are included in this post. So happy decorating!

I usually use about 1/2 yard to make several pieces of bias strips for my bias tape.
1. Place the selvage of your fabric facing the bottom of your cutting board or table that you are using (as shown in photo).
2. Place your see through measuring tool (STMT), or a yard stick if you do not have this tool at an angle on the fabric. My cutting board has this angle already on it as my guide. The object is to cut your strips on an angle or bias. If using a yard stick, draw a line with a chalk pencil. This will be your guide for cutting.

3. Lay your (STMT) the width you want your strips. I usually use a 1 1/2 inch but some decorating requires a wider piece of bias tape.
4. Using a rotary cutter or a pair of scissors cut your strips. The number of strips depends on the length of bias tape you need.

Your strips will look like this or wider, but angled on either end.

5. Lay 2 strips as in the photo above.

6. Lay the 2 strips right sides together. Notice that the edges do not line up, they will be slightly off. See the above photo. Pen in place.

7. Sew a seam, starting where the fabric meets. Notice the red seam. This is very important so that the strips line up when you are finished sewing these your strips together.

8. Trim off the excess along the edge of the strip on both sides.

9. Line your strip wrong side up and open seam and press.

10. To make bias tape without bias tape tool, fold your strip in half and press to create a guide line for your next step.

If you have a bias tape tool you can do step 10 with the tool.

11. Using this ironed line as a guide in the next step.

12. Fold one side of your tape towards line in the middle and press. When you have finished with one side do the other side.

When you are finished both sides should look like the photo above.

13. Fold the two folded ends to meet each other at the edges. Simply said, just fold it in half and press.

For the HAND TOWEL or POT HOLDER hooks you will need to do this last step.

14. Sew both the edges of the finished bias tape about 1/8" from edge.

If you have any questions you can e-mail me at nanasknoll@gmail.com

CASSIES VALENTINES SKIRT

2012-02-14T12:14:00.000-08:00

I made this little skirt for my grand daughter in California.

sorry the picture is dark

I added a ruffle at the bottom and used one of my stitches on my machine and added hearts as part of the decoration.

Used some homemade bias tape and made a bow at the middle of the skirt on the waist band. The back of the skirt is a elastic waist.

Happy Valentines Day!

CLOTHING TAGS AND SECURE ELASTIC

2012-01-07T16:57:00.000-08:00

In this tutorial I will show you how I sew tags in clothing and how I secure elastic without a bulge. Years ago you lapped elastic over the top of another piece of elastic and sewed it together. This can be uncomfortable and leave a bulge in the back of a garment. As my kids use to say, this feels funny. I came up with a way of eliminating this problem.

Several of the garments I make for my grand children are handed down to the next child or given away to a cousin. Putting a tag on clothing helps mothers to know when a used garment will fit the next child. Putting tags in the back of clothing for children, also helps children know how to put their garments on correctly.

Buying sewing tags can also get expensive, so making my own tags out of scraps was a frugal option.

TAGS

Supplies:

scrap piece of material-a color that will show up on your garment.

fabric permanent marking pen-I use a laundry marking pen

thread to match

Sorry for this drawing, but I missed taking a picture of making the tag itself. So bear with me. The paint option on my computer is not one of my skills.
1. Cut a piece of fabric the size you want your tag just a little larger. Fold you material in half, right sides together 2. Sew on either side where you see the green arrows. 3. Turn your tag righ tside out and it should look like.
You can zig-zag the bottom of your tag to prevent raveling if you like.

Place your tag and sew as you see in the photo above. Also using your permanent marking laundry pen, label your tag a size, or a name.

Pin and sew your elastic casing around you garment leaving an opening to insert your elastic. Then insert your elastic in the casing.Check out steps 8 & 9 Plastic Bag Holder Instructions. These instructions show a regular safety pen, for elastic I like to use a diaper pen.

SECURE ELASTIC

Supplies

Elastic the size of your childs waist (MINUS) 1 3/4 OR 2 inches. "SEE NOTE BELOW"

Cut a piece of scrap material large enough to fold over the top of elastic, LEAVING enough fabric to insert the other piece of elastic.

Using a large zig-zag stitch sew several times going forwards and backwards over the one end of the elastic as shown in picture.

Trim your scrap piece of material that is left over, LEAVING ENOUGH to insert the other elastic piece.

At this step you want to make sure that you have your elastic NOT TWISTED.

Insert your elastic into the fold next to the other sewn elastic and pen. Sew the elastic down with a zig-zag stitch.

When you have finished stitching - trim the bottom of the material as even as you can with the elastic. Be careful to not cut the elastic.

Then sew your opened section closed to secure your elastic in the casing.

NOTE: The reason that I subtract 1 3/4-2 inches from the measured elastic is that a childs waist is usually straight down and the garment just keeps falling down. I do this with my own garments. ELASTIC IS SUPPOSE TO STRETCH to stay on.

SCRAPS INTO A HOMEMADE DIABETIC BAG

2011-11-06T17:39:00.000-08:00

Last year I had a day to play with some left over scraps.

This was my older bag that I was using. I did pull the zipper off and save it for a further project.

The bag holds all my supplies that I need to take with me. The supplies need to not be exposed to moisture as this can give you false readings. Plastic zip lock bags are sandwiched between the outside fabric and the inside lining.
TUTORIAL BELOW

SUPPLIES
1. 2 pieces of fabric of your choice. Measurements for the fabric will depend on you meter and supplies. Some meters are much smaller.
2. My pieces of fabric measured 12 1/2" X 7 1/2"
3. A zipper of matching color or color of your choice
4. quart zip-lock bag.
5. a piece of bias tape of your choice. See making your own bias tape BIAS TAPE INSTRUCTION
6. Thread to match
INSTRUCTION

1. After cutting your fabric to its desired length, take the zip lock bag and cut down the sides till you have a rectangle. Place it on the quilted fabric and attach the plastic bag to the edges with a zig-zag stitch. Then sew an + down the middle as you see in the photo.

2. Lay the fabric as you see in the photo above.

3. Trim the edges until they are even with the fabric on top.

4. Pin the long edges. At this point you could zig zag the layers together if you prefer.

5. Fold the material in half.

6. Place a pin at the bottom in the middle like in the photo above. This will mark your spot. Since my material was plaid I could follow the stripe. You may need to place a pin on each side. Then draw a line with a sewing chalk pencil from pin to pin to mark where you will start sewing.

7. Sew down the middle.

8. From the middle stitch, measure out (I measured an inch) and mark where you want your other stitching to go to quilt the layers of fabric and plastic together. Continue doing this to the edge. See picture above.

9. Turn your fabric and repeat steps 7 through 8 till you have quilted squares. This could be quilted in any fashion that you prefer

10. Pin zipper and sew it as shown in photos above.

11. Make sure that you secure the zipper on the end without the zipper tab as shown in photo.

12. Attatch your bias tape tab as show in photo above.

13. Fold in half inside out and sew up the sides over the zipper. Zig Zag the edges to prevent raveling.

Turn right side out, and you are finished.

REMINDER NOTEBOOK

2011-08-22T14:54:00.000-07:00

This post is how I was able to put this notebook insert together.

1. Go to Diabetic Living to copy and paste the articles you want. Use Microsoft Word or any other program you prefer.

There is a trick to copying and pasting pictures. As you can see on the left the picture is larger.

I realized after printing the first picture that it was going to use a lot of ink. I wanted the

colored pictures. Downsizing the picture was the answer to getting more pictures on a sheet as well as shrinking the size.

2. Click on the picture. You will see a little box in the corners. The trick-Click and hold down on this box. Holding down on mouse drag in the direction of the arrows up until you have the desire size and let go. Save. When you have the amount of pictures and article you want you can paste your Microsoft Word sheet (or optional one). The size I preferred enabled me to print 2 per sheet to fit in the smaller notebook.

The Diabetic Living Site also has free downloads. It did take me a little time to find these.

From the "TakeControlDiabetesWorkbook" download I copied this grocery list reminder too.

As usual I cannot leave something plane. I MUST DECORATE!

My daughter took out time organizing her home school schedule to teach me a thing or two.

Both my daughters use a product called Close To My Heart. Mary is new to it, but the daughter above Carrie and I have been doing scrapbooking since it first started coming out in the stores. We all have a lot of fun creating cards and scrapbooks. Now back to my tutorial.

Mary got out the tools we would need.

I hardly ever used stamps as I was not all that impressed with them. These stamps are fantastic. The methods they use really works for stamps as you can see on my notebook insert. The middle white part of the notebook is all stamping.

I decided on the additional cards section of the instruction pamphlet to make my design.

I was really happy with the results and will enjoy carrying this to the stores with my information.

You can use whatever design you want. Even a cute piece of card stock would decorate a notebook. Even a cutout of a magazine page would work.

I have to admit, I do get a little crazy about being creative. It is just me, but it is so much fun.

ARM CHAIR PIN CUSHION

2011-07-20T20:59:00.000-07:00

Last winter I made this "Arm Chair Pin Cushion." I have used this pin cushion whenever I was cross stitching or any other sewing task.

As you can see it fit very nicely over the arm of my chair.

The instructions came from DURING QUIET TIME for this handy pin cushion.

REFURBISHED POT HOLDERS

2011-02-11T23:48:00.000-08:00

My pot holders were getting a little ratty as I call it. I needed to make some new ones. The problem was I only had a little lining left to make them with. The nearest fabric shop is 3 hours away and Wal-Mart is 30 minutes away.
So an idea was taking shape. Why not use the old pot holder as lining. No trips to town and recycling materials to boot. Here is a tutorial on how my pot holders were refurbished. There are a lot of pictures in this tutorial. I hope this will be helpful to new sewers.

1. Start by removing the old binding. It would be too bulky to sew with it on.

2. Square up your old pot holder.

3. Measure you old pot holder and add 1/2 inch all the way around for seams. Trace these measurements into a pattern. I JUST LOVE WAX PAPER. The reason for the pattern is explained in steps 4 & 5.

4. One of the reasons I make a pattern is that I usually have pieces of fabric and it makes it easy to cut out on those left over pieces. I also have a pattern I can store for further brand new pot holders.

5. The other reason was that I needed to cut out 2 more pieces of lining for the two pot holders that were being refurbished. The old pot holders were pretty worn down and this would give them a little more padding.

6. Cut out 4 new fabric pieces from your pattern to make 2 pot holders. I went into my extra scrap HOMEMADE BIAS TAPE and picked one that would match my pot holders. Make sure you have enough bias tape to do the number of pot holders you are doing.

7. Zig Zag or straight stitch around the edge so it does not ravel and come undone. I do this as an extra precaution.

8. Zig Zag around the holes or torn spots so they do not unravel inside your new pot holder.

9. Sew 1/8 inch on the edge of both sides of your bias tape. Then cut a section the length you will want your tabs plus a seam allowance.

10. I placed my tab in the middle instead of on one of the edges. To do this just measure and place your tab as show above in the middle.
11. Take your 2nd piece of new fabric and place over the tab right sides together.

12. Now place the old pot holder in the middle of your 2 new pot holder pieces, as show above.

13. Place one lining piece in the middle on the opposite side of the placement of the old pot holder. You will have 2 new pot holder pieces right side together with tab in the middle . Then the old pot holder in the middle on one side; the lining in the middle on the other side.

14. Sew 5/8 inch around your pot holder catching the old pot holder and lining. Do not worry if all the lining and old pot holder is not completely caught in the sewing. It will be secured later. Leave an opening in the bottom (SEE PICTURE BELOW). Make sure to use a heavy needle to sew through all thicknesses.

15. Now turn your pot holder right side out through the opening.

16. Once turned right side out, press your pot holder. Make sure to evenly turn under the section that was left open in step 15 picture.

17. Sew 3/8 inch seam all the way around the new pot holder.

18. Sew around again 1/8 inch seam. This will secure the turned under edge.

19. Starting in one corner sew to the other corner as show in photo. If you need to with a ruler mark a line from end to end with a tailors chalk pencil.

20. Fold pot holder in half from corner to corner. Place a pin in the middle of your last stitching, where you see the arrow.

21. With a disappearing marking pin place a dot where the pin comes through in the middle on the other side. If you do not have a marking pin, just place your sewing machine needle as close to the middle as you can.

22. Place your sewing machine needle on this dot (step 21) and sew to corner. Then repeat process to the other corner. Starting in the middle and going to the corner,keeps the fabric from bunching up. I have learned to do this in a lot of sewing projects. Every sewing machine feed dogs will stretch the fabric a little when sewing. This has eliminated some of that bunching when you have to sew a long seem or over another line of stitching.

I now have 2 new pot holders to use and I did not have to leave home to buy lining.
Enjoy-If you have any questions, just leave a question in the comment section and I will reply.

Nana's Glass Casses

2011-01-27T20:00:00.000-08:00

HOMEMADE EYE GLASS CASES

I cannot read a thing without my glasses. I must take them everywhere I go. My old purchased cases were falling apart so I looked on line and found many nice looking cases I could sew. The problem was that the glasses could easily fall out of these cases. Therefore the cases were put on the back burner so to speak for the time being.
When I had to make a trip to California I prayed about it and said I need a design for Eye Glass cases.
While warming up my rolls in my MICROWAVE BAGS the Lord brought to my mind that I could make them like these bags only much smaller.

The next day I headed off to my smaller pieces of fabric stash. My mother had given me this already quilted fabric. It was perfect for making my glass cases.
I used the same principles as in my MICROWAVE BAGS to sew up these bags. Just click on MICROWAVE BAGS and learn how to sew these little eye cases.
The difference was to measure my glasses by length and width and add about 1 1/2 inches to width and 2" to the length. This allows for a 1/2 inch seam allowance.
Also I did not have to add the linings in this case because this was already quilted fabric.

Now on this case you can see at the bottom that it is different. I needed to accommodated for the thickness of my sun glasses.

To solve the problem above I used the procedure that I did to this old bag. This bag was made several years ago from a sewing book of Nancy's Sewing.
As you can see the bag is inside out. At the bottom side you can see how I gave this bag width inside.

This is how you sew either side corner. When I do this now I trim this to about a 5/8 inch width seam and zig zag the edge. Of course on the glass cases it is much smaller but the technique is the same.
I took these eye cases with me on vacation and never lost my glasses or had them fall out of the cases.
Thats all there is to it.

50's COCA COLA RED WORK DISH TOWEL

2011-01-07T20:33:00.000-08:00

THERE IS A CLOSE UP PICTURE AT THE BOTTOM OF TUTORIAL

I came up with this design for my daughter at Christmas Time. She has a kitchen decorated in 50's restaurant style.
I could not find anything on the internet with coca cola patterns. I did have a cup with a older coke emblem on it.
That gave me the idea of doing it myself. As my mom said "when there is a will there is a way."
You should be able to take the instructions given below to copy most any design to embroider.
I did the embroider in what they called Red Embroidery. For more information on this click here RED WORK EMBROIDERY

SUPPLIES
1. Any design that you want to embroider on a t-towel.
2. Tracing Paper
3. scissors
4. ruler
5. Pen for tracing
6. Heat Transfer Pencil (click)
7. Flour sack type towels
8. Iron
9. Restickable Glue Stick (click)

I used this (click here) Hamburger Pattern to create my hamburger.

1. Take your design (my cup in supply picture) and using a copy machine or home printer to copy the design.
2. Then taking that picture enlarge the picture until you get it the size you want for your kitchen towel.
3. Using your pen or pencil trace out the cola bottle on your tracing paper. I then took the traced small bottle and kept enlarging it to get it the right size for my towel.
4. Do the same with the hamburger. I eliminated the face on the hamburger for my design.
5. I traced the coca-cola name and enlarged it also to the size I wanted.

6. Using another piece of tracing paper take a (click here) Restickable Glue Stick and glue your traced items onto the paper in just a couple places on each item. This will be your pattern, so place it the way you want it positioned on your towel.
Note: it was a good thing I used Restickable Glue Stick because I had the coke bottle going the wrong direction in the picture.

7. Flip the tracing paper with the pattern underneath.
8. At this point you may want to draw a line to place the name in the center of your design.
9. Using your pencil or pen trace the designs onto the tracing paper.

This is what it should look like. In this picture the coca-cola paper is still attached to the back. I wanted to make sure that I had it where I wanted it.

10. Now with your pattern flipped over, trace all of your design with your Heat Transfer Pencil.

11. Take your flour sack towel and fold in half and press with your iron.

12. On this fold ironed line cut your flour sack down the middle.

13. Cut the hems off.
14. At this point using my cutting board and rotary cutter I evened out the towel by trimming off the uneven edges.

15. Pen your homemade transfer pattern onto the middle of your towel. Leave enough room if you are going to sew trim on the bottom edge of your towel.
16. Use your heated up iron and sit your iron on one section. Lift and do another section. DO NOT MOVE THE IRON AROUND OR IT WILL SMEAR. When you think you have ironed over the entire pattern do it again. Then check the design by undoing a bottom pen and carefully lift to see if the design is on your towel.

This is what it will look like when transfered to your towel.

You are now ready to embroider your design.

Here is a close up of my finished towels.
I did not take pictures of the decorated borders for a tutorial. Here is a (click here) TUTORIAL on how to add borders to the bottom of your towels.
Hope you enjoyed my towels-I really enjoyed creating the patterns.
Feel free to copy anything here and use as you wish.

PATTERN FOR SQ. MICRO POTATO BAG

2010-12-11T15:58:00.000-08:00

The following blog is for a Microwave Bag. You can cook potatoes, winter squash, corn on the cob, heat dinner rolls, tortillas, biscuits, etc. This bag I have given over and over and my family wants more of them.
below is how to make the pattern for this Microwave Bag
The following pictures are of the Square and Curved Microwave Bag that I make as a gift and use myself.
The finished bag will be 9"X10".
The pattern piece is 21"x10". This includes 1/2" seam allowance

SUPPLIES NEEDED
Wax Paper
Permanent Marking Pen
Yard Stick
Cutting board is useful but not necessary if you do not own one.
Scissors

MAKING THE PATTERNS

1. Pull out a piece of wax paper longer than 21" so as to have room to work with.
2. Mark out the measurements on this piece of wax paper of 21"x10"
3. Mark the pattern with top and bottom for refrence.
4. Measure down at the top edge 2", and mark across the width with a permanent marker. Label this the fold line.
5. Label you pattern for further refrence. Add name of pattern, seam allowance, fold line and anything else that will help you.

6. Take the Bottom of the traced out pattern piece.

7. Bring it up to the fold line. As you can see I have 1 1/2 marked, but found I liked the 2" better. I made a mess of the first pattern so the picture above does not have bottom marked as the one you see above. It is still the bottom of the pattern.

8. With Bottom edge now at the fold line make a crease in the wax paper (which is now the bottom of the bag).

9. Open out the pattern piece and mark the crease with your permanent marker. This says bottom seam. There is no sewing in this area for the square Micro Bag. It is for refrence for the Curved Microwave Bag.
10. You are now done with the Square Microwave Bag. Cut out your pattern.
CURVED MICROWAVE BAG PATTERN
1. Use steps 1-10

2.After doing step 9 place a cup in one of the corners and make a curve as seen above.

The following will allow for the pattern to have all corners alike and match when sewing together.
3. Fold entire pattern in half. You can see the curve on the other side. Now trace this curved marking again on the unmarked side of the pattern.

4. Open out the pattern and both curves should show.

5. Now fold the pattern up with the bottom creased as in the pattern above.
6. Mark the curves that are showing through from the other side.

Your pattern should look like the picture above.
7. Cut out your 2 separate pattern pieces.

You now have two completed pattern pieces.

I also make a micro wave bag that fits the larger tortillas.
To do this one you need to add about 3-4" on the square pattern depending on your microwave size. Then in step 3 you need to use a small dinner plate to make a curve. Then follow the other steps so as to make your curved markings on all bottom pieces of the pattern.

YOU DID IT!

CLICK HERE FOR THE SEWING INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE MICROWAVE BAGS
Sewing Instructions for Microwave Bags

SEWING SQUARE AND CURVED MICRO POTATO BAG

2010-12-11T15:53:00.000-08:00

SEWING THE SQUARE AND CURVED MICROWAVE BAGS

One of the simple gifts I make is a Microwave Potato Bag. This bag I have used to warm up roll and tortillas in the microwave. Have thawed and warmed up frozen waffles and pancakes also. I especially like it for dinner rolls from the freezer to the microwave bag to my plate.
This makes a good gift for anyone with a microwave.
I did this in a hurry so if you do not understand a step just e-mail me.

SUPPLIES
A pattern-to create pattern click here. Microwave Pattern

Square Bag-5/8 yard-Curved Bag 3/4 yard of decorative fabric-preferably 100% cotton
Square Bag-5/8 yard-Curved Bag 3/4 yard of lining material-preferably 100% cotton
Square Bag-5/8 yard-Curved Bag 3/4 yard of batting - See Note
Sewing Pins
Matching Thread
Scissors
Trim of your choice

NOTE: Make sure you use a good brand of batting. I did get one that burnt on me. So now I try to make sure it is not from China. I have used non-cotton quilt batting with no problem too.

1. Cut out your fabric of choice, fabric lining, batting of choice.

I have used the 100% cotton batting but prefer the synthetic type fluffs more and works better. I do like to use the cotton fabric.

You can fold your pattern lengthwise and cut on the fold.

2. Now stack your fabric in this order. Fabric lining, Fabric of choice, batting of choice. As you see in the picture above for both bags.
3. Sq Bag-Pin either ends of your material (top and bottom)

4. Cut out two pieces of wax paper. Place the wax paper under the batting. This will allow the batting to run smoothly through the feed dogs of the sewing machine.

5. So that I can clearly see the 1/2" mark for my seam through the wax paper I have place a "post it note" on my sewing machine.

6. Sq. Bag-Using your post it note as a guide and your wax paper placed under your batting, sew your top and bottom seam.
6. Curved Bag-You only sew the top part of (both) curved bag pieces, not the curved edge

Your square potato bag should look like this after the seams are sewn.
7. Now turn right side out

Both sections of your curved bag will look like this after the top is sew on all 3 layers. As you can see the lining, fabric and batting.

8. Press both of your seams on square bag. Your batting should be in the middle.

8. Curved Bag-Press top seam. Your batting will be in the middle of your fabric and lining.

9. Sq. Bag-top stitch on the top and bottom edge of bag. AT THIS TIME ADD YOUR RICK-RACK OR TRIM OF CHOICE. On the top I placed a piece of rick rack for fun. The bottom edge 1/2" seam from end of bag, and then another seam down approximately 1/4" from edge.

9. Curved Bag-top stitch on the pressed top of both bag pieces as shown. It is a little hard to see the seam on the lower piece. It is 1/4' down from top and then another 1/2' down from the top.

10. Curved Bag-At this point you will pin the 2 curved edges at the bottom and side as seen above.

11. Sq. Bag-Turn down the top edge 2" and pin. SEE NOTE BELOW.
11. Curved Bag-Turn down the top edge 1 1/2 " to the inside of the bag and pin in place.

NOTE: Square Bag-When working with a one way design you must lay your material in the direction that will come right side up when finished. As you can see in step 11 and the picture above the material looks as if it is laid upside down. But when you pull the bottom up it will be right side up in the front of the square bag.

12. Sq. Bag-Bring the bottom edge up and place the bottom edge OVER THE TOP turned down 2".
12. Curved Bag- You do not have to turn the bottom edge up. Just turn down the top edge 1 1/2" down.

12. Sq. Bag-Pin both sides of your square potato bag and sew from bottom to the top 1/2".
12. Curved Bag-Pin curved bottom and sides with the folded down top edge underneath (same as step 12).
Sew bottom and sides all the way to the top 1/2".

Sq. Bag-should look like picture above.

Curved bag-should look like picture above.

13. Both Bags-Trim your seams and zig-zag the edge or use your surger to prevent raveling.

14. Just turn your square bag (picture above) and curved bag (picture below) bag right side out and you are finished and ready to use your bag.

HOW YOUR BAG WORKS

The steam in the bag helps the food to not get too done on one side and not on the other and gives it a more in oven texture and taste.

DO NOT use POTATO CYCLE or OTHER CYCLES on your microwave!

Your microwave sensors the steam and because the steam is trapped in the bag it cannot do its normal function. The steam in the bag helps the food to not get to dried out or over done in spots gives it a more in oven texture and taste.

DIRECTIONS FOR USING YOUR BAG

1. Wash your bag in the washing machine and dry in your dryer. (this will fluff up the batting).

2. Place 2-3 NOT PRICKED potatoes in the middle of your bag.

3. Place bag in the middle of your microwave and bake for 3-4 minutes or until potatoes are done.

4. Dinner Rolls (15 seconds, Tortillas (depends on number) , Biscuits (15 seconds), Corn on the cob (3 minutes), Winter squash (4-5 minutes) can all be done in the bag.

ALL MICROWAVE VARY SO THE TIME DEPENDS ON YOUR MICROWAVE. Start with less and add more time.
As with all microwaves anything can burn so make sure you have not put too much time on when programing your microwave. "Been there done that." and it was not a pretty site or fun to clean up.
SO BE SAFE & ENJOY YOUR BAG

INVENT YOUR OWN CHILDS SLEEP WEAR

2010-10-29T15:50:00.000-07:00

Upon seeing the cost of pajamas for little girls my daughter bought a package of 5 little boy T-shirt and fleece bottoms.
She was coming for a 2 week visit and knew her mother would come up with something to turn them into cute little girl PJ tops.
I went to the Internet and my documents of copied embellishments for ideas. The Internet is a great way to get your creative juices going.
The following pictures will be the other PJ's tops I designed and a few instructions.

This shirt was a little more detailed than some of the other shirts I did, but it was fun and turned out nicely.
I chose a flower to design and used scraps of fabric. This is a great way to use up those scraps of fabric we just cannot bear to throw away.
Under the center of the flower I used a piece of pink fabric that would fray easily. It was cut in a square and I removed the strings around all four sides to fray it.
Using "Wonder-Under" I ironed on the flower piece and appliqued it. All of the designed material pieces were done this way. "Wonder-Under" has easy instructions for using.
Wax paper was used under these fabric pieces to give them stability as I stitched and appliqued.
The square frayed piece was appliqued and then the round center piece on top of the flower piece.
I used homemade binding as the stem and sewed on either side of it. To learn how to make your own binding click below on my Bias Tape Instructions. http://nanasknoll.blogspot.com/2009/09/bias-tape-instructions.html

Binding was used on the bottom and the sleeves. The hems of the sleeve and bottom of shirt were cut off this shirt before attaching the homemade binding.
The binding was not going on a good as I had wanted. I determined it was the cotton fabric going on knit fabric. I used wax paper under the fabric as stability while I sewed and appliqued. This worked so well that I used it under all the appliques and sewing I applied.

Wax paper is the most inexpensive versatile tool in the kitchen and crafting. I have used it as patterns, appliqueing, tracing and then printing on the printer my designs. I just keep on finding new ways of using wax paper.

On this shirt I applied three hearts in different sizes. My cutting board had hearts diagrams on it. I copied the large one and increased it to the desired size I wanted. I decreased this heart size twice by 70% and then 60%. This gave me the sizes for the smaller hearts.

I used a ribbon from a scrap of ribbon and then sewed the knotted part down so that it will not come undone in the wash.
The hems of the sleeves and bottoms were cut off. Using a smaller zig-zag length and width I stretched the knit as I sewed and this created the curly edge. The thread used for curly edge matched the fleece bottoms.

This was the finished outfit for the hearts. If I had more time I may have added a ruffle to the bottom of the fleece bottoms.

This shirt I used adorable sleeping stars. I applied the same method as the hearts for increasing and decreasing the size of the stars.
Mark the eyes and nose with a Disappearing Ink, Mark-Be-Gone pen. This gives you a guide line for appliqueing the eyes and nose on the fabric.

To create the cereal bowls I used wax paper and copied a small design on some fabric I had. Using my printer I enlarged the bowls till I got it the size I wanted for the shirt.
The Disappearing Ink pen was used to draw in the stem and divisions on the fabric bowls and leaves to give it depth.
The stem was applied with the smaller adjusted width and length zig-zag stitch and it extended down into the leaf.
If you look close you can see the words cereal stitched by my sewing machine on the top lighter green bowl.
If you do not have the ability to do this with your machine, you can use some permanent coloring fabric pens.
There you have it. Have some fun and feel free to use any of my designs.

NEW LINING FOR TRAVEL CASE

2010-09-12T22:11:00.000-07:00