Tie Skirt

I thought it would be fun to make a skirt out of ties so i found a lot of ties on ebay for a good price.

I sorted through the ties and picked out ones that were in the burgundy and silver range. Then sorted them again so that patterns next to each other would be complementary.

I then undid the thread at the back of the tie exposing the lining.


Then you cut out the lining at the desired height about 20 inches or so. I ended up wanting a length of about 17 inches and cut it at about 19 inches so i could fold over the hem.


Place two ties next to each other where you have lined up the two ties along the fold. When you begin to sew make sure the points are lined up.

all the ties sewn together. One tip is that the slippier the tie the more likely it will move around when you are trying to sew it. so when pinning the seam you want to sew in place. also pin the rest of the tie open to the ties that have already been sewn to help you keep things in check.

The back of all the ties. I will go back and re fasten the backs together at some point to have a heavier skirt. other plans indicate cutting of the extra length before sewing it together.

I then cut off the ties part at the height i wanted. you could do this earlier if you wanted i didn't know exactly what length i wanted the skirt to be.

I then folded the top over like an inch or so and sewed that in place avoiding sewing over the first and last tie where i would needed to attach the zipper.

close up of the hem.
sewing the hem.

attaching the zipper. I brought the zipper all the way to the top so when i folded the hem back over the extra length of the zipper would be in the hem. to add stability and a more polished look.

If you don't want to do a zipper you could also do elastic in the waist. , just stitch the ties all the way around in a circle instead of leaving an opening.
close up of the top of the zipper

completed zipper. ready to sew the hem on the remaining two ties. Also at this point the skirt was a little too big for me so i added a few pleats in the top of the skirt when i sewed the hem a second tie to yield a better fit.
The zipper was too long on the bottom so i sewed in a zipper stop at the length i wanted and cut the rest off, per the package instructions.



The completed skirt.

Travel Purse

I needed a purse i could zip up and that would hang across my body. I found a couple of tutorials on www.craftster.org/ that i combined to make this purse. I also didn't want to but anything new so i just used things i had around so it could match better, but i like it well enough.

I used this post for the basic purse design. i made 2 inch corner cut outs to create a square base and the basic square is like 9 x 13. I just estimated something that would be a good proportionally to my body and hold enough things.


Step 1: I cut out two patterns so i could cut them out in one go.

Step 2: cut out the liner fabric using the same pattern as the outer fabric.

Step 4: make pockets for the inside. Use the liner fabric a few inches longer than the final product to add some pleats in it to accomidate the items you wish to hold.


Step 5: sew across the bottom then up the sides and in the center to create the desired pocket sizes.

Step 6: here are the pockets that are filled

Step 6: I cut out a hole a little bit smaller than the zipper and then did a zig zag around the edges. Just before i sewed the zipper on a cut a liner fabric the same size because the liner fabric snags easily on the back.

Step 7: I cut an oppening on the back to expose the zipper. This is kind of a messy look, but i will know better for next time :)


Step 8: I created the zipper for the top following this post. Next time i would add some of the liner fabric in this step for a more polished look in the end. a reminder of how to do this can be found in this post.
Step 9: sew around the outside edges except the top and the corners. Then square off the corners as shown above. Also not pictured at this step assemble the liner in the same way as the outside of the bag while inducing the lining pieces when sewing the edges and only square off one corner to allow a way to turn the bag inside out later.

Step 10. Make a long tube of inside out fabric for the strap then turn it out.

Step 11: Start the assembly process. With the main bag turned inside out push the strap down to the bottom of the bag, pin the straps in the corner to keep them in the desired place.
Step 12: add the liner to the outside bag and strap so the good sides are facing each other. Sew around the top edge.

Step 13: turn the bag right side out through the hole in the lining.

Step 14: square off the corner of the liner. tuck in the outer edges so there are no stray threads.

Step 16: The final bag overall [above] and inside [below]. I also added a little green ribbon to the zipper pull to make it easier to use.

Reversible Purse

In the middle of the week i had an idea to make a reversible purse. This took me a about a couple hours spread over 2 nights. I had some pink cord left over from my gyro mouse bag (see May 2008), which dictated my fabric choice of the cat fabric also leftover from gyro mouse bag and pink from an old tank top left over from the t-shirt quilt (see June 2008).

My first step was to take a piece of newspaper, my wallet, keys, and cell phone to create a template for the purse that would hold all those contents easily. I decided on 20 inches long by 10 inches wide, then I cut out the cat fabric to use a template to cut the pink fabric.

I stretched the shirt over the cutting mat so i didn't cut through both layers of the fabric

The pink fabric is almost cut to the same size.

a preview of side one.

A preview of side two.

I then sewed the top and the bottom closed while the fabric was inside out [good side to good side].

next, while still inside out I sewed the sides down 3 to 4 inches which will be the front flap.
The result of all the sewing on the reverse side.

Next I turned the purse right side out and on the open edges i tucked the raw edges in and pined everything down.
Then I folded the open area in half and then sewed along both edges.

Next i used my sewing machine to put in button hole stitching.

Button hole on the reverse.

I used a seam ripper to open the button hole.

then i attached the buttons back to back, make sure you leave enough slack when sewing the buttons so that they will still slip through the button hole.


The last step was to hand sew in the cord, right under the fold. there should be enough space to tuck the cord a 1/4 inch or so into the bag to hide the raw edges.


The finished purse side one.

The finished purse side two.


The filled finished purse.

Slip Covers for Sofa

My boyfriend had a little sofa whose 70's plaid cushion had come to their demise so I made some new cushions for the sofa.


Step 1: was to get 5 inch thick foam from joanns when it was on sale and cut it in 24"x20" squares. there was a little extra piece at the end of the foam which I made into a side cushion.

Step 2: get a whole bunch a fabric and cut it to size.

This is a picture of the foam and the cut fabric.

Step 3: sew all of the pieces together except one long edge, which the zipper will be sewn into it.

Step 4: sew the zipper in the one long piece for all 5 pieces.

Step 5: sew the last piece into place and stuff with the foam.

The finished sofa. I left the fabric a little baggy so that i could put some batting in to hide the rough edge cuts. turns out you can't really see it. so the batting will be the next step.

But Fredo doesn't care and is enjoying the sofa anyway!

Blood Drop Buddy

These are my Blood Drop stuffed toys. I got the Pilgrim one 6 years or so ago for giving blood, and a friend that works for the blood bank recently sent me the gold one. The gold really is not my style and I thought compared to the Pilgrim he could use some more style. After taking some suggestions the style that won was Lederhosen...




Here is the before shot

i took the bow off and measured for the circumference of the pants and sewed this together in a tube and did the same for each leg.

I then pinned the body and legs together along with an extra piece to join everything together. i pinned everything on the inside to keep the seams hidden.

the finished pants!

I then made some two straps by sewing a mini tube of fabric and sewed then so that they cross in the back.
final pants!

no more hat!

take a rectangle of fabric and fold it into a trapezoid by bringing in the corners to a point at the center line and running a few stiches to keep that point.


then you can kinda push the center down to make the shape you want to for the hat.


I used clear thread to sew the hat onto his head.

the criss cross straps


the buddies back together again!

Sweater One Reconstruction

The before shot

I cut along the center and added some extra fabric to attach the zippers to trying to follow the logic of this craftsters post

this is the sweater with the fabric added. where my sweater is different that the shirt demonstrated in the link, which i am trying to demonstrate in the picture is that you can pinch a roll of fabric along the center. most of my zip of sweaters have that so i thought i would try it.

this picture is showing how the length of the zipper was just a bit too long so i just hand stitched over it a bunch of times i link under where i wanted to just it off. I think the zipper package usually gives directions. my scissors were not being friendly this night so that's what i did. make sure you cut an even/level amount off each side

the cut edge!

close-ish up shot on the top.

close up on the bottom. which could use some finessing but that's for another night.

I also added pockets. final desired size was 5x5 inches so i cut 6x6 inch squares and put them about inch from the zipper and 2.5 inches from bottom.

The after shot

Simple Brown Purse

outside fabric

Lining fabric

Sew one side

sew the zipper in: just continue along one hand sewing one side at a time

here is how the zipper should look.

on the other side you will have to sew in the ribbon to serve for the strap. i think i got a yard because it was cheap, like .33 cents a yard and i just a tie a pretty knot at the top depending on how much i need. this way i would have plenty left to leave excess and sew into the bag. it will be visible from in the lining. also be sure you don't have any twists in the ribbon its not going to be fun to fix it later.

once the straps are in place continue sewing in the second side of the zipper.

once all that is done you can sew the final side of the bag.

if you turn it inside out this if what it should look like.

the finished bag from the top down.

the finished bag!