I post sewing and crafting tutorials here at the Mermaid’s Den. I love making things and sharing them with you, so you can make them, too.
In this post, I’ll show you how to make your own poodle skirt using materials you likely have around the house or can find at a thrift shop. You can make a more traditional poodle skirt, or create a silhouette of your own dog to use instead! All this takes is a tablecloth, elastic, and some felt. You could easily finish it in an evening and wear it the next day. This is great for a last minute Halloween costume or just for fun!
In this post, I’ll show you how to fix the zipper on a bag when it has started to detach itself from the zipper tape that holds it. It’s a relatively simple fix that only takes a few minutes of sewing by hand, and it extends the life of your bag, keeping it functional and safe to use!
In this post, I'll show you how to fix a tear in the fabric of a blouse that is not along a seam line. You can do this either by hand or with a sewing machine to help extend the life of your clothing. It only takes a few minutes to do!
In this post, I'll show you how to make a padded carry case with dividers to hold reusable glass straws. Everyone has been trying to get away from un-recyclable, disposable plastics lately, and glass straws are an eco-friendly solution to using plastic straws. I wanted to make sure that my glass straws were well-protected when carrying them in my purse, so I made this cute case out of a couple of fat quarters and some fusible foam.
In this post, I'll go over how to use a Leclerc Artisat floor loom, and give some tips for buying a second-hand floor loom, setting it up, and starting to weave. Ever since I got my Schacht Flip Loom, I've been keeping an eye out for something bigger. I like my rigid heddle loom, but I wanted to be able to make bigger things, and to weave more complex patterns. I set up an alert on Craigslist for looms, so I had an idea of what used floor looms tend to sell for. I found this one in a local antique shop, along with a bunch of accessories, so I decided to go for it.
In this post, I'll go over how Singer's hand crank pinking machine works and how to troubleshoot some of the most common problems with it. I love mechanical sewing attachments and accessories. I've mentioned before that I'm a sucker for vintage sewing machines with cams, which are discs that you can use to create various stitch patterns. Vintage sewing machines were able to do so many of the things that modern sewing machines can do, and it's fascinating to see how they were engineered mechanically before computers came along.
In this post, I'll show you the current state of my craft and sewing room, plus I'll offer some tips for organization and storage. Just so you know, my craft room doesn't always look this nice. Recently, it got so bad that it was basically nonfunctional. It looked like an episode of Hoarders was hit by a tornado. Projects and ideas were piled on top of each other, and I couldn't find anything. It took the better part of week, working every day, to get everything organized, but I think I've got it set up in such a way that I'll be able to keep it (mostly) clean from now on!
Don't you hate when a pair of leggings gets worn out? Once the fabric starts tearing and getting little holes, it's only a matter of time before they start to become so frayed they're unwearable. In this post, I'll show you how to repair your leggings by adding a new seam with a serger or sewing machine.
In this post, I’ll go over a brief history of buttons, button storage, and types of buttons. I love buttons. Before I started sewing, I used to work at an antique shop, and I would just bring home cool buttons because I couldn't pass them up. I didn't even have a use for them--I just wanted them to be mine. There's something about buttons that makes you want to hoard them.
In this post, I’ll cover some of the best vintage sewing machines out there. I’ve written a few overview posts on vintage sewing machines, but not one that specifically deals with the best vintage sewing machine because, honestly, I'm not sure there's one best machine to get. Still, it's something that people keep asking about, so I thought I'd take a stab at it.
However, I definitely have some preferences and recommendations, especially for different categories of machines, such as straight stitch, zigzag, treadle, industrial, toy, and sewing leather. I'm also going to go over other bloggers' recommendations, so you'll get a well-rounded idea of what people look for in a vintage sewing machine.
In this post, I'll show you how to make an easy envelope pillow sham out of silk sari pieces (or scarves). I post projects on Hometalk, and they have weekly challenges and trendy topics for bloggers. This week, the topic is West Elm knock-offs. I was scrolling through Pinterest to find ideas, and I came across some stunning silk sari pillows that inspired this project. This post contains an easy beginner sewing pattern and tutorial for these pillow cases.
In this post, I'll show you how to make some cute and sparkly Art Nouveau themed sewing kits out of old Altoids tins, paper, washi tape, felt, and metal stampings. You can use these to store small sewing and embroidery projects or just as trinket boxes. I've included a free pdf pattern in the body of the post with templates for the top, bottom, and inside of the Altoids tin.
