My first sewing project in a long time...

Hello :)

Well you may not know this but I actually own a sewing machine! My grandma got it for me several years ago when I first showed interest in sewing (both of my grandmas are sewing queens!). So I sewed a few things but I never really got into sewing due to lack of time and interest. But recently, after so much time on Pinterest... I decided to bring it out and give sewing another go. The results have been suprisingly good! Disclaimer: when I say good, I mean good for me... Not good when you look at the overall sewing skill scale haha!

So after scowering the internet for a beginner's sewing project, I settled on this simple bag. Well... Seemingly simple. Click here for the original step by step instructions by The Sewing Dork.

Here is how it went for me:
The blog says to use a pillowcase to make the bag, I didn't have a spare pillow case to sew but I used one as a pattern to cut my fabric. I used a denim-ish fabric for the outside and a plain red cotton fabric for the inside. My coordinating fabric for the straps and pocket was yellow with some blue butterflies.

Now I am going to tell you what I did but please pay close attention to the hints! This was a learning experience and hindsite is 20/20 so your bag can turn out even better than mine! :)

So after cutting the shell and liner fabric I began to sew the long edges with right sides together. I then realized that I should have sewn on the pocket to the liner so that the stitching wouldn't show on the outside. Lucky for me I realized this before I sewed shut the short edges! I cut a pretty big square of fabric and hemed all the edges and then situated my fabric on my machine so that only the liner would be sewn to the pocket. It worked pretty well, if I had sewn the pocket to the liner before it was attached to the outside fabric it would have been more centered, but it still serves its purpose as a pocket :)

**Another pocket hint! Make sure that you only sew 3 sides of the pocket. Otherwise it will not be a pocket! And make sure your one open side will end up being up (so when you have the finished bag your bag and pocket opening are facing the same way...up!

Next I turned my fabric right sides out and sewed the top and bottom edges so that the outter fabric would be seen on the inside (this was instead of using the tape, which I do not own). This is when I realized my next error. I should have sewn the straps onto the outer fabric first too. Like the pocket, I didnt want the stitching from the straps to show on the inside of the bag. Alas I had no choice. This problem also affected the positioning of the straps because I did not want to sew my pocket shut at all either. Because of this my straps were not exactly as I wanted and instead of attaching them by sewing on both edges, I had to just sew along the middle of each strap and therefore they do not lay as flat as I wish.

So the moral of the story so far is to sew the accesories onto inner and outer fabrics FIRST before attaching them together as a bag. If you do this, you will have a really nice looking bag!

Back to the straps:
The tutorial gives an approximate length for the straps but I wasn't sure if those would work for me since I was not using an actual pillowcase. The way I determined the length for my straps was to measure the length of the bag (layed flat, it isn't quite a bag at this point, more like a long rectangle with a pocket on one side) and add about 2 feet. This way the bag will go on your shoulder without being right up against your armpit when you carry it :) no one likes an armpit bag! You will need to make TWO straps. One for each half of the bag. They will meet at the bottom of the bag so you dont see the seams.

After you attach the straps, fold the bag right sides together (this was yet another point of error for me... I realized my cutting skills need some improvement, one end of my bag was wider than the other. Oops :/ so basically I had some more fabric on the inside of my bag in the end, not a big deal but I would be more careful to cut evenly next time). With right sides together, sew the two edges, turn and you're done!

Despite my mistakes I am still pleased with my bag because I think it is really cute and it was my first time sewing in a long time. The thing I love about this bag is that you can easily change the pattern to make any size of bag. If you are a more experienced sewer you could even add a zipper to the bag for security.

Well I hope your first attempt is smoother than mine! I look forward to sharing more of my sewing adventures with you!

Happy crafting :)

Countdown Keychain

Todays craft is a creation all my own! The "countdown keychain" was inspired by my upcoming beach trip! I am really looking forward to it so I decided to make a countdown... 12 days to go!

Above is a picture of the final product. I used markers, 3D stickers, and color-your-own stickers. This project is the perfect craft to use up any scraps or left overs from scrapbooks. My countdown is for my beach vacation and therefore is beach themed, but the great thing about this tutorial is that it can be for ANY occasion! Here's how to make your own:

Step 1. Figure out how many days until your event, trip, or holiday. Add 1 for the "zero" page (I like to have a 0 for the day-of but you can leave it out if you'd prefer). Add another 1 for the cover page. So for my trip that is 12 days away, I had 14 squares. Even after the countdown is over, I plan to keep my craft and I want to remember what is was from someday!

Step 2. Cut out the number of squares (or any shape) of cardstock you'll need. I had some leftover squares from a previous project that I had saved thinking, "someday I will need some squares for something"... And I was right! Because these were scraps they ranged in size from 9.5cm to 10cm squares, so sligtly different. Just adds character :)

Step 3. Stack up all of your "pages" so that they all match up at one corner. Make a single hole punch in the upper left hand corner of one page and use that as a pattern for the other pages.

Step 4. Decorate! Go crazy! Make it fun! I tried to make the number the focus of each page (it is a countdown after all!). By the end I was getting more creative and tried to incorporate the number into a beach themed object! When I reached a brain block, I just googled "beach doodles" and got some great ideas! Below are some of the stickers I used.

Step 5. Layout all your pages to admire your hard work :)

Step 6. This is where the "keychain" part comes in. Find a key ring somewhere, I just went to my box of keychains and took one off an old souvineir keychain. You could use a ribbon, some string, a rubber band, even a twisted paper clip! Anything will work! Then put your key ring through each page. If I were to do it again, I would somehow reinforce the holes. Luckily none of my pages ripped this time, but I was concerned that it could happen.

Well I hope you like this idea and that there is something for you to countdown to! I have to say, this would be a great alternative to an advent calendar for the holidays, just an idea!

As always, comment below with your results! Or let me know what you think of this idea, what you plan to do, how you would change it, and what you're counting down to!

Cutest Bracelet Ever! And I made it myself!

**Please follow me on Pinterest :) http://pinterest.com/kraftiekatie/


These are now available in my Etsy shop! Pick from 4 great colors :)

This is a tutorial to make one of the cutest bracelets I have ever seen!  It is surprisingly simple but will impress your friends because it looks really complex!  I made three so far but gave one away to a friend, but below is a photo of the two I kept:

Cute right?  Here is my disclaimer: I did NOT come up with this idea... I found it on Pinterest, here is the link to the original tutorial: http://yellowblackbird.blogspot.com/2011/06/anthropologie-terra-scintilla-bracelet.html.  Her blog has step by step pictures of how to do the tying, I made these before having a blog so I did not do that.  Also she offers a kit for you to buy to make your own bracelet, or for those less ambitious, the opportunity to buy one already made!

But anyways, back to my tutorial :)

I wanted to tell my experience when making the bracelet for those of you who can be crafting challenged, like me.

When I first saw this idea I decided to just get my own supplies, they look like this:

I got the hemp and jewels from Michael's Arts and Crafts Store and the bracelets from Forever 21.  It took me a minute to find the jewels at Michael's, they were actually on a row near the hemp at my store.   You can look for the package shown above, it is on one of the jewelry rows; and don't worry, they can be cut apart with scissors, no real tools needed!  You will also need some sort of strong glue, I used my trusty hot glue gun and that seemed to be sufficient!

After you have purchased your supplies you are ready to begin!

Step 1. Select the bracelet and hemp color you want to use.  The bracelets that I had were all different colors and thicknesses.  I first did a pink bangle with pink hemp (my fav!) and then a yellow bangle with the green hemp.  The one I made for my friend was a dark purple bangle with the light purple hemp... she loved it!

Step 2. Cut the hemp to the suggested length (if you have thicker bangles, like mine, be sure to use a longer string of hemp than what is suggested on the Yellow Blackbird blog).

Step 3. Glue the jewels onto the bangle.  I followed the picture and just used 4 jewels but I think it could work with more!  Try it out!  Here is my hint: keep your desired number of jewels attached together but glue them down one at a time (as opposed to putting a strip of glue and then laying them all down together).  This worked better for me because each jewel got placed more precisely and I could make sure each one was secure.

Step 4. Follow the steps for tying the hemp, it can be tough to get started but once you get going it is really not bad!  My tip for this step is to make sure that you keep the hemp evenly in half when you start, otherwise one string will get too short.  Also, as a note, if you do run out of hemp before the bracelet is covered, have no fear! you can just glue the ends of that string onto the bangle and start a new piece as you did in the beginning!  I had to do this several times, the only thing is that there are more lumps of glue on the inside, which no one really sees anyways!  Another hint is to make sure the "knots" are on the edge or are more to the outside of the bracelet, this is what makes the bracelet cute so you want those to be visible.

Step 5. Glue the ends of your final piece of hemp and cut off any excess.  You can make the "knots" as tight or as loose as you'd like, the style on the original blog is very tight, you don't see any of the bangle.  My "knots" are a little more spaced out, you can see through to the bangle, which in this case I like because I had colorful bangles.  The choice is yours!  No one way is better or worse, it is whatever fits your style!

Well I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and I hope my hints are helpful!  I hope you try this out and post your results, I'd love to see what your style leads you to make!

Happy Crafting :)
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