Laundry Bags and Catching Up

So it has been awhile since I posted here, and it has been quite a past ten months.  After I recovered from shoulder surgery in October and started PT for my hyper mobility issues, I went back to work.  Then in April I broke my foot putting me on crutches and unable to work or drive for nearly 2 months.  So here I am unemployed for the summer and with ample to time to be making things for and with my son, who is growing up way to fast.  He also out grew that egg allergy!!!!  No more modifying recipes.  I still have a backlog of recipes to share so I will try to add some from time to time. Since I am back to homemaking, for the time being, (I really did enjoy working until that foot put me out of commission) I thought I would start sharing some of the things I am doing. 

One of the things I learned during my hiatus from this blog is to make chores as simple and easy for myself as possible.  I think this is a good way to live whether or not you had to have your shoulder fixed.  Who wants to spend time and energy cleaning that could be spent playing? One of things I did to make things just a tinsy bit easier was replace my large hamper with two small hampers with bags.  This way my husband and I just sort our laundry as we put it in the hamper.  When one is full, I take the bag out, close it, roll it down the stairs, and wash it.  This way I am not carting laundry up and down the stairs for a day.  I do laundry more often but it isn't as big of a job.

I wanted to implement the same thing for my kiddo.  We do have a laundry shoot from his floor to the basement, but his laundry was getting mixed up with the wet dirty towels from the kitchen and cleaning. I had to bend over repeatedly to sort it all out.  Besides, I want to teach him a little about doing the laundry, responsibility, and independence.  He didn't want anything that would take up to much floor space, and it need to have a bag so I could roll it down the stairs. (I broke my foot carrying a laundry basket down the stairs.  Clearly I was scarred.)

Then I stumbled across this tutorial.  This is a fantastic idea:  laundry bags from a towel and men's pants hanger.  Her tutorial says that you can just throw your lights and darks in the wash together.  I can't quite make that leap, I still sort.  I just made two bags one from a dark towel and one from a white towel. I did run a cord through the pockets so I could close them.  They are ridiculously easy and I made two in less than an hour.  I also washed the towels before I sewed them so that I can just throw them in with the wash to prevent them smelling. Right now they are hanging in my sons closet but you could also put them on the back of the door knob or the wall.  I must say he is doing a great job with it, and it has made my life just a bit easier. 

Super Easy Napkins

Before we moved to Wisconsin, we rarely used paper napkins.  I have a stack of cloth napkins, and we used those at every meal. I just washed them with my regular load of towels.  No extra work. No spending money on paper napkins.  No extra trash produced.  For some reason, it just hasn't worked out that way in this house.  It may be that my son is older and uses more than he used to, the nice laundry shoot that goes straight to the basement where my laundry is out of sight and out of mind, or the inconvenient location of our napkin drawer.  We have only been using them at dinner, not all the time.

At any rate I decided to fix this today.  Our 1920's house has a nifty little breakfast nook where we eat breakfast, lunch, and snacks.  This is where most of the paper napkin usage happens. Out went the traditional paper napkin holder and in went a $0.50 garage sale find basket. 

Next, on to making the napkins.  I can't remember where I saw this idea or I would credit them, but I am going to share it here because it is so brilliantly simple.  I found my son's old red and white gingham curtains in the fabric bin, and cut it into rectangles 15.5"x12.25".  (I used one of my store bought napkins as a template.)  I pulled some threads out of all four sides to create fringe and voila- 7 new napkins.  This was so quick and easy.  I will definitely be buying more gingham in assorted colors so we can have a big stack of napkins for the whole week!  This might even make a nice housewarming gift if you make a dozen or so (or more) and put them in a nice basket with a bow.  Just a thought.

When I used up all my gingham, I started looking for other fabric I could use up in my stash.  I found some Curious George fabric. The purpose for which I purchased it has long been forgotten.  I cut it into rectangles, as well, with the intent of doing the same thing to them.  I realized that the fringe was not going to look quite as quaint on the print as it did on the gingham. I was not in the mood to fold over hems and press and pin and miter corners or line up square corners.  I wanted napkins, and I wanted them fast. Low and behold, I found plain red fabric in my bin as well.  I cut the same size rectangles out of the red, put the right sides of my print and my solid together, and sewed the edges with a 3/8" seam allowance, leaving a 4" opening to turn the whole thing right side out.  Before turning it right side out, I trimmed the corners.  Once it was right side out, I gave the edges a quick press, being sure to turn fabric under at the opening, and top stitched around the edges.

My little one was so excited about these napkins.  He kept trying to find a reason to use one.  I may just have to find some other fun fabric for these too.  You can never have enough napkins when you have a little boy!

Button and Ribbon Topped Curtains

I had been thinking, for awhile, that my sewing room (which is really just a big landing at the top of the stairs) needed some curtains to give a pop of color to the room.   Once we cut down the tree that provided shade to that side of the house, the need was no longer about aesthetics but temperature control.  I had some fabric I found in the clearance bin that needed a purpose, some ribbon to use up, and black buttons. Voila- my curtains were born! 

Supplies:
Fabric
Lining
Buttons
Ribbon
Thread

This is basically a tab back curtain, with two lengths of thin ribbon creating the tabs in front instead of the back. The finished product should be 1 1/2-2 times the width of the window and however long you would like.  I made mine to fit the whole window, but you could certainly make these as valances or cafe style curtains.  Cut your fabric an inch wider and an inch longer than you want your finished product to be.

The ribbons will create the "pocket" for your curtain rod, so the length your ribbons need to be will vary with how thick your rod is.  I had a very thin rod, and cut mine 3 1/2" long.  Be sure you cut the ribbon longer than you need.  You will be able to trim the excess later.

Generally, tabs should be spaced 6-8 inches apart. Since my ribbons were so thin (1/8"), I spaced them closer for more support and visual appeal. Two ribons spaced about 1/16" apart created each "tab".  I just eyeballed this.  I placed my first and last set of ribbons 1 1/2 inches from each edge and spaced the rest 4 1/2 inches apart. When laying this out, put your fabric right side up, and pin your ribbons right side up as well.

Next take your lining, and pin it so that the right side is down.  The right side of the fabric and the right side of the lining should be together.  Pin this, and sew 1/2" seem around the edge leaving a 5" opening at the bottom so you can turn it right side out.  After you sew it, trim the corners and turn it right side out.

Iron the edges. Be sure to fold under your opening as it would be have been had it been sewn.  Fold the ribbons so that they come straight down on top of your fabric, and iron a crease. 

Top stitch the entire perimeter of the curtain at 1/4".  As you stitch over the ribbons be sure they are laying straight.

Next determine how wide your "pocket" needs to be for your rod.  I had a thin rod, so a 1" pocket was wide enough for me.  Mark a line 1" (or whatever width you need) from the top stitch line.  I used pins at ever ribbon to mark this.  You could also use a fabric pencil if you wanted.  Sew a line along your marks.  Again, be sure the ribbons are laying straight as you sew over them.  Once you have done this, trim the ribbon below this stitch so that when you sew your buttons on, they cover the ends.

Sew your buttons on to cover the ribbon ends. 

Then hang your curtain.

One thing to keep in mind with this style curtain, is that your rod will show.  You need to have a rod you don't mind seeing.  Also, this would have been so much easier if I had used one length of wider ribbon at each "tab."  If you are buying supplies, and not just looking to use up sewing supplies, I would buy 1/2" wide ribbon, and use one length to create each tab.  If you do use thin ribbon, as I did, you may want to shorten your stitch length a bit.  I did not do this on my first curtain and a couple ribbon lengths managed to slip between stitches and not get secured when sewing the first seam.  I left them in place, ironed them (unsecured), shortened my stitch length, and made sure I caught them when I did the top stitching.

I think this curtain could be really fun with different shaped and colored buttons.  You don't have to used buttons either.  Any embelishment that covers the ribbons' ends would work.  Fabric roses or rosettes could be really sweet for a little girls room.  Happy sewing!

Tie Top Ribbon Valances tutorial

My kitchen valances were a long time in the making mostly because my hubby and I couldn't decide on a fabric.  I had so many fabric scraps by the end we joked that I could just make a patchwork valance (maybe another time).  However, I knew I wanted to use a spool of ribbon I've had in my craft supplies for awhile, and I wanted to try to sew them so that the face of the fabric folded over to the back so you wouldn't see the lining.  Here is what I came up with.

Materials
(for ease of explaining I will tell you what I used for the valance pictured above.  You may need to alter measurements based on the size of your window and effect you are after)

Fabric- 10" of 45" fabric
Lining- 9.5"x44"
Ribbon- 7 pieces of 1" wide ribbon cut 21" long each
Thread



All seam allowances are .5"

Your valances should be about 1.5 - 2 times the width of your window depending on the look you are after, although I often don't follow this rule.  My main window is about 33" and my fabric was 44.5" wide.  So I just used the whole width of my fabric and cut it 10 inches long.  Cut your lining 1" shorter on the width and .5" shorter on the length.

Determine the top of your fabric.  With right sides together line up the top edge of your fabric and lining.  Pin the sides together so the edges are even and the top is even but the bottom of the fabric hangs lower than the lining.  Once pinned it will not lay flat.

Sew the sides.  Turn the fabric right side out.  Center the lining so that about .5" of fabric comes around the back and press the edges so you get a nice crease.  When you turn your fabric inside out again, you will use this crease as your finished edge NOT the seam.

Turn fabric so right sides are together again.  Use pins to mark along the top edge where your ribbons will go.  They should be about 6-8" apart, but you could certainly put them closer or further away depending on the look you are going for.  I put my first and last ribbon .5 inches from the edge.  I spaced the rest 6 13/16" apart so that I had seven evenly spaced ribbons.  Fold each piece of ribbon in half, and pin it BETWEEN the lining and fabric with the folded edge lining up with both raw edges at the top.  (Last ribbon placed on top is to show you what it looks like before you put it between the fabric and the lining)

Once they are pinned sew along the top edge.  Be sure your ribbons are not twisted when you sew over them.  Next, trim a small square from your fabric at the bottom edge up to the lining and sewn seam on each side as shown below.

Then, line up the edge of the lining with the bottom edge of the fabric.  This is tricky at the corners, but it should look like this.

Sew along the bottom edge and leave a 4" opening somewhere so you can turn the whole piece right side out.  Also, make sure you do NOT catch any of the ribbons in this seam.

Turn it right side out, and use your fingers to straighten out the corners and seams. Your corners should look like this.

Place valance face down on the iron and press a crease in the bottom edge so that about .5" of fabric wraps around to the back. (See picture above.) Hand sew the opening closed.  I used a blind hem stitch, don't know if that is really the best one for this application, but it worked. Use a lighter to slightly melt the ends of the ribbon so they won't fray.  Ta-dah!  Now you are ready to tie it to your curtain rod.

I see all kinds of possibilities here: longer ribbons for making pretty bows, multiple thin ribbons for a festive look, or a full length curtain.  Don't be afraid to experiment and share!