Trip Toys part 2

 These little art totes have room for markers...

 and two pockets for...

 stickers,

 all kinds of paper,

 coloring sheets, and I-spy game, and even a sheet of Math problems for one special guy who loves for me to make up problems for him to work on.

And finally, these are magnetic pattern blocks.  I printed out a background sheet and some fun designs. The blocks will work well on a cookie sheet.

Trip Toys 2014 Part 1

I enjoy creating toys and activities for the grandkids to use on their summer trips.  Here is the 2014 version.  What can a one-year-old do on an airplane?  I saw an idea for an airplane tray table cover and here's the one I came up with. 

 It has a pocket to put the little heart into.

 This little alligator is magnetic.

 The plastic golf ball is on a ribbon and attaches with velcro.

 What's under the flap?

 A hippo, of course.

 A zipper to zip and unzip. I attached a metal ring to make it easier to grab.

The cover slides over the tray and attaches with velcro straps.

 This little car slides along the ribbon road.

 This shows how the car is attached to the ribbon.

More wide-open bags

I love making these zipper bags.  In the last couple days I did an assembly line and finished up six.  Someone donated lots of old feed sacks to our ladies' sewing group.  These bags will be sold at a local benefit auction this summer.

 And here their mouths are open wide!

 I love the metal zippers on some of them like the one below.  But they are kind of pricey if I can't find the zips at a thrift shop, so I usually just use nylon ones.  If they are too long, you can easily cut them to length.

I found a pattern for these on the Noodlehead website a few years ago, but now I just make them any size I want.  You can change the shape or make them more or less boxy by adjusting the corners.

Little Guy Tie

So quick and easy.  I used the tutorial I found here.  But I made the neck strip narrower (cut it 2 inches wide instead of 2 3/4 and made it 18 inches long instead of 16.  I used velcro which seemed to work great.

Love this picture of the boys wearing their ties!

Sewing machine cover

I've been wanting to make a sewing machine dust cover and when I saw this one, I fell in love with it.  I decided not to make a pocket in the front though.

I thought the measuring tape fabric I had been saving for something special was just right for the back.  And for the ties, I used an old cloth measuring tape.

Now that's a big pillow!

So this is a giant floor pillow. The idea came from here.  I didn't take pictures along the way, but it was very easy.

I used 45-inch wide, decorator-weight fabric and cut the top and bottom squares as big as I could using that width.  So mine were about 43 inches square.

Then I made 4 pieces about 8 inches longl and the width of the squares.  My pieces measured 8 x 43.

I sewed all four of the 8-inch pieces right sides together, end for end, making a long loop.  To make the seams stronger, I zigzagged each seam.

So I could be sure to keep the pieces lined up, I marked the mid-point of each piece with a pin.

Then I sewed one square to the long side piece right sides together, matching the corner seam to the corner of the square and the mid-points.  Again I zigzagged the seams.

I sewed the other square to the long piece the same way, but left an opening to turn the pillow right side out.

I filled this monstrous pillow with two bags of beans (beanbag filler).  That was a bit pricey, so for the next one I am going to try plastic bags, like from the grocery store.  I saw that idea on another website.

For the last step, I hand-sewed the opening shut.

I think it was a big hit with these three.

Stuffed animals pockets

Our granddaughter loves her stuffed animals, especially doggies.  In fact, she sleeps with so many that there is hardly room in the bed for her.  Solution?  Doggie pockets!  They could also hold books.

Do you want to make one?  Start by cutting two 10X12 pieces from  each of five different fabrics.  The 12-inch measurement will be the width.  This could be important depending on the design of your fabrics.

Sew two strips of fabric along the 10" side, using each of the five fabrics in each strip.  Put the fabrics in the same order in each strip.  One strip will be for the front of the pocket and one for the back.

Interface each strip to make it stronger.  (I don't have pictures for the next few steps.)

Lay the two strips, right sides together, and stitch them together on the side that will be the top of the pocket.  I used a 1/4" seam.

Turn the right sides out and fold the strip in half at the seam line.  Press.  Topstitch along edge.

 You will be sewing the pockets onto another piece of fabric.  I used one yard of the 44-inch wide yellow dot fabric.  (The picture below is the only one I took that shows the background piece.)

Now you will be marking the location of the pockets on the background.  Along the width of the fabric, make marks at 9",   17 1/2",   26",  and  34 1/2".

Lay the pocket strip onto the background fabric edge with the markings, matching pocket seams with the marks.  Raw edges should match at the bottom.  Sew pockets onto the background at each seam.  There will be a gap in each pocket.  In other words, the bottom of the pocket will not be flat to the background.  Reinforce the top of each pocket by sewing a little square of stitches in the seam line.

At the sides, match the edge of the pocket strip with the edge of the background fabric.  Baste.

To give the doggies, or other stuffies, room to sleep, you will be making pleats.  I didn't measure to do this.  I just tried to divide the extra pocket fabric in half and folded it into a pleat at each side of the pocket.

The ends require a little extra attention.  You will need to allow room for the binding, so the pleat should end about 1/2" from the edge of the background fabric.  The picture below shows how this looks.

 When all of the pockets are pinned on, baste along the bottom edge.

 Now all you have to do is bind the entire piece.  I cut strips 3" wide and folded it like bias tape.  (You could also purchase wide bias tape.)  Sew the binding on just like bias tape, mitering the corners.

 This sweet bear looks happy about his new home.