Easy DIY Hidden Phone Pocket- Tutorial!

I like wearing skirts.
I like everything about them, except that they NEVER have pockets. And if they do have pockets, they're ugly.
 Here is a simple little sewing project that will help you avoid those awkward looks when you hike up your skirt to get at the phone that's in the pocket of your shorts.

What you'll need:
-A pair of leggings that you hate (or some stretchy fabric)
-Scissors
- Fabric chalk (or just eyeball it like I did)
-A way to sew it together


Start by putting on the leggings, make sure they fit snugly around the thighs. Decide where you want the phone pocket to be. Depending on the length of the skirt, I'd suggest a few inches above the knee. Then take your phone and put it on your leg to see how long the band needs to be. I'm recommending making the band about an inch longer than your phone, mark the beginning and end of the band with chalk (or with a little snip of the scissors).
Take off the leggings and cut the bottom (the side closest to the knee) straight. Cut out the top so that is has a tag at that's two or three inches in length. If you cut the band so that it has two tabs, cut one off. You only need one.

 The next step is cutting out the pocket for the phone. Put your phone on the fabric and trace around it. If you want your phone to have extra protection, cut more than one of this shape. Don't forget to add a tab at the top. Like so:

Next step is to pin the the pocket onto the band. To do this, I put the band on my leg and held the pocket in place. Pin the pocket to the band so that the tabs match up. Then take it to the sewing machine and sew three sides (Do not sew the side with the tabs!!).

Put the band on your leg and put your phone in the pocket and tie the tabs together. And bazinga! You are ready to go!

(Sorry if these instructions make no sense, I've never written a tutorial before.)

Black Velvet Cape

I've had this wonderful black velvety material for most of a year. (Actually I'm not sure it's velvet, it's light, soft and stretchy.) I always planned to made a cape out of it, but I never got around to it. Until yesterday.
da da daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
I cut a square out for the hood, and then cut it into the shape I wanted. I'd already looked up patterns for hoods so cutting it from memory was no problem. Then I started to wonder about the cape part of the cape. So I thought, and looked at a pattern, and thought, and ended up with a very long, but not very wide cape. It's not what I had in mind, but I like it.

 It's so looooong 

I wanted to cut it shorter, but Mom made the brilliant 

suggestion to add buttons to the inside so I could have it short or long. 

Princess Anna Skirt Decals

I painted the decals on my Anna skirt today. I'm rather pleased with the result.
As it turns out acrylic paint thinned with vinegar works well as fabric paint. To make it stick you must iron it once it's dry.  I used these as stencils.

The colours stand out better if you use white, and then go over it in colour.

Supplies,

knife, cutting board, stencil, acrylic paint, paint brush, and vinegar (:

 Finished!

Three hours of work.

A closer look at the paint....

An unfinished sewing project

I ran out of things I can do to this project five days after I started it. And since I have nothing else that needs doing, I thought 'where's the harm in blog posting?' My sewing project is.....

A princess Anna outfit!

I sewed the bodice from a pattern I made from a t-shirt, and the skirt is from scratch. I can't decide if I'm going to use iron-on transfers or fabric paint for the flower design on the skirt...
I know that the blouse isn't the right colour, I just threw on my only blue button-up shirt for effect. I'm hoping to find a blouse that is close to the right colour at Value Village this summer.
I tried to make the bodice a sweet-heart neckline, but as you can see that really did not work out well....

 I got a crash-course in embroidery; it looks OK doesn't it?

You would think I would be able to find gold edging for the bodice, but apparently not. Mom and I went into every shop on mainstreet that might possibly have it. But all I came up with was yellow ribbon. As much as I love it, I can't get it to lay flat once it's sewn on to the bodice.

The question now is what am I going to do with three meters of yellow ribbon?

Red Medieval Dress

I'm happy to say that it's finished, and it's about time! You know, I've only had the fabric since July....
Of course I had to go out and have a photo shoot; in spite of the wet grass...and the mud. And what do you know? I took Johanna with me.

 

 What a loyal hunting dog.

 Johanna recently taught me how to make GIFs in Photoshop. 

This sort of just happened...

More Stuffed Animals!

Last I mentioned it I had one sock monkey, well things have changed since then.

The current DIY stuffed animal count is four sock monkeys and two felt owls.

My collection is expanding.

Monkey!

*Ahem*

 Yesterday I was sitting in my room, on the rug, on the floor. And I was thinking, in my room, on the rug, on the floor.  And I had this thought (in my room, on the rug, on my floor) : I'd like to try sewing stuffed animals.

Right after I thought this thought I tried to think of things that I'd like to sew, after about five minutes of thinking (and a bit of Googleing) I decided to try sock monkeys.

I found a pattern and instructions online, Since I didn't have any suitable socks I had to wait until today to start. Almost as soon as we got home from town I got to work. It took me all afternoon, but I finished my monkey, and I must say, I'm rather pleased with my efforts....
I'm thinking Pink Monkey is going to get two friends right shortly, I bought a 3 pack of socks after all ;)

PICTURES!

 I'm not sure what I'm going to name this Monkey, and suggestions?

  (Yeah we are in the bathroom, in my defense it has better lighting than my bedroom and it's dark outside! Also there is a drop of water on the mirror.)