If you love crochet you will love to try out this front door decor DIY. First, you need to decide on your favorite color combination. Since spring is on the way you may think of some yellow and orange and red with green. That would give a very fresh and happy look on your front door. I love blue and all of its shades and variations. It doesn’t really matter if the yarn has the same thickness or not, you can make it work between colors and actually different types of yarn will make it look even more interesting. You will also need a floral ring, could be made of foam or stick like the one I have picked.
Now you have to crochet as many beautiful flowers as you like. you can find plenty of instructions, patterns, and tutorials on youtube. It is best to make many different shapes and sizes and then work it out coloristically to create some balance of your composition.
Once you think you got enough of them you can fix it to the ring. I have used some extra yarn to roll on the floral ring and create the background wherever there are gaps between the flowers. I just feel that it makes a neat look. Then I have added the flowers using those longer pieces of yarn I have left after crocheting the flowers. Make sure the flowers are sturdy and attached well as they may be exposed to wind or other harsh weather conditions and you don’t want them to fall off. My front door decor DYI wouldn’t be complete without those shiny pearls here and there. You could add any colorful beads, whatever feels good and make sense for your own composition.
Category Archives: Sewing
Cylinder Pillow Tutorial
If you are looking for a project which doesn’t take much time and much fabric to complete you are in the right place. Cylinder Pillow is as easy as any square pillowcase and takes a little effort or skills. This tutorial will show you step by step how to cut fabric and best way to stitch it together. The first pillow took me about 30 minutes to make but the second one only half of this time.
You will need a rectangular piece of fabric 19.5 x 16.5 inch and two circles with about 7.5 or 8-inch diameter. I used a breakfast plate to get perfect circle shape. Then you have to sew the rectangular piece to create a sleeve. Simply connect shorter parts of the shape together. Remember to sew on the left side.
Now you need to fit in the circular shapes on each end. If you follow my size directions, the circle will be a bit bigger than the sleeve so you will have to make small gatherings here and there. Try to make it as even as possible. 
I have stitched twice on each side to make it stronger. Now our roll pillow is on the left side altogether so we have to create an opening to turn it on the right side and stuff it. My opening is about 5 inches wide.
Now we just have to stuff it and stitch the opening up. Just make sure there is enough of stuffing at each end so your new favorite bolster cushion will keep the desired shape for a long time. 
You will not be able to close this opening with use of sewing machine, You will have to do it by hand and please make sure to make it nice and flat so you don’t feel the stitch when you use the pillow. By the way, this cylinder pillow is small enough to wash it in the washing machine so you don’t need to make a pillow and a separate case for it. When your roll pillow gets dirty pop it into the washing machine but please don’t use the dryer because stuffing will get very fluffy and pillow might lose its shape.
I hope you have enjoyed this simple cylinder pillow tutorial. If yes please share with your friends.
DIY Toilet Paper Holder
Many of you don’t know it but we bought a new house a few months ago and we are still working on some re-decorations and painting. I have painted our powder room recently and installed some accent shelves. Now I have to design a fancy toilet paper holder to make it look even better.
What do you think about reversible DIY Toilet Paper Holder? I think this is a great idea to prevent boredom and since I have introduced two colors of towers I can switch the look of my powder room around dependence on my mood.
You can see this big transformation of my powder room in photos. If you plan to refresh yours make sure you are well prepared and if you are it shouldn’t take longer than 1 day. But I should go bask to the main subject of this post and tell you my DIY Toilet Paper Holder design and very simple pattern to follow. 
I didn’t take measurements with measuring tape, I have simply rolled toilet paper over the sheet of fabric and kept some 2 inches on each end of the additional finish. I have also cut two longer pieces which were about an inch wide and half longer than the main strip of fabric.
First I have prepared strings. You will have to double fold it and then sew all along. Once I did the same with both of the strips I cut them in half to have the total of 4 strings. Each of them should have an ending knot on one side.
Now I have created gathering on the piece of the white window curtain. I did it about 2 inches wide. Put your top tension setting on zero (0). The sewing machine will start gathering for you. Sew it all the way and then see if you would like to have more folds. I did like to have quite a lot of it, so I have pulled one of the threats to push fabric closer to each other.
Once you have completed gathering and you have cut it off from the rest of the fabric you can start sewing it on once of the wider strips. Make sure to position the thrill on the right side of the fabric.
This is how it looks like after completing.
Now when you flip it, the thrill will be neat and clean and the stitch will be on the inside.
Then you have to repeat the same on the other side of the first fabric strip. Once done you can sew on the second strip as shown in the photo below. Both fabric strips should face each other and thrills on the inside between the strips. Make sure to keep the spare fabric on each end so you can fold it in later and close the gaps.
This is how it looks after flipping it all on the right side. I have sewed it through again along of each side.
Now you can fold in ends and add strings. 
You should have two of them at each end.
This is how finished product looks like.
Now you can attach it and your DIY toilet paper holder works like a charm. Now you can reverse it on the other side and pretend you have two 🙂
T-shirt DIY Pattern
How great would it be to have a lovely T-shirt on every occasion? A great T-shirt means right color, right length, right sleeve length and right pattern on the fabric. The biggest problem is that T-shirt designers don’t come up with too many interesting designs and if you will happen to find some interesting T-shirts it is going to be expensive and it is simply not worth it. With Summer in the full swing, it is absolutely necessary to have a wide variety if colorfully fun T-shirts. I will show you how to get it done with a little of time. You will need a pattern of your favorite T-shirt design and super cute jersey fabric to work with. To get sewing done quickly make sure to follow this T-shirt DIY and let me know how it worked out for you. The easiest way to make a T-shirt DIY pattern is to use baking paper and trace individual elements of the item to be copied. You need to be careful and patient to get shapes right and remember to allow a centimeter for the seam. Now it is easy to copy favorite T-shirts one after another. Sewing doesn’t take more than 40 minutes with an overlock machine and 90 minutes with a standard home machine (please remember to zig zag the ages of fabric before using the home machine in order to reduce stretch of the fabric otherwise needle may skip some stitches).
The best part of your new pattern is that now you can make some small adjustments without any worry if the final result is going to fit you as a dream. You can change your T-shirt design by modification of sleeve length, length, neckline, and shape on the hips. From straight finish to triangles on the sides or maybe a wave?
Let’s get started with our pattern. Make sure to fold the T-shirt in half and aligned with an edge of the baking paper.
Take your time and cut off the shape carefully. I’m going to cut it a bit longer because the original T-shirt seems to be a bit short in my opinion. The neckline was too deep as well so I made some correction on it.
Now cut the little sleeve and we are ready with two the piece pattern and we can start cutting the shapes from fabric.
Remember to cut from folded fabric to get left and right side of front and back. 
The back and the front is exactly the same with one small difference. You will have to cut about a centimeter below the shoulder line. This will create a small shift of the stitch on the shoulder like on the original T-shirt design and it will help us to make a clean finish of the neckline.
Once you got the sleeves cut out, you can get on sewing.
First, you need to connect the front and back on the top of the shoulders. Then you can add sleeves. If you work with the home machine remember to zig zag fabric before sewing it together.
Can you see how the top of the shoulder got shifted? Now I can recognize where is front fo the shirt. Oh yes, I should mention that my front and back got the same depth of neckline so this little shift on the shoulders is the only way to recognize where is front and where is back of this T-shirt design. Next time I will cut high neckline for the back side of the T-shirt.
Now you need to zig zag the bottom of the T-shirt and sew along both sides to close it in.
If you have a triangle cut on each side, like I do, you will have to be careful while folding up the edges. I usually start away from the pointy corner and work toward it slowly pulling on the fabric a little bit. Then you need to make a smart fold like on the photos below.
It looks really good and clean inside out.
T-shirt would be almost finished at this point if not my daughters last minute idea to make a twist on the sleeves and change them from straight short to open and longer. It is a bit tricky to change it at this point but what are you going to do? This T-shirt is for her so I need to manage somehow. 
I have cut off a piece of the sleeve and sew a wider piece of the fabric as an extension. Then you need to gather the fabric to match the width of the sleeve and extension.
Yeah, it looks pretty good. To hold those little waves in place I have run it on my home sewing machine otherwise, it is all moving around and it is difficult to hold it for an overlock machine.
Make sure that stitch of sleeve and extension are in line. Pin it all together and you are ready to stitch it together.
It looks like a little bell sleeve, so adorable. My daughter had a good idea, I really like it this way.
My model did her best and all 3 T-shirt designs turned up fantastic from my T-shirt DIY pattern. I know there are lots of free t-shirt templates in the net but it is not easy to take a copy from screen size picture. I really wish somebody could show me how to make this paper patterns when I was taking my first steps in sewing, I would have been more successful for sure. 
It is so much fun to make small adjustments and it really makes you feel like a designer for a day. Now I have to sew some of those T-shirts for myself! It would be so great to have a couple of them but I will have to go for fabric shopping first. Have a great weekend and fun with your T-shirt design.
DIY Old Clothes into New
With spring around the corner it was about time to pull out spring and summer clothes which I have kept after my older daughter and have them refreshed for the younger one. Everything got washed and ironed but unfortunately a couple of dresses had quite stubborn stains which didn’t go away even with stronger detergent. I really didn’t want to throw the dresses away, so I came up with an idea to save at least pieces of them. This DIY Old Clothes into New project will show you how I have tackled stains. Just look at this white dress, so pretty or should I say it was pretty…
…. but when you look closely you will see so many yellow stains…. There was no other way like using scissors and some new fabric to fix that lovely dress.
Before I can start with sewing I will show you how to change the thread in my overlock sewing machine. I need to have those two pink changed in to white threads, beige will not be visible much so I will leave it as it is.
First we need to cut the thread and tie end of the white thread to it. Then we will have to slowly start pulling the pink end through the machine parts.
Work with one thread at the time. Can you see on the pictures how the knot is passing individual parts of the machine?
When you get to the point where the tie is not going to pass through the eye you will need to cut just before it and feed the thread manually. Then you can start with the 2nd thread. 
The same situation here, you will have to cut it and feed it manually. 
Now, when the machine is ready I can show you what I did with the dress and how to turn old clothes in to new. I have kept the bottom of it, top and lining. All the middle section got cut off and now the stains are gone for good.
I have kept about 1.5 to 2 cm width of the main section. Now we will need it to connect the new replacement fabric into it. I have aligned width of both pieces in the best possible way like on the picture below. Fabric type goes with it too. I didn’t have white but this creamy colour will be just fine.
I sew the ends together and then sew across the hem on the right side to make it nice and flat.
I have sew on a new fabric with bottom flowery part of an old dress and then sew on the top through, the same way like the above photo, to make it nice and flat.
Next we have to add the top edge of new fabric in to the little piece which was left after cutting off stained section of the dress, but this time we will have to make quite a lot of gathering to fit it all in, as the bottom of the dress was much wider than the top of it. I’m working on the overlock machine but you can easily use regular machine and I think sewing maybe even a bit easier on it than on the overlock.
This is how it looks underneath and below picture shows how it has turned on top. Now I have sew it all over with regular machine to press underneath seam. Since I wasn’t 100% happy with the line of connection between an old part and new part on the front of the dress I have covered it with some elastic decorative tape and I have sew it on by had as machine had hard time to work straight through to many layers.
I think it is very well visible on my little model Anna. She is getting more and more patient with posing hahahaha It took about 30 pictures to get those few and we both got very tired of chasing each other around the room.
This is going to be super nice dress for summer days and it wasn’t really hard to turn old clothes into new. You need a bit of imagination, that’s all. Funny part is that she didn’t want to take it off later on, so we chased around the room a bit more.
I was so happy with results I have fix another dress in a bit different way. You will have to customize your designs as each dress, or maybe a top, may have damages in different places and you will have to get creative and come up with solution to it. Try to use similar type of fabric or at least similar thickens of it. Play with colours, you may get better design result than the original clothes used to be. This plain pale blue dress was so boring before, sorry I didn’t take a picture before I have turned it into a new one.
Sweet, sweet 
Anna, so adorable on her little bike in her gorgeous flowery dress. I have to go over other boxes stashed with clothes, maybe I can show you more tricks on how to turn old clothes into new.
Cat Stuffie Pattern
I have decided to stop for a moment with my projects and sew something special for my younger daughter Anna. She loves a couple of cartoons and I have wide selection of different characters which could become her favourite toy. I think best will be cat stuffie pattern as this little fellow is adorable and so fabulous and cuddly. I prepared a photo of all pieces which we are going to need for this cat sewing pattern.
I have started with ears which should be pointy and quite firm. I sewed on a on pink triangle first and then connected two white parts on the left side. Once turned on the right side I have stuffed a bit of pillow stuffing. You can also get stuffing in the fabric stores but I got mine in the Walmart on sale, it came cheaper than fabric store and there is no difference between them.
We need to sew on a little nose in the middle. As you can see it is not a perfect round nose. I did two small cuts on the sides to remind nose holes. Then we need to sew some fabric on the back of the face to add a little of volume and shape. With just a few stitches we can avoid the face to be so flat once we stuff it.
Please see how it looks like on the back. We have to tie all those little threats. Stitches are about 1 – 1.5 cm long dependence on the size you are planing to make. I’m aiming for 25 cm long toy but I have to admit that cat stuffed animal patterns are much more difficult when you are trying to make them small. If I would go any smaller I don’t think there is a point to use sewing machine any more, it would be much easier to sew it by hand.
Now we need to combine the front and back sides of the head and ears at the same time. You have to make sure ears are inside and in the right position so pink will be on the same side as nose. You can check it picking between pieces of the head.
All looks good so now you can sew it together. You need to be careful around the ears. Make sure nothing will slip out. If you are sewing with thicker fabric like mine, sewing machine will crank on you in those multi layer places so you need to be very careful and slow.
When we turn it on the right side and put some stuffing in head should have oval shape. If you want to have it more 3D shape then you need to cut both front and back of the head bigger and make those 3 or even 4 small triangle stitches on the inside. This will give more volume to the fabric and more space for stuffing.
Now we need to make hands and legs. If you are sewing from thick fabric please make a bit bigger shapes than I have originally presented. This size was good for hand sewing not a machine and when I have sew it with machine it became very slim and too small, so I had to cut it again, this time a bit bigger as per below photo.
Now we can combine the body of stuffie with its hands. We will do it on the left side again and hands have to be already inserted in the right position. You can also make few of those small triangular stitches to make body a bit more round or go flat as I did. I thought it will be good enough and more stuffing will create desired shape.
Please be careful with your sewing machine in those places where hands are attached. I have left opening from the bottom to turn it all on the right side.
Now I have added stuffing and the head. I have attached it by hand stitch and went around two times to make sure it holds well.
Once the stuffing was in I could position the legs and close it down. Hand sewing did come in handy again. I don’t think my machine would be able to manage through it especially legs are also stuffed so all become far to bulky to sew with machine.
Each cat stuffie patter must have a tail! This is one of the most important parts to underline characteristic of the animal. I wanted my tail slim and curvy, so I did some more of hand sewing. To make it more interesting to play with I have added small bell at the end of it before I have pushed in some stuffing. It will be more fun to play with it.
Ok, tail is in its place now and it looks perfect. I did double stitch again as I’m sure my daughter will hold this part of toy for most of the time.
Now we have to add some more details on the cat’s face and belly. Does this stuffie look familiar to you? I hope it does and I’m sure Anna is going to love it.
I think this cat stuffed animal patter is quite easy and since mine is quite small it took me just an hour to make it. If you have any other cat sewing patter’s to share please e-mail me. Just look at this fabulous face, he is little movie star and will be softest plush to cuddle.
If you didn’t like it so much or maybe cat stuffie is not an easy patter for you please try this super easy owl stuffie and if you wish I can make separate tutorial on it. Most important thing is to try, and you may surprise yourself with an awesome toy for your kids.
I hope you had fun and I will see you reading my next post very soon. Keep up your great work and remember there is no difficult sewing pattern until you actually try it and this cat stuffie patter has proven it to me as well
How to Shorten Pants With a Zipper
Every sewer should know basic clothes operation like shortening pants. I have decided to show you How to Shorten Pants With a Zipper which is probably a bit more complicated than just shortening regular pants but it is not as much complicated like shortening pants with zipper and lining.
First you have to mark desired pants length. It is best to unzip the zipper and straighten the fabric. You should mark the place where the fabric touches the floor right on the heel, with shoes on the foot, the pants will lift about an inch over the ground which is what you want to achieve.
We will cut the leg about 1 inch below the mark so we have enough of fabric to fold it up nicely.
Then you have to remove extra zipper parts. First I have remove a stitch on 1 inch length of it and cut half way through. We will need a bit of zipper left to sew it inside of the fold.
Now we need to secure end of each side of the zipper on the bottom of it. You should look for a place where zipper will bend and disappear in the fold of the fabric.
I have put pins all around the fold. When you start sewing on your machine please remember to sew back and forth with reverse gear. 
Do the same on the beginning and the end where zipper is folded in to the fabric. It will make sure to keep all parts in the position. To make it even stronger I used stitch size 2 while on the fold around the leg I used stitch size 4 which matched the length of the stitch used originally.
Now you can do the same with second leg. When both are done iron it neatly. This is how to shorten pants with a zipper. It is obviously much easier when you do it with the machine. For those who doesn’t have a sewing machine you can follow same steps but you will have to complete all sewing by hand. 
Good luck with your sewing and I hope my post was useful.
Pattern Making Tutorial
I have finally came to the conclusion that it is the right time to start collecting my designs in the form of patterns which can be stored in some decent way and then reused with some small adjustments. I have studied in this matter a bit just to make sure I’m not making some terrible mistakes. I prepared first sewing pattern with pictures to show you how to make a pattern from an existing clothes. This way saves a lot of frustration while trying to find right size while sewing for yourself, family or customers (especially when you are just starting up your business). I thought that pattern cutting will be rather difficult and I will probably miss out some details which will affect final result but I was mistaken. Pattern making is actually very easy and this is a truth reason of this post. I want to encourage all of you to make your own patterns and sew more beautiful clothes much quicker not mentioning they will all fit perfectly. Oh yes! I forgot that possibly most of the new tailors would start their sewing carrier from purchasing ready patterns and sewing from them. Next step would be pattern making and then sewing without patterns just from the measurements. I have started opposite way. First I have worked on sewing straight from the measurements and only now I’m doing my own patterns. To be honest with you it is simply from need of sewing faster and sewing patterns definitely helps with it. You can just imagine how fast you can cut individual pieces of top or dress when you have simple paper form to follow.
I have decided to cut first pattern for my daughter’s dress. I have used other dress which fits her perfectly to trace it the pattern from it. You will also need baking paper, scissors, sticky tape (just in case if need them wider) pen or marker and measuring tape.
I will need only single strips of paper. You need to remember that we are cutting only half of the pattern if both sides of clothing (left and right) are symmetrical. You have to make sure that edge of the paper is right in the middle of the dress and then cut external line of the clothing.Please make sure you are as detailed as it can be. You have to watch for every curve or sharp edge. Please flatten the fabric of clothes you are using to make your pattern. It maybe a challenge sometimes so it is a good idea to iron clothes before copying.
Can you see how paper have to overlap a bit to reach stitching line of this dress? This is where paper have to be cut to make pattern correct for further stitching to meet in right way.
Since I have started to cut back first I need to keep line of it all the way including collar. You can see on the pictures that paper lies under full shape of the dress. This is how I have started thinking that maybe I should make a pattern for full back and front and then I have realized that only half of it needed so I have removed other half later.
Now we need to make front of the dress which is a bit more difficult as you can’t see all the shapes properly. This time I placed the paper over it and marked shape before I cut. I picked under and over to mark in the right spots and I have also pressed paper to fill the edge of the fabric through it.
Both parts are ready. Now I have signed them as front and back and marked width, length ect.
Since this dress didn’t have a sleeves (I did pick this one on purpose to have clear picture of shapes) I had to take anther top with sleeves and trace them from it. I hope you can see pen marks to trace top edge of the sleeve.
Now I have 3 pieces of pattern which can be adjusted if needed. For example I can shorten the sleeves for summer dress or I can change waist line from very low to tall and adding small gathering we can make a top instead of the dress.
Once I have completed my pattern I had to give it a try and test it out.
Dress came out just lovely. It fits well but I did have small problem to be fixed. Front neck line came a bit to low so I fixed it adding single gathering and pretty bottom on the top of it. 
For next piece of clothing I have to remember to cut an inch taller neck line or I will simply re-do the front part of my pattern. Now I will use same base pattern to different types of clothes and I will show them to you for sure. If you have any questions or maybe some of my instructions were unclear please go ahead and write to me. Pattern making is not hard at all and sewing from patterns is even easier. I hope I helped you to learn how to make a pattern.
How to Downsize a Shirt
Resizing any kind of clothing is quite easy most of the times. All dependence on the pattern and how much it has to be resized. I have prepared this small tutorial on how to downsize a shirt with use of simple pattern, full size resizing and overlock serger machine.
I got this shirt on-line last year and even I have selected correct size (as per charts) when it has arrived I have find out that it was size to big plus it had finish defects, so I didn’t wear it even once. It is simple DIY fabric with a bit of stretch in it so I believe all process should be quick and easy.
First I have put it on left side out to properly mark how much smaller it should be for perfect fit. Then I have removed some stitching on the end of sleeve, on the bottom of the shirt and under pits.
First I have sew around the sleeve. If you didn’t work on the overlock serger yet you should definitely try. It is huge save of time. I have used just few pins, it did cut, hem , stitch – all at the same time.
Next step was to downsize side stitch from the end of the sleeve to the bottom of the top. I just had to follow the shape with market distance from the original edge of the shirt.
Now we have to fix finish of selves and this very unfortunate finish of bottom of my shirt.
Since I didn’t want to lose any fabric on the length I have decided to remove all original stitch and sew it on fresh hoping that my finish will look better than “professional” on-line store quality.
This type of stitch you can achieve on your regular machine with double needle. 
You will also need second fit for a thread which can be done in at least 3 ways. First and second one is by purchasing an additional holder which can fit on the top of your bobbin wider or in the spicily cut whole on the top of your machine (most of machines does have this attachment). 
I got mine for bobbin winder in the local machine store and repair shop. Third idea is “home made”. You can attach pencil or other slim round object which can hold a roll of threat up right. I have used wide duck tape to keep it on strongly and firmly.
I have turned shirt on the left side and put footer in so I can try to monitor feed of fabric under and stitch over. Go slow to have better control and avoid corrections.
Dress from Baby Onesies
I have so many things going on which I would love to share with you. Let’s start with my new fantastic sewing machine! I was waiting for it a while and I couldn’t believe I finally got it. It obviously had to be tested right away and yes it does work perfectly fine. One hour of practice at store was enough to run through all of basic options. How cool is that? I got one hour free training with purchase of my overlock machine. 
Isn’t he beautiful? Works like a dream too. I have completed a small sewing project under an hour. Dress from Baby Onesies was so quick and easy.
I have used baby onesies which is already to small but has very good quality and I simply love this flowery embroidery on the top. I have managed to buy fabric with a matching patter.
I have cut out the bottom of it. Then from a long strip of fabric I have added gathering to create a small skirt. Length of one part was as 3 widths of onesies.
First I have connected back and front of fabric strip to create a loop.
Please look at this stitch. It is perfectly straight and 100% professional.
Then I added gathering all around. You have to make sure it has been spread evenly on each side and left to right. 
I really think picture tells it all 🙂 Now we need to add long sleeves. I have measured length and depth. Then I have sewn it along. 
Now tricky part. You need to add top of the sleeve on the inside of onesies on the original stitch. I have used pins to keep it in place.
Sew around slowly and make sure to keep it straight and equally deep.
Now we can hem it all around on the bottom of the skirt and around bottom of the sleeves.
I sewn some clothing left with this kind of hem on the bottom but I don’t like it too much, so I have used my regular machine and straight stitch to fold it under.
Doesn’t she look gorgeous? Dress from Baby Onesies in no time. My little girl will be best dressed baby coming spring and summer.
My second surprise for this post is a sticker with address of my website on the back of my car.
How do you like it? It has been already noticed and it reflex in number of visits as well. I guess it was a good idea.