Free Craftsy Class!

Saturday, May 18th, is Craftsy Free Class Day! If you haven’t taken a Craftsy class yet you can sign up today and take a free class from their selection of favorites.

What do you want to learn?
Kelly

This post contains affiliate links.

Ottobre Sewing Pattern Organization – take 2

I’ve warned you about my love of organizing things, right?

I haven’t been sewing much since I went to quilt class, but I did a bit of organizing.

At some point, we were discussing organizing magazines and Bobolots (her forum name) said these were great for magazines. I checked them out and they are great! More on that in a moment. Check these out!

When they first arrive, six of them are stuck together:

So you pull them apart:

Then you take out the middle piece – this is where the magazine pages will slide through.

And then you need to poke out the little holes for the binder rings to go through. You can stack a couple of these together and push them out.

I put mine over a couple of my pattern weights because it’s easy to push through the holes that way and the little plastic pieces don’t go flying all over.

For the children’s issues, I use two binder holders because it just seemed like it needed the extra strength. I’m not sure it was necessary, but I had enough, so I just went with it. :)

You can just slide them over one corner a bit…

And then all the way to the middle of the magazine:

Hopefully you slid it through with the holes on the outside:

And then the holes just go in the binder rings!

Stick them all in binders and you’re set. So pretty….

I highly recommend the seller named rvbookseller listed in the “new from” link, especially if you want to get a whole bunch. That seller also offers them in a pack that contains 120 of them for a very reasonable price. When you buy them individually, the shipping is killer. The seller shipped quickly and answered my questions with lightning speed as well. The link is a Sewing Mamas affiliate link, but I’d recommend the seller even without it. :)

You didn’t notice that my Ottobre changed to three different issues along the way, did you? No, you’re too nice to mention it, thank you! ;)

Happy Organizing!
Kelly

Quick Tip: How to Sew Flat Felled Seams with your Coverstitch Machine

Today’s quick tip is from Heather, who blogs at Fiberosity. In addition to being a wealth of knowledge when it comes to sergers, Heather creates beautiful modern quilts.

Two pieces of “pattern” right sides up, as they would go together

Fold the piece that will go on top under about 1/4″ – 3/8″ (the green one here):

Lay just barely over the top of the bottom layer, raw edges meeting on the bottom and stitch:

Back side:

You can get the same type of results by stitching right sides together, pressing seam allowances to one side then coverhemming, but this is much faster and the way it’s basically done in the factory….with some modifications.

Thanks so much to Heather for sharing this quick tip with Sewing Mamas!
Happy Sewing!
Kelly

Great deal at Michelle Patterns!

More of my evil enabling/affiliate linking for you…

Michelle Patterns has a $5 Friday deal this week that includes 21 patterns she’s retiring. Yup, you get 21 patterns all for $5!

Happy Sewing! Pattern Stashing!
Kelly

Non-traditional Sewing Tools

Confession:
I love the hardware store. I might even love it as much as I love the fabric store.

This is one of my favorite sewing tools:

Yup. It’s a little razor blade from my workshop toolbox. I suppose it’s more of an un-sewing tool. It is wonderful for slicing out seams. In this case, it’s the seam on the waistband on my husband’s favorite sweatpants. The elastic made that crinkly sound when stretched, where you know it’s no longer going to bounce back.

I really dislike mending and normally I would not take apart three waist seams to replace a drawstring elastic, but when your spouse is starting to workout you want to encourage him, so his favorite sweats must be saved!

What’s your favorite non-sewing sewing tool?

Happy Sewing!
Kelly