I'm excited to introduce you to my Guest Blogger this week! Her name is Susan from Good Little Things!
She has a beautiful blog where she features really lovely handmade items and creative projects!! It's so pretty!! She also sells some of her creations in her Etsy shop: Good Little Things!
She's sharing with us this fantastic tutorial today!
I want to thank Sarah so much for having me today and giving me a chance to share with you a fun little project I created this spring. A small plea before we start: This is my very first guest blog and only my second tutorial. So please, be gentle. And kind. I'm a little nervous. Thank you.
Now then, I shared this whimsical little bracelet when the weather was just starting to turn warm and lovely. I had requests at the time to do a tutorial, and helping Sarah during this happy (and crazy busy) time presented a perfect opportunity to make myself do it. Let's take a look at what we're going for.
Have you ever had a butterfly land on you? It's a magical moment when something so beautiful and fragile trusts you like that. Kinda like a newborn baby sleeping in your arms. (Congratulations, Sarah!) Shall we get started?
First, you'll want to take a measurement of your wrist and add one and a half inches to that measurement for overlap. Then you'll want to cut out a piece of vinyl that is a rectangle that long by however wide you want your cuff to be. So if your wrist measures 6 inches and you want a 2 inch cuff, your rectangle should be 7 1/2 inches long by 2 inches wide. As you will see I have done this bracelet in a few different widths and I think they all work. You'll also need to cut out a matching rectangle of pretty fabric if you want it lined with fabric, or you can double up the vinyl if that's your wish. I have done it both ways, and I find that the fabric backing makes your arm sweat less. Ha! Just a helpful little tip from me.
| Cut away. |
When you have your rectangles, you're going to want to cut out another swatch of vinyl in a contrasting color and another matching piece of pretty material to back it with. This will be for the butterfly. When you have all of that taken care of, it's time to adhere the two together. You could use glue, but I recommend a fusible web, like Wonder Under. That stuff is awesome. Just saying.
| Prepping the fabric |
When all is dry, what you want to do is get you butterfly all cut out and ready. I traced mine from photos, but you are more than welcome to free hand it, if you have that kind of talent. Trace your butterfly onto your extra fabric backed swatch as seen here:
| Pretty... |
and carefully cut it out.
| That's a lot of butterflies. You may only need one. I tend to get carried away. |
Now, let's find the butterfly's placement on the cuff...
| Hold it closed so that you know where your butterfly should "land". |
I like to set it at an angle as opposed to straight on the cuff, but then again, I've always considered myself a little off center, so... if you like it straight, go for it. Now, we sew!
Sew straight down the center of the body, making sure you sew one stitch past the ends on both sides, and reverse all the way up the body once or twice to make sure all is secure. When you're done give it a good pinch to get those wings fluttering a bit.
| See? |
| We're getting there. |
All that's left to do is attach your closures. This is totally up to you. I have used snaps, a large button, even velcro for the ones I made for the three year olds attending my daughter's birthday party. I will say, if you fabric backed your vinyl and you plan to use snaps, I recommend reinforcing the ends with small vinyl rectangles. Like so:
And you're done. Let's see how they came out, shall we?
| Bold and graphic. |
| From the back. |
And there you have it, whimsical elegance.
Because we really shouldn't take life or accessorizing too seriously.
Thank you again, Sarah, for letting me share today. And thank you readers, for being both gentle and kind. I don't know what I was so afraid of. Happy sewing!
Here's a little bit about me! I always knew as a kid that whatever I was going to do when I grew up, it was going to be something creative. It's the only thing I ever did that never felt like work. And the idea that something like artist or dancer could be your job just thrilled me. I graduated from college with a degree in fashion design, but so many professors had spent so much time talking about how the actual job of fashion designer was only 10 percent design and the rest of it was un-fun business type stuff. Didn't exactly make me want to rush right out and get a design job. So I worked as an assistant book buyer for a few years before becoming a stay at home mom. I've been doing that for seven years and it's creative and fun and the hardest job I have ever had to do in my life. I now have three children (after a three year struggle with God while trying for more and Him never answering until I finally understood that He was trying to teach me about himself and that very weekend I got pregnant with number two!), the youngest are two and one, so things are blissfully hectic. But, my youngest was my first daughter, and somehow having her birthed a creative drive in me I haven't had in almost a decade. I think I want her to grow up seeing her mom make things with her hands. I want her to understand her creative legacy. I dusted off my sewing machine determined to make her her first pair of baby shoes because I had made a pair for her brother before he was born, and pretty much from those first Mary Janes a business began. I made slippers for the women in my family as Christmas presents and from there people began placing orders. I love that I am designing again. I feel more like myself, feel like I am doing what God created me to do and my oldest is impressed that I "have a job now". Ha!
