Tutorial Tuesday - Upside Down Planter

Sometimes the best ideas come when you are exhausted - or brainstorming with a friend.

Or both.

On my way home from the retreat last month, I had the wonderful opportunity to stop in Columbus, OH and visit with Joan Hawley.

In addition to our mutual love of things Lazy, Joan and I are both avid gardeners working in small spaces. In the course of our rambling roving conversations that evening, we talked about those upside down tomato planters that are all the rage in infomercials and on QVC - and quite pricey in my opinion. Many many years ago I had used coffee cans for this purpose - under Mom's direction when I was a kid, and later shortly after I got married. They worked well, but coffee cans are harder to come by for me now, and I wondered what other methods might work.

Joan and I contemplated 5 gallon buckets (too heavy?), plastic pots with holes drilled (too expensive?), and then suddenly we hit a brainstorm - the tyvek mailing envelope that Joan had sitting on the table between us - that she had earlier offered me knowing my love of recycling tyvek. Lightweight, non-fraying, easy to work with - a couple of boxed corners, a hanging strap made out of the excess cut off the top, a slit cut in the bottom to insert the plant -and we would be in business.

Joan jumped right onto the project - making herself some bags and getting her tomatoes planted right away. Of course her planting season is a few weeks ahead of us - so I had a bit more time (in fact -we just had a frost warning last week!!!) - but I got caught up and now have 6 planting bags hanging in my garden, with 2 more on the way to Sister Terri for her use.

We used slightly different construction methods - Joan's pattern designer talents came out and she engineered a 2 envelope ultra reinforced bag. Mine - one envelope, a few seams, and away it goes.

So here's my version.

1. Save tyvek envelopes that you get in the mail. We get lots of these at work, plus I had a few around the house waiting to be harvested for their tyvek. You will be turning it inside out, so any writing on the outside will not show. (NOTE - I am showing this with a non-recycled envelope so I don't have to worry about blurring out a bunch of writing in every photo)

2. Cut off the top 3 inches of the envelope (do not include the adhesive flap in this measurement - basically you want a loop that is 3" by the circumference of the envelope.)

3. Undo the glue that holds the loop closed and open it up so that you have a long strip that is 3" wide. You will fold this in half (finger pressing works fine for tyvek - it will melt if you try to iron it) and then fold each half into the center. Fold the entire thing in half again and zig zag along the length and you have your hanging strap. (NOTE - for sewing tyvek, use long stitches, and you will want to change out your needle when you are done)

4. The next step is to box the corners. Open up the envelope and kind of "square it up" with your hands. You will bring the side crease in to line up with the bottom crease -and using your ruler create a triangle about 6" wide. Draw a line with a permanent marker to give yourself a sewing line. Do this on both sides.

5. Sew along your drawn line -using long stitches. On my first bag I did two parallel rows of stitches to help prevent tear out/perforating, but I did not do this on the other 5 bags.

6. Once you have sewn both triangles and created a boxed bottom, you will have two triangular flaps on either side. DO NOT CUT THESE OFF!

7. You will attach your handle to the points of these triangles. This will help distribute the weight of the soil along the entire length of the handle and support the entire bag.

I used double rows of zig zag stitching to attach my handles to the ends of the triangles, overlapping the two about 1/2 inch on either side.

8. After attaching the handles, turn the entire bag right side out. Fold over the top edge about 1/2". Align the handle along the inside side of the bag, pinning it carefully at the top edge on either side.

The triangle flap should "stand" up along the side of the bag. Topstitch all the way around the top fold, reinforcing where the handle is with some extra rows of stitching, but being careful not to cause the handle to perforate.

9. Draw an "X" on the bottom of the bag. This is where you will cut the bag open to accomodate your plants. I wrap my root ball in overlapping coffee filters, and then spread the filters out inside the bag once the root ball is inserted.

The soil holds the coffee filters in place and they add a bit of extra support around the opening in the bag.

10. Hang, water, and watch the plant turn up towards the sun.

11. Enjoy!!!

Picking More Pockets

As promised in my PickAPocket post, here's another option for making the front piece of your PickAPockets - tyvek.

I've written about using tyvek before - I like it as a way to incorporate stamping into my sewn work, as well as a different texture. Sure - you can use fabric inks and stamp on muslin, but I find that stamps with fine line detail do not reproduce well that way -the tyvek gives a harder smoother surface and finer image details.

For Mr. Gingerbread - I stamped the image with light and medium tan inks, then followed up with a dark brown. To pop the overall effect, I stitched strips of various brown fabrics to frame in the stamped area, then assembled the PickAPocket as usual.

When I am making these, I like to start by cutting my pieces of tyvek to size. I sometimes use just a tyvek front, sometimes I attach fabric borders - but by starting with a piece cut to final size I can then make the decision after I finish the artwork. (see my previous tyvek post for sources of tyvek).

When I have my inks out, I will usually stamp a whole bunch of images, even if I don't plan to use them all right then. I forgot to take a photo of the ink pads, but fast drying inks designed for use on non-porous surfaces work best for this. Water based inks won't dry and will smear on the "plastic" like surface of the tyvek, and you cannot heat dry or heat emboss on tyvek -it will melt.

My next fun is coloring the images. I have a lot of water based markers - but like I just mentioned, water based inks will puddle on the tyvek and not dry. However, if you blend them with acrylic paints, the properties of the paint take over, and they will dry, actually relatively quickly. Liquitex makes some cool "interference paints" that are translucent and take on the color of the pen inks, adding some iridescence and sparkle. These are kind of expensive, so get them where you can use a coupon or something. If you have a friend that you craft with -share with them. I find that I use the gold most often, although I have a variety of other colors.

When using these paints, less is more. I put a tiny bit of water in a film canister, use a very very fine paint brush, and take the paint out of the cap to avoid over-loading my brush. I don't want to water down the paint, so I wet the brush, wipe a bit of excess water off on the back of my hand, and then dip it into the paint.

To start coloring, brush on a bit of ink from your brush pen - you can thin it a bit with some water if it is too heavy a color...

Then over-paint the colored area with the acrylic paints...

Continue until your designs are completely painted to your satisfaction. Again, when I have paints out I usually will paint a whole number of fronts at once, even if I am not assembling them right away.

Here are a bunch of painted fronts - I was in a spring mood, so I decided to finish up the little guy with the bunch of flowers (top left in this picture). I don't know if you can see from this photo, but the lilacs (top right and bottom left) were a stamp that was bigger than the tyvek piece. I put a piece of scrap paper underneath and just let the stamp overlap -like it fades off the edge. It gave a neat effect. I will finish those up for Mother's Day.

Once the paints are dry, you can add additional embellishing by adding beads to your design. It is hard to see in this photo, but there is a small pink bead at the center of each flower.

When adding embellishments such as this, be sure not to take your stitches too close together, or they may pull out if the beads get caught on something. NOTE - if you are using large beads, or beads that will be in the area that will pass under the presser foot during final machine sewing, you may want to wait until after the piece is assembled to add your beadwork or it may cause difficulties in assembly.

You are now ready to finish your PickAPocket as usual. Just use a bit longer stitch length to prevent perforation of the tyvek, and remember that you will need to finger press and not iron the final pocket.

Tutorial Tuesdays - TyTote

I've got a few little projects up my sleeve that I need to write out tutorials for. Some are full start to finish projects, and some are just little shortcuts or some little thing that I thought of as I was making something that may (or may not) make it easier for someone else.

I keep procrastinating, though - so I figured if I schedule a day to do these, they might get done.

Here's the first one - a fun little tote lined with tyvek that makes a great shower caddy or cosmetic tote.

(Note - if you would like a PDF of this file, please leave me your contact information in a comment)

TyTote:

Materials Needed: cover fabric, lining fabric*, nylon zipper

1. Cutting

Decide on the dimensions you want for your finished bag.
Use the following formula to determine the dimension of fabric you need to cut.

Width: finished bag length + finished bag depth + 1/2”

(eg: for a 10x 3” bag you would need to cut a panel that is 10+3+.5 = 13.5”)

Height: Finished bag height + finished bag depth + ½”

(eg: for a bag that is 5” deep, you would need to cut your panel 5.5” high)

Cut 2 panels each from your outside fabric and your lining fabric.

In my example, you would be cutting 4 panels that are 13.5” wide x 5.5” high. You do not need to worry much about directional fabric, as your panels will be identical top and bottom.

Cut one strip 4 inches wide and about 10 inches long for your strap and zipper loop.

2. Notching

From each panel (outside and lining) cut a square out of each of the corners per the following formula: (bag depth/2)+1/4”

In my example – for a 3” depth bag, you would cut out a square that is 1 ¾” x 1 ¾”.

3. Installing the zipper

Be sure the zipper is longer than the length of your bag.

o Put the lining fabric face up on your workspace.

o Place the zipper face up on top of the lining, aligning the zipper edge and the edge of the fabric.

o Place the cover fabric face down on the zipper. (check directionality of fabric)

o Pin and stitch with a ¼” seam allowance.

o Press the cover and lining away from the zipper.

o Top stitch through all 3 layers if desired.

Repeat with the other lining section and cover, being sure to align the fabrics so both sides will match up.

4. Making the strap and zipper loop

o Press the strap/loop fabric in half lengthwise.

o Open, and fold each edge in to the center fold.

o Press.

o Fold in half again.

o Top stitch down each edge.

o Cut a 3 inch piece off one end. Fold this in half and baste the raw edge. This will be your zipper loop. The remainder will be your strap.

*** open the zipper about ½ way before continuing. You will be working with the bag inside out to do the next seams.

5. Bottom seam

Match all four layers along the bottom and stitch with a ¼” seam allowance. Zigzag the raw edge for a cleaner finish.

6. Side Seams

Match all four layers along each side seam and stitch with a ¼” seam allowance. Zigzag the raw edge for a cleaner finish.

7. Finishing the corners and attaching the strap and zipper loop.

Work on the side of the bag with the closed end of the zipper first.

o Stitch the bottom corner closed, zigzag for reinforcement.

o Pin the zipper loop to the top corner, underneath the zipper, being sure the loop is on the right side of the fabric (so that it ends up on the outside of the bag when you turn it right side out.)

o Stitch through all the layers, being careful when you go across the teeth of the zipper, and backstitching for reinforcement.

o Trim the zipper flush with the seam allowance and zigzag the edge for reinforcement and a cleaner finish.

Now attach the strap

o Tuck the strap into the bag and pin it in the center of each corner, being sure the strap is not twisted. If the strap is longer than you want it to be, trim it to the desired length.

o Stitch the bottom corner closed, zigzag for reinforcement.

o Fold the open ends of the zipper in so that they meet in the center. Stitch through all the layers,, being careful when you go across the teeth of the zipper, and backstitching for reinforcement.

o Trim the zipper flush with the seam allowance and zigzag the edge for reinforcement and a cleaner finish.

8. You are done!

Turn the bag right side out through the zipper, and be sure to push the corners out to square up the bag. Add a decorative zipper pull, and you are DONE!

* to use Tyvek as a lining fabric please note the following:

Tyvek can be found in jumpsuits/coveralls for industry work. This type of tyvek is very soft and fabric-like.

You can also find Tyvek by recycling mailing envelopes or FedEx pouches. This tyvek is medium weight, but not suitable to use with light colored cover fabrics as the printing will probably show through.

Tyvek used to wrap houses in new construction is also useful. This is very stiff and paperlike, but softens when you crumple it. It will stay wrinkled though.

Tyvek should not be ironed or put into the dryer.

Tyvek lends itself to some fun embellishing. It can be painted, rubber stamped, and beaded or embroidered. In the sample above I used all three techniques. Because of it's non-porous nature, inks for non-porous surfaces, alcohol based quick drying inks, and acrylic paints work best. Embellishments and other seams should be done with long stitches to avoid perforating and tear out of the material.

On this bag I did the stamping and painting before assembly, and added the beaded embellishments later.

Writing on the tyvek is also fun - in this bag I wrote a message to the recipient on the inside with a permanant marker before assembling the bag.