Toy Bag Tutorial

I'm so excited about this one! This is the first project where I thought it up all myself and created it and it turned out just how I wanted it to! I'm so excited I just wanted to share it with you.  I'm new to this so let me know if it doesn't make sense. I took lots of pictures to help my explaining.

What you'll need: 

• One 12 x 26 piece of fabric for the bag
• Two 1.5 x 15 pieces of same or contrasting fabric for the strings {or you can use ribbon or rope or anything you want, just cut it at 15 "}

Strings:

{If you're doing ribbon or rope, skip steps 1-4 )       

                           

1. With your string fabric pieces, fold down one short end 1/4" and iron. Then again. 

2. Fold the fabric in half; iron; and open back up.

3. Fold one long edge into the middle and iron, then the same for the other edge (so it's folded in thirds)

4. Then fold the fabric in half again, iron down, and top-stitch the

 whole length. 

Repeat for second string.

That's all for now with these, onto the bag:

5. Fold one of the long ends of the fabric down 1/2 in. and iron. fold down again and iron (you

 can do this on both long ends but you don't need to.) 

6. Iron down both the short ends 1/2 in. once

7. (This is going to be a confusing one) Place the short raw edge of the string (the side you didn't fold down) on the raw edge of the short side of the bag. Fold the bag fabric over the string so you can sew the edge of the bag closed without getting the string. Pin it down and sew the edge, Making sure you don't catch the ribbon in the stitch! keep the pin in for now.

8. When both short ends are sewn, fold the bag in half hamburger style so the right sides are

 facing. 

9. Sew the long edge with the raw edge first (the pinned side of the ribbons) together with a 1/4 in seam allowance. Sew over the ribbon a few times for durability. 

10. Sew the folded edge next, starting from the bottom. Make sure you stop before you get

 to the ribbons! I stopped at the top seam. 

11. turn the bag right side out and iron. Tie a knot in the end of the ribbons if you want (it won't be a problem if you don't want to, I just did it for looks)

An optional way to do the bottom bag:

12. You can leave the bag as it is or you can do this: Turn the bag inside out again. fold the corner flat and pin it. 

 

13. Sew straight across following the pin. 

14. Trim the corner and turn right side out.

Ta Da! You're done. you can embellish as you want. Let me know if it's all totally confusing.

 

Felt Song Book

Hooray! I can post my book now, little Jo opened it. I got this idea from the quiet book from homemade by jill. 

I loved it but I wanted to do it differently so I made it into a songbook. I'm actually really happy about the way it turned out. 

Cover Page

3 little speckled frogs...

Almost all of the pages have little pocket that the animals can go into

Old McDonald had a Farm...

(with finger puppets)

3 little monkeys swingin' in a tree...

3 little duck went out to play...

Here's a ball for baby

(I couldn't think of anything for this one so I made them flaps to open and see what's underneath)

If you don't know the song, you really should learn it. We love it at our house :)

All the pages together. Sorry it's a small picture.

I think if you click on them it'll make them bigger. 

Back Cover. I just had to do it. 

If you can't see the pictures very well, I'll try and do it again and make them bigger

Sweet Little Lambs

Just a quick post to show you the little stuffed lambs I've made recently. The pattern is from bit of whimsy dolls that I bought on artfire...go check out her shop...seriously cute stuff! This one I made for my niece who just turned 4:
And this one is for my own bebe:I made them with fake fur which made them harder to make, but much more cuddly than if I had just used chenille.

Easiest Scubbie Ever

So as I was craft-blog hopping, I found the Sydney Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef blog and thus began the inspiration. I've been trying to find a good scrubbie pattern and there it was. The site is a place where people from all over crochet a coral reef as a "woolly celebration of the intersection of higher geometry and feminine handicraft, and a testimony to the disappearing wonders of the marine world."  It's really cool all of the designs they come up with, so I made my own little coral to be my scrubbie. 

Materials: 

Peaches and Cream Yarn

Crochet Hook- any size (I used size H)

NOTES: 

• sc=single crochet
  
• You can use any basic stitch you want
  
• Crochet in the front and back loops to make it sturdier
  
• Worked in one continuous round
  

1. Make a Magic Ring. (Planet June has the best photo tutorial for this. You'll never go back to the old way)

2. Crochet 2 sc in each sc 

Ta Da: that's all

Repeat Round 2 until you feel like it. 

Finish: slip stitch into next stitch and fasten off. Weave in Ends. Trim the middle yarn

It starts out looking like this

After a few more rounds, it starts to get wavy

You can stop here if you want, or keep going.

These are my finished scrubbies. 

The best part about this is, you can make them as big or little as you want, or until you run out of yarn or time. The big one takes about 15 min. 

You can make at least 4 or 5 out of the small Peaches and Cream ball. These would be good to give with a bottle of dish soap as a bridal shower gift.