Upcycle your old denim jeans into something remarkable, like this denim poof, chevron rug, picnic blanket, or door stop.

With the weather turning warmer, Farmer’s Markets are in full swing. Bring home your goodies with this fabulous Feed Sack Bag. The best part is, you don’t even need a feed sack to make it – the print they used is from Spoonflower!

Get ready for summer vacation by sewing up a Handy Travel Case. Its the perfect place for stashing money, passports, and all your essentials.

In just 3 weeks, schools around here will be letting out for the year. Get a jump start on summer boredom and use up fabric scraps by making this easy to sew memory game.

Head out of town in style with this cute overnight bag.

I love that these pencil cases open so wide so you can see everything inside.

Transform old shipping boxes into pretty fabric containers.

Skip the pins and use pattern weights instead. Learn how to make your own here.

These cute little zippered card pouches are perfect for stashing loyalty cards or just carrying the essentials when you’re wanting to head out of the house without a purse. Need something bigger? Here’s a tutorial for a full size wallet.

Enter to win a bundle of Woolies Flannel.

Today, Easton turns 11. This year he didn’t ask for much (seriously, he asked for a new blanket, a book, and “maybe a game”), so I tried to get creative and made him a “Coupon Book” full of activities we can do once we get to Columbus.

I am not a seasoned Cricut user, so this project was fairly ambitious. While the tear off coupons are a template, I decided that the actual coupons would use logos from the actual places along with text. Overall, it turned out well, but I did learn a few this along the way so if I ever attempt this again, I might have better results. One of the biggest? Proofread – I noticed that I left out an “S” in his name on the cover! Maybe he won’t notice because it’s so busy (another note to self: don’t use patterned paper behind cutouts – it makes it too hard to read)… I know I didn’t until I posted this picture!

Normally, I’m a fairly prolific sewist. But as you may have noticed, the posts over the last few months have been fairly spotty. The main reason? We’ve been getting ready for this. Yes, that’s right, we’re ready for our next adventure and moving to Columbus, Ohio.

Our house is now up for sale (if you’re interested, we have a great school district, wonderful neighbors, and a great view in the backyard), so I imagine that things may be spotty until everything is finalized. In the mean time, I have a few projects in the works and LOTS of ideas!

Learn how to make a pretty lace slip in under an hour.

Easter may be this weekend, but there’s still plenty of time to whip up some festive items. Like this beautiful, quilted basket or this fun bunny basket. Need a faster project? Try this little bunny bag or carrot treat bag instead.

Decorating for the holiday is always fun, but don’t forget the table! These colorful egg shaped placemats will definitely make a statement!

Keep your night stand clutter free when you make one of these bedside organizers.

Rompers are definitely on trend this season. Make your own version with this free pattern.

Treat yourself to a spa day at home. Learn how to make a scented headband, neck wrap, and eye pillow. This would make a fabulous gift set for Mother’s Day, too! While you’re visiting the site, be sure to enter their Tax Day contest to be entered to win a cute tote stuffed with yards of fabric!

This wrap skirt is so easy, you don’t even need a pattern to make it!

Give your tee a new look by adding a contrast shoulder.

If you follow me on Instagram, chances are you already saw the springy embroidery that I’ve been working on. If not, well, here it is!

I can’t show you the entire project, yet, but do promise that it will be revealed soon along with a few tips on working with napped fabrics. For this design, I wound up using Urban Thread’s Las Flores (corner) in a variety of Mettler Threads that played off the colors in the print that I had used…. so I changed up the thread colors pretty substantially. I do love the end result, which is a bit more muted and a fun play on spring hues.

Now I’ve been bitten by the embroidery bug again and have the urge to work on a more substantial stitching project, but am not sure what. Maybe that quilt topper that I’ve been dreaming of for several year?

I know I had vowed not to buy fabric unless I had a plan to use it immediately, but I’ve been doing a lot of work getting the house ready to sell (DEEP cleaning, painting, etc.) and I felt as if I needed retail therapy a reward. I decided to go for one of SoSewEnglish’s mystery boxes (it was 50%, making the fabric $3.75\yard). It arrived last week – here’s what was inside:

There was a black (the lighting skewed how dark it really is) RPL knit, a cotton floral print, a rayonish floral, and a purple cotton blend. I can never have too much black in my stash so this was a welcome knit (eventually I may use it to try out the Bayside Romper – I especially love the mesh modification they used for the “cover”). The black floral will become the South Shore Romper (because this is apparently romper season in my sewing room) while the red floral may become the Tulip Dress (I feel as if it needs to become a tropical type dress and this pattern sort of screamed “put a flower in your hair and wear me without sleeves”). As for the purple… I have no clue. It has a fall-ish hue to it so I’m not sure that I’m ready to sew it up for spring\summer… I may just use it as an accent piece to something else…. I’ll have to mull this one over!

The Spring\Summer issue of Creative Machine Embroidery is hitting newsstands and inside is one of my latest articles on creating these fun sneakers! (I also created a kid’s version too)

No embroidery machine? No problem! You still can create this look by adding pre-embroidered designs and patches to your shoes. Grab your copy today and find out the details on making your own.

Looking for an adorable Easter craft? This plush bunny will make an excellent basket stuffer.

Forget ordinary leggings – elevate yours to a pretty ballet style tie version instead.

This belt with a pouch is perfect for traveling or running.

Is your grocery store doing away with plastic bags? Make your own to take to the store AND save space with this fold and snap grocery bag.

Win one of 5 sewing machine LED light kits.

I have always wanted to upcycle a leather jacket into a purse. This tutorial may inspire me to finally do it.

It’s finally warm enough to start taking the dog on long walks again. This poop bag dispenser is definitely a necessity.

The change in season always makes me want to swap out purses. I love this freebie from Emmaline Bags.

Last week I shared pouches made from candy bags, how about key fobs made from the same “material” this week?

Sleep sacks make great last minute shower gifts!

My quest to make another stripes and camo boutique knockoff didn’t go as well as my first attempt. This time I was aiming for a tri-colored top (second from the left) – using remnants from other projects that I had recently made and (once again) the Valencia Top pattern. Before I delve into my issues, here is the finished product:

While the finished result is cute, it’s not quite what I wanted, largely because I just didn’t have enough stripe to make this work. The lack of material forced me to cut my fabric a bit wonky which led to the stripes being off slightly – something that I probably never would have thought about if I bought it in the store like this, but it’s noticeable to me and might drive me mad (it is also on the front of the shirt and if you look closely, you’ll see it). My fabric shortage also meant that I had to use a banded version of this top as well… plus I cut the fabric wrong (I cut on the “shorten” line instead of the bodice line) which made the top even shorter!

My other complaint is that the fabrics are all slightly different material styles and weights, which makes the top feel odd when worn. I think that it hangs fine, but the black is definitely thicker so wears much differently than the rest.

Overall, not a bad effort considering I worked with scraps, but it’s not quite the top I had envisioned. Now it’s time to put this pattern away and work on something else!

Last week I had mentioned that I was inspired to make some shirts that I had seen in a boutique. They were a cute mash up of stripes and camouflage… and I decided that I needed several. Here’s my version:

I used the camo that I had left over from my Union Street Tee , a stripe modal that I had snagged from So Sew English, and the Valencia. The only modification that I made to this one was adding the banding along the sleeve. To do this, I cut a strip the same length as the bottom edge of the sleeve and 4 3/4″ wide (that way when it’s folded over and sewn, the band width is 2″).

Once again the fit on this is perfect… and I love the feel of the modal jersey on this one!