Tues Tutorial~ Bottom of the Barrel Gift Tags

 

    Wait! Before you throw those fabric or paper scraps away from your Christmas projects, here is an idea for making gift tags.

 

    Yep, pull out those tiny, tiny scraps from your waste can for this project.  A totally free project except for the thread or glue if you use paper scraps.

The following tutorial is for fabric gift cards.  It will be easy to adapt this idea to paper scraps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tuesday Tutorial

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 First save boxes of tag board thickness that have white or buff color on one side.  The printed side will be covered. Tag board can be used as well.

A tag template can be made by cutting a rectangle the size you need then cutting the top corners at an angle like the cards on this page.

Here a punch is used. For this punch, the tag board still had to be cut in a needed width & length of strips. (Not what I had planned on.)

Don't have a punch,

See below for another method.

 

 Gather your strips of fabric from wherever.

 

Now bear with me. As you see this process, you'll probably ask, why not directly lay the tiny strips of fabric on the tag and stitch.  Believe me, its not as tedious this way, AND its more fun because you don't know the outcome until the end.

 

Grab an old dryer sheet. Do NOT iron this sheet. You will leave a residue on your iron and ironing surface. Even if you lay between paper or fabric, the residue still leaks through. Ask me how I know.

 You may need to iron strips if they were wadded up.

 

Lay strips of fabric side by side or overlap them on the dryer sheet.

 Cut strips the width of the tags you have already punched.

 

Use an awl to punch hole through tag and fabric.  

Cut or rip a narrow piece of fabric to use as a tie. 

Experiment to find length and width you like best.

 

  Thread the middle of tie through the hole. 

I used my tweezers.

 

 Loop ends over top of tag & 

through the middle to stabilize the tie.

Then take a look at how it turned out.

 

The more ragged the better.

Have fun with your scraps.

I LOVE this kind of project.

especially when I'm listening to a free book from 

my local library

My library offers them through Hoopla and Libby.

 

My phone is connected to a Bluetooth speaker 

Mr. G (miss him so much)

got me for my birthday a short few years ago. 

I can turn it up so I can hear it over the sewing machine.

enJOY sewing with your Bottom of the Barrel scraps.
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Don't have a punch,

Try making them this way!

 

 

Mon Memory 127~ First Christmas Baby Bib

 

Been a while since I set up the embroidery unit on my machine.  

It doesn't do the best job like it used to.

 

You can find a pattern for this kind of bib most anywhere online.

I don't have a way to apply a heavy duty snap.

I used hook and loop tape.

Just to add color,

I put on the green pocket.

 

Just a bib for future memories.

 

Quilt Block 138F ~ Seven Shirt Quilt- Quilting or Tacking?

 

Seven Shirt Quilt Along- Part6

This is a series of the process of making a

quilt from 7 men shirts.

An idea from "The Thrifty Quilter" blog that has been deleted from the internet.

Part 1 showed how to choose the shirts and cut them apart.

 Part 2 showed how to cut the pieces for the quilt. 

 Part 3 showed how to piece the center of the quilt. 

 Part 4 showed how to add borders

Part 5 showed how to make the backing from shirts

 

This post suggests ideas for quilting.

 

Remember before you start quilting,

make sure you have already added your label to the quilt.

 

Quilting Ideas

The original designer of this quilt

saved all the buttons from the shirts.

The buttons were evenly distributed across the quilt and tacked on.

 

However, all of the buttons on the shirts I used to make this quilt,

 had been removed by previous owner,

so I thought I'd use the button tacking stitch.

I found the widest & lowest stitch length zig-zag

 of about 5 or 6 stitches to work well.

 

Tacking is easily done on a regular machine.

I started out on my Dream frame,

but because of time used to reposition quilt,

I moved to my regular machine and worked faster.

 

Tie off lose threads,

or if you feel your machine finished the stitch well,

just cut loose threads.

 

Then of course you can quilt as you desire.

Be aware if you have a long arm Quilting friend to do your quilting,

they may not like the features from the shirts you kept

such as tabs, slits, any flat felled seams, top stitched seams or snaps, etc.

These can interfere with the machine's work,

especially computer directed stitching and break needles.

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I hope you've been inspired by this tutorial

to make a memory quilt, 

clean out a closet,

or go yard sale-ing

to look for 7 men shirts.

Also, consider look for a thin blanket 

to use as batting while you're at it.

You might also be interested in

Potholders from these shirts