Patterns, Techniques, Articles, Blogs, and other resources to learn how to sew
Christie from Joyfoolery shares a tutorial on her blog showing how to resize a man’s button down shirt into one that will fit a child. This is such a great idea!! Men’s button down shirts are easily found at thrift stores, rummage sales, and yard sales. And because you keep the original collar and hem, it’s also a quick and easy project. Get the tutorial.
[photo from Joyfoolery]
I am just smitten with this felt gingerbread house bag. This would make such a sweet special Christmas accessory for a kid. It’s a free pattern at Benzie Design, designed by Gracie from Hello Gracie Makes. It’s packed with adorable gingerbread house details, like swirls and stripes and scallops adoring the doors and windows.
And while all those details might seem like this would be a complicated pattern, it’s actually not. The bag itself is made from felt, which makes finishes edges unnecessary. (All of those scalloped edges are just cut from felt, no edge finishing required.) The strap is super simple, made from rope with knotted ends. And all those details are made with some basic hand embroidery stitches. Sparkle felt makes it extra cute.
The striped scallop roof is actually the top flap of the bag. A magnetic snap makes it a secure closure. The rope straps are attached through felt loops at the side of the bag.
They rate this project as an intermediate level, and it should take about 6 hours to make start to finish. That’s doable for a Saturday project or a couple of evenings. Full color photos step you through the entire process.
The project includes a shopping list for all of your supplies. They’ve got a shop so you can order all of them from Benzie if you like and get exactly the supplies used in the project. I noticed it includes a pair of scallop shears, which makes cutting all the scalloped edges for the roof and around the door a breeze.
Finished dimensions of the little felt gingerbread bag are approximately 6 ½” wide x 7 ½” tall. That’s the perfect size to hold a small book, a small toy, or a notepad and some cute pens.
Go to Benzie Design to get the tutorial and free pattern for the felt gingerbread house bag.
It kind of cracks me up how many of these articles I see on sewing blogs now! When I was a teenager I used to do this for my brothers and sisters, my mom was divorced with very little money and six of us kids! (In the 60’s) I was a good seamstress and kept us mended and the girls and I in clothes, mostly. When I was married in the late 70’s and early 80’s I used my mother-in-law’s old slacks to make pants and overalls for my two oldest kids who were still at the toddler stage then.