* I moved my blog to 365 Days of Sewing! Subscribe here.

You would think that the red high heels in the photo are the devil shoes mentioned in the title of this post. They look beautiful so they can’t be comfortable, right? They are certainly not bunny slippers, but thanks to my fashion rules mentioned in Part 1, they are wearable, proving that it is possible to be cute and (somewhat) comfortable.

The title of devil shoes belongs to the seemingly innocuous shoes below, which caused one of my most embarrassing moments to date. Let me start at the beginning… Visit the 365 Days of Sewing blog to read more!

* I moved my blog to 365 Days of Sewing! Subscribe here.

I had been looking for just the right pair of red heels forever, and my husband found these little gems, which fit the bill perfectly. They are a great color red, actually more of a coral red, which means I can wear them with a ton of different colors and outfits. I did not want the “I want to have practical red shoes for the office” heels. I wanted the “I’m going on a date with my husband” heels. Check check! They have a peek-a-boo toe. Check! They are shiny patent leather. Check! I think the shinier the shoe, the better, don’t you? They have a high heel. Check check check, which brings me back to the question, am I willing to suffer a little to wear these awesome three-inch “I-can-only-wear these-to-the-movies-and-back” heels? The answer? Visit the 365 Days of Sewing blog to find out!

*I moved my blog to 365 Days of Sewing. Click here to subscribe to my new blog!

Pure Fashion Grows Fashion Models Into Role Models 

Stylish teens all across the country are taking fashion to a higher level, and people are starting to notice. Teen girls ages 14-18 are learning the fun of fashion, but also the beauty in virtue through an organization called Pure Fashion. Pure Fashion offers an intense seven-month Model Training Program that teaches teen girls more than just how to walk down a runway; the program also includes training in public speaking, manners and social graces, hair and make up artistry, personal presentation and character development… Click here to read more!

Subscribe to the 365 Days of Sewing Blog! 

365 Days of Sewing

So far, we have more than 130 downloadable sewing lessons available that cover everything from stitch tension to designing your own pattern, but 365 Days of Sewing is more than just a place to download free daily sewing lessons. In fact, there are lots of fun things to see and do. Over the next few weeks I am going to be posting exclusive interviews with some of the top sewing authors of our time, including Mary Adams, author of The Party Dress Book and Judi Ketteler, author of Sew Retro, who will also be giving away a free copy of her Sew Retro book to one lucky 365 Days of Sewing blog reader! I will also be hosting a giveaway where you can enter to win the book Thread and Bobbin Simple Sewing Projects by Kaitlin Witte and Alison Newman, and that’s just in the first few blog posts!

Below is a list of ten additional reasons to join 365 Days of Sewing.

1) Become a Sewing Contributor
Don’t just read about sewing, write about it! Each week I send out a Sewing Question of the Week (SQOTW) to 365 Days of Sewing members, which gives you a platform to share your thoughts and ideas for all of the world to read!

Sewing Question of the Week

2) Submit Guest Blog Entries
Ya’ll know I love sewing bloggers, and I want to do everything I can to help you promote your sewing blog. I invite 365 Days of Sewing members to contribute guest blog submissions so they can gain additional credibility and traffic for their blog, and I would love you to submit your guest blog topic too!

3) Win Free Stuff
I love giveaways and I know you do to, which is why I am going to be hosting lots of giveaways on the 365 Days of Sewing Blog. You won’t want to miss out!

4) Take Online Sewing Classes
Starting this summer, we are going to be offering a free darts class, exclusively for 365 Days of Sewing members. This is the first of many online classes to come!

5) Promote Your Blog
In addition to inviting 365 members to submit guest blog entries, I also invite you to post a link to your blog in your 365 profile. This is a great way to get a link back to your site, as well as tell other seamstresses about your blog. A link to your website also shows up when you answer the Sewing Question of the Week or leave a comment. We offer all of these features to help you gain more traffic on your blog, and we are going to continue to add features in the future.

6) Connect with Fellow Seamstresses
The 365 Days of Sewing site is a great place to connect with seamstresses from all across the world who love sewing as much as you do. You will find cool sewing blogs that you never knew about, see inspiring projects and find new helpful resources!

7) Start a Group
Is there a specific sewing topic that you are passionate about? If so, start a group on 365 Days of Sewing! We have all kinds of groups already, including “I Designed it!,” “Sewing with Kids,” “Altering and Re-Designing,” “I Love Vintage” and more! What group do you want to start?

Sewing with Kids Group

8 ) Upload Your Sewing Photos / Videos
As a 365 member, you have your very own photo album where you can upload your latest sewing projects so everyone can oohhhh and ahhhh over them. You can also post videos with sewing tutorials, etc. This is another great way to drive traffic back to your blog.

9) Post Events
Do you know of a sewing event? Post it! Members of 365 Days of Sewing can post their sewing events. Post whatever type of sewing event you might have, including conferences, sewing classes, etc.

10) Free Daily Sewing Lessons
And let’s not forget the best part. We offer a free sewing lesson every day of the year! Who does that kind of thing? You can download a lesson every day, or you can download lessons a month at a time.

Free Daily Sewing Lessons

So those are ten good reasons why to move with me to 365 Days of Sewing, and there are plenty more. So please join me at www.365DaysofSewing.com by subscribing and we will keep the sewing party going! If you want to help me tell the world about www.365DaysofSewing, please consider posting a link like the one below on your blog. It’s easy! Click here for the code.

Curtains repurposed as a cute vintage-style apron.

Today’s Friday Finish is from my friend, Celeste. Celeste found a cute cafe curtain for 25 cents at a rummage sale, and turned it into an apron. Here’s here story.

“I was attracted to the embroidery, especially all the French knots. I don’t have any windows I could have used it in, but I knew I’d figure something out. A spool of grosgrain ribbon and about 15 minutes later and I had an apron,” said Celeste.

Detail photo of embroidery.

Thanks for your submission, Celeste!

Now it’s YOUR turn! Do you have a sewing project that you are working on? Submit it and I will post it as a Friday Finish!

Send all submissions to unfinishedprojectparty@gmail.com and include what pattern you used (or specify that it is your own design), at least two photos of your project, a photo of yourself, your location, and your Twitter account or blog. Also, include any tips or sewing techniques that you learned along the way! Personal projects only, please! (Please do not include projects that you have for sale.) Projects due by Thursday at midnight ET.

Did you like today’s post? Then subscribe to the Unfinished Project Party Blog!

I am excited to announce that Deb, whose favorite fabric is the Snowday Blue Snowflake fabric, is the winner! Deb has won a $25 gift certificate to Fabrics N Quilts.

I want to extend a special thanks to Fabrics N Quilts for sponsoring the contest. Please be sure to check out the Fabrics N Quilts website. They have many wonderful fabrics that I know you will enjoy! Don’t forget to stop by and follow Fabrics N Quilts on Twitter!

Did you like today’s post? Then subscribe to the Unfinished Project Party Blog!

Need more inspiration for sewing? Stop by my other sewing site, 365 Days of Sewing, to download a free sewing lesson every day!

Thomas the Train Shirt

“I just finished a Thomas the Train shirt for my two-year old grandson.  He loves Thomas the Train.  It’s so hard to find fabric for little boys so I jumped at this when I saw it,” said Patsy. “The problem was,  the design went the wrong way. It was printed lengthwise, such that I had to cut the shirt out on cross grain rather than straight of grain, or all the trains would have been on their side.”

“I used Simplicity 3856 shirt E in size 3, but as I said, I didn’t follow their pattern layout.  I copy kids patterns onto butcher paper, so I can use same pattern for different sizes as they grow,” said Patsy. “I marked my pattern pieces so that I could match the ‘stripes’ on the side seams and also the center front.”

Sewing with Cross Grain Fabric

Matching Cross Grain Fabric

Thanks for your submission, Patsy! Yes finished sewing projects!

If you want to learn more about sewing a shirt with fabric on the cross grain, visit Past’y blog. Don’t forget to stop by and say hi to Patsy on Twitter!

Now it’s YOUR turn! Do you have a sewing project that you are working on? Submit it and I will post it as a Friday Finish!

Send all submissions to unfinishedprojectparty@gmail.com and include what pattern you used (or specify that it is your own design), at least two photos of your project, a photo of yourself, your location, and your Twitter account or blog. Also, include any tips or sewing techniques that you learned along the way! Personal projects only, please! (Please do not include projects that you have for sale.) Projects due by Thursday at midnight ET.

Did you like today’s post? Then subscribe to the Unfinished Project Party Blog!

Save the pins that come with men's dress shirts.

Little hidden treasures in dress shirt packaging.

Dress shirt pins are so handy to have around for fittings. They are great for making where you want to take in darts and seams.

I keep my small dress shirt pins on a separate pin cushion than my large pins. Otherwise, they would get lost in the mix.

Pin cushion.

If you like this blog post, subscribe to the Unfinished Project Party Blog!

Don’t forget to submit your finished sewing project and I will post it as a Friday Finish. This is a great way for you to send a little traffic to your blog. Send all submissions to unfinishedprojectparty@gmail.com and include what pattern you used (or specify that it is your own design), at least two photos of your project, a photo of yourself, your location, and your Twitter account or blog. Also, include any tips or sewing techniques that you learned along the way! Personal projects only, please! (Please do not include projects that you have for sale.) Projects due by Thursday at midnight ET.

Linen Embroidered Coasters: A Tutorial by Tania from Manusmade

Linen Embroidered coasters

I’m so happy to be able to show all of you in this great community how to make two simple, modern, whimsical linen coasters. They are really easy, even if you are new to embroidery, and you can whip up a batch of them in no time at all! I know for a fact that friends love to receive these coasters as hostess gifts. You can use the designs I’ve included here, or go wild and put your own stamp on them! Or, they are also lovely and modern without any embellishment at all. So, let’s get started, shall we?

1. GATHER. Gather together everything you need:

• Four squares of linen in your choice of colors, 5”x5” (two front, two back) NOTE: if you want to use an embroidery hoop to complete your design, see step 2 before you cut out your linen squares)
• Embroidery thread (I love to use crewel (wool) thread)
• two squares of iron-on interfacing, 4.5”x4.5”
• Embroidery needle (any needle that will fit your embroidery thread)
• Scissors

Sewing Materials

2. EMBROIDER. The designs shown here are simple enough that you don’t really need an embroidery hoop. If you do a more intricate design, or feel that you need the help of a hoop, make sure to finish the embroidery on your linen before you cut out the 5” squares.

Take the first of your two front pieces, and follow the design in the first picture for the three green flower heads. You will be embroidering the three flowers along the right edge of the first coaster. Start the bottom flower about 1 to 1.5” in from the right edge of the front piece, so you leave enough room for your seam allowance and topstitching. Each flower head is made up of four simple Lazy Daisy Stitches, instructions can be found here: http://www.needlework-tips-and-techniques.com/chain-stitch-embroidery.html#daisy.

Feeling lazy? Just do three petals. Feeling the energy of spring in the air? Do five petals – it’s up to you!

Embroidering Green flowers

Take the second of your two front pieces, and follow the design in the first picture for the three purple flowers. Start the first flower (the one on the right) about 1 to 1.5” in from the right edge, and about 1’ up from the bottom edge, leaving enough room for your seam allowance and topstitching. Each flower is made up of one long straight stitch, and three French knots, instructions can be found here: http://www.needlework-tips-and-techniques.com/stitch-a-french-knot.html.

I’ve wrapped the thread around the needle three times because I like extra textural bumpiness. Each flower is at a slightly different height for added interest, but you can make them as tall or short as you like!

Embroidering Purple flowers

3. INTERFACING. Take the two pieces of interfacing, and place them gum-side down on the wrong side of the backs of the coasters. Iron on a medium-low setting until the gum has set. This interfacing will give the coasters just enough sturdiness to make them feel solid and not too floppy!

Insert Interfacing

4. PIN and SEW. Take the front and back pieces of one of your coasters and place the right sides together. Do the same with the second coaster. Pin them in place – you don’t want to skip this step, as linen stretches easily and could pull out of shape as you sew.

Pin

Sew 3/8” in from the edge on all four sides, leaving a gap of about two inches so you can turn your coaster inside out. Clip the corners. Repeat with the second coaster.

Clip Corners

5. TURN. Take the coaster and turn it inside out through the hole in the seam you left yourself. Use a pointer of some kind to make sure you end up with something that looks basically square!

Turn Right Side Out

Iron the coaster flat, folding the seam allowance into the middle of the coaster.

Iron

6. TOPSTITCH. As the final step, the topstitching serves two purposes – to make a nice border around your coaster (it could be in contrasting thread), and also, to close the gap left in the seam. Topstitch about 1/4” from the edge, making sure to catch the seam, and close off the hole used for turning your coaster.

Easy peasy! You’ve just made two of the cutest coasters ever! I would LOVE it if you send me an email at tania(at)manusmade(dot)com and show me your results, and let me know who you made them for! I will take them and show them off on my blog. Happy stitching, everyone!!

Final product!

_____

Thanks for the tutorial, Tania!

Please stop by Tania’s website and say hello. I also recommend checking out her fun Mother’s Day ideas!

Want to submit your own guest blog idea? Click here! 

If you like this blog post, subscribe to the Unfinished Project Party Blog!

Don’t forget about the Fabrics N Quilts Giveaway. Deadline to enter is May 1, 2011!