10 for Tuesday: Tutorials for Travel

Memorial Day Weekend marked the unofficial start of summer and the official start of the summer travel season. I've gather some free sewing tutorials that can help keep you organized and in style while vacationing. Why not buy and few yards of coordinating fabrics and make up your own travel set? I've gathered 10 free sewing tutorials for all of your summer traveling needs.

Fat Quarter Series: Makeup Brush Roll Tutorial

Ready for project two in the fat quarter series? The next item in my travel set is a makeup brush roll.

I was inspired by a makeup brush roll tutorial I found that has a flap to keep the brushes from falling out. I was also inspired by an old make-up bag I have that uses a clear vinyl flap to protect the brushes. So I decided to incorporate the clear flap into a brush roll.

10 for Tuesday: Father's Day Gift Tutorials

Do you want to give a special gift to the dad in your life this Father's Day? Instead of giving him another tie this year, why not make a unique gift? Father's Day may be a month away, but why not get an early start of an DIY gift. I have gathered 10 gift ideas for Father's Day for every skill level--whether you can sew or crochet or just want a simple craft project.

Fat Quarter Series: Toiletry Bag Tutorial

Are you ready for the first project for the Fat Quarter Series travel set?

It's a toiletry bag!

I am in love with this bag. It turned out so cute and it's big enough to hold all my toiletries while traveling. And I'm going to show you how I made it.

10 For Tuesday: Fabric Scrap Sewing Tutorials

I keep my fabric scraps in a shoe box. Ok, that's not being entirely honest. I keep my fabric scraps stuffed in an overflowing shoe box. It's gotten so bad I have to tie a shoelace around the box to keep the lid on. I either need a bigger shoe box, or a way to get rid of some of my scraps. So I took to the internet and found 10 tutorials to help use up some of those fabric scraps. So now I can use up some of those scraps! (But I'm also still looking for a bigger shoe box...)

Fat Quarter Series: Bias Tape Tutorial: How to make 5 yards of bias tape from one fat quarter

  

In my last post I told you how much I love fat quarters. So it's only fitting that my first series be a fat quarter series. I recently purchased a cute fat quarter bundle from JoAnn's and I'm going to try to make a travel set using these five fat quarters. Who doesn't want to travel with a cute coordinating set of toiletry and cosmetic bags? I also purchased red zippers, piping, and ric rac to accent the navy and white. I can't wait for the results!

The first project I am going to make is bias tape to use in the other projects in the series. I fell in love with making my own bias tape. It's cheaper than the store bought kind and you can make it in cute little prints and colors. You can also make it out of 100% cotton (no more polyester!). The first tutorial I used to make bias tape was using a fat quarter. It is a very manageable size of fabric and only costs about a $1.

10 for Tuesday: Free Fat Quarter Sewing Tutorials

I rarely impulse buy fabric-by-the-yard. If I'm having fabric cut, it's usually for a specific sewing project. However, I'm weak to buying cute remnants and fat quarters. I especially love fat quarter bundles. It's an instant coordinating fabric collection I can use for small projects. I've made a list of some of my favorite free tutorials that can be made using fat quarters.

Crochet African Violet Pincushion

I had a frustrating sewing week. My sewing machine kept breaking threads (turns out it needed to be cleaned), my ruler slipped while using my rotary cutter, and I unpicked more seams than I care to admit. Then there's the mess. When I'm working on a sewing project everything is out. My cutting board, thread, pins, fabric scraps, sewing machine accessories, ironing board...you get the picture. I don't have a dedicated sewing room, so at the end of the day I need to put everything away back into the closet it came from so that the dining table can return to its original purpose. Usually, after I've finished with a day's work, I feel a sense of accomplishment. Then cleaning up isn't a hassle because I'm in a pleasant mood. But having to clean up a mess when I'm not feeling satisfied..well, that just sucks. So last night I decided I needed a change of pace. I wanted to do something relaxing instead.