Easy Knit Dishcloth Pattern
- At July 13, 2014
- By Kelly
- In Knitting
- 0
Knitted dishcloths are one of my favorite things. Plus, they are really good to practice on. (And I really need practice!) This is last night’s work:
Super simple pattern:
CO4
R1: K4
R2: K2, yo, K to end
Repeat R2 until you have 48 stitches
R3: K1, K2tog, yo, K2tog, K to end
Repeat R3 until you have 4 stitches
Bind off
I used a pair of size 8 needles, but a little smaller or bigger is okay. This one is about 8.5″ square, or mostly kinda square. I’m still pretty new to knitting. The dirty dishes don’t mind that things are a little off.
Since you are knitting it on the diagonal, you can move to R3 whenever you decide the size is good for you. Every stitch you add will mean two more diagonal rows in your dishcloth.
What are you making?
Kelly
Sewing Tutorial: Simple Messenger Bag
This tutorial was created by Barb, who is fw221 in the Sewing Mamas forums. Thanks Barb!
Supplies:
- 2/3 yard of 60″ wide fabric for exterior
2/3 yard of 60″ wide fabric for interior
OR
1 yard of 44″ wide fabric for exterior
1 yard of 44″ wide fabric for interior - Thread to match
If you want to use a lighter weight fabric, be sure to match it with a heavier weight. Two light weights won’t be substantial enough without interfacing. Two heavyweight fabrics will be tough on your machine (but not impossible).
Part One: Cut Your Fabric!
We’ll need from each fabric:
two cuts of 15″ (tall) x 18″ (wide)
one cut of 13″ (tall) x 15″ (wide)
one 3″ wide strip across the entire length of the fabric (we’ll cut this down later)
Part Two: Boxing
With the exterior fabric, take the two cuts of 15″x18″ and sew around three sides (15 – 18 – 15). Seam allowance should be 1/4″ to 3/8″, just be consistent. Be sure to secure the beginning and end by sewing back & forth a few times.
With the interior fabric, take the two cuts of 15″x18″ and sew around three sides (15 – 18 – 15) BUT leave a hole around 3″ wide in the middle of the 18″ length to turn the bag.
Press both pieces FLAT.
Pinch the corner and put seams together. Flatten out the corner on a grid and draw a diagonal line (My grid is 0.5″, so measure your diagonal at 2″ on each side).
Pin to keep in place, then take to sewing machine and sew along the line.
Cut excess off.
Do this for both corners on interior and exterior fabrics.
Press what seams you can.
This is what the corners will look like now:
Part 3: The Flap
Put interior & exterior fabrics right side together. Round off the bottom corners (flap will be 15″ wide by 13″ tall). I used a CD to round the corners, but a plate or glass will work too.
Sew around 3 sides and clip the corner.
Turn right side out and press!
Topstitch and then press again.
Part Four: The Strap
Place right sides together and sew up the long sides. Turn in your favorite fashion (I have a Turn-It-All set).
Press and topstitch.
Cut to desired length. I used 42″.
Part Five: Putting it all together
This will come as a great surprise… Press everything again!
Center the flap onto bag interior, like fabrics together and pin.
Center the strap ends to the seams, like fabrics together and pin.
Stick the exterior of the bag inside the interior, right sides together and pin.
Sew the whole thing shut.
Check the seam to make sure you sewed through all the layers. Then turn right side out through the hole you left in the bottom of the interior fabric.
Sew the bottom shut. I used my machine to sew right next to the seam, but hand stitching looks better.
Put the interior inside the exterior and press again
and topstitch
VOILA!
A HUGE THANK YOU to Barb for taking the time to put together this fabulous tutorial. Hope you have fun creating your own messenger bag!
Happy Sewing!
Kelly
Small Business Saturday: USPS Shipping With A Flat Rate Envelope
- At June 21, 2014
- By Kelly
- In Sewing Business
- 3
Originally, I thought I would write a nice little post about shipping via the US Postal Service. What to do, what not to do. Then I realized, there is quite a lot of information to share, and it is too much for one sitting.
Today we are going to talk about the USPS Flat Rate Envelope, or FRE. It sounds like a simple thing, until you realize there is more than ONE FRE!
There are actually three different mailers that are all variations of the FRE.
First is the original – THE Flat Rate Envelope.
For years, this was the only option for FRE mailing. I have stuffed all kinds of things in these over the years – yards of fabric, items of clothing, packs of snaps, patterns, lots of things that USPS probably never intended these envelopes to be used for. But, when they first came out, the single rule was that whatever was in there had to fit in such a way that the closure flap could meet in the proper place on the front of the envelope to close. If you wanted to put half a roll of tape on it to reinforce the corners or keep the whole thing from bursting, no one at my post office complained.
Next came the LEGAL size FRE.
It seems that people actually did use the original FREs for their intended purpose of shipping documents quickly. Those sending legal contracts or other oversized pages had a need for a slightly larger envelope to accommodate those things, so the legal size FREs were introduced, with a slightly higher shipping cost. For those of us using the original FREs for other things (like fabric!), these legal size envelopes offered a little more room.
But, these paperboard mailers were not really meant for fabric. Sure, we got it in there, but often the envelopes would arrive torn and sometimes their contents would get dirty or even damaged as a result. Here is a FRE I received recently. It did not even travel terribly far.
The machines used to process the mailers were expecting them to be flat. When they weren’t, things did not always end well.
The solution: the PADDED FRE.
The padded FRE, or PFRE as it is commonly known, arrived to accommodate all those odd shaped things we had been previously shoving into the original FREs. When they first came out, they had a papery outer and bubble mailer inner. The latest version has a more plastic-y polymailer type outer and bubble mailer inner. They are much more durable than the paper coated outer was.
Why does this all matter?
Even though they are all Flat Rate Envelopes, the rate is not the same.
The original FRE is the least expensive, currently shipping for $5.60 to any US destination from your local post office. The others cost more. And, if you are shipping through PayPal (but not for an eBay purchase), only the original FRE option is available there.
To ship these packages, you will want to use the shipping service on USPS.com. It is easy and free to create an account there. Plus, you will want an account anyway for what I’m going to tell you in a moment. (How exciting!)
When you ship through USPS.com, you will see these flat rate options:
Notice that the original FRE is still the least expensive option. This means, if you put the original FRE postage on a legal or padded FRE, you are sending an item with insufficient postage. You risk it arriving at the destination with postage due, or possibly coming back to you for insufficient postage. If you are selling something, do you really want to take the chance that your customer’s package arrives to them postage due? (No, you do not!)
It would be easier to print these labels from PayPal. Some people have said that you can print from PayPal using the FRE option and then add on stamps to make up the difference. Since I rarely have stamps, let alone the exact amount I would need, I ship through USPS’s website. When shipping through USPS, you can still pay with PayPal, so that is nice.
Sometimes I hear comments that they should all be the same rate. And of course, those folks usually want the rate to be the cheapest rate. (Who wouldn’t!) But, it makes sense that the padded mailers have a higher shipping charge because they are a more expensive product to produce. The paperboard mailers work fine for their original purpose of shipping documents. But even the current version of the original FRE seems to be more flimsy than the original paperboard that was used when the FREs first came out.
The other thing you want a USPS account for is ordering shipping supplies. If you ship using USPS Priority Mail, the boxes and mailers are included in the shipping price. If you do a lot of shipping, the website will let you order 6 packs of 15 padded FREs. If you have a smart phone or iPad, you can install the USPS mobile app and it will allow you to order 100 padded FREs at a time. It is only 10 more, but if you know you will need them, might as well order them. You can order as few as 5 envelopes at a time. USPS retail locations typically do not stock the padded FREs, so you do need to plan ahead a bit if you want to use them.
You do not have to be a business owner to order shipping supplies. So, if you just want a more economical way to ship something to your friend across the country, get yourself a 5 pack to have on hand.
Happy Shipping!
Kelly
Spring Quilt Market 2014: Fishsticks Designs and Monaluna
- At June 20, 2014
- By Kelly
- In Fabrics, Patterns
- 1
I was able to catch Bonnie from Fishsticks Designs for a few minutes, and I have to tell you, she was so nice!
Here are some of the cute patterns from her Market exhibit.
This is the new SeeSaw Dress, isn’t it cute?
In the center of this photo is the Playhouse Dress and the model on the table is showing off the Buttons and Buckles Overalls. See the Katie J. Jumper by the chair? And did you notice the table? It is a wooden ironing board. What a great display idea!
Here’s the Everyday Camp Shirt, The Sunshine and Sandals Shirtdress in the middle, and The Sand and Sidewalk Boardshorts on the right. Those last two are brand new designs, they are listed as coming soon on The Fishsticks website, so you will want to check back later to get those!
I must show you the Monaluna booth with their yummy organics, too, because check out the little dress in the bottom left!
It’s the SeeSaw Dress!
Monaluna recently released a bunch of great new fabrics and they have their own pattern line as well.
Happy Sewing!
Kelly