Pillows Please :)

Who doesn't love pillows? Especially when you can make your own cute accent pillows for MUCH less than what they cost at the store!

My first pillow was made for my dorm room. Total cost: ~$4!  I found the round pillow form at a garage sale... before you say "Ew" it was still in the original packaging so I knew it was good... for $2.50 (75% off!).  Then the fabric for the cover was from a body pillow cover I got at Target for 70% off, so it was about ~$3 and I only used about half of it (plus I got a zipper out of that thing too!!! Bonus!).  So I just cut out 2 circles, slightly larger than the pillow form, and sewed them right sides together about 75% of the way.  Then I turned it right sides out and stuffed in my pillow form.  Then (while riding in the car back to school) I hand stitched the rest of the way using an invisible seam.  Tutorial here.

So here is the result!

The perfect pop of color for my polka-dotted bedspread!

Perfect for the color scheme!

Please leave a comment for me :)

Now on to pillow #2:

You are gonna LOVE this one! It literally cost me $1.30 :O (I know, I know, you're thinking "no way!" but Yes! It is true!!)

So this cover started life as a napkin, a double-sided napkin to be exact.  I got it at Dillard's (on New Year's Day - extra 50% off!) for $1.05!  What a steal!  I absolutely loved the fabric so I had to have it and was disappointed there was just one.  Now this pillow form was also a steal at $0.25 from Michael's.  It was on the $1 items row, which was all on sale, as a kid's pillow which they could color but I saw it as a cheap pillow form!  Those things are expensive at Joann's!! Up to $30!  So grab 'em whenever you see one on the cheap!

P.S. I used the zipper from the Michael's pillow to make this wristlet!

I used this Simple Pillow Cover Tutorial and luckily my napkin pieces were large enough for my 14" square pillow!  The project took only maybe 15 mins so anyone could do this and you don't even have to sew well, it's just a few straight lines!  What do you think guys?

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Thanks for reading!

Stay tuned for more posts soon because...... I just got a Cricut machine today!! :D

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Cell Phone Case

Hello again!

I am here with my latest sewing project! It is another simple one that turns out super cute... and useful too! It is a cell phone case and can be done several ways.

The original tutorial, here, uses all of the "official" sewing supplies and tools. For those of us who haven't quite built up our collection of supplies, you have my two variations:

1) use this plastic grid material, I am not exactly sure of its name so here is a picture:

2) use felt!
Both of these materials were used in place of the interfacing and batting, which are materials used in sewing to make bags and such more sturdy.

For my phone case I added 1/4 inch more length because I have an HTC EVO 4G, not an iPhone and it is a bit taller. I used a different fabric for the inner and outer material and I used the same fabric as the inside for the tab.

My first phone case used bright fabrics with pink as the main color... Perfect! I followed the instructions (leaving off the parts for the interfacing and batting) except when it says to leave a hole for turning on the side, I left one of the short ends open instead. This allowed me to then fold the fabric in half with the inside fabric out and sew up one side, insert my plastic grid in the opening, sew that shut, then turn right side out and sew the final side stitch. Unfortunatly this final stitch is visible but since I used pink thread and sewed so close to the edge you can hardly notice!
**note: I used a peice of plastic grid that was the same size as just one of the finished sides(half as big as the batting or interface measurements).

I was so pleased with my result I have been using my case ever since! Here is a pic:

Isn't it cute?

This pattern was so fun and simple I decided to make another! This time I experimented with felt to replace the interfacing and batting. In this case I used more primary colors, reds and blues with fun patterns!

I again used the slightly bigger measurements and cut the felt the same size as suggested for the batting (plus 1/4 inch). Then I pretty much just followed the instructions and I was done! Here is the result:

Another cutie! You can get this one in my store on smashion.com, ChicBoutique! Check it out!

Let me know how you like this blog and this craft :)

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 :)