8 Sewing Projects

we're always looking for new ways to repurpose things especially in our efforts to stay green and now this is a very very good idea and one of our crafters here at TV we do have a craft department and this idea came from one of our crafters we have lots of wonderful crafters here at TV Kristin st. Clair and and I love this idea I think it's a really good idea for using up those multiple t-shirts that we all have hanging around or a used t-shirt that might even have a little bit of a hole in it right well did you know that a hundred billion America plastic bags are used each year yeah I would guess crazy I would get and they all wind up in the trash and it take can take up to a thousand years for them to biodegrade right so this is a perfect way to replace those plastic bags so it's so simple the first thing you do is I set you up over here okay I've turned the t-shirt inside out it's great to use a nice heavy weight cotton and right along that your line you're just hitching okay it's right along the hem it's a great guide okay so you could double stitch too if you want to make extra have a sewing machine you can hand stitch it of price but it's really sturdy probably also use a fabric glue if you want to change but do a glued seen mm-hmm which would work so that's super easy very easy step so we have swaps here okay where I flipped them right-side out in this joy now this one boss oh there this is so now and you and it will hold groceries well or I I even roll one of these up throw it in my purse and if I'm going shopping and I buy something at a clothing store I say don't give me a bag I have one I pull it just make sure they don't sell these t-shirts in that store oh yeah so the first thing you're gonna do after you sew the bottom is I always whenever I'm making a circle I go to the kitchen I grab a bowl this is great for a template for a circle and we're gonna open up the next so you can fit larger items inside so you put it about halfway around the neck this is a has a diameter of nine inches and you take these this pen it's from the notions store and it washes away with water I like that yep so draw your circle around just to give you a nice perfect guide and then with fabric scissors just gonna cut this out right along there okay and if you cut just slightly larger than that and we were talking about this idea and it's such a good idea to also if you want to and that you prolong the life of this bag even you can then use a zig zag stitch on your machine right to fortify the edges and if it gets dirty you can throw it in the wash you know real simple so once you have that out now you're just gonna do the same things we laid these really really flat so the seams are lined up along the sleeve and just cut the sleeves off okay so can you see where we're going here does everybody understand what we're doing Joey do you understand what we're doing totally totally I bet you have lots of old t-shirts I haven't tons of old t-shirts and I don't know what to do with them now I know what I do so now you have a nice bag it's over your soul you can just put things in it if you have having to go shopping this Filat it's actually very easy to carry it makes also a very great trick-or-treat bag it does you could you have a special t-shirt that has maybe a little scary image on it you can cut that out and make it for the kids and we have some extra to give to the people that are not very York in the audience who's not from New York who's not from here there you are how do you take it okay come back everybody well I think that your holiday table will really look festive with colorful custom napkins and you have time it's Thanksgiving is not until next week so you can get out your sewing machine you can go to the fabric store and I'm going to show you how to make napkins that look like this this has the wishbone on it for good luck and look how pretty with a satin edging you can't really buy napkins that look exactly like this so why not make them it's a little craft project and I've already asked my craft department for 24 for my face and a whole I'm like I don't have time to make them unfortunately but what we should have time we should make time to do stuff like this so I love using this new cutting wheel I don't know if you have one of these but it makes sewing very easy we have to make the satin bias tape and that's what I want to show you how to do because that sure takes all the all the trouble out of this beautiful beautiful project if you know how to do it so we're cutting on a 45 degree angle here's the selvage of the satin and we are cutting with our beautiful tools here right along the edge of this straight edge and I'm cutting on a cutting surface this is a special self-healing cutting surface that look comes right off no scissors at all I hope you all know about these things and there you have the beautiful bias tape and so you have to pin these together right sides together I can cut another one but I don't have time so I'm going to show you you just put your strips right sides together on an angle and you're going to sew right here when you sew and open up you have the perfect long long bias tape you're going to need about eight feet for each 21 inch by 20 1 inch napkin I like generous size napkins because they fit nicely on your lap and then there's this great tool that's in the notion stores for anywhere from $5 to $7 and it's called a bias tape maker not very difficult to use it's really nice you feed your bias cut tape right through and they have a little notch here so you can just pull the fabric right through and it comes out this N and it starts folding up I have it backwards you put the right side down it starts folding it into a bias tape and here we have one started and as it pulls out watch you pull out and you iron while you pull just with a hot iron just pull and press and it holds it down it is so easy to do it is wonderful wonderful thing this little bias tape maker to make it even easier use a little bit of spray starch or sizing and iron on that it keeps it flat and I'm using one of these little ironing with sleeve ironing boards because it's nice right on your work table see and just keep pulling through and ironing down it's like magic I remember making these without this little tool and it really is hard so there's your bias tape once you're done folding it that way then you fold it once again in half and there's your trim I hope you can see that it's very very clear once you get it all ironed out and iron that in half and there you have the bias tape that you wish was sold in the exact color satin that you need so there is there you have it and you pin this around the perimeter of your 21 inch square just pin it all the way around so that it will be sewn all around the outside of your napkin make sure you get it exactly in half like that fit that in and down and then pin all the way around we have the long pins pins now come long enough so that you can pull them out easily when you are sewing and we're using my favorite sewing machine we have the singer confidence this gives you confidence when you have a machine like this so around like this we move the pins as you come to them I like to take them out just to save wear and tear on the machine and go all the way around you'll fit the corners and when you're done you have a beautiful beautiful napkin when you come to the end the directions are on the web for how to end it and then you want the stencil you go to Martha Stewart calm this beautiful little wishbone is right there it's not in your turkey it's on the web and use a little bit of gold paint with a pouncing brush like this and pounce the gold right on it and when it's dry remove it and you have a beautiful homemade handmade I hope you like a sewing project it really is a goodness of your time we'll be right back you know that there are over 64 million sores in the United States and that the number of adults who own sewing machines has increased 5.6 percent in the past year I like to think that it has something to do with the fact that we all love sewing here at Martha Stewart Living we have a sewing workshop once a week people are making wonderful projects after work and it doesn't matter how long you've been sewing there are great ideas so many great ideas for sewing projects that you can do yourself or with your kids this is a great project very simple for storing some of your children's art supplies and if you're going on a summer trip this year nothing better than taking a pad and some beautiful colored pencils in a wonderful oil cloth cover like that in the backseat of the car you always want to have things for kids to do because it's not fun to sit in the front seat while you're driving and listen to are we there yet are we there yet so this is one way to avoid that and then the kids will say I don't want to get out of the car yet I'm not finished with my painting so watercolours again painting and pencils crayons all kinds of things can be fit into these wonderful little art packs and I'm using a curvy singer curvy sewing machine it is really easy to use it eliminates the two biggest frustrations sewers have experienced over the years one is threading the machine and to threading the bobbin and if you you know you're constantly kind of swearing under your breath that you can't get your you can't you have to get find your glasses to find the little hole in the needle you know the frustration but this one does it automatically is so easy you just take the thread and well it's already threaded I guess where is the thread yeah take the thread across the top down this line underneath two little hooks and it threads the needle itself and you don't even have to pull up the bobbin thread it's great and so let me show you this this is a rectangle of felt thirteen and a half by nine and a half and then two little pockets the template for this is on our website at Martha Stewart comm two pockets one is six by four and a half one is six by 7 this is for book of drawing paper or whatever or a pad and then we're going to sew just a quarter of an inch around each pocket leaving the top open and that's a very simple thing to do with this machine you just line up the foot and just go right around the pocket very very easy and make sure you have threaded your machine so that you correctly with the correct color thread and you just go along the bottom using your foot as the guide for the quarter of an inch and then you just continue all the way around like that and then I'll just take this one off where's our little scissor we have the pockets already sewn on then if you're if you're going to say do watercolors a watercolor box like this measure how big the box is this will be able to slide in here and a few brushes into these little pockets just sew down here and you have that part done and then I chose this really nice oil cloth it's a wood grain oil cloth which I think looks very nice and you can just cut that exactly the same size as the felt line it up perfectly you don't want to use pins because you don't want to make holes in the oil cloth and you're going to go all the way around with a quarter of an inch and you're going to insert your little ribbon tie halfway down the side on both sides so this can go right like that using these clips you could use paper clips if you like to hold the felt now just sew all the way around the perimeter starting down a quarter of an inch and going all the way around it makes a very very neat package and there's no turning inside out it's very easy guided slowly and where's my ribbon I'm a ribbon fell out here just make sure you catch that ribbon so that you will have something to tie the finished pouch all together there it goes around and around here it is you have it all done just like this so much fun I love projects like these it's so rewarding when you have something finished there that goes in here a few nice watercolor brushes go in here and your paints in this pocket tie it up and put it in the knapsack you

Channel: Alok Prasad

Views: 234,655

Rating: 4.6611195 out of 5

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Length: 14min 25sec (865 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 01 2016