Easy Serger Bandanna or Scarf

I found a scrap of cotton fabric that was only large enough for bandannas, so that's what it became!

I started with a 22-inch square of cotton, which I bisected diagonally (wrong side shown here):

I then serged all the edges, and tied off the corners:

These scarves act as my helmet liners.  They are stored with other scarves I had made before.  Note how convenient they are to my helmet:

That was very easy!

Dickies are Neck Warmers

I made two dickies for my mom for Christmas.  I merged two patterns to make them.

I started with the wrapped collar from Stretch & Sew 333 View B, upper right:

The bodice is from Kwik Sew 2812, View D, upper right:

It was easy enough to merge these two patterns.  I traced the size Medium bodice from the Kwik Sew pattern to get the overall shape, then I laid it over the bodice piece of the S&S pattern to get the neckline for size 40:

The collar was traced in size 40 of the S&S pattern:

Notice how I mark notches:

I made this for my mom a few years ago, and found that I had made short bodice pieces.  I traced new bodice pieces and placed the old bodice pieces on top so you can see the difference:

I prewashed the lightweight fleece I got at JA's on sale.  I use vinegar in the rinse instead of fabric softener, which gives a waxy coating.  I used a size 75 stretch needle for the whole project:

All seams were stitched with a 1/4-inch seam allowance.  I stitched the back seam of the collar, and the shoulder seams of the bodice:

I pressed open the back seam of the collar with my fingers:

I turned the collar right side out, then aligned and pinned all the notches:

I matched the front of the collar at center front and pinned the layers together.  I also basted the layers together with large zigzag stitches:

With the bodice wrong side out, I marked the center front and center back with pins.  On each side of the front, I placed one pin about 1/4-inch forward of the shoulder seam:

I inserted the collar assembly into the bodice with the collar right side out, and the dickie wrong side out:

I started by pinning the center front of the collar to the center front of the bodice:

I pinned the collar to the bodice, matching all notches and adding a few pins in-between:

While pushing the seam allowance towards the bodice, I held it in place with topstitching:

This shows how well the topstitching holds the seam allowances:

Here are the finished dickies.  The blue one was made with the shorter bodice pieces:

I know my mom will like these because I asked her what I could make for her, and this is what she wanted.

Win-Win!

Here is a camera tip that I used while making this project (and the fleece socks).  I took a picture of the stitch settings just before using them.

For seams, I used this stitch - a narrow, longish zigzag:

I used a large, three-step zigzag stitch for topstitching the neck seam allowances.  This stitch was also used when tacking the heel seam allowances on the socks (click here):

For ALL the pictures, click here.

Next up - a couple of really easy projects!

Fleece Socks

I made two pairs of fleece socks for my dad using this pattern.  This is the original pattern, but it has been reintroduced as pattern number F890:

I made the short socks in the style shown at the far left.  Instead of ribbing or binding, I turned under the hem and stitched it down.

I prewashed the lightweight fleece I got at JA's on sale.  I use vinegar in the rinse instead of fabric softener, which gives a waxy coating.  I used a size 75 stretch needle for the whole project:

I cut out the blue flecce ...

... and the red fleece ...

By the way, this is how I mark notches:

I pinned and stitched the heels of the socks:

I topstitched along the heel line, with the seam allowances held away from the foot:

With the sock assembly right side up and the top of the sock right side down ...

... I placed the sock top over the assembly, and pinned them together at the toe notch:

Starting at one side of the top, I pinned along the side, with no stretching needed ...

... until I reached the seam at the heel, where I placed on pin directly to each side:

I pinned the other side in the same way:

Then I pinned down each side of the foot area ...

... and continued around the toe area:

I stitched around each sock, leaving the top open:

I carefully turned a one-inch hem to the inside, pinned it well, and held it down with a zig-zag stitch:

I turned the socks right-side out, including pushing out the seams with my hand:

I carefully placed both socks on my work area with soles smoothed out and facing up:

I drew a design on one sole with fabric paint.  Any type of dimensional or puffy fabric paint will do:

I do not use fabric softener because it would make the paint not stick well:

I turned the other sock over, aligned it on top of the painted sock, and pressed down on the entire sock.  This embedded the paint into the fibers, which makes the paint stay attached to the fleece for a long time.

I flipped the top sock back over and set them out to let dry for a while:

After a few hours, I added more paint on top of the designs:

After drying overnight, I hung them out of the way to allow the paint to harden even more:

The socks will be ready to wrap tomorrow!

For ALL the pictures, click here.

Christmas Gifts Finished

I finished the gifts for my parents.  Finally!

By special request, I made dickies for my mom and fleece socks for my dad.

Technically, the socks aren't quite finished.  Read on to see what I mean.

Here are the dickies:

Here are the soles of the socks:

The reason they are not done is because the designs need to have another layer of fabric paint.  After that is applied and dried, I will send them off.

I will write up these projects separately, since I have some interesting ways of doing things.  After that, I will post brief reviews to PatternReview.

I might do a really easy project next.

Some Progress

My pattern sales have been going well.  Not awesome, but well!

Click this sentence to see previous post about the patterns I have for sale.

I had a little progress on my gift-making.

I bought one yard each of royal blue and bright red light-weight fleece on sale a few weeks ago to make gifts for my parents.

For my Dad, I am making short fleece socks, as shown at the left of this pattern.  He will get one red pair and one blue pair.

For my Mom, I am making dickies based on the collar shown at the upper right of this pattern.  She will get one in red and one in blue.

Last night I cut out all the blue pieces.

Here's a reminder how I mark notches:

Here are the sock pieces (in the middle) and the other blue pieces:

Here are the blue pieces pinned together for the first batch of stitching:

That's pretty much all I got done last night.