Cute Cottage Door Hanger Tutorial + How to use applique templates.

So today I have a 2-in-1 project for you ... a tutorial to make the cute door hanger shown above + how to make your own applique using templates.  As you know my tea time mug rug tutorial PDF comes with applique templates, and I have been meaning to post a detailed tutorial on how to use those templates, just in case you do not know how.

The steps below are also the same method I have outlined in my  Patriotic Stars Hand Towel project as well .. but I do not have any pictures in that tutorial with how to make the applique, so if you are a visual learner hopefully this tutorial will help. 

As a bonus this project also uses osnaburg, which I blogged about yesterday.

Let's get started!

Cute Cottage Door Hanger Tutorial + How To Make Applique

Supplies:

• House Applique Template HERE
• Scraps of quilting weight cotton
• Heat n' bond lite
• 2 pieces of osnaburg cut to 7" each
• 1 Piece of ribbon that measures around 12" long (width is not that important)
• Polyfill stuffing
• Marker or pen (to trace template)
• Scissors to cut applique (or a rotary cutter)
• An Iron
• Basic sewing supplies

Optional: Other embellishments like buttons, or embroidery floss.
Note: 1" = 2.54cm

Directions:

1. Print out your house applique template with the printer scaling set to "none".

2. Take your heat and bond lite, and place it over your house template with the paper side up, and trace the template with a marker or pen.  If you need additional light, you can place the template and heat and bond lite over a light source (such as a light box, door wall, piece of glass with light under neath, etc).  Make sure you leave space between the designs.

My tracing was rather poor, but I knew that I would be using a rotary cutter to cut out most of these pieces, and knew I could use a ruler to straighten the sides up.  If you are not using a rotary cutter, and had too much caffeine like I did (thus producing a shaky hand), I would suggest tracing the template using a ruler.

3. Roughly cut out each design.  You will cut through the paper layer, and the fusible layer at the same time.  Leave around 1/4"-1/2" around each design.

4. Get out your cotton scraps.  Place the fusible (adhesive side down) against the WS of a fabric scrap, and fuse the heat and bond lite to the fabric using an iron.  The directions on the heat and bond lite will tell you to use an iron setting of  "silk", but I have found the "cotton setting" to be more effective when fusing heat and bond lite to cotton or linen.   Allow to cool.

As you can see, I used 5 different prints, but feel free to use more or less.

5. Cut out all of your pieces of applique using a pair of sharp scissors (THESE are my fave) or a rotary cutter along your traced lines.

The fabrics I used are as follows: Joel Dewberry Aviary 2 for the roof, Annies Farm Stand for the house, Tanya Whelan Delilah for the door, and DS Quilts picnic for the windows.

6. Get out your piece of osnaburg. Remove the paper backing from the house piece, and the roof piece.  Place the fusible side down, and fuse using your iron.

7. Layer the other pieces on top of the house ... the windows, the door and the chimney following the same method as above ... remove the backing, lay the fusible side down and press.  Pay special attention to the chimney ... see how it ended up being a reverse of what was on the printed out template?  If you are using a template for something like a letter, you will want to reverse it before you trace it so that it will appear to be going the right way in your finished project. 

8. Because heat and bond lite is not a permanent fusible, we will now need to sew our applique pieces in place to make the bond permanent.  There are a lot of choices here in terms of what stitch you can use .... you can use a satin stitch, a tight zig zag stitch, a blanket stitch ... or just a simple straight stitch.  The regular straight stitch on my machine is what I use most for applique.  I like the look of the exposed raw edges, and with the combination of using a short stitch setting, the fusible underneath, and applique designs that are mostly cut off grain, I have not found excessive fraying to be a problem.   So go ahead, and choose the stitch you like best, and sew around each applique piece.  I try and sew as close to the edge as possible ... but just do what you are most comfortable with, and take your time.  Press to set the stitches.

Be sure to backstitch at the beginning and end.

9. Add some embellishments if you want.  Because the heat and bond lite is in fact light (and not heavy as a permanent fusible would be), it is not difficult to sew through.  So this little house is perfect to add on hand embroidery, buttons, etc. Get creative.  I just drew on some swirls by the chimney (using a water soluble marker), and stitched over them using a running stitch.  I then sewed on a shell button for the door knob, and washed off the water soluble marker. 

10. Take your ribbon and fold it in half.  Center the ribbon along the top raw edge of the osnaburg, and allow the raw edges of the ribbon to hang past the osnaburg a bit.  Sew in place using a 1/8-1/4" seam.  Unfortunately I did not get a photo of this step, but see below for my rough sketch of this step.

11.  Place your two pieces of osnaburg RST (with the ribbon sandwiched between the two pieces), and sew around all four sides using a 3/8" seam.  Leave a 4" opening along the bottom. Press your seams to set the stitches.

12. Turn right side out, and use some sort of a pointy object to push the corners out.  Press again.  Stuff  with polyfill (do not overstuff, as this will distort the cottage image, and also make the next step more difficult).

13. Now close the opening ... you can slip stitch the opening shut, or do like I did and topstitch it closed.  I top stitched it closed by first pinning the opening shut, then I top stitched around all 4 sides using a 1/8"-1/4" seam.  As you sew around all 4 sides, you can just push the polyfill  away from the presser foot to make this step easier.

All done!  This project is versatile in that you can use it as a door hanger, a decoration that you hang up, an ornament ... or leave off the ribbon and use it as a drawer sachet filled with potpourri.  You can also use the house applique template on other projects like pillows or place mats.   If you don't have time to make your own cute cottage door hanger, you can find my sample listed in my shop.

Enjoy!

P.S. I thought of some other creative ideas for this project ... you could use spooky colors to make this a Halloween decoration, or other holiday inspired colors to celebrate any other holidays that are coming up.  I also thought this would be a cute decoration in a little girls's room, although depending on the age, I might make the ribbon a bit shorter. 


UPDATE: Looking for more applique tips?  Check out my post HERE.

Items in my shop now + coming soon.

I have been listing some handmade goodies here and there, and thought I would share what I have in the shop right now, as well as items that are "coming soon" ..

In the shop now ...

Some flat bottom pouches .....

A mug rug I am calling "country girl" ...

And another mug rug I cam calling "Oz Rainbow" ...

 

A lacey tissue cozy in "chocolate cake" ...

The "on the go gift set" which includes my lacey tissue cozy, simple key fob and Lydia pouch ... I am hoping to turn this set into a pattern soon too ...

Coming to the shop soon (I hope!) ...

A bunch of notepad holders in various sizes .....

Some new mug rugs ...

AND .... the mug rug kit (to make the mug rug above) ...

What about you?  Do you have any new items in your shop?  If you would like to check out mine, all of my handcrafted goodies can be found HERE.

Linen FAQ's + a cheaper alternative.

If you were to take a guess at one of the topics I get asked most about, you probably would not think it would be linen, but oddly enough it is.  I suppose it is because I use it in a lot of my projects.

 

I am not an expert in textiles, and just use what I like.  I know that linen is made from flax, and has been around for a really long time, is wonderful to cross stitch or embroider, and has a lovely texture and color.  That is about the extent of my linen knowledge ... really.  There are definitely pros and cons to linen ... the pros I already mentioned, but there are several cons too ... namely the cost, the availability (at least in my area), and how linen easily frays and wrinkles. Depending on your project my last 2 "cons" might be your "pros" .. maybe you love that wrinkly look, or maybe you are making something with frayed edges ... like dinner napkins or something. 

I just love linen ... I really do, here are some questions I have been asked recently that you may have been wondering too ...

Q: Where do you get your linen from?

A: I buy all of my linen from fabric.com.  The reasons that I purchase my linen from there are: 1. their prices seem reasonable 2. they have a nice selection of colors 3. they have free shipping on orders over thirty-five dollars 4. they cut 37" yards 5. you can usually find coupon codes online 6. they have good customer service.  Notice how I did not say " their linen is the best on the web".  I did not say this, because I do not know.  Other than once purchasing linen from JoAnn's (from the apparel section, which I later returned because the hand was too soft for my application), I have only ever bought yardage of linen from fabric.com.  So, I guess you can say my last reason (#7) is that I am a creature of habit.  I will mention that I have also used linen that they sell by the needlework stuff for sewing projects too, which can work well, but is typically a lot stiffer than the linen I buy online.

Q: Can I substitute a quilting weight cotton in place of the linen you used?

A: This question was once posed to me regarding my simple mug rug tutorial (seen above), and the answer is yes, you can certainly substitute a quality quilting weight cotton in lieu of the linen that I use in my projects.  While this may not hold true for other projects you may come across, for my projects, I plan my projects so that quilting weight cottons may be used in lieu of linen, because I know that quilting cottons are what most people are likely to have on hand.

Q: Linen is expensive ... is there a cheaper alternative?

A: Yes.  Take a look at the picture below, can you tell which is the linen and which is not?

The one on the right is linen, and the one on the left is osnaburg.  Okay, maybe you guessed correctly, or maybe you did not ... but if you did guess correctly, you gotta admit that they look very similar ... do they not?  While there is not a true cheaper version of linen because linen is made of flax, I am suggesting that osnaburg is a really great alternative. 

Osnaburg is usually 100% cotton, and the unbleached stuff looks a lot like linen.  It has a similar weave to linen, and the sort of nubby look that linen is famous for.  The only real differences between the two fabrics are: 1. the fiber content 2. the hand and 3. the price.  While you can easily pay at least $12-20/yard for a nice medium weight linen, osnaburg is usually around $3-6/yard.  That is a lot cheaper!  You can usually find it near the "utility fabrics".  I have found it locally at JoAnn's, Hobby Lobby and even WalMart.  Check around your local stores and find out which one you like best.  I like the Rockland unbleached osnaburg, which is pictured that I purchased from Hobby Lobby at $3.99/yard.  

The other difference that I mentioned is the hand.  The hand of osnaburg is a bit softer than linen, but depending on your project, this may work even better for you.  I have been asked many times what could be used instead of linen for my double hemmed perfectly sized linen tea towel tutorial, and I have got to say that osnaburg would be my next choice.  It is actually pretty absorbent.  Like linen it can fray pretty easily, and with any natural fiber will wrinkle, but I have found that the wrinkles are easier to get out of osnaburg than linen ... bonus!  So, go on and give osnaburg a try ... you can cross stitch on it too, just like you would linen. 

Do you think you will give it a try?

P.S. Tomorrow stay tuned for a new tutorial using osnaburg that will also show you how to use applique templates. :)

Book Review: Sewing in A Straight Line.

It is not often that I pre-order a book without seeing the contents first, but when I had heard that Brett Bara was coming out with a sewing book, I was really interested. I am most familiar with her work as the editor in chief of Crochet Today!, but she also contributes to Design*Sponge as well, and I just  like her designs.  So, I was intrigued enough to purchase and preorder her book, "Sewing In A Straight Line" from amazon.  Although I received it a little while ago, it took me a bit to really go through it and take some pictures to share with you, plus this is my first ever book review for this blog, and needed some time to think about how to write this post!

The premise of this book is basically to showcase how many things you can make by just sewing in a straight line ... and basically how sewing does not have to be complex, and is in fact quite easy.  What interested me most was the projects that use materials that I have not really worked with before such as chiffon or stretch knits.  I figured what better way to try out a new (to me) fabric than by sewing a project with all straight lines?  And you know I love sewing straight lines as all 3 of my sewing patterns use only straight lines.

There are 28 projects in the book, and I can honestly say that I like all of them.  That is quite unusual for me to get a book and actually like all of the projects. Liking a project does not necessarily mean that I will make it though ... sadly even though I have a ton of craft books, I rarely ever make anything from them.  I guess I just enjoy looking through them and contemplating making items from them.  There are about 11 projects out of the 28 that I am contemplating to make ... but realistically will probably only make about 2-5. 

The book is divided into roughly 4 sections.  The first 25 pages is devoted to the basics: tools, techniques, fabric basics, etc. While this section appears to be sufficient for someone who already has some sewing experience, and perhaps just needs a refresher, it does not appear to me to be detailed enough for someone just learning to sew.  I say this because there are not any step by step photographs, but rather some illustrations.  Although the illustrations are very nice looking, I think an absolute newbie is better off with actual photos.   If you are totally new to sewing, and need to actually learn how to sew, I would recommend S.E.W. (Sew Everything Workshop)  by Diana Rupp (who is coming out with an "Embroider Everything Workshop" book soon too!)... that book is really wonderful.

The other 3 sections of the book are devoted to projects and are categorized as: "straight-up chic fashion", "cozy crafty home", and "quick cute gifts".  For me, I feel that the book really excels in the fashion and gifts sections of the book.  While I like the home projects in the book, I can't help but feel like I have seen these home dec projects a million times before.  For example, there are projects for throw pillows, pillow shams, and curtains.  How many times have you seen those?  And because these are all made with just straight lines, they are not different in any way.  For example in Joel Dewberry's book, there are some pillows ... but they are made different with applique or other non-straight line sewing details.  But, having said all this, there are still a few home projects I would like to make ... not because they are new or fresh, but because they look easier to make than ones I have seen in other books.  Here are some of the home dec projects I may make ...

An ottoman cover ....

A duvet cover ...

And a bucket ...

And here are some of the other fashion/gift items that I would like to make as well ...



This one is a blouse made from chiffon.  It looks really pretty. Although I am not sure how it would look on me, it looks like a great project to try out chiffon.

A cardigan.  Who doesn't need a cardigan? I would like to make this project, once again because of the simplicity of it.  I have only worked with stretch knits once or twice before, and would like to try and use them more often, but have always found patterns that look too complex for a stretch knit newbie like me ... so this one really fits the bill.

And this dress looks really fun.  I have never done shirring before, but the author assures us that it is really easy, and she is very convincing! I think I would want to make this into a long top though, rather than a dress.

And this one is called the "one hour skirt".  Anything that claims it only takes an hour to make and looks this cute gets me interested!!

Here are some super cute little bowls that really do look easy to make and would make a neat Christmas gift.  I also like how they nest ... for some reason I am a sucker for anything that nests together like this ...

And I love this little folder, the use of the suiting fabric is really clever!

Here is a list of the rest of the projects in this book that I have not mentioned yet:

* 2 different belts
* A bag made from faux ostrich (sort of a faux leather looking material)
* The skirt from the cover
* Another dress with an interesting origami folded fabric trim
* A quilted throw that utilizes some wonky squares for a "pixelated" graphic effect
* A wonky diamonds quilt (templates must be enlarged for the diamonds)
* A striped baby quilt
* greeting cards
* A sewing kit that folds up into a cube
* A jewelry keeper for when on the go
* A "denim drop bag" -- this is a bag made from denim for men's shaving stuff, etc.
* A kitty and a bunny softies (square-ish in shape of course!)

Overall, I would give this book 5/5 stars, and will keep it in my library. Want to learn more about this book, or purchase it?

You can buy this book from amazon HERE (there are also some videos you can watch on how to make some of the projects, and some photos from the book on the amazon page).
You can learn more about this book from the author HERE.
You can learn more about the author on her blog HERE.
You can find a free project from the book (the pillow shams) HERE.

And that is it.  I hope I did okay for my first review!  Are there any new books that you have gotten lately that we should know about?

Nursing School Embroidery WIP.

As I am preparing to head back to school next week, I have also been working on my Nursing School embroidery patterns.  They were formerly called "Medical Theme", but after I updated the pattern with a whole new sheet of designs, I decided to rename them "Nuring School", because that is where I have drawn my inspiration from ... nursing school.

I am hoping to get this stitched up before I return to school, because once I do, I am not going to have a lot of crafting time.  I have seen my syllabi for this semester ... brutal.

The updates to this sheet include some more tools of the trade ... not only for nurses, but medical workers in general, scrubs, and some of my favorite medical abbreviations.  Is it weird that I have favorite medical abbreviations?

Here is a pen light with a pupil gauge on it, some pills, blood pressure cuff,  and "gtt" (drops).

Stethoscope, EKG wave, bandage, and "prn" (as needed).

Scrub top, pills, blood pressure cuff, "PO" (per os= by mouth), "q4h" (every 4 hours).

A pill bottle, cotton swap, cotton balls, tongue depressor, "q4h" (every 4 hours).

There are a lot more patterns on the sheets than what I am stitching up, but this is what I could fit.  I am stitching the patterns up on white kona cotton, and I am thinking of turning it into some sort of a notebook cover.  At the bottom you can see my syringe, and "110/70 mm Hg" (a desirable blood pressure reading).

What do you think?   As I mentioned I am hoping to get these re-released by next week. 

What are you working on?

UPDATE: Want to see my finished nursing school embroidery? Check out my post HERE.