Made-Up Vest

 Hello Readers. I made some new pants and decided to make a matching vest. The vest gave me the feeling of wearing a suit but the vest was much easier than a suit jacket. 

 

Matchy-matchy!

 

I used this vest as a pattern. It worked pretty well. Vests are so small and simple, they are an easy sewing project.

 

I cut out the back and front pieces. This took no time at all. 

 

I used some iron-on interfacing to make the vest easier to put together. The interfacing makes the fabric a little thicker and stiffer. That makes it easier to deal with.

 

When the interfacing was ironed on, I could sew the side and shoulder seams together. 

 

Here's my new vest. The edges still needed to be finished. 

 

I used bias tape for those cut edges of the vest. 

 

I sewed the bias tape to the edge of the vest. I just stitched on top of the bias tape all around the edges of the vest.

 

Then I turned the edge under and stitched on the outside of the vest all around the edges again. 

 

You can see the way it is sewn here. But the vest is just hanging open...
 

I also used 2 pieces of bias tape to make a tie closure in front of the vest to close it. 

 

Here is the finished outfit. I loved these 2 pieces together. 

 Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very Easy Vogue 9181

 Hello Readers. I made some new dress pants using the Very Easy Vogue 9181 pattern. They seemed simple and had a straight leg shape that I liked. I also had some fabric I wanted to use and this seemed like the perfect choice. Let me show you how it went. Spoiler- It's a great pattern.

New pants! 

Here is a look at the fabric. It was pretty floral pattern. I liked both sides but I think that the blue was the "right" side. It looks like denim but is a bit lighter weight. 

I cut my pattern pieces and fabric out and had high hopes for this pattern. 

 

I had the pant legs and waist band ready to sew together in no time. 

 

This is a look at the pants sewn together. This is the inside, wrong side of the fabric, the yellow side is pretty too though. 

 

I put the waistband together. 

 

I attached the waistband to the pants and stitched the seam down flat. 

 

Here is a look at my finished pants. This was good practice for me because I had to put in a zipper. Zippers are intimidating to me but it went well. Do they look really long? 

 

Yikes, they were way too long. I cut them shorter and made a hem on each leg.

 

I liked the pants a lot. This was a great pattern. They are great by themselves but I will be back tomorrow to tell you about the matching vest I made. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Make a Stove Apron

 Hello Readers. I like to travel and of course, that means some souvenirs. This tea towel is from Windsor Castle. It is also blue and white, which is my favorite color scheme. I wanted to use it around the house but I did not want my kids get it dirty. What could I do with this towel? Let's make a stove apron or stove skirt. (I got this idea from @literary_stitch on instagram, check her page for more.)

This was a quick and easy project.

 This towel had a horizontal image and that made it perfect for this project. A towel with a simple pattern or design with no writing would work well for this project too. It is going to hang horizontally and not vertically so keep that in my mind when you chose a towel.

I found some white eyelet lace to add to my towel. I wanted to dress my towel up a bit just for fun. I could sew this lace along the bottom of my towel and it would add just the right touch. The cotton lace would be great with the cotton material of the towel.

I sewed the lace under the edge of the towel using a straight stitch on my sewing machine. I held the lace and the towel together as I used a sewed to connect them together. 

 I tucked the ends of the lace under and sewed them to the towel at the same time. I wanted the cut edges oat the end of the lace to be tucked under and sewn in place.  

I also found some ribbon to sew to the top of the towel. I needed a way to tie the towel /stove apron to the oven handle. I chose this wide white ribbon because it will can be tied into really nice, full, large bows along the top of my towel. 

 

I measured across the towel so that I could make my bows evenly placed across the top of the towel. I only had enough of this white ribbon to make 4 bows, so that's what I made. 

 

I pinned the ribbons in place with some straight pins so they would stay where I wanted them while I was sewing them on the towel. 

 

I sewed across the top of the towel right on the edge. I attached the ribbons to the towel with a straight stitch on my sewing machine just like I sewed the lace earlier. 
 

The lace along the bottom of the towel is so pretty. It's just the added charm I wanted. The ribbons are sewn on the top in their centers so I can tie them on my oven handle. 

 

I tied my bows onto my stove. The ribbons looked just as good as I had hoped. I wanted a feminine cottage-core look. This worked out great. 

 

Check out these pretty bows!!

 

This is a really cute touch in my kitchen. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Make an Easy Bag Holder

 Hello Readers. It seems that I have a million plastic bags from the grocery stores. Maybe 2 million. They seem to multiply but I keep them because they are so useful. They make a great emergency lunch bag, wet laundry bag for travel, trash bag, water proof cover, dog poop picker-upper... The uses are endless. I wanted a nicer holder for all my bags. I also wanted something easy to use if I need to grab a bag quick. Let me show you what I made.

 This bag holder is cute and holds all my plastic shopping bags. It was super easy to make too.

 I found this dish towel at a thrift shop. I loved the Irish blessing it had on it immediately. I wanted to use it in my home in some way. Let's make it into something cute and useful. You will need a towel like this one (Similar here.), some elastic, and a small length of ribbon.  

  I wanted to sew elastic across the top of the towel and across the bottom of the towel. I used the white border as a guide for the placement for my elastic. The elastic will keep the plastic bags neatly inside. I want the plastic bags easy to access but not falling out on their own, that wouldn't be neat. I also wanted to add a little handle to hang it up in my utility room.

 

Then, I sewed the long sides of the towel together. I folded it in half lengthwise with the right sides together. I used white thread to match the white border of the towel. I used a straight stitch on my sewing machine and sewed the 2 side edges together. This will make the towel into a tube shape.

I added my ribbon handle at the back of the towel. I sewed it across the seam I had just sewn so it would be centered evenly in the back of this bag holder. This will be a handle so I can hang up my bag holder on a hook, cabinet handle, or even a door knob.

  Plastic bags are very light weight so this bag holder can hold all the bags I can stuff inside of it. I didn't need to worry about weight. Even a million plastic bags weigh almost nothing. The elastic gathers the top and bottom to hold the bags inside. It will be nice and neat.

 

 

This bag holder looks so much cuter than a plastic bag of plastic bags. The colorful towel is a nice touch in my laundry room. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.  

 

 

 

Make a Fun Tie Necklace

 Hello Readers. St. Patrick's Day is coming. Are you Irish? Do you celebrate this holiday? I am and I do. I don't go overboard but I play Irish music, eat some Irish foods and always wear something green for good luck of course. 

  Let's make a fun necklace with a men's tie. I used a shamrock tie because of the holiday but you can do this with any tie you like, whenever you like. You can use a solid color or a pattern, whatever style you like. No holiday is needed.  

 You just need a tie, rubber band and a strong necklace or ribbon to fit around your neck. This tie is perfect for St. Patrick's Day but a different tie would make a dressy accessory for any occasion you are celebrating. 

 I am using a strand of pearls, no they are not real. You can use any necklace or string of beads that can hold the weight of this tie. A dainty chain necklace is NOT going to work here. The delicate chain could snap. Use a strand of beads of even a length or ribbon that is long enough to tie around your neck and shirt collar comfortably. 

 I folded the tie on itself. The top folds need to stay together and even in length at the top but the lower folds should be shorter and shorter so you can see the different layers of the tie on top of itself. The short end of the tie is in back and it is a couple inches longer than the whole folded tie.

 I wrapped a rubber band around the folded part of the tie, about 1/3 from the top. (It doesn't need to be exact.) The rubber band gathers the tie together and make it look very full and eye catching. It also holds the whole folded tie together securely. I left the small end of the tie hanging down in the back of the tie. 

Next, I wrapped the narrow end of the tie around the front to cover the rubber band. The narrow end of the tie covers the rubber band because the rubber band is important but it is not cute. 

 

After I wrapped the end of the tie around the front I wrapped it to the back as well. I tucked the very end into the rubber band in the back. This will hold the whole thing together. I want that small tie end to stay in place hidden in the back. The rubber band will keep it in place.

I slipped the necklace into the widest top fold of the tie. It will lay against my neck and under the shirt collar best that way. 

I added this necklace around the collar of my button-up shirt. The necklace slipped right under the collar. The tie necklace is a fun piece that adds a lot to this outfit. I liked the look but I can always take it apart and wear the tie normally if I want. 

 

I added this faux pearl earring through the front layer of the tie just for fun. You can add a pin or something like this to the front of your tie if you like, but it is not necessary. I just liked the look of it. 

 Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. And Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone. Erin go bragh!