Optional Box Pleat Tutorial

I forgot some of you liked the box pleats in the first crafty tool belt. It goes together just like the crafty tool belt tutorial just the math, and of course the pleats are different.

To figure out how wide to cut the apron and trim pieces:

Measure the width you would like your apron to be (e.g. from hip to hip or a little wider). If this measurement is less than 19 inches follow Option B. If it is 19 inches or more follow Option A.

**if you are unsure how much width you need, cut it wider. You can always trim off some of the width after you add the pleats and before you attach the double fold bias tape trim.

Option A - Add 8 inches to your measurement. Cut your apron and trim piece to this width.

Follow the directions for the original Crafty Tool Belt until it is time to pleat.

Box Pleats:

Mark the centre of the apron with a pin. Measure 2 inches and 6 inches from the centre pin and mark those places too. Now fold the fabric so the 2 pins meet and pin. The extra fabric should be on the wrong side of your fabric. Flatten the pleat and even it out so the same amount of fabric is on either side of the pin. Repeat for the other side.

Continue on with the Crafty Toolbelt Tutorial.

Option B

Add 6 inches to your measurement. Cut your apron and trim piece to this width.

Follow the directions for the original Crafty Tool Belt until it is time to pleat.

Box Pleats:

Mark the centre of the apron with a pin. Measure .75” and 3.75” from the centre and place pins at these points. Now fold the fabric so the 2 pins meet and pin. The extra fabric should be on the wrong side of you apron. Flatten the pleat and even it out so the same amount of fabric is on either side of the pin. Repeat for the other side.

Test fit and make sure you have enough fabric to attach the pockets (7.5” approx. on each side). If you don’t have enough you can make your pleat narrower. If your apron seems too wide, you can trim an even amount off each edge, just remember to maintain at least 7.5” on each side of the pleats to apply the pockets.

Continue with the Crafty Toolbelt tutorial.

Crafty Tool Belt Tutorial

For all coming over from Sew, Mama, Sew! Welcome! And I hope you stick around, there is always something going on here now. (I’m new and therefore obsessed with the whole sharing thing.) And for those loyal readers, I’m so very glad you’re still with me and I love the whole lot of you. The online crafty community is such a wonderful place!

I took pictures while the first Crafty Tool Belt was being put together, but somewhere along the way things went awry and the camera missed some steps so I made another one.

The inspiration for this was first blogged about here. I thought the idea was great and thought, ‘I can make that!’ A lot of thought and planning went into this and I took my cues from a tool belt, because it seems to be a perfect way to tote your junk with you without said junk getting in the way. But they aren’t very pretty, functional yes, pretty not so much. So I tried to come up with something that was both pleasing to the eye and would serve its purpose.

Okay, I’ve bored you enough with the background of this little guy and I’m sure many of you skipped the babble and just scrolled to the pics. So here is how it goes:

You know the rules. You can make these for personal use, gifts and charity. Do not produce them for profit. Please, credit this blog and link back if you make one. If you have any questions feel free to email me, my address is in my profile.

Crafty Tool Belt

You need:
¼ metre main fabric (you may need more if your hip measurement is over 46 inches. Just read the math section to make sure. Ditto for the accent fabric)
¼ metre accent fabric
1 pkg. SINGLE fold bias tape
1 pkg. DOUBLE fold bias tape

N.B. if you have the inexplicable fear of the bias tape go here. If you have already been there and still have the fear then just omit the tape, but you will have raw edges inside and you have to do the nasty hemming around the edges. Plus tape makes it pretty. No pressure, though!

Math for Accordian Pleated Toolbelt

You can find the math and directions for the optional Box Pleats over here.

I’m sorry but you have to do some math. Just a little bit.
Divide your hip measurement in 2. ____
You need 15” to apply both pockets. So subtract 15 from your number. The number you have left is the width after pleating. ____
Multiply this number by 3. ____This is the width of the material before pleating. **Remember this number, you need it later.
Add the 15” back onto this and if you would like your apron to wrap around your hips a little more add 4” or so. ____

This isn’t exact, it’s just to give you an idea of the width of the apron piece you need to cut. I could get the width I needed out of 40” wide fabric. If you need to make one wider than the width of your fabric just divide the number in two and instead of cutting one long apron piece, cut two halves of your apron and sew it up the middle. Repeat this for the bottom trim as well.

Just to make sure you got the right idea. My math looked something like this:
22-15=7x3=21+15+4=39 inch is the desired width of the apron piece.

**if you are unsure how much width you need, cut it wider. You can always trim off some of the width after you add the pleats and before you attach the double fold bias tape trim.

Fabric cutting:

• Main Fabric: Apron - 8”x desired width. Cut 1
• Accent Fabric: Waistband and Ties 4.5” x width of fabric. Cut 2
• Bottom Trim 2.5” x desired width. Cut 1
• Pockets 6” x 5”. Cut 4
• Loopholes 1.5” x 6”. Cut 1
  

Getting Started:

Pockets X2

Place two pocket pieces right sides together and sew all the way around leaving about an inch opening on one of the long sides for turning.

Clip the corners and turn right side out. Push out the corners and turn the edges of the opening in. Press. Topstitch along the long edge that had the opening about ¼ inch in from the edge. I stitched a long, narrow rectangle because I thought it would look nicer. Set aside.

Loopholes

Run through a bias tape making tool or fold under ¼” on the long sides and press. Fold in half along the length and press. Sew along the edges. Cut into two pieces and set aside. You could just use some double fold bias tape if you like.

Waistband and Ties

Pin two of the short ends with right sides together and sew. Press seam open. Fold in half with wrong sides together along the length and press. Fold ¼” along all edges and press. Set aside.

Assemble the Tool Belt:

Attach the Bottom Trim

Lay out the apron piece and the trim piece with WRONG sides together. Open up the single fold bias tape and pin it along the edge. Stitch in the crease closest to the edge (approx 1/4”).

Fold the bias tape down to cover the raw edges and topstitch.

*If you would like a rounded Tool Belt you can now fold the apron piece in half. Draw a curve along the corner and cut.

Accordian Pleats
OR
Go to the optional box pleat tutorial

Mark the centre of your apron piece with a pin. Measure ½ of that measurement you were supposed to remember and mark it with a pin. Now measure 1.5” from the centre and place a pin. Pin every 2” after that out to the last pin. Work out from the centre in the other direction in the same manner. Fold the fabric so the 1.5” pin meets the centre pin, pin in place. Fold the next pin to meet the edge of the fold you just made and pin in place, continue to form all your pleats. Repeat in the other direction.

Now test fit your tool belt. If you like it continue on, if not you can add or remove pleats, or trim excess off the edges. This is the last fiddling you will ever have to do.

Baste the pleats in place.

Apply the Double Fold Bias Tape Edge

Open up the double fold bias tape and lay the apron piece wrong side up. Beginning at the top right hand corner pin the bias tape with wrong side up along the sides and bottom of the apron ending at the top left hand corner. Do not attach to the top of the apron.

Sew in the crease closest to the edge.

Flip the bias tape to the right hand side and topstitch as close to the edge as you can.

Waistband

Open up the waistband piece and lay it with right side facing the wrong side of the apron piece. Sew in the crease. Flip the waistband so wrong sides are together. Turn under the pressed edge and pin in place on the right side of the apron. Pin the ties together as well. Starting at the top corner of the tie topstitch along the edge of the tie along the apron and the other tie ending at the top corner.

Attaching Pockets and Scissor Loops

Using one pocket and one loop pin the pocket at an angle on the side of the apron. Tuck the ends of the loop under the edge of the pocket and pin.

Sew around the edge of the pocket leaving the top open. Backstitching over the loops to secure them in place. Repeat for the other pocket.

Press your pleats and smile knowing you will never go searching for your sewing stuff again.

Go Win a Craft Apron

Over at Itching 2 B Stitching there is a great contest going on where you can win a Craft Apron. So for all you who know you need one go try your luck! All you have to do to enter is offer a name for her new dressform. So go and give the girl a name. Good Luck!

I love mail!

I got these wonderful stitch markers in the mail yesterday from The Caffeinated Crafter and they made my day! Thank you so much! I needed some good light to get pictures of these little guys, they are so cute. I think my favourite is the rosebud in the front, but I can't decide. Until I start knitting on something again I guess I'm just going to have to use them as eye candy. Oh, woe is me. hehe

Thanks again!

Oh, and the card was too sweet. I loved the colours, I want to make something with that flower motif now.

And the Winner Is...

Greetingarts! who said:

I'd use the little bag for my take-along knitting, the handwork I schlep all over the place for all those spare moments in life.

So congratulations girl, there will be a little bag on its way to you very soon! What are the odds that number 1 would get drawn out of the bag?! It shocked me.

I want to say thank you to everyone else who took the time to comment. And while I'm sorry if you didn't win I have a sneaking suspicion that there will be another giveaway coming up again. (50th post is getting closer everyday.) So stick around, hopefully I can entertain you a while longer and maybe you'll have a chance to win something Kerri Made!

Gee, I love this blogging thing, you all make it so enjoyable.

While I'm posting, what do you all think. Should I write up a little tutorial for the Crafty Tool Belt?

Crafty Tool Belt

Tracey over at Itching 2 B Stitching made a craft apron last week and I thought, "I need one of these!" No more wandering all over looking for my fabric scissors, or the seam ripper, or a spare bobbin. It can all be right at my fingertips all the time. So I sat down to figure out what a craft apron for me would need. First it needed some great fabric. This is some of Sandi Henderson's Ginger Blossom line that I got from Sew, Mama, Sew! I paired it with some chocolate coloured 100% cotton and a little cream bias tape. I wish I had some matching rick rack or lace, but no luck.


I could see one possible problem with a craft apron. It seemed probable that with many or large pockets I would just end up stuffing them full so when I stuck my hand in to grab my handy seam ripper I'd pull out some scrap fabric wrapped in thread unwinding from that ever so handy spare bobbin. That would annoy me as much as not being able to find my scissors so I thought it would be a good idea not to have huge pockets that could be crammed full. I could also imagine having my scissors quickly poking a hole through the corner of one of the pockets. Lining a pocket with leather could keep this from happening or the other option was to make a place to hang my scissors much in the same vein as a tool belt having a loop for a hammer. So this was the beginnings of my crafty tool belt.

I also decided to place the pockets as far on the sides of the apron as possible so that when sitting at the sewing machine I would still have access to the needed tools in my pockets. The scissors loop was also sewn to the edge of the apron so I wouldn't be stabbing myself in the thigh every time I sat down to sew. The pleats were also added so that when sitting it would splay out rather than flip up and possibly dump stuff out of the pockets.


I really do try to think this stuff through, though sometimes I do make mistakes. I'm not left-handed and yet somehow the loop ended up on the left side. Oh well, nobody is perfect. Now I wish my scissors matched my crafty tool belt. It's just a first run, more are needed. Must have one to match every outfit.

The little corset that could

There are a couple of things I'm working on. The biggest one was the Burda 7938 Corset Bodice or whatever it's called. Light, flimsy or drapey fashions don't usually find their way into my closet because, well, I don't look good in them. There is that and the fact that I Hate static cling, just the way fabric feels like it is trying to touch me makes my skin crawl. So I also hate clingy fabric. This cuts down on my fabric choices immensely, but it doesn't bother me.

The Burda Corset is a pretty pattern, princess lines, zippered closure, piped seams, long flowy sleeves. I have sewn it 4 times now, 3 muslins and then one to actually wear. There were issues with general fit, sway back alterations, raised neckline (who do they think I'm trying to impress?? and with what??), wierd cup sizes (I think they hijacked those pattern pieces from some old timey football helmet) as well as the usual Burda crappy instructions. With most patterns - this one included - I read all the way through the instructions, I stare at the pictures and think, 'uhh wha? Why do I do that? That makes no sense, that is slow' etc, etc (and there is usually cursing). So I put the instructions away. And I made this.


Does the fabric look familiar? It is the stretch cotton I fell back in love with while making my mom's bag. I found it to be sturdy enough to make it unlined, which would have created a problem with the piped seams if I had chosen to make them, but I didn't. My option, and a much nicer option on this fabric was flat-felled seams like those found on jeans. They are really easy to do and make a nice clean seam because all the raw edges are enclosed (I'm all about clean seams). Each bust piece was sewn to the front bodice first using just a regular seam. All of the bust was lined so the raw edges were hidden inside there. All horizontal seams were just plain seams. All the vertical seams were flat-felled seams. It worked out just the way I anticipated. The little bit of stretch in this cotton makes it form fitting without feeling restrictive, I am so loving this cotton! This top is so comfortable to wear, the fact that this pattern was compulsively altered may have something to do with the fit.


There were two options for sleeves on the pattern, short or long belled sleeves. The short looked too casual and the long looked too princessy, plus in this fabric long sleeves would have given it a very short wearable season. I opted for sleeveless with the rationale that a tight long-sleeved shirt can be worn under it in the fall/winter and can be worn on it's own in the warmer months. The only worry for this shirt is the length. In the picture it looked short, but I didn't bother to add any length to it. I'm only 5 feet tall and they were showing it on a tall, thin model so surely it would be longer on me. Well, in some mystical pattern drafting twist of fate this shirt is so short that if I hem it, this poor shirt will become a bellytop....umm no. I need to finish the edge with bias tape so I don't lose any of the length.


Next up on the sewing list is another revamp of this pattern. I'm going to draft it into a dress using some black and white polka dot stretch cotton. It's going to be great!