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sewing

Lifestyle

Made With Harts: Ikatee Pattern—Helsinki

I’ll tell you what, as my daughter grows the need for versitile play clothes becomes ever the more important.

We juggle activities throughout the day, often coming from the playground or park and headed straight to a family dinner or activity. Sometimes it’s a huge benefit to have a garment that’s easy to play in AND presentable for grandmas to see.

I love the Helsinki pattern by Ikatee for those reasons. I chose the Nohara knit by Japanese designer Hitomi Osumi for Cotton + Steel paired with an Eggshell stretch denim from Harts selection. I just loved the whimsy of the knit print, soooo soft and cute 🥰

The pairing is great for allowing comfort and stretch while also guaranteeing a bit of durability with the denim on bottom.

The difference in fabric weight gives almost a hoop skirt affect which is just adorable on a baby (toddler 😭) Goldie’s age.

The pattern was relatively easy to work with and well explained. They had clear step by step instructions as well as the instructions for the optional alterations (like sleeveless or pocketless).

I found the sizing to run on the large side, but honestly that’s kind of to Ikatee’s benefit since kids grow like weeds!

I can’t wait to try more of their patterns!

This post is my honest opinion using fabric and a pattern I received free of charge from Harts Fabric as part of their Harts Fabric Street Team.

Made With Harts: Ikatee Pattern—Stockholm

I was so excited to be able to create this precious Ikatee Stockholm dress with Embrace Solid Double Gauze Cobalt. Read on to hear more about my experience working with this fabric and the PDF Ikatee patterns for the first time.

Lately I’ve been diving back into sewing garments for myself and I’ve found a ton of joy and purpose in being able to create quality, custom items for myself and my daughter. I’ve sewn for most of my life, but lately I’ve been trying to make conscious and deliberate choices with the items I create. I’m making meaningful swaps in my household in an attempt to waste less and keep more. A large part of that is reducing my families clothing waste. From avoiding fast fashion, to cutting up my husband’s old button up shirts for quilting, to thrifting, and to creatively cutting fabrics to get more use out the each textile, I’m doing it.

I’d been eyeing the Ikatee patterns for a while but was still going through a lot of free patterns I had stockpiled on Pinterest and my iBooks for years. Finally, the opportunity arrived to try the patterns through Harts and I jumped at it.

My experience with sewing was mostly alterations (I’m 5’11”), pegging clothes and sewing patches cuz punk’s not dead, and creating weird one of a kind items to wear to various parties and functions in my teens and twenties. I’d never had an organic style personally and so I’d never ever worked with a fabric as light and delicate as this double gauze. I love the deeply saturated cobalt color and chose it for my daughter because I thought it would just really compliment her coloring as well as the Ikatee pattern.

As expected, I struggled at first. The fabric stretched and frayed in ways I didn’t expect; found myself having to work more slowly than my regular pace. The Ikatee patterns are originally en Français so there were parts of the instructions that I had to go over a few times to make sure I understood. I wouldn’t say things got lost in translation so much as I probably should have read the instructions completely before I started to save myself some time.

In the end the project turned out sooooo cute I could just die. I tried some embroidery for the first time as well and I think the end result is just precious. The running stitch and monogram really add the handmade touch that compliments the whimsy of classic children’s garments such as the Stockholm Ikatee pattern!

This post is my honest opinion using fabric and a pattern I received free of charge from Harts Fabric.

DIY

Go-Bag for the Urban Witch DIY

Lately, I’ve been trying to organize my life and efforts across the board. For the first time, I’m buying and using storage bins in my art studio. I’m categorizing notions and accessories and filing them away in their proper place. Part of this may be growing up, or an increased incentive to have a presentable and stress-free work/home environment. At any rate, I’m having a great time creating a place for everything and I’m super proud to bring you our first DIY tutorial! This DIY Go-Bag for the Urban Witch is a perfect weekend project and a great way to organize any magical supplies, sacred personal items, or even a small apothecary.

Sometimes you need to grab your supplies and hit the road in a pinch, whether it be the last minute work trip or a race to a sister in need, the best thing about this Go-Bag is that there are a ton of uses for it. It can serve as a sacred place for your travel altar or as a to-go apothecary/ medicine bag for when you’re on the move. The Go-Bag can even act as a general storage bag for magical items, stones, charms, and cards. The Go-Bag can serve whichever intention you choose. It’s up to you.

You can adjust the size of this bag based on when you intend to keep inside it. Increasing the 23″ measurement would make the bag taller/ deeper. Increasing the 15″ measurement would make the bag longer; you need the zipper to be 1″ longer than whatever your length measurement is.

GO-BAG SUPPLIES

Outer fabric 15″x23″
Fusible fleece
Inner fabric
Handle: 4×9 of exterior fabric and fusible fleece
Tab: 3×5 of interior fabric
16″ zipper

Optional:

4 flat bottom feet screws
1 round stud fastener

GO-BAG INSTRUCTIONS

Part One:

A.) Collect all your supplies with your fabric cut to the correct size: 15″ x 23″ for bag “body” and fusible fleece and 4″ x 9″ of exterior fabric and fusible fleece for the handle. Fuse your fleece (also 15″ x 23″) to the wrong side of your handle and exterior fabric.

B.) Fuse your fleece (also 15″ x 23″) to the wrong side of your handle and exterior fabric. Now the wrong side of your handle and exterior fabric will be the fleece.

C.) Place your lining (interior fabric) right side up. Right side up means the side that will be exposed when finished is facing up.

D.) Open your zipper and line it up with the 15″ edge of your lining fabric and place it on top with the other zipper half hanging down. The pull of your zipper will be facing you. The zipper aligned as pictured, with stops 1/2″ away from the left side of the fabric. Align the exterior fabric face down/ wrong side up on top and pin for sewing. Sew your zipper with 1/4 seam allowance.

Part Two:

E.) Keep your zipper open and flip the bottom raw edge of your top (exterior fabric) up so that it’s right sides are together and the bottom raw edge is now up with the zipper.

F.) Fold the outer fabric the same way to its right sides are together and its raw edge is aligned with the raw edge of the interior fabric. See in the photo below how each fabric is folded onto itself? Line up the zipper as before, this time with the zipper pull on the left.

G.) Pin as shown below and sew with a 1/4″ seam allowance.

Part Three:

H.) Turn the bag inside itself, so it appears as normal from the outside, with the interior fabric inside and exterior fabric outside.

I.) Top stitch your zipper on each side, going through both the exterior and lining, but not sewing it shut. You’ll have your zipper open to do this; it should end up looking top-stitched like pictured.

Part Four:

J.) Now place your bag flat, zipped up, with the zipper down the center and pin through all fabrics as shown.

Part Five:

K.) With your bag pinned, cut a 2 1/4″ L x 2″ H square at each corner.

Part Six:

L.) Make your tab:

For the tab, fold each long edge to meet in the center and press.

Then fold it in half width-wise, so the raw edges meet and press again.

If you’re adding a metal tab, add it now.

Top stitch the non-raw edges of the tab.

Part Seven:

P.) Make Your handle:

For the handle, make sure you fused the fleece in Step One. You’ll do three folds. I find it helpful to press after each. Fold the long raw edges lengthwise to meet in the middle.

Then fold it once more in half, so your only raw edges are the 1″ ends and topstitch.

Part Eight:

Q.) Attach the tab and handle by first turning your interior and exterior fabric, so the wrong sides are out/ right sides together. Make sure all layers are aligned and unzip the zipper a few inches.

R.) Pin your handle on the end with the zipper pull as shown. Sew the aligned and pinned edge with a 1/2″ seam (or whatever your bag/ zipper allows if you resized or made mistakes it’s okay).

S.) Pin your tab upside down and “finished” end-inside in the same manner and sew the aligned edge.

T.) Turn your bag right side out through one of the square openings that are left unfinished.

Part Nine:

Now we’ll do a French seam on the square edges. A French seam is where you first sew a raw edge; then you sew over the seam from the interior to “trap” the raw edge completely. Here’s a link for french seams if it’s confusing.

U.) You’ll first want to reopen your square edge to create a box seam, this is accomplished by sewing from corner to corner, as shown. Pin each corner and sew.

V.) Trim the excess down. If you made mistakes or had rough cuts, you have had to increase seam allowance. Trim, so you only have about 1/4″ of a raw edge.

W.) Turn bag inside out. Push out your new square bottom/ corners. Use your pins to mark the seam allowance needed to trap the outer seam. Sew to complete.

X.) Your interior will look like this. Add your bag feet now if you wish, using a seam ripper to poke holes first where they will go through to the exterior.

Your completed go-bag will look like this:

Each Go-Bag will hold three or four 7 day candles, three large bundles of sage, one tarot deck, and other items as needed (crystals, pendulums, poppet, sachets, charms, travel altars, etc..) Check back here for more DIY’s and ideas for living creatively mindful.

*This post first appeared on I AM A HEALER.

DIY Lifestyle

Two Cute Ways to Repurpose Leftover Bunting

We all have extra stuff lying around. Some of it is really useful, while some of it just takes up space. Anyone who has thrown a wedding or a big birthday knows that decor is no exception. I was eyeing all my extra stuff from our wedding and my eyes fell on all this extra burlap bunting we never used. There are quite a few tutorials out there on how to turn old wrapping paper and clothes into bunting. However, I couldn’t find many on how to actually repurpose leftover bunting.

I was thinking of various ways to use the bunting by folding it. Maybe a geometric ornament or putting a few together could make a hat or a lantern bag for a flameless candle? Eventually, I landed on an idea for a flat wallet and an air plant/ succulent holder; two cute ways to repurpose leftover bunting into new items and quick DIY projects.

FLAT WALLET

This project is great for a craft night or even for a kids party. You can complete the project by sewing OR even with a hot glue gun. Kids will love seeing how you can transform “junk” decor into something cool, useful, and personalized. Furthermore, with cute themed birthdays, the kids could end up with adorable spiderman wallets at the end of the party from the branded bunting.

I used a few items in the creation on my DIY Flat Wallet:

Burlap bunting
Scissors
Leftover random charms/ beads
Round bag making stud
Vinyl snap
Sewing machine (although you can hand stitch or use a glue gun instead)

Step One:

Collect your supplies. If you have a glue gun you’ll be using, plug it in! This is a quick project.

Step Two:

Fold the bottom of the bunting a little over 1/3 of the way up. Test the triangle flap to make sure it covers the amount of space you want it to and doesn’t overlap the bottom.

Step Three:

Flip the bunting over while keeping it folded. Draw a line to mark where the edges overlap.

Step Four:

Cut the bunting on the lines you marked.

Step Five:

Line up your wallet how it will lay when complete. Line up where you want your snap to be.

Step Six:

Line up your first snap and sew the snap down to the wallet body (not the flap).

Step Seven:

Pin the edge of your wallet for sewing and sew.

Step Eight:

Attach the second snap to the interior of the flap.

Step Nine:

Begin to attached your embellishments/ charms/ decor/ or embroidery to your wallet. Use a needle and thread or a hot glue gun.

Fin!

Air Plant/ Succulent Holder

The second cute way to repurpose leftover bunting is to turn it into a cute geometric planter. You can hang it on the wall or put it on a shelf. I used basically the same process for the dimensions as the wallet, the only difference is that instead of cutting the extra from the sides. You bring the edges pictured with the pink markers together and top stitch to create a tiny planter.

I used a few items in the creation on my Air Plant/ Succulent Holder:

Burlap bunting
Scissors
Sewing machine (although you can hand stitch or use a glue gun instead)
A piece of coral I found on the beach in Bali
Neon Green Thread

Once you’re done with the stitching you can add some stitches in a cool color, or add fabric to the front. I even considered using paint or dip dye on mine. Have fun with it!

I hope you enjoyed these ideas on how to repurpose leftover bunting!

DIY

DIY Square Bottom Tarot Pouch

Sometimes you just need a tarot pouch! People choose to carry their tarot in different ways. Some, neatly keep the cards in their original box to bring out when they want to do a spread. Many carry their cards wrapped in a special cloth and in a pouch similar to this.

With the tarot often looked to for guidance in weighty decisions, why not treat your deck as the sacred item it is?

If you buy crystals, pendulums, and divination tools regularly, you’ll often have a small collection of velvet or plastic lined pouches at your disposal. These can be useful, but boring. For the urban witch, you might choose to carry your tarot cards in a more stylish and personalized way. That’s where this DIY Tarot Pouch comes in handy. It’s easy to make and requires very little fabric. Furthermore, this tarot pouch makes a great conversation starter, everyone will wonder where you procured such a cool bag for your cards.

This DIY will take about 30 minutes to complete depending on your skill level.

For this tarot pouch you’ll need:

(1) 10.5″ x 11″ exterior cloth
(1) 10.5 x 11″ interior lining cloth
Scissors
A sewing machine or needle and thread
Rope or extra fabric to create a cord
Set of tarot cards

Step One:

Take your lining fabric and your exterior fabric and place them with their right sides together. Pin the top edge (that will be the opening). Sew with a 1/4″ seam allowance and press the seam open afterward.

Step Two:

Open your fabric so that the wrong sides are facing up as shown. Cut 1/2″ tabs on the sides of each fabric, this will mark where your cord will go.

Step Three:

Press your tabs for sewing. You can do a double-fold hem or a single fold and keep the interior edges raw. I did a double fold because my fabric comes apart easily and I didn’t want any rogue string coming out the drawstring area.

Step Four:

Sew the hem so it secures the raw edge of the fabric (or not if you don’t care).

Step Five:

Fold your fabric in half length-wise to that the exterior fabric is exposed and the lining fabric is touching itself. Make sure your tabs line up. Pin the raw edges of the fabric together.

Step Six:

Sew with a 1/4″ seam allowance. You can do a larger seam if it’s easier, you’ll cut the excess off anyway. Make sure to not sew over your drawstring opening. Otherwise, you’ll seal it shut!

Step Seven:

Flip your fabric inside out so the exterior is touching and the exterior fabric is outside. This is a weird kind of double inside out. If you’re used to making bags, you know what I mean, but if not, I’ve attached the following video to explain.

Find the seam of the long edge that you just sewed (and trimmed down as much as possible) and pin it neatly.

Step Eight:

You’ll now hide the raw edge of the seam by sewing down that same section (called a french seam), trapping the exterior seam inside. See, the drawstring opening is still open!

Step Nine:

Turn your fabric inside out with the side seam directly in the center. At the bottom of your pouch, cut two small squares that are slightly taller than they are wide. I did around 1″.

Step Ten:

Sew the very bottom raw edge of the bag closed, excluding the squares. Then, turn the squares so the bottom seam is in the center and pin them in a straight line. This will square out the bottom of your pouch. Sew each side to have squared edges. ***I should add that you don’t have to do a french seam here, I just didn’t want any raw edges on my interior, you could totally just turn the bag inside out and hem the bottom, making sure to turn the square areas.

Step Eleven:

Turn the bag inside out once more and trap those raw edges with a french seam. You’ll do this on the raw edges you just sewed—so the bottom, and each squared corner.

Step Twelve:

Now turn your tarot pouch inside out and insert your drawstring. It’s best to attach a safety pin to the drawstring and lead it through the opening as shown in this video. I couldn’t find a safety pin so I improvised with sewing needles.

I hope you found this DIY Tarot Pouch useful! I’d love to see pictures of the pouches you create! Tag me on IG: @thornandthimble