Today we have a guest post from Jessica at This Too. She has a great back to school tutorial to share with us....Take it away Jessica!
Thank you Crystal for having me here on Fussy Monkey Business!
Hello, Everyone! I'm Jessica from This Too! - a little place where I try to document my crazy dreamed up projects and ideas while taking care of my husband and my 5 kids. I love to sew, craft and I'm starting to dabble in woodworking, too. Thankfully, my husband is very understanding of my need to create.
When Crystal asked for me to contribute to her blog with a tutorial for 'Back-to-School', I really had trouble coming up with something new to share with y'all. I tried to think of something that would be useful for my own little ones. I must confess, though, my 'back-to-school' consists of buying whatever is on the supply list provided by the school and then send them out the door to meet the bus on the first day. (Sentimental, ain't I?) However, there were several times last year when one or both of the school age kids came home complaining about someone else drinking out of their water bottle. Now, we could all just whip out that Sharpie and write in big black letters all over the bottle, but what fun is that?! Things need to be pretty-fied not simplified. :)
What you need:
Fabric A:
1 piece - 6" x 2"
1 piece - 6" x 2 1/2"
2 pieces - 4 1/2" x 2 1/2"
Fabric B:
1 piece - 6" x 2"
1 piece - 6" x 2 1/2"
Elastic:
1 piece - 1" wide cut 2 1/2" long
Ball Point Sewing Machine Needle (needed later on in the tutorial)
You will also need your usual sewing notions, iron, sewing machine, pins, etc.
Let's get started.
First things first - if you decide to do some machine embroidery to decorate your bottle cosy, you might want to do that prior to cutting your fabric. I think this was the second time I've actually used the embroidery setting on my machine, so I am nowhere good enough to use a small piece of fabric in the hoop. If you are doing the decorating by hand, feel free to add it whenever it is easiest for you.
Here is mine.
Once you have your pieces cut, take the 6"x2" fabric pieces of both fabric A and fabric B and iron down 1/2" on both sides (lengthwise) of both fabrics. (Ignore the stabilizing material you see below.)
Next, pin these pieces down in the middle of your 6" x 2 1/2" pieces of contrasting fabric. (A to B and B to A) Do a top stitch along both lengths right at the edge of your center fabric. If you click on the picture below, you can see mine just at the edges.
Put right sides together and stitch along one length using a 1/4" seam allowance. Then open and press the seam to one side.
Turn your fabric over and press the ends down about 1/4". (This will make your job easier in a couple of steps.)
Now, put right sides together (again) and stitch down the other length and turn right side out. Go ahead and press the seams and edges under really good at this point.
Okay. Now grab those 2 pieces of 4 1/2" x 2 1/2" fabric. Pin them right sides together and stitch down both lengths.
Turn this right side out, press the seams and add a top stitch down the seams for a little decoration and to help it stay looking nice.
Now is the time to change your machine needle to a Ball Point Needle. If you don't, you could end up with some really hairy looking stitching on your bobbin side. Not Pretty!
Take your little piece of elastic and stick it in the middle of the little tube you just created. Line it up with one end and place it in the middle. Stitch this end closed making sure you stitch through the elastic.
Flip it around and do the same thing on the other end. (The fabric will need to be scrunched down.)
Now, slip one end of your fabric covered elastic piece (until the seam is covered) and stitch it in place. This is a lot of fabric to put through the machine, so take your time and work it through.
Once that is done, stitch the other end just like the first. It's a tight fit, so once again, take your time.
And there you have it! One bottle cozy to put on your little one's water for snack time or lunch. Now no one will be able to say they don't know who that bottle belongs to!
And don't forget, we made it reversible!
Hope you all have enjoyed this. If you have ANY questions, please feel free to email me.
Once again - Thank you, Crystal, for letting me crash your blog! And to all you readers out there, come on over and have a look around This Too!. I would love to have you!
