Some Sewing - How to Make a Shower Cap - Tutorial

Here is a fairly quick and easy sewing project to try that is great to make for yourself or to give away. It is also a great way to keep your children's hair dry if you make it in fabric they like.

I would love to see a photo if you make a shower cap using my instructions. Please provide a link to this post if you wish to share these instructions with others.

Materials required:

Fabric (I use satin or lightweight cotton so it dries quickly)
Thin plastic (disposable tablecloths or plastic shower curtains are great for this)
Satin binding
Cotton binding
Narrow elastic
Thread to match
Biro for marking on the plastic
Straight stitch sewing machine (yes you can even make this on a treadle!)

Directions:

1) Make your pattern for the shower cap using fairly large paper. You need to cut a circle approximately 55cm in diameter. If you have really long hair or are likely to have rollers under it I would recommend 60-65cm. For children 50cm is usually sufficient.

2) Cut 1 piece in your chosen fabric and one piece in plastic for the waterproof lining

3) Pin around the very edge with wrong sides together. This keeps everything in place as you sew. Satin and plastic are very slippery when you are trying to sew the two together. Keep the pins right to the very edge so any pinholes created in the plastic will be hidden under the binding when you sew it on. Baste all the way around.

4) Open out the satin binding and sew it to the inside(plastic side) of the showercap as in the picture below. Fold over the end before you begin to stitch so you will have a neat finish.

5) Once you have stitched all the way around, fold the rest of the binding over the seam and over to the right side of the shower cap and stitch in place from the fabric side. This step covers the previous stitching lines. Sometimes I add lace at this step too.

6) With the plastic side facing up on the shower cap, measure and mark 5cm (2") in from the edge all the way around. This is where you will make casing for the elastic. Fold the end of the cotton binding over then sew the binding along the edge onto the line you marked earlier. DO NOT overlap or sew over the ends as you will be threading elastic through there shortly. Refer to pics below. Repeat sewing along the other edge of the binding to create two stitched lines. Tie off any loose threads.

7) Thread the elastic though the casing. I usually use a small safety pin or an elastic bodkin. Use enough elastic to make it comfortable and not too tight. Secure the ends of the elastic either by sewing or tying them in a knot. Hide the ends in the casing using a pair of tweezers to push them in. Decorate with the outside of your new shower cap with a satin bow or a fancy button if desired.

These showercaps can be washed by hand in lukewarm water or in a cold wash in the washing machine on a gentle cycle.

Here is a shower cap and a couple of make-up bags I made using a thrifted pillowcase that was made from Breast Cancer Awareness Fabric.

Plagarism and Blogging

To those of you that subscribe to my blog or are regular readers, there will be a few changes happening in the near future. I have had to change the feeds back to partial feeds again due to some of my blog content being stolen.

This person has directly copied one of my blog posts including the watermarked images and pasted it into their blog as if it were their own. They have not provided a link back to my blog and also what is worse, they are making money from my work using Google Ad sense.

I will not be providing the link to the offending blog because I feel they do not deserve the link from me, visitors nor money raised from any ad clicks. There are a number of posts on the offending blog that I believe to be stolen from other bloggers and again no credit has been given to the original authors. The whole blog looks like it was created in a few days just to make money from ad clicks.

I am flattered that someone would love to share my work, but to give me no credit or a link back and completely plagarise everything is more than frustrating. The post copied is not the issue here, just the fact that it was copied entirely to make money from and without permission sought nor credit given. I have now reported the incident to Ad sense as the blogger is not only breeching copyright laws, but also Google Ad sense policies.

If you are a blogger yourself I would recommend putting a watermark or name and copyright information on all of your photos before you upload them to the internet. That way there is no dispute as to who they belong to.

I love to inspire creativity in others, just as I find inspiration from the work of others, but credit needs to be given where it is due. I regret having to make changes, but I feel it is necessary and hope it will not prevent your enjoyment of visiting.

Awards!

I have been given this award by 3 lovely ladies.

Natalie, Lauren and Caroline

Thank you so much ladies.

I have tried to pass them onto some different bloggers this time.

The rules of the award are:

1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.

2. Link the person you received your award from.

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

4. Put links of those blogs on yours.

5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls you’ve nominated

So here goes:

http://www.scrapandstuff.canalblog.com/

http://kraftykitn.blogspot.com/

http://buttonsforbrains.blogspot.com/

http://www.valitasfreshfolds.blogspot.com/

http://ellephantasticcards.blogspot.com/

Busy Busy Busy! Bookmark & ATC' Swaps

There has been so much going on around here, that I have not been able to keep things up to date here. I have been sewing, crafting as well as trying to continue with sorting my craft area. Not always easy when you have a house to clean and hungry mouths that need feeding! So my little blog has been neglected, but not forgotten. I have been busy also making some RAK's (random acts of kindness) for my CB buddies. I shall be posting them out shortly. Anyhow, onto the topic at hand.... a largish post for you all!

Now that I know this has been received I can now show you pics of the bookmark I made for the swap over at the Crafts Beautiful forum. The theme was cupcakes. I made the template myself because I couldn't find anything else I liked. I have used my Cuttlebug and the swirls embossing folder to the cardstock for the icing and background.

I have also made some ATC's (Artist Tradin Cards) You collect them much like baseball trading cards. I am new to ATC's so these were my first attempts. I quite like how they turned out.

The black and white one was made for a Black & white theme swap. I have entitled it Looking Into the Past. If you look through the window you will see a vintage style dress and bag.

The bird ATC is called Glitter Wings and combines a Christmas stamp from Autumn Leaves and a see-d's flower stamp. The bird on the branch is only partially stamped seeing as I didn't want this one to look like Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, I am in the process of getting things ready for a fair I do around Christmas time. Yes organizing already. It only seems like a few weeks ago I last went! I will be sharing a few details very soon.

Naughty but Nice!

Look what the postie has delivered the last couple of days! Some lovely swaps ATC's and RAKs from some wonderful ladies on the CB forum. ATC's are Artist Trading Cards that you collect much like other trading cards and RAKs are Random Acts of Kindness.
(This post is a little photo heavy so please be patient!)

Here are the goodies!
A gorgeous butterfly ATC and RAK from Sequin. I love how she has slightly offset the patterned butterfly above a gold one, and the trademark sequins too. She has even included some of the papers she has used along with other papers and some gold stars in the RAK.

A Fairy card from Babydoc. My daughter adores fairies and I sure she will nab this one given the chance!

A bookmark and RAK from Tiggertastic from the May swap. The may bookmark swap theme was cakes and I love this cute bookmark. I'm guessing this one will be adopted by my daughter too. She is such an avid reader and often has several books on the go at any one time even though she is only 8 years old! Tiggertastic has even sent some lovely papers, ribbons and other crafty things. The male themed papers will be perfect for some birthdays that are coming up.

Two ATC's and a RAK from Lauren. The little pink bear is so cute and my daughter wants to claim this one to start her own ATC collection! The black and white ATC is simply stunning and looks just like a present! More naughty goodies to play with, die cuts, buttons card & beads! I think I need to find more crafting play time! Lauren has even sent my daughter some stickers too!

All of you have been so very generously naughty, but ever so NICE! Thank you soooo much. When I first began my blog 6 months ago I had no idea I would make so many internet buddies. You all mean so much to me and have inspired me in so many ways. Thanks again for your kindness.

Awards!

I have been generously given these three awards by the lovely Cambiel. It was such a lovely surprise to receive them. Now for me to pass them onto three other deserving people.

My Recycled Bags
Sweetiepie
Craftfairy

Christmas Tag

Caardvarks is having a challenge to make a tag inspired by a month of the year. Thanks Lauren for sharing the link.

Here is my tag inspired by December.

Christmas is a busy time of shopping for gifts and also for those of you lucky enough it may also snow. I have combined these two things to create my tag.

The bag is actually from a double sided tag that I made from holographic shimmer card and then folded to create the bag shape. The background for the main tag is pearlescent card embossed with the snowflakes on my cuttlebug. The base of the handbag is also embossed with snowflakes too. I love the effect the embossing gives.

Have you noticed the bling on the bag?
LOL Some green and red seed beads with gold crimps.

I think I will probably be making quite a few of these come Christmas.