DIY Pencil Case

Hey guys, back again. Told you I would have more DIY. I'm actually really excited by this one. For the past probably six years off and on, I've always used the same pencil bag. It was black, and shiny, and kind of boring. And since I"m me, I decided to reward myself for finishing Frankenstein with this fun thing!

What You Need:

Three colors of yarn

Crochet Hook

Scissors

Fabric for lining

Interfacing

A zipper

Needle and three

To start with, I did four granny squares with a flower center. I found the pattern here, then added an extra layer of the dc around the outside to make the squares bigger, and did a sc border in gold.

Then, I got super sneaky guys. Using the gold again, I sl st the four pieces together in a straight line. Seriously sneaky, right?

Then, you sl st the ends together, and continue working down the long edge. You now have the outer casing!
Next, you're going to want to get a small zipper, about 7", a fabric to make your lining, and interfacing.
Measure out your lining fabric- it should be about 1/8" shorter than your casing from side to side, and about an inch taller than your casing when it's folded in half. Cut out interfacing to cover the entire back and iron it on. It's rough I know, but everything stretches in the casing, so you don't need to be precise.
Fold your fabric so right sides are facing. Fold down that extra inch so the right side is facing you, and pin the zipper down over the lip. Sew down the edge of the zipper as closely as you can, about 1/8" seam. Repeat with the other side.

The zipper should be on top, with the right sides inside. This way, when you put your hand in, you see the lining and not the interfacing. This is also the perfect time to make sure it fits in the casing and trim off any excess. Sew 1/4" seam down both of the edges. You should now have a pouch with the interfacing facing out.

Put the lining inside the casing. It really doesn't matter if the lining sticks out a bit; once it's been sewn in, it fits perfectly. With the needle and thread, sew the zipper edge to the casing, making sure to keep your stitches small, and to not just loop up between stitches, but actually sew over the yarn.

Tie off the thread and weave in any loose ends, and it's all done, ready for school or wherever else! Tada!

DIY Wallet

Hey guys! So, exciting news, I'M DONE WITH CHEMISTRY. Finally. Serioulsy, I've done nothing but celebrate for three days straight now. And as part of my celebration, I decided to get all crafty for the first time this summer and make a wallet out of some scraps we've had lying around for years now.
The idea for this project was a compilation of several wallets that I found on pinterest, but most of it, I just made up as I went along, which made the process much longer than if I'd been following someone else's instructions. All told, this project probably takes about 3 or 4 hours if you know what you're doing.

For this you need:

A cutting mat

A clear sewing ruler that's at least five inches across

A rotary cutter

A small zipper, about 5 or 6 in.

1/2 yd of your outer fabric

1 yd of your inner fabric (this is not only your lining, but your card holder and coin pouch as well)

For the edging, you could really just use one of the sample squares they sell at most fabric stores, but all told, if you bought a foot of fabric you'd have more than enough.

About 1 yard of interfacing

*I used scraps for the most part, so these are rough guesstimates of how much I had and how much I used*

2 snaps-you can use magnetic, but I used small metal snaps.

Coin Pouch:

Begin by cutting out 2 5"x8" rectangles from your edging fabric, your inner fabric, and your interfacing (6 rectangles)

Iron your interfacing to the wrong side of your edging fabric. Do this to both of your edging pieces.

There really is no way to take a picture of the next step, so I'll do my best on explaining. Lay your zipper down with the zipper pull facing you. Take your inner lining fabric and with the right side facing the zipper, pin it to the edge of the zipper so the zipper is covered (if you flip back the fabric after it's pinned,the pins will be hidden but your pattern will show.). Flip your zipper and fabric over and lay your edging fabric right side down across the backside of the zipper. The edges of your fabric should now meet with the zipper sitting between them. Sew 1/4" seam along the zippers edge, watching to make sure you don't cross the zipper. Sew until you get to the zipper pull, and when you reach it, pull it down to where you've already sewed so you don't get a funky bump from your zipper.

Repeat with the other side. When you lay it flat, you should now have to layers to either side of the zipper with right sides facing out.

With the zipper still upside down, fold the fabric in half so the zipper runs along the upper edge. Sew 1/2" seam down both sides, back stitching at either end. If you have a ton of excess fabric and the zipper allows, you can trim down the sides now to cut down on excess bulk.

Flip your pouch inside out so that the zipper pull is now on the outer edge. This will be your coin pocket, and you can set it aside for later.
Body:

To make the panels of your wallet, cut out three rectangles (one of your inning lining, one of your outer fabric, and one of your interfacing) that 5 1/2"x 9". Repeat, but make your rectangles 8 1/2"x 9" instead this time. With just your interfacing, cut out one rectangle that is 4 1/2" x 8" and another that is 7 1/2" x 8". Iron the full size interfacing to your inner lining, and the smaller interfacing to your outer fabric, keeping the interfacing 1/2" from the edge. Make sure that when you attatch your interfacing, you attatch the dotted side to the wrong side of the fabric!
You can now set these pieces aside until later when you are assembling the entire wallet.

Card Slots:
I have to be honest, I never figured out a precise formula for card slots. I know how I like mine to sit, and I know that I need a lot of card slots because I keep everything in my wallet.  But here's still the way that I used overall.

Cut a 9" strip from your fabric, cutting the entire length. I know this seems like a ton, but in reality, most of this gets folded up into your card holders, with just a few inches left over. Fold about 5" of the fabric over and iron it flat.

Now remember that edging fabric I told you you would need so much of? Here's where it's going to be used up! Cut one inch strips of your fabric. I made four card slots per side, and if I'd been smart, would have realized that I would need five. You'll need to double this, so that makes 10 1"x 9" strips of your edging. Take them all to the ironing board and fold them in half lengthwise with wrong sides facing, and iron them. Then open up your strip and fold eachside into the center so that you now have a 1/4" strip. I would highly recommend doing this one step at a time (fold one in half and iron, then cycle through them all, then repeat as you iron in the edges) because my poor fingers nearly got singed a few times just from touching them.

Now take the long strip you just ironed over and one of your 1/4" edging pieces. Push the edging down along the edge of your inner lining so that the lining rests in the groove of your 1/4", pining it down so that it doesn't shift on you. Then run it through the machine at a 1/8" seam, making sure to secure the ends well.

This is probably the trickiest part of the whole project- figuring out how big to make your card slots. If you need a precise measurement, then about 2 1/2" down from your fold, fold the long strip back up towards the top and iron it down. Then measure about 1 3/4" inches from that fold and fold it back down, making sure to iron that down as well. Pin the bottom fold together, because that won't be secured until the very end.
That's the technical version. What I really did was find an old ID card and put it on the fabric almost touched my edging, then folded it back up so that I had a 1/2" between the visible folds, making sure it stayed 1/2" the entire way across. Then I pressed it and put a pin in the bottom fold. Once you've done that, repeat what you did above, pushing the edging down on your inner lining and stitching down at 1/4", but with the now ironed and pinned section hanging out to the side so your upper slots will still be usable.

Repeat this three more times so you have a total of four card slots. If you're smart like me and miscounted and ran out of fabric (oops) or if you'd rather not do edging, you can also use a decorative seam to hold down the edges of your card slots. Once you have all of your slots, measure 4 1/2" over from either edges and mark down the center of your card slots. This will be your stitch guide. Remove your pins from the underside, and making sure everything lays flat, sew down the center, securing your fabric every time you pass over a fold.
And the best part? You get to do it all over again so that you can have a card slot for both sides of your wallet. Spiffy, right?

Trim both pieces down to 4 1/2". You have now finished the hardest (and longest) part of the wallet.

Putting it all together:

Pin your card slots down to your inner lining that you made earlier. Side to side, they should be a perfect fit. The bottom most edges should also match, leaving you with excess to the top. Stitch the sides and bottom down with 1/2" seam, making sure to backstitch at card slots and corners.

Remember your coin pouch? Place it on top of your larger panel of your inner lining, centering it, and making sure that the bottom edge matches with the bottom edge of your lining. Take the smaller panel and layer it on top so the bottom is lined up with the other two pieces. All of the card slots should be facing up, and the right sides should be facing. Sew 1/2" seam down the bottom edge, making sure to back stitch. I actually went over this twice to make sure it would be stable. You know have your inner panel!
For your outer panel, you will match up the two outer pieces with right sides facing and sew 1/2" seam down the bottom edge, making sure to back-stitch.
Almost there!

Point the coin purse so that there is still excess flap obove it. Then take your outer piece and lay it over your inner lining with right sides together. It could be helpful as well to pin back the card slots on the lower piece of your inner lining.

Sew a 1/2" seam the whole way around, leaving about a 4" hold for when you flip it out. Make sure to back stitch at corners. Trim the corners so that they'll be less bulky when you turn it. To turn it right side out, grab the farthest corner and slowly work it out. I promise it comes through! Push your corners out to get them as square as possible.

Once it's been flipped out, sew on your snaps 1 1/2" in from the edge, and 3/4" down. Do this for each corner, then using a hidden stitch, sew up your hole you used to flip the wallet through.

Sew 1/8" seam around the entire wallet, being carefully not to accidentally sew down your card slots.Again, back stitch. Trim any loose ends, and you're done!



I'm Still Alive!

But barely. You know how I said I was going to be taking Chemistry this summer? Ya, I had no clue what I was getting myself into! There was one day this week that I did chemistry for a good nine hours. NINE HOURS! My brain nearly exploded.
But it's all good, because I'm secretly enjoying this, a lot. True, I don't appreciate having my brain explode on a regular basis, but when I get what's going on, I really do like that. And that's just nerdy me, so deal with it.
And, I've still had some free time. I finished two projects (besides the slippers I just showed you) since school (real school that is) got out. No, I will not make you read another how-to right now, but I"m still going to proudly display my work.


I hope I get the chance to post a DIY on this some day, because it so easy, and so cute, so watch for this at a later date!



I also finished this really cute bag today, which I'm very excited about. I got the pattern at Lion Brand here. I had to change it a little bit to add a liner for the inside of the bag, but the pattern itself is actually really great. I just need to add a liner because I have this serious problem where if I don't have at least five chapsticks or lip gloss tubes with me, I die. And it's not pretty.
And there's my life for the past week: Chemistry, bag, and nest-necklace.

Time For A Correction.

So you know how I said a little while ago that I'd found the most comfy slippers ever? Well, I've now been proven wrong. Seriously, I think I've found one of the comfies slipper patterns EVER. And you, lucky people are going to get a walk through! By the way, be forewarned I'm experimenting with a new photo editor, so be prepared for lots of labels, I kind of went a little trigger happy with that.
(I'm only going to sum up the crochet pattern, if you want the full thing you can find it at this website
So, to start out with, get some nice soft yarn (obviously something that you think will do the job around the house while feeling nice and cushy) and a crochet hook. The original pattern suggested an F hook, but I had to use a slightly larger hook to get my stitches big enough. Then, chain 6.

Next you have several rows of SINGLE crochet. Whoever wrote the pattern does not use the US abbreviations, so the entire pattern says dc, when it really does mean sc.
This will make up the toe of your slipper.

Next come 13 rows of sc going straight across, and another 14 to make the sole. I had to play around with the size A LOT. I saw several people say that it fit them the first time they attempted it, but I had to adjust my size a ton of times, and I have tine size 5 feet. It depends on the size of your stitches, your yarn, and your hook, but one basic hint I discovered was that by the end of the first 13 rows, the slipper should reach almost midway through the arch of your foot.


Almost there! Next will come building up the sides. You'll loop around 6 times. I found that it's really important to know there are 6 decreases in 1 row, which I missed the first time I read the pattern.


For the last of the 6 rows, you can change the color to add a border. The pattern said to swap colors in row 5, but I waited until row 6.


After that, you can add bit to it to 'decorate'. I've seene everything from bows to straps to simple cute buttons on the sides (which you can find here)

For my slippers, I just did a pair of old metal buttons I found in our ribbon-bin upstairs. It was really simple, but truthfully, I just needed a way to tell right from left!

And there's my new favorite slippers! There are two things I really love about these slippers. One, they are just like ballet flats, they slip on and off, but they are soo cozy! Two, they are so stinking easy to make. Seriously. I can finish a slipper in about an hour and a half, and that's with a few messups. The entire thing is just a giant spiral, there are no turns (except on the sole), and so long as you can keep track of moving your markers to count rows, it is so easy!
So, there is a nice little DIY from me. I'd say expect more, because I have tons of projects to do, and I'm rather enjoying my craftiness. Toodles!
P.S. I'm secretly really happy that my subconcious chose colors and buttons that remind me of Gryffindor. My nerdy side just needed to get that out there. And now, toodles for realsies!