Fabric & Sewing How-To Guides

Baby blankets are great for beginner sewers and make awesome gifts. This baby blanket has two sides with a fold over border, and is super soft thanks to the Minky fabric. I chose neutral colors for either a boy or girl but you can use any cotton print or minky you like! See our Minky Fabric Product Guide for more information about working with Minky.

Burlap sunflower wreaths are very popular so why not make a burlap flower for every season? Along with the summery sunflower, I'm going to show you how to make a spring daisy, a winter poinsettia, and a flower fit for fall. These no-sew burlap flowers are perfect for hanging on the front door. They should be used in an area protected from weather. If your door's not under a porch or awning, they make great wall art too!

Felt is an ideal fabric for making fabric flowers because it doesn't fray and it's thick enough to create volume and shape. These felt flowers make great broaches, bouquets, or embellishments for headbands, bags, pillows, wreaths, and much more. You can experiment with different variations, like color, size, and petal shape, to make them your own. Want to get the free printable template PDF instructions?

We've tried lots of dyeing techniques in the past, but this time we're keeping it natural. I'm going to use ground turmeric and a head of cabbage to dye some unbleached muslin. I'm also adding some salt and vinegar to make it more vibrant.

Since dye is one of the quickest and easiest ways to add color to a project or to an existing piece of fabric, today I'm going to be demonstrating a simple immersion technique using Rit Dye. Rit Dye is great for all skill levels because it contains a mixture of several different types of dye, making it a really great option if you want to dye something that's a blend or contains multiple kinds of fibers. For polyester and other synthetic materials, use Rit DyeMore.

If you want to make a comfy personalized blanket of your own and don't have access to a sewing machine, you've come to the right place. Keep warm or give cozy handmade gifts with this quick and easy DIY No Sew Fleece Blanket tutorial.

This simple centerpiece is perfect for fall gatherings, like Thanksgiving. You can also use different colors for any event really. Create an elegant look with monotone white leaves and silver branches for weddings, use pastels for a baby shower, or go with bright multicolored leaves for a birthday party. We used felt, linen, poplin, and peachskin to create different textures.

Ice dyeing is a really fun technique with unexpected and beautiful results. Cathy, Jen, and I each dyed an item using different dyes, colors, and ways of manipulating the fabric. Watch the video or read below to see how they turned out! We used Rit Powder Dye and Dylon Dye. We also have many more awesome dyeing techniques that you can find here.

Burlap table runners are extremely popular for table décor, whether it's for your dining room table or a large wedding. I'm going to decorate this table runner with twine branches and fabric leaves. It would be perfect for the Thanksgiving table, but with different colors, it can be used for many occasions. For other ways to embellish your burlap table runner, try stenciling or adding ribbon. Lace ribbon is particularly popular for weddings.

This simple tutorial shows you how to make baby burp cloths using a bit of fabric and a cloth diaper. These burp cloths make great personalized gifts for baby showers.

This felt shamrock is quick and easy to make and involves very little sewing. You can make a bunch to hang as a garland, or as decorations in a clear vase.

Koozies are great to have at home, in the car, or take to parties. This fabric koozie is sized for a bottle or can, but the insulation works for both hot and cold beverages.

Coasters are great for protecting your tables, especially if you entertain a lot. I'm going to show how to make an easy decorative coaster out of cotton fabric and batting. I chose to use holiday fabrics and make my own bias tape but you can also buy pre-made bias tape and use colors and prints that match your home décor.

If you're looking for a few quick and easy last-minute fall table decorations, we've got you covered. These projects are simple and mostly involve no sewing, perfect for thanksgiving dinner decorations!

Rust-Oleum products are great for turning ordinary objects into fun and festive decorations. These projects are fall themed, but Rust-Oleum is available in many colors to suit any season. When using these products make sure to follow the instructions listed on the can.

This fabric wreath is great to hang because it displays a range of colors and prints. There is no sewing involved, just cut and glue. If the wreath is going to be outdoors, outdoor fabric is a great option because it's water and sun resistant.

In this no-sew project I'm going to add a pop of color to this plain tray by spray painting it and adding fabric to the bottom. This is a quick and easy way to personalize an otherwise boring wooden tray.

If your ironing board is starting to show stains or burns, making a new cover is a quick and easy sewing project that will give it a fresh look. This works for most ironing boards, including table top and full-sized. By making your own ironing board cover, you'll be sure of a good fit and, compared to commercial covers, you'll have so many more choices of fabric to brighten up your laundry or sewing space.

If your mouse pad is looking dingy or just plain boring, it's quick and easy to give it new life with oilcloth. There's plenty of fun patterns and colors to choose from. The great thing about oilcloth is it's super easy to wipe off so it will never get stained. You can also use faux leather vinyl if you prefer that look.

Beach towels are essential to have in the summer, whether you're laying out by the pool or on the beach. I'm going to show you how to make a double sided beach towel using terry cloth fabric. Terry cloth is the best fabric to use for towels because it's really soft and absorbs water quickly.

Decoupage is a quick and easy way to add interest to otherwise plain surfaces, like furniture, boxes, and other crafts. Mod Podge is great for gluing and sealing paper or fabric to surfaces like cardboard, canvas, or wood.

This DIY felt pencil holder brings a pop of color to the desktop and can hold all of your utensils. You can choose any colors and designs you like. Clara decided to go with a colorful geometric design that is cut to fit the pencil holder evenly. Felt works well for anything from complex designs to fun shapes for kids' crafts.

Ombre is popular in fashion, hair, and decor. It describes the blending of one color to another or light to dark. This gradient is easy to create by dip dyeing fabric or clothing. You can ombre pre-made items like shirts, dresses, curtains, or pillow covers, or dye fabric and use it to create something of your own.

The low water immersion technique will create a mottled, uneven effect when dyeing fabric. By using little water and tightly packing the fabric, you'll get a strong pattern like this, or use more water and get a subtler result. You can also create other patterns by tying or folding the fabric in different ways.

Batik fabric is traditionally made using wax as a resist. Designs are created by painting or stamping hot wax onto the fabric and then dyeing it. The wax stops the dye from penetrating the fabric. You can create a similar effect much more easily by using glue instead of hot wax.

You can make pot holders out of almost any fabric you want, but it's best to use a fabric that's either absorbent, or heat resistant. If you do not want to make your own bias tape, there is pre-packaged bias tape available as well. Making it is fun because you can choose the fabric you want, and the bias tape maker is easy to use. I chose to stitch the diamonds on the waffle cloth for a quilted look, but it's all about what you prefer.

With the Shibori folding technique, you can create geometric patterns like squares, triangles and hexagons by simply folding the fabric in different ways. You can also clamp flat objects to both sides of the fabric before dyeing. The area that is covered will remain white, adding another element to the pattern.

Tie dye is a form of Shibori, which is the ancient Japanese art of dyeing fabric. There are many different forms of Shibori including folding, stitch resist, and pole dyeing. In this example I'm going to tie fabric with rubber bands to get 3 different dyeing effects. Get creative with different ways of tying the fabric. You never quite know how it's going to turn out, but you can get some unexpected and beautiful results by experimenting.

This Shibori dyeing technique uses thread to create a pattern. The stitches act as a resist so the dye can't penetrate certain areas of the fabric. With this method you can basically draw with the thread to create detailed designs. With Shibori stitch resist, the possibilities are endless, so experiment with different designs and multiple colors to get beautiful and unique results. Want to get the orange ogee pattern and the printable PDF instructions?

With the Shibori pole dyeing technique, you can create unique striped patterns. They can range from fairly regular lines to fluid, ripple-like stripes. Experiment with different ways to wrap the pole and multiple colors to create unique patterns of your own.