Candidly Kate: projects

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Monday, June 16, 2014

tutorial: An Easier Apron (from a dish towel)

Do you remember this tutorial to make an easy apron from a dish towel?

Well, how about an even easier apron from a dish towel?

To make this one, find a large dish towels with a cute pattern and get some matching ribbon too. Make sure the pattern doesn't need to face a certain direction. We are going to be using this dish towel horizontally instead of vertically like the last one. Find the top middle of your dish towel and place a pin there.

Now work outwards and make small tucks with the fabric to create some pleats. Just fold the fabric over itself about 1/2 inch and pin. If you want to measure and be fancy like that you can. I just eyeballed it. Place a pin at the top of each pleat to hold it in place.

Can you see the pleat below?

Take your ribbon and pin it where your center pin was. Make sure that the top of the ribbon matches the top of the dish towel. Continue working outwards until you have pinned the top edge of the towel. Make sure the ends of the ribbon are long enough to wrap around your waist and tie in a bow.

Now sew along the top edge of your ribbon using the same color thread as your ribbon. Make sure you catch the pleats in your stitch.

Then sew along the bottom edge.

Seal the ends of the ribbon with a match or lighter (just like you did here). And try it on. Cute and quick!

Now go make something yummy. Like these, or these!

And don't forget to check out where I party!

tutorial: An Easy Apron (made from a dish towel)

Are you an apron person? I am not.

Surprise!

But I was asked to come up with a few apron tutorials for a women's activity. They had to be easy enough for a non-sewer to complete it with a little guidance in about 30 minutes. So here is the first one.

The most complicated. ;) It involves sewing two straight lines.

You will need a dish towel that is big enough to be an apron. I suggest taking a few measurements before heading out to look for one. They often are packaged so that you can't unfold them and hold them up to check the size. You will also need ribbon.

Fold the dish towel in half and mark the middle of the towel at the top (the pin should be right under your chin....it is the black pin in the picture below). Then measure out from the center a few inches on each side and mark it with pins (the red and white ones below). Now hold it up to yourself again and make sure it is a width you like on the top.

While you are holding it up against yourself, mark where you want it to hit you on the waist. Then draw a line between the top side marks and the mark on your hip.

Calculate where you need to trim the towel. Measure out from the line: 2x the width of the ribbon you have + 1/4 inch + 1/8 inch. Mark it.

Cut along the line you just made to trim off of the corners of the apron.

Fold over the edge 1/4 inch and iron.

Then fold over the edge again and line it up with the first diagonal line you made. Sew along the edge (staying nice and close to the edge) to create a casing for the ribbon. Leave the two ends open so that you can string the ribbon through it.

Start at the opening near one hip and string the ribbon up towards the top of the apron. Connecting a safety pin to the end of the ribbon while working it through helps a lot. Then go back down the apron on the other side. Leave room in the ribbon for it to loop around your head. Seal the ends of the ribbon with a match so they don't fray.

And you're done!

How was that for an easy apron? Come back soon for an even easier apron tutorial. Is that even possible?

Don't forget to check out where I party!

tutorial: Easy and Quick Jingle Bell Instruments

Mr. Candid and I are in charge of the 18 month-2.5 year olds at our church for two hours. It is actually quite exhausting and completely fun. At the end of our time together we have a singing time with someone who comes in. During music time, she gives each child a little flashlight and we turn off the lights and sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star; I am like a Star; and This Little Light of Mine. Little Man talks about it all week. He loves it.

Since we have such a long time together, I decided that we should do a different music time. I wanted a few little musical instruments, so I made some egg shakers and these quick and easy jingle bells.

I tried it out last week and the kids loved it. (And it helped to break up all of our time together).

To make the jingle bells instruments, I purchased two small dowels and a bag of 48 jingle bells (6 mm) at Joann's. This made enough for 12 instruments. I already had the pipe cleaners. The total cost for all of it was about $5.

To make the jingle bell instruments, I sawed the long dowels into 6 pieces each. They were really easy to cut. Then I lightly sanded the bottom and top to make sure that there were no sharp parts.

Then I drilled two holes in the top. I used a drill bit that was just big enough to fit a pipe cleaner. The first hole was about 1/2 inch from the top.

Then I turned the dowel 90 degrees and drilled a second hole about 1/4 inch from the first one. Can you see the two holes in the picture below?

Then I strung about 4 inches of the pipe cleaner through the bottom hole and strung two jingle bells on it.

Then I wrapped the pipe cleaner around to poke it through the top hole.

And I pulled both sides of the pipe cleaner tight.

Next I strung two bells onto the end of the pipe cleaner.

And pulled those tight too.

Then I took the two ends of the pipe cleaners and twisted them together to secure the bells well.

Then I began wrapping the pipe cleaner around the dowel underneath the bell. I made sure to tuck the poky end underneath.

Then I crossed over and wrapped the pipe cleaner around the dowel above the bells.

And tucked the end underneath.

Finished!

And then I did it a few more times!

If you need an easy, fun project for the kiddos this summer, try these out! Then dance the long summer days away with your new jingle bell instruments!

Stay tuned for the egg shaker tutorial and don't forget to check out where I party.

˚tutorial˚ No-Sew Bed Skirt from a Curtain

When we moved we sold all of our bedroom furniture except for our mattress. I was tired of the random pile of blankets we had on our bed and the clunky bedroom furniture.

During our bed makeover, I could not seem to find a bed skirt I liked that was affordable and I didn't want to spend a small fortune just to cover up the few things I have stored under there.

After I discovered that are enormously large window needed three curtain panels instead of just two, I had an idea!

I cut the curtain in half the long way. Then, starting at the head board, I safety pinned it to my box springs.

As I went, I covered the safety pins with a small piece of masking tape so that the pins didn't damage the sheet or the mattress that rested on it.

My bed is a queen size, and my panel ended a little bit after one long side.

I just pinned the grommets around the corner, and started pinning the other half of the curtain panel.

I kept pinning and wrapping the bed skirt around the edge of the bed until I ran out. I didn't make it all the way around, but it didn't matter because part of my bed is really close to a wall. No one will ever know. But, I could have cut up one last panel and continued around and then make a throw pillow from the last half.

Luckily my blanket covers the somewhat awkward corners and no one will ever know that I used a curtain panel as a bed skirt. Except you.

So the next time you are looking for a bed skirt, check in the curtain isle. With a pair of scissors, safety pins, masking tape and about 15 minutes, you might have the perfect bed skirt.

Don't forget to check out where I party.

˚tutorial˚ Picnic Wedding: REVEAL

Finally. The day has arrived. I hope you enjoy the photo tour of the vintage picnic wedding. See if you can pick out all of the pieces from the tutorials over the past few weeks.

The wedding was absolutely beautiful. The bride and groom were gorgeous.

(photography by this amazing photographer Netell Johnson)

Mom made the dress out of a lace skirt the bride found online. She altered the skirt and sewed the bodice. Somehow the fabric matched perfectly. Nothing that says vintage quite like lace.

And the sleeves were the bane of her existence for about 3 weeks. I think they turned out great. Don't you?

The beautiful wildflower bouquet was especially arranged with flowers from the neighbors yard about 10 minutes before the bride left for her bridals. Don't you love great neighbors?

After a beautiful ceremony at the Salt Lake Temple, we scurried home to get the yard ready for the reception.

We used my mom's old antiques (many of which she restored herself) around the yard so we had plenty of places to put food and other things. Throughout this post, I will try and refer you back to as many tutorials as I can. In general, you can find tutorials for the mini banners placed on all of the furniture here, here, and here. The signs that are stuck in the ground throughout the yard were made here, and here.

As guests entered the yard, they came upon an old desk with the sign in book. A few pictures and some beautiful wildflowers instantly gave the place a vintage feel. (Tutorial for the bouquet vase bow found here.)

As guests followed the sidewalk around to the back yard, they came upon a place to leave gifts. The bench with an old quilt on the back looked great backed by some vintage doors. The old metal bike basket was a perfect place for the cards, and a few paper pinwheels in the flowerpot made the area feel whimsical.

The video of the bride and groom was on an old newspaper press dresser in the same area.

The small compartments were used to hold all of the newspaper letter stamps back in the day. We added a touch of color with a few words in each drawer (tutorial here).

Guests continued down the pathway lined with stakes holding jars with a candle inside.

Twine spanned between the posts and mini clothes pins held pictures of the happy couple.

The first and last posts had mini pennant flags attached.

The bride and groom stood underneath a large tree to greet their guests.

We hung yellow pots with flowers and jars with candles from the tree with ribbon.

The bride and groom sign was hung from a vintage looking door handle. It was attached with a small screw into the trunk of the tree.

After guests visited with the bride and groom, they made their way past the cake table. (tutorial for the cake and the toppers here.)

Next came a large, vintage, metal wagon (thanks to a different neighbor) with another vintage quilt on top. This was the perfect space for the boxed lunches (tutorial for the boxed lunch here and here.)

Pots with pinwheels and paper balls (tutorial coming soon) were hung with twine.

The drink table held pink and regular lemonaide and water.

Next came the watermelon table. Since watermelon would be difficult to keep dry in the boxed lunches, we opted for a seperate table.

Next came a sweets cabinent. A few vintage, glass vases and cups made this area fun. Pictures of the happy couple were placed among the salt water taffy treats.

And closeby, a cookie table with a lace table cloth held too many delicious choices.

And not too far from the cookie table were the picnic areas. A group of chairs and a jean blanket were grouped in small areas for people to eat on.

And by each set of chairs, a colored post with some pennant banners and a jar with a candle and a few pinwheels was pounded into the ground.

And the Mr. was always ready to set up a few more chairs if needed. We also had extra blankets on hand. (And yes, the Mr. was the only person at the reception to be wearing a hat and the bride and the mother-of-the-bride didn't care one bit. Hey, it was a picnic!)

The games were located on the other side of the lawn. Anything from ping pong to the trampoline, everyone had a blast.

And in between the food and the games was the dance floor. Large pennants hung from the deck to the pool gate to make the dance area (which would be heavily used at dark).

And after the Mr. and my brother shattered a large strand of party lights earlier that morning (don't worry, we swept twice and vaccumed the cement to be sure there wasn't any glass on the dance floor), we were thrilled that they got them hung with success.