5 Pocket Curtains

Thank you, Moda for inviting me back again from Lilac Lane, where spring has sprung and lilacs will soon be blooming. I’m Melissa Ann Stramel and I hope you’ll come visit me for lots of great tutorials and giveaways.

New curtains can change the entire look of a room. If you’re looking for something fun and practical, look no further. These would be perfect for your craft/hobby room in Sandy Gervais’ Nautical and Nice. Or you could use a sweet, girly line for a completely new look in your little princess’s bedroom. A nursery would be adorable in a baby line. Or go very modern and add a new look to your teen’s room. Any way you choose, you can’t go wrong with the extra storage you’ll find in these 5 pocket curtain panels!

1 layer cake (featuring Nautical and Nice by Sandy Gervais)

1 jelly roll

2 yards 90 inch quilt backing for lining

1. Let’s begin with the layer cake. Choose twelve pieces and lay them out, paying attention to balancing color and pattern.

2. Now choose 5 more pieces from your layer cake for the pockets. Decide where they will go. (I just folded them so I would get an idea how they look on the background square.) You might want to keep in mind who these curtains are for. A small child will prefer lower pockets while an older person will want them higher. If you only want to make 4 pockets, that’s fine too. Or you can even make 6. It’s all up to you.

3. Repeat steps one and two so that you have another twelve blocks laid out with 5 more pockets. Mix and match around until you are satisfied with your color arrangement and pocket placement.

4. Take your first pocket and press a quarter inch seam under and then another inch. Do this for all ten pocket pieces.

5. Decide if you want to chain piece. Since chain piecing is just code for “get more done is less time,” why not? Choose a coordinating thread color (I chose red) and then topstitch 1/8 inch from the bottom of the turned under seam. When you finish the first one, just place the second one there without cutting your thread and keep sewing. You will get a chain of pieces that looks somewhat like this.

6. Press under a half inch twice on the remaining three sides of each pocket. If you need a bigger pocket, just turn under a quarter inch twice. If you need a smaller pocket, turn under more or cut a bit off.

7. Now pin each pocket in place, centered as well as you can on the background square. You can’t chain piece these, but you can pin all the pockets on, stack them up and get them sewn on really quick.

8. Next choose six more layer cake blocks and cut them in half.

9. Lay out the half square pieces so that one half is in the same position on each panel. Sew everything together just like you would sew a patchwork quilt, using 1/4 inch seams.

10. You should now have two pocketed panels looking something like these.

11. Turn you attention now to the jelly roll. Choose two groups of 14 strips and sew them together using a SCANT 1/4 inch seam. Once again pay attention to color and size balance.

12. Cut the selvage off of ONE end of each strip panel. Now sew this cut end to the other pocket panel you made up. Make sure your pockets are on the bottom of the panel and facing the right direction.

13. Now we’re going to do a little fitting (we could even all it a dress rehearsal) for your window. Turn under the selvage end five inches, press, and pin across the top where you have folded and the bottom where the selvage is. Then insert your curtain rod through this little “pocket” you have made and hang on your window.

14. Once your curtain is hanging from the rod, take your pins and a stepstool and pin about 1 and 1/2 to 2 inches above the pins placed along the selvage. This will create a blousy header at the top of the curtain panel. Check out your length. My curtain looks perfect as it is, which means it will be a little short when hemmed. You can fix this in the following ways:

Unpin what you have done at the top and try four inches instead of five.
Forget the ruffly part and just turn under two inches.
Add a jelly roll strip across the bottom. (My choice.) We will have enough fabric to add up to two jelly roll strips, which can gain up to 4 inches for you. If you want to do this, just keep it in mind. We will add it later.

Likewise, if the curtains are too long, either cut some off of the top or turn under an inch or so more at the top.

15. Choose 9 strips, four groups of 2 and one contrasting print. Sew the four groups of two together. I saved my solids for this and also two closely colored prints. Then take the 9 strip and cut 4 five inch strips from it. Sew one to the bottom of each group.

16. Sew one strip down each side of the two panels. This will add fullness and also help us with our lining. Notice that one strip will exactly fit the length of the strip part of the panel, one will exactly fit the length of the top half layer cake square and the next 4 layer cake squares and the final five inch piece will match up to the bottom half layer cake square. Take your time and match your seams for a more professional result.

17. Now is the time to add the extra length to the bottom of each curtain panel.

18. Measure the width of your curtain. Mine was 33 inches.

19. Now we take the quilt backing and cut two pieces which are 2 inches less wide than the width of your curtain panel. Since my panel is 33 inches wide, I cut this 31 inches, and of course it is 90 inches long. If you can’t find 90 inch quilt backing, you can cut down regular width fabric, but this is much, much easier and will save you lots of work when it comes to hemming.

20. Taking your front curtain panel, press under a quarter inch hem and then an inch or however much you need for your curtains to hang perfectly to the floor. (Remember our dress rehearsal?) Then topstitch 1/8″ across the bottom of each curtain panel.

21. Lay out your curtain panel right side up and place the backing on top of it, just like you would when assembling a quilt. Line the backing up to the bottom hemmed edge of the front panel and then pin all the way down the side. Your backing fabric should not be quite as long as the panel. (See how you can see my selvage end? The lining can be up to 4 1/2 inches shorter than the front panel.) Sew together using 1/4 inch seam. Repeat this for the other side of the panel, making a long tube, and then turn it right-sides out. Do this with both panels.

22. Now we are going to do some careful pressing. Pin across the top of the fabric, so it doesn’t pull down as we work. The lining needs to be centered on the panel. There should be a good 1/2 to 3/4 inch of each front panel fabric showing on the lining side. Press it all the way down the panel for each panel. Then once again pin across the bottom of the fabric to hold it in place.

23. If you’re happy with your results and satisfied that the panel will not pull from side to side, you can skip this step. However, I like the look of a contrasting topstitch 1/8″ from the curtain panel edge on both sides. This will hold everything in place. (See my line of red topstitching?)

24. Fold over your five inch header once again. (Or the width you have adjusted the header to, no less than 1 1/2 inches.) Pin across the top to hold it in place. I find that another row of pins across the bottom also helps keep everything where it needs to be. Sew across your selvage, a quarter inch from the bottom. This is probably a good time for another dress rehearsal, unless you are confident of the results. After this, sew a second line of stitching between 1 1/2 and 2 inches from the first line you have just made. This creates a rod pocket.

25. You did it! Hang your curtains and enjoy.

1 pair of adorable, practical, room-changing curtains. Sure to be a crowd pleaser from age 9 months to 99.

Reversible Car Seat Cover

Mar2

Hello again from Lilac Lane! I am having a great giveaway right now, so come over and visit me. My daughter has been begging for this for about a year now! Just one jelly roll yields a completely reversible and totally washable car seat cover. This tutorial is adapable to all (I think!) car seat and booster seat covers.

If you have one of these:

Then you probably have one of these. Ugh!

And if your little princess is anything like mine, it’s not her favorite place to be for the next four or five years. Why not make one that’s just for your child’s personality? Plus you can add extra cushion, like my chiropractor suggests. Your child will thank you!

1 jelly roll (I used Hunky Dory by Chez Moi)
1 twin sized quilt batting or several large batting scraps
5 or 6 feet of 1/4 inch elastic
8 inch piece of velcro

1. Remove the cover from your plastic car seat / booster seat. Mine appeared to be glued on, but was just the gunk spilled onto the seat at one time or another (eww!) Salvage any connecting pieces you can. These two doo-hickeys hold the cover onto the seat.

2.Turn the cover upside down and look at it. It was probably made in several sections, which you will be replicating in your new car seat cover! For example, my booster seat was made in six sections: 1. the seat back, 2. the seat bottom, 3. an apron around the seat front, 4 and 5. two side panels, and 6. a small, long piece around the seat back.

2. Estimate the number of strips you will need for the front of the car seat and then lay them out in a pleasing way. My booster seat needed twelve strips for the seat back, bottom, and side panels and three strips for the apron. Another two strips were used for the part around the seat back, but don’t worry about that right now. I wanted to arrange my strips diagonally. If vertical or horizonal is desired, less strips are probably needed.

Sew all these strips together with a quarter inch seam and then press them flat.

3. Place the fabric under your old car seat cover at the angle you wish and roughly cut out each piece, about an inch larger than the piece on all sides. Just leave the apron piece its full length. You will trim it later.

4. Repeat steps two and three with the reverse side fabric. You can make a whole new look this way! If your seat is significantly larger than mine, you may want to use coordinating fabric for this step, as I only had three strips left over.
It’s important to cut these out right sides together, so that when we assemble them, they will match up just right.

5. Now it’s time to “quilt” our fronts and backs together. Depending on the loft of your batting, determine how many layers to use. I use low loft batting, and using scraps, here is how much I used:

seat back: 3 layers
seat bottom: 4 layers
apron front: 1 layer
side panels: 1 layer

Take two pieces (such as the two for the seat back) and carefully line them up with the batting sandwiched in the middle of them. I do this by feel, making sure that the edges are right together. Pin all around this and then quilt the layers.

6. You can see how I quilted this with my walking foot, straight down the rows. Of course, on the backside the rows went another direction. This made a nice diamond pattern on the backside. If this bothers you, use your darning foot and free motion quilt it. Or you could tie it with bits of embroidery floss all over. (If so, I would put the knots to the side you think you will use less.)

7.Repeat this with all five pieces. Don’t worry about batting in the layer that goes around the quilt back. Likewise, your chair may have more or less pieces than mine. Use your judgement on the amount of batting and where to quilt, always keeping the comfort of the child in mind.

8. Now it’s time to make the piece that goes around the outside of the seat back. This will also finish the upper edge of the car seat. I used two full length pieces to make this, but measure the upper back of your car seat. You may have to add more length or take some away. Also, if you use more width (such as three or four pieces wide) it may be possible to make a small casing around the upper edge in which you can run a piece of elastic to hold the top of the cover to the upper lip around the car seat. (I wish I had done this!)

Press the piece in half lengthwise and then press a quarter inch hem line down each side.

9. Carefully place this piece evenly around the top and pin in place, once again feeling both sides to make sure they exactly line up. I find it is easiest to begin the the middle and work down each side so that it’s not “wonky.” Top stitch closely to the edge all the way around. Check to make sure you caught the fabric on the back. Don’t worry too much if you have a little pucker here and there. You will never notice on the finished product.

10. Now sew this seat back piece to the seat bottom. (There will be an unfinished seam on one side.) This is a good time to see how everything’s fitting and make adjustments. It’s starting to look like a car seat!

11. This is also a good time to feel for those holes which ancor the cover to the seat and mark them.

12. Carefully cut out the holes and then zigzag around them. I set my zigzag on 0.7 length and 3.5 width.

13. Sew your side panels on and then the apron. Guess what? The general construction is finished. All that’s left is finishing edges and anchoring straps! This is a good time to check the fit once again.

14. Cut the bottom edge of the apron, following the contours of the bottom of the seat. Once I cut one side, I flipped it over and used it as a template for the other side so they would exactly match.

15. Look at the bottom of the cover and examine your unfinished seams. Trim them to about a quarter inch. Choose strips to cover these seams. Mine required two full strips.

16. Press these strips so that the first crease measures to the center of the unfolded strip. And then fold the other side over on top of it. This will look like a piece of folded bias tape.

17. Topstitch these pieces over both sides of the unfinished seams. This requires just a little planning. First, make sure to do the seams that will leave raw edges toward the middle so that you can enclose those raw edges with later pieces of trim. Second, make sure to sew inside curves before the outside curves. This causes less puckering. And finally, leave a tail of the trim at both ends so that you have plenty to enclose. Oh! And don’t forget to firmly hold the cover part so that it remains flat underneath your piece of trim. Make sure you topstitch both edges of your trim pieces.

18. I applied trim in four different places. They blend in so well, that they are hard to see!

19. Choose a few more strips (mine took two) to finish off the seams. Sew the strips together, end to end and then press in half.

20. Sew this on exactly like you would sew on the binding of a quilt. Sew the raw edges of the binding to the raw edges of the cover with the folded edge to the left of your foot. Then pull this edge to the other side of the cover and topstitch along the fold to finish the cover.

21. All that’s left is anchoring! My cover was anchored to my seat by little clips, but they never seemed to stay in place. Halfway down the seat is a set of hooks, So I measured from the top of the seat to the hooks, which was 17 inches. Taking that measurement times 2, (34 inches), I cut 33 inches of 1/4 inch elastic. (It’s stretchy!)

22. Now measure from the front edge to the middle of the back, in this case 13 inches. Cut two pieces from a strip, both about 15 inches so you have room to overlap them in the middle.

23. Press a quarter inch seam down each side of the strip and both ends and then press it in half. Topstitch along the ends and the open side.

24. Sew the elastic to the middle of the top of the cover at two places. Secure your stitches by going over them several times.

Then sew the two strap pieces to the bottom of the piece you sewed around the seat back. Pull these to the back and pin where they overlap. making them fairly tight, but still making sure your seat back is comfortably against the back of the chair. I then sewed an eight inch piece of velcro to each strap so that it is fully adjustable.

25. Take note of how the bottom of the old seat cover was secured to the chair.

26. Replicate this on your cover with elastic. Make sure to secure it well with lots of stitches and backstitches. I used two 11 inch pieces of elastic.

Time to hit the road! Take care and come visit me at Lilac Lane for a great giveaway.

Love, xoxo

Child’s Activity Bag

Jan15

Well, I’m back from Lilac Lane once again. I’m Melissa Ann Stramel. Do your kids have the January blahs? Bake up this easy activity bag for them and fill it with crayons, coloring books, puzzles, books and games. It’s great for a car trip or church. Even better, one charm pack makes two bags! You will use every piece of the charm pack to make two activity bags.

1 charm pack (I used Love U by Deb Strain)
1/2 yard of two different coordinating fabrics (one for each bag)
1 magnetic snap
small piece of medium weight interfacing (4 inches by 15 inches is plenty)
very small piece of heavyweight interfacing (2 x 4)

There are lots of good ways to dress up these bags: buttons, ricrac, ribbon, lace, felt appliques, etc. However, this fabric is so cute, I felt no embellishment was needed.

Unless otherwise noted, all seams are 1/4 inch and all topstitching is a scant 1/8 inch.

1. Sort your charm pack into two groups, one for each bag. You will need 21 squares for each bag. If you use Love U by Deb Strain, you can make a very boyish and a very girly bag.

2. Choose nine squares for the front of the bag and nine for the back. Think about where the front will join the back and make sure you don’t put two very similar ones together. At this time you should also pick out two squares for the back pocket and one for the inside pocket.

3. Using a 1/4″ seam, sew two large nine-patch blocks with the squares you’ve chosen for the front and the back of the bag. Go ahead and sew the two pieces for the outside pocket together as well. The pocket will be horizontal, so if your fabric is directional, make sure to place it correctly.

4. Now, taking your half yard of coordinating fabric, cut the following:

2 – 14 x 14 inch pieces for the bag lining
1 – 5 x 5 for inside pocket
1 – 5 x 9.5 for outside pocket
1- 5.75 x 15 for crayon pocket
2 – 4 x 14 for bag handles

5. Working with the fabric you cut for the crayon pocket, fold it in half so that it is still 15 inches long, but half as wide and sew down the raw edges with the right sides together. Leave both ends open. Turn it right side out.

6. Press the pocket so that the seam is at the bottom and the fabric, if directional, still faces the right way. (Hint: If you don’t put the seam at the bottom, it’s harder to take crayons in and out of the pocket.)

7. Center the crayon pocket in the middle of the bottom seam of the 9-patch you made for the bag front. Pin in place and then topstitch (1/8″ or less) along the bottom of the pocket.

8. Starting 1 1/2″ from an end, sew little lines across the pocket, creating pockets to hold crayons. I have found that the best distance between lines is 5/8″. Don’t forget to backstitch at the beginning and end of each seam. Tips:

It works best to start at the bottom seam that you already made and work up to the top of the pocket.

Make your lines as straight and as evenly spaced as possible, but don’t worry if you get off. Once the crayons are in the pockets, they cover many mistakes.
Make sure to snip all your threads.

9. There are lots of ways to make pockets. I prefer mine lined. To make pockets this way, take the outside pocket, sew around three sides, leaving one of the short sides open. Clip the corners and turn right side out.

10. Press the pocket flat and then turn in the open side 1/4 inch and press it closed.

11. Center the pocket on the middle row of the 9-patch you created for the bag back. Pin in place and sew around all sides except the top. (You do want it to open!)

12. Repeat these steps for the small inside pocket. (Kids love pockets!) Center it in the top third of one of the lining pieces and sew around the three sides.

13. Take the bag front and back and placing right sides together, sew around three sides, leaving the top open.

14. Turn the bag right side out. It should look something like this.

15. Repeat the last step for the bag lining EXCEPT leave a large opening in the bottom of the bag. Somewhere between 6 and 8 inches should be plenty. You will need this to properly put the lining of the bag into the outside of the bag.

16. Place the bag, with the right sides facing out, inside of the bag lining. pin the side seams together and make sure everything looks like it will fit together. Then measure the middle point across the top of the bag. (Should be about 6.5 inches.) Measure 1.5 inches down and make a mark. Then taking the magnetic snap, mark where the prongs will push through the fabric. Use your ripper to make two small slits at this place. (really small, be careful!) Cut two pieces of heavyweight interfacing 2″ x 2″. Make the same slits in the middle of the interfacing piece.

17. Each snap has a male end, a female end and two washers. I prefer to put the female end on the back of the bag. The snap goes on the printed side of the bag facing. Carefully push the female end through the lining fabric. Then place the piece of interfacing over the prongs. Finally, place the washer over the prongs on the wrong side of the bag lining. Push the prongs inward to secure the snap. Hint: Pushing the prongs in instead of out makes the snap more secure. Repeat this procedure on the other side of the lining with the male end.

18. Now taking the two bag handles, press in 1/4″ on both sides.

19. Press the handle in half and measure its width.

20. Taking the measured width, cut a piece of medium weight interfacing 15 inches by 1/8″ less than your measurement. Push this piece of interfacing under one of the pressed under 1/4″ flaps. Fold the handle back in half and, if it is iron-on interfacing, go ahead and press it so it will stick to one side. Repeat with the other handle.

21. Topstitch along both sides of the handle. Hint: If you used iron-on interfacing, place the side with the interfacing fused to it on top. The handle will feed through the machine more easily.

22. Take one of the handles and place it inside of the bag, between the lining and the bag. Measure two inches from a side seam, and pin the outside edge there. Take the other end of the handle and do the same two inches from the other side seam. Then repeat with the other handle on the other side of the bag. (Hint: Now is a good time to make sure there are no twists in the handle.)

23. Stitch all the way around the bag with 1/4″ seam. You may want to use a few more pins to hold everything together.

24. Remember the hole you left in the bottom of your lining? Pull the right side of the bag out through that hole.

25. Keep pulling until the entire bag and its lining are pulled out of the bag.

26. Taking the bottom of the lining, pin the hole closed with the raw edges turned inside the lining about 1/4″. Topstitch along the bottom of the bag to close the hole.

27. Push the lining into the bag. Topstitch around the entire bag, keeping the lining on the inside and the top of the bag on the outside.

You did it! Fill your bag with goodies: games, little toys, crayons and coloring books. Make your child’s day with something bright to fill those winter hours. Then come visit me at Lilac Lane for even more great ideas!
Love,

Two cute activity bags, sure to cure the winter blahs.

Child’s Apron, Chef’s Hat and Oven Mitts

Nov28

Hi! I’m Melissa Ann from Lilac Lane. I’m SO excited to share my first goody with you. Today we are making a child’s apron, chef’s hat and play oven mitts. If you would like to win the ensemble pictured above, hop on over to my blog. I’m having a giveaway for it! Otherwise, here are the instructions you need to make it for yourself. In fact, one jelly roll makes two complete sets. Yummy! Enjoy.

1 delicious jelly roll of Hunky Dory by Chez Moi

1/2 yard of coordinating fabric

1/2 yard double sided fusible quilt batting

6 inches by about 20 inches of a soft knit fabric

Step 1. Choose eight fabric strips from your jelly roll. Make sure you really like them and that the same colors are neither next to each other nor at the same place from the other end. (the second and seventh strips should not be the same color, also the 1st and 8th, 3rd and 6th, 4th and 5th.) Sew them all together using 1/4″ seam allowance. (Yes! I’m a quilter.)

Step 2. Zigzag or overlock all your seams. My son calls this “going zigzag.” It takes a bit but ensures your seams won’t fray. Then press the seams all the same direction.

THE CHEF’S HAT

Step 3. Cut 8 – 2 1/2″ strips across the 8 rows you just sewed together. Turn these back and forth so that every other row is the same and sew together with 1/4″ seam.

If you pressed your seams the same direction in step 2, they will lock together in the back and make really nice looking squares on the front. They should look something like this.

And here is the front. The seams match really well this way.

Step 4. Zigzag again (sigh). Then press. Fold your piece of fabric in half.

Then fold in half the other way, making a square.

Step 5. There will be two folded sides. Taking your ruler, mark eight inches from the corner between the two folded sides. Mark the eight inches at several points, forming an arc. A compass would be good for this. Join the marks and cut.

You will have a nice circle.

Step 6. Sew two rows of gathering stitches all around the circle at 1/4 and 3/8 inches from the edge. For my sewing machine, this means setting the stitch length to 5. Pull up the gathers some, but not too much. You want this part of the hat to be a little bit bigger than the band.

Step 7. Measure the child’s head. In the absence of a child to measure, my two year old measures 19 inches, four year old 20 inches and 6 year old 21 inches. This hat fit all three of them.

Step 8. Cut a piece of stretchy knit fabric six inches wide by one inch less than the child’s head circumference. For this hat, I used six inches by 19 inches.

Step 9. Sew across the knit fabric. This was probably the hardest step for me as my machine does not like knit fabrics. I went over it two or three times. If your machine has a stretch stitch, this will greatly help.

Step 10. Fold the hat band in half. It should look like this.

Step 11. Pin the gathered part of the hat into the hat band. Since the band is very stretchy, it’s okay if the gathered part is bigger — you can ease it as you go.

Step 12. Sew all the way around the hat, joining the hat band to the gathered fabric. I used a seam just a bit larger than 3/8 inches so that I didn’t have to pull out the gathering thread when I was finished. I find that it is a bit easier if you put the gathered part on top and the knit on the bottom against the feed dogs. Then, you guessed it, zigzag all the way around your seam.

Hat’s finished!

THE APRON

Step 13. Take the remaining fabric you sewed together earlier. I told you to make sure you really liked it! It should be about 23 inches. Cut it in half (two 11 1/2″ pieces.)

Step 14. Set the two pieces side by side. Sew together and finish seam.

Step 15. Fold the edges over and press 1/4 inch, and then 1/4 inch again. Sew down this seam about 1/4 inch from the edge to finish it.

Step 16. Choose a strip to edge the bottom of the apron. Press a 1/4″ seam down each side and then press the whole thing in half. On the end you will start with, press a 1/4″ seam on the short (2 1/2″) side of the fabric.

Step 17. Open up your pressed strip and sew along the first pressed indentation. Sew with the right side of the strip facing the wrong side of the bottom of the apron. When you reach the end of the apron, cut about 1/4″ extra, fold this in to be even with the end of the apron skirt and sew across to the end of the apron skirt.
Step 18. Fold the edging over to the front side of the apron and edge stitch across it.
Step 19. Choose four strips for the apron ties. Similar colors would probably look nicest. Set these aside for just a bit.

Step 20. Choose four colors for the apron bodice and for the oven mitts. If you are making this for a bigger child, this would be a good place to add a strip or two. Sew them together with 1/4″ seam. No need to zigzag the seams this time (hooray!) Cut the strip of four sewn strips into 4 – 8 inch squares and 1 8 x 9 inch square. Also cut a piece of coordinating fabric to 8 x 9 inches. Set the four 8 x 8 inch pieces aside for later.

Step 21. Gently curve the corners of the top of the bodice.

Step 22. With right sides together, sew all the way around the apron bodice and apron facing (coordinating fabric) with 1/4″ seam. Clip the curves. Turn inside out and press. Make two large button holes approximately 1 1/2 inches in from each side and 1/2 inch from the top.
Step 23. Now take the four tie pieces. Sew two together at the short ends and then the other two together in the same way. Then pin the two ties together. Pinning is a must here! Leave a twenty inch gap centered in the middle of the ties. I marked this with two pins. Sew all the way around everything but the marked twenty inches in the middle.

Step 24. Clip the corners and then turn the whole thing inside out. Press it flat. Then press a 1/4″ seam into the center part which wasn’t sewn.

Step 25. Center the apron bodice into the tie. It will be a little sandwich: apron bodice between two unsewn tie pieces. Gather the apron skirt across the top like you did with the hat. Adjust your gathers so that the skirt is two to three inches wider than the bodice on each side. Then center the apron skirt into the tie in the same way.

Step 26. Edge stitch around the entire thing. I like to edge stitch all the way around the ties so you never have to worry about them getting a little wonky when you wash the apron. Check the back when you’re finished to make sure you caught the back side of the tie. If not, rip out a little and try again. If you caught it all, then great! Move on to the next step.

Step 27. Choose a fabric for the strap and cut it down to 30 inches. If you are enlarging the pattern, make it a little bit bigger. Make a strap exactly how you made the bottom trim in step 16. Edge stitch all the way around this piece.

Step 28. Thread one side through and knot two or three times so that it won’t come out of the button hole. Then thread the other side through and knot once or twice so that it will, with effort, come out of the button hole.

The placement of the knots will determine the length of the apron.

THE PLAY OVEN MITTS

Note: These oven mitts are for play only and not to be used in a real oven.

Step 29. Take the four 8 x 8 fabric pieces you already cut and then cut four 8 x 8 pieces for facing from the coordinating fabric. Also cut four 8 x 8 or a little larger pieces of the quilt batting.

Step 29. Make this into a quilt sandwich by ironing the front fabric to one side and the back fabric to the other side. Then quilt it by sewing down the seam lines or any other look you would like to quilt.

Step 30. Trace a large mitten around the child’s hand or download the PDF file I have made. Then position the hand onto each of the four quilt sandwiches and cut out. It’s VERY IMPORTANT to cut two one direction and two the other. In other words, the best way to do this is to place two fabrics with the facing sides together and cut both at the same time. Otherwise, you will end up with the facing showing on one side of the mitt.

Step 31. Sew all the way around the mitt and clip the curvy parts and the thumb indentation part.

Step 32. Turn the glove right side out and press. Measure across the opening. Take this measurement times 2 and then add 1/2 inch. Mine is 4 inches across. Taking it time 2 is 8 inches and and extra half inch is 8 1/2. Cut a strip this size. Press it as you did in step 16. Then open it up and sew the two ends together.

Step 33. Then fold it back on its fold lines and position over the mitt. Edge stitch all the way around. Check the inside to make sure you caught everything. If you did, you’re finished! Congratulations!