The Complete Guides to Sewing & Needlework

I only purchased two things during my little Craft Weekend. Both of them were books (go figure). There was a buy one, get one sale in one of the booths at Rerun Consignments & Mall in Council Grove and for $7.95 I just couldn't pass them up.

I am absolutely in love with the cover art of Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Sewing, but the inside is beyond amazing. If I actually read that I'll know how to sew anything and impress your grandma with my needlework skills.

The diagrams are absolutely awesome. Here's a little sampling.

How to tell if your pressure is off and adjust it.

A glossary of handstitches AND pictures of how to stitch them (this is just one page there are several).

A whole chapter on zippers.

Explanations of what the hell all those funny feet that came with your sewing machine do.

I read some reviews and it sounds like if you buy one yourself you want to get this 1978 version which is apparently way more awesome than the newer ones. Go me.

I'm not quite as in love with the cover art of the Complete Guide to Needlework, but the inside more than makes up for it.

Embroidery, crochet and rug making all in one super duper awesome book. Oh my! It even has directions for making the most awesome quilt ever. Did I ever post about it? I'm not sure if I did. Norie got it from her great grandma Millie and I know I've posted pictures with it, but it totally deserves its own independent post.

And last, but certainly not least, how to make a braided rug. It's been on my list of to-dos for a while.



My grandmother used to make them out of bread bags. Or maybe she crocheted them out of bread bags. She was thrifty to the core and you know what? They were awesome beyond reason. I don't eat a ton of bread so I think I'll just use fabric, but I'll be thinking of her when I do.

I'd love to tell you I'm going to post a project from either of them on some sort of regular basis, like a Wednesday sewing workshop, but you and I both know I'm not that organized or predictable. I'll try to actually read some of them and tell you all about it when I do though. Promise.

How to Make DIY Blackout Curtains

Remember back in February when I posted about my snow day project?

It's still not done.

Not the curtains. I finished those up in four-ish days working during naps and after Norie was in bed.

That sounds really quick now, but at the time it felt like forever. I ran out of thread and bent two needles including one as I back-stitched the very last seam of the very last curtain.

Grrr.

I even hung them, as long as you count thumb tacking them to the wall hanging them.

I had to. Norie will not sleep in a well lit space and snow plus lots of windows equals a super well lit space.

The part I can't get done is the curtain rods. I'm way too cheap to buy them so I'm going to spray paint some EMT (à la this tutorial) and add some finials you might recognize, but it's been too cold.

No curtain rods means no curtain reveal, but since my blog buddy, Crystal, (like my real, bi-directional blog friend who knows who I am) wanted to know how I made them I figure I can give you the run down on the sewing part of the process and how cheaply I made them.

I had been trying to figure out what I was going to do for curtains in the play room for a while. The room could seriously use some temperature moderation (it has two huge windows and no heating vents) and I knew eventually the light factor would be become an issue with Norie's 7pm bedtime. I found some king sheets on super clearence at Target and bought two sets (I checked the dimensions listed on the package and did some mental math to figure out how many I needed to make six 84" curtains). They were $11.38 each. I couldn't wait to chop them up.

I used Ana White's Tab Top Curtains which I've done before, but this time I added the blackout fabric. I got it for a steal too. No really, 60% off home decor fabrics at JoAnn's with a President's Day coupon. Since I needed 14 yards of the stuff and it usually runs $6.99 a yard I saved like 60 bucks.  My total was only $42.65 including tax. Woot! I bought so much they put it back on a roll for me and I had to unroll it on the living room floor to cut it.

I didn't have to make any changes to Ana's Tab Top Curtain Plan to line them. I just cut the blackout fabric into 84" sections and lined the curtains with them. To make sure I sewed the blackout fabric in the right place I folded the fabric over 5/8" (the plan says 1/2", but I have this thing about 5/8" so I guess technically I made a tiny change) at the top and sides and ironed it. Then I folded the top down 4" and ironed it to make a crease to follow.

When you unfold it will look like this.

I laid the blackout fabric up next to the crease line and even with the fabric I folded over so that it would be inside the finished edge, but not all folded up in the finished edge. Hopefully that makes sense. If not, let me know.

I took a close up so you could see what I mean.

Then I just folded the fabric over again around the blackout fabric and pinned and stitched it at like 1/2" because I'm a little neurotic and I like finishing seams like that to be 1/8" from the edge instead of a 1/4".

I did the same thing on the other side and just wrapped the blackout fabric in the same basic way in the top and bottom hems.

Sheets - $11.38 x 2= $22.76

Blackout fabric = $42.65

Thread (because I ran out and had to buy more) = $3.22

Total = $68.63

That's only $11.44 a curtain. Austin says I should figure in my time and they would become really expensive, but DIY is meant for people who have more time than cash, right?

Tab Top Curtains made from Ana White's Free Plans

I started a project and finished it this weekend. That's one whole thing I can check off the To-Do List.

• Put up actual curtains in the dining room.

Check.

No, the color is not off in the picture. The walls are actually that kind of sick green yellow, hence "Paint the dining room" is also on the To-Do List. I did, however, take this picture with my phone before I left for work this morning. Hopefully I'll get some glamor shots of them this weekend or maybe an evening now that the sun is staying up a little later in the evening.

I made them myself for $10 using Ana White's Tab Top Curtain instructions and fabric I found on clearance at Walmart for $2 a yard.

They are amazing and easy. I think I know how I'm making the curtains for the nursery and the office/guest room. Which has an actual bed frame now. I'll post with it when my parents bring me the headboard my mom saved off the curb. Actually, that might have to be a whole series of posts since I'm getting a LOT of awesome stuff when they come visit me. :)

How to Make Throw Pillows from Target Placemats

I made that. From a placemat. I'm VERY proud of myself.

While I was out shopping Saturday afternoon I found these placemats. I've been looking at them for months, maybe even a year or so. I don't really need placemats, but I really like the stitching pattern.

At $1.18 on clearance I just couldn't pass them up.

I used on old pillow as the stuffing. The pillow was about twice the size of the placemats so I cut it in half.

I measured it and marked the center line.

Yep, that's a bump shot. I swear it grew substantially this weekend.

Then I cut the pillow in half.

and pinned the open edges together.
 

I just did a straight seam since I don't have a serger and it's going on the inside of the pillow so it really doesn't matter if the edges were to fray. Austin got an action sewing shot for me.

Then I ripped one of the side seams in both placemats most of the way

and jammed the pillow forms I made into them. Then I pinned them back together and sewed another straight seam along the edge. TIP: if you add a couple extra pins to hold the fabric flat and the stuffing away from the seam it's a heck of a lot easier to sew this seam straight.

That's it. Done. I made both in about a half an hour including dragging out my sewing machine. I'm not sure where they will eventually end up, but I bet at least one will find a home in the nursery.