Hooded Bath Towel

My wonderful sister-in-law taught me how to make these fabulous hooded bath towels.  I have made them for my children and quite often for baby shower gifts.  They are fun and easy!

You will need - 

a full size towel

a hand towel the same color as the big towel

ribbon  - if you want to, not required 

thread to match towel

Ok so to start you will need to cut the hand towel in half.  You will only need half of it for one towel so I buy two of the same big towels and have one for the next time I need one.

Next I cut ribbon to the length needed to go across the hand towel.  You can have it wrap under the towel but it is hard to stitch it at the edges so I just turn it under on the front close tot he sides.  The edges will be covered when it is all done.  Sew the ribbon on, it is up to you where you put it on the towel.  I have used satin ribbon before and that is a lot harder to control, I prefer grosgrain ribbon.  I really like the look on 2 inch ribbon but only had on inch for this towel.  

Then I fold the finished edge of the hand towel under and sew along this edge.  You want to make sure that it doesn't overlap your ribbon so you don't have a stitch going through your cute ribbon.

Now fold the hand towel part in half so the ribbon is facing each other.  You are going to sew down the back, the cut part, of the hand towel.  Where you sew this will affect how deep the "hood" of your towel is.  You can adjust this to fit your child.  I usually sew in about an inch and a half from the cut edge.  This can vary depending on how long your hand towel was to start with.

Can you see my stitch?  After it is sewn I cut off the top corner so it will turn under nicely.

Tah Dah...the "hood".

Now to attach it to the towel.  Find the middle of the towel and lay the hood open to find it's middle.

Pin the two pieces together like so.

It should look like this when pinned.  Sew them together.  This is hard because of the thickness so have a strong needle.  I have broken several by not having strong ones.

The completed towel.  

I hope you understood this tutorial and I hope you try to make a hooded towel.  

They really are a lot of fun to make.

How to love your tablecloths, again

I quite like tablecloths.  There are some very pretty, cute & sassy & classy looking tablecloths out there.  So my problem isn't with the tablecloth itself.  It's with what happens once that cute & sassy tablecloth lands on my table.  They get bunched up, they get pulled all to one side, they end up laying all caddy wompis on my table & I HATE that!  So I stopped using them many, many years ago.  Unless of course there was some fun & fancy function at my house.  Then I dealt with it for a few hours, giving it the evil eye the whole time.  Until now.  I have a great solution for all those tablecloth headaches. I'm telling you ladies this is so fabulous & it makes me smile just typing about it.  Now to give credit where credit is due this is my mother-in-laws fabulous idea, not mine.

Ok, grab that tablecloth & lay it on the table. 

Then measure all the sides to make sure everything is even.

 Then pinch the corner right up against the table & pin in a vertical line.  Then sew right along where the pins are.  In a vertical 3 inch line.  Am I making sense?

 The stitch line is to the very left of the blue tape.  I did such a good job matching my thread that you can't see the stitch - yay for me!  (Yes this is a different tablecloth.  I realized I should have a picture showing the stitch & used the tablecloth currently on my table)

And VOILA!  Your tablecloth not only will look lovely but will stay put.  And that ladies is a wonderful thing!

Hair bow organizer tutorial

I have seen many of these things here & there.  But none really appealed to me.  I didn't want to paint, no wood involved & cheap & easy PLEASE.  So here is what I came up with.

 36" of 1 1/2" wide ribbon, 1 - 1 1/2" "D" ring, and the felt & button are optional.

 Wrap the ribbon under & over the flat side of the "D" hook & pin.

 Stitch across to secure the "D" ring there.  You can call it good & go hang it up & use it.  But I wanted to cute-ify mine, just a teeny bit.

I gave myself 30 minutes from start to finish for this project so I had a washer laying on my craft table & decided to trace that.  No time to look for another circle object to trace.

 I opted to cut it out with my new pinking sheers.  Why have I not had a pair of these ever before?!

 This is where I was in debate.....I decided to stitch the button on with green thread.  I should have taken the 2 minutes & gotten the embroidery floss out, I think that would have been chunkier & cutier.  Too late!  So after stitching it on I hot glued it to the ribbon up by the "D" ring.

 I ran the bottom of the ribbon across the flame to finish the edge

 Voila!

Much better than what I had before!

Elastic Zebra Scarf Tutorial

While at Disneyland last week I was inspired by a cute scarf they had for sale.  Their scarf was flannel & had 3 elastic stitches (length wise).  Simple, right?  So here's my version.

Ok let's get started......

I opted for a sheer zebra print that was kinda fuzzy.  Fabulously fun fabric is a must have!

I cut it 16" wide & 94" long.  I know it seems really long but the elastic will shrink it & maybe you want longer scarves to wrap around your neck a few times, or ten times (so it seems) in my case.

lay it right side up & fold one side in 4 1/4 inches.  Like so.  Fold the other side in, overlapping about 1/4 of an inch.  Then pin the bottom (short end).  With regular thread stitch a 1/2" seam.  What we're going to do is make nice edges once it's turned right side out.  Do the other end of the scarf.  Make sure the same side is the overlapper on both bottoms of the scarf.

You still with me?

Here's what it should look like after making your straight (non-elastic) stitch & before turning it right side out.  Ok, now turn it right side out & your going to pin the flaps closed.

You can barely see my yellow pin, but it's there.  Make sure & keep the 1/4" overlap so that when you sew right down the middle it closes up.

All pinned & ready to sew!  Like I said straight down the seam to close it up. 

Now let me talk a little about elastic thread.  I was a little intimidated & rightfully so.  I still don't have it perfected but let me tell you what I learned.  First off the elastic thread goes in the bobbin ONLY.  Very important (hence the bold letters).  I have been told to hand-wind the bobbin, so I did.  But wasn't happy, no gathering.  So I wound it like any other thread & what do you know.  I think it really depends on your machine.  I know & I hate to say it but..... it's a trial & error kinda thing. 

Here's what mine looked like after the first sew down.  Not hoe down, don't wander here, we're not quite done!

I wanted more ruffliness (I think I invented a word).  So I set my machine for longer stitches & did a second sew down the scarf.  Much better.

So what did we learn?  Maybe it needs 2 stitches or maybe the longer stitches are what did the trick.  Hmmmm, we may never know until I do the flannel one.  Which are my plans, I think.....soon.....maybe.

Let's look at it one more time, just because we can!

I've never seen my door knob look better, truly

Trick or treat bags

All those who are tired of those cheap $1 plastic trick or treat bags that break, Say "I".  Alright, alright, I hear you loud & clear. 

Let's do something about it.......



Cute, right?!  Obviously these are customized for this year's costumes: Jessie, Bo Peep, Woody & Buzz.  No, I did not force the Toy Story theme on the kiddos.  Well actually Diablo (my sweet 2 year old) is wearing a hand me down Buzz but other than that my hands are clean - I swear. 

Back to business.

I found the tutorial here but I did make a few changes. 

Buzz is the measurements stated on the tutorial.  I found it to be a tad small so the other 3 are 2" wider & the handle 2" longer.  Woody & Buzz are appliques.  The Jessie one I stitched the spots on to the black felt before sewing.

Have fun with this one!