{Hand Towel} Apron

I thought with all my home renovations projects (found here and here), you might be ready for something different!  

I mean, my blog is supposed to be a little of everything :)

So, a sewing post is in order.  

A friend on mine has a very talented mom who made this super cute apron; I knew I wanted to copy it, and put my own spin on it!

Before I give you the how to, how about if I show you the final product?!

I call this one "The Double Ruffle"

This one is a Single Ruffle, with extra wide Ric Rac trim

Supplies needed:

Hand Towel (17x28 in)

1.5 Yards of coordinating fabric for the ruffle

1 yard of coordinating fabric for tie

Scissors

Iron

Sewing Machine

Steps to a fun apron!

For the ruffle: Lay your 1.5 yardes of fabric on the floor and cut in half lengthwise (long ways)

 Fold one piece of the cut fabric in half (right sides together)

Pin along the 3 raw edges.

Sew the fabric together on the three sides you have raw edges meet (you don't need to sew the edge that is folded)

On one of the "short sides", only sew it 3/4 closed, so you will have a space to turn the fabric right side out.

Turn the fabric right side out, using the small hole you left on one short side.

Press your fabric (don't skip this step!!  It looks so crisp and professional when you press it!)

Sew a basting stitch (longest stitch setting on your machine) the length of your fabric (long ways).

 

Gather your fabric in a ruffle by pulling the bobbin thread (the bobbin is the thread that is under your needle; not the thread that comes down from the top of your machine)

Pin your gathered ruffle to your hand towel.

Sew your ruffle to the towel.

Take your fabric for the apron tie, and cut the length of the fabric in half (long ways)

Should look like this:

Now, take that piece and cut it half AGAIN (to create 2 pieces for your tie)

You want 2 pieces for your tie:

Press your fabric 1/2 inch on two long edges of your fabric (this will save you from having to sew this edge down to create a finished edge.  SHORTCUT!)

Do this for both pieces.  Should look like this:

Pin your two tie pieces (right sides together) along the short edge

Sew two tie pieces together along the short edge to create a really long tie

Use your fabric as a "binding" for your hand towel. Slip your hand towel into the tie fabric (like below) and pin in place

Starting at one end of your tie, sew the tie together, and continue the length of the hand towel all the way to the other end of the tie.

It should look like this:

Hmmm. Looking a little plain.  I know, Ric Rac!

Pin on your ric rac, and sew it to your hand towel.

Finished!!

Double Ruffle:

Just for Fun, I made one for Miss J 

(who is obsessed with Turtles!)

Linking up to these great Parties

Cutting Edge Stencils WINNER!

I'm pleased to announce the winner of the $40 gift certificate to Cutting Edge Stencils is.........

Patti!

I will e-mail you shortly Patti.  Thanks to all those who entered!

Powder Room Reveal {Part 2}

I recently renovated our powder room.  If you missed the post, check it out here!

Just a quick recap of what it looked like before and after:

Before

After:

Alrighty.....that's the simple steps of what I did.  I'm going to go number by number and give you tips, tricks, and how-to's!

Painting the Room

I only painted the room 3/4 of the way down because I knew I would be wallpapering below.  Save yourself some time!

TIP: Buy GOOD paint.  This will save you so much time and effort.  Cheaper paint doesn't cover as well, and you wind up doing more than one coat.  I have never had to paint more than one coat with the Valspar paint from Lowe's.  It's worth the extra money!

Light Fixture

• If you've never installed a new light fixture, try it!  It is SOOOO easy!
• Turn off the power to the room @ the breaker box-very important
• Unscrew the old light bulbs, and take down the old fixture.  This is a figure it out step.  Every fixture is a little different to take down.
• Match the wires for the new fixture to the wires coming out of your wall.  Black to black, white to white, and ground to ground.
• After matching your wires, wrap them in electrical tape, or use the little caps that come with most fixtures to secure them together.
• Install the new fixture using the directions.
• Mine went from this to this:

Bead board Wallpaper

• I bought pre-pasted wallpaper that is paintable.
• I did not use extra paste.  
• I simply measured 36 inches (that's how tall I wanted mine; you can do any height you like), and cut the wallpaper.
• I then dipped the cut length in water. 
• I let it sit in the tub of water for 30 seconds or so, and then I pressed it on to the wall.  
• I used a smoothing tool (made for wallpapering) to smooth out any air bubbles.  
• Work from top to bottom!  Have paper towels handy to clean up the paste that oozes out the bottom.  You will get ooze!
• Measure your next length, dip it in water, and press it on to the wall.  Very easy!!!
• I think it looks pretty dang good for wallpaper.

Chair Rail

 

The chair rail trim I used is technically window casing.  I loved how thick it was. (Mine is 3.5 inches tall)  I also thought that traditional chair rail stuck out from the wall too far.  If you want to do a chair rail in a room, pick out trim you like! It doesn't really matter if it's chair rail trim or not; chances are it will look good, and no one will ever know!  I don't think you would know mine was really window casing :)

After measuring and cutting the trim, I held it up to the wall where I wanted it and leveled it. Make sure you level!  You don't want it all wonky looking!  After leveling it, I attached it to the wall with liquid nails, and used the nail gun in a few places. (in the pics below you can see the nail holes, and where all the seams don't line up yet)

Baseboard Trim

Because I have an inability to cut in a straight line was in a hurry, some of my wall paper was uneven, and didn't sit flush with the baseboards.  Also, I'm a "do it as fast as possible" person, and didn't take the time to make sure I cut even.   Sooooo, I bought some inexpensive trim to cover up the wallpaper's unevenness at the bottom and make my baseboard taller, all at the same time!  Genius, right?

I don't remember exactly what type of trim it was; just some I thought would look nice on top of my existing baseboards.  It was about 1.5 inches tall.  I measured the trim and cut it.  I again pre-painted it.  I  then attached it to the walls with liquid nails, and used the nail gun in a few places.  No need to level this step.  The baseboards were already there, so I just put the new trim right on top.

Caulk

This stuff is my new BFF.  Seriously, it's amazing!!  It covers so many flaws. 

• I used a cheap caulk gun from Lowe's.  

• I used LATEX caulk.  The cheapest they had.  The cheap kind is just as good as the expensive stuff.
• Latex caulk is paintable, so once it dries, you can paint it to match your trim.
• Caulk along the top and bottom of any trim that you add.  Also, caulk in the corners where your trim meets.
• To get professional looking lines when caulking, use painter's tape.
• Tape a little above where you are going to caulk

• Using your caulk gun, run a thin bead of caulk along the edge of the tape.  Smooth with your finger!  It will look messy.

• Immediately remove the tape.  Don't let the caulk dry!  The tape will pull off all the caulk if it dries.

• Look at how SMOOTH those caulk lines look!

• Reapeat this until you have caulked the top of the trim, and the corners where the trim meets up.

Mirror

I used an oval mirror we already had.  It was brown to begin.

 

• I love the details; I thought they looked really feminine!

• I carefully taped off the mirror part, and gave it a primer coat.

• After the primer coat, I used Krylon (Ivory) spray paint.  2 or 3 coats; I was careful to get in all the cracks and "swirlies".

T

Trash Can and Hand Towel

• Using an existing flower pot, I spray painted it, and hot glued on some pink ribbon.

• I bought a white hand towel, and used fabric glue to attach the pink ribbon.  Should be fine as long as I hand wash the towel....

Toilet Paper

• The basket I used is actually a bread basket from Target.  It is the perfect size for three rolls of TP!  And, it was on clearance; awesome! 

Well, that's all I can think of!  E-mail me at alittleofthis.alittleofthat.blog@gmail.com with any questions!