Wet Bag - A Tutorial!

Because the hubs and I are cloth diapering the new baby, we will need to have a couple wet bags on hand at all times, especially during traveling.  I had all of the necessary supplies hanging around so I got to work... hope you enjoy!

To start with, you'll need the following things :

Materials

• Waterproof fabric (PUL, vinyl, shower curtain, waterproof vinyl tablecloth, whatever you have on hand!)
• Cotton fabric
• Zipper
• Sewing Machine
• Scissors
• Seam ripper (optional)

To start with, cut your waterproof fabric to the size bag you'll want.  I wanted to use a cheap waterproof tablecloth I had gotten during the spring for $1.  I thought about my bag dimensions and  ended up settling on a 12" x 12" bag, which means I cut a 12.5 inch wide by 24.5 inch long piece from my tablecloth.  The backing of this one is flannel, so I was able to just lay the whole thing over my chosen cotton fabric without pinning - it sticks!  So to be final, you'll need two rectangles of fabric, one 12.5 inch wide by 24.5 inch long piece of your waterproof material and one 12.5 inch wide by 24.5 inch long piece of your cotton fabric.  You'll also need to make sure your zipper will fit in the opening.  For this project, you'll want a zipper length of approximately 11.5 inches.  If your zipper is a little long, zip it up to the point you want it to end.  Put it in your sewing machine unzipped with the spot marked that it should end.  Now use the zig-zag stitch on the widest setting but the closest length together to sew the two halves together firmly.  Your new ending should be pretty short, but functional.  I sacrificed an old zip-up sweater to my heathen craft gods for this craft project, so I had to use this method.  (Sorry, forgot to take progress shots for the zipper bit...)

Once your fabric is all cut, you will probably want to do your 1/4 inch fold over on each shorter end, it makes for pretty seams... c:  Your stitches should be fairly close together and in a straight line, no more zig-zag-ing for you.

Next, close your zipper up and pin to the short end of your fabric rectangle.  You'll want to have the vinyl side facing out on the bottom side, the right side of the cotton facing up for the outside.  Sew on your zipper now, and be sure to back-tack your beginning and ending!  The next bit is to open your zipper up and sew the other side - this part is key.  If you try to do this with the zipper closed, you will have troubles...  Once your zipper is on, you'll need to flip the bag inside out so that the vinyl is on the outside on both sides of your tube of fabric.

Pin up your sides and sew your 1/4 seam down each side, making sure to back-tack again.  To ensure nice clean corners, snip the corners off at the bottom of your bag, but only up to your seam.  Once this is done, open up your zipper and flip your bag right-side (cotton) out.  Use something like a pen (with the cap on) or a crochet hook to push out your corners.

Ta-da!  Sit back and enjoy your new wet bag!  Throw your bathing suit in there after the pool, or use it for soiled diapers and whatnot like we are.  When cleaning this bag, I recommend just wiping out the inside with a Clorox wipe or equivalent.  If you need to wash it because the outside got dirty, I would machine or hand wash it only - don't dry it in your dryer.  Don't worry, it should air dry fairly quickly.  The best part of this project is that it didn't cost me a penny!  I already had the fabric and tablecloth in my craft zone for other projects.  The zipper was from an old (and not particularly awesome) sweater.

 

Belly Sash - A Tutorial!

Isn't that adorable?  Seriously, so much squee-ing over here.  I made this sash for my upcoming maternity photos with CNicholl Photography (here is her Facebook fan page).  I wanted to do something to show off the belly, since it still looks pretty decent, besides all of my new-found belly hair...

To make your own cute belly sash like this one, you'll need the following:

Materials

• Fabric scraps [I used purple knit from a failed dress and some cottony muslin]
• Lacey trim/ribbon or equivilant [Seriously, use anything you want!]
• 2 inch ribbon for the actual sash
• Yarn
• Hot glue gun and a couple hot glue sticks
• Scissors
• Beads
• Felt Sheet
• Button(s)
• Lighter

To get started, decide the basic shapes of your flowers and how many you'd like.  I chose to do one large focal flower, one lacey flower, two pom flowers, and two crochet rose flowers.  This project is infinitely personalizable, so have fun deciding what you'd like to do and the colors you are using!  For my sash, I used a printed ribbon that wasn't overly girly, since we aren't finding out the gender.  You could absolutely use a soft satin ribbon for this and it would look a little less busy, plus you could incorporate patterned fabric/ribbon into your flowers without clashing.

To start, make your big focal flower. I used a great tutorial over at The House of Smiths to make my focal flower.  I didn't follow her tutorial exactly, but pretty darn close.  You can find it here.  I used my purple knit on six 5 inch circles to make the base and five 3 inch circles in the cotton muslin to make the top petals.  I ended up hot gluing a star button in there, but you could use just about anything with a flat-ish bottom.

Next, I did my little pom flowers in the same purple knit.  I used another tutorial for these, found at Sew Chatty.  These were craaaaazy easy and I want to put them on everything!  I used ten 3 inch circles of the knit per flower and a 2 inch circle of the felt.  Once I was done, I went to town fluffing them up, they are friggin' precious!

Next I did the "crochet" roses.  I use the term crochet loosely because you are actually braiding them!  If I had the time, I probably would have whipped out my crochet hooks and just done a chain stitch instead.  For these, I took 3 pieces of yarn in chartreuse that were roughly 18 inches long.  I did an overhand knot at one end and stuck that under my clipboard.  Then you just braid braid braid.  Get it however long you want and overhand knot the opposite end.  Clip off the extra yarn on either side and set your felt circle ready.  Mine was about 2 inches in diameter, you want it as big as your rose.  Put a nice dab of hot glue in the center and put your knot on it.  Then just wind it around in a spiral - I twisted mine from time to time.  Hot glue regularly so it doesn't come undone.  At the end, you should have the knot and a little bit of braid left, this is the time to trim your felt circle if it was too big.  You'll want to tuck the knot on the underside of the felt circle and hot glue in place.  Repeat this process if you are doing more than one of these flowers!

Finally, I made my lacey 5 petal flower.  This was by far the easiest one.  I took some buy-the-spool lace trim and cut out a petal shape that I liked.  Then I just did 4 more.  Cut a small circle out of your felt, like 1/2 inch or so, and hot glue your petals on.  I decided that they needed something so I hot glued 3 vintage glass pearls into the center.  

At this point, decide how long your sash ribbon should be.  If you are making this for yourself, wrap the ribbon at the point you want it on your belly and add 10 - 12 inches.  If you are making this for a friend, I would say a 40 inch length of ribbon would be fine.  Once your ribbon is cut, don't forget to singe the edges with a lighter so you don't get fraying strings.

I then laid my ribbon on the floor and put out all of my flowers.  I took a few tries to find a design that I liked best but once you do, simply hot glue each piece directly on the ribbon.  Let it dry for 5 - 10 minutes and you have an adorable belly sash for maternity pictures!  This could also be used as a hairband, just cut your base ribbon shorter.  OR you could do this as a bridal sash, I'd love to see ivory and white flowers with pearls and little blue accents!

Sorry about the lack of progress shots but I hope you have fun with this tutorial!  Now go forth and make cute things, you deserve it!

Gold and Pearls - A dangle earring tutorial!

Some new earrings have shown up in my Etsy shop and I am in love!  If these do well, I may start doing a lot more pieces like them.

Because I love them SO much, I'm going to tell you how I made them!

Materials

•  5 - 6 inches of 20 gauge gold wire
• 2 Glass pearls, I got some vintage ones for a steal at a thrift store
• Gold earring findings (Or you could make your own with wire)
• Clear Crystal beads, side drilled hole

First thing, I took my pearl and put it on a looped finding.  Then, because I like the look of wrapped loops, I used my round nosed pliers and made a loop a bit above my pearl.  I then wrapped the rest of the wire down until I got to the pearl and I clipped off the excess.

 

Next, I did a briolette wrap on the crystal bead.  I had a side drilled crystal but this process would work beautifully on a front to back drilled one as well.  For a tutorial on how to do a briolette wrap, check out this super informative website!  How to Make Beaded Jewelry

Lastly, the easy part!  I opened the non-wrapped loop on the pearl bead, this should be on the bottom side, and put the loop from the top of my crystal on it.  Close the loop.  Then I opened the loop on the earring post and put the wrapped loop on the top of the pearl bead on that.  Close the loop.

TA-DA!  You just made some super pretty, super simple earrings!  These are sooo cute for formal occasions, but you could wear these just about any 'ol time.  These would also be really pretty with different colored beads and crystals, or silver wire!  Experiment, have fun!

If you are interested in buying some of these lovelies for yourself (or a friend!) please check out my etsy shop by clicking the link in the sidebar.  

**THIS TUTORIAL IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY, DO NOT MAKE THESE AND ATTEMPT TO SELL THEM.**

Have fun and make something pretty today!

 

DIY Laundry Soap!

So some friends of mine make their own laundry soap and just love it.  I've been wanting to try it for some time but finding the time to grate soap is not the easiest... But I figured that with Baby J on the way, I'd probably want something better for their sensitive skin besides Dreft.  Dreft isn't bad or anything, but I'm not a huge fan of the smell of it NOR I am a fan of buying laundry detergent for me and the hub's clothes and a separate one for baby.

So I found this tutorial on Pinterest, it is FABULOUS. The Bobbi over at How Does She has an awesome idea with adding the Purex crystals, which makes the whole thing smell like heaven.  So here is my break-down of the tutorial and my results.

I did not use the Oxyclean or baking soda because I totally spaced it when I was at the store, but I did have 1 box of Borax, 1 box of Arm & Hammer Washing Powder, 1 container of Lavender scented Purex Crystals, and 2 bars of Fel Naptha laundry soap.  I could have used my food processor to grate the soap, but I like to use that for food and didn't want to wash it 18 times to get all the soap residue off of it.  Instead I bought a super cheap metal cheese grater and went to town.  It took me around 30 minutes to get it all grated and I lost some finger skin in the process.  If I were doing this again, I would wear gloves during the grating.  That being said, the rest of the process was totally easy.

I didn't have a 5 gallon bucket to mix in (DANG!) so I had to use 2 large Tupperware containers instead.  I just dumped half of my soap shavings into one bowl, the other half in the other bowl.  Then each bowl got 1/2 of the Purex, Borax, and Washing Powder.  I mixed each with a spoon fairly thoroughly until the mix looked pretty homogenous.  Then I dug around in my craft zone until I found some really perfect and awesome glass containers from last Christmas... they were supposed to be etched glass sugar/flour holders, but I didn't end up making them.  Sorry Mom!  That being said, I used the two containers, which I would estimate at 28 - 30 ounces each (maybe more), the Purex container, 28 ounces, AND a gallon sized Ziploc bag.  The Ziploc didn't get full, but about half way for sure.  If you wanted to do this process a little more organic or fragrance free, I would recommend using essential oils in the mixing process instead of the Purex crystals.  Also, use the white Zote soap instead of the pink version or the Fel Naptha, as those two are scented.  The essential oils will leave your clothes very lightly scented, but they are anti-viral and what not so you are still getting a super awesome cleaning.

I think the most awesome thing about this detergent is that for around $15.00 I made enough to last us a loooooong time, as we'll only need 1 to 2 tablespoons per load.  That is so awesome, because the cost of liquid detergent and fabric softener is the same, if not more, and this will last me at least as long as two bottles of each did, probably longer.  And I did try it today, it smells AMAZING!!  Goodbye Tide, hello DIYSoap!

So get out there and make yourself some laundry detergent!  The price is right and you get to pick the scents and everything!

Go ahead and check out the tutorial, linked HERE.