Duct Tape Crown and Tiara DIY

This wasn't completely a step by step tutorial. I was invited to a murder mystery party and my husband and I were assigned the roles or Mallory and Mike Majesty. I wanted a nice statement piece but I didn't want to pay much. So I went online and printed a crown template and did a simple crown for my husband. Using the same method and a self drafted template, I made one for myself.

Items needed:

• Poster board
• Regular duct tape
• Glittery/Iridescent duct tape
• Pattern
• Scissors
• Xacto knife

There isn't a picture for the first step, but I cut the poster board into the length and height of the crown I wanted to make. Then I covered the front (you can do both sides for a clean look) with black duct tape. Then I covered the duct tape with the iridescent duct tape.

This was the second step. I made two copies of the pattern, trimmed it down and taped it to the to the board. Then I used the scissors to cut around the pattern and used to xacto knife where needed for detailed rounds and corners. 

This was the final look of his crown. Once the details were cut, I taped the ends together for the final look. 

For my piece, I made the pattern in to a lattice shape. I was channeling the Toddlers and Tiara show crowns. For this one, I cut the cardboard down to the rough shape of the crown before putting the duct tape. I didn't want to waste a lot of my tape and reduce the trouble with cutting.  

 Using the Xacto knife, I cut out each diamond cutout and also cut around the outer curve of the crown.

This was the final look of my crown. 

Here are both pieces together along with the banners. 

Queen flat sheet and Standard Pillow Case into Fitted 6-ft Table Cloth Cover Upcycle

Oops, it's been a while since I did a blog. But on the positive note, I'm set to do my first craft show. I'm excited and scared at the same time. Since I signed up, I've been working on all the advice I got from various forums on what you need for a successful show. I designed new business cards, got a poster for display and then searched to find a fitted tablecloth. I saw this tablecloth on Amazon. It was $20, but I'd seen a neat trick for an art show covering and wanted something similar. But I didn't want to use the nice fabric I have in stash, nor did I want to spend $20 and then some more for the pockets.

New Business Card

I knew I wanted something to cover the entire table and allow me to put stuff away without others coming to the booth seeing it. I drafted up a rough design. I wanted to put in a zipper, but decided to keep this simple. 

 

What you need:

• 1 Queen flat sheets 90" X 102". (I went to Ross and got a queen sheet set for $15.99. I still have the fitted sheet and one pillow case)
• 1 standard pillow case 20" X 30"
• Measuring tape or ruler
• Something to mark with

 Sheet folded in half  along the short side(left) and Pillow case (right)

 First I opened the pillow case. So now it was about 30" X 40" take about an inch since I cut across the side seam and only ripped the short seam.

Fold a triangle out of the rectangle as seen below using the short side to come up at the longer edge.

 Cut the excess fabric below the triangle which will leave you with an almost perfect square that is 30" X 30".

Pin the square (right sides together) on the short end of the fold, making sure to center the two piece.

When you sew the pieces together, you will end up with one end having 30" squares on either sides of the new piece you added.

Fold the sheet the other way with the pillowcase in the middle forming two squares. Cut out the orange lines.

This is the result. You now have your side pieces. You will need to pin the sides of the leg together and sew with the right sides facing each other. I really hope this makes sense. You're sewing this like you would a fabric box as seen in this tutorial,except your box is much bigger.

When you're all done, it should slip on top of the table just like this.

For the pockets, I sewed them right to the tablecloth using the left over panels from the sheet that had been cut out for the sides. It was nice because I could use the finished side as the top of the pockets without having to hem then sew. Using a yard stick, I marked along the back side where I wanted my pockets. I did 3 that were 8 inches wide and 2 that were 10 inches wide.

I cut, prepped and pinned the pockets to the sheet then took it off to sew.

This is my finished look. Cost me less than $15 and I also have pockets and a spare fitted sheet to use on my bed or for another project. Maybe a dress shirt or another cover for my smaller 4-ft table. Since my log is pretty simple, I plan to take just the letters in my log and applique it to the other corner piece that I cut off and that I can hang to the front of my table.

Placemat Upcycle Purse Tutorial using two placemats and a belt

Needed: 2 lined placemats,

            1 zipper

            Fabric for pockets

            Magnetic snap

This tutorial is going to be pretty much following the pictures. My mother-in-law retired this month and for her retirement party I wanted to give her a personalized tote. Something she could put her books in during her leisure readings while retired.

I bought two placemats that were lined.

I separated the back and front of the placemats.

Here are the two pieces separated.

The wrong side of the front piece to the placemat was stiffened which made it a lot easier  to do the embroidery.

I used my Brother SE400 to embroider her first and last initials onto the right side of the placemat front.

On one of the wrong sides, I put in a side zipper pocket

On the second placemat's wrong side, I put in a side pocket.

This is the zipper side shown with the belt that became the handles for the tote.

Below the zipper pocket, I put in a smaller pocket and 3 pen holders.

I split the pocket to give her extra storage.

Sew the two lining pieces right sides together and square off the bottom. At this point, I also went ahead and installed the magnetic snaps for closing the main bag.

Sew on the handles to the right side of the placemat pieces.

Sew the outer part of the placemat right sides together like the lining and square off the bottom. Cut off the excess fabric.

Flip the outer bag right side out

Place the outer bag into the lining bag which is wrong side out. This way both of the right sides are facing each other.

 

Sew all around the lip of the bags leaving yourself about 4 to 6 inches for turning the tote right side out. Top stitch the bag lip all around closing your turning hole and you're done.

Here is the finished insides.

Here is her completed tote. 

Long Tee upcycled to Peplum Top

I'm a part time couponer and some deals are just too good not to share. A couple of weeks ago as I was shopping for my mother's day gift, I went to JCP and they had a deal where if you bought $75 worth gift cards, you'd get back $15 to spend in the store. I did two separate transactions and got 2 $15 gift cards to use the Monday after Mother's day.

I went to JCP last Thursday and headed straight for the clearance racks. I've been wanting to try upcycling, but still a little ehh about using items from the thrift shops and the deal I got was better than any garage sale or thrift shop.

With two transactions totally just over the $15 required, I left the store with all of the above for $1.95 after the in-store coupons. The 4 long tees (2 red, 1 black, 1 white) were each $1.97. The measuring cup was the most expensive item @ 9.99. The green tee and the pants were both 6.97. I split the sale and paid $0.99 and $0.96. Okay now to the actual project. I was inspired by a few tutorials through Pinterest, but Love Megan was probably closer to what I did. I, however used 2 long sleeved shirts. They were both XL and loose fitting.

Sorry for the red on red. I first put on the shirt and marked out where I wanted the waist to hit me. Then I put it back on the dummy to pin and check out the shape.

Back in my craft I had to shorten the sleeves to get it similar to the inspiration piece. 

I folded the shirt in half and cut it at the mark I'd made earlier. Since I wasn't using a fitted tee to make my peplum, I had to add some darts to the front. Sorry I skipped that picture. I added two to the front and after the top was completed and still felt too loose, I took in the side seams with my serger. 

I cut out the bottom of the second shirt and and used one whole pieced and half of the second shirt (so I had 3 panels of the lower half of the shirts to use for my flare portion of the shirt.

Using my serger, I joined the seams so that I had one wide tube.

I hand threaded my elastic bobbing, set my stitches to the longest straight stitch and gathered the fabric.

I pinned the right sides of the top of the shirt to the right side of the bottom skirt by putting shirt right side out into the skirt tube (keeping the skirt wrong side out). I then pinned , but didn't really make too much of an effort to match the seams. Finally I used the serger to (4 threads stretch setting) to join the two pieces.

Hear is the joined peplum inside out as I marked out where to take in the sides some more.

The picture on the left (although hard to tell) had not yet had the side seams reduced. The image on the right has a smaller seam.

The entire project took about 90 minutes to complete and I was able to wear my top the next morning.