DIY pencil cup

A quick little pencil cup I made this weekend to satisfy a crafty urge:

Wash out an empty soup can and measure the height and circumference. (If you don't have a tape measure, just use a strip of paper and mark off the measurements on it.) Cut out a rectangle of felt to those dimensions. Be precise so that the ends of the felt will butt up together but not overlap when wrapped around the can.

Cut shapes into your felt; then cut coordinating fabric patches that will peek through your holes. Stick the scraps to the back side of your felt. (The felt should be fuzzy enough to hold them there temporarily.) Spray some adhesive onto your can and wrap it with the felt piece, taking care to match your seam nicely in the back. Fill with pencils. All done.

30 Days of Gifts to Sew

The folks over at Sew, Mama, Sew! have compiled "100 of the best sewing tutorials on the web" and will feature a couple each day during the month of November. And November starts today! So go have a look and see if you get inspired to make your own gifts this year. To view the schedule for the month, click here.

How to make fabric panel wall art

Here's how to make a giant piece of wall art for your room.

Choose some fabric with a large-scale pattern. Go to your local art supply store and buy 4 lengths of wood frame made for stretching canvas. The wood strips have corners designed to interlock. (Or you can cover an existing blank stretched canvas, but it will get pricey if you go very big.)

At my local art store the wood strips were standing in bins, available in lengths all the way from super short to too long to manage. I bought 2 each of 50" and 34." Each piece was just a couple bucks. Push the corners together, pounding them with a hammer if needed. Cut your fabric to a size somewhat larger than your frame; you'll need enough to wrap around to the back. Iron the fabric; wrinkles will show!

Position your fabric the way you like it and use a staple gun to tack it down. I stapled along a long edge, then did the opposite side, pulling it very tight. Next do the short sides, one at a time. Trim off any extra fabric that hangs past the inner edges of the frame. To finish the corners, tuck in the extra fabric as if you're wrapping a present and then staple it down. It doesn't matter how you do it as long as it looks tidy from the front. The art store gave me a wooden tool to help with this, but it's not essential. Attach a picture hanger (or maybe two if your panel is large) and hang.

This fabric is Pernilla from Ikea, now discontinued.

More bookmarks

A few more paper-and-fabric bookmarks I've made. Quite fun to slip into letters and cards to mail to friends. For the how-to details, see here.

On a somewhat related note, I've (perhaps temporarily) lost interest in putting things in my Etsy shop, since the listing and mailing eats up a lot of time. Maybe I'll resurrect it later, who knows?

Vintage fabric wall art

Here's a framed, bigger version of the bookmarks I made. Same instructions to make these: Use Canson self-adhesive paper (Blick stores are the only place I know to find it, where it's on clearance because they bought out another retailer and are trying to get rid of it). Cut shapes in it with an X-acto knife. Peel off the backing, place fabric pieces over the windows you cut, and stick on a second sheet to cover the back. Put it in a frame.

Bookmarks with vintage fabric

There's a stack of mystery novels from the library on my coffee table, and I decided it would make me happy to have a cute bookmark to use when reading them. But dragging out all the craft stuff wasn't worth it for just one, and all of grandma's fabric scraps were so lovely that I had to make MORE. So I did a bunch and tossed them into the etsy shop.

To make some like this: Use that super-sticky archival Canson self-adhesive paper and cut shapes in it with an X-acto knife. Peel off the backing, stick fabric pieces on to cover the windows you cut, and adhere a second sheet to form the back. Rounding the corners finishes it off.

[Note: Blick stores are the only place I know to get this self-adhesive Canson paper where it's on clearance because they bought out another retailer and are trying to get rid of it. So if you have a Blick near you, go there and buy some pronto. If not, you could try using either regular Canson paper, available in almost every art store, with some spray adhesive or a glue stick, or find other self-adhesive paper. I've seen little books of self-adhesive solid color cardstock at Walmart or Target—one of those big retailers; I forget which one.]

Easy felt magnets

Here are some quick little magnets you can whip up. Cut out bits of felt into shapes you like (I did them freehand—I think it gives them more personality than drawing on them first and making them too perfect) and then glue the layers on top of each other with craft glue. Make sure the bottom leaf layer is big enough underneath for your magnet to sit fully on it. Stick the magnet on with hot glue.

Tiny pincushion tutorial

My friend Megumi (click the link and there she is, on the left, looking gorgeous) mailed me three of these adorable little pincushions for my birthday. I was so delighted with them that I asked her if I could post instructions for making some here. She agreed. Maybe she makes them differently (and definitely with better craftsmanship!), but here's what I ended up doing.

You'll need:
• A bottle cap from a 2-liter pop bottle, or something with a larger diameter if you like, depending on what size cushion you want. It should be about 1/2" to 3/4" deep.
• Pretty fabric
• Coordinating felt
• Coordinating ribbon that's wide enough to hide the sides of your cap
• Stuffing, batting or cotton balls (I stole some stuffing out of a pillow on my couch)
• Needle and thread
• Scissors
• Glue (I used craft glue and a hot glue gun.)

1. Cut a felt circle the same diameter as your cap and glue it on (I used gel craft glue).
2. Cut your pretty fabric into a circle. For the 2-liter bottle cap size, make a circle that's about 3 1/2" in diameter. Add a little more for a bigger cap. It's not too fussy.
3. Stitch in and out around the circle to gather it, making a bowl shape.

4. Put as much stuffing into it as you can possibly fit, and tie off your thread. If some stuffing sticks out, no problem.
5. Put some hot glue around the inside edges of your cap and nestle your little stuffed pillow into it, smooshing it down tightly.

6. Glue decorative ribbon around the cap to hide the ugly sides. Done.

Spiffed up onesies

These are the results of a recent baby gift-making session. My first time to applique something. Here's how I did it, in case you want to do it, too. But I bet there are lots of really good tutorials out there somewhere if you need step-by-step pictures.
1. I walked up to the cutting counter at Joann fabrics and asked for something that would let me iron one fabric onto another and make it stick there. They stared at me blankly for a moment, then gave me a chunk of Heat 'n' Bond.
2. I kept the Heat 'n' Bond under my bed for 5 months. (This step is optional.)
3. I washed the onesies. And dried them, too.
4. I roughly cut out a small piece of pretty fabric containing the design I wanted, and a smaller-yet piece of HNB that would fit under the design, then ironed the HNB onto the fabric chunk, following the directions that came with it.
5. I cut out the shape I wanted.
6. I pulled off the paper backing, positioned it on my garment, and ironed it on.
7. I zigzagged around the edges with my machine. Done.

How to make decorative thumbtacks

A few people have emailed asking how to make the little fabric-covered tacks I posted previously. See step-by-step photos below, going from left to right.

Start with a pack of "Wedding Gown Size" (size 20, 1/2") metal buttons to cover (available at fabric stores for about $1.50). Pull the loops off all the button backing pieces with a pliers or wire cutter. Cut your fabric scraps into circles slightly larger than a quarter, or use the circle template printed on the back of your button package. (Since the edges get tucked in under the metal backing, you don't have to be a careful cutter.)

Following the package directions, use the "pusher" tool that came in the pack to cover your buttons with fabric. This step is easy and the most fun! Then use a generous amount of hot glue to attach a tack to the back of your button. A standard tack should fit perfectly. Your cork board will thank you.

UPDATE: You can buy buttons to cover that have flat backs so you don't have to yank off the wire loops! I didn't know this when I made mine. Shoot. Could have saved myself some work. (Update to the update: that link is expired now, but I bet you can find them elsewhere.)

Fruity button napkins

My cool downstairs neighbor Elizabeth suggested we embark on a project she saw on TV: embroidered napkins. So we gathered our supplies and set to work, only to discover that neither of us knows how to embroider. After great confusion, here's my first attempt. Which only took... 2 hours? Don't laugh. I followed stitch directions I found online here, but decided I liked the stitching on the underside of my fabric more than I liked the stitching on top. So I ripped it out and figured out how to do the stitch "upside down." All you embroiderers out there will probably scoff, but I don't care. I'm happy with it. Now I only have 3 more napkins to go. Sigh. We hope to be done by Christmas.

Painted curtains

These are the curtains in my home office: cheap white Target panels I decorated with fabric paint. This is an easy way to make yourself some custom curtains you can be sure no one else has.

More framed fabric

Here's more fabric I framed awhile ago for our guest bedroom. It's from Japan, too, from Megumi's mom's secret stash. Does anyone know any online shops or stores in Chicago that offer unique fabric with graphic prints (that I haven't listed already at the left)? I'm always hunting...

Baby stuff to make

Some people near and dear to me are pregnant right now, which has inspired me to look for baby project tutorials:
Fleece hats from Martha Stewart (maybe for some bigger babies)
Booties from Heather Bailey
More booties from Martha
Still more booties from Star Dust Shoes
Ribbon pillows for a kid's room from JCaroline Creative
Onesies decorated using freezer paper stencils from Unwind
Baby kimonos from Martha
Appliqued bibs from JoAnn
Plush bunnies from Wee Wonderfuls
Night lights from Martha

Nursery decor

These will be a gift for my brother and sister-in-law, who are having a baby any second. The fun stick-figure houses and stylized tree fabric came from Megumi. She found it somewhere in Tokyo in a dollar bin, and it's so cute I decided to frame it.