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join me as we round up a few 
of my favorite holiday diys   welcome to the Sewing Report i'm Jen this channel 
is all about sewing crafts and diy projects   as we get into the holiday season i wanted to 
share a few of my favorite festive holiday diys   with you some are new never before seen and there 
are a few from years past that are my favorites   so let's jump right in toilet paper has been 
the hot commodity in 2020.

Here's a quick   diy for a funny little gag gift i made a simple 
emergency use only graphic in cricut design space   don't forget to mirror the image the cricut 
maker easily cuts out the heat transfer vinyl   weed out the htv by removing 
the vinyl you don't need to apply to the toilet paper roll i set the cricut 
easy press temperature to 300 degrees fahrenheit   and flipped upside down lay a teflon sheet on top 
to protect the material place the design exactly   where you want it on the toilet paper roll then 
gently press the roll and rotate slowly so all   areas of the design hit the heated surface do 
this for a minute or so wait until things cool   down a bit and carefully peel off the carrier 
sheet from the toilet paper if the vinyl starts   to come off with it you need to press it a little 
bit more makes for a fun and still practical gift   in addition to being a quarantine essential let's 
take a plain coffee mug from the dollar store and   jazz it up to look designer chic i found a 
few holiday images in cricut design space   and cut out in linen colored vinyl and the cricut 
maker then i weeded out the unnecessary pieces you   can see it's a snowflake and the phrase merry 
and bright info on the specific cricut designs   are below in the description box i used cricut 
brand transfer tape and i have to say i wasn't   super impressed the tape didn't stick well to 
the vinyl and i had to burnish the heck out of it   and even then had to finger press to transfer 
the design if you've got a better alternative   leave a comment and let me know the designs are a 
tad big for the mug but they worked out all right to help place the vinyl onto the curved surface i 
snipped the tape and it did make applying easier   this was my first time ever applying vinyl with 
transfer tape and i think i like it this holiday   mug turned out well for a beginner effort on to a 
bigger project a canvas throw pillow cushion cover   it starts with just three pieces of material one 
120 by 20 inches and two 20 by 16 inches this is   a simple envelope style cover i did pre-wash the 
canvas to coordinate with the mug i wanted to do   an embroidered snowflake design sulky sent me this 
sparkly 30 weight polystar thread and i wanted to   try it out beautiful thread and easy to work with 
for more embellishment i decided to add two lines   of decorative stitching to frame the snowflake i 
marked out sewing guidelines four inches from the   edge of the top and bottom with an air soluble pen 
this is stitch number 17 on the brother cs7000i   if you're very new to sewing check out my 
stitching basics videos the guideline helps   keep my stitching straight i just constantly 
watch that it's centered on my walking foot   next up finishing the raw edges on the back pieces 
on one of the long sides of both 16 by 20 pieces   mark out a half inch from the edge 
fold on the line and press with an iron   i chose to glue baste these sections by applying 
elmer's washable school glue and hitting with a   dry iron the glue should keep it in place until 
you sew it down fold in a second time and press here are my machine settings for top stitching the 
envelope closure ends i lined up the edge with the   right edge of the walking foot and used a longer 
stitch length because the canvas layers are thick constructing the pillow cover is pretty quick 
line up the back pieces with the front piece   right sides together i prefer my openings to run 
parallel to the design with the side showing the   inner fold facing up once again glue basting 
makes this step easier and you don't need pins sew with the half inch seam 
allowance on all four sides   here are my sewing machine settings on the 
brother cs7000i because the canvas is so thick   10 ounces i selected the triple stitch for extra 
reinforcement if you use the walking foot set   the needle position at 0.5 and line up the edge 
of your fabric with the far right metal guide   that will give you the half inch seam allowance 
at the corners stop with the needle down   lift the presser foot pivot 90 degrees 
lower the presser foot and then continue   sewing clip all the corners like this to eliminate 
bulk after turning right side out to finish the   raw seams i went back around with a three-step 
zigzag stitch in the seam allowance to cut down   on the fabric fraying time to turn the pillow 
cover right side out and poke out the corners my favorite pillow insert is the ikea 20×20 
Fjadrar inner cushion which has duck feather   filling and costs less than ten dollars insert the 
pillow trying to pull each corner into the corner   of the cover and fluffing into place what a great 
way to add a little festivity to your home or   gift over the holidays i plan to make the pillow 
and holiday mug a matching set how about a quick   and adorable christmas ornament i tried out this 
Cricut project called oh happy day ornament houses   it only requires a 12 by 12 sheet of cardstock 
and a few inches of twine or string the design   cut easily on the cricut maker using the scoring 
wheel and standard fine point blade there were   quite a few score lines to fold i found it helpful 
to first glue down the main part of the structure then the roof and last the bottom flap before folding the 
bottom flap in run the string through the   holes at the top of the roof the knotted 
end is cleverly hidden inside the house   you can hang it on the christmas tree or hide 
treats inside as a gift box this is the moo   hard cover notebook made from durable book cloth 
and has lay flat swiss binding and premium paper   each one has contrasting color paper in the middle 
using a clear plastic roller i attempted to find   the center of the cover and i made a chalk pencil 
mark lightly at the spot now let's get into Cricut   design space which i've been exploring as much 
as i can i found a few options for monograms   and the specific elements i'm using are in the 
description box so far Cricut design space has   been pretty easy to navigate although for several 
weeks i could not use the text function at all it   was grayed out then suddenly it was just available 
i sized the letter to fit into the circle frame   by selecting both elements you can center them 
together under the align menu you'll need to   attach the elements so they don't separate on the 
cutting mat by again selecting both then hitting   the attach button i set the base material to 
everyday iron on and don't forget to mirror   the image since you're using iron-on material 
it will be reversed this smaller design fit   easily onto a leftover scrap of htv cutting 
out the monogram took less than two minutes   and the weeding wasn't too bad especially with the 
cricut tool that looks like it's from the dentist   to prep the notebook lay a teflon sheet over it 
and then the easy press two for about five seconds   at 280 degrees to find the center of the iron 
on transfer i gently folded it in half each way   then line up the center folds with the mark on the 
cover doesn't have to be exactly perfect place the   teflon sheet over the monogram try not to move 
it at 280 degrees fahrenheit put gentle pressure   on the easy press 2 for 30 seconds once it's 
cooled down carefully peel off the carrier sheet i had a lot of fun putting together this super 
easy bow hair clip this is a clear winter themed   shaker pouch and chunky glitter fabric from jewel 
box supply the alligator clips are left over from   another project to form the bow you fold the 
shaker pouch accordion style like this in the   middle when it looks the way you want staple the 
section to keep it in place the center of the bow   is a strip of glitter fabric wrapped and glued 
around that pinched section i used beacon craft   glue but there are many other options to finish 
glue the bow onto the hair clip and it's ready   to wear to that holiday dinner first i'll show 
you how to piece then construct the actual bag   we'll be piecing together six five inch squares 
and a checker pattern with 15 of the two and a   half inch squares using that same method one tip 
is to glue baste the fabric you don't need pins   and your piecing will be more accurate dab 
a thin line of elmer's washable school glue   within the seam allowance place the other piece 
of fabric on top and hit it with the dry iron   it should stay secure until you stitch it down 
match up a few pairs of squares to sew together   and this is where the chain piecing starts for 
the five inch squares i did two rows of three   and basted together each row like this these 
are my sewing machine settings with a quarter   inch seam allowance sew each unit together then 
a couple stitches off the fabric then insert the   next unit without clipping thread or stopping 
this uninterrupted sewing speeds up the process   if you're brand new to sewing i recommend you 
watch my basic stitches video which explains more now you'll have a chain of pieces and i use the 
cutting gizmo seen here to separate each unit   i hit the seam with the iron to set in the 
stitches and it's common to press fabric to   the darker color side so the seam allowance 
doesn't show through on the lighter fabric   to glue baste the rows together you'll find the 
seams naturally kind of nest in the right spot head back to the sewing machine 
and stitch down the entire row set in the seam by pressing it and i folded 
it toward the side with two darker blocks   press on the right side of the fabric to flatten 
everything down you'll need to make two of these   five inch block units onto the two and a 
half inch blocks with the checker pattern   start off by pairing one print square with 
one white square and glue based these units   make a bunch of these but have quite a few extra 
because you'll need to add single squares to   each row later chain piece the units over at 
the sewing machine with a quarter inch seam allowance each unit apart press each unit open to the dark side start 
arranging them in a way you think looks good no   science to it just experimenting glue-based 
new units comprised of four squares total chain piece again back at the sewing machine repeat clipping the daisy 
chain and pressing out the rows start laying out the rows to figure 
out the order and arrangement   remember that the rows should 
alternate to create the check pattern   on the end of each row you'll either 
need to add a white or print block glue baste three rows together using the same 
methods i like to start from the center and work   my way out to the ends after sewing them together 
and pressing you'll have a pieced section done   three rows of five blocks i also found another use 
for the Cricut easy press too it works great for   pressing out quilt blocks you'll need two of these 
one for each side from here on out we're going to   be constructing the bags i made two sizes large 
and extra large they both go together about the   same way so i'll be demonstrating the large size 
but showing the extra large steps that differ   these bags are color blocked and you'll see the 
dimensions needed for the top and bottom pieces   i also added cute pom pom trim which i'll show 
you how to attach first i glued the trim to the   top long side of the checker piece section run a 
line of basting stitches on the trim to keep it in   place these won't be visible so don't worry about 
making them perfect place the top piece right side   down over the trim glue again to the rescue both 
fabri-tac and elmer's washable school glue worked   although the elmer's takes a little time to dry 
no need for pins or clips here sewing this seam   down is a little tricky but it's doable you 
want to stitch just past where the trim ends   so slightly over a quarter inch seam allowance 
go slowly at the sewing machine and feel under   the top layer to make sure you don't accidentally 
sew over the pom poms in my opinion the walking   foot is the best choice out of all the feet 
that come with the brother cs7000 press the   seam allowance towards the top piece i decided 
to add a line of top stitching so the seams look neater   sew the bottom piece on press and top stitch   you'll now have two completed main pieces and 
we'll need to cut out two lining pieces for each   bag here are the dimensions for the large size 
fourteen and a quarter by ten and a half inches   and extra large fourteen and one eighth by twenty 
and a half inches place the outer fabric right   sides together and pin on three sides leaving the 
top side open do this also with the lining fabric   but mark a section about four inches on the bottom 
side you won't be sewing this part because it will   be an opening for turning the project later on 
sew both pinned pieces on the three sides back   stitching at all the start and stopping points 
with a quarter inch seam remove the pins before   getting to them don't sew over them make sure 
not to sew the marked section in the lining at the corner stop and lift the presser foot then 
pivot 90 degrees lower the presser foot and keep   sewing press the seams open on all sides the easy 
press mini actually helped make this a lot easier   to make the boxed corners pinch them together 
here's my tip for matching up seam lines insert   a pin right through the center and align it so it 
emerges in the center on the other side pierce the   center closer to the tip which should hold the 
placement until it's sewn down here's where a   small clear square quilting ruler comes in measure 
out one and a half inches from the tip into the   seam line and eyeball the markings on either side 
to ensure they are even from the middle out mark a   line with disappearing ink or tailor's chalk i'll 
also add more pins to reinforce the corner before   sewing for the extra large size drawstring bag 
there is one difference and that's to measure two   inches in from the tip and marking a line repeat 
these steps for all the corners on the outer and   lining fabrics stitch directly on this line at 
the sewing machine right before you reach the end   leave the needle down lift the presser foot pivot 
180 degrees lower the presser foot and sew back   into the same line to reinforce the stitches trim 
off the excess fabric at the corners leaving about   a quarter inch seam allowance don't trim too much 
because you do need to account for some fraying of   the fabric the lining piece will have an opening 
in the bottom turn the outer piece right side out   carefully insert the outer piece into the lining 
right sides should be together first pin at the   side seams and a few more around the perimeter 
of the top once again these are my sewing machine   settings we're doing a quarter inch seam allowance 
from here on out take off the front part of the   machine to reveal the free arm that's handy for 
sewing anything in the round like bags or sleeves   stitch the entire length and overlap an inch 
or so at the starting point to lock in place through the opening and the lining 
gently turn the pouch right side out   it will take some wrangling but it's 
cool to see this thing finally come to life there will be some wrinkles to smooth out using 
your hands and an iron it's very important to   press that top seam well press the opening in the 
lining closed and press i typically glue baste it   shut until i sew it down push the lining into the 
outer portion pressing the top opening seam well using a ruler and disappearing marking pen measure 
and draw lines at two and a half inches and three   and a half inches in from the top edge all the 
way around for this bag these lines will create   the channel for the string for the extra large 
size mark lines at 3 inches and 4 inches instead   sew directly on these lines with a 
3.0 stitch length all the way around back stitch to reinforce the sections 
right before and after the side seam lines with a seam ripper carefully pick out the stitches 
on the outer side seam only in between the lines   you just sewed clip off straight thread you've now 
created openings to run your draw strings through   half inch twill tape works well for these bags 
attach a safety pin to the end of the tape   insert it into the channel 
and run through the entire way   coming out that same opening try not to get it 
twisted up inside as you do want it to be flat leave some slack on both ends of 
the tape and clip the excess off   remove the safety pin and with the two tape 
ends together tie a knot repeat with the   second piece of twill tape but start 
running it through the opposite side that's how you make the bag function with 
a working drawstring because cotton twill   tends to fray i applied some fray check to the 
cut ends and let it dry and we're all done now   you have a super cute scrappy lined holiday themed 
drawstring bag also we've been doing a series here   called learn to sew in 2020 you may have noticed 
i did use a combination of my sewing machines   embroidery machine and new cricut maker and i do 
have more detailed videos on using all of those   machines so this video is all about beginner 
friendly tutorials so i do hope you find these   helpful and maybe that's your goal in 2021 is 
learning to sew it is never too late so let's   jump on board and get started if you find these 
videos helpful be sure to let me know below in   the comments and also be sure to hit the like 
button and subscribe to this channel the sewing   report if you are interested in sewing crafts 
and diy projects i hope you all have a very   safe and happy holiday season i'll see you guys 
again in 2021 i'm jen with the sewing report