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Cotton Cording is an essential Home Dec finishing notion that is as versatile as it is easy to use. Cotton Cording can be used for the typical piping and welting used in home dec applications to add finishing details and accents but it can also be used for non typical functions, such as bunting, purse handles and couched monograms. Today I am going to walk you through using cotton cording in its most applied purpose: bias covered piping for home dec projects.

Since I will be using my piping for my upcoming upholstery project, I am cutting my bias from scrap pieces cut into for specific chair parts. As long as the scraps are good size (I prefer at least 12 by 12 in. sections) then it is worth your time. You don't want to spend all your time sewing up tiny bias strips together. To determine the width of the bias strip you need, multiply the size of your cording by 8. Example: I used ¼ in. cording so I cut my bias strips 2 in. wide. Make sure you cut your fabric on the 45 deg.  angle to the grain for the best stretch.

To begin stitching your bias strips together, overlap by the seam allowance you will use. I like to use 3/8 or 1/4 in. Align them up right sides together and only stitch as much as you need. You don't want to end up with more covered cording than you will need. It is hard to find another project that will match. I like to leave my last 6 in. or so of the bias strip un-sewn uncase I need to add more. This extra bit will be enough to sew on another bias strip.

Fold the bias strip over your cotton cording with raw edges matching. Use a zipper foot to sew very close to the cording without sewing on it. You want the cording to be tightly stitched in the center. If it is too loose you will see bunching and shifting. Use a medium length stitch and back stitch at beginning and end to keep you piping from undoing before you can use it in your project.  

To recreate my cording you will need Dwell Studio Vintage Blossom Dove and size 2 cotton cording. 

A good cardi is always a pleasure to knit but I hated the buttonholes. "Too much math" I would to mumble when seriously considering another cardigan with delicate buttons. I hated knitting the button band because inevitability I would get the buttonholes wrong. By the time you figure out that your placement or buttonhole size is wrong you have worked two whole rows of knitting. However with this great tutorial, from Knitting Daily, for a one row button hole my knitting world became bright and sunny again. Once I had this handy technique under my belt I was planning cardigans left and right. I knew that I would only have work one buttonhole to determine if my sizing was correct and I would only need to work one row to see if my placement was right. It was amazing and very encouraging.

While the technical drawings included with the tutorial are nice, they don't follow all the steps and sometimes just seeing it worked in actual yarn as you go can really help master a new method.

I recommend practicing this method in your favorite yarn to learn and then adding it onto your swatches when you work it up before your project. This will help you plan sizing before you have 100 sts to work and will also help you visualize your buttons with your stitch pattern. Trying your buttonholes in your swatch can also help you work out how to incorporate your stitch pattern into your one row buttonhole row. You can practice how the bind off and cast on stitches in the buttonhole will affect your stitch pattern and how to work around it for the best finish. 

This is an exciting month for Blog of the Month because we are featuring Sew4Home.com. This site suffers a misnomer because it should more correctly be named "Sew everything for everyone/tutorials galore.com". This is a gorgeous blog full of projects that are specifically for your home but you can also find tote bags, outdoor cushions, and gift ideas. One important aspect that you will notice right away is that Sew4Home loves Minky. Many of the projects use it to add softness and great, low maintenance texture to your home. Here are some of my favorite Minky projects featured:

·         Minky Cloud Pillow

·         Patchwork Pom-Pom Throw

·         Minky and Satin Baby Blanket (which we featured on our blog as well)

The creators over at Sew4Home whip up project after project that combine style with ease and functionality. There are no silly projects or create for the sake of creating with no real purpose besides being pretty. Their nursery projects rival Designsponge; I especially love their Michael Miller Citron and Grey series. It is a great inspiration for both baby girls and boys and I am willing to bet it is something both moms and dads can agree on. These animal pillows are seriously fun and so easy!

You can find something on this site that is your style or easily adapted to be perfectly your style. Any pillow, linen, cushion or home décor item that you can think of, they have it and you will love it. This site is also very easy to navigate. Their drop down menus at the top allow you to search by project, find tips, offer a shopping directory and features a glossary of terms to make everything easy and understandable. Sew4Home is a great resource for the Do It Yourselfers out there and is my new favorite website! Thank You Thank You Thank You

All pictures are property of Sew4Home.com. Please visit their website to find all the featured projects and more!

If you are looking for a great kids craft, teachers' gift or rainy day activity, grab a bar of soap and some wool roving to make some felted soap. This project can be found in many boutiques and high-end stores but it is inexpensive and easy to do at home. The finished product is a soft, non-slippery, foamy bar of soap that is great for little ones to wash by themselves and makes an interesting conversation starter.

To get started you will need:

1 bar of soap (make sure it smells Really good because you will be spending quality time with it in a few minutes)

2-4 packages of our Wool Roving (2 packages for a small bar and 4 for a big bar)

Needle felting needles (optional for added details)

Panty hose

Wrap your bar of soap with enough roving to go around the bar twice so you do not see any of the bar showing. I like to use my felting needles to secure the ends of the roving; you only need a few pokes.

Next take your panty hose and cut it at about 8-10 in. long. I like to use the foot but if you have a run there, any 8-10 in. length will do. Carefully slip your wool wrapped bar into the hose and knot it tight.

With a sink of warm water or with a giant towel and a big bowl of warm water, dunk your bar in the water and then vigorously rub your soap. Periodically dunk your bar back in the water. Your soap will start to serious foam, which is really fun for the kids. My daughter wasn't interested in rubbing the soap but very excited about all the bubbles. Keep rubbing and dunking for about 10-15 min until your bar is totally felted (this is the quality soap time I referred to earlier). You can tell when it is close because the wool fibers will shift less and will feel thicker. You can unknot your hose to check. When it is done, rinse your bar in cool water and pull off the hose. My hose was felted to the wool so be sure to pull your hose off slowly. Allow your bar to dry for 24 hours on a cookie rack before wrapping or gifting.  I recommend waiting until your bar is dry before your needle felt any details. My bar looked different after it was dry.

Felted soap makes it easier for kids to wash themselves. They also combine a loofah and soap so they make great girl friend gifts. You can needle felt initials for personalization or silly pictures. Felting soap is a messy but clean craft that will provide many giggles and zero stress for the adult in charge of supervision. Once your original bar is done, cut a slit in the bottom and place a new bar inside. You can felt the slit closed again.

When winter's crazy weather gets you down, what do you do? Hibernate? Zone out on the couch? This winter, to overcome the cold-weather doldrums, I am making ridiculous hats that keep me warm AND make me smile. I like to run in my hats, so I make skull-cap style fleece headgear that I then add ears and other details to. This ensures a snug fit that stays put when I'm in motion. Here's the how-to:

First, you need a salad plate to make your pattern. Mine is 8" in diameter. I trace half of the plate, ending at the widest part of the circle.

Then, extend the line from the semi-circle down 2" on either side from the widest point, and connect the two resulting dots. This is the pattern for the sides of your hat. Cut two so the fabric stretches along the straight bottom edge.

You'll also need to cut a strip 5" wide by 15.75" long, so the fabric stretches across the 5" width.

The assembly is quick! Just use the long strip to join the two curved side pieces together with a 1/2" seam allowance. Try it on to check for any needed adjustments and to see how deep you want your hem. I just use a simple fold-up hem, and stretch the fleece very slightly while I sew to give it a little stretch.

You now a basic skull cap.

If you're not into whimsical animal hats, you can call it done. (I have about a dozen of these plain hats rolling around my house, for the record.) But come on! You want animal fun!

I like to just start cutting animal ears freehand,

but if you want some help with shapes, check out our Halloween ears and tails post for a few sample ear patterns. Unlike some of the patterns made for headband use, you want to leave the bottom edge of the ears open for this project.

Once your ears are cut and assembled (just a matter of stitching them together right sides together and then turn them right side out), you may want to shape them a little and baste any folds into place before you stitch them into your hat.

To place your ears, put your hat on (or on your model) and see where you like your ears. I like to mark mine with a small dot or two using a permanent marker.

Once the hat is off your model or self, use the width of your animal ear at its base to mark out a cutting line.

Snip your hat open along the line, then make the same cut on the opposite side.

Insert each ear into its opening and stitch it into place. Make sure to taper the edges of your seam into the curve of the hat, and check your stitching to make sure your ear is securely in place.

Flip your hat right side out, and get ready to model your toasty, cozy animal side!

This is a very, very simple hat, which means it's great for experimenting. Add eyes and a nose if you want a full animal face on your hat. Make a dozen different animals so you have one to match any outfit. This version is for a medium-sized adult head, but this method of making a hat is so simple that you could easily scale it down for a child. Just start with a smaller semi-circle, and measure your resulting side pieces to determine the length of your center strip. You'll also want to adjust the width of the center strip for smaller heads.

Here are a few samples of variations on this hat:

Kermit, just for giggles.

And the zebra I was threatening at the end of the Halloween ears and tails post. I used minky for this one, and while it's not as warm as fleece, it's still pretty darned cozy.

This last example is a hat I made a while back to mimic a character from a video game. It's a little more involved, but it's all fairly simple applique.

Recreating your favorite animal is as simple as looking at pictures to determine the right ear shape, and then experimenting with your scissors and your creativity. Have at it! It's cold outside!

I am still in love with the Fiskars' Circle Cutter and have not been able to stop playing with it or finding new ways to put circles together for fun projects and accessories. For this post I have created a graceful, stylish flower pin or hair clip. The base is a modified yo-yo technique and the petals are simply folded small circles stitched together topped with a vintage button. This pin is a quick project that can be modified to a smaller size for bouquets or made bigger to embellish bags.

Cut 4 two in. circles from lightweight fabric, like quilting cotton, and 1 five in. circle from medium weight fabric, like drapery or linen.

Base: Fold the five in. circle in half and in half again and finger press to determine the center. Place a spool in the center and trace on WS. Use a running stitch and hand sew around the circle. Do not pull thread but leave a 6 in. tail and clip.

Petals: Fold each two in. circle and stitch together according to the pictures. Place petals over center of base and secure center of petals to center of base.

Pull base thread to draw in center of base, tucking in the center of the petals at the same time. Pull thread to gather tight and knot. Attach button to the center and pin backing.

My Circle Cutter flower pin is perfect to embellish a scoop neck t-shirt, border a pillow case or top a fold over elastic headband. Have fun making your own.

Check out Circle Cutter Part 1

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The elephant in the corner of very sewing space/room/studio seems to be thread organization. It has always been my nemesis but this year I am tackling it. If I can find a way to stop stacking them up next to my sewing machine as I change colors or tossing them into a HUGE zip top bag...  
The trick is the desire to change. A sure fire way to bring about change is to make it pretty. Pretty and sewing go hand in hand just as thread and organization should also go hand in hand. Let's make thread organization pretty and I am sure we will have our solution.

Now my mom prefers the old standard that can be found in most big box craft stores and it works for her but I need something with character, vintage and a little funky. I think I would really keep up with my thread organization if it were also art. So here are some of my favorite inspirations and tutorials for fun and original thread organization.

I love the free form shape of Copy & Paste's thread wall piece looks like a piece of seaweed floating through the ocean covered in thread barnacles. It appears that she cut the piece with a jigsaw, sanded it, added nails or added nails to a purchased or found piece. Either way it is amazing and stunning when fully decorated. You could create your own with a jig saw or wall letters that spell out "Sew", "Craft" or "Create".

I have been taken by this tutorial I found featuring Fold Over Elastic. It seemed to fun and easy and I loved that you could wear just the headband or add a little something whenever it suited. So I tried it though I was hesitant over using my glue gun. I wasn't convinced it would last but once I got that sucker heated up I couldn't stop. This was a fun project because the gratification was so instantaneous and the results were darling.

I used one package of our Babyville Fold Over Elastic in Red/Blue because I am hot for red polka dots at the moment. I made one headband for my little one (almost 3 yrs) out of each and cut them to 17 in. as per the instructions. Each took approx 5-10 (probably closer to 5 for just the headband part) and they looked super cute as plain headbands. The next part was the really exciting bit. I wanted to add something really fun but still sane enough that my daughter could still wear them out. Her new favorite activity is going through all my buttons (well, really dumping them out and then picking out the cute ones and putting them in a "mine" pile) so I decided to make an embellishment starring her faves. The shank buttons I lopped off the shank with wire cutters and glued them in place scattered among her other favorite buttons. The base can be downloaded here. Just glue the 2 felt pieces together, glue the buttons on top and use a running stitch to attach to the head band or you can glue a hair clip to the back. 

Her red head band features a collection of circles I cut while testing our Fiskars' circle cutter, linen and felt (well the felt I cut with scissors, see article for more info). The largest is 5 in. going down the to smallest at 1 in. They are all stacked and attached to the headband with a costume jewelry pin.

You can add your own embellishment to these great and comfy headbands (my little one asked to put her headband on as soon as she woke this morning!). Flowers are very popular but you can clip any of your existing hair clips or make something new. 

If your New Year's Resolution is to get better sleep or to create a more inviting guest room, this project is perfect for you. An Herb Pocket is a cute little pocket that you can add onto the back of any pillow to tuck in a sachet of herbs designed to promote better sleep, relaxation or well being. This is great for your bed, couch or guest suite. Different herbs offer different aromatherapy so find which combo works best for you or your guests. You can make several sachets with different dried herb combos and switch them out. The removable sachet can also be heated to amplify the relaxing scent. Each sachet is made from linen and embroidered with a small picture of the herb hidden inside. A decorative pocket is attached to the back of the pillow or pillowcase (you can even sew it to the inside of the pillowcase for added comfort) with a button flap to ensure the herb sachet stays secure inside. Here's how to make your own Herb Pocket:

Materials:

1/4 yd (makes 6-7 sachets) of 100% linen for sachets

1/4 yd (makes 6-7 pockets) of 100% linen or lightweight cotton for pockets

 1/2in. to 5/8 in. buttons

Dried herbs

Instructions:

Download and cut your Herb Pocket pattern piece. Cut 2 from linen for sachet, cut 1 from linen or cotton for pocket and cut 1 from cotton for pocket flap.

Embroider one piece of linen with the herb of your choice

Take 2 pieces of linen (one with embroidery) and with RS together sew 3 sides with 1/2 in. seam. Clip Corners, turn and press. Fill with dried herbs and stitch opening closed.

Take pocket flap and fold in half RS together. Stitch along 2 short sides with ¼ in. seam. Clip corners, turn and press.  Fold down top ¼ in. and press toward WS of flap. Mark center of flap for the buttonhole. Place buttonhole ¼ in. from bottom of flap. Set flap aside.

Fold ¼ in. on all sides of pocket and press toward WS. Pin on pillow or pillowcase and topstitch around 3 sides, leaving top open. Pin flap ¼ in. above the top of the pocket, sew in place along the fold line on the wrong side (when flap is closed stitch line will be hidden). Mark button placement by folding down flap and marking on the pocket. Sew button in place. Insert herb pocket and enjoy.

I love to place the herb pocket towards the front when I use them in the guest room so my guests can see it and I can tell them how to use. I sewed my husband's on the inside of his pillowcase because he sleeps with his hands under his pillow. I also placed one on the pillow on my little's one reading chair.