Keyhole neckline tutorial

I haven't posted on here for ages, but I thought I should document how I made this keyhole neckline for some Nativity/Christmas Pageant tabard costume thingies. please read through these instructions before starting this project.

First, take your keyhole neckline pattern (perhaps I'll make another post on how to draft this) and trace it onto the non adhesive side of some fusable interfacing. (this is the side without the bumps)  I like to use crayola markers because they are cheap and come out when you wash the fabric.

make sure to mark the fold lines, they will help when you place the cut out keyhole on your fabric later.  I also like to poke a hole in my pattern to mark where the slit in the keyhole ends, then use a ruler to connect it to the fold line.

Cut roughly around your interfacing. DO NOT cut out the center hole.

roughly cut your fabric to the same shape as your interfacing and pin it together.

Your non bumpy side of the interfacing should be on top. If your fabric has a wrong side, it should be facing you if you flip the fabric sandwich over. ( bumpy side and right side of fabric should be touching.)


The line you have traced onto your interfacing is the sewing line.  Sew along this line on the exterior line only. (we'll work with that center circle later)



cut around, about 1 cm from where you've sewn.

snip where the round part meets the straight part, and trim the tips of the 3 pointed corners.  This will help the fabric lay flat when you turn it.



clip "v" shapes all around the rounded part of the exterior of the keyhole shape.  (this will also help the fabric lay flat later) Take care not to snip where you've sewn.  (make sure you pitch all those little triangles before stupid cat eats them.  No one wants to clean up pukie in the middle of a craft project.)

cut a slit ONLY in the interfacing.

remove your pins and turn the whole thing right side out.  Finger press the seams flat.  DO NOT use an iron.  If you use an iron you'll fuse the thing to your ironing board.  Once the keyhole shape has been turned right side out, trace over the lines from the front. The marker will have bled through slightly so it's easy to trace.  This step isn't necessary, but I find it's easier to see when I'm sewing.

since I'm sewing this to a tabard, I've folded the fabric in half width-wise and lengthwise. Line the keyhole up with the fold marks on your tabard, and your pattern.

pin your keyhole to the fabric. The wrong side of the tabard should be facing up, along with the bumpy part of the interfacing on the keyhole.



sew along marked line around circular part. When you get to the straight line down the middle, sew about 1/8inch on and around line.


cut about 1 cm from where you stitched in the round part and carefully down the center line. cut out  notches as you did when you sewed around the outside of the circle.

clip the corner where the round part meets the straight part. Clip a "V" shape where the straight line ends. These cuts will help the fabric lay better once turned.

Remove pins and turn so the bumpy part of the interfacing touches the right side of your tabard fabric.  At this point you can use an iron to fuse the fabric together, following the manufacture instructions for your fusable interfacing.  Or, if you have cats that are trying to burn your house down by knocking your iron over before it can heat up, finger press the seams, and pin.

It may take some finagling to get the bottom part of the keyhole slit to lay nicely.  This is quite normal and can usually be made to behave with a bit of tugging of the garment fabric before it's pinned down.

stitch around inside and outside edges of keyhole shape close to the edge.  If you're feeling fancy, you can zig zag the edges or use some sort of decorative stitch for embelishment. Viola!  You've made a keyhole neckline!


If, for some reason, you don't want to have this keyhole as a contrasting color to the front of your garment, simply place the keyhole shape on the right side of the garment fabric instead of the wrong side.  This will ensure that your keyhole shape is on the inside of your garment.

Ideally this is reversible, however, sometimes the tip of the slit on the point, on the wrong side, get's wonky.  This probably could have been remedied by fusing the fabric together.  I was lazy and also didn't want the cats to burn down the house.  My fabrics were not the same thickness either.  This can also account for the wonky bunching.  I'm satisfied that it looks good from the contrasting fabric side so I've not unpicked and fussed with it.

Another T-shirt surgery

Here's another shirt that was too large for me that I cut down to size.

 Our church does crop walk in the fall, so I left this shirt on the less fitted side.  That way I can wear a long sleeve shirt underneath if it's chilly outside.

If you notice, I made the shirt considerably wider at the bottom.  As I'm a shorty short pants this shirt goes way down over my bum.  Since my bum is considerably wider than my mid section, I allowed extra width to accommodate the junk in my trunk. The shirt now fits comfortably over my behind.  As an added bonus the sleeves are not so wide that you can see the side of my bra when I move my arm.  Yay!

Green T-shirt Makeover

Here is my boring green shirt. ZZZZZZzzzzz.

I found it on clearance at JoAnn Fabric of all places.  It had some weird sort of stain on the front. While I managed to remove the stain, I've had this shirt for almost a year and NEVER worn it. 

Aside from being boring, the shirt was just a tad too short.  It sat right at the waistband of my jeans.  Every time I raised my arms you could see my belly and all it's lovely stretchy stretch marks.

No thanks. 

Something had to be done. 

Mrblocko had this shirt that he bought from our vacation in Oregon many many moons ago.  He has since lost quite a bit of weight so the shirt is too big for him.  The shirt also has some unattractive sweat stains in the armpits.  So instead of pitching that shirt, I hacked it up!

Here's the finished product:

I used the bottom of the gray shirt where it was already hemmed to lengthen the green shirt. I stitched over the existing hem stitching on the green shirt to attach the gray band.

And here it is on:

Ta da!  No more peek-a-boo belly.

Yay!

Robe for Blockette

We are trying to teach Blockette to be modest.  This has involved her wearing a robe when she comes out of the shower instead of making a nakid dash from the bathroom to her bedroom. 

Wouldn't you know it but the kid outgrew the durn thing?  The nerve of the child.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a robe this time of year?

IMPOSSIBLE!!!!

Because apparently kids only wear robes when it's cold out.  Sigh.

So I tried to find some free instructions for making a robe online.  I came up with this and this.  Except it wasn't exactly what I wanted.  Then I realized what I wanted was a smaller version of a rob I had bought back in the late 80's.  It's so old that I got it from Pier One Imports back when they sold clothing.  Anyone else but me remember that?

So I traced the robe and scaled it down a bit, but not too much because I didn't want to have to make another robe next year. 

My bestie was even nice enough to let me go shopping in her fabric stash.  I found this nice purple lightweight paisley stuff.  It worked perfectly.

Please excuse the weird photo.  Apparently we must twirl when I'm photographing clothing.

Blockette says she feels like she is wearing a kimono, in a good way.  She's actually not too far off.  It's really a lot like a summer kimono called a yukata. 

Dumbledore's Army T-shirt Reduction

While doing spring cleaning back in March, I came across two of the exact same shirts in Mrblocko's t-shirt drawer.  There is a long story about why he has two of these shirts.  The Reader's Digest version is that there was a mix up by the post office, and the shirt got lost so a second one was ordered.  Of course after the second one arrived, the first one mysteriously showed up.

I think this shirt is the coolest ever, because c'mon it's Dumbledore's Army.  So Mrblocko let me have his spare shirt.

Except, ahem...

The shirt was like a tent on me.    Yikes!  Look at that armhole!

I found this tutorial on how to transform a large t-shirt into a fitted one over at a.steed's.life.

Ah. That's so much better.  Now I'm not, as we say in Minnesota "drownDing" in my own clothes.

Easy Circle Skirt for Blockette

When my best friend was clearing out her fabric stash she had this fabric with a stamped pattern for a circle skirt.  The only thing is that it called for a zipper. 

Only I don't do zippers.
Or windows.

Then I realized that the waist opening would be the right size for Blockette without a zipper.  So a hem and some elastic were all I needed to do.  Awesome! 

This was one of those things I made for Blockette without asking her if she'd like it.  I took a risk and it paid off.  

At first she was a bit leery of the skirt.  She'd never had a long skirt like this before.  Of course she was sold once she took it for a twirl.

My favorite part is that it can be worn with nearly every short sleeve shirt she has in her drawer. 

Non Choking Hooded Sweatshirt

My mom went to Spain early this spring and bought me this cool hooded sweatshirt.  I've been hemming and hawing over what to do.  The sweatshirt fits perfectly, except the neck is too tight. Boa Constrictor tight.

You see, I'm one of those people who can't stand anything around their neck.  (We'll for some reason scarves are ok.  Probably because I wear them over my mouth mostly, or loosly around my neck.) I feel like I'm choking to death.  I hate turtlenecks so much that Blockette has never ever worn one.  Even seeing one can bring on a panic that I can't breathe.

So, I was faced with a dilemma:  I could alter the sweatshirt somehow and possibly risk ruining it, or leave it alone and never wear it.  I really like the hoodie, but was so afraid I'd ruin it.  So It just sat there.  And sat there.  Not getting worn.  I finally decided that I should just get over it and try to make the sweatshirt into something I could wear.

Ah.

That's so much better.

Yeah yeah yeah.  I know.  I forgot to take a before picture.

The neckline looked sort of like this:

via

See, very close and chokey. Look how the hood sits on the neck of the manikin.  I'm clawing at my neck just looking at the photo.

Of course my sweatshirt is much better than the ones in the above photo. Mine is turquoise and the logo is way more awesome.   It's especially awesomer as I can now wear it without passing out from hyperventilating.

If you have chokey hooded sweatshirts why not hack them up to make them super comfy!

Fear not!  If I can do it, so can you.

I followed this video from Khayotikk on you tube.

As you can see, I made the "V" in my hoodie much more shallow that the lady in the video did.  I didn't want to cut into the logo on my shirt. 

Before watching the video I had no idea how to cut a hoodie like this.  It was super helpful, and made me much less scared to take the scissors to the fabric. Hooray for You tube!

Summer/Halloween Placemats

I am over the moon!  I finally finished making these four place mats.  I started them over a year ago after I finished this quilt. That quilt (Rigel VII) was a replacement for a quilt my mom had made me back in 1990.

pink front

The quilt my mom made was loved to death.  It was falling apart and shredded in places.  And yet I couldn't bring myself to throw it away.  I knew that there would be some cool way to re-purpose it.

pink back

After much thought, I decided I would recycle it as batting.  It was thin and worn enough that it seemed perfect to use in placemats.

I sewed strips of fabric directly onto the old quilt to make a funky abstract watermelon. Each placemat has it's own color tone (pink, pinkish purple, orange red, and maroon). 

Can you believe all that fabric was in my stash?  A good portion of it was scraps from old projects and scraps from friend's projects as well.

orange red front

After I stitched all the strips to the batting, I lined the back of the placemats with Halloween fabric.  I did this for 2 reasons.  First, at one point I had planned to make a Halloween quilt, so I'd been collecting Halloween fabric for a while.  When I made the placemats I realized that the probability of the quilt getting made was very slim.  Which leads me to the second reason for using that fabric.  If I used Halloween fabric, then I could have placemats for summer and fall!  It's like they'd be double duty placemats.  I loved that idea so, for me changing the use for the fabric from what I had originally intended it for was a great idea.

orange red back

To quilt the layers together I used regular cheapo coats and clark white sewing machine thread, my free motion foot and the supreme slider.  I've had the supreme slider for a while, but this was the first time I worked up the courage to use it.  Now I'm kicking myself for not testing it out sooner.  Basically it's this plastic thing that clings to the sewing surface and makes the fabric move around very smoothly as you are quilting.  It works like a dream.

Usually when I attempt to use the free motion foot my sewing machine acts up.  Not this time!  No problems at all.  I think i was getting some sort of drag from the fabric that was messing up the tension.

pink purple front

I still have a lot to learn about how to get smooth stitches while I am doing free motion quilting.  I can tell which placemats I quilted first, so I must at least be learning and getting a tiny bit better.  The last placemat has very little of that spiderwebing on the curved stitched lines.

pink purple back

The edges should have been done in bias binding.  Frankly, I was just plain lazy and didn't feel like making bias tape, or buying it.  Consequently, a few of the placemats curl up on the rounded part.

maroon front

While making rectangular placemats would have been a lot easier, especially when it came to the binding part, I'm glad I did spend the extra time to make them watermelon shaped.  Our dining room table is oval and the straight edged placemats don't work very well on the rounded ends of the table.  Since these placemats have a straight and rounded edge on them, any placemat can be set at any part of the table. 

maroon back

I wish I would keep forgetting how much I do like trying and learning new things.  My sewing projects would get done so much faster.  I'm stuck in that fear of what if it doesn't turn out, or what if I mess it up.  I should hang a sign up in my craft room that says "Finished is better than perfect," just so I don't forget.

Blockette's Bike Basket

Blockette outgrew her last bike over the winter.  Mrblocko and Blockette went out and found this bike themselves.  On Clearance.  And it's girly!

This is her first girly bike.

We've been buying her boys bikes in the past because they felt so much sturdier.  What's the deal?  Girls can't be all rough and tumble with their bikes like boys?

Anyhow, Blockette has been wanting some way to carry her own water on Bike rides.  I thought about making her a super fancy basket but that seemed really complicated and beyond my sewing skills.

So I made this instead:

A jeans bike basket!

Over the winter my best friend gave me a bag of old holey jeans.  This pair happens to have belonged to her daughter.  Normally I'd hack off the legs and make cut offs for Blockette, however, there was also a hole in the crotch.  With all those seams meeting up it was just a bit too tricky for me to patch.  So into the crafting pile they went.

This pair of jeans just seemed perfect for this project.

Guess how it's attached to the bike frame?

The button elastic that was already inside the jeans! 

I can't stop patting myself on the back for that idea.  I'm not sure if it's ever been done before, but it was one of the few crafting creations I got from my own brain, not Pinterest or some random blog.

As I mentioned earlier, there was a hole and worn spot on the seam of the crotch.  I was worried about the stability of the bottom of the bag.  So I decided to line it.  The fabric is also from my bestie who was down sizing her fabric stash.  It's got little skirts all over it.  I thought that was a fun fabric to put on the inside of a bag that used to be a pair of pants.

Once I had the lining made I ran into a little issue.  Since I was using the elastic as a strap this meant I couldn't attach the lining where I wanted to.  Then I realized just about anywhere I wanted to attach the lining would require me to stitch through the belt loops.  I didn't want to do that either.  Then I realized I was going to have to stitch over the fly.  I wasn't sure how my sewing machine would handle that.

It must have been fate, because earlier in the week I had purchased some fabric glue for a different craft project.  This is the kind of fabric glue that once it drys is a permanent bond.  Whatever you glue can go in the washer and dryer, once the glue has dried.

This was the first time I've used this fabric glue.  So far it's held up great.

I was unsure if Blockette would like the jean basket/bag for her bike.  I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it successfully, so I didn't tell her until it was finished.  I almost gave up at least three times. I'm glad I kept problem solving and finally finished it because Blockette thinks it's awesome!  She even told me that she now has the coolest bike EVER. 

Another Embroidered Patch

One day these pants will be one solid patch.  

And on That Day...they will have maximum awesome-ness.

Basil says, "Why are you taking a picture of these jeans Mom?"

Close up of the patch:

 I found the image here.  It was far too large and detailed for what I wanted, so I cropped, reversed and rearranged several of the scissors.

The stitches used on this design were mainly backstitch and running stitch with some satin and chain stitches thrown in for fillers.

So why is the patch so huge?

The hole that this patch covers was fairly small, but the fabric in the whole section under the patch was quite thin.

These jeans will need at least two more patches in the not too distant future.  The fabric above the patches, below the front pockets, is wearing thin.  I can wear two pairs of long underwear under these jeans so they are getting a lot of wear this winter for work!

Patchy Ruffle Pants Time...Again

Blockette is growing like a weed.  Most of her patched pants were too short, or beyond repair in the knees.  She had a few second hand jeans, and I bought her two new pairs when school started.  She did have one pair from last year that still fit her in the waist, but were several inches too short.  The knees were also quite threadbare, and in need of patching.

So I set myself to work and did this:

If you notice, the pants ruffles are from the magical, never-ending purple fabric.  The same stuff I used for her bird wings.

The star patches are actually from a too large pair of hand me down pants.  They had a few holes that seemed like they were too much work to repair.  The jeans did have this cool star applique running down the legs though.  So I just re-purposed the other pair of pants to mend this pair.

I did get lazy and didn't zig zag the edges of the patches.  I told myself that the frayed edges would look cool after a few washes.  We will see if they are indeed cool, or just falling apart.

Blockette calls these jeans her superstar pants.  She literally wants to wear them EVERY day.  I told her that she could only wear them every other day.  That way, we could pretend that someone washed them in between wearings. 

Oh come on!  I can't be the only mean mom who refuses to wash unstained jeans after every single wear!  Jeans are so much more comfy after multiple wears.  It's about HER comfort, not how lazy I am.

The Bird is the Word

Last week Blockette and I went to the fabric store.  Sounds like no big whoop right?

Well, while we were there she fell in LOVE with these little stuffed birds that made a bird call when you squeezed them.  She loved them, except for the noises they made.

Oh how badly she wanted one.

BADLY.

They were $9.  Which is a lot when you only have $13.

Somehow I convinced her to wait.  I told her maybe Grandma would get it for her for her birthday.

Then, the next day, wouldn't you know it, I magically came across this pattern from Quilting Daily.  (You have to sign up to download/view the pattern, but it's free.)  I showed it to Blockette and she said that was exactly what she wanted and would I please please please make one for her?

I let her pick out all the fabric from my scrap bin.

I laugh every time I see that pinkish purple fabric. It is a leftover from a Gypsy costume for Mrblocko.  It's like the fabric that never ends.  Just when I think I've used the last of it, more pops up.

The tension on my sewing machine started to go all wonky at the end of this project.  I've been fighting with the machine for over a year now.  I even took it in to the repair shop and they did a massive cleaning and it worked fine...for about a month.  Then it got all wonky again.  The thing is, it works fine while I'm at the store.  Then when it get it back home again, it is naughty all over again.  I'm pretty sure the darn thing has it in for me.  I don't understand why it can't work how I want it to, when I want it to.  GRRRRR!

Anyhow, back to our little non feathered friend.

Blockette named it Sunshine...because it is rainbow colored.  Um...ohhhh kaaaay.  Whatever works.

Sunshine is the center of Blockette's universe. 

To the point that it is driving me a bit nutty. 

 (Not that it was a long trip.)

At least she loves the things I make her.

Rainbow Headband

I've had this rainbow head band from fabric scraps from Sugar Bee Crafts as a work in progress for almost two months.  

Which, if you think about it, is pretty ridiculous.  

The headband is only a series of skinny strips of fabric made into little tiny braids that get attached to two hair binders.  So simple and no need for such crazy procrastination!

Here's what it looks like on.  Blockette was nice enough to take a picture of me.  

Please ignore my dirty grungy hair.  I'm just tryin' to keep it real here.  

The headband is really wide and great for keeping back different layers, say if you were growing out your bangs, which I'm not.  My bangs are as long as the rest of my mangy hair.  

But if I was, It would be super useful.

I think the headband looks much cuter on Blockette

 

Although, the headband is a bit too big for her.  

 We solved that problem by twisting the braids around each other.  

There you have it, two great ways to wear one fun headband.   Yay headbands!

Thread Catcher

If you do any kind of sewing, or hand work, you know that you get little thread bits everywhere.  These little threads are often refered to as Orts, an archaic word for useless scraps. I usually put my orts on the arm of the couch, then I put my arm there or the cat jumps up and the bits get scattered. All. Over.  Drives me nuts.

Or even worse.  You're stitching with dark thread and you keep looking at the thread bits out of a corner of your eye thinking it's a bug.  Cause you know the one time you don't give it a second look it actually WILL be a bug.  And that bug will GET you. (You know it will.)


 Something needed to be done to stop the madness. 

Once upon a time I used a small ceramic Japanese tea cup to contain the bits, but I was always knocking it over and spilling the contents.  It was a miracle it never shattered.

Maybe now I can use it for actual tea?  Nah.  Way too crazy of a concept for me. More likely I'll keep my marbles in there.  You know, so I don't lose them.

A fabric thread minder seemed like my best bet.  If I dropped it, no big deal.  And as an added bonus, the thread bits would most likely cling to the fabric.

I'd seen these triangle-y pyramid-ish shaped thread catchers on Pinterest, and for the life of me I could not make heads or tails of the tutorial.  I sat there puzzled, scratching my head.  Then, I realized I hadn't taken a shower in four days, or something like that, and that was why my head was so itchy.  So I took a shower.

Once I was all clean and clear headed I did what any sane person would do, look on Google for a better tutorial.  Brilliant.  I found this Thread catcher tutorial from Gingerbread Girl's Quilting Adventures.  The pictures explain everything so well, even I could understand it.

I made two, one to keep at home, and one to keep amongst my travel sewing kit.  I love how they fold flat.  Even stuffed with orts they take up less space than my old jar.

The photo above is for size reference against my freaky big hands, and also to show the bottom of the thread catcher.  What was tripping me up originally was that I thought this was made from 3 triangles instead of one.  A picture of the bottom would have been a big help.  So here you go internet community, a picture of the bottom of the triangle thread catcher. 

I love these little guys.  They were fun to make.  I wanted to make more but I couldn't justify having more than two of them.  I do think they'd be a cool thing to add if you were making a sewing kit as a gift for someone learning how to sew.