ShoppingBag -tutorial

You can choose which ever size you desire for your shopping bag; or finish it according to the left over fabric you have. I cut one 60 x 27 cm and two 36 x 7 cm pieces for this bag. Which ever your sizes; are fold the pieces like this and sew the edges.

You can use seaming machine or zigzag.

Pin the bottom of the bag.

Match it with the side edge...

by folding the central bottom to the side edge to form out a triangle. This is not necessary but creates more space in your bag and makes it easier to fill with shopping.

I used 5 cm distance; which ever is your choice, pin it...

...sew it...

...on both side corners.

It looks like this when finished.

Neaten the upper edge of the bag.

Pin it equally; at first the exact central point (the half) and then 1/4 point of the front and back sides.

To turn the right side out of the handles...

...use safety pin.

It is a bit difficult...

...but eases up very soon. Just pull it through; gently.

Neaten by iron and stitch the handles.

Pin the handles to the 1/4 points of the upper edge.

Attach the handles by sewing.

Pin the upper edge at desired distance.

Fold the upper edge...

...and sew the fold and the handles.

Ta-dah! Your bag is finished. I have used fabric shopping bags for ages.

HotWaterBottleCover -tutorial

Season of gifts is arriving more close. Christmas will be soon there. We all want it happy and joyful. Materia doesn't matter, we all know that. But we also know that sometimes you really would like to give a physical gift to someone special but you need to follow a strict budget and can not afford all you'd like to buy... or make.

This HotWaterBottleCover is easy and very low budget gift to make. Even beginners can do it. Besides, this is up to recycling so also nature lovers enjoy making this true and the person who will have it for sure can value it that not much nature resources were wasted when making this special gift.

First of all you need an old woollen pullover or vest. Then you need to felt it in the washing machine. How? Just put it in a proper long hot wash with the program you'd wash dirty linen. If there are holes or other damages in the material fix them by patching the wool before felting.

Just think about how wonderful idea this is. You can use passed away person's pullover to bring him close to loved ones to cuddle in cold winter season. You can use which ever important but now useless piece of cloth to bring it back to life. Or you can buy it with few coins from a charity shop or recycling center's shop to support their values.

You need to have a pattern of the HotWaterBottle for which you are making the cover. If you don't have the change to sneak in and draw the pattern when your friend is in the Lady'sRoom use some help. This one is for a special person of course. I asked HerFiance to draw it when She is not around. It is easy. Just put the bottle on the paper. Free advertisement mail does just fine. And draw the outline figure of the bottle. That's it. A child can do it!

Then you cut just 2 cm extra around the pattern to make sure the bottle fits in with the filled water after sewing.

Sew the side edges. If you have felt the pullover the edges won't fray easy so normal sewing machine does just fine. If you want you can secure it by zigzag.

Neaten the mouth by bias tape and use velcro (or buttons, ribbons or zippers) to fasten the bottom. In that way the bottle is easy to put in, make to stay in and fill in.

To get some BiasTape there is tutorial for it, if you don't happen to have any left. In this project you need just a little bit so you can do it without the Bias Tape Maker Set which I use in the tutorial. Just cut it, don't iron it and just sew it first from the back side, then at the front side.

I used seaming machine but secured the angle arch places by the sewing machine.

To neaten the seaming machine loose end threads I pull them through the seam by the big eyed tapestry needle and then cut the end off. In this way the seam end doesn't fray easily. The normal sewing machine loose end threads I just cut off.

Ta-dah! Here it is! Sewing doesn't take much time. After felting and drying it, it is just one or two hours job. You can create a beautiful memory in an afternoon moment and still have time to cuddle in with a book and cup of tea!

Recycled re-usable kitchen towel -tutorial

In my kitchen I use towels made of fabric. They last forever and are easily re-usable. I ended up this choise over ten years ago because I noticed I always ran out kitchen towels and how much waste it makes. Using re-usable kitchen towels is one way to save the planet. When you make them from the right material they last forever and you desire new ones only because the old ones look so ugly and messy at the end.

I make the towels from old things like bath towels or robes. The point is to use material with good and fast absorbency. My material is always 100% cotton or linen because then the towels can be washed in hot temperatures (60-90 Celcius degrees). When the material is old it is thinner which is just good in use. Thinner towel gets dry faster so the level of bacterias are minimized so they don't smell and the hygine level is high. I always have more than one re-usable kitchen towel (one in use, few in the cupboard waiting for the use and dirty ones in the laundry basket waiting for washing).

This time I used old bath robe. The pattern is my own design which I use making pot holders. The size is excellent -not too small, not too big.

Making re-usable kitchen towels is simple, easy and fast. Even beginners can succeed. It is also an excellent gift idea for a friend who cares about the environment but is poor in crafts. This saves also your money because after having these you don't need to buty them again and again from the shop.

Use a pen (I used permanent ink) to draw the figures of the towels on the fabric. Then cut the towels off from the fabric.

 

Use seaming machine to neaten the edges. Don't make folds or hems because they slow down the drying process in use. If you don't have seaming machine you can use sewing machine's zigzag stitch.

Finished recycled re-usable kitchen towels ready for their new career.