Candy Wrapper Zipper Pouch - less than successful (not quite a pin fail)

Cotton (the dog) and the Candy Wrapper Glasses Case

I'll refrain from calling this a Pin(terest) Fail, but it wasn't the roaring success I envisioned.  I saw these candy wrappers turned into zipper pouches and thought, "this would be so fun to do with a group of teens." Um, glad I tried it out first. And since then I've had no desire to try it out with a large group.

The basic idea is to use iron on vinyl (I found mine at a sewing machine store, but I've since seen it at Walmart) to laminate the candy wrapper. Then sew it into a pouch with a zipper across the long side.

Here's my first attempt:

Melted Vinyl and wrapper!

Good thing I was using a piece of fabric between the iron and the vinyl and then under the wrapper too! If a little heat is a good thing, more heat is better, right? Wrong!

The iron on vinyl makes the candy wrapper "fabric" sewable but like you are sewing vinyl (funny how that happens).

The hardest part of the project isn't ironing on the vinyl. It's actually turning the pouch right side out. Three of us completed (or attempted to) complete this project together. The Spree wrapper didn't make it past go. The Skittles wrapper attempt tore through the seam when turning right side out (too small), but the M&M wrapper made it to completion. The corners aren't nice and neat, but they are functional and the dog is still looking for the missing M&Ms!!

If you try this type of project here are my suggestions (learn from my mistakes):
 1. get the largest wrapper you can (it would make turning the project right side out easier)
 2. test out your ironing temp and duration on a scrap before using the real wrapper (more excuses to eat chocolate are always a good thing)
 3. don't consider this a beginner sewing project
 4. don't mentally consider this a fabric-like pouch, just pretend you are sewing a plastic pouch
 5. vinyl sticks to the sewing machine foot. I used tissue paper between my foot and my wrapper to solve this problem, but maybe putting tape on the bottom of the sewing machine foot would work as well? (anyone tried it?) Because I was using tissue paper I used small stitches so the paper would be nicely perforated and easy to tear off, but it also made the vinyl more perforated and easier to tear (bother).

Not so awesome results

So remember, not every awesome looking project will turn out awesome in real life, but have fun trying and remember that failure is an option and I'm not afraid to admit I failed on this project.

Awesome picture though! Thanks Katrina and Cotton for the pic.

Sew San Antonio - Virtual Fabric Shop Hop - Sew Special Quilts

Karla of Petite Chalet (home of super cute baby bibs and burp cloths - take a look and I know you'll agree) visited our third stop.

For our third stop on the Virtural Fabric Shop Hop, I visited Sew Special Quilts, and let me tell you, I think I’ve found my new favorite fabric store in San Antonio! From the moment I walked into the store I felt very welcomed. The staff was friendly, warm, and incredibly helpful. They are located at 5139 N. Loop 1604 West, Suite 110.

Sew Special Quilts is the perfect shop for quilters. They carry large amount of designer cotton fabric (perfect for quilting). Sew Special Quilts stock Michael Miller, Moda, and Riley Blake fabrics, just to name a few. Because they stock high quality fabrics, the prices are a bit higher than Joann’s, but they have a frequent buyers club program, that I think will help to make their prices more reasonable. The Frequent Buyers Club cost $20 a year, but you get 10% off your purchase every day, and on the 15^th of each month you get 20% off of your purchase. I joined the frequent buyers club when I visited, and I ended up saving the $20 that I spent on joining, so it has completely paid for itself already.

Sample of fabric offered at Sew Special Quilts:

• Cotton Fabrics
• Quilters Cotton
• Moda Solids
• Small selection of Flannel
• Batting
• Interfacing
• Cotton Apparel Fabric

 

Sample of Sewing and Quilting Accessories at Sew Special Quilts:

• Quilting Books
• Machine accessories for Bernina and Baby Lock Machines
• Scissors
• Quilting Gloves
• Stabilizers
• Rotary cutter
• Cutting Mat
• Rulers
• Zippers
• Thread
• Quilt patterns and other various patterns
• Precut fabric
  Fat quarters
  Jelly rolls
  Charm packs
  Mini charm packs
  Layer cakes
  Honeycomb
   
   
  Machines at Sew Special Quilts
• Bernina
• Baby Lock
• Sergers
• Embroidery machines

Classes at Sew Special Quilts

• Buy a Machine and you can attend free classes as many times as you wish, to learn your new machine.
• $5 quilt
  • Registration is $10 and with an additional $5.00 charge at your first class.
  • Meet once a month to collect your quilt kit and learn a new technique
  • Bring your completed quilt block to class the following month, and receive the next month’s kit free.
  • Class Starts in October and runs for 1 year.
  • At completion of the class you will have enough quilt blocks to construct a quilt top.
• Various classes
  • Embroidery
  • Serger Basics
  • Silhouette Cameo Cutter
  • Hand Applique
  • Bag Lady
  • Stitch ‘Till Midnight
• Visit their website for a schedule of classes available http://www.sewspecialsa.com/

 How to get a deal at Sew Special Quilts

• Shop their sale and clearance items
• Join the Frequent Buyers Club
  • Remember to shop on the 15^th for 20% off your purchase

 

My Favorite Features of Sew Special Quilts

• Very helpful and experienced employees
• Current and modern fabric choices
• Designer fabrics
  • I usually buy these fabrics online, but will be buying them from Sew Special Quilts using their Frequent Buyers Club.
• Variety of classes

Least Favorite Features of Sew Special Quilts

• Higher prices than Joann’s and Hobby Lobby
• Doesn’t have a variety of fabrics other than cotton fabrics
• They are only open until 6:00pm on Tuesday and Thursday, and 5:00 pm on Monday and Wednesday.

Thanks Karla for the amazing review. Be sure to check out Karla's fun and modern baby products. This one is my favorite at the moment (did I mention Karla's fun modern quilts too?). 

Sew San Antonio - Virtual Fabric Shop Hop - JoAnn Fabric

Welcome to the Sew San Antonio Virtual Fabric Shop Hop. I've teamed up with some local crafters to bring you a fabric store review every Friday (till we run out of stores).

If you're new to the area or new to sewing it's hard to know where to go for fabric sometimes.

We're starting with JoAnn Fabric. I have the most experience with this fabric store. (Disclaimer - a few years ago taught sewing classes at JoAnn. I am currently not affiliated with JoAnn in any way and I am not receiving any compensation for my time or opinions).

exterior shot - JoAnn fabric and crafts

 JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts is a national chain with two stores in the San Antonio area. According to my best guestimate (a quick survey of the large floor tile design) the store appears to be 50% fabric and 50% crafts. I won't even attempt to cover all the crafts!

JoAnn carries the widest variety of fabric in San Antonio - quilting fabrics of varying quality (see pic), home decor fabric, vinyl (great for protecting your table from youngsters), upholstery fabric and viny, silky fabrics, flannels, interfacing, burlap, fleece, etc.

different quality quilting fabric

Sample of the types of fabrics at JoAnn

• kona solids (great for quilting)
• fleece
• vinyl by the yard
• burlap
• formal wear type fabrics
• outdoor fabrics
• knit fabrics
• lace by the yard
• prequilted fabrics
• interfacing
• denim
• drapery fabric
• marine vinyl
• headliner (for cars - yep, really!)
• flannel
• licensed designs (Marvel, Disney, etc)
• batting
• special order interior design fabrics - samples in store



sample brand name quilting fabric - use coupon or sale!!

 Sample of Sewing and Quilting Accessories  at JoAnn

• quilting books
• quilting rulers
• small label quilting patterns
• block of the month kit (nationwide and rarely used)
• precuts (a few)
• fat quarters (precut and packaged - variable quality!)

• buttons
• zippers
• ribbon
• embroidery stabilizer

Machines at JoAnn

• Singer models
• no service available
• buy in box, no machine orientation or classes

Cricut at JoAnn

• Cricut brand machines (currently the Cricut Explorer) (if you're considering this machine you should really check out the Silhouette Cameo before making a decision - I own one and love it!) UPDATE - the silhouette cameo is now available at JoAnn!!
• Accu-Quilt - fabric die cutter

 Classes At JoAnn

Classroom at Bandera location

• taught by independent contractors or JoAnn employees
• "trend classes" are determined by local store
• classes in printed catalog are determined on a nationwide basis
• hand sewing/crafting classes for ages 5 and up
• classes with machines for ages 8 and up
• other crafting classes also available
• sewing machines available to use in sewing classes - just reserve one when you sign up for the class
• sewing and quilting classes are beginner to intermediate level, but I wouldn't consider any of the classes advanced

How to Get a Deal at JoAnn

• use coupons - JoAnn will accept competitor's coupons, and multiple coupons as long as they have different numbers on them (and aren't expired)
• sign up for the mailing list to get coupons in the mail and/or email
• bring in your Hobby Lobby coupon (usually a 40% off one item printable coupon every week)
• Hancock coupons are also accepted 
• visit the sales - I buy my flannel on Black Friday 
• buy remnants 50% off current sale price (so if something is 50% off from the bolt a remnant of that fabric would be 75% off) 

remnants

My Favorite Features of JoAnn

• I can get great deals by using sales and coupons.
• Variety of fabric
• And yes, I get stuck in the craft section frequently too!

My Least Favorite Features of JoAnn

• cotton quilting fabric and especially the fat quarters are sometimes low quality (especially hard to tell with the fat quarters because of they way they are folded onto a cardboard)
• fabric may not be cut straight on the bolt (employees use scissors not rotary cutter)
• take a ticket system (but my kids love taking a ticket)
• the lines - on sale days this is especially bad

So there you have it - my lengthy review of JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts. What would you add? What would you respectfully disagree with?  Come back next Friday for another fabric store review!

A Pin Worthy Pin Cushion

In the summer I will be teaching an adult begin to sew class at a local fabric store. The first project is a simple pincushion. I wanted to make a sample, but of course I couldn't just make a boring pin cushion. ................

Presenting the Pin Worthy Pin Cushion (feel free to pin it ;)

6x6 black duck canvas with heat transfer vinyl cut on the silhouette cameo (siser metallic red)

Future Missionary Scripture Tote

Zeeboy had a big birthday and made the decision to follow Christ by being baptized. That is a big deal in our family. One of our traditions is to give the kids their own set of scriptures when they are baptized. Of course scriptures need a suitable scripture tote. Zeeboy requested white and I honored that request even though I know white gets dirty.

I used a full size white canvas tote bag like the ones from my etsy shop. I had an oops bag that I cut down and resewed into a smaller scripture tote size. My craigslist serger made the project quick and easy.

Then I decorated it with heat transfer vinyl. I really like the final product and so does Zeeboy.

Bike Leg Bands / Straps - DIY

I like to bike. I like to bike with my friend Mike. (Oops, I guess I've been reading too much Dr. Seuss.)

Actually it's more like this: I like to bike. I like to bike with my daughter BellBell. Except she doesn't push me up the hills. She sits in her comfy trailer and adds resistance to my work outs.

So one random day for no reason other than I could (true story) I decided to make bike leg bands for my biking gang. What, you didn't know I joined a gang? Well, I did. And now you're wondering what leg straps are for? It's so your pants don't get caught in your bike chain and put holes in your pants. I speak from experience unfortunately.

I already had a pair that belong to my husband (who generously lets me use his bike and his leg straps since I don't have my own). I used it as an example. It's the one with a reflective stripe on it. I didn't happen to have any reflective stripe stuff in my craft supplies (who does?) so I did without. I did happen to have lots of unused webbing. Some was nylon and some was something else, but it was all 1" wide. I bought it to make handles for tote bags, but never got around to that project.

Here's what you need to make your own bike leg straps:
  29" of 1" wide webbing (color of your choice)
  11" of 3/4" wide sew on velcro (none of that sticky backed stuff)

Steps:

1. Cut two pieces of webbing 14.5" long (I didn't pick a random number that's how long the "professional" straps are).
2. Using a red hot stove burner (or a match), slightly melt the ends of the webbing so it won't unravel.
3. Cut two pieces of loopy velcro 5" long.
4. Sew loopy velcro onto outside of leg band.
5. Cut two pieces of hook (the rough stuff) velcro 3" long.
6. Sew the hook velcro on to the inside of the leg band.
7. Done!!! I made 6 sets in part of one morning. A really quick and satisfying project.

My other tip for pants safe biking would be to replace your bike seat before the suddenly exposed staple snags your pants and puts a hole in your seat. Yep, experience is a hard teacher sometimes.

Sewing Lesson Fun

Monsters with teeth and pocket mouths!

First time sewing! Notice the "stool" so he can reach the pedal.

Vinyl lettering on the penants - it's not cheating - it's SMART crafting!

Apparently even kindergarten students can sew on buttons.

Southpaw Crafts is offering sewing lessons for ages 7 and up starting in October (contact me if you live in San Antonio and are interested). As I've prepared the curriculum my own children have been my pattern/project testers. I've been very pleasantly surprised at how well they do. Once I told the boys they could use the sewing machine (with close supervision of course) they were super excited to make monsters and penant banners to personalize their room. (They have bunk beds so yes that is my ceiling you see in the picture. Don't look too close because cutting in paint lines isn't my area of expertise.)

Minecraft inspired Blanket Twin Size DIY edition

A friend contacted me about doing some custom bedding for a minecraft fanatic. Here's what I've been working on. Now for binding! Then on to the throw pillow covers.  Anyone interested in instructions? Leave a comment if you are.

Car Carrier Book - Quasi Tutorial

Welcome to my garage tutorial - garage for your matchbox and hot wheels that is.

Supplies Needed:

1/2 yard fabric (this one says exclusive of JoAnn's so try there if you want the awesome road fabric)
1 - plastic canvas 12" x 18"
1 - scrap of batting or piece of fleece 13" x 18"
1" wide elastic (I used fold over elastic but regular would work too)
velcro

1. Cut:
2 - 13" by 1/2 yard wide (18"). I didn't prewash but you can if you like.
2 - 3 1/4" by 18" pieces for handles
1 - 13" x 18" piece of batting.

2. Take one piece of fabric and measure 2" and 6" from 13" side (not 2 1/2" and 6 1/2" as shown in the picture). This is where you pin the elastic. Fabric is folded in half to 13" x 9 in picture.

3. Use 1 7/8" loops (I did 2" and the cars tend to slide out). It is 1 1/2" from one lane to the next lane so pin the 1 7/8" loops 1 1/2" apart. Got it? Good. Go ahead and sew the elastic down.

4. Fold handle pieces in half length wise right sides together. Sew and turn right side out. Iron. Decide that 18" in too long and chop 5" off (or read the quasi tutorial all the way through before starting and just cut 3 1/4" by 13" pieces for handles instead).

5. Cut the plastic canvas into three pieces: 2 - 7 7/8" by 11 1/2", and one 1" x 11 1/2" piece for the spine.

6. Stack your hot wheels book sandwich. Batting down first, then fabric (right side up). Next pin the handles to the ends with the handles going in (as pictured). Then other side of fabric (right side down - so right sides are facing). Pin.

7. Sew. Leave approximately 8" opening on long side for inserting plastic canvas later.

8. Clip corners and turn right side out. Next iron on a title page if you just happen to feel like it.

9. Adjust plastic canvas to fit (if necessary). Insert one side and sew next to spine. Insert plastic canvas spine and sew.

10. Sew opening shut. Sew velcro on handles (and wish you did that before sewing the sandwich together).

Presto - BOOK Oh!

Sharing space in the garage here:

http://clippiedips.blogspot.com/2013/04/time-for-you-tuesday-9.html

Sew What? - Retro Mending Kit

Believe it or not, occasionally the local lefty takes to scissors and cloth. We'll call this "Variations on a 1950s Travel Sewing Kit." Allow me to introduce the 1950s design:

image source

Now allow me to introduce the polka dot clad Variation #1: Retro Mending Kit.

 See the inside! How cute! Room for small scissors, pins, needles, and even some thread. Perfect for on the go or just for a needle holder. I always lost my needles till I started using one of these cuties.

 Variation #2: Retro Inspired Heart Mending Kit. Ahhh, the possibilities! I admit to having toooo much fun folding paper this way and that way imagining the different shapes I could make with the same fun fold out features. It's like origami with fabric!

 Felt lined sewing kit.

 And the hardest part was finding small thread snipping scissors at a reasonable price. I finally found this set at the dollar spot of a big chain with a red circle logo. Later I found similar kits at the dollar store.