fabric Archives - Page 22 of 23

DIY Anthropologie Flamenco Shower Curtain in Sunshine

April 7, 2011 By Taylor 61 Comments

Best Shower Curtain Ever

I have been eyeing these from Anthropologie for years…

But I have some problems:
#1 I don’t want to spend $118.00 on a shower curtain
#2 Those colors don’t match my room

So what is a girl to do… how about make one. And I call mine “Sunshine”. Anthropologie’s Shower Curtain has ten “panels” of descending color. I could only find nine fabrics that I thought really worked so mine has nine. Also, please don’t judge me on the TERRIBLE photos in this tutorial, my bathroom has no windows and it was a rainy day! That’s why I named her Sunshine.

What you need:
– 9 yards of solid fabric in a monochromatic color palate; light to dark
– light colored shower curtain to cover
– sewing machine
– serger (optional but makes it 10x easier)

Wash and iron all of your fabric

I am going to call each color a “panel”. So, each panel needs to be 88″ x 14″. Most fabric is either 44″ or 60″ wide. I was at Hobby Lobby and I found broadcloth in a bunch of colors that were 44″ wide. So that is why the panels are 88″ long. Cut your yards in half with the selvages on the short ends. Do this to all of the panels. (This is the longest & most boring part)

Now each panel has two sides, a top and a bottom. Serge the bottom of every panel.

Now it is time for ruffles and who doesn’t love a good ruffle? I used my serger to make them, and here were my settings, (click to make it larger). Do this to every panel. You will have to play around with your settings. The panels should now measure 71″ wide. If they are too long that is ok, you can “ruffle” them more when you sew them on to the shower curtain. If they are too short, you will have to pull the ruffle out a little.

Now we will sew the panels on to the shower curtain. You could just make one yourself out of solid fabric. The dimensions of a regular shower curtain are 71″ x 71″. Start with the very bottom panel and lay it down so that the bottom of the ruffle comes about an inch past the bottom of the shower curtain and pin it down. Sew this panel on. (These pictures make me cringe)

Now do the same with the top panel. Start the ruffle just under the holes in the shower curtain.

Now here are my lovely math skills… I’m sure there is a better way to do this but I like to eyeball. I measured from the “sew line” of the top panel to the “sew line” of the bottom panel and cut that number in half.

For example: The distance between my two sew lines was 60″. So half of that is 30″ so I marked 30″ with a pencil on the edge of the shower curtain and that was the middle. That is where I sewed my middle panel. Be sure NOT to measure from the bottom of the ruffle and measure from the actual sew line. Also maybe number your panels in order so to not confuse them.

You will continue with this method until you have added all of the panels. So again, measure from the middle panel’s sew line to the bottom’s sew line and mark halfway then sew that panel there.

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Spring Clutch

March 30, 2011 By Taylor 14 Comments

Have you ever bought something that came in a fabric bag that you liked and you couldn’t throw the bag away? Because this happens to me all the time. I have a little fabric bag collection going from shoes, sheets and even my Moby Wrap. If you have no clue what I’m talking about here is a picture…

My Mom bought an amazing duvet cover from Pottery Barn a few years ago and it came in this bag… I had to have it. I knew it would come in “craft-project-handy” one day and I was right. It only took me about 30 minutes to make because it was already halfway done for me.

Take out the drawstring and sew up the top.

Fold the bag into itself, take the top that you just sewed shut and make that new bottom. Make sure the two layers are completely touching.

Now sew a line around what is now the top of the bag. This will make it easier to sew the zipper on. I added one of my fabric labels.

Now add the zipper. I bought these zippers from an Etsy shop last week and I love them! They were much cheaper than in a craft store and even came with a zipper pull, it was hard to choose a color with this fabric.

Start with one side of your bag. Now- I know making a traditional zipper pouch would hide your zipper, but first of all I don’t mind the exposed zipper and secondly this way is much quicker. I am big on free time these days so I dont waste it! Pin one side of your zipper to the inside of one side of the pouch.

(outside view)

My zipper was 14″ and my bag was about 12″ so I needed to make my zipper shorter. It is easy, just pick the place where you want your zipper to end and handstitch about 5-6 times around the zipper. You can actually cut the zipper after you do this, but I just tucked mine into the bag.

Sew this first side using your zipper foot if you have one. Tip: move the zipper around when you are sewing so that you dont have to sew around the actual zipper and your line will look uniform.

Do the same thing on the other side. Pin your zipper and sew. You will want the zipper to be open to sew this side.

There are you have it, it literally too me longer to write this post. Also, I feel good about actually crafting somthing out of this “free” fabric!

Husband Valet

February 27, 2011 By Taylor 19 Comments

Ok I know I am a little late posting my husband’s Vday present but I have been busy. I did actually give it to him on Valentine’s Day, just now posting it however. Better late than never and not only that but you could make this for any occasion. I had more exciting plans but as I have mentioned, little Clyde had plans of his own :) So we decided to just make each other something. I got a really sweet acrostic sign with my name, so cute! So here is what Bryan got; the Husband Valet. I wanted to give him a place to put all of his “stuff” (seriously guys should have to carry purses too!).

You need a 1/2 of felt, a piece of cross stitch plastic, some regular thread and embroidery thread

Start with the cross stitch plastic. Cut it into 5 pieces, the bottom of the valet, and the 4 sides. Here are my dimensions:

Next, you need to cut a piece of felt out for the top and bottom of each piece. Cut each with extra felt because you will be sewing around the plastic inside so you will need the extra fabric. I started with the bottom – for the sides I folded the felt over so it was less cutting for me. Also on the bottom piece, I personalized the inside with a little embroidered heart. That is optional but definitely do it before sewing because it will be too thick with the plastic inside.

Layer all of the pieces together (felt-plastic-felt) and pin them together to get ready to be sewn. Pin them as close to the piece of plastic as you can. You will sew right along the edge of the plastic.

It doesn’t matter if the edges aren’t straight on the fabric for this step because they will be trimmed later. Now sew the plastic sandwich together. Remember as close to the plastic as you can get your needle!

All of your pieces are done, now you have to hand sew them together with embroidery thread. Trim each piece so that there is only about 1/4″ of fabric on the edge. Use that 1/4″ to sew the valet together. I started with the long sides to the bottom then the short sides to the bottom. Then I sewed the sides together last.

There you have the husband valet, which my husband actually uses by the way!

Fabric Labels

February 4, 2011 By Taylor 8 Comments

Fabric labels oh Fabric Labels…. I have been online researching these babies for months! Finally I found a good (cheap) solution, a tutorial to make my own. This idea is genius!

Laurraine from Patchwork Pottery has the whole tutorial on her blog here. She has a ton of other great stuff too, so you have to check it out. They were really simple to make and I love the way they look on the twill tape. Also, I didn’t spend a fortune which is always a plus! I made 1/2″ and 1″ labels. I have already made a few bibs and added labels to the back, I feel so professional now hehe :)

In other exciting news, I think I am going to buy a serger soon! I think I am going to get this one… any thoughts, opinions, reviews??