You've got questions, I've got answers
Yesterday there were a couple of questions in the comments, and I thought I'd answer them here, but also share a few more things!
I found my button for my cardigan at this Etsy shop. She mostly sells beads, but I found her when I was doing an Etsy-wide search for pewter buttons. Shipping was fast and everything arrived nicely packaged!
A few weeks ago, I mentioned and/or linked to this little zipper container. The pattern and tutorial are free at the link. It was designed to corral hand sewing things, but I think could easily be adapted to hold a pair of socks in progress. I haven't made it, but I think I might tackle it this summer.
When I went to find that tutorial, I ran across some other free sewing tutorials (seeing as I was in the "Tutorials, Sewing" section of my highly organized, slightly OCD Safari bookmarks), so I thought I'd share some of these with you. I've gotten positive comments about my sewing adventures and some of you seem inclined to get out your own sewing machines for some easy projects, so maybe one of these will inspire you!
The Dumpling Zipper pouch is super cute and could probably be resized to fit any number of uses (I think, I haven't made it yet). The tutorial notes that the curve on the zipper makes this an intermediate sewing project, so don't jump into this one if you're a beginner or your skills are rusty.
If you're looking for a larger bag (you know to corral all your smaller bags, or whatever else needs corralling), the Parisian Market Bag from Red Brolly is really cute, and with the pleats it's a little more fun than just a standard tote (not that there's anything wrong with a standard tote, of course). Red Brolly has a bunch of free tutorials so check those out too, while you're there!
Also in the bigger bag category is the Reversible Sling Bag, which I made in the elephant print a few weeks ago. Super easy, super fast and really cute! This was my Getting to Know The Treadle Machine Project and she sailed through it with ease. I added a pocket on the front side to mine, but it's cute with or without the pocket. I don't think this would be a good first project for a beginner, but if your skills are just rusty, it could be a great way to jump back into sewing.
If you are a beginner, a great place to start making bags would be to check out Craftsy. They have two free mini classes with two bag designs each (that's four bags total!). The Bag Making Basics: Drawstring Bag and Bucket Bag class is the place I got my drawstring bag pattern (super easy - this one would be a good first project). I haven't made the bucket bag yet. The other one is Bag Making Basics: Reversible Tote and Zipper Pouch. I haven't made either of these yet, but the zipper pouch would introduce you to zippers. For some reason zippers freak people out, so if you try them when you're just getting started sewing, you will see that they aren't that scary. Zippers are our friends! Either of these classes would be a great starting place because you can watch the videos as many times as you want to, rewinding confusing bits over and over and over in the privacy of your own home. You can work as quickly or as slowly as you'd like to but in the end you'll have a cute bag! There is also an add-on to the Zipper Pouch above: the teacher has four additional sizes figured out! Once you understand the basic construction, you can make zipper pouches for anything that needs zipping!
Finally, I wanted to share one other place that is loaded with free tutorials and patterns - Sew 4 Home. Sew 4 Home covers pretty much any project except clothes. They have bags, gifts, blankets, pillows, outdoor stuff, indoor stuff, car stuff - all kinds of things. Take a look at their tutorials, you could be busy for years!
There are other tutorials and free patterns and things on the web, but these are my current favorite sources. Check them out, bookmark the ones that interest you, and if you find something that I didn't mention, feel free to link it in the comments so we can all check it out!
I found my button for my cardigan at this Etsy shop. She mostly sells beads, but I found her when I was doing an Etsy-wide search for pewter buttons. Shipping was fast and everything arrived nicely packaged!
A few weeks ago, I mentioned and/or linked to this little zipper container. The pattern and tutorial are free at the link. It was designed to corral hand sewing things, but I think could easily be adapted to hold a pair of socks in progress. I haven't made it, but I think I might tackle it this summer.
When I went to find that tutorial, I ran across some other free sewing tutorials (seeing as I was in the "Tutorials, Sewing" section of my highly organized, slightly OCD Safari bookmarks), so I thought I'd share some of these with you. I've gotten positive comments about my sewing adventures and some of you seem inclined to get out your own sewing machines for some easy projects, so maybe one of these will inspire you!
The Dumpling Zipper pouch is super cute and could probably be resized to fit any number of uses (I think, I haven't made it yet). The tutorial notes that the curve on the zipper makes this an intermediate sewing project, so don't jump into this one if you're a beginner or your skills are rusty.
If you're looking for a larger bag (you know to corral all your smaller bags, or whatever else needs corralling), the Parisian Market Bag from Red Brolly is really cute, and with the pleats it's a little more fun than just a standard tote (not that there's anything wrong with a standard tote, of course). Red Brolly has a bunch of free tutorials so check those out too, while you're there!
Also in the bigger bag category is the Reversible Sling Bag, which I made in the elephant print a few weeks ago. Super easy, super fast and really cute! This was my Getting to Know The Treadle Machine Project and she sailed through it with ease. I added a pocket on the front side to mine, but it's cute with or without the pocket. I don't think this would be a good first project for a beginner, but if your skills are just rusty, it could be a great way to jump back into sewing.
If you are a beginner, a great place to start making bags would be to check out Craftsy. They have two free mini classes with two bag designs each (that's four bags total!). The Bag Making Basics: Drawstring Bag and Bucket Bag class is the place I got my drawstring bag pattern (super easy - this one would be a good first project). I haven't made the bucket bag yet. The other one is Bag Making Basics: Reversible Tote and Zipper Pouch. I haven't made either of these yet, but the zipper pouch would introduce you to zippers. For some reason zippers freak people out, so if you try them when you're just getting started sewing, you will see that they aren't that scary. Zippers are our friends! Either of these classes would be a great starting place because you can watch the videos as many times as you want to, rewinding confusing bits over and over and over in the privacy of your own home. You can work as quickly or as slowly as you'd like to but in the end you'll have a cute bag! There is also an add-on to the Zipper Pouch above: the teacher has four additional sizes figured out! Once you understand the basic construction, you can make zipper pouches for anything that needs zipping!
Finally, I wanted to share one other place that is loaded with free tutorials and patterns - Sew 4 Home. Sew 4 Home covers pretty much any project except clothes. They have bags, gifts, blankets, pillows, outdoor stuff, indoor stuff, car stuff - all kinds of things. Take a look at their tutorials, you could be busy for years!
There are other tutorials and free patterns and things on the web, but these are my current favorite sources. Check them out, bookmark the ones that interest you, and if you find something that I didn't mention, feel free to link it in the comments so we can all check it out!
Labels: sewing
posted by Melanie at 9:13 AM
2 Comments:
Thank you - the round sewing kit was the one I was looking for but the others are great & I've down loaded some of them, too. Still love your button & great buttons are hard to find.
Thanks for linking and liking my circle tote. :) I'd love to see yours if you do make one. I use my two every day. I'm actually making a series of them for June birthdays.
Thanks again!
Post a Comment
<< Home