Travel bag for your shoes- Easy DIY

Whenever I travel, I am always at a loss when it comes to where to put my shoes in my suitcase.  Shoes are not the cleanest things in the world and you don't want to arrive at your destination with your clothes covered in dirt!

This is a simple project and a smart solution to keep your dirty shoes separate from your clean clothes while traveling.  It's super cute too!

I used an old pillow case, cut it in half and made two!  Brownie points for recycling?? :)

Just fold the pillow case in half and either run an iron over the seam or mark the center with a pencil.  Using a rotary cutter or scissors, cut the pillow case in half.

If you choose to make two bags, remember that one side of the pillow case will have two open ends.  Simply turn the pillow case inside out and sew one open end closed.

To create the drawstring, turn the case inside out and fold the top edge over about one inch so the raw edge is to the inside.  You can use an iron to create a crease along the fold just to make it a little easier to keep in place while sewing.

Cut two small holes with a pair of scissors on each side of the side seam for the drawstring.

I chose to use a nylon shoe string, but you could use ribbon as well.  Use your pillow case as a guide for the length, making sure it is just a few inches longer than the circumference of the bag.

Tie a knot on each end of your string and secure a safety pin to one end to help feed the string all the way through.

Make sure you tie the two ends together once you have the string pulled through.

Now comes the fun part- Making the shoe applique!

I actually used a pair of my high heels as a template.  I used a heavy black cotton and used a piece of chalk to trace around the shape of the shoe.

The end result was a little larger than I wanted, but no worries- I just cut out the image slightly on the inside of my traced line.

I chose to do a little detail on the back of my heel applique with some red embroidery thread in a cris-cross pattern with a bow, but you can embellish as you like or just leave as is.

Use a glue stick with just a little glue on the back of the applique and place it on your bag.  This just helps to keep it straight while sewing.  I chose to hand stitch the applique on, but if you're skilled on the sewing machine, you could do that as well.

And there you have it!  So easy and adorable!  

XOXO,

Nicole

Handmade fingerless gloves from recycled sweater

Fingerless Gloves

I have not had much opportunity to wear these cute gloves as the temperture remains in the mid 70's here in sunny San Diego for the holiday season. Still, if not functional, these are a great fashion accessory! This is an easy project using a recycled cable knit sweater that I picked up at my local Good Will for under 5 bucks. Here is how I made it:

1.) I used the front side panels of this red cable knit sweater for my arm warmers as I had already used my sleeves for another project. I simply used the mirrored knit pattern on both the right and left sides the sweater.

2.) After using a seam ripper to remove the zipper, I used my arm as a guide for measure. I left about a 1" allowance for the width around my arm to give me plenty of room for sewing. I used the length of my arm from elbow to fingertips which can be trimmed after sewing. 3.) Using a 1/4" seam, sew the ugly sides of the material together down the entire length of the warmer.

4.) Turn the warmer right side out. Trim the excess material at the opening to leave about 1 1/2" past your knuckles

5.) Carefully snip a SMALL opening for your thumb. Start with a very small opening (about 1/4") as the material stretches

6.) Using coordinating thread, (I used embroidery thread because it's much thicker) hand sew around the thumb opening with a loop stitch in order to keep the slit from fraying and unraveling.

That's it. Pretty simple!