A collection of DIY sewing projects using a sewing machine. I love reusing items a round the house, so you’ll find lots of upcycling, refashioning, and repurposing projects. Also, I’m always looking for new scrap fabric projects!
In preparation for back to school, I’ve been compiling this huge list of free toddler sewing patterns. Mostly so I can have some new outfit inspiration for my younger daughter. Let’s face it, my favorite projects to sew are clothes for my girls. This is because kids’ clothes require less fabric, time, and precision than…
I get frustrated when people tell other embroiderers there’s no way they could EVER survive with only a 4″x4″ hoop embroidery machine. They make it sound like the world will end if you purchase a machine with a small hoop. That you’ll never be able to embroider anything unless you take out a second mortgage…
Let’s talk about how to use embroidery target stickers to line up embroidery designs. I first saw the idea of using a placement sticker in a machine embroidery book and was intrigued. I had always marked my embroidery fabrics with a water-soluble marker or chalk wheel and didn’t have too many problems. However, one day I…
As I’ve mentioned before, I get joy from embroidering on the oddest things I find around my house. Luckily, my machine takes it all in stride and never complains. While I was searching for some great Dollar Tree embroidery blanks, I came across paper doilies and started wondering if I could make embroidered doilies. I’ve…
Embroidered burlap flags are all the rage, so I decided I urgently needed one for my house. I’d embroidered on burlap in the past when making Christmas coasters, but this was my first foray into using large pieces of burlap. With a little troubleshooting, I perfected by embroidery on burlap and made the perfect burlap…
Do you ever get tired of draping your sewing projects on a dress form that is a completely different size and shape than you are? Or trying to accurately alter a shirt while it’s on your body? Well, I did, and finally decided it was time to sew a custom DIY dress form. There just…
Did you know you can personalize a stuffed animal with embroidery? I recently saw stuffed bunnies with names on their ears selling on Etsy and thought wow, what a cute idea! Especially since I could embroider my own stuffed bunny with my embroidery machine for a fraction of the cost. So, I set out to…
One easy way to personalize a store-bought fleece or knit beanie is to add your own embroidery design. Take that boring, solid-colored beanie, stitch your favorite design, and you have a new DIY embroidered beanie for your winter wardrobe! Because beanies are so stretchy, they are notoriously difficult, but not impossible, to machine embroider. To…
I enjoy sewing doll clothes because they’re quick and easy to sew and a great stash buster. Pattern-drafting for doll clothes is also fairly simple thanks to dolls’ general lack of curves and the similar dimensions between brands. That being said, I exhausted a lot of the doll clothes patterns from my favorite doll clothes…
New babies are everywhere, and this is a great time to share some of my favorite machine embroidered baby gift ideas for new parents! Embroidered, personalized baby gifts are fun and inexpensive to make, thoughtful to gift, and almost always cherished by new parents. I still have many of the embroidered gifts I received for…
My neighbor is having a baby soon, so it is time to get to work embroidering baby gifts! My three favorite things to embroider for new parents and babies are onesies, burp cloths, and bibs. I like putting them in a pack of three with the same design. (Here are my how to embroider a…
Embroidering burp cloths is easy with an embroidery machine, and they make a perfect embroidered baby gift for new parents. Because, well, most parents need to use burp cloths at some point, whether it’s cleaning up spit-up or wiping up messes on the go! Want to make your own? This embroidered burp cloths tutorial will…
With new babies everywhere these days, I’ve been crafting baby gifts left and right to mail to new mom friends. As I was embroidering a bib for our neighbor this last week, I put together this easy tutorial to show you how to embroider a bib with an embroidery machine. Adding embroidery to a store-bought…
I’m the world’s worst hoarder of clothes and other textiles because I love repurposing everything. However, I don’t always know what to do with each clothing item when I decide to eliminate them from my wardrobe. So, they all go in a big Sterilite storage bin. I have four of these bins now. Yes, I…
It’s Christmas time, which means everyone I know gets gifts made with my Cricut Maker or embroidery machine! My uncle loves woodworking, and he’s also a vintage Ford fanatic. Thus, when I came across a great 1968 Ford Mustang redwork design, I knew I had to embroider a balsa wood ornament for him! I’d embroidered…
I remember how overwhelming it was to first take my embroidery machine out of its box! The manual wasn’t very helpful, and I was worried I’d break my new, very expensive machine. Luckily, I got over the fear fast and now LOVE embroidering everything I can find. As such, I’ve put together this quick list…
With the school year in full swing again, I’ve been embroidering ribbon hair bows with my daughter’s initials and other cute, small designs. Now, while I enjoy crafting, bow-making itself is not my forte. I prefer to use premade ribbon hair bows and simply add embroidery to them. Making embroidered hair bows took some experimentation,…
Every first day of school or preschool, my daughters get new backpacks and lunch boxes. These items get nasty and worn out from year to year, so replacing them is necessary. Now, embroidered lunch boxes are expensive to purchase. Thus, one of the first things I started doing when I got my embroidery machine was…
Don’t you love the soft feel of minky? I love baby toys and blankets made from this plush fabric, especially when I can personalize the item as a gift with my embroidery machine. So, let’s learn how to embroider on minky fabric! Follow along in this tutorial where I embroider a diaper changing pad cover…
Troubleshooting how to embroider shoes was an interesting experience. It took some ingenuity to figure out how to lay the tongue flat and a few mistakes that ended up with a broken needle and error code on my embroidery machine. But, the end result was so worth it! Because, well, I really wanted eyeglasses on…
My daughter this year decided she wanted Barbies and lots of Barbie clothes for Christmas. I never got into Barbies or other plastic dolls as a child, so I have no old clothes to give her. I also don’t have a lot of experience sewing clothes for 11.5″ fashion dolls. (I LOVE sewing doll clothes…
DIY embroidered sweatshirts are easy to make and fun to gift. I love to embroider sweatshirts and hoodies as Christmas gifts and add a touch of personalization to my wardrobe. If you want to create embroidered hoodies, here’s how to embroider a sweatshirt with a machine! I’ll talk about stabilizers and designs and then go…
T-shirt embroidery is easy, fast, and fun and is a great way to personalize clothing. After all, I bought my first embroidery machine to embroider shirts for my young daughters at home. They love the customization I can create, and adding monograms, cartoon characters, and sill, cute designs to their t-shirts makes them feel so…
When I first got my embroidery machine, I had no idea how many things it could do. Once I expanded my projects to include more than simple monogramming, I discovered the joy of embroidering free-standing lace. And after my first project, I was hooked. You see, free-standing lace is one of the easier embroidery projects…
Here’s a quick and easy embroidery tutorial for how to upcycle denim jeans to make a denim bookmark! The beauty of this project is you don’t need any fancy software to create a design, and you can gift the denim bookmark to a friend once you’ve created it. I embroidered this denim bookmark as an…
Did you know Dollar Tree has oven mitts in its store? This was a fun find because oven mitts are perfect for personalizing with a Cricut or embroidery machine, making an inexpensive, thoughtful, and fun gift for neighbors, teachers, and more! While I was dreaming of things to do with these newly-discovered items, I decided it…
Today I want to show you how to sew ruffles on leggings to increase length. It’s a great way to prolong the life of toddlers’ and kids’ leggings while simultaneously adding a little personality to their wardrobe. With fall and winter upon us, we’ve been cleaning out my daughters’ winter clothes from last year and…
Since summer is here, I’ve been embroidering hats and baseball caps lately. While it can be tricky to embroider a curved hat with a flat hoop on a single-needle embroidery machine, with a few tips and some trial and error, you can be stitching professional-level caps in no time. Thus, I put together this tutorial…
Embroidering cards, gift tags, and other fun paper items is such a unique way to use your embroidery machine! I especially find myself excited to embroider cardstock cards around holidays like Christmas and Mother’s Day. While it may seem difficult to choose the best combination of stabilizer, design, and paper to achieve great results with…
Can you embroider on tulle? Yes, you most definitely can! Machine embroidery on tulle fabric is not as hard as you’d think and can produce fun effects. This tutorial all started when my daughter desperately wanted a homemade Elsa outfit for Halloween. I sewed the dress out of inexpensive satin and cut a basic cape…