Sock Owl

Sock animals are hard to make and take a while to finish because your sewing little pieces.  We made this owl by cutting a couple small pieces for the arms and ears and sewing them to the toe part of the sock.  It helps to cut along an existing edge/fold on the sock so that its one less side you have to sew.  We stuffed each piece first before sewing it up.

Hemming Dress Pants

My mom taught me how to Hem pants for my husband as they are always too long for him.  Dress pants make me nervous to hem but it actually was pretty easy.  I first had to cut off about an inch at the bottom because we had to bring it up about two inches.  Once we cut that excess off we ironed the bottom exactly where we wanted the new bottom. We pinned it all into place at the very bottom so it wouldn’t shift around as I attached the hemming tape. Instead of buying the iron on tape , I got the kind that needed to be ironed on so it would last.  It looks like  ribbon but you sew it onto the bottom of the pants only to the end that was cut.  I did that by using the sewing machine all the way around.  

Quilt Made from Receiving Blankets

This is considered a rag quilt that can either be made from used receiving blankets or squares of flannel fabric.  I cut the squares in equal sizes, I think mine were 5″ squares.  Then I sewed two squares backsides together about 1/2″ in from edges.  You can either put two like blocks together or put one color on the back of each block so the back of the quilt will be a solid color.  Next lay out the blocks to the desired layout.  Sew the blocks together on that sewn line leaving the raw edges exposed on the front of the quilt. 

Pillows made from Quilt Blocks

These pillows were made from a pattern out of a Quilt Magazine.  But sometimes I make pillows out of extra quilt blocks from a quilt.  I used to buy Quilt Blocks of the Month from Joann’s when they went on clearance , but they don’t sell them anymore at my Joann’s. I like to sandwich them so that you can put a pillow form in and easily remove to wash the cover.  I measure the front block and cut two pieces of the back fabric the same size.  Then I fold the back pieces to about 1/3 the size so there is an overlap.  I sew the front to the back two pieces that are overlapped right sides together. 

Raggedy Ann Blankie

I make Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls and came up with a new way to put them together.  I take the pattern for the dolls and cut out the body and two arms.  I embroider the face, sew the body and arms, and stuff so you can put the hair on the doll.  Then take some of the stuffing out so you can sew it to the corner of a fleece square sandwich.  I then embellished the square with some appliques that I had and also some scraps from a fabric book that I had made.

Superhero Pillow

My 2 grandsons like Super heros and when I found this fabric on clearance I bought it knowing that I would find some use for it for the boys.  Both boys like to watch tv laying on the floor so I made them each an 18″ pillow.  I cut this fabric 18 1/2″ square and 2 pieces of a backing fabric the same size.  Then I folded the two backing pieces down about 6″ and overlapping the backing pieces, put the front and back pieces together right sides together and sew with a 1/4″ seam. 

Train Blanket

I wanted to make a quick easy quilt for my grandson.  I found the train flannel fabric at Joann’s and some blue fleece for the backing.  Since it was fleece and flannel there was no need for batting.  I put the two back sides of the fabric together and decided to do a couple lines of embroidery stitches to keep it together.  Then I squared up the quilt and put fleece binding on it.