By popular demand here is how to make your own skirt using vintage sheets (or pillow cases if your girl is little enough).

Here is What You’ll Need:
1 vintage sheet/pillow case
1.5-2yards of coordinating pom pom trim
1/2″ or 3/4″ wide braided elastic
safety pin
measuring tape
everything is sewn with a 1/4″ seam allowance

First- go get your tape measure, you’ll need a waist measurement and a length measurement (how long you want the skirt to be).

You’ll need to wash, iron (enjoy the smell of 30 years of different fabric softeners) and square up your sheet.  Then cut 2 rectangles, each rectangle should be Waist Measurement Wide by (Length Measurement)+ 2inches long.  So, if your waist measurement was 20 inches and your length measurement was 15 inches then you would need 2 rectangles each one being 20inches wide by 17inches long.

With right sides together sew the side seams up, don’t forget to finsh them (serge or zig zag).  Iron the seams flat.

To create your waist casing fold over a 1/4″ and press at the top of the skirt.  Fold over again a whole inch and press (see below).

Your going to stitch you casing closed- stitching as close to the bottom edge as possible.  I always like to leave my opening in the center back, so when I close it I can stitch the tag in at the same time.

When inserting the elastic I like to use a safety pin, I find it easier to guide the elastic around, I pin the tail end with a straight pin at the opening.  After you’ve threaded the elastic be sure to stitch it securely closed, I always sew over the elastic a few times, be sure to close the casing when you are done.

With right side up pin pom trim 1/2″ from the edge of skirt- the poms should be facing the waist band.  I used a zipper foot for this part, you want to stitch as close as you can to the pom edge of the trim (see pic).

When you get the pom trim sewn on, your skirt should look like this.

Next your going to flip the skirt inside out and iron the poms back, as close as you can to your seam.

(i should have clipped my threads before taking this pic)

Your going to create a  hem  here by ironing the raw edge over into the trim, like this:

See how the bottom edge of the pic has the hem folded into the trim edge?  Once you’ve pressed it all under your going to stitch as close to the top of the pom trim as possible.

Now, be sure to send me pics of your cute daughters, neighbors, nieces etc wearing the skirt!

Ok, here we go, how to complete a simple embroidery project!

First you need to find a pattern, pattern bee, flickr Hoop Love group, and Needlecrafter are all great places to find patterns. However, today’s pattern is a vintage Vogart provided by Jessie (thank you!). The first thing I did was download the pattern and open it up in Adobe Photoshop, I looked at the size and decided I didn’t want to change it, sometimes I shrink or enlarge patterns this way. It doesn’t matter if the pattern you print has slightly blurry lines, you are going to ink it crisp and clear.

2. Print Pattern
I use plain old white printer paper, does anyone have any other suggestions?

3. Use a Sulky Pen or a Heat Transfer Pencil (if you don’t have either- here is a great resource for other transfer methods) and trace your pattern, make sure you mark in clean crisp strokes.

4. Use your iron to stamp the pattern onto your fabric. I’m using an organic cotton flour sack towel that I grabbed at Target. The weave is very loose and I do not recommend it, Target does sell a fantastic white flour sack towel with a very tight weave!

5. Once your fabric is stamped pull out your embroidery threads and select color! I find that if I select colors ahead of time then I can make sure all the colors look good together.

I’ve chosen white for the bunny (however if you are stitching on a white fabric I would recommend a brown bunny), pink for the nose, blue for the eyes, black for the lashes (grey for the whiskers) and green for the tie.

6. Place fabric in an embroidery hoop, choose one large enough that you can stitch your whole design without having to move the hoop.

7. Whatever color of thread I will use the most is the color I start with, so I started with the white for the bunny. Embroidery floss consists of 6 tiny threads wrapped together. When I stitch designs I use 3 strands, so you’ll want to split your thread after you cut a length. When I do lettering I use 2 strands.

8. The outside of the bunny I stitched using a stem stitch, although I think a chain stitch would look nice here too. (I tried to take pictures of me doing the stitches for you, but they turned out just awful! So please follow the links to better illustrations.) Next I did the pink nose in a satin stitch , I also did the blue eyes that way too. The black lashes I did in a back stitch, I like the way it makes the lines of the eyes look crisp. The Whiskers are done in the same stem stitch as the bunny outline. For the green tie I demonstrated how the chain stitch looks, it is great for outlining things that you want to stand out a bit- think of it as the bold feature of stitching. For the dots of the tie I used french knots, this is a tricky knot. As your needle is coming up from the fabric wrap the tail of the thread around the needle 3 times and then pull the needle all the way up tightening the thread as you go. There is a great YouTube video showing how to do a french knot.

Ta Da! You are done! This little bunny took me about 45 min if you subtract all the photographing that I did! Please leave me a comment or shoot me an email (heather -at-heatherhalesdesigns-dot-com) if I lost you anywhere or you have questions about this project.

SURPRISE- One lucky reader can win this perfect easter towel! Just leave me a comment and let me know that you want him, I’ll pick a winner on Monday 3/10.

Also, Average Jane Crafter is giving away the yet-to-be-released new Sublime Stitching book of embroidery patterns, quick the contest is only open until Friday 3/7.

Last night I made a little zippered pouch as part of a birthday gift for my Grandma.

I used some fabric that I bought a couple of months ago, it seems so feminine and pretty (i heart pastels). I thought the pouch turned out really cute with the contrasting red zipper. Personally I have a little zippered pouch like this that I carry with me everywhere- I store my lipstick, compact, lotion and extra bobby pins in. When ever I switch purses/diaper bags all I have to do is grab my phone, pouch and wallet thus ensuring I always have everything I need. I’m hoping Grandma finds it practical too!

Tonight I made another one, and this is my step by step guide so you too can make one! I used some vintage sheeting that Jessie sent me a few months back. **DISCLAIMER: You can use this tutorial to make pouches to sell in your own shop if you want. Also, I am not an expert- there may be an even better way to do this, but this is what works for me. I did this project at night so I apologize that the images aren’t very pretty**

Step 1: You’ll need a piece of fabric at least 16″x 12″, a 7″ zipper, self healing mat, rotary cutter and quilters ruler. Everything is sewn at a 1/4″ seam allowance.

Step:2 Cut out 4 rectangles of fabric, each one should be 7.5″x5.5″

Step 3: Fold top (the 7.5″ side) of each rectangles over 1/4″-1/2″ and press. (heaven’s to betsy I need a new ironing board cover! anyone want to post a tutorial on how to make one of those?)

Step 4: If you are using different prints be sure you decide which pieces you want on the outside and which ones you want to be the lining. Pair each outside piece with a lining piece and place with wrong sides together. With wrong sides together you are going to place the zipper between the ironed over folds on the rectangles. I’m hoping I haven’t lost you- it gets easier really quick!

Step 5/6: Now, there are probably easier ways to do this zipper, but this is the only way I can think of that will allow you to have no visible raw edge. Once you have the zipper pinned to all the pieces you’ll stitch it using a zipper foot. Make sure you pivot at the head of the zipper. May I suggest 2 things, 1. Don’t sew too close to the teeth or you’ll end up with a beautiful pouch and a stuck zipper (been there, done that). 2. Check your bobbin thread, because if you are like me you won’t and you’ll run out half way through and be irritated!

Step 7: Remove pins and zip the zipper half way.

Step 8: Ok, follow me closely here. The two top pieces that you see are your outside print, the underneath fabric will be your lining. So place right sides of tops together and right sides of lining together. This should give you a big square that looks like this:

Step 9: Now you’ll need to pin it together. Be sure you have the zipper lay the same way on each side as you pin it. The zipper should lay as if you have folded it in half- see image.

Step 10: Be sure you leave an opening on the LINING fabric for turning.

Step 11: (we are getting close to the end, hang in there) Now stitch it all up- except for the opening. Be sure you trim the corners and the excess zipper ends. Then turn out, use your scissors to poke the corners out if you need to. You should now have something that looks like this- your lining should be sticking out.

Step 12: Fold the raw edge in where the opening is. If you want a really clean look you can whip stitch it closed by hand, or you can sew it with your machine as close to the edge as you can.

Step 13: Stuff the lining back into the pouch and viola! you are done! Here is another variation that I made as a Christmas gift. Be creative and send me pictures of what you create!!

I thought I should share with you my secrets for embroidery and patterns- in-case any of you are looking for a new summer craft. I highly recommend this book, anyone who sews in any capacity should have it in their home libraries. I did not know that there were so many different stitches, the step-by-step illustrations are very helpful, I’ve learned so much from this book.

You can get blank flour sack towels at Target for about $5 a pack, they aren’t available online though. Amazon has some on-line but they cost more. My favorite places to get patterns are on flickr, blogs, a few different pattern shops, and ebay. Another thing I will do is scan images or edit images I find on-line in Photoshop and print them out. Once you have a printed out image (as opposed to an iron-on transfer) there are many ways to transfer it to your fabric, by far the easiest is with a special pencil iron on pen. I love using my pencil, just make sure you trace hard on your image so that you get good strong lines on your fabric.

Now, go forth and create (and send me pictures)!  Feel free to share any of your favorite craft sites, I am always looking for more!

Felt food seems to be all the rage these days in children’s play accessories. After seeing some felt that looked good enough to eat I decided to try my hand at it. I made each of my kids a sugar cookie with frosting and sprinkles. My daughter was disappointed when she put it in her mouth and realized that it was not really a cookie.

The cookies were so easy to make, that I put together this tutorial for you. (kate, let me know if you want to adapt and use this over here).

Step 1: Cut out 2 felt circles, I used an old canning lid as my guide.

Step 2: Cut out your frosting. I used the inner circle of my canning lid and free handed a scalloped look.

Step 3: Using a small running stitch sew the frosting to the top cookie layer.

Step 4: After you have attached the frosting you can use seed beads, french knots or sequins to create your “sprinkles”.

Step 5: Attach the Cookie top to the cookie bottom using a blanket stitch or a running stitch (I think I’m going to try this next time as the blanket stitch tends to give it a crimped look). Before you completely seal the edges be sure to stuff it with a little bit of poly fil.

I found this tutorial for a felt cake if anyone else is interested.