We have another great Pinterest contest starting Today (6/18/13) with the winner announced next Tuesday the 25th.

All you have to do is make a Pinterest board title “Harts Pin it & Win it with Colette Patterns” and then pin:

1. The Colette Pattern of your choice

2. The fabric (from our store) that you would use to make the pattern

3.  And, all of the fun trims and embellishments you would use to make your pattern unique!

then, leave a comment on our Pinterest board with the same title that has the URL for your pin board and that’s it!

We will select one Winner who will receive:

The Colette Pattern of their choice and,

A $50 Gift Certificate to our store to spend on fabric and supplies to make their new Colette Pattern!

Good Luck to all of you and we can not wait to see your inspiration boards!!

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You will need 13″ of a Naugahyde of your choice, (I Chose a red sparkle Naugahyde) 1 Button
Scissors, Tape and your sewing machine.

First we are going to fold our fabric in half until each side is 9″

Then measure up about 7″ and mark

Then find the middle of your fabric and mark

Now draw a line from the center to the edge of your bag, repeat on both sides.

Now cut your fabric on these lines.

You will now have one piece of fabric that looks like this.

Now with the base of your bag folded in half we are going to stitch up the sides. If you have a sticky fabric like me, to keep your bag running smoothly through your machine you can either but tape on the bag and peel it off after you sew the stitch, which can be tedious, or you can put scotch tape directly on your machine foot to guide the fabric though.

Now stitch up your side seems on both sides. Then stitch along the bottom for the bag to keep it’s shape.

Now we are going to stitch around the top of the envelope to give it a finished look.

You can add your button and be finished now or if you have a machine with decorative stitches you can add a stitch around the top for a more fun look.

Now add your button, trim your threads and cut a slit on the top flap for it to go through, make sure to not make your button hole too big!

And thats it! you now have a great envelope clutch that you can you use for a night on the town, a make up bag, an extra fancy lunch bag or whatever your heart desires.  You could even add a strap to make it into a shoulder bag! Have fun with this easy bag!Tweet

Supplies:
1/2 yard lace
1/2 yard stretch fabric
1 yard elastic
1/2 yard satin bias tape
thread

Measure slip you are copying.
                                               For reference mine was 20″ wide x 30″ long then                                                    cut 2 rectangles that size for the front and back of slip.

Next cut the lace into 2 6″x20″ strips. Being careful to cut along the outside of flowers on lace to create a appliqued look.

Pin lace strip on bottom of front and back of slip. Then stitch with a zigzag stitch on top of lace to attach to cheetah fabric.

On front panel of slip stitch another zigzag stitch along the bottom edge just above scallop. Then cut away the cheetah fabric at bottom so scallop edge shows through. Repeat on back panel of slip.

This is what it will lokk like after you stitch lace down and cut away cheetah to reveal the scallop edge.

Place front and back slip panel right sides matching and stitch down the right and left sides.

I chose to serge up the sides of my slip for a more professional finished look. If you do not have a serger don’t worry! A zigzag stitch will work perfect too.

Attach slip elastic around waistband leaving a 7″ gap in front of slip. The slip elastic has a double edge at bottom (see photo) so you can sandwich the fabric in between for a finished look on both sides of fabric.

This is what the slip will look like after sewing on waistband elastic and leaving a 7″ gap. Remember to stretch elastic consistently as you sew in order to gather fabric evenly into elastic.

Pin satin bias tape on fold over the unfinished edges of elastic. Then stitch down front and on sides to secure elastic into the bias tape finish.

Clip all lose threads and you are finished!

Now it’s time to wear your new slip under your favorite dress. Hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Happy slip making!

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Step 1) Gather your materials.

What you will need is:

• Your favorite pair of underwear
• 1/3 yd Jersey Fabric (makes 2-3 pairs of underwear)
• Underwear Elastic (enough to go around your waist)
• Ball Point Needles (I used 70/10)
• All purpose thread (I like to use Guterman)
• Scissors
• Marking pen
• Pattern Paper (I just used a brown paper shopping bag!)

Choosing Fabric:

When choosing your fabric, I found that a 4-WAY STRETCH is BEST!!! I compared a 2-way vs. 4-way stretch, and the 4-way won hands down! The 2-way stretch fabric I used was our ORGANIC COTTON JERSEY in Mauve. And the 4-way stretch fabric I used was our BAMBOO JERSEY in Grey with Polka Dots.

You will also want to be aware of what kinds of materials you are using. You will want to use Cotton or Bamboo fabrics, or anything that will breathe well. If you do not use a natural fiber for you underwear, at least make sure that the inside crotch segment is cotton. Also, keep in mind, Bamboo fabric is a great choice for underwear because it is nautrally ANTI-MICROBIAL and ANTI-BACTERIAL, sustainable (it grows faster and easier than cotton), and it feels amazing against your skin.

Step 2) Create a Pattern

I got my favorite underwear and made a pattern from it. Don’t forget to give a little extra room for seam allowance. My underwear came in 3 parts; the front, the back, and the crotch.

*Don’t forget you will want to CUT 2 of the crotch.

Step 3) Cutting and Sewing your Pattern

So now that I have cut my pattern peices, I am ready to start sewing.

I started by sewing the two crotch peices to the front side of my underwear. I kept the front panel right side up and lined up my crotch peices to be sewn on to the front peice at the same time. You can see in the image the crotch peices were both wrong sides out. I am using a simple straight stitch because we won’t need this segment to be stretchy!

Once I’ve done that, I’ll want to sew the crotch pieces onto the back panel. I sewed one side on, wrong sides together, and finished it by top stitching the other crotch piece on.

Next, I’ll want to sew my sides together. A straight stitch will be fine for this. You can use whatever technique to finish the edges. On one pair I did a french seam, which looks really nice. On another pair I did a simple straight stitch reinforced with a zig-zag stitch to keep the edges nice.

Step 4) Hemming your Edges

Now that our side seams are sewn, we need to hem up our leg holes! I did this very simply by folding over my right side edge to the inside, and sewing a zig-zag stitch. I found it helpful to pull/stretch your fabric while you zig-zag, to give optimal stretch.

Step 5) Sewing on the Elastic

Now its time to finish our underwear by sewing in our elastic. You will want to use a zig-zag stitch, and stretch your elastic as you sew. I thought it was helpful to have the fabric on top and the elastic under, so I could keep and eye on my fabric. But you can do it either way!

Step 6) Wear your underwear!

Here are the ORGANIC COTTON 2-WAY STRETCH underwear! Again, these did not fit the best, they didn’t give much room to stretch. A friend gave a good tip to try; Try Sewing a 2-way stretch on the Bias to give more stretch!

Here are the BAMBOO JERSEY 4-WAY STRETCH underwear! These feel AMAZING!!!! They have so much give to them, stretch in all the places you want stretch, and feel amazing to wear!!

Good luck!Tweet

The Laurel Pattern Has Been Back Ordered Until Late June

We Will be Postponing the Sew along Until The Beginning Of July so that everyone who wants to participate will get a chance to buy their pattern.

We Are Very Sorry for any Inconvenience!

Rules :

1. To be entered in the contest %90 of the materials must be purchases at harts fabric or www.hartsfabric.com

2. The discount will only be applied to the materials specifically for the Laurel Sew Along.

Some Fabrics may not be valid for discount.

3.  Have a blast!

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The summer weather if finally here!  Yea!  Time to grab your bathing suit and head to the beach.  Wait!  Don’t forget your bikini bag.  This bikini bag is completely water-proof inside and out so you can store your wet bikini inside without getting all your other beach clothing wet.  This whole project is done on the Serger and it is super easy and fun to make.  You’ll be ready for the beach in no time!

Any questions on this project?  Pleas ask us in the comments below.

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Here is a great tutorial on the sorbetto top from Colette patterns which is a free download that you can get right here. This is a great pattern because it’s simple, chic and great for summer, which is sneaking up on us fast. If you’ve never printed out a PDF pattern before, it’s really simple. Just print the pattern and follow the triangles with letters to match up the corresponding pages and then tape and cut out at your correct size. This pattern already comes with great instructions but sometimes seeing it done makes life a lot easier so I hope you get inspired and make your own sorbetto.

First you will need 1 1/2 yds of either 44″ or 60″ fabric.

I chose a leopard print rayon fabric from Anna Maria Horner.

The you will either need 1 package of 1/2″ bias tape, bias tape by the yard or you can make your own bias tape, you will need 3 yards total.

First tape and cut your pattern.

Cut your fabric out to the correct size.

Then you will take the front piece and mark your darts and sew them. Press down.

Now we are going to make the fun front pleat that gives this top such a fun look. Mark your fabric where the pleat is indicated on the fabric.

Fold in half matching up the marks with fabric face out and sew a straight line down the center.

Now press the pleat flat.

Now with faces of fabric together take both the front and the back of the blouse and sew the tops of the straps and the side seems.

Were almost done! Incredible right?… such a cute top in so little time!

Now press a 1/4″ hem at the bottom of the top and sew in place.

Now on to the bias tape finish.

Unfold your tape completely and with the right side of the tape facing the right side of your top pin the tape into place all around the arm hole.

Once its pinned stitch along the very top crease of the bias tape leaving a little bit of a gap with a tail of bias tape on each end to finish it off in place.

once you reach your gap then sew the ends of the tape together leaving enough space to finish the arm hole, cut off extra and sew bias tape down all in place. 

This technique gives you a great finished look to your garment without having to do a rolled hem.

Repeat the bias tape steps on the other arm hole and along the neck line, trim your threads and that’s it!

This is a fun simple top to get creative with. Experiment with different prints and different bias tapes, or even add a fun lace trim or buttons to the front pleat!

I hope you all enjoy the sorbetto!

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Here is a quick demo on how to use the one step button hole foot on a Janome 3160!

Find this video helpful?  Want to learn how to use all the features of your machine?  Just let us know in the comments below and we will happily make another video.Tweet

Here is a great easy tutorial on how to make a cute skirt from a batik fabric that would make a great beach cover or fun summer skirt. All you need for this project is:

1 1/2 yds of fabric

about 2 1/2 yds of 3/8″ elastic

An iron, scissors thread and your machine… simple enough right?

I used a Robert Kaufman Batik fabric that is actually a made from rayon because I liked the way it draped.

First I cut my fabric in half along the 44″ width of the fabric giving me two pieces of fabric that were 44″ wide and 27″ long.  The 44″ side is the top and the bottom of the skirt.

First you want to sew the side seems of the skirt like so..

Then after sewing both sides we will turn up the edge on the inside 3/4″ and press, repeat again so you have a clean hem, then sew

After hemming your skirt we are now going to work on the waist band which is comfortable and cute!

First press down a 4″ flap just like you did with your hem except this time were not going to roll twice.

Now we are going to stitch as close to the fold as possible to keep everything in place and to be the top of our band.

No we are going to make 5 more stitches around but make sure to leave a 2″ gap to pull the elastic through on each stitch.

The stitches do not have to be perfectly straight (they are going to get scrunched anyway) but just make sure they are each 1/2″ apart.

Now we are going to cut our elastic into three pieces that are all the same size and about 4″ smaller then your waist.

Now feed your elastic through the casings starting at the top and hit every other one on the way down. I like to use a safety pin to push my elastic through but if you have a loop turner they work great for this too.

After you feed the elastic through sew the ends of the elastic together and then finish the stitching to the casing making it one whole seam.

Make sure you stretch the elastic to get a straight seam here, I only had on hand because I was taking a picture but this should be tight, not gathered.

Then trim all your threads and pat yourself on the back because you just made an adorable batik skirt to strut around town, or the beach!

Happy sewing!!

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