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Hey everybody, it is Rob from Man Sewing. And I bet some of you parents out there have
had the same experience I have. That’s right, middle of the night going for a glass of water,
and Ouch! What is that? Legos between the toes. No, how about a Matchbox car right under
your foot as you head for the staircase. Not a great plan. Now we all love to play and
not many folks like to clean up. So I’ve come up with this really fun and easy way
to help our kids make clean up kind of fun. That’s right, it’s kind of a toy or clutter
keeper. I’m going to teach you today in your tutorial how to make this giant circular
mat with basically four holes for a drawstring. So we can just pick up our toys, lift them
up, and go hang them up later on like on a doorknob or a hook or something like that.
But that makes clean up really fun even for some of those younger kids, right? So you
ready to get started?
So your supplies for this project are going to be basic. Basically two fabrics. I started
with this 60 inch wide denim. It’s a washed denim from Robert Kaufman, thank you guys,
appreciate the supplies. And I also chose the denim because I wanted a little bit of
strength and longevity. I wanted something a little heavier because we’re going to
put rocks and cars and legos and bricks and stuff inside of it. So you want something
a little extra heavy there. But easy to sew through still. We also have this really cute
print, obviously child-theme print. This is from Windham. It’s called Colors and Count.
So I thought very appropriate for our kids to be using. And I’ve also used some nylon
rope. I found this in my garage. But you could probably pick it up at about any hardware
store. Roughly 130 inches worth of the rope. And I forgot to tell you that we’re using
45 inch squares. So on your print, you’re going to need a yard and a quarter. And on
your denim, you’ll need a yard and a quarter. But it starts at 60 inches wide so your first
step is you’re going to cut it down into a square.
Once it is cut into a square, we’re going to then fold it. But we’re going to triangle
fold it. So I’m going to fold it into a giant triangle. I hope you can see that ok.
And then I’m going to fold it again into a giant triangle. And the reason we’re doing
this is we’re going to cut a circle across this arch. Now I’m going to bring it again.
So that’s about eight layers. So I’m definitely not going to try to cut this and the print
at the same time. I want to try to make sure there’s as few ripples, wrinkles, what-not
inside. I’m going to pick this up and start with it on the folded side because eventually
I’m starting with my rotary cutter and we’re going to cut this arch. But I want to draw
it in first. Ok? So let me finish getting that tidy. The easiest way to draw this in,
I’m going to come down, we’re going to use a 21 ½ inch arch. So come in to 21 ½,
kind of keeping that on my tip right here. Then what I do is I just use my ruler, let’s
make sure I stay accurate. And I’m going to draw roughly like two, maybe three inch
lines. So this is just going to allow me to eyeball my arch. And just keep double checking
the tail of the ruler to make sure you’re still at 21 ½, ok? Couldn’t be much easier.
So you can see that there’s the arc going across there. Now let’s take this incredibly
slow. If you haven’t changed your rotary cutter blade in a while, hey, why don’t
you do that? Because we’re going to be cutting through lots of layers and the sharper the
blade, the safer the tool. So let me give you a second for that. Time’s up, ok here
we go.
Opening this up. I have no ruler to protect my hands so I’m going very slow and I’m
keeping this left hand well out of the way. I missed a little chunk there so I’m just
going to press in nice and deep as I go. And I’m constantly flattening it out and smoothing
it. And the biggest and most important part of all of this is that you get both your denim
and your print about the same. Real close to the same would be perfect, right? So when
that’s done, it’s going to open up to form a fantastic circle. And you can see I’ve
already done that also with my print. Let’s double check to make sure they’re real close.
Oh my goodness, I couldn’t have done much better if I tried.
So before we start stitching these bad boys together, right sides together, we need do
our buttonholes. The buttonholes are what allow the rope or the strapping to come out
for gathering it up later. The buttonholes are only done into the denim. And we’re
going to do a series of two buttonholes, four times. So eight technical buttonholes. And
if we open this up right now. Let me grab my sharpie, ok? I’m going to go to the inside
of my fabric. These are just going to be my guidelines. So I should have one grouping
of buttonholes there. One grouping of buttonholes here. I’m folding it right on those lines.
And this, I mean, these can be off by inches and it really wouldn’t matter. But I’m
going to have another group of buttonholes here. And I’m going to have my last group
of buttonholes here. So the four quarters of my circle each getting two buttonholes.
And those buttonholes should be at least an inch if not an inch and a quarter long so
they’re easy to fish that casing through. Ok? I’m going to do the buttonholes on the
right side of the fabric. And my machine is already set up for that. If you have never
done a buttonhole on your machine, definitely give it a practice run before you start, ok?
And so I’m just going to get set up. I’m making that sure my line, these are going
to be, oh let’s say, about an inch or inch and a half apart. And for me, I’m going
to start in and my fingers are crossed. And I’m going to start nice and slow. And here
we go. Ok. Now here’s a great trick. Whenever you’re doing something kind of “industrial”
it’s a great idea to do your buttonhole twice so that it adds extra thread and extra
thickness. So I’m going to put my needle in the up position. I’m going to lift my
foot, come right back to the beginning of that buttonhole, line it up and I’m going
to start again. Couldn’t have been much easier unless you were doing all my buttonholes
for me, right? So let’s get this on out of here and talk a little bit more about what
just happened.
First of all, we have a terrific buttonhole. Secondly, I should have mentioned this earlier.
We want it at least a half an inch if not an inch back from the edge because remember
we’re going to take this in just a moment after all my buttonholes are in. And these
will be stitched right sides together with at least a ⅜ seam allowance, ok? So we want
to make sure that’s still going to be exposed, ok? Then the other thing is if it’s easier
for you, my machine, the buttonholes starts and then runs backwards. So I make one kind
of on the fly. The second one, I want to know where I started from. So now I’ve come in
there and I go look at that, the beginning of that buttonholes was two inches in. Once
you’ve determined that distance, like I said, about two inches from the end point
and at least ¾ from the outer edge for your first buttonhole. Now you can go around the
entire project and line out the other seven. What does that mean? Well, check this out.
Ok, so I’m going to fold this back. And that was my “centerish” mark, and remember
this is not rocket science for this because we’re not even putting buttons through these.
Ok? Now the tricky part for me, I like to mark on the top side. And I just want to say
that I’m going to keep myself roughly two inches apart. And then I’m going to go roughly
two inches in and I’m going to put another sharpie marker. And that sharpie marker there
is going to get buried under the thread. And that buttonhole will start there and come
backwards on my machine. And you all know every machine has got a different buttonhole
set up and a different way that the foot works. So, hey that might be a good quick tip. Maybe
I could cover a couple of those down the road for you. Ok, so I’m going to come over here.
This is now kind of that center mark. And I’m not marking on the top side because
I don’t want to see that later. And the buttonholes are always prettiest from the
top. So now I’m going to come over, remember there’s that mark. I’m going to come over
here, I’m going to put a sharpie, and then I’m going to come about two inches, eyeballing
it is just fine. And another sharpie. Ok? So you’ve got that. That will be two more
buttonholes. And I’m going to do the rest to the other sides and then I”m going to
sew the buttonholes. And I’ll be right back for you to show you how to cut those open.
How does that sound?
Alright, well that didn’t take too long, right? But I did just do eight buttonholes
twice around so 16 buttonholes worth of sewing time. I want to show you how I cut my buttonholes.
There’s a few different ways out there of doing it using different cutting tools that
are like a little exacto knife or a little razor blade. I really just use a nice sharp
seam ripper. Before I slice this open, let’s just make sure you totally understand what
I was doing earlier. It was an inch and a quarter long buttonholes and it was two inches
from the beginning to the edge of the fabric, ok? And I went around it twice to make it
nice and secure. And now what I’m going to do is I’m going to take my seam ripper,
and I’m going to poke it in at the back. And then I actually do kind of a little bit
of a wiggle. And I slow way down. I don’t cut all the way to that end. Let me do that
again for you. And you try not to cut those satin stitches you’ve just done. Beautiful,
just like that, right? Very easy. So I’ve just used a seam ripper. Let me put that back
over here in the Sew Mando vest for myself. Now from this point on, it’s time to start
making the project, right?
So we’re going to put our right sides together. And it’s a circle so it really doesn’t
matter where I grab it. I’m going to kind of start out in the field or between two sets
of buttonholes. And this first series of stitching, like I said, right sides together. And we
are going to use about a 3/8ths seam allowance. When you’re quilting, you’re using a quarter
inch seam allowance and a lot of patterns are based off of that. When I’m doing my
regular sewing, I often use 3/8ths because I get a little bit bigger bite. The bigger
the bite, the stronger that seam is going to be. And remember, we’re carrying rocks
around in our little satchel, ok? So here we go.
Before we approach our sewing machine, a couple of things I want to point out just from my
personal experience. The denim has a little bit more stretch than the print so my print
is going to actually be down on the feed dog side so my fabrics travel nicely together.
And you know I’m a bit of a slob when it comes to the machine. I don’t normally pin.
I just kind of go for it. But you’ll see I’ve used some wonder clips because I’ve
got such a large area of circles, I want to make sure that everything stays as nice as
possible. If something get a little bit off, you could always do some little feeding and
gathering into the seam if you needed to. And remember the buttonholes are already made
and if one of those hit your seam allowance, again, it’s going to still allow us to pull
our casing, or our rope through our casing.
So I’m over here with about a ⅜ inch seam allowance. The print is against the feed dogs.
And I’m just going to slowly start sewing. I’ve got my machine in needle down position
in case I need to stop. And I’m going to bust this thing into high caffeination mode
and finish it out. I’ll be right back. Ok as I’m coming into this last seam, I have
left about a six to eight inch opening so I can turn this right sides back out. Let’s
take a moment and do some backstitching there. Just to make life a little easier. And I will
finish that opening closed with a topstitch all the way around the circle. So we’ve
got our opening. And I’m just going to reach in and start pulling it out. And then I’m
going to topstitch around this real quick. And let me get to the machine and I’ll show
you how that’s going to look a little different.
Now if you wanted to go back to your quarter inch seam allowance here that would be a pretty
cool trick because it will look real sharp right along the edge. You could even move
your needle over further. I think I’m going to do that. So I’m moving my needle right
over towards the edge. Now I’m also going to get all my fabric nice and flat here. And
I’m going to make sure my seam allowances are tucked in to the area where I just opened
all those fabrics out. Nice little pinch. Making sure it’s nice and tidy there. Ok,
now here we go here. We’re going to do our topstitching. I’ll show you what it looks
like when I’m all done. Alright so I’m just coming into the end of that topstitching.
I’m going to sew over by about an inch. Backstitch, and that really locks all of that
in.
Now, let’s think about what we really have done here. We have taken a really nice seam,
and then we’ve also done a topstitch, so that’s like two layers of stitching which
really reinforces it. Remember we’re building a rock carrying sling or a Tonka truck carrying
sling so we need some support. Ok? So that is going to be nice and strong on our outer
edge. Our next step is going to be building a casing for us to run our drawstrings through.
That casing is going to need to fall on the other side of the buttonholes.
The way I do that is I come right back over to the machine and I’ve taken a piece of
blue tape. And that blue tape is going to be two inches from my needle to that outside
edge. Ya, this outside edge right here. Let’s do that. So that outside that’s two inches
distance. And here it is on the blue tape on the machine. And then now I am literally
just going to keep my hands, keeping my fabric nice and secure so it’s not rippling too
much. And we’re going to now just slowly sew around. And if you can’t see, I am looking
right here at that blue line as I’m sewing along. Go a few inches at a time, stop, needle
down, kind of reset. Once I’ve done this once, I’m going to move my needle position
over just a slight and then I’m going to do it again so I have a nice looking like
parallel line of stitching. I’m doing to layers of stitching there also for strength.
Alright everybody, here we are back after all the topstitching is done. And the buttonholes
are done. All we have to still do is run our rope through the casing. But let me just point
out, there’s that first topstitching, the buttonholes There’s the first row and then
I just moved my needle over and hugged that line. And so I’ve got a really nice crisp.
And I forgot to point out earlier, I chose a nice orange thread because it matched the,
the print. I also thought the orange would look, you know, like an old pair of jeans
as well. Now, before we get started with running the cord through the casing, I want to show
you a trick and you may not know this or not. I’m using a nylon rope. Now nylon rope is
nice and strong. It’s a little bit slippery and that’s why I’ve chosen it. At one
point I actually tried to make the scraps of the denim for the, the pull cord but I
found the denim on denim didn’t slide real smooth so I went to the nylon rope.
And with nylon, when you cut it, it’s going to have a tendency to kind of unravel and
do weird things. So this is just a good skill to know anyways. Ok? So once you’ve cut
it, you take a lighter or you can use your stove, and you’re just going to give a little
bit of heat, let it cool, cool, cool, and then pinch it, roll it. Now what that is,
is that’s never going to unravel. That’s a real good way of having your rope to keep
from coming loose at the end. I used about 130 inches of rope. If you’re not sure,
don’t trust me on the 130, leave, let’s call it like four miles of rope on one side,
run it through and then cut it off is really the easiest way. Supply from the big toolbox
here, we’re going to use a very large safety pin going up through the center of the rope
because I want as little drag as possible. Ok? Now here’s the trick we’re going to
do. We are actually going to eventually have the rope come over these loops in my buttonhole.
So I’m going to run in one and I’m going to start going to the other side. If you’ve
ever had a hoodie sweatshirt come out of the dryer and the, you know, the pull cord is
not there, you’ve done this before, right? So I’m just feeding this through as we go.
Now I’m coming towards another series of buttonholes. Watch how I handle that. Make
sure when you’re melting your cord, you’ve made it smooth. I kept feeling a little snag
there. Ok, here’s what I want to show you. As I come over here now, I come through the
casing and I’m going to expose that rope so it goes just like that. And then I’m
going to keep on, keeping on. So this is just going to keep plugging through here. Once
you have all of your rope through the casing, make sure you lay it as flat as possible,
the entire bag out. And then figure out your measurement.
Ok, so now. So we have plenty to work with. We’re going to take and we’re going to
cut this, ok? Now I’ll melt this when I’m done. Now I’m going to take this and, we’re
going to take, a little extra would not be a bad thing. We’re just going to take, loop
around twice and through. And now you have a nice double eight knot, right? So that’s
a very professional looking climbing knot. So if you ever needed to do some rock climbing
with your bag, at least you would look cool if you showed up. Ok, now we’re going to
trim these down. Perfect. One last trip with the lighter. Careful that’s hot. Ok? If
you do this, let it cool because like I said, because you will burn yourself if you touch
it while it’s melting. Cool, cool, cool, and finish. Just like that. How cool is that?
Ok. Now, ready for the test? I’m so jazzed. Ok. I happen to have a few more toys with
me. So all over the floor like all good toys would be, right? We’re going to spread these
out. And now when it’s time for clean up we’re just going to grab one, two, three,
and four like that and just give it a little bit of a snug. Toss it over your youngster’s
shoulder, right? Make sure they’ve got their jammies on and their teeth brushed. They’ve
gone potty. Went up and read a story. And then they’re catching their very last episode
right before bed, of Man Sewing.