One Yard Wonders Picnic-Tastic Lunch Mats

This set of picnic placemats deserve more than your ordinary ham and cheese sandwich with chips and a pickle. These cuties cry out for a Lemon Basil Shrimp Salad followed by a rich three-layer turtle cake - all from Cafe Latte of course.

Mmmm, I love Cafe Latte. Do they have a restaurant like this where you live? It's filled with mouth-watering to die for desserts (Which you have to order them first. And they know it. That's why they're are prominently placed at the beginning of the food line.) followed by an array of wondrously delicious sandwiches, or salads or soups. Mmmmm, I'm getting hungry just writing this.

But enough about food. I want you to know about another great project I just completed from the One Yard Wonders book.

On page 60 you'll find the instructions for this set of black and white placemats aka the "Picnic-Tastic Lunch Mats". They have a small pocket to place your eating utensils as well as a loop to keep your napkin in place.

While these are intended as placemats for a picnic, I think a set of these would be great for someone who carries their lunch to work everyday. Like me! But sadly, it's not from Cafe Latte. It's just a big ole boring salad from my own kitchen. And there's no three-layer turtle cake, or melt-in-your mouth cheesecake, or sinfully delicious flourless chocolate cake in my lunch either.

Don't you think these placemats, along with some of your favorite recipes (handwritten on cute cards naturally) would make a great gift? Heck, you might as well throw in a set of silver wear since you only need one yard of fabric to make four placemats. Cute and easy on the budget! And I saved the best part for last. You can measure, cut and sew them in less than one hour.

This project was designed by one of the authors, Rebecca Yaker. You can see more of her work at www.hazelandmelvin.com.

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Sew a snuggie type blanket for fashion dolls (like Barbie)

You've seen the snuggie (tm).

You've seen the snuggie (tm) for dogs.

But what about a snuggie type blanket for fashion dolls, like Barbie? Those fashion dolls has always been up on the current fashion trends, so they certainly wouldn't want to miss out on this one.

Wait no more! Now you can sew your very own snuggie type blanket for an 11-1/2" fashion doll, such as Barbie, using only a small piece of fleece, thread, Velcro and about 30 minutes of your time.

It's easy. Let me show you how with this sewing tutorial.

1) Download the PDF pattern here. (Let me know if you have problems as this is the first time I've tried Google Docs. )

2) Print pattern. Pattern is set to print on four sheets of 8-1/2 x 11 paper.

3) Trim sheets where marked and tape together to form one pattern sheet.


4) Cut out one blanket from fleece. Cut out two sleeves from fleece.

5) Transfer markings to wrong side of fleece. Cut along solid lines and circles as shown.

6) Hem bottom edge of sleeve. NOTE: you can eliminate these hems if you want as fleece will not ravel.


7) Sew sleeve onto the blanket placing the dot at the top of the sleeve at the center of the circle. Don't worry if this doesn't match exactly. Fleece has enough stretch that you'll be able to make it fit.

8) Sew underarm sleeve seam continuing to the bottom of the blanket.


9) Hem all edges of blanket. NOTE: You can eliminate this hem if you want as fleece does not ravel.

10) Cut a 1" piece of Velcro. If desired, cut that strip in half lengthwise creating a narrower strip.

11) Sew the Velcro strips on the wrong side of the blanket along the top center back edges.
Done! She's now ready to cozy up on the couch for some late night tv viewing.


If you're really feeling ambitious, you can eliminate that side and underarm seam. Just cut the circles out of the blanket without cutting along the solid lines. Sew the underarm seams of the sleeves. Pin the sleeves in the circle and sew the sleeves to the blanket. Add Velcro as described above. This takes more time, but the end result will be more "authentic."


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The Burda 02-2008 103 "Tippi Hedren" dress

Burda Feb 2008 103 dress
Originally uploaded by Sharon Sews

As promised, here's the modeled version of the Burda 02-2008 102 "Tippi Hedren" knit dress.

This particular one is too tight to wear to the office, but I am working on another version in a solid color. And this time I remembered to add seam allowances before cutting my fabric :-)

My review of the dress is in this post.
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Burda Style #112 skirt with diagonal front pleat

Like many of you, when my December Burda Style magazine arrived, I knew this skirt - number 112 - would be one of the first items I would sew.

Not only because I like pencil skirts, but because I was intrigued by the front diagonal pleat that gives the skirt just a little something extra.

The skirt itself it a fairly quick project to sew, and fortunately, you should be able to sew it without much need to reference the Burda written instructions.

My first step, after tracing the pattern and remembering to add seam allowances - yea!, was to play with the pattern pieces so I would understand how the buttonholes and buttons worked to create that diagonal pleat.

I have to admit it took me a few tries as I kept folding the pleat backwards. Once I had it figured out I carefully marked all of the buttonholes and foldlines on the waistband and began sewing.

There are three buttonholes sewn onto the waistband, but only two buttons are needed. That's because two of the buttonholes will line up with another another when the band is folded acting like one buttonhole. They are used for the button that shows on the front of the skirt.

The other buttonhole is also in the waistband, but is not visible from the front. It ends up behind the pleated portion of the waistband and is used to secure the back section of the pleat in place with the second button that is sewn on the waistband.

Here's a photo to help you visualize. The button on the left in this photo, is sewn to the portion of the waistband that is behind the buttonhole.

That pleat is then folded over and attached to the button on the right in this photo.

And here is the finished skirt! I'll post a photo of the skirt being worn as I think it's a slenderizing silhouette. I was a bit concerned that the pleat might not lay properly creating a pooch in an area where most of us wouldn't want it, but I didn't find that to be the case.

The fabric was purchased from SR Harris recently (remember the 45 minute stash building excursion?). It is a lightweight black pinstripe wool that drapes beautifully.

I wanted to line this skirt, but couldn't wrap my brain around how to do so without adding unneeded bulk at that pleat. So I left it unlined. However, when I read Carolyn's post last night about this skirt, I had a "duh" moment when I read Marji's comment about underlining. It's the second comment in this post. By that time this skirt was already completed, but I will keep the underlining in mind for the next version.

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