Hand Sewing Projects to Take on Road Trips

I just got back from the BEST trip with my husband to the Outer Banks to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. Since we were driving 6 hours and planned to have some restful down time while we were there, on the morning we left I woke up wondering if there was a portable hand sewing project I could take on our trip with me. I normally take a crochet or knitting project, but hadn’t even thought about it so I didn’t have one in mind, and those are more winter hobbies for me anyway.

I knew there had to be some travel friendly hand sewing projects that I could take to work on while traveling. I needed one that wouldn’t require much prep since we were leaving in just a few hours, so I googled some ideas and landed on one that was easy enough to take in just one shoe box sized bin.

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Phoebe Rag Doll Cat & Mouse Pattern

In case you missed it! Last week I released another doll sewing pattern in my shop, the Phoebe Rag Doll Cat and Mouse pattern, with the cutest little clothes! This new pattern is a sister pattern to the Phoebe Rag Doll I released a few weeks ago with the sleep sack and diaper. The baby doll pattern has already been very popular and the new animal dolls are catching up fast, making me just giddy that so many are finding this pattern both adorable and doable!

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How to Sew a Shirred Dress (It's easier than you think!)

I’ve hopped on the shirred dress train! If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll have seen the shirred dress I made recently using a vintage pattern from the 70’s. Shirred dresses are so comfortable for summer, it didn’t take me long to want to add another one to my wardrobe!

I picked up some tips and tricks for shirring when I made that first dress, so this time I recorded the process to share with you in a video tutorial for sewing an easy, rectangular shirred dress with your sewing machine! I’ve posted the video below along with a list of the tips and troubleshooting ideas so you can refer back to it easily.

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The Phoebe Rag Doll Sewing Pattern

I’m very excited to announce an original sewing pattern, new to the Pin Cut Sew Shop! Introducing the Phoebe Rag Doll, an easy soft doll PDF sewing pattern, with a sleep sack and diaper.

I really wanted to create a simple, one piece, soft doll sewing pattern that’s simple enough for even kids to sew with help. There are many lovely rag doll sewing patterns on the market, but none are really very quick to make, and thus, aren’t something most people would have the desire to make more than once.

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Introducing the Pin Cut Sew Print Shop! || Printable Sewing Wall Art for Sewing Room Decor

I am so excited to reveal another new project here today that I have been working very hard on over the past month or so! When searching for wall art for my sewing room over the last year or so, the same few prints come up in searches most of the time. There doesn’t seem to be much new sewing themed wall art coming out on the regular so I felt inspired to create some myself and add it to the Pin Cut Sew Etsy Shop!

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Do I Really Need a Serger?

If you’ve been sewing for awhile and don’t already own a serger, you may have wondered, “what the heck is a serger and do I really need one?” Also known as an overlocker, a serger is a special sewing machine that finishes raw edges of fabric neatly, to put it very basically. A serger is a great companion to a regular sewing machine, but it’s definitely not necessary for everyone and is more useful for certain genres of sewing than for others. Can you sew pretty much anything without a serger? Yes, you absolutely can! But there are some great reasons to add a serger to your sewing table, which I’m here share with you today.

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How to Sew a Ribbon Tag Baby Blanket

When my daughter Layla was a baby, she was the cutest little thumb sucker you ever did see! She would find the one tag on any of her blankets and rub it while sucking her thumb and it was the sweetest thing. I wanted to make her a blanket with lots of ribbon tags for her to play with and that’s how this little project started.

Today, enjoy this video tutorial for how to sew a ribbon tag baby blanket, where I’ll show you how to make a basic flannel baby blanket, step by step, with tags of cute ribbons all the way around it, sure to delight the little ones. I’ve made countless ribbon tag baby blankets over the years now because they make the best handmade baby shower gifts!

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A Sewing Freebie, Just for You!

I made you something! I was wanting some fun artwork for my sewing room, and while I was thinking about it, I also really wanted to create a freebie for you all, my readers, to show my appreciation for each one of you who reads, watches, or shops with me here at Pin Cut Sew Studio! So, I made you a little something, a piece of free, printable sewing wall art for you to download and print at home, or send to a print shop. I hope you like it!

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The Best Tote Bag Patterns to Sew in 2021

Are you a tote bag person? I have a small collection of tote bags that I use for various types of outings and purposes, as I think everyone should! i’m not a hoarder or keeper of many things (we move too much for that), so the tote bags I keep are absolute favorites and get heavy use. My best bags are handmade and have lasted for years now. So, I have a few absolute favorite tote bag sewing patterns to share with you today!

Tote bags are very fun to sew and can be easy or skill building (I like that term better than complicated, ha!) The tote bag patterns I’m sharing today vary in difficulty from easy to somewhat advanced, so there’s something here for everyone. I’ll share my top three recommendations for tote bag sewing patterns that I have made and love, and then I’ll share a few more that are on my wishlist. Bags make such great handmade gifts too, so my bag patterns tend to get a lot of use!

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How to Sew Easy, Quilted Fabric Bookmarks (a scrap friendly project!)

Whenever my kids ask me what they can give me for a gift, I say handmade bookmarks; partly because I know their budget is nonexistent, haha, and partly because I really neeeeed bookmarks. As both a reader and a homeschool mom, there are books all overt the place, so bookmarks are a great gift for anyone, really. There are so many great DIY bookmark ideas, but I just love to make these little quilted ones!

These fabric bookmarks are very simple and can be made with scraps. They’re so easy to personalize with different fabrics for everyone in your life, and you can sew up a big batch of them in an evening. Below, you’ll find the bookmark sewing tutorial in two forms —- a video tutorial, as well as written instructions with photos.

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Simple Quilting Projects that AREN'T Big Quilts!

Sewing an entire quilt can be intimidating, especially for a beginner who’s just getting their feet wet! The good news is, quilting on a small project involves the same quilting processes as making a big quilt. The cutting, piecing, top stitching and the binding go together the same way on small quilt projects as they do on a big quilt. You can learn to quilt on small projects, just as easily as you can on big ones.

Maybe you have the itch to quilt something, but don’t have the time, the money, or the fabric stash to make an entire quilt, or maybe you just want to sew something up in an evening or a weekend. This list of small quilting projects is for you! Here are easy, beginner quilting projects that aren’t big quilts!

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The Ultimate List of Barbie Sewing Patterns (and some are even FREE!)

I’m about to confess one of my worst mom fails to you.

I still feel super bad about this, y’all. When my girls were younger, we had a big bin of Barbies, clothes and Barbie house furniture for the DIY Barbie house I’d made them (which I’ll share at the end of this post). About four years ago, when my daughter Layla was cleaning out her room, the bin got put in the living room … among a lot of other bags and bins that were destined for Goodwill. You can guess what happened next. Except we didn’t realize it had happened until a month or so later when she was asking where I’d put the Barbie stuff. We looked everywhere, even though I knew in my soul it was gone, because I’m not much of a keeper so we don’t just have bins hanging around in places and I knew I hadn’t seen it. I remembered telling my husband which things were to go to Goodwill and the Barbie bin must have gotten swept up in the process.

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