Indoor Snowball Tutorial

Nylon Flower Tutorial

Nylon Headband Tutorial

The remaining Polka-Dot Umbrella girls are sad to say goodbye to our good friends, Carlee and Emily.  We want to thank them for all of the great ideas they have shared and wish them the best of luck on their latest adventure The Mary Frances Project.  Go check out their new blog, it is adorable.

On another note we are very excited to introduce you to the newest member of The Polka-Dot Umbrella, Meg.  We are thrilled to have her join our ranks and I am sure you guys are going to love her.  She has so many great ideas and is so creative.  Meg got married last February and is having a blast personalizing  her apartment.  She loves to go hiking and camping.  Meg also enjoys trying new things and is always testing out different ideas.  Here is a small taste of what Meg has to offer.

I don't like to spend a lot of time fussing over myself, but I don't like anyone else knowing that. I have noticed over the years that if I shove a headband on my messy hair, nobody notices my hair. However, most headbands are too tight for my head, pushing until I get a headache and have to take it off. This is why I make my own headbands. This way I look good and can be comfortable too!

All you really need is a pair of tights or nylons. I got the idea to make a headband out of my tights after I  had gotten a hole/run in them. You can also buy a new pair and it works just the same.

Cut one leg like this. You should have a toe piece that you can just throw away, a small piece (2 inches) and a long piece (22 inches). 

With the small piece, wrap it around the long piece twice, just like you would put an elastic around your hair to make a pony tail.  This piece will be used to cover where the headband is sewn together.

You can either use hot glue or your sewing machine to put the two ends together.  I have used both ways and either works great.  Make sure that when you sew them together your long piece of nylon is not twisted all funny.

Now cover where the two ends were glued or sewn together with the small piece of nylon you have already wrapped around your headband. And voila, a headband!

I have also made a flower from the top of the tights, what would go around your waist.  I just super-glued the flower right on top of the small piece covering the seam. 

Be creative! You will have a lot of material left, but I will post a nylon flower tutorial soon! 

Half Square Triangle Tutorial

I promised a tutorial on how to make half square triangles using the ruler from our giveaway. Congratulations to our winner. Don't forget the coupon code blog is good through December 31 for 25% off your entire purchase! Shop online at Quilt in a Day now.

HST's are very simple and using this great tool makes them even easier. I like that when you are finished, your square is already squared up and ready to sew.
Step 1: Lay out two squares of fabric that are the same size but different colors. Add 1/2" seam allowance. So if you want your final square to measure 4 inches cut your fabric 4 1/2".

Step 2: Draw a line down the center on the wrong side of one fabric. Pair the squares ride sides together.

Step 3: Sew 1/4" from both sides of the drawn line.

Step 4: Cut in half on drawn line.

Step 5: Cut the corners off on the bottom of the triangles.

Do you see how I cut from the corner of the seam down on a diagonal? This will get rid of the dog ears when you press it open.

Step 6: Place the Quilt in a Day Square Up Ruler 4" line on the seam (or whatever size your sewing). Center the tip of the ruler with the tip of the triangle the best you can.

Step 7: Cut the excess fabric off each side of the ruler.

Step 8: Open square and press towards the darker fabric.

Halloween Lollipop Shirt (Reverse Appliqué)

I first found this project at Ruffles and Stuff. I really enjoy her blog. She is very talented. When I saw the shirt she made I knew that it was simple enough that I could do it. Unlike the other ladies here at the Polka Dot Umbrella, I do not sew well. Sure I can quilt at an ok level, but as far as following a pattern to make clothes or even refashioning something it's not pretty. I have NEVER made an item of clothing from start to finish. So taking a solid colored shirt to spruce up was right up my alley.

What you need:
1 short or long sleeve plain color cotton t-shirt (I bought mine at Target. Old Navy always has them too.)
Scrap of coordinating fabric
Small strip of ribbon plus some for tying a bow

The first step will show you how much of an amateur I am. My husband bought my sewing machine for me for Christmas a few years back. It is pretty fancy. It had a bag of parts that I thought I'd never need. I still don't know how to use 90% of them. So when I made this shirt I didn't even change my presser foot!!! I just used the 1/4 inch quilter foot. It's all I have ever used. Little did I know that I have a free motion foot. What? Are you kidding me? When I say if I can do this anyone can is 100% true. That takes me to...

Step One: Change your presser foot! Use a free motion presser foot; when I tried it after with the different foot it was much easier.

Step Two: Cut a square out of the fabric you chose for the lollipop. Error on the side of being too big; I used about a 6 inch square piece.

Step Three: Turn the shirt inside out. Pin the fabric to the inside center of the shirt. Pin the fabric with the right side facing down.

Step Four: Draw a swirl on the wrong side of the fabric using a fabric pen or pencil.

Step Five: Sew the fabric to the shirt along the swirly line. I got a little off course, but it was ok.

Step Six: Use scissors to cut between the swirly lines. You will only be cutting the shirt. Trim extra away as needed. Try to keep it even. (After the first wash it will fray and curl a little.)

Step Seven: Pin a small scrap of ribbon to the bottom of the lollipop and sew it on. I tied a small bow and hand sewed that on.

See how simple? Seven steps! I am so excited to try new designs. Check back in December for a great Christmas design using the same reverse appliqué technique.

Anytime Card

I always like to have a card ready for any occasion.  I found this "thoughts of you" stamp in the 1$ bin at Michael's.  I love this stamp's versatility, thoughts of you can apply to anything. 

What you need:

• White cardstock
• 4-5 different patterned paper
• Any stamp
• Buttons
• Twine

I cut the white cardstock in half and folded it.  Next I cut the rest of the paper as shown below then glued everything into place.  I tied the twine through the buttons and using a hot glue gun attached them. Easy!

I like this card because I can use leftover scraps of paper.  I am a hoarder of little scraps and am always looking for new uses, so this card is perfect.  What do you use your leftoever scraps for?

How to Layer a Quilt

Over a year ago I made a quilt top for my husband for our anniversary.  I am just barely getting around to quilting it!  I know pathetic right?  I love the top and how it turned out.  Both of us attended the University of Utah so I decided to make up my own pattern with a version of the logo.  I also found some adorable fabric with the logo all over it.  I do have to say that making the top of this quilt was extremely boring!  I used over 650, 3" squares.  Crazy!  Anyway, I thought I would share how I layer my quilts in preparation for quilting.

First I layed out my backing on the floor, this quilt was huge so I had to clear out some furniture in order to lay it out flat.

Using straight pins I pulled the backing tight, without stretching the material.  If you stretch the material it will cause wrinkles when you unpin it.  I always do this on the carpet so the pins will hold the fabric in place.  I also angle the pins away from the fabric so it doesn't move or shift.

Once you have the backing secured you can lay out the batting.  Pin the batting into place the same way you did the backing.  Then you can lay out the top of the quilt and pin it into place.  I always make sure that there are no wrinkles or bumps.

After I have everything straight and even it is time to pin it all together.  I love using quilting pins, shown above.  They are bent a little to keep the quilt straight.

I am planning on quilting on every other square so I pinned accordingly.

Now you are ready to start quilting.  This really is super easy.  I have never had a problem with the backing bunching up.  I am excited to get this done so we can cuddle under it and watch the Utah game!  Go Utes!



Curly Ribbon Hair Bows

                        

I am pretty sure I am not the only one who can't keep track of my little girls hair bows. I make some to stock up the supply and before I know it I am back to having just a couple so then I am back to to the drawing board. Well, I am back in the 'making a bunch' mode hence two weeks ago and this weeks post. 

I saw this darling hair bow on gymboree's site and had to make one. Here are a few pointers on how to make your own. Super fun and very easy!

First you will need to curl your ribbon. There are several sites that can show you how to do this. This is a great tutorial to look over.

I found that when I use a lower oven temperature my curls were loose and over time will come out completely. I found for me the perfect temperature was 300 degrees and 20 minutes in the oven. Also, make sure you let the ribbon cool on the wooden dowel before taking it off.

To make 1 hair bow you will want 3 and a 1/2 dowels covered in ribbon.

Cut your curled ribbon in half giving you 7 ribbon pieces.

Tie a knot in the center of each ribbon.

Burn the ends of each ribbon so that it doesn't fray over time. I also had to trim a couple ends because they were curled funny or started to fray already.

Hot glue 2 ribbons together in the center so that the knots are side by side. 

Hot glue your hair elastic on the back of the 2 ribbons that are already glued together. 

Continue gluing your 5 ribbon pieces that are left next to each other and around the hair elastic.

Super simple, right? My little girl gets comments everywhere she goes when she wears these. They're darling and really brighten up an outfit. 

Rickrack Flowers

I don't know about you but I LOVE Martha Stewart.  She has the cutest ideas on her site.  I recently bought one of Martha's books.  It is amazing!  I want to make every single project in that book.  I came across these adorable rickrack flowers and knew that I had to make them.  As I was reading the instructions I kept getting confused, so I thought I would do a picture tutorial to help others figure it out.

What you need:
Rick rack - 16 points
Thread
Needle
Scissors
Fray check or something similar

First run the needle through the bottom points on the rickrack.  Make sure to keep the points straight and even so they don't rotate.  This part was kind of difficult.  Keep all of the points on the needle and while holding them together pull the thread through and loop it through the first point, making a circle, pull the thread tight.

Next sew the two raw edges together and use the Fray check to keep the ends from fraying.

The flowers can be displayed either side up,  now is the point where you decide which.  On the opposite side sew through the loops.  Put the needle towards the center of the flower and loop the trail around it.  Notice in the picture it is making loops to keep the 'petals' evenly spaced.  Go all the way around the flower and tie off.



Now pick out your center.  How easy is that?!

Now you can stick it on a headband, shirt, purse, you name it!  Did my pictures help?