Camera Strap Tutorial

I love the new camera strap covers I have been seeing everywhere on ETSY. After looking at them, I decided I didn't need to pay $14-$33 for a camera strap when I could make my own. I love how it turned out too. =)

Now, all camera straps are the same width. Most of the DSLR cameras have a wide strap, but my new camera came with a narrow 1" wide strap. The part you want to measure is the actual strap, not the width of the little leather piece that encases the strap and the little narrow strip that actually attaches to the camera. That leather piece will be showing after the strap cover is on your camera strap.

After you have measured your strap, you are going to want to cut a piece of fabric. For mine, I cut a piece 3" wide. For the length, I only cut off the selvage at the end of the fabric.

Next, on the WRONG side of the fabric, you are going to turn in the SHORT ends of your fabric by a 1/4" and press. Then, turn it in another 1/4", sew, and repeat for the other end of the fabric. This will give you the finished edges so there is no unraveling of the fabric when applying it to your strap, or removing it from your strap.

Now you are ready to create a tube. This is done by folding the fabric in half length wise with RIGHT sides touching. (At this point you can pin it, but I prefer not to pin if I don't have to.) After folding in half, I pressed the fabric. This was sufficient to keep the pieces in place so I could sew it. I stitched the length of the fabric using a 1/2" seam.

Now you are ready to turn your camera strap cover to the right side. For this step I had to use a turning tool. If you do not have one, you can use a chop stick or an unsharpened pencil...something that will help you to push the fabric. This step may take a little while depending on the width of your strap cover. The more narrow the cover, the harder it is to turn right side out.

Now that you have your camera strap cover finished and turned out, press it again with the iron to get a crisp edge. Take your time putting it on the camera strap. It may be necessary for you to fold over the leather part of the camera strap which attaches the actual strap to the smaller piece that attaches to your camera. The strap will be longer than your actual camera strap. This is what gives the gathered effect once you get it on your strap.

This is what your finished strap cover will look like. Now attach your camera and you are ready to go.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask, I will be happy to assist you with anything you may have trouble with.

Giveaway!

You ladies need to go check out Foty Toes Photography Blog!! She is doing a giveaway for $875CASH!! Thats right, I said CASH!! This is such an awesome giveaway. All the sponsors for this giveaway deposit money into the winning person's paypal account. How great is that....esp since it is just after Christmas and everyone could use some cash. =) Please, go check it out!!!!

I have fallen in love again!!

I have fallen in love again!! It's not with a person....it is with a new business I just happened to run across. I was searching Etsy today for a dress pattern and I kept seeing these ugly little doll patterns. I flipped though probably thirty something pages and decided I might would like to make a doll for a little girl at some point that can be taken to church or wherever that would not make a lot of noise...you know, the cloth ones instead of the plastic ones. Anyway, I looked and looked and just before I was getting ready to click off of Etsy, there she was....the most adorable baby I have ever seen. =) Her name is Shaylee and I can make her. There is a pattern for her and I am so excited, I am about to BUST!! Below is a pic of her....How precious is she!!?!!?!!?

These too cute for words dolls are made by Ms. Jennifer Williams and if you click here, you will be sent to her Etsy shop. Her shope is Cutest Creations Sock Creations

She also has a page on facebook. I can not wait to make this super cute baby.

I will be posting again next week, but until then, check me out on facebook and have a very Merry Christmas!!!!!

DIY - Chalkboard

Hi everyone. This is my very first tutorial, EVER!! I am excited...can ya tell? LOL. I have been trying to figure out what to do for a tutorial for a while now and finally decided to do a tutorial using chalkboard fabric...that's right, I said chalkboard fabric. I had no idea this stuff existed until a little while back. Ok, so lets get started. First, you will need an old picture frame. Any frame will do. I chose this frame because it is gross looking and will allow for me to spray paint it at a later time. If you happen to run across a frame that has no glass, it will be perfect for this project.

Ok, after you choose your frame, you can leave it as is, or you may decide to glam it up a little. I chose to spray paint mine. I used Metallic Silver to spray mine with because I had some laying around the house from a previous project. Now it's time for the chalkboard fabric. This can be purchased online. It comes on a huge roll so there will be plenty for future projects. All you do is trace out the inside of the frame and add about an inch to all four sides. this will allow plenty of extra room for finishing the back of the frame.

Chalkboard fabric is great. It is very durable. Now, you will need to get the fabric ready for using it. To cure the fabric, you will need to take a piece of chalk and lay it flat. You will rub the entire surface of the fabric with the chalk.

When you are done, you can wipe off the excess chalk.

Now we are ready to glue the fabric to the backing that came with the frame. If there was no backing with it, have no fear, we can make one quite easily. To do this, take a, old piece of cardboard, lay the frame down, trace the inside of the frame and cut it out. This will work just fine for the backing on this project.

Ok, so here is where it got tricky for me. I used E-6000 and a sponge brush to adhere the fabric to the frame backing. For future reference, I will say this. E-6000 is very thick. I would probably use a fabric glue the next time because the E-6000 didn't spread very well. For this project, you will need to adhere the entire piece of fabric to the backing. This is very important because if you don't, there will be bubbles in the fabric which will be noticable. Simply apply the glue and spread it over the entire piece of fabric.

When you are done applying the glue, lay the backing, evenly centered, over the piece of fabric. Be sure to press it on there good to create an even seal. Now take the edges and wrap them tightly to the back of the frame. To get the corners to lay flat, simply cut off the flap and make sure to lay the pieces flat on the backing. If you see you need more glue, apply now. Do this for all four corners.

It is super important that you let the glue completely dry before moving to the next step. It is also important that you let it dry while laying on a flat surface. This will help ensure you have no air bubbles in the fabric.

When the glue is dry, take the chalkboard piece and put it in the frame. Fold down the edging that holds the piece in place and you are ready to use your new chalkboard. This is great for leaving messages for the family, letting the kiddos write out their math homework problems, or just let them draw on it when they are bored. =)

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you have any questions, please let me know, or if you have suggestions on how to improve the project, I would love to hear them too. Have a great day, and God Bless!!!!

My New Find

Hi there. Welcome to my new followers. I am so excited. Ok, so today's blog really has nothing to do with my sewing or craftiness...it is really about my love for all things electronic. I have an iPhone, and for those of you that know about the iPhone, you have to buy all your cool ringtones, etc. Well, today while I was doing some research on how to enhance my photos in photoshop, I ran across a youtube video on how to get ringtones for the Android and iPhone based phones. I was super excited about this because $1.29 per ringtone gets a little ridiculous if you are like me and want a different ringtone for most of your contacts.

If you are interested, you can click here for the video. It is quite cool. I tried it and it works!! You basically just use the songs you have on your computer and create your own ringtone. You choose the part of the song you want. It is super easy to use. The actual website can be found here. I hope this will be of some use to you. I loved finding new things, esp FREE things. =)

Day 2 - My Blogging Experience

Today I decided to figure out how to make my own tabs at the top of my page. I googled it and found an AWESOME link for a you tube video. It was super helpful!! I now have my links where you will now be able to click on my facebook tab for instance, and be connected directly to my facebook page. How cool is that, LOL. I also have a tab for my Etsy store. I am so excited about what I learned today. =D

I can my lesson today on making my page customized to my own needs was quite fun. If you too are looking for info on how to set up your own tabs, check out this youtube video http://youtu.be/Jz4dHZrjprk and hopefully you will find it as helpful as I did!!

Taking the Plunge

Well, here it is...I am taking the plunge into the world of Blogging. I have read and subscribed to many of the last couple of years so I decided to join in on the fun. I hope my blog will be fun, crafty and creative for all those reading it. Periodically, I will post tutorials on different things.

To get to know me, I thought I would share a little about myself and Alicia's Sew Amazing Creations. I, of course, am Alicia, the owner and designer of Alicia's Sew Amazing Creations. I started sewing some years back because I needed some curtains for my bedroom...nothing fancy, just straight panels. I have always been a crafty person and loved the idea of getting to use my mom's sewing machine. (Back then I had to borrow a sewing machine because I didn't have one of my own.) I was really pleased with my curtains so I decided one day to but a really easy pattern to make an outfit for my step-daughter. This was a challenge for me because I had never read a pattern before and all the terminology was confusing to me. I thought I did a fabulous job on that outfit...today, looking back, I can tell you that outfit was nowhere near fabulous, LOL. I didn't sew for a while except if I needed something or someone wanted some simple curtains. Then I started making pillowcase dresses and was fun for a while but one day, I ran across two girls making patterns and selling them on Facebook. I was in love!! That is when I decided to get to sewing full time instead of just spuradically as the mood hit me.

Now, after years of off and on sewing, I am in full swing and love sewing, especially little girls' clothing. I still do the curtains and pocketbooks, etc. My main selling is done now from my Facebook account and I also have an etsy account. For those out there interested in my creations, feel free to check out my stuff at www.facebook.com/alicias.sew.amazing.creations.

This will be a learning experience for me, so bare with me as I learn about blogging. I hope all of you enjoy and feel free to leave me posts if there is anything specific you want to know about sewing or crafting. I am not an expert but I can let you in on my little secrets. =)