Stocking Tutorials

I thought I would round up my favorite stocking tutorials to share with you!

1. Monogrammed Stocking - Mandipidy
2. All the Trimmings Stocking - Denise Schmit
3. Scrappy Stocking - Maggie Makes
4. Sewn Stocking - Craft Leftovers

1. Vintage Quilt Stocking - Sew, Mama, Sew!
2. Simple Felt Stockings - Woman's Day
3. Felted Stocking - Crafting a Green World
4. Strip Pieced Stocking - The Purl Bee

Do you have any stocking tutorials that you'd like to add? Post a comment and share!

Felt Garland Tutorial

I bought this mini Christmas tree at Target last year along with some glass bulbs (both were on clearance!) I would have loved some lights on this tree but I did not want to get the battery operated lights as I would probably go through a pack of batteries for keeping it on so much.

Instead, I chose to make a felt ball garland. I had ordered a bunch of felt balls last year because they were so adorable but I had no idea what I was actually going to do with them. Well, it hit me - I can use up the felt balls FOR garland!

I first took some silver embroidery thread (it's thicker than normal embroidery thread and has some texture to it.) and tied a knot in the end. I found a super large needle and threaded it with the embroidery thread. *note* this thread is a pain in the butt to work with and to actually thread, so pay attention that the needle doesn't fall off the thread at any point!!

I then put each felt piece on the needle and used pliers to hold onto the end of the needle and then pulled the ball down onto the thread. After you do this, knot the thread to secure each felt ball. I intend to keep this garland for a few years at least so that's why I knotted each ball to keep it in place. With the thread being so textured, it could hold each ball loosely in place if you choose not to knot it.

After doing this several times, my small garland was done! I only had 22 felt balls and the garland came out to be a little under 4 feet. You would probably need over 120 to do a full tree (as a low estimation!)

And the finished product with my Puggle putting the finishing sniffs on the tree ;)

My Second Tutorial - Coasters

So after I made my first tutorial I couldn't help but make a second. I kept thinking about it all week and decided to make a simple project of coasters but with a ric rac trim. I think they came out pretty well and will be listing the set I made in my shop sometime this week. The tutorial is for sale for $6 USD. I like how they came out - I'm keeping one of them for myself for my desk. The good thing about living in a student apartment and having only one room to yourself is that the only place that you could use a coaster is on your desk ;)

Although these tutorials are both for sale, I want to make a free tutorial to post here on my blog, but one that isn't too long. Something simple, but useful. Do you have any requests or things you'd like to learn how to make? Let me know!

First Tutorial Up for Sale - the market bag

I have purchased quite a few tutorials & patterns on Etsy myself, so I thought maybe I should make one too! I love handmade patterns and tutorials because they are completely original. You know that someone put a lot of time and work into their project and it shows through their work. I also like the step by step with color pictures along the way and the ability to email the author with questions or comments about the pattern. It's so personal! Being an advanced, but self taught seamstress, I sometimes find that I do not know certain 'tricks' or techniques that many have learned through conventional ways. That is one of the main reasons why I also by handmade tutorials, so that I can learn these tricks and techniques to better my skill set.

I have been thinking about making a tutorial myself for a while but kept putting it off. I wanted to make something that was pretty straight forward, something that may teach some 'tricks' to other seamstresses and of course something that I haven't seen made yet. I would say the most popular things right now for sale are small pouches, aprons, purses and of course things for children so in making this market bag, I knew it would be one of the firsts on the (Etsy) scene with it. The best thing about this pattern is that it can also be shrunk down or blown up and be made into almost any size that you would need! This project took me about 6+ hours all together with the sewing, picture taking, writing, and the designing of the pattern then putting it all together into a PDF. It can be found in my Etsy shop for $8USD and free shipping! I hope that those who purchase the tutorial can send me some pictures of your completed projects for me to post on here!