Learn to Sew: DIY Sunglasses Case and a Winner

Posted on April 2, 2016 by The Renegade Seamstress

I don’t know about you, but weather like we had yesterday makes me want to grab my suit and towel and head for the nearest pool party.

70 degrees on April 1st? That’s no joke!

So grab your fruity tropical drink with a tiny umbrella, click here, and I’ll show you how to make a fun and easy fabric case to keep your sunglasses scratch free when you take them off to dive (or cannonball) into the pool.

Don’t miss the rest of the Learn to Sew series:

For more refashion and sewing inspiration, click here.

Thanks so much to everyone who has helped to get the word out about the Learn to Sew series. The winner of the $100.00 Joann’s gift card is…

Abigail Warrender!

Congratulations! Email your address to bhunting@eoni.com and I’ll send it out.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged crafting, DIY, fashion, giveaway, Sewing, Sunglasses Case, tutorial | 5 Comments

Learn to Sew: Homemade Lavender Sachet

Posted on March 12, 2016 by The Renegade Seamstress

Want to make your drawers or closets smell great and practice your sewing skills at the same time? As the eighth project in the Learn to Sew series, these lavender-filled pouches pack a big punch when it comes to filling spaces with a calming scent. You won’t be able to stop smiling when you slide open a drawer or open your closet door and get a whiff of lavender, knowing that you made these cute sachets all by yourself!

Click here or on any of the pictures for the full tutorial.

Don’t miss the rest of the Learn to Sew series:

For more refashion and sewing inspiration, click here.

There’s still time to enter in the $100.00 Joann’s gift card giveaway. All you have to do is click here , pin the eHow article to one of your Pinterest boards, share on your Facebook page and make a comment for your name to be entered into the drawing. Your name will be entered each time you share. Thanks so much for helping to get the word out about this new sewing series.

Happy Sewing!

Beth

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged crafting, crafts, DIY, fashion, giveaway, Lavender sachet, Sewing, tutorial | 13 Comments

Learn to Sew: DIY Travel Makeup Organizer and a Giveaway

Posted on March 5, 2016 by The Renegade Seamstress

I’ve really enjoyed designing this Learn to Sew series for you. I hope it’s been as much fun for you as it has been for me. 🙂

Next up:

A few easy and beautiful projects to practice your newfound sewing skills…

Travel in style, and keep your brushes in tip-top shape, with this DIY makeup organizer. Create one for yourself, or impress a friend by making one as a gift.

You can create a custom design to fit your brushes,

choose colors and ribbons to coordinate with your accessories,

Brush-holder-16

and make your brushes feel beautiful, too, in an organizer that you made just for them.

Thank you so much for following along and sharing this Learn to Sew series. I really appreciate all of your nice comments and encouragement. You all make it possible for me to do what I love to do.

To thank you for getting the word out about this new series, I’d like to give away another $100.00 Joann’s gift card to one of you. All you have to do to be entered to win is click here, comment and share the article on your Pinterest boards and/or Facebook page.

Don’t miss the rest of the “Learn to Sew” series:

Happy Sewing!!!!

Beth

For more sewing and refashion inspiration, click here.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged crafts, DIY, giveaway, Learn to Sew, Makeup organizer, Sewing, tutorial | 38 Comments

Learn to Sew: How to Make a Muslin to Check For Fit and a Winner

Posted on February 21, 2016 by The Renegade Seamstress

Whether you’re an expert seamstress or a beginner, it’s always a good idea and well worth the effort to make a muslin before sewing a garment. A muslin is essentially a practice garment made from a cheap fabric similar to the type of fabric that will be used for the real garment. Typically, you make one to check for fit as well as determine whether a style is good for your body type.

I know! I know what you’re thinking.

How am I going to find the time to sew a muslin in addition to the regular garment?!!!

But believe me. There is nothing worse than spending oodles of time and $$$ sewing the garment of your dreams only to find out it doesn’t fit or the style looks horrible on you.

It’s well worth your time to create a muslin first.

So, grab my hand, click here and come with me so I can show you how to make a muslin. You’ll be “sew” glad you did. (Ha! That “sew” thing never gets old. 🙂 )

Don’t miss the rest of the Learn to Sew Series:

Part One: Essential Sewing Tools

Part Two: Basic Sewing Machine Stitches

Part Three: Choosing Fabrics and Patterns

Part Four: How to Mark the Fabric Before You Cut

Part Five: How to Read a Sewing Pattern

In other news:

The winner of the $100.00 Joann’s Fabric gift card is:

Dawn Jones

Congratulations! Send your address to bhunting@eoni.com and I’ll get it out to you ASAP. 🙂

For more sewing and refashion inspiration click here.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged alterations, clothing, DIY, fashion, giveaway, make a muslin, Refashion, Sewing, tutorial | 8 Comments

Learn to Sew: How to Read a Sewing Pattern

Posted on February 15, 2016 by The Renegade Seamstress

Word combos. So. Much. Fun!

This one brings a smile to my face and I honestly wish I would’ve thought of it.

SEWCABULARY

Isn’t it perfect?!

Well, today’s Learn to Sew class is all about the SEWCABULARY you need to know in order to read a pattern and make your sewing adventure much more fun.

It seems like it would be simple to just follow the instructions, but reading pattern directions can be a bit like reading a foreign language if you don’t know where to start and some of the sewing vocabulary.

Click here or on one of the pictures for the free sewing class that you can access any time and as many times as you’d like.

Don’t miss the rest of the new Learn to Sew series:

Read Part 1: Essential Sewing Tools

Read Part 2: Basic Sewing Machine Stitches

Read Part 3: Choosing Patterns and Fabrics

Read Part 4: How to Mark the Fabric Before You Cut

Read Part 5: How to Read a Sewing Pattern

For your chance to win a $100.00 gift card to Joann’s Fabric and Crafts, simply click on the links and share them to one of your Pinterest boards and make a comment. Each time you do this, your name will be entered in the drawing. Thank you for helping me get the word out about this new class. 🙂

For more sewing and refashioning inspiration:

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged alterations, clothing, crafts, DIY, fashion, patterns, reading patterns, Sewing, sewing terms, sewing vocabulary, tutorial | 9 Comments

Learn to Sew: How to Mark the Fabric Before You Cut and a Giveaway

Posted on January 31, 2016 by The Renegade Seamstress

Now that you’ve set up your sewing machine, practiced your stitches, chosen your fabric and pattern, you’re ready to to mark all of those pattern marks to your fabric. But which marks do you transfer and what should you use?

There are many tool options for marking your fabric, and everyone seems to have their favorite. Test them out on a small scrap of fabric first to see which one you prefer and to make sure that the mark can be removed later. Let’s take a look at some of the options and which pattern marks you will need to transfer.

Click here or on any of the pictures to learn which pattern marks to transfer and which tool option to use.

As a special thank you for being a part of this new series, and to celebrate over 7,000,000 views. I’m going to be giving away a $100.00 Joann’s Fabric and Craft gift card to one person who comments, shares and pins my eHow articles in this new sewing series. Each share, pin and comment will be counted as an entry in the giveaway.

Learn to Sew: Essential Sewing Tools

Learn to Sew: Basic Sewing Machine Stitches

Learn to Sew: Choosing Fabrics and Patterns

Learn to Sew: How to Mark the Fabric Before You Cut

Thank you all so much for all of your encouragement and support over the last few years. It’s truly been a pleasure to share this sewing adventure with you!

Beth

For more sewing and refashion inspiration:

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged clothing, DIY, eHow, fashion, giveaway, Learn to Sew, Refashion, Sewing, tutorial | 65 Comments

Learn to Sew: How to Read Patterns

Posted on January 16, 2016 by The Renegade Seamstress

I almost wore my Hawaiian sundress to work yesterday, but I thought that would just be too obnoxious.

But can you blame me? We’re finally on our way to Hawaii. Our plane leaves in a few hours and by this afternoon, I’ll be lounging on the beach with a tropical drink in my hand. YAY!

Needless to say, there won’t be a whole lot of sewing going on next week, but I made sure to get the third episode of the Learn to Sew series up and running for you before I left:

How to Read a Pattern and Choose Fabrics

If you’ve ever ventured into a fabric shop and tried to read the mysterious language on the back of a pattern envelope,

wondered what all of those marks on the pattern mean and

wanted to know how to choose fabric and cut out the pattern,

then this episode is just what you’ve been looking for.

Join me here for the third episode in the new Learn to Sew series. It’s free and you can access it anytime you like.

If you missed the first two episodes you can find them here:

Learn to Sew: Essential Sewing Tools In this episode you learn how to get your sewing machine up and running, wind a bobbin and what tools you need to get started on your sewing adventures.

Learn to Sew: Basic Sewing Machine Stitches This is where your sewing adventure begins. You’ll learn to sew a straight stitch, basting stitch, gathering stitch, zig zag stitch, reverse stitch, how to turn a corner and how to make a buttonhole. Then you’ll practice your newfound skills by creating your own pillowcase.

Well, I’m off on my tropical adventure, but I’ll still have my computer with me if you have any questions or comments on this new episode.

Aloha!

Beth

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged clothing, DIY, fabrics, Learn to Sew, patterns, Sewing | 18 Comments

Learn to Sew: Basic Sewing Machine Stitches

Posted on January 9, 2016 by The Renegade Seamstress

It’s here!

Episode 2 of the Learn to Sew Series.

It’s free and you can access it anytime you like.

So, pick out a scrap piece of fabric, turn on your machine and crank up those tunes, because THIS is where your sewing adventure really begins!

In this episode, you’ll learn to sew a straight stitch, basting stitch, gathering stitch, zig zag stitch, reverse stitch, how to turn a corner and how to make a buttonhole.

Then you’ll practice your newfound skills by creating your own cute pillowcase.

To see the first episode in this fun new Learn to Sew series you can click here to learn how to wind a bobbin and thread your machine.

Thank you so much for your wonderful response to this new sewing series. I can’t even begin to tell you how much fun it is for me to see how excited you are about learning to sew. And thank you so much for sharing these posts with your friends and family that also want to learn to sew. I always look forward to your comments here and over at eHow.

Happy Sewing!

Beth

For more sewing and refashioning inspiration click here:

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged clothing, Learn to Sew, Sewing, Stitches, tutorial | 13 Comments

A Tote Bag Tutorial

Posted on January 2, 2016 by The Renegade Seamstress

Tote bags, tote bags!

Who wants to make a tote bag?

Tote bags are an easy first project if you’re just learning to sew or a wonderful way to get back into sewing to refresh your skills. Even if you’ve been sewing for years, tote bags are fun projects to make for gifts or even for yourself.

When Becky Olk invited me to be a guest on the midwestern lifestyle show, Happi House, I jumped at the chance to hang out with them again. In this episode, Happi and I make this tote bag together.

Click here to watch us in action.

I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed filming it with the creative and fun Happi House crew.

“Happi” Sewing!

Beth

And…

If you’re just learning to sew or would like to refresh your skills, click here for the first episode of the new sewing series: Learn to Sew. It’s free and you can access it anytime you’d like.

Thank you to everyone who went over to eHow and shared the first episode in the Learn to Sew series. And thanks so much for all of your nice comments! The winner of The Refashion Handbook is… Mary Anne Bolis Krohn. Send your address to bhunting@eoni.com and I’ll send the book to you ASAP.

For more sewing/refashioning inspiration:

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged crafts, DIY, DIY tote bag, fashion, giveaway, Learn to Sew, Sewing, The Happi House, The Refashion Handbook, tutorial | 9 Comments

10 Most Popular Posts of 2015

Posted on December 31, 2015 by The Renegade Seamstress

“Remember, Cooper, something wonderful is going to happen today!”

Even though Cooper sometimes sighs and raises his eyebrows when I say this, I can tell by the way the corners of his mouth go up a bit and by the little twinkle in his eye, that deep down Coop loves hearing me say this every day in my sing song voice as I leave the house. I mean really, what teenager wouldn’t? Right???!!!! 🙂

Well, on this last day of 2015 as we head into a new year, I want to say the same thing to all of you:

“Remember, something wonderful is going to happen in 2016!”

I hope this past year has been a beautiful time in your lives and my wish for all of you in 2016: Lots of love, success, wonderful new experiences and abundance!

Thanks so much for always being so supportive and encouraging. It’s so much fun for me to know which projects and articles you liked the best and here’s the top ten list for 2015 starting with the 10th most popular article. (I love that two of the articles include Brookie!)

# 10 – Sewing 101: Basic Clothing Alterations You Can Do Yourself

#9 – DIY Upcycled Clutch

#8 – How to Make Headbands Out of Shirts

#7 – Refashioned Denim Easter Basket

#6 – How to Make Aprons From Shirts

#5 – How to Make a Ballet Tutu

#4 – How to Turn a Crew Neck T-Shirt Into a V-Neck

#3 – How to Make a Pair of Slippers

#2 – How to Make the Waist Bigger on Jeans

#1 – How to Take in a Pair of Blue Jeans

And there you have it. The top ten posts of 2015.

Happiest of New Years to all of you and a big Happy Birthday to my sister Jan!

And don’t forget,

Something wonderful is going to happen this year!!

🙂

Beth

PS. If your new year plans include learning how to sew or dusting off your sewing machine and you’d like a refresher course, you can check out my new Learn to Sew Series here. It’s free and you can access it whenever you’d like.