Monster Pocket Tissue Holder

I have had the idea to make one of these for a while, and with the Halloween buzz in the air, it felt like a good time to try it. 
Tissue holders are pretty simple, and fast - which makes for a nice craft, because the reward of having a finished product comes quickly:)
You can of course,  make them without the teeth and eyes - and they will look like these:

Cut 2 pieces of fabric, 6 1/2" x 7".  I often use two different color fabrics for fun, even though you can hardly see the inside fabric when the tissues are inside.

To make monster eyes, I traced around a spool of thread for the large circles, and hand cut smaller circles. 

I wanted blue for the outside fabric - so I put my eyes about 3/4" from the edge, along the SHORTER (6 1/2") side. 

I used a zig zag stitch around the outside to sew the eyes down. 

I used jumbo rick rack for the teeth.  I placed the rick rack along the same edge as the eyes, so that the rick rack was hanging over the edge by about 1/4".  I wanted the 1/4" seam allowance to catch the rick rack about in the middle. 

Then, place the 2nd piece of fabric, right sides together, against the 1st piece, and pin together.

Using a 1/4" seam allowance, sew around the outside.  Leave a 1"-2" hole along the LONG (7") edge. 

Then, turn it right side out.  Push out the corners with a pencil or your closed scissors.

In order to complete the tissue holder, you will fold the short edges toward each other - right sides together.  (This means the color you want to end up on the outside of the tissue holder, will be on the inside.) 
I usually overlap my ends slightly. 

In order to make the teeth look right, fold the rick rack edge toward the center first. 

Fold the opposite edge toward the center, overlapping the rick rack edge by about 1/4".  Pin down. 

Sew along the short edges with 1/4" seam allowance.

Turn inside out, press your corners out - and your done!

I felt like my first one was too pretty - so I made an ugly one as well.  Don't even ask me where I got the hideous brown fabric...never knew it would actually come in handy:)

These are great gifts, because they are quick, easy, inexpensive, and you can make them in any color for anyone's tastes!

Of course, if you want to make one without the teeth and eyes, you can simply skip adding those pieces - like these ones here:

Hand Painted Dresser Drawer Knobs

My daughters were given this lovely dresser - wonderfully functional - but missing a couple of drawer knobs.

BEFORE Picture:)

I have seen adorable, hand painted, drawer pulls, and decided to make some of my own.

Home Depot sells these wooden drawer knobs for about a dollar each - with hardware.  A blank canvas just begging to be made pretty:)

First I painted a white base coat on all 8 knobs (2 coats).  I used all acrylic paint on this project. 
Before I go any further, I should tell you...this project requires a little...patience (see I whispered it).  Normally this word is not really high up their in my crafting vocabulary:)  But you must let each coat of paint dry thoroughly before continuing.  If not, paint will rub off, peel off and make you frustrated!  Sometimes, if the coat of paint is thin, you may only have to wait ten minutes before continuing. 
Sometimes, however, especially if you have to do more that 2 coats to make the color look full and complete, then you might have to wait much longer.  Polka Dots also generally take much longer to dry, because they are thicker globs of paint, whereas the stripes are thinner coats. 

So, getting back to it, after you have a white base coat you must start making decisions.  Like which colors you are going to use.
I chose to use only 3 colors (plus white).  These colors are in my daughter's bedspread, and match the room pretty well. 
I like the look of painting the underside of the knob a different color than the top, so that is where I began. 

I have tried painting knobs freehand before (see this much earlier post) - but frankly I am not thrilled with the results.  I actually think I am a pretty good painter, and have a pretty steady hand, but small round knobs are very hard to paint freehand.
So this time around, I decided to be very precise, and use masking tape to section off my stripes and different colors, to make very crisp, clean lines.  This is the same technique you use when painting a room, just on a much smaller scale:)

With 4 colors in my pallet (white, dark purple, light purple, and green) and 8 knobs, I painted 2 knob undersides with each color (or in white's case, just left is as the base coat).

Once the underside was painted, and dry, I taped off that bottom edge so that I could paint the top.

I decided to do half the knobs in stripes, and half in polka dots. 

First the stripes: 

Lay 2 pieces of masking tape across the top leaving a space the same width you want your stripe to be.
Press to make a firm seal with the tape, all the way across until the ends meet up with the tape that surrounds the edge. 

Now, when you paint, you can paint onto the tape, and when you peel the tape away, a crisp clean line will be left. 

Example: First Stripe on Drawer Knob 1

Example: First stripe on Drawer Knob 2

Example: After a few stripes have been done - and another piece of masking tape put down.

I made some stripes thin, some thick, and just tried to make it aesthetically pleasing.  There was no rhyme or reason to my patterns. 
The stripes take a while, but are easier than the polka dots, in my opinion. 
They take a while because each stripe must be sectioned off on either side with masking tape, painted, and dried before you can start the next stripe.
They are easier because there is less room for error since you have the tape as a guide.

With polka dots, I used the end of my paintbrush or pen, and had to rely on myself to make nice round dots. 
There was no exact guide - such as the tape for the stripes.  So, my advice is to make sure that there is sufficient paint on the round item you are using to make dots, but that it is not globby.  Globby paint makes uneven circles.  So, do a few polka dots, dipping the end into paint each time you make a new dot.  Once the paint gets dry at all - or feels too thick - then wipe of your instrument and start fresh. 

I did try to make wide tape lines to stay within while polka dotting.  Not sure if they helped a whole lot. 

Once the top is done, it is fun to peel off the masking tape and see the full effect!

Here they are before I sprayed them. 

I used a high gloss protective spray, and did a number of coats to make them durable. 

And they look FABULOUS!

I also made another set of black and white knobs here.  Check those out as well!

Patching up some Holey Jeans

I love how this project turned out! I love when projects turn out just as good as you envisioned!

Part of my love probably stems from the fact that I love these jeans. They fit my daughter so well, the shape is so cute on her!

They were actually given as hand me downs from I can’t even remember who. They may have even come with some small holes already started in the knees. So, when they became big holes, I was kindof sad.
I decided to take a risk, and cut them up.
So, I lined up the outside of each leg on the cutting mat against a ruler edge. Then, I cut out the holey section of the jean with straight lines. I made sure that I cut out the same size strip from each leg, and at the same height.

I unstitched one seam of the cut strip in order to make myself a pattern for the new fabric.

Now, let me tell you about this fabric I am adding into the jean. This is my leftover edge from the Princess and the Pea quilt that I did. So, these were “mattresses.” I had really messed up with the spacing on that one, so I had cut a substantial amount off – enough to do this project.
I like the effect on the jeans so much though, that I would make blocks of fabric again like this specifically for jeans. So, basically those were 2” strips of coordinating fabric that were sewn together lengthwise.

I took my holey strips, and used them as a guide for cutting the new fabric.

PLEASE KEEP IN MIND: The long section of jean is the right measurement, because it already has a seam allowance factored in. That is from unstitching the jean. But the WIDTH is not fine. It should be ½” wider than your jean strip, to account for the seams! I messed up here. As you can see in the picture, I cut around my jean strip exactly. I didn’t realize this until I had sewed it on - but I was able to make up for it with the second strip. It worked out fine, but it would have been better to do it right.
It would have made the jean ½” shorter overall had I not fixed my mistake.
Once you have the new fabric cut properly, take the two short ends and sew them right sides together – using the same seam allowance that your jean had. Mine had ¼” seams.

Then, using the jean strip you cut out as a guide again, figure out which part of your new fabric is top and which part is bottom. The jeans probably flare slightly, which means there will be a correct top and bottom.

Once you figure this out, turn your new fabric inside out and slip it over the leg of the jean. Place that correct edge flush with the cut jean, and pin. Right sides will be together. Sew with 1/4” seam allowance, and finish with a zig-zag stitch right along the edge.

Now, I didn’t know yet that I wanted 2 strips in my jeans, so I sewed the bottom half of the jeans on and had my daughter try them on.

Again, flip the bottom part of the jean inside out, and line up the raw edges – right sides of fabric together. Sew with 1/4” seam allowance, and finish with a zig-zag stitch right along the edge.

Now, this was pretty cute – but I wanted more. I loved the stripy fabric so much, that I decided to add another strip.

I did everything the same way (this time accounting for seam allowance plus some to fix my mistake), and sewed in one more strip on each leg.

I LOVE how they turned out. I keep making Joss twirl for me so I can admire them. Yeah for projects that turn out great! Plus it took me less than 2 hours from start to finish - including all the kiddy interruptions:)