Category Archives: Sew / No-Sew

Stitch It: Easy T-shirt Shopping Bag Tutorial

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Psst: Don’t forget we have an awesome giveaway going on!  Enter to win some fabulous eco-friendly, homemade bath & cleaning supplies from Old Town Suds right here.

Today’s sewing tutorial is so easy and foolproof that all of you can do it, even if you’ve never sewn before.  I was so excited when I came up with it that I refused to look on Pinterest or anywhere else to see if others figured it out before me, because I want to keep thinking that I’m the uberfabulous creative person who thought of it for the first. time. ever.

T-Shirt Shopping Tote Tutorial | The Borrowed Abode

So ladies (and any sewing men), grab a tshirt that you love, but don’t love to wear, and let’s turn it into a fab little shopping tote!

I chose this shirt because I love the phrase on it, but never found myself wanting to wear it.

Tshirt Bag Tutorial8

“Only when the last tree is cut and the last river is poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize that we can’t eat money.”

1.  Cut the sleeves off, and cut the round neckband out, like you’re making a trashy 80′s rocker shirt.  When you’re done, it should look like this:

Tshirt Bag Tutorial7

2.  Line up the hems for the bottom of the shirt, and pin them shut.  Do you see where I’m going with this?  You’re basically closing off the bottom of the tee.  Sew that sucker shut.Tshirt Bag Tutorial6

3.  When you’re done sewing the bottom of the “bag” closed, turn it inside-out.  Take the corners of the bottom seam, spread them out,  and pin across the triangular corner edge about 1 inch in.

This is the only part where you may be a little confused.  Just play around with the inside-out bottom of your bag until it looks like this below.   The goal?  You want to sew each of the two corners to create a boxy bottom to the bag.

Tshirt Bag Tutorial5

4.  Sew along the pins in the direction you see below.  Repeat on the other corner.

Tshirt Bag Tutorial4

 

Tshirt Bag Tutorial3

5.  When you’re done sewing off the two corners, turn your bag right-side out.  When turned right side out, those little triangular corners that you sewed should make the bottom of the bag look boxy, like this:

Tshirt Bag Tutorial2

Voila!

Pat yourself on the back.  You’re a sewing rock star.  I knew you could do it!!

Stitch It: DIY Hanging Gift Wrap Organizer

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NON-GLAMOROUS PROJECT ALERT!   This is all about function over form.

One day in January I got fed up with my box of gift wrap storage.  It had lived under the table I built to hide the cat litter, but due to some changes in that space (we’ll discuss that another day) I lost my gift wrap station and the box of wrapping materials just hung out in our basement work room, all disorganized.

I don’t have a lot of wrapping supplies: just a roll of Christmas paper, a few small gift boxes, a roll of brown kraft paper and gift bags / tissue paper.

In some random burst of inspiration, I whipped up a hanging gift wrap organizer that fit on the back of our work room door.    It isn’t pretty, because I made it quickly with scraps, but it really works well.   DIY Hanging Gift Wrap Organizer | The Borrowed Abode

Supplies Used:

  • Standard canvas dropcloth material – though any heavyweight canvas would work.
  • A scrap of fabric with grommets already installed in it.  Grommets are the little round metal linings that make holes in fabric sturdy.  I.e. the metal rings around the holes on the edge of a tarp.

Measurements:

  • I am not listing any measurements because I created this to fit the back of my door, and created the compartments to fit the wrapping supplies I already had on hand.

How I Did It:

1.  I cut a piece of drop cloth fabric a bit smaller than the back of the door.  From here on, this main piece of canvas will be referred to as “the backing” because it forms the back, or base, of the organizer.

2.  I laid the fabric down and then started placing my wrapping supplies on it, figuring out what size pockets to make, and where to put them.    DIY Hanging Gift Wrap Organizer Step 1 | The Borrowed Abode

3.  I made a long tube pocket for the rolled gift wrap:  I cut a long, rectangular piece of drop cloth (twice as wide as the roll of gift wrap)  to make a tube-shaped pocket.

4.  I placed that long piece of fabric on the “backing” and I bunched it up so it created a tunnel (See photos above and below) going from top to bottom.  I then sewed each long side before sewing the bottom of the long tube pocket.

DIY Hanging Gift Wrap Organizer Step 1 | The Borrowed Abode

5.  Next I sewed on a large, expandable pocket for the larger gift bags.

To make the pocket expandable, I did two things:    I sewed gathers in the bottom of it and I sewed a velcro flap for it so that it could be closed and the contents wouldn’t spill out.

5a) The Gathered Pocket:  I cut a piece of canvas about 5 inches wider than the size that I wanted the pocket to be.  Then I ironed two vertical folds on it and sewed it into place on the backing.   The folds went from the top of the pocket to the bottom, and so by sewing over the two folds on the bottom of the pocket, that made the pocket expandable.

(Photo below shows one of the vertical folds, to demonstrate how it made a gather.)

DIY Hanging Gift Wrap Organizer Step 2 | The Borrowed Abode

5b) The Velcro Flap:  I sewed some velcro pieces onto the top of the “gathered” pocket. Then I took another strip as wide as that pocket, sewed some velcro onto one edge of it, then sewed the opposite edge to the backing.

When you open the velcro flap, the gathered pocket expands so that you can stuff it as full as you need to.  This holds lots of gift bags.

DIY Hanging Gift Wrap Organizer Step 3 | The Borrowed Abode

6.  I made two smaller, simpler pockets on the top.  I cut one wide piece of fabric that was big enough to cover both the pocket spaces.  Then I sewed it onto the backing – sewing each side and the bottom.  Then I sewed straight down the middle of it, dividing it into two pockets.

These pockets hold gift boxes and tissue paper.DIY Hanging Gift Wrap Organizer Step 3 | The Borrowed Abode 7.  I sewed the scrap of grommet fabric to the top of the backing, sewing it several times for added strength.  Once that was done, there were 4 grommets at the top for hanging.

I put three Ook Hooks into the door and hung it from them.  I had a little bag of tiny mesh gift bags, so that’s the black bag you see hanging from the hook as well.

DIY Wrapping Paper Organizer | The Borrowed Abode

I sat back to admire my work and thought “Gee, I wish I’d made this prettier and taken more process photos so I could make a good tutorial for the blog.”

Oh well.  Some days are like that, even in Australia.  (Name that book?)

Seriously, though – despite this being a spur-of-the-moment and not so pretty project, I love how it turned out.  It’s doing a great job corralling all my wrapping supplies, and makes it super easy to choose some tissue paper and a gift bag whenever I need one.

If you want to make one and have questions, just ask in the comments! I promise to answer!

Stitch It: Embellished Flour Sack Towels

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If you’re searching for an easy but appreciated DIY hostess gift, this fancy flour sack towel tutorial may be just the thing!

Because these can be made with or without a sewing machine, I thought they’d be the perfect first tutorial to share in the Stitch It series that I’ve been wanting to write for ages.

I whipped these up at Christmas as a gift, but if you just switch up the fabric, you can make these flour sack towels for any season or color palette.

DIY Fancy Flour Sack Tea Towel Tutorial | The Borrowed Abode

I didn’t take photos of the process because I was busy just trying to get them made – but I think it’s simple enough that you can follow these easy steps:

Materials Needed:

  • Flour sack towel
  • Cotton quilting fabric – at least 1″ wider than your flour sack towel
  • Pom-Pom Trim or other trim of your choice – at least 1″ wider than your flour sack towel
  • Iron-on hem tape
  • Iron
  • Sewing machine – OR – needle and thread

Let’s Get Stitching:

1.  Measure the width flour sack towel and cut a 5″ strip of patterned fabric that is at least 1″ wider than your flour sack towel.  For example:  My towels are 30″ wide, so I cut my patterned fabric strips at  31″ x 5″.

2.  Using the iron-on hem tape, adhere the fabric strip to the towel at the spot where you want it to go. Make sure you center the strip so that a 1/2 inch of fabric sticks out at each side of the towel.

  • Sewing Machine Version: I just use a few pieces of iron-on hem tape to help hold the strip in place for machine sewing.
  • No Sew Version: Use extra-strong hem tape to adhere all the edges. Iron on high heat with steam for best adhesion.  See photo below for where to use the tape.

Embellished Tea Towel Tutorial 2 | The Borrowed Abode

3.  Once the strip is adhered to the front, turn the towel over.  Fold the flaps of patterned fabric over and use more iron-on hem tape to adhere them to the back of the towel. Before I iron them on, I like to trim them to be nice and neat, just the width of the towel’s hem.  (See detail photo below.)

Embellished Tea Towels Back Side | The Borrowed Abode

4. Repeat this iron-on hem tape process to adhere the fun trim (pom-poms or whatever trim you choose) to the bottom edge of the towel. Don’t forget to fold over and trim the ends again.   Again, if you aren’t going to use a sewing machine, iron and steam this carefully to get a good adhesion.

5. Stitch it!

  • Sewing Machine Version:  Use a regular presser foot on your machine, and set the machine to a medium-width and length zig-zag or overlock stitch.  Sew along every edge of the patterned fabric to attach it well and prevent fraying.
  • No-Sew Version:  If you’ve used heavy-duty hem tape and have ironed it really well with steam, it technically should be fine.  However, I’d recommend threading a needle and just putting a simple running stitch along every edge.  This is easy to do while watching TV, etc.

6:  Iron it and admire your work!Embellished Tea Towels 4 | The Borrowed Abode

I hope you found this tutorial useful.  Please, if you have any questions or are confused, let me know in the comments below! I promise I’ll answer – if not today, within a few days. :)

New to sewing and wondering what supplies you need?  Check out my fabric bunting tutorial for a list of my must-have sewing supplies.

DIY: Easy No-Sew Applique Pillow Covers

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Did you know you can DIY a totally awesome appliqued throw pillow without sewing a stitch?  It’s true! 

As part of my January goal to “finish abandoned tasks” I’d like to share with you how I made my no-sew Modern Christmas Tree Pillow cover shown in my Holiday Home Tour 2012.

No Sew Holiday Pillow Tutorial | The Borrowed Abode

But before you rag on me for posting a Christmas decor tutorial after the holiday, let me promise you that this DIY is applicable to any season.  Better yet, this one’s gonna be a quickie, because it’s so easy.

Supplies Needed:

  1. Iron
  2. Solid Color Pillow Cover (I used an Ikea one)
  3. Thermoweb Heat’n Bond Ultra Hold Iron-On Adhesive
  4. Patterned Fabric
  5. Scissors or a Rotary Cutter

(Cost:  about $20 for the webbing and pillow cover, but I have a lot of fusible webbing left for other projects.  If you use fabric scraps it helps save!)

How-To:

This project was totally inspired by the solid green velvet Ikea pillow cover that I found in my Christmas decor stash.  I looked at it and thought “hmm, what could I do with this to make it more exciting?”

Enter the fusible webbing (Thermoweb Heat’n Bond) and the patterned fabrics.  Once I determined that I wanted to applique some simple triangular “trees” for a modern Christmas tree look, the steps were simple:

  1. Place the patterned fabric, pattern side down, onto the ironing board.
  2. Set the Fusible Webbing on top of the fabric, with the paper side facing up.
  3. Iron on top of the paper, leaving the iron in place for 6 seconds on each spot.
  4. The fabric is now adhered to the fusible webbing.  Cut out your fabric shapes.
  5. Peel off the paper.
  6. Place the fabric shapes, patterned side up, onto the pillow cover.
  7. Iron to adhere.

Voila!  Those may look like a lot of instructions, but they’re really simple. I promise.  My pillow cover took me about 10 minutes to make.

Christmas No Sew Pillow Cover | The Borrowed Abode

I wasn’t sure how well the Fusible Webbing would work, but now I can tell you – this stuff is supremely awesome!  I used the light Heat’n Bond, because I’m going to machine-stitch the edges of the “trees” for a more decorative look (just need to find the time!) but if you don’t sew, go ahead and use the Heat’n Bond Ultra, the strongest strength.  This will give you a great hold that will last for years to come.

I hope you liked this mini-tutorial.  I love that the fusible webbing makes it easy for anyone to make a customized decorative pillow cover.  Monograms?  Animals?  Geometric shapes?  The possibilities are endless!!