C is for Chenille - Roundup and Tutorials

Making Your Own Chenille

This is a great tutorial on making your own chenille fabric from freshvintage.typepad.com.

She does a wonderful job of explaining exactly how to create the traditional chenille fabric.  I actually thought that the piece of fabric she created and then used to make the doll body would have made a beautiful chenille baby blanket.  Click here for her full free tutorial on chenille.

Over at the Happy Things blog, she has a wonderful tutorial on making simple baby bibs backed with commercial chenille. 

Click here for her free chenille tutorial and to take a look at her beautiful blog.  

I have long loved vintage chenille and I always see vintage chenille bedspreads at really affordable prices at flea markets, garage sales, and antique stores. 

Here are some of my ideas to making things out of old chenille:

Bibs

Diaper Bag

Pajamas

Pillow cases

Baby/Toddler Jacket

Baby toys

Dolls

Monsters

Slippers

Nursing Pillow Cover

Window Valance

Bunting for baby room

You could cover those huge cardboard letter in chenille. 

You could also use chenille to upholster a chair for a child's room or to create a sweet cushion cover for a rocking chair.

Basically, you can look at a vintage chenille bedspread as a huge piece of fabric.  I know some people don't like the idea of cutting up vintage linens, but what good is it just sitting in a closet somewhere.

I would love to see a vintage chenille bedspread made into a whole gift set for a baby shower: burp cloths, bibs, a small crib blanket, baby booties, diaper bag, diaper organizers, mommy journal or photo album cover.  How sweet would that be to present at a shower?

  HAPPY CRAFTING!



Free Tutorial Fridays - No Sew Pumpkin Halloween Costume

As promised, I am going to give you the tutorial to make this great Halloween costume.  A little background:

I made this entire costume for less than $5.00 (actually it was $1.00 plus some stuff I had in the craft room).  This costume would be totally cute for an adult, especially as a maternity costume or just to wear to your child's class part of for passing out candy.  You can get everything to make the pumpkin and hat at the dollar store.  My dollar store always has t-shirts and I lucked out this time they were actually from the Disney Store.  If you cannot get a shirt at the dollar store, check Michael's and Joann's.  They almost always have craft shirts on sale 2 for $5.  You could also make this long sleeve.  I was thinking of layering it over a green sweatsuit.  If you bought a man sized shirt you could even make this into a little pumpkin dress for an adult.  You can make this entire shirt and hat no-sew with hot glue, fabric glue, or fusible web.  One note, if you use craft fuse, felt will melt onto your iron.  Use a sheet of white paper as a "pressing cloth".    


See Pumpkin Halloween Costume No Sew Simple and 1000's of others - or share your own on Cut Out + Keep

I posted it on one of my new favorite sites www.cutoutandkeep.net.  Click the link above to get my step-by-step tutorial and you can make this costume in under 20 minutes. 

Happy Sewing!

Craft Roundup - Recycled Record Projects

I was inspired by posting my recycled record project to create this little roundup of recycled record tutorials. 

This photo frame is such a wonderful project.  With everything I have made out of old records, a picture frame never occurred to me.  Click here for the free tutorial on recycled record photo frame from Inspirational Tips, Techniques, and Tutorials.

This project is so simple with the use of the ring to bind everything together.  This idea would be really fun shrunk down to a small, 3"x5" size for a purse notepad. 

Here is the Tata et Moi 

from Cut Out and Keep's

Free Recycled Record Tutorial

I have already made 4 or 5 record clocks.  I just bought the clock kit and used the clock.  But, I liked they way she covered this with fabric.  You could make this for a child's room, kitchen, etc.

From Sew Many Ways

free recycled record clock tutorial

I know lots of people make purses from the records.  I have made a few, but I will say that the records always end up breaking.  I must just be way to hard on purses. 

Have fun with your old records and

HAPPY CRAFTING!