Pacifier Keeper - QUICK baby gift

Here's one of my favorite things to make for my friends who are having babies, a pacifier keeper.  They are useful, they save money because you (or your friends) won't have to keep replacing pacifiers that baby tosses away, are inexpensive to create, and as the title says, quick to make!

 

 

 You will need:

 -1 pack suspender/mitten clips (comes with two, shown a couple

     pictures below)

 -either 12 inch pieces of jelly roll strips or enough fabric to cut a

     2.5 inch by 12 inch piece

 -Velcro by the yard (you use less than 1 inch per keeper)

 

 This picture shows the length of a keeper fully laid out, they are closer to 9 inches when shut.  You can see I used two fabrics to make this one long enough to wrap around the pacifier ring and still be able to clip to the babies clothing.

 

Cutting my 2.5x12 inch piece of snuggle flannel.

 

I don't usually care for directional fabric, but it worked out well in this case.

 

Here's the clips I have been using.

 

First you want to fold the piece in half right sides together.

Then you'll want to make sure the strip will be able to fit through the clip.

 

And the openings on these clips are about 1 inch wide.

 

I also cut my Velcro a little less than one inch long.

 

I am sewing my strip a bit wider than 1/4 inch to be sure the finished size will be less than 1 inch across.

 

Then turn it inside out in whatever manner works best for you.

 

On this one I used one of my crochet hooks.  I was able to get the hook to grab onto the fabric I had turned under with my fingers, and pull it the rest of the way through lickety-split!

 

This particular hook is size "H".

 

Then press your fabric flat.

 

Next sew 1/8 inch away from each edge for a nice, finished look.

 

Like this!

 

Next you thread the end through the clip, and fold it over about 1/2 inch.  I only pinned at this point to take this picture :)

 

I chose not to turn the end under here, instead I just used a zig-zag stitch to hold it together and keep all the loose end threads from unraveling.  And just so you know, I personally went over this part 3 times, because I know how babies will pull on things and I don't want this to come apart.  You could also baste it in place first, and then run a zig-zag over the top.

 

Here is how that end looks when you're done.

 

On this other end you will first sew the end of the fabric closed, either by folding in under or just run a zig-zag over it.  Then cut the rough side of the Velcro shorter than the soft side to allow for a bit of adjustment around the pacifier ring.  Next sew the rough side all around the edges, placing it about 1/4 inch from the end of the fabric strip.

 

Now place your soft side about 4 inches from the edge of your rough side and sew all around the edges, feel free to back stitch on the sides for extra security.

 

Here you can see where I sewed around the Velcro.

 

And here is the finished product!  I hope you make someone's life easier with one or two of these, I've even got a couple that are holiday themed, just because!

 

Cowboy boot

I was so inspired by Carla's cowboy boot doorstop from the Don't let the Door Stop You blog hop that I had to make one myself!  Plus, I work for the national office for college rodeo, so I'm suddenly inspired by a lot of cowboy themed items.  One of the ladies I work with had her birthday last week, and I thought she could use a little something pretty in her office.  I used the pattern/tutorial from Riley Blake's site and it was quite a bit larger than I was expecting!  My boot ended up almost a foot tall!  Learning experience: there's a reason copy machines give you the option to reduce/enlarge.

Here's my boot next to the cheese doorstop I made.

 

The lady I made the boot for gave me this shirt (her husband tore a 4 inch rip right in the belly of it) and I thought it fitting to use in the boot-making.


Here's something great I learned: when you're turning corners inside out, use pinking shears to help ease the fabric into the correct shape.  Here's what it looks like when you don't:

 

And here's what happens when you pink the fabric:



 

Isn't that amazing?  By the way, this is one of those parts I altered for my personal taste, this book has a 4 inch space down from the top to hold pens, so I stiffened up the fabric and gave it a lining.

 

I am proud of how the trimming turned out, I just zig zag stitched over the top of it with Aurifil #2021 (white) and it blended nicely and held the trim in place well, especially considering the abuse I put that piece thru turning in inside out and such.

 

This was before I filled the boot with the crushed walnut shells, and hand stitched the "base" of the pen holder, which was a piece of the black fabric cut a little larger than the opening.

 

 

And this is it!  Sitting outside in the freezing rain, woohoo!

 

My co-worker thought it was a kick in the pants, especially when she realized I'd used her husbands shirt, and immediately loaded highlighters and pens into it.  I suggested we look for a plastic container we could cut down and set inside to provide a bit more support, if I make it again I will put my "base" another inch lower so the sides of the boot will hold the pens up.

 

Thank you for visiting!  I need to have a food post here soon, Pampered Chef just started their new catalog which means new recipes, yay!  Oh, better get some dishes washed then, :)

 

~Brandy

Diaper Bag with lots of pictures!

So my neighbor reminded me a couple weeks ago that she was due to have her baby soon, and when I asked how they were set for supplies, she replied they have next to nothing.  So!  Being the adventurous and giving type, I said "well I will make you a diaper bag if you like" (having never even looked at a bag pattern) and of course she said sure.  So I searched and searched, and liked this tutorial at the Moda Bakeshop the best:

Baby On The Go Diaper Bag « modafabrics (wordpress.com)

It's well written, has lots of pictures, and a lot of positive response in the comments section.  And uses 20 strips from a jelly roll, which I happened to have available!  There are a couple little steps not explained perfectly, but it's pretty easy to figure out.  On my next bag I'll be sure to take pictures of those steps, I thought I did on this one but apparently not!  :)

Sewing row by row by row, I used The Painted Garden by Dena Designs for Free Spirit Fabrics.

 

I laid out my strips light-dark-light so that when you set the bag down it's on a darker fabric.

 

All the pieces; I realized afterwards, I could piece some 9in and 6in blocks for the pockets, hmm...

 

This turned out to be one of my favorite revelations, the transformation of quilted fabric into STURDY fabric!  It's too funny, I think my favorite part of this bag is the pocket edges hahaha

 

But look at how clean they turned out!

 

I laid out my little pockets dark on light and vice-versa aiming for some contrast.  My husband said he still couldn't see them :D

 

Ah, the HANDLE, and this thing is sturdy too let me tell you, it is going NOWHERE.  I broke only one needle, and only because I was a goof and used a 70/10 or something silly like that as an experiment.  DO NOT USE THAT SIZE NEEDLE, use a jeans needle, obviously... reason being at the time of sewing on this handle you are sewing thru 6 layers of quilt.  Not including seams, and there will be seams that will try to snag your needle and shoot pieces of steel into your eye.  By the way, next time I plan on altering the type of fabric I use and hopefully that will help a bit with the toughness.

 

 

And who can leave a pattern alone?  I came to the conclusion that interior pockets would be handy, at the very least something to hold a bottle or two.

 

So I found instructions from like, 6 different sites, and pieced together the easiest way I could think of to make this bad boy

 

You'll love this, that black topped bottle right there?  That's my salt grinder!

 

Gathering in the bottoms, this was a first for me.  Actually, almost everything I did on this bag was a first, what am I thinking?

 

Ok, I've made straps before, that part was the easiest for me, and since I didn't have charm squares like she suggests in the tutorial, I used some of the other jelly roll strips.  It came out wide enough for my taste.

 

I don't know how I'd bind the seams, so I just sewed them nice and tight, and I am pretty sure it will work out just fine.  This green is home décor fabric from Joann Fabrics.

 

So neat that it holds itself up, even inside out.

 

Alright, the zipper is on, sweet...

 

Getting ready for turning it inside out

 

Oh fluff!  Well that won't work, I think she will want to access those pockets immediately upon opening, darnit.  Ok, take the zipper back off...

 

There we go, all better!

 

A bright and happy bag which will hopefully last them many moons!  Now to add a changing pad and a pacifier clip, and the baby shower is this Saturday, eek!

 

I am super proud of this bag, so much so that I carried it all over town to show, well, everyone who even glanced at it!  I definitely need to make a little label for it so my friend will know what to tell people who ask, and who knows?  Maybe someone will make a request for one!  I already have fabric for one for myself, it's a great size for a project carrier and I really like the fact that it closes and will keep things IN.  I crochet and cross-stitch on occasion, since it's a portable craft, and many of my projects are fairly large, so this will work great. 

 

By the way, please feel free to leave me a comment if you have any questions, I am more than happy to share how the process went for me and how I solved little issues along the way.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

~Brandy