Tonight's Mess

LABELS!!!!.  Tonight I made labels for all the goodies I make.   I used interfaced weaver cloth, StazOn Ink Pad: Jet Black, and small letter stamps.  It was fun to making different shapes with different colors.  Too bad my pinking shears are dull,  it would be fun to use those for the edges.

I made a not so perfect circle by tracing around a small lid right on the fabric. Then carefully sewed inside the circle using an embroidery foot.  Then cut, pressed and stamped.

TGIF!  I am getting out of here!

Tea Time

I plan to use blue bias tape to liven this fabric combo up a bit. I have tried and tried to find a match but each shade of blue was off in one way or another.  I had no luck finding the right color bias tape or the the right color fabric in order to make my own bias tape.  So, I decided to take matters into my own hands.
         I bought prepared bias tape in a bright blue color brought it home and tea stained it.

I put the bias tape in hot tea then rinsed when I had the color I liked.  You can also use coffee if you need a darker stain.  I practiced a lot on small pieces until I had the time and rinse down pat for the color of my

choice. I then stained it all and rinsed it in cold water.

I ironed it back to shape while wet.

Here is how the tea stained bias tape looks sewn on the fabric and below is the original blue.  This really worked well to tone down the color and get a good match.  All this tea talk makes me thirsty for a Long Island ice tea. Yum.

Fabric, Fabric, Fabric

Yes! I finally found a place to buy fabric with a huge variety and great prices.  The swap meet in National City, California has so much to choose from.  The bolts of fabric come from the Garment District in Los Angeles, which include the most lasted of colors.  The selection is unbelievable and the prices are amazing.  The selection includes stretch knits, sheers, suiting fabrics, stretch lace, stretch lace trim, lace trim, beaded trim, every type and color of elastic, zippers etc.  All the fabric is from today's fashions and the price trend is 99¢ per yard and about a quarter less for the trims.

I bought suiting fabric, stretch lace, burnout stretch fabric and striped stretch fabric.  I can't wait to start sewing with it.  The prices are so great that I plan on making curtains for the whole house.   If you are ever in the San Diego area, this is the place to go!

Ironing Boring Cover

Before I could start making any fun, new projects I had to take care of this nasty mess.
I bought this high-end ironing board cover about 3 months ago and it's trashed, so I decided that I would have to make my own in order to get any kind of quality cover.  Boring!

Here's how I did it. 
1) Choose 2 yards of a thick cotton fabric.  I found my fabric at a thrift store, one big, flat bed-sheet.  Great color, great quality and best of all, super cheap!

2) I then traced the ironing board by turning it upside on the fabric.  Then made the cut lines 4 inches wider from the original traced lines.  I cut out two of these pieces and stitched them together to get extra thickness.

3) Cut out a top piece that looks like the picture below. Measure is 4 inches long as if your were to cut the top of the board piece off.  Notice, the pieces are not ironed, kind of irononic to iron an ironing board cover. LOL

                                                                                

4)  Time to sew!  Use a strong stitch throughout this project.  I used a strait/zigzag combo stitch. Sew the large top portion to the small top portion then turn the seam in.

5) Then fold the edges in about 1  1/2 inch, leaving room to thread in cording or elastic. Now sew all the way around.  Leave an unsewn gap at the bottom,  enough room to insert and tie off elastic or cording.

6)  Now thread the elastic or cording around the whole cover.  You will need about 4 yards.

7)  Time to put on the finished cover. Yeah!!!!  I left the old cover on because I liked it's padding.
Project time = 30 minutes

Tip
Before putting on your new cover, cover the ironing board with aluminum foil,  this helps to conduct more heat and prevents the metal board from leaving rust stains on clothes.

 Isn't she pretty