Tutorial: Cozy Coffee Cozy!

Hey Hey!! Happy Turkey Coma Day!! (Thanksgiving)
So here is the second installment in Tutorials. Today I am going to show you how to make a Reusable Coffee Cozy; these are so much cuter than the bulk cardboard one's they hand out at your local coffee house and very easy to make. So here we go :
Materials:
5 - 2x3" rectangles of any color fabric (prints or solids) for applique letters
1 - 12" square OR 2- 6x12" rectangles main body fabric
1 - 6x12" rectangle cotton batting
1 - Elastic hairband (not to thick)
1 - 7/8" Diameter button (I used three buttons of varying sizes because that is what my little sister wanted.
Elmer's Glue Stick

Step One:
              Choose your fabrics. For this Cozy I chose a Classy brown print and a Fun brown print. Cassy is front, Fun is back.   I also chose three buttons and found an elastic hair tie.

Step Two:

Cut out your pattern. I was fresh out of the thin brown pattern paper I am used to using so I just went ahead and grabbed some wax paper (which I liked using a lot more). This ended up working much better than the really thin pattern paper I usually use because the wax paper was a bit thicker and therefore did not tear if you happened to look at it wrong.

(If you would like a copy of this pattern shoot me a comment and I'll scan and email the pattern for you )
Now like pattern paper place the wax paper pattern on top of your main body fabric (right sides together) and batting . Cut. Do the same for the letters.

Step 3:

Pin the 3/ layered main body you just cut and sew. using a half inch seam allowance. Leaving  2 1/2 inches at the bottom un sewn for turning.

 

 Now before turning clip around the edges close to but not to the seam like shown below, this will make for a prettier, nicer turn. 

 Turn and use a pencil or chop stick to poke and  smooth the edges.

Now whip stitch or hidden stitch the opening closed.

Step 4:

Use your glue stick on the back of your letters to keep them in place during the applique process and to keep from having to use pesky straight pins.

When attaching the letters use the zig-zag stitch, making sure the stitch catches the letter and the stabilizing main body fabric.
When all letters have been attached change your stitch back to a straight stitch and stitch 1/8" around the out side of the Cozy. When you make it around to the edge with "K" Place your elastic hair tie at the edge like you see below and stitch over it a few times to secure it in place and continue sewing around till you reach back to your starting point.

Step 5:

Now we are almost done! Time for the buttons. That is simple enough right??? Any questions just post in the comments!!!

Extras:

 Add a personalized label to add a cute and sentimental feel

Tutorial: Drawstring Backpack w/ Pocket

Hey hey. Last night I was unable to sleep so I decided to make a bag. And from this bag a tutorial. So I snapped some pictures and took notes as I walked my way through making the ever handy drawstring backpack. No generally we see these in Nylon or some other water proof/resistant type material....Well this was 3am in the morning and Jo-Ann's was closed so I made due with some Batiks from my stash. It made a really nice bag I must say. So on to the Bag making!!!



Step 1: Cut two  17 1/2" by 15" inch pieces of your main fabric. Then, cut one 8 1/2" by 7" inch square from your pocket fabric. For the last piece, cut four strips of fabric that are 2 1/4" inches wide and 34" inches long. You should end up with this:

 The pocket is in light blue, main is gray, Straps are black/gray.

Step 2: Put two of the four long strap pieces right sides together, and sew a 1/4” seam along the short edge. Repeat for the remaining two strap pieces.

 

Press open the seam

Step 3: Now, press down 1/4" inch along both long edges of the strap you just sewed. Then press this long strap in half length-wise And sew along the length. Your strap is now finished...onto the pocket

Step 4:  Press 1/2" down on all sides of the 8"x7 1/2" pocket piece. Press down another half inch along the top 7 1/2" inch edge of the pocket. Stitch down the double edged seam. Your pocket is now ready to be sewn onto the main body of your bag.

Step 5: Pin the pocket onto the bag. Place the bottom of the pocket 3" inches above the bottom of the bag piece, and 4" inches from either side. Then stitch along the two edges and bottom, leaving the top edge with the seam open. Now onto sewing up the main body of your bag.

Step 6: Pin the two main pieces of the bag right sides together. Sew together along the bottom edge using a 5/8" seam. 

Now for the slightly complicated part. Using a pencil or fabric marker, mark 1" above the seam you just stitched: Then, measure 2"s down from the top edge of the bag, and mark. Measure one inch below this line, and mark again:

Do this on both edges of the bag.

Begin sewing at the first line you marked on the bottom of the bag, and sew to the 3" inch line on the top.

 Ok so in the pictures the red line didn't show up as well as it did while I was working on it but if you look close (the top picture is the top of the bag horizontally) you can see the red lines. The first is two inches to the left of the top of the bag and the second is an inch to the left of the first. . (the bottom picture is the bottom of the bag horizontally) If you look close you can see the red line an inch to the right of the seam.

Then, begin at the 2" marked line and sew to the top of the bag. This is what you should have at this point: Make sure you have the same stitching on both sides of the bag.

Step 7: Turn the bag right side out and press open your seams.

On each side of the bag you should have two small holes in the seam. You need to do a top-stitch around the top hole. This will hold the seams down when you put in your strap and will also keep the fabric from raveling.

Simply sew about 1/4" inch around each edge of the hole. This is what you want the top hole to look like:

Do this on both sides of the bag.

Do NOT topstitch the slit on the bottom of the bag. Unless you really like to use a seam ripper....

Now, press down one inch on the top of the bag. You want the fold to meet the top of the slit you just top stitched.

Press down once more:

Turn the bag inside out once again.

You want to stitch a down the seam you just pressed as close to the bottom edge as possible.

This is how you want the top edge of the body of the bag to look:

Step 8: Place a large safety pin in the end of one of the straps and thread through the top edge of the bag (all the way around, the two ends of the same strap should be on the same side of the bag). Repeat for the other side.

Step 9: Lay the bag flat with the straps laying out on either side .Place the straps on one side of the bag side by side, and place the two straps in the opening in the bottom of the bag( the opening we did not top-stitch) . Do this with both sets of straps on each side of the bag, pin and turn the bag inside out.

 You will have to re-adjust your pinning after reversing the bag, but this is what you want to end up with: Now stitch the opening in the bag with the straps closed. Turn right side out, press, and you're done!

 And the final product will look something like this: