Guest Post and GIVEAWAY with Mamma Nene from Serger Pepper

Today I'm handing over the reigns of my blog to Mamma Nene of Serger Pepper to share her first ever guest post with you all! I'll be posting over at The Dusty Attic today, if you fancy a little more reading, but until then I hope you enjoy this wonderful tutorial which Mamma Nene has put together for you all! 

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Hi everybody!

I'm MammaNene from Italy and I'm writing my first Guest Post (exciting, uh?)

 First of all I'd really like to let you know me a little bit: I'm a 30-something working Mom (who in a little will be a 40 something, but: who cares?) of a 4yo little girl (LilPotato) who is my first fan :-)

I love to sew and, starting from this, I decided to start a bilingual blog sharing my passion, writing tutorials and giving away free patterns, always looking to sustainability and refashioning every time I can.

And that's what I'm doing now: I know that Sunae's blog is not a sewing blog, and I've been thinking a lot if it was the right post to share here ... then I decided to do that... basically, if you don't like the topic you can simply skip it and, if you like it, maybe you can discover something new!!!



By the way, this is my tutorial for you:

What you need: 

• old bed sheets... or fabric, obviously! Two pieces about 60 cm x 120 cm
• a little piece of elastic of about 15 cm
• scissors, pins, sewing machine, thread, ruler, a pen, iron and iron board
• my measure scheme:

Let's start:

Take your old bed sheets (already cut with measures above) and fold them in half and then in half again, like this:

You now have a 30 cm x 60 cm rectangle!

Cut out two fabric squares (ehm, rectangles, in fact) like on the scheme and, unfolding, you'll obtain a strange shape, like this:

 

Repeat on the other bed sheet scrap (outer)

Now put the two pieces (main and lining) right sides facing and sew around the center hole, like I did (you can leave 1 cm of seam allowances, or sew leaving the feet edge as a seam allowance, like I did: it's not rocket science, you don't have to get mad about measurements!) including on the seam near one of the corners a piece of elastic you'll use to keep folded your market bag:

When all sewn, on corners, clip fabric until you reach the seam, BUT without cutting it!!Then turn inside out and press with an hot iron all around the seam.

Now the fun part:

We have to roll one side of the market bag inside one of the handles, in order to sew together the main and the lining fabrics, ride sides facing, like this:

Let's sew, starting from one side seam, finishing to the other side seam (two 90∞ angles to sew and clip on corners, like we did on the center hole), then turn inside out, taking fabrics out with your hand: ta-daaa:

Press everything nicely and repeat on the other side (rolling, sewing, turning and pressing, do everything twice!)

Let's close side and bottom seams of both outside fabric and lining in one seam, right sides facing (remember, you have to leave a gap on the lining bottom, so we can reverse everything inside-out).

You can stop here or, if you like some boxy shape, proceed squaring corners on each one of the 4 angles, like this:

When you've turned inside out your bag, you can stitch the gap by hand or, like I did, with a straight machine stitch (lazy girl, I didn't change the thread color, but it's on the lining, who cares?)

Your Lined Foldable Market Bag is done.

You can change measures if you like it higher and thinner,  you choose, this tutorial is ok with any measure!



If you're still reading this: Wow, thank you!

If you're sewing one or one hundred of these, please share them on my flickr group

If you want some more tutorial: please come to visit Serger Pepper and, maybe, let me know you discovered me thanks to Sunae from Little Foal!

Hugs 

MammaNene

SergerPepper.blogspot.it

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Thank you so much Mamma Nene for sharing this tutorial on my blog! Bet you didn't know that Little Foal actually started out as Because I Said Sew and used to be a sewing blog ;) 

I Really hope you all enjoyed this post! Be sure to pop over and check out the other awesome tutorials that Mamma Nene posts on Serger Pepper. She is one very clever and thrifty lady!

Mamma Nene is kindly offering on lucky Little Foal reader the chance to win 2 months 250x250 ad space on her fantastic blog! I have thrown in one month's space on Little Foal as a little bonus, as well and you can enter via the Rafflecopter widget below. 

Best of luck! xx

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Lavender Pillow/Bag Tutorial

Okay, so this is something which probably doesn't need a tutorial, but I was making some today and thought I would share one anyway. They're a great stocking stuffer or complimentary gift and are great for beginners to sew. Plus, they make everything smell pretty, and that's always a bonus! :)

You will need:

• Dried lavender 
• Scraps of fabric
• Embellishments (optional)
• sewing machine and basic sewing notions.

Method:

1. Cut your scraps of fabric into small strips or squares of fabric, depending on how big you would like your lavender bags or pillows to be.
2. Embellish your fabric if you wish to do so. I find it easiest to embellish first because then you are working with a flat, single layer piece of fabric, rather than a sewn up bag or pillow. You can either machine stitch or hand stitch your embellishments on - I tend to do a combination of both.
3. Fold your strips in half right sides together and sew up each side to make your bags and hem the top. If you are doing lavender pillows, place two matching squares right sides together and sew around three edges to make your pillow, leaving one edge open for stuffing. I like to use my overlocker to sew projects like this because it is quick and easy, and makes a nice, neat edge which wont fray. If you don't have an overlocker, that's fine though - you might just want to zig-zag stitch next to your straight stitch to stop the edges of your bag or pillow fraying, and you can double fold the hem of your bags.
4. Turn your pillows and bags the right side out. To get the corners to look nice, poke a knitting needle or pencil into them to push them out.Stuff pillows with dried lavender and seal the opening by slip stitching. If you are making bags, simply half fill each bag with dried lavender and tie a ribbon around the top to secure.

Now you're done! Wasn't that easy? 

If you're wondering where you can get dried lavender, it can be bought from some health food stores and craft stores or you can dry out the dying lavender buds off a bush in your garden! I used a mixture of store bought and home grown lavender today, both of which were given to me by my Nan. Dried lavender from the store looks much more consistent and is more grainy than lavender grown at home. That is why I mixed mine together - I didn't want some pillows to be grainy and others to be nice and fluffy! I think my bags and pillows turned out great!