Summer Fun with the Brassy Apple

Hi, everyone!!  We did a guest post over at Brassy Apple    I want to Thank Megan for having us. I love Summer and all the great things that inspire me to create.  My tutorial is for a Summer towel wrap,  I made mine for a my neighbor's little girl Olivia.  We have a pool and I have made these in the past and people love them.  Depending on the size of the person you are making it for a regular bath towel will work.

I start with one bath towel,  fat quarter of fabric to match,  1 1/2 yards of rick rack.  3/4 yard of 1 inch elastic. and 4 inches of sew in velcro 3/4" wide (keep in mind that you can add straps or more embellishments than I did)  I have made them with a ruffle at the bottom, and for a little boy just add a basketball, a monster or whatever.    I measured Olivia,  I needed about 13 inches.  I then trimmed my towel to 30" long.  I serged the edge so that it wouldn't fray.)  This is the edge that is underneath.

Measure off how long you want it.  We decided to keep this one longer so that when she got out of the pool it covered most of her  (20" inches long is what we needed).  Measure from under the armpit to where you want it to hit.  To that measurement add 1 1/2 inches for your elastic casing. Cut off excess towel.  I used a serger to finish my edge but you could zig zag the edge to keep it from unraveling.

Press under 1 1/2" on the top edge, this will be your casing for the elastic

Now before you stitch down the casing you will want to add the velcro.  Cut a 4" strip.  sew the hook    side (roughest piece)  1" from the edge of the towel. that will be the underneath of the towel (this is also the edge that you cut off)   Stitch all the way around the edge of the velcro,  add the other piece to the top of the wrap sewing all the way around the velcro.

  

Once that is done you will want to stitch your casing down.  Stitch about a 1/4 inch in from the edge.

Using a saftey pin, thread elastic through the casing,   Tighten to fit, and sew the open ends closed being sure to catch the ends of the elastic in your seams.  

To embellish I added rick rack to the front edge, and all the way around the bottom  I added it 3 1/2" from the bottom edge.  Stitch in place.  I then traced the letter "O" from one of the fonts off of my word program.  Trace it backwards on to Heat and Bond, and press in to desired place,  I then used my Sizzix and cut out some flowers and ironed them on in various places.  I did stitch all the added pieces down even though I used Heat and Bond this takes a lot of wear and tear and wanted my pieces to stay on so I stitched them all down just around the outside edge.

Measure 3 1/2" from bottom for the rick rack.

Adding an O for Olivia

Place flowers, letter where you want them and Press!

I then added buttons to the center of the flowers.  Olivia is ready to come over and swim and be styling in her new cover up!!  Thanks so much for having us Megan!!  Come visit us at our blog!

Nadine

The Material Girls Quilts

Bling it with Brassy Apple

Just thought I would share Shelby's tutorial that she had over at the Brassy Apple  We feel honored to have been apart of this, Thank you Megan!  So here it is.....,

Hi everyone!  I am Shelby from the Material Girls Quilts in South Jordan, Utah.  I first want to tell Megan, "Thank-you" for having us.  I have loved reading all of the jewelry posts.  I will definitely be trying a few of the tutorials out myself.  I must say that this is my first tutorial, so forgive me if I don't explain it well,  feel free to call me at the shop, I would be happy to answer any questions.  Okay, here goes!!

Make sure if you are buying leather that it is soft, it is available in many colors.

     My tutorial will be on a leather cuff bracelet,  I have spotted several of these at a few of my favorite stores and boutiques at really high price points.  I purchased my leather blank bracelets at a craft store.  You could make your own by cutting the leather to fit your wrists and using a snap setter apply 2 snaps.  If you are making your own, make sure and make it a little snug as your leather will stretch. Mine measures 2" x 7 1/2, it makes it easier to embellish at this width.
The next step is to decide how you want to embellish it,  I am way into pennants right now and decided my first would be a more casual style with a pennant on it.   I cut little scraps of fabrics,  one inch by one inch in a pennant shape

After cutting them all out.  I sewed them together.  I used 5 pennants to reach across my bracelet.  You could use more if needed.

auditioning embellishments

Finished bracelet,  embellish as much as you like.

After I had sewn my pennants together I then laid them on the leather,  (before sewing make sure that is exactly where you want them,) if you have to pick out of the leather it is not very forgiving and will leave needle holes.  Now comes the fun part!!  Get creative!  add all kinds of buttons, pearls, rick rack you name it, it will go with leather.  I couldn't just stop at one so I made a second one that is a little bit vintage-y.
I added a piece of crochet cotton lace across the bracelet,

Adding lace

Before adding the lace make sure and finish the edges so it doesn't fray.

After finishing the edges of my lace I sewed it right on to my leather cuff.  I used regular cotton thread and a just a regular needle.  I will have to change my needle for my next quilting project.  I decided this one would be a leather, lace combo.  I then cut 1 1/2 x 10" strip of satin.  I sewed it to form a circle and bunched it together in the center and wrapped it with a pink jute.  I added a few brass buttons and walah!, a leather and lace look.

Leather and Lace

Thanks so much everyone for letting me be a part of your very crafty world, and again Megan thank you for putting this all together.  Any questions just give me a call at the shop, or post it on our blog the Material Girls Quilts
Shelby