How to Machine Embroider a Canvas Tote Bag

Normally when I machine embroider something, I embroider the design on uncut fabric, layout and cut the pattern piece on the embroidered fabric, and sew it into the final project for perfect placement.

Which is what I planned on doing when I popped down to the fabric store for supplies to make personalized tote bags as a thank you gift for two friends who did huge favors for me, even though I was short on time to both sew and embroider the bags from scratch.

Luckily when I zipped through the Circuit section of the store on my way to the fabric I saw this exact lined blank canvas tote bag for sale.

The bag is super cute and has a nice big area to machine embroider a name. Best of all I didn’t have to decide on fabric (which always takes me forever because I must look at every bolt available in the store every single time) or a pattern, and would save time in the construction department. Not to mention, the ready made blank fabric tote bag probably cost less than buying all of the materials to make the exact same thing.

The only thing that made me pause is thinking, how to I embroider a store bought tote bag without taking it apart? 

 

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Easy! You float the tote bag  fabric on top of the hooped embroidery stabilizer instead of trying and failing to smash it all in between the hoops.

How to Machine Embroider Leather and Pleather for Beginners

My new Bernette sewing machine says it can sew everything from light chiffon fabric to leather. I need a new belt bag/pouch and figure this is a good project to get my feet wet  and lean how to sew leather.

Since everything worth doing is worth over doing (and I bought a cute machine embroidery file from Urban Threads) I am going to machine embroider the leather before I cut and sew it into a purse!

 

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I admit, I had concerns about sewing and embroidering leather. If you sew a mistake and remove the stitches the holes left behind in the leather hide will not  close like fabric will. But with practice, patience, and a few sewing hacks, you can embroider leather and the results will look fabulous!

7 Tips and Hacks for Sewing Leather, Suede, and Vegan Leather on a Home Sewing Machine

How to Make a Halloween Mini Tote Bag

I bought a Halloween themed color your own mini tote bag kit (similar to the color your own tote bag kits here) thinking it might be a cute to hold allergy free Teal Pumpkin project treats during Trick or Treat. (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links in this post for you convenience.) 

I wasn’t too jazzed with the colors or quality of the three markers that came in the kit which is what I expected since it came from a dollar store. No big deal. I planned on coloring it with craft paint and adding a few easy embroidered accents and outlines for fun.

 

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How to Make Embroidered Insulated Can Koozies

Somewhere along this road we call life, we ended up with several matching  promotional insulated can and bottle drink holders.* 

*Or can Koozie.Or coosie (cozy, cosie.) Or huggie. Or bottle hugger. Or beer sleeve. Or bottle jacket. Or the so awesome I can’t decide which name is my favorite: coldy holdy or the Australian stubby holder.

I didn’t think they were very useful at the time and tossed them into the back of a kitchen cupboard that is so close to the ceiling I never use it.

It was only after I learned you can ripen avocados in a neoprene can Koozie like the avocado bag I don’t have (an avocado ripening bag looks like this for reference) that I put those now deemed useful beer huggies into a lower cupboard where I can easily find and use them to ripen avocados.  (Disclosure: I am including some affiliate links in this post for your convenience.)

If the insulated bottle holders didn’t all match I could pull the drink cozies and use them as drink marker charms when we treat ourselves or guest to our recent retro soda pop (check them out here!) obsession.

Let’s fix that and make embroidered insulated bottle koozies!

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How to Machine Embroider Insulated Bottle Sleeves

You can easily sew insulated beer Koozies from scratch (you can buy the insulating fabric here) or machine embroider on a plan insulated neoprene can sleeve (you can buy plain can cooler sleeves here ) if you like.

In my case, I wanted to upcycle the  free promotional insulated beer coolies I have into something cuter than a walking advertisement for a company I’m not going to use.

You will need the following supplies for this craft project:

Insulated foam drink holder

Jersey fabric – I tried covering a soda pop sleeve with cute cotton fabric and it didn’t have enough give to put a can inside it. A few experiments later, jersey fabric worked the best as a functional can holder. I used plain t shirts I bought on clearance at the craft store.

Embroidery sewing machine – I have this sewing and embroidery machine and love its versatility!

Machine embroidery stabilizer

Embroidery machine thread

Sewing machine thread – yes, there really is a difference between machine embroidery and sewing thread

Seam ripper – I have a handmade seam ripper necklace similar to this one and never lose it while I’m in the middle of a sewing project !

Scissors

Sewing gage

Tailor’s chalk or pencil

Straight pins

Step by Step How to Make it Tutorial

1.  Hoop your stretchy fabric and embroidery stabilizer and use the embroidery machine to machine embroider a design onto the fabric with embroidery thread, if desired. You can hand embroider the design if you desire.

Caution: It is better to pick an embroidery design that is light on thread that will allow your fabric and cozy to stretch around a can or bottle than a more dense and thread intensive design that doesn’t allow fabric movement.

2. Use the seam ripper to open the sides of the foam drink huggie and lay it flat. We will use this as our pattern in Step 3.

Hey! It looks like a Tie Fighter! Pew! Pew!

3.  Using the flat bottle cozy as a pattern, trace it with the tailor’s pattern onto your embroidered fabric.

Tip: Make sure you trace your pattern slightly larger than the cosie on to leave a seam allowance on the sides and enough fabric to fold over the top of the coozie and sew into place to make a neat top hem. The sewing gauge will help you measure and mark a consistent seam allowance.

4. Pin the fabric to the bottle snuggie. Use a stretch stitch to sew the bottom sides of the fabric to the snuggie. If you do not have a stretch over lock (serger type) stitch on yours sewing machine like I do, you can use a stretch zig zag stitch.

Tip: You want to use a stretch stitch when sewing your beer cozy so it will allow the neoprene to contour to the bottle or can you put in it.

Tip 2: To keep the embroidered stretch fabric from slipping and otherwise trying to go wonky when removing the pins to sew it, I use a quick spritz of textile spray adhesive like this kind to keep the fabric and neoprene in place while I remove the pins as I sew.

5. Fold the the fabric over the top edge of the beer coolie, pin it into place, use a stretch straight stitch to sew the hem into place. Repeat this on the other side of the coolie. Trim the excess fabric with a pair of scissors if needed after sewing the hems.

You might want all of your pins to go in the same direction - unlike me - oops!

6. Fold the koozie in half, right sides (the pretty part) together and pin into place. Use a use a stretch straight stitch on each side to sew the koozie back together again. Trim the excess fabric with a pair of scissors if needed after sewing the side seams

Tip: To make sure you don’t sew the bottle holdy too small to hold a can or bottle, you can try sewing just over the foam and onto the fabric. Or not. It’s up to you.

7. Turn the koozie right out, pop your favorite drink inside, and enjoy
If you’d rather buy than DIY, check out the following options –and more! – below!

Check out these unique can cooler hacks on my food blog Lazy Budget Chef!

12 Ways to Reuse and Recycle Can Koozies

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Easy DIY Machine Embroidery Flour Sack Towels

I bought a scad of flour sack towels from Amazon here. (Amazon has has changed my life when it comes to researching and buying pretty much everyone in my house that I have no problem recommending it to you (and using my affiliate links.)

Flour sack towels are the world’s most flexible kitchen towel. They work with almost every kitchen design style – Mid Century Modern, contemporary, retro, and of course the ever so popular Fixer Upper farmhouse decor. Besides, flour sack towels are is less fiddly to machine embroider than terry cloth towels so the chances are high I’ll quickly get the hang and  be churning out cute embroidered towels for my kitchen, to give as gifts, and to use as gift wrap for wine and mason jar hostess gifts.
Cute, green, and practical zero waste gift wrap. What’s not to love about that?

As I also took the opportunity to see what some of the built in machine embroidery files of my Brother SE400 Sewing and Embroidery Machinelook like in IRL, I accidentally created red work embroidery simply by using red thread on open, one color designs to coordinate with the accent color in my kitchen.

Practicing machine embroidery on retro dishtowels. What do you think? #video #blogcreate #sewing #embroidery #embroideryart #machineembroidery #crafts #crafting #retro

A post shared by Lisa (@condoblues) on Mar 7, 2017 at 5:48pm PST

Easy DIY Camp Chair Makeover

I used a fun nautical fabric to make replacement camp chair carrying bags (read the Condo Blues tutorial here) to go with my blue camp chairs. Unfortunately while there are many shades of blue in my fabric, the exact color of the chair isn’t in the fabric - and it bugs me.

A lot.

Putting an anchor on the back of my chairs would tie them in with the anchors in the fabric chair tote bags. I’m not a great painter so painting is out.

But sewing?

Sewing I can do.

How to Embroider a Folding Chair

How to Make a Flannel Sleep Mask

The only way I can get to sleep and stay asleep at night is in a super duper cave like dark room. Unfortunately, curtains in every room on the planet (and especially in hotel rooms) conspire against me.

No matter how well I think I close them, there always is a hairline sliver between the curtains that shoots the early morning light directly into my eyes like a laser beam and wakes me up hours before my alarm is set to go off.  Every. Single. Morning. ARUGH!

Fortunately,  wearing a sleep mask thwarts the Sun Beam – Curtain Conspiracy. Take that sunbeam hahaha!

Unfortunately, most sleep masks are backed with nylon polyester, which doesn’t breathe making it way too hot to wear.

Fortunately, I reorganized and unearthed more scrap fabric than I realized I had including some nice, soft, cotton, and breathable flannel that makes an excellent and super cute sleep mask!

How to Sew a Super Cute Sleep Mask

 

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