Embroidered Pocket Tee Tutorial

Also known as a 'frocket' the pocket tee is a wardrobe essential on any college campus! Learn how to make your own here!

Onto the fun stuff!  If you are a preppy girl or a sorority girl then you probably love a good 'frocket', like me (btw I am preppy, not sorority)!  In this tutorial you will see not only how to add a cute pocket but how to embroider it for even more cuteness!

First things first:

Draw out a pocket pattern.  Doesn't have to be perfect (you know how perfection goes over on this blog!) just make a general pocket shape that is about 4" by 5".  Make sure to leave the little flaps as shown in the picture.

**Update! Click here for a printable version!  All you have to do is print and cut!

Copy and paste this link to share the pattern with friends! https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw1R1Y2V5RzkamhwLW51cmJJUW8/edit?usp=sharing

Next cut out a rectangle of fabric that is bigger than your pattern.  Place onto your embroider hoop, in between your tear away stabilizer and water soluble stabilizer(if you're using a knit fabric like I did (which for beginners I suggest you do NOT use knit! It is hard to work with)).

Embroider what ever your heart desires on there!  In this case I was making one for a friend so I just did her initial, but a monogram would also be adorable!  Maybe I'll do one of those real soon!

 Cut out the fabric using your pattern.  Make sure your embroidery is going to end up in the center of where you cut :)

Fold (or even better iron) in the flaps.  Sew a straight stitch across the top of the pocket.  Then pin onto the shirt (I used a LOT of pins) in the correct placement.  Finally carefully sew around the pocket (***leaving the top open***) as close to the edge as you can.

Thats it!

As always leave me questions and comments below!  Follow me on Instagram for daily preppy/crafty/fun pics (@kraftiekatie)

Enjoy your new shirt!

{How To} Accessorize for Less

This post is not about crafts per-se... however through Pinterest, Instagram, and this blog I have learned that a lot of my fellow crafters are like me!  And I LOVE a good deal - hey the more money I save, the more I can spend on fabric ;)

So hopefully you will enjoy learning how to find an AMAZE-FEST USA deal on... wait for it .... EBAY!

There are SO many great things to find on eBay that are brand new - not used items.  And for cheap!  Like really cheap.  Let me explain:

So many good deals! Where to begin?!?

Ok I'll start here: So we all love Michael Kors Watches, am I right?  However we all do not love the price tag.  One of my biggest pet peeves is people not doing their research when making a purchase.  You can go to the mall or even Amazon and find a 'boyfriend' watch for around $30.  Which compared to over $200 seems like a great deal!  But!  If you just do a little looking around on the internet you'll find these (and more!) for $5.39 + free shipping.  Yes you can thank me later ;)  All links will be below the pictures.

Watches

Ok so now that I have your attention, on to the next one!  I really want to make one of these:

Marley Lilly

But they want $37 plus shipping for one of those things!  So I know not everyone can embroider their own stuff but there are embroidery shops that will embroider for you.  Anyways I am going to (try to) embroider this on my own and I got my clutch for [drumroll please] $2.99!  This was a bid item but you can search on ebay and easily find more for sale!

Here is how mine looked after embroidery:

Not too bad, eh? Click here to order one from Precious Prep!

I found this amazing shop on Etsy, and I think you all should check it out because it is a really great deal and product!  

StyleThisLife

However, being the deal-seaker that I am I had to try and find an even lower price.  I haven't gotten these items yet so I can not vouch 100% for their quality but it is a good deal :)  I got 10 tassels and the bracelet for $7 total!

Tassels - $6
Bracelet - $0.99

Now if you are like my mom, you think these are hideous... but if you are like me you think they are on trend and the perfect statement necklace.  Statement necklaces can be SO expensive!  And here these are for just $4.32!  So yes I got 2 :) haha

Rose Necklace

 Another popular statement necklace is the bubble necklace!  Get this one for just $4.25!

Bubble Necklace

How cute is this bag?  It is kind of nautical which is why I LOVE it!  And for only $8.50 I REALLY love it!

Tassel Bag

Now, I'll admit, these are significantly different than the inspiration: which is the Lilly Pulitzer bow belt:

Lilly Pulitzer

But as much as I love LP, $48 is WAY too much for a skinny little belt! In my opinion of course :)  So here is my alternative which is, although different, still extremely cute!  And how much cuter is it when you know you only paid $1.58 for it?!?!

Bow Belts

Well holy smokes that was a long post! BUT I hope you enjoyed and that you are headed to eBay to find some deals of your own!  PLEASE share what you find!!  Tag me in your Instagram pics of deals :)

xoxo Katie

{How To} - Fabric Storage

I have been wanting to share this post with you for so long now and I finally got the chance to take pictures of what I've got going on in my craft room.  Now I will admit that I don't have the best system BY FAR!  But it is a system none the less and it works for me.  Hope you enjoy!

Today I am going to share with you all how I store my fabric!  And I hope you won't judge me by the amount of fabric that I have... you won't right? :)

I love love LOVE fabric remnants.  You'll see below that I am not kidding.  I should probably be in the Guinness Book of World Records for most fabric remnants.  Please let me know if you have a ton too so I don't feel like a crazy woman!  (Though this feeling apparently doesn't stop me from buying more fabric remnants...)  I think what attracts me to them is that I can get really pretty fabrics for a cheap price since you usually get less than a yard in there.  Many of the things I make are small items (check out my Etsy shop!) that don't need much fabric, so remnants allow for a lot of variety for me.  Plus you can buy like 10 of them and not feel guilty for spending a ton of money on fabric you don't need.

Ok fine, on to the picture.  Here you go:

{So pretty!  How could I have resisted any of these?!}

Welcome to FHA (fabric hoarders anonymous)  Hi, I'm Katie and I am a fabric hoarder.  I seriously need this shirt:

{Pinterest}

 Like I said before... please tell me someone else shares the remnant obsession!!

Onto the actual point of this post...

As you can see I use one of those hanging shoe storage things for my remnants!  I picked this one out because it has clear pockets for ultimate visibility!  It is absolutely perfect because I can easily see what I have when I want to and at all other times it is behind the door so no one else can see!  Plus this method of storage easily keeps me in check: no more remnants for me until there is an open spot!  And I can justify having all these because they aren't in the way AT ALL!

My next storage area is not as easy to hide... it is a mini bookshelf.  I have all my other fabric stacked up over here.  Not quite as easy to get to but I can still see what I have relatively easily and since it isn't super organized I can just throw a piece back on top of a pile when I'm done.

On to another tangent - can we just all agree that those uber-organized things you see on Pinterest are not realistic?  I mean initially they are great and pretty but once you have to actually use them it is way to much effort to keep them that way!  Maybe thats just me... let me know what you think in the comments.

Finally I will admit that I have yet another area I keep fabric.  I forgot to take a picture - in fact I forgot about it completely until just now.  But under the bed in my craft room is one of those long plastic boxes that are meant for under the bed storage.  This box is filled with random fabrics, a kind of project graveyard that I will hopefully get to someday.  So I never really use anything out of there day to day, but alas, it is there.

So how do you store your fabric?  I am hoping to revamp the bookshelf portion of my storage someday... so give me ideas!!

Check out the buttons over there for more Kraftie Katie ----->
Have a great week!