How to bind a pre-quilted placemat, or anything else!

Remember Martha? She was the very crafty lady who left lots of stuff to be gone through by her neighbor, my husband's aunt, who gave it all to me. Among the bags of crafty things, I found two panels of pre-quilted Christmas placemats. There was a set of 6 oval place mats with a Christmas swan on them, and a set of 6 rectangular place mats with a Christmas scene. All they needed was to be cut out and bound, so that's what I did!

Here's a little picture tutorial on how I used up a 44 inch square piece of green fabric from my stash to get these 12 placemats ready to be donated to my son's school holiday fair.


First I cut out the shapes from the panels.


Then I used THIS fabulous method to turn a 44 inch square of solid green fabric into enough 2 1/4 inch bias binding to finish 12 place mats and still have several yards leftover. Every time I use this method to make bias binding, it amazes me! And the best part is that I only have to sew two seams!


Then I pressed the binding in half with the wrong sides together.


I pinned the raw edges of the binding to the right side of the place mat edge.


I overlapped the end of the binding by about an inch over the beginning of the binding.


Then I opened up the end of the binding and folded about a half inch of the end to the inside and folded it back up again.


Then I lifted up the beginning of the binding...


...and placed it inside the fold of the end of the binding.


Then I pinned the layers together. This gives a nice finish to the joining of the two ends.


Then I stitched through all layers of binding and place mat about 1/4 inch from the raw edge all around the oval.


This is what the place mat looked like at this point.


After the binding was stitched to the place mat, I pressed the binding from the front, away from the place mat. This makes turning the binding to the back easier.


This is what the place mat looked like from the back after the binding was stitched on and pressed.


Then I brought the folded edge of the binding to the back of the place mat and pinned it in place around the edge.


If this were a quilt or if I had more time to finish these, I would have hand stitched the folded edge to the back. But it isn't, and I didn't, so here's what I did...


From the front of the place mat, I machine stitched around the edge so that my needle went between the red and the green and would barely show up. This is called 'stitch in the ditch' quilting and is a handy way to machine quilt without the stitching showing up...much!


And here is what it looks like finished. See, it barely shows. Just don't look too closely at the top of the picture where my stitches went a bit astray onto the binding.


The stitching from the front caught the folded-over edge of the binding on the back.


And there are the six Christmas swans all ready to dress up someone's holiday table.


Here's the stack of 6 Christmas scene place mats, bound in the same way.

These 12 place mats, along with the crocheted floor duster covers and the half-granny shawl, will be going to the holiday fair tomorrow. We're praying for nice weather and a very busy day at the fair to bring in some much needed funds for our great school.

Happy Stitching!

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Recycle Jeans into a Clothes Pin Bag!

After making a few aprons using old jeans, I started thinking of other ways to recycle jeans into useful household tools. Recently a friend of mine asked if I could make a hanging bag for her clothes pins since she likes to hang her clothes out on the line in the nice weather. So I let some ideas stew in my brain for a few days and then I got to work.

Here's a little photo tutorial on how I made a clothes pin bag using an old pair of jeans, a small plastic hanger and some leftover bias binding.


This is the second leg of the jeans that I cut up to make the ladybug apron. I took a small plastic hanger from my children's closet and placed it at the point on the leg where the edges just met the edges of the pant leg. Then I used my white fabric marking pencil to trace the slanted lines above the hanger.


I cut about 5/8 inch above the lines I had traced, to allow for the seam.


I refolded the pant leg so that the front was folded in half and drew half of a teardrop-ish shape on the fold starting about 2 inches down from the top.


Then I cut straight down the fold from the top to the beginning of the teardrop-ish shape, and then cut around the shape to make the opening which will be on the front of the bag.


Of course you can't really see the cut-out in this picture because the denim is all the same color on the inside and the outside, but you can see a little bit of the white line left behind.


I then bound the opening edge with a piece of extra wide bias binding from my scrap collection. I thought the yellow was a nice contrast to the black denim. Homemade bias binding of any width would also work well, or any width of ready made...whatever you have one hand!


Just to add some detail, I picked out one of the hardly-ever-used fancy stitches on my sewing machine, and stitched around the binding.


Then I turned the whole thing inside out and pinned the top edge. I stitched it using about a 5/8 inch seam allowance, then I stitched it again about 1/8 inch inside the seam allowance for extra strength.


Then I decided how long I wanted the bag to be, and cut off the extra from the bottom. I stitched up the newly cut bottom edge, and stitched it again for strength.

After turning the bag right side out again, I stitched the seam allowance at the opening to the back of the bag for added strength where the hanger will be coming out of the bag.


This is that same stitching at the opening shown from the back side of the bag.



I put the hanger into the bag and there it is!


But wait! Look what I found in my closet! A cute little appliqué to iron onto something. And I think this is the perfect something, don't you?


So there's my recycled jeans/leftover bias binding/extra plastic hanger clothes pin bag, dressed up with a cute little bumble bee appliqué. It only took about 1 1/2 hours and didn't cost me a dime. Sure beats the ugly things you pay money for in the home center stores or bed and bath stores! And just think of the cute bags you could make with bias binding leftover from other projects you've done. The possibilities are endless. Just use your imagination, and save those plastic hangers!

Happy Stitching!

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Ladybug Apron from Recycled Jeans

Those old jeans are not going to last very long on the bottom shelf of my sewing room cabinet! Not since I discovered this great idea for using them to make aprons! If you like ladybugs, you'll love this one...


I had a pair of old black jeans on the shelf and this remnant of fabric I had recently purchased with ladybugs all over it. What a perfect match!

I put a little scalloped edge on the bottom, but my bias binding technique on the points certainly leaves something to be desired. Usually I love to show lots of close-up pictures, but that's one close-up you can live without. I was not about to rip out all that sewing though, so I just pressed it really well and it is what it is. Still very practical and cheerful at the same time!


I even discovered a little ladybug appliqué hiding in the cabinet so I pressed it onto the apron right near the top, since we know that ladybugs always crawl to the highest point. This one is on his way up!

Happy Stitching!

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Recycling an Old Vest Fabric Panel and An Old Pair of Jeans for a New Apron

I had such fun making my first apron from the leg of an old pair of jeans and some leftover fabric that I just had to try another one. I don't have a very large fabric stash to choose from, but I do have quite a few fabric panels that were meant to be made into vests. I purchased them for practically nothing years ago when they were just going out of style and have pondered what to do with them ever since.

Take a look and see how I re purposed a vest fabric panel and recycled an old pair of jeans...


You can't see it too well in this picture, but the bottom edge of the apron has a nice curve to it which you will see below. I just love the colors and design of this fabric and I think it makes such a cheerful apron.

I am trying out a new tutorial method here. Instead of having lots of photos with explanations in between, I put them all into a little slide show for a change. I'm not sure what I think about it, so I'd be interested in hearing your feedback on this form of show and tell. If it goes too fast for you to read the words and look at the pictures, just click the pause button for each frame and then click again to continue playing.



Please keep in mind that the point of showing how I used the vest panel to make an apron is not to say that you have to go out and find this exact panel. I just wanted to show how I used what I had on hand in a way that I found to be attractive. You can do the same sort of thing with whatever you have that could be used as trim, pockets or decoration. Perhaps you have an old bed sheet that you don't use anymore or an old skirt or shirt or tablecloth. Think about taking what you already have but don't use anymore and making it into something new and useful.

I found an old pair of black jeans in my collection and a fabric remnant that has ladybugs on it which I am in the process of turning into another apron. The possibilities are endless, and it makes me feel so good to be making useful things from something that is no longer usable for its original purpose. I'll be showing the ladybug apron to you when it's finished.

Happy Stitching!

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Recycled Jeans Make a Great Apron!

I have always been somewhat of a pack rat and saver, especially when it comes to things that are still useful in some way. However, I will be the first to admit that when a pair of jeans splits a seam or just plain old wears out from being so well used, it is no longer useful...as a pair of jeans, that is! But there are plenty of other things all that wonderfully soft denim could be used for. All it takes is a little imagination and creativity, or falling upon someone else's clever idea.

That's what happened to me yesterday when I came across Lucy's website called My Byrd House in my search for quick and easy apron patterns. I really was not thinking about recycling old jeans for this project, but then I thought Why Not? I have plenty that I've been saving for just about forever, and who knows if I'll ever get around to actually making them into that quilt I had originally started saving them for.

So down to my sewing room I went, and here is what I came up with...


One leg of an old pair of jeans, two small pieces of fabric from a giveaway I had won a while ago, and 3 or 4 snippets of time during the day in between everything else, and here it is. What do you think? I just love it!


This is my daughter, just home from all day at school then a 3 hour shift at work and then 2 hours of band practice. She was pooped, but took the time to model the apron for me. When she took it off, she said she thought I should just keep this one right here at home since it was so cute and she would use it herself. I guess she likes it too! I just don't know that she will ever have time to actually use it though! Maybe in another 4 years when she graduates from college!

So there really is no magic trick for making this apron. Just cut off a leg of an old pair of jeans and cut it up the inside seam. Shape it in a way that you find pleasing, with the hem of the pant leg at the top. Using scrap fabric, make pockets and trim as you like. In this case, I had a 21 inch square of two fabrics. I chose the paisley for the pocket and the trim at the top to cover the chunky hem of the pant leg. With the square of the polka dot fabric, I used this handy method for making bias binding, and made about a 200 inch strip of 2 inch bias binding. I used what was needed for the side edges below the armhole curves and the bottom in one continuous piece. Then I cut the remaining piece in half and used each piece on either side of the apron to finish the armhole and continue up and down as the ties for waist and neck.

It was so fun and simple, and I have lots of ideas floating around in my head right now for more aprons that I want to make. I may just empty that shelf of all those old jeans after all!

Happy Stitching!

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How to Make Bias Binding from a Fabric Square - Easy and Fun Too!

Here's a little picture tutorial on how to make bias binding from a square of fabric. This is the method I used to finish the Mystery Quilt Project recently, and many other things over the years.

I hope you find it useful the next time you need to make bias binding for a project.

First you need to find out what size square to start with by looking at this handy bias binding calculator. Then cut the square in half diagonally and sew the two triangles back together as shown below.

Two of the short sides are sewn right sides together and the long sides are parallel and opposite each other. In the picture above, the long sides are on the top and on the bottom of the picture running horizontally.


Draw lines parallel to the long side of the triangle at intervals equal to the width you need for your project. In this example I am drawing my lines every 2 1/4 inches.


This is what the wrong side of your fabric will look like with your lines drawn.


With right sides together, bring one short side over to meet the other short side, folding up the rest of the fabric in the middle. This will seem very awkward because you will not be able to flatten out the fabric and it will be all bunched up underneath.


Taking into account the seam allowance and where the stitching line will be, match up the ends of the lines you drew, offsetting them by one line, so that the ends of the two short sides are not even with each other. Pin in place.


Now if you make this pinned seam diagonal and straighten out the rest of the fabric, you will see that you have a tube of fabric with one corner of each triangle sticking out at each end, and the lines you drew should follow each other from one triangle to the other.


Now bring this odd piece to the sewing machine and stitch the seam.


Now here comes the fun part! Beginning at one overhanging corner, start cutting on the line that you drew.


Keep cutting around and around, making sure you are only cutting one layer of fabric, until you get to the end of the line and have cut your way all around the tube.


And here is your long piece of bias binding in your desired width, after having sewn only two seams! I still giggle every time I do this. I think it is the coolest ever time saver in sewing.

I first used this method of making bias binding many many years ago when I was following a pattern for a scalloped tree skirt which called for bias binding around the entire outside scalloped edge. I have used it since for many other things, just taking whatever size fabric square I had available and following the same directions. If I needed more, I would cut another square and do it again. Then I found that super handy bias binding calculator on-line and using that solves the problem of having to guess what size fabric square to begin with.

I hope this method of making bias binding helps you save time too, and maybe even makes you giggle!

Happy Stitching!

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