Quick Napkin Ring: Making a Simple Heart Paper Chain

Are you having an at home dinner date for Valentine’s Day? This is a quick and whimsical way to add a little love to your table decor. Combining work and spending time with my daughter who also loves to craft, we came up with making some simple heart paper chains to decorate our house and door for Valentine’s Day. And I added them to our table for some decoration. You can cut them in different colors, using any paper and some clear tape. Attach them to a door, lay them out on a table or string them along a window. There really is only one little trick, which I will get to.

Supplies:

-construction paper or any other paper, we used construction and origami because that’s what we had, try printer paper

-paper scissors

-tape

1. With your piece of paper you are going to fold about 1” wide accordion style, so back and forth. Make a fold then fold this fold backwards making a second fold.

outline the heart you want to cut.

circle part is not cut.

After you fold the accordion you will draw the heart line that you will cut. Now here is the trick, you cut to the fold but do not completely cut on the line around the curve of the heart. This little section is not cut, this is what creates the chain link. I looked up a few tutorials and none of them mentioned this important secret.

that little piece of chalk is the part not cut.

Do a few of these and tape the edges together. You will always end up with a half heart on the end. Connect this to the next chain.

Hang them on a door, window, make a napkin ring from them or you can lay them around your dinner plates.

Enjoy!

Tracey

Free Cloth Mask Pattern - Make Your Own!

A year has gone by and we are still wearing a mask to protect ourselves from Covid. The CDC is now recommending wearing two masks. There are many mask patterns out there and I have tried a few. I worked in the garment industry and for mass manufacturing and I have learned to be efficient with time and materials. This pattern gets the job done. It really doesn’t take much fabric to make a mask. But if it’s time to clean out your stash this is a practical way to utilize fabrics. If you are a beginning sewist this is a great way to practice your topstitching, small seam allowances, pleats, folds and attaching ties or elastics. And this is a free pattern that I have been using for a year selling 1,000s of masks. It is based off of a mask distributed by Deaconess Hospitals in Indiana. I have tweeked the pattern a bit for construction purposes but it is still as beneficial as the original.

The best fabric to use for a mask is quilting weight cotton. Quilting weight cotton is a medium weight cotton that is not light or heavy like a denim or canvas. Think of a quilt blanket you might have or your favorite button down shirt. The top fabric used is of medium weight, about 4 oz per square yard. Most of my masks are made with Liberty of London Tana Lawn which is lightweight, about 2-3 oz per square yard, but a very tight weave preventing those nasty droplets from coming thru. For your liner it’s best to use another tight weave cotton. I use a 200 count muslin. This is unbleached and similar to bed sheets, the higher count the soft the fabric but also 200 count means there are 200 threads per square inch. A nice tight weave fabric. Another plus for using higher quality cottons is less shrinkage. Quilting cottons such as Kona or Liberty of London hardly shrink, if at all.

So if we have to wear a mask might as well wear one that we like. Practice your sewing skills and you can also make for your loved ones or homeless shelters.

Have fun!

MATERIALS

1 10” X 8” piece of quilting weight fabric

1 10” x 8” piece of muslin fabric or other quilting weight fabric

2 pieces of elastic 7” each or 2 adjustable nylon stretchy ear wraps

matching cotton or poly thread - machine friendly or TEX 440 which is what I use

Iron, pressing mat or ironing board

point turner (or chopstick)

pattern

pins / scissors / measuring tape or ruler

Print out pattern here in landscape format and cut out along solid black lines. Remember to click the “do not scale” button on your printer menu.

1. Prewash fabric and dry. Iron out wrinkles. Cut one 9” x 7” rectangle from the outer fabric and one rectangle from your liner fabric.

2. If your fabric is a print it has a face or front side. Lay outer shell face to face of liner. If your liner is a muslin or solid colored fabric there is no face so either side will work.

3. Fold fabric and lay your pattern piece where it says fold to the fold of the fabric. It should be laying right on the edge of the fold. If your print is a directional print make sure the fabric is laying on the paper pattern the correct direction. See pattern for top and bottom

4. Trace pattern, mark pleat lines. Cut out.

5. Fold short edges (4 1/2”) side over towards back side 1/2”. See below. You are folding these over before sewing so at step 7 when we turn the fabric right side out the raw edges are already turned in and hemmed.

Step 6 - sew 3/8” seam allowance along longer sides. Do not sew across short sides.

6. With a 3/8” seam allowance sew along the long (9”) sides. Your short edges will stay open, 3/8” folded over towards the backside (see photo) I have pinned the middle of the fabric to prevent shifting.

7. Iron and turn right side out. Iron and steam. The short sides will be folded in from having them folded inward in step 6.

Step 8 -pleats

8. With tailors chalk or your washable pencil transfer from the pattern the pleat and dart lines on the back side of fabric. Darts will be at the top and bottom of the mask, the folds or pleats will be on the sides. On the back side of the mask at the pleat lines starting from the bottom pinch about 1/2” and fold up, pin. Once you have 6 pleats pinned it’s time to move on to the darts. Fold fabric in half open side to open side, you want to be able to see your traced lines from the darts. If you are an intermediate sewist you can skip this next sentence. BEGINNERS: starting at the top dart furthest away from the seam stitch this dart down back stitching at beginning and end. Move on to the bottom dart repeating same steps. It’s important to sew the darts first since they add shape to the mask. The picture above shows the top dart and bottom dart with the trace lines from the pattern. Once everything is pinned down, steam press with your iron.

9. Time to insert your elastic or nylon ties. Elastic should be cut at 7” . You can use cotton ties here, you will need 4 cut at 16”. I am using nylon stretch adjustable ties that we include in the kits sold on traceytoole.com Insert each end into the corners and pin down.

10. Time to sew and finish this mask! Mask front side up, start sewing at a corner. For security I back stitch at each corner re-enforcing the ties. When you sew the darts down they must fold the same direction. Normally you sew them down towards whatever side they lean towards.

Once you have sewn around clip the threads and wear! These can be machine washed and tumble or line dried. Let me know if you have any questions! Feel free to add to the comment section or email tracey@traceytoole.com Thank you!

Make your Own Kitchen Cloth: Part 2

Earth day is almost here. Want to make a small change in your life that will lessen your carbon foot print? This is part 2 of crocheting your own dish cloth. Part 1 is right here I’ve been using Blue Sky Organic Worsted Cotton but you can use any sort of worsted weight. I like this cloths because it is pretty absorbent. Materials: size J crochet hook

1 skein worsted weight cotton

Instructions:

1. after chaining 26 you will need to start working back.

2. Insert hook into the second loop from the end.

3. Wrap yarn around hook towards you and under the throat. What’s the throat? See below diagram.

Step 2 make sure on top of the hook you see these two yarns, this stitch. This way you know you did not insert into the wrong section.

step 5.

4. Now there are 2 loops on the hook.

5. Wrap yarn towards you around hook and pull thru both loops. You are back to one loop on the hook. Repeat steps 2 thru 5 until end of row.

6. At end of row the last stitch can be tricky. The entry is a bit tight. See circled stitch below.

Step 6.

Step 7. This is also a single crochet.

Once you reach 5” high begin to bind off.

Step 1. Insert hook into loop as if you are creating a single crochet.

Step 2. With 2 loops on the hook pull the furthest loop from the head over the first loop and off the hook.

Step 2.

You are left with one loop on the hook. Repeat above steps until you reach end of row.

Step 3. You have reached the end with one loop on the hook. Cut your yarn from the main ball and pull thru the loop.

Step 4. Pull the tail thru the stitches 3 or 4 times. You can use a darning needle for this.

One of my favorite table top cleaners is from Common Goods that I get refilled army local General Goods Store, Annies Blue Ribbon.

Now get cleaning!

And to wash this cloth, just throw in with your other towels. I wash everything on cold and tumble dry or line dry.
Would love to hear and see what you made. What yarn did you use?

Thanks for reading and Happy Earth Day!

Tracey

Make Your Own Kitchen Cloth - DIY tutorial - Part 1

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For the past few months I have been carrying a project bag in my purse. Harper is now 5, so after school pick up we usually head to the playground. She plays, I sit and crochet. Also, this uses up small amounts of yarn and is a small enough project to carry around. I’ve been using organic Blue Sky worsted cotton. It’s incredibly soft not to mention eco friendly. So if you want to make someone a housewarming gift or new baby gift these cloths are perfect. They make great wash cloths, so soft on the skin and feel so durable. I use a few for my face cloths, Harper uses some in her bath and now I am making crocheted ones for the kitchen.

Ok so THE CONS: I do realise that sometimes a knitted or crocheted cloth won’t scrub like a sponge. It may not provide the scrub one needs on a soup caked pot. For that I will use my spaghetti scrub that I mentioned in my last post.

Another CON: at first I had a hard time using nice cotton for the kitchen, but honestly it’s nice because it’s durable, good for the environment and fair trade. So I should just get over myself and use the beautiful cotton yarn. I bought the yarn for these reasons.

PROS: you get to use up all your scrap and leftover yarn, you won’t be buying sponges anymore and you get to do some crafting. t

I experimented with a few size hooks, the same yarn and the same pattern with a little variation for size of the cloth. I used 2 hooks, a size J, 6” by Addi and Chiao Goo bamboo hook in 5.5 mm.

INSTRUCTIONS, Part 1:

1. Make your foundation chain of 26 stitches. Make a slip knot with your yarn, looks like a pretzel. With your right hand pull the yarn tail over the rest of the yarn, create a loop. The left side lays on top of the yarn and the tail part will lay under the right side of the pretzel.

Make your slip knot, notice that the tail right side is under the yarn.

Step 2, slide hook into pretzel knot.

Pull slip knot on hook by pulling the two tails.

Slip knot hugging your hook, time to start the chain.

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Starting the chain. With your left hand, ring finger and thumb hold the slipknot, the yarn is over your index finger. With your right hand, hold the hook and the yarn on the hook. Wrap yarn over (yo) and under the hook, then slide loop that’s on the hook over the tip and the yarn you just wrapped over. This is one stitch of the chain stitch. Continue this for 26 stitches. I have done the sample in green but the actual cloths I made are in white and pink.

After chaining 26 it should look like this.

In the next post I will continue to show you the pattern of making the dishcloth.

How to Fold a Napkin: The Cone Way

The holidays are upon us and most likely you will be having people or family over for dinner. Instead of doing the same ole fold the napkin in 4, I have an easy and different way to fold your napkin. Let me introduce you to the cone. There are a few steps but it’s pretty simple.

I am using a graphic line print napkin called Kyoto which I think adds to the wrapping of the napkins.

STEP 1: Lay out the napkin face side up.

STEP 2: Fold it in half.

STEP 3: Fold in half again matching up the corners.

STEP 4: is just turning the napkin so the open corner is at the top, 12:00

STEP 5: At the top point, fold one layer down to the bottom point.

STEP 6: Flip the napkin to it’s opposite side. Just turn the whole thing over.

STEP 7: Fold the left point (9:00) to the right.

STEP 8: Fold the right over to the left and flip over to the backside exposing our new pocket in the shape of an ice cream cone.

You can either put your silverware in the pocket, name tag or something to celebrate the time of year. I chose a pine branch since we are setting up our Christmas tree and we have a few to spare. Also I stole a bead from Harper’s collection and slipped it over the pine branch to add a little color. Some other ideas are holly branch or a candy cane.

Enjoy!

Tracey