Mario Cross-stitch free pattern

I've demoted my sewing blog back to Blogger so my apologies for the lack of bells and whistles I used to have with Wordpress!!! I just couldn't justify the cost of hosting when I'm happy to be a hobby blogger!

I am reposting this tutorial after a friend in a homeschool group asked for something similar!  This was a fun project to teach myself cross stitch!
Months later my son still enjoys keeping his accessories in this bag!  

To start, I used a figurine to copy the design on cross-stitch fabric.  If you don't have something to copy, I created this free pattern to print and follow!  Just click here!

  

Once I had the design done on the canvas, I cut out scraps of fabric to make the bag.  You'll need a long strip for the strap, one rectangle for the back, and 4 pieces to sew around the cross stitch design.   I added a zipper between the design and the top of the front.  Here's a view of the front piece of the bag so you can see how I pieced everything together.  And yes, I am a complete newb at cross stitch.  Don't be like me.....look up the proper way to tie off stitches on the back! LOL!  At least when it's put together you don't notice the mess!



Here's the front, back, and the long piece that will be the strap.
 
Sandwich the finished strap between the front and back and sew all around, leaving a 3" hole to turn right side out! 
  

Once it is finished you have a fun little game bag for your kids to keep their accessories!  Show me what your kids are making!  I'm on instagram at @sewingmamaraeanna!

Quick and easy zipper pouch tutorial will be my first blog post of 2017. In other news, I am grossed out by my son's dirty fingers on the 3DS - #gowashyourhands

A post shared by RaeAnna Goss (@sewingmamaraeanna) on Jan 1, 2017 at 8:03pm PST

My son isn't at the level to do a Mario but he's getting there!

Christian is enjoying his first cross stitch activity! Kind of a free for all, but he did make a few "x" marks!

A post shared by RaeAnna Goss (@sewingmamaraeanna) on Jan 2, 2017 at 2:32pm PST

Bunny Drawstring Bags - Free pattern!

I have a super easy and sweet tutorial for you today!  I wanted to create a bunny pouch that I could sew up quick with all enclosed seams and no buttonholes!  It is sew easy and youll be able to whip up a bunch in a short amount of time!

What youll need:

• 4 squares of fabric 5x5 (2 outer and 2 lining)
• 2 sqaures of fabric for your bunny ears (5x5) you can use contrasting fabric for these!
• seam ripper
• ribbon for drawstring

Step one:

With your contrasting fabric, use a fabric marking pen and draw two ears.  Place fabric right sides together and sew along the line.  Trim around each ear.

Step two:

Turn ears right side out and press seam.

Step three:

Take your two outer fabric squares and sew along three edges.  Clip corners
Take your two lining fabric squares and sew along three edges but leave a 2 opening to turn the pouch in a later step.

Step four:

VERY IMPORTANT!!!  Do not skip this step!
Press the seam open on the outer fabric squares near the top raw edge.  This will allow you to thread your ribbon casing and keep you from having to sew button hole openings for the ribbon!  Repeat for the other side seam.

Step five:

Turn the lining square pouch right side out.  Place inside outer fabric so the right sides of both are facing each other.

Step six:

Now, fit your bunny ears in between the layers of the pouches.  You will want to slide them in so all the raw edges line up at the top.

Step seven:

Pin in place all along the top edge.  Sew along the edge with a 1/2 seam allowance.

Step eight:

After sewing around entire circle, bring the lining out to find the 2 opening.

Flip pouch right sides out through the 2 opening of the lining.  Sew the lining opening closed.

Step nine:

Stuff the lining down into the pouch. I forgot to take a tutorial picture for this step, but you will want to sew a casing 1/2 below the top of the pouch.  (You can see the casing stitches in the picture below.  Then, take your seam ripper and remove the 3-4 stitches between the bottom casing stitch and the top of the pouch.

Step ten:

Take one ribbon (approximately 16) and with a safety pin, insert the ribbon all the way around the casing.  One ribbon will enter on the right side seam and exit on the right side seam.

Step eleven:

Repeat step ten, only inserting the second ribbon on the left side seam and running it through the entire casing back to the left side.

Step twelve:

Knot the ends of the ribbon (trim off any excess length that you dont want) and pull tight to create the drawstring!

Im looking forward to filling them up with treats for the kids on Easter!  Pin the pictures below to save the directions for your next sewing project!

And this project that I made for Andreas Notebook!