Craftastic Monday Link Party

Welcome Crafty Friends!  Let's continue to celebrate summer by sharing creative projects with one another.  Link up whatever you've been making below and find a few new inspiring ideas from other crafty people.

 

Last week I shared my 

Guide To Sewing With Double Brushed Poly Knit: 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Here are this week's Craftastic Picks:

Bird's Party made these beautiful flower pot cupcakes with sugar paste flowers:

Walking On Sunshine Recipes gave us this lemon basil mint spritzer recipe:

Eyelove Knots created this free crochet pineapple gift bag pattern:

Living Life As Moms shared this DIY peach mango sugar scrub:

If you're one of this week's features, be sure to grab my Featured On button over on my Buttons Page to share the good news. 

 Want a Chance to 

Be Featured Next Week?  

Link back to the party somewhere on your blog.

I can't feature your post if you don't share the party.

  

Ready to link up your crafty creations?

 

Party rules are simple: 

• As long as it's crafty, and made by you, it's Craftastic (no links to other people's work or to businesses/shops).  
• Add the link to your specific post. Product reviews, plagiarized or sponsored posts for random items will be immediately deleted.  
• Grab my party button & put it on your post, party page or blog somewhere.  If you want the chance to be featured, this is key.  The button code can be found HERE.
• Check out some of the other fabulous links and share some crafty comment love.  We all love getting comments!!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Sewing With Double Brushed Poly Knit

Sewing with new-to-me fabrics is one of my favorite things and I've been spending the past couple weeks trying out an incredible versatile fabric: Double Brushed Poly Knit Fabric.  Besides always wanting to give it a whirl, my other reason is that I've just added this fabric type to my shop and I needed to test drive them to see just how well they'd sew in a number of different projects.  

There wasn't a ton of info out there about sewing with this fabric, so I'm sharing a few simple DBP knit sewing tips I've learned to make it easy to get great results and have maximum project possibilities with this wonderful type of fabric.  

Dream Big DBP Knit

What is Double Brushed Polyester Knit? 

A medium weight stretch knit fabric that:

- is 95% polyester, 5% spandex

- brushed on both sides to give it an ultra soft feel

-  has 4 way, 50% stretch 

- has good recovery to give it the perfect drape and shape

It also 

- does not shrink or fray

- is 56 inches wide for lots of project possibilities

Love Never Fails DBP Knit

What can you make with Double Brushed Poly Knit?  

SO many wonderful and wearable things.  Leggings, dresses, tops, scarves, headbands, loungewear, pajamas, underwear, plus blankets, soft toys, pillows....sky's the limit!   

I've been sewing up a storm with them and have LOVED the results.  I made myself this maxi dress...

which is SO comfy to wear thanks to the buttery soft finish:

And a sweet tween dress for my 11yr old to wear to church:

With a matching headband with the scraps leftover since the fabric is so nice & wide:

I also made some relaxing lounge pants that are the perfect weight for summer:

How do you sew with it?  

You can use a regular sewing machine, overlock or serger.  

Here are the best ways to sew with it on a basic sewing machine for perfect assembly & finish.

Needles

Start with the right needles for knits.  

Those designated as stretch or ball point will easily go through this knit without pulling.  

I also recommend using a stretch twin needle for a professional finish on hems & necklines and to have that all important stretch too.

The result is two perfectly even rows of stitches:  

Stitches

It's key to use a stitch that will stretch.  Basic narrow zig-zag, triple stitch, triple zig-zag, overcasting/knit stitch (this being my favorite one) all work great, as do a few others.  Consult your machine manual for all possible options.  Unlike normal straight stitches, these provide give and strength which are needed when sewing with knit fabric.  Sewing straight stitches means the fabric can't stretch without breaking the thread - you definitely don't want that!

Walking Foot  

Not required, but this specialty presser foot grips fabric from the top (instead of just the feed dogs underneath), so the even hold keeps layers from creeping or stretching while you sew.  Most machines do not come with one, but it makes a big difference when sewing knits, so it's worth getting one and they are not very expensive.  Added bonus: it's great for quilting & woven sewing!

Paper-backed Fusible Tape

This item is also optional, but makes hemming Double Brushed Poly Knit very easy.  Simply iron onto the wrong side along the fabric edge and then peel away the paper, fold closed and press into place to fuse the hem, then sew.  It stabilizes the fabric so it won't pull or stretch while sewing and no pinning will be needed, which saves time too. It also means you'll measure a perfect hem every time!

With these few tips in mind you'll be ready to sew all sorts of soft & beautiful things with Double Brushed Poly Knits!  If you like these prints, you can find them, and more lovely DBP knit fabric designs, HERE.

Summer Fun Craftastic Monday Link Party

Happy Monday Craft Lovers!  A week of sunshine & lovely summery days is ahead, so let's celebrate with all those wonderful seasonal projects you've been creating.  Link up whatever you've been making below and find a few new inspiring ideas too.

 

Last week I shared my thrifty, beat-the-heat, 

Baby & Toddler Clothes Hack 

Upcycled Rompers Into Tank Tops: 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Here are this week's Craftastic Picks:

Little Yellow Corner Store put together this gorgeous beach tablescape:

Howling At The Moon made this beautiful porch bench blanket:

Moois Van M(i)e created these elegant "oregano" bead earrings:

My Craft Works showed how to make these sweet crochet hair clips:

Just Winging It shared this coffee cookie recipe (made with actual coffee!):

The Kitchen Is My Playground offered up this yummy roasted cauliflower salad recipe:

If you're one of this week's features, be sure to grab my Featured On button over on my Buttons Page to share the good news. 

 Want a Chance to 

Be Featured Next Week?  

Link back to the party somewhere on your blog.

I can't feature your post if you don't share the party.

  

Ready to link up your crafty creations?

 

Party rules are simple: 

• As long as it's crafty, and made by you, it's Craftastic (no links to other people's work or to businesses/shops).  
• Add the link to your specific post. Product reviews, plagiarized or sponsored posts for random items will be immediately deleted.  
• Grab my party button & put it on your post, party page or blog somewhere.  If you want the chance to be featured, this is key.  The button code can be found HERE.
• Check out some of the other fabulous links and share some crafty comment love.  We all love getting comments!!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Baby & Toddler Hack: Upcycled Rompers Into Tank Tops

This summer has been SO hot & humid.  90 degree days started in May and the rain just will not quit around here.  It's crazy.  Having more sleeveless & tank style tops has become key for the whole family, but time to create more from scratch hasn't been a-plenty and I didn't want to spend more $ on clothes mid-season.  Instead, I've been doing some hacks to make last summer's baby clothes work as this summer's toddler wardrobe. 

Several of last year's cute 3-6months rompers have been rejuvenated as stylish swing tops for my 17 month old and it's been the ideal solution.  Minimal time & no cost!  

From this cottony yellow romper:  

 

To this little ensemble:

And this colorful bird print bamboo romper:

Has become:

To make these fast, I used another tank top to determine the ideal length:

I started by cutting off the romper bottoms, as low as possible, just above the leg areas.  I used my French curve ruler to give a slightly rounded hem:

For the two layer cotton romper I pressed the raw edges inward 1/4inch:

Then pinned them together:

And top stitched through both layers:

I paired them with some chambray shorts I'd made my now 3yr old son when he was this age and we had an instant sweet summer outfit:

For the bamboo knit romper I folded the raw edge under and used fusible tape to hold it and give it some stability, then used a twin needle to hem it:

That gave it a lovely, stretch-able finish:

My little lady loves wearing both and has been staying cool despite the heat.  I had a soft spot for these little rompers too, so it feels good to get another season of wear out of them and have it cost $0 to boot. 

It's just tough to get any decent photos since she's super fast now & it's so steamy outside.  These were the best I could do before my camera fogged up.  Guess we just need to beat the heat inside & make more tank tops!