Guest Blogger: Haute to Sew

HELLO to all the Tattered and Inked readers!!!
First off I want to say I am sooooo honored and thrilled to be guest posting for Kelsey while she is on vaca!! I'm a relatively newer blog and this is my FIRST guest post, so when I asked and she said yes, I was beyond thrilled! Ha, I sound like I am proposing to her. Ok so now you are wondering who is doing all this rambling....I'm Meredith over at Haute To Sew.  I blog about sewing (duh), crafts, diy, and anything else I feel like posting about :) 

In case you are wondering what's that green stuff in my hair...yeah, I have turquoise highlights hiding in there ;)

Today I am going to share a tutorial with you on how to make a lanyard/key chain.

I am a school photographer and I have to wear a name tag to work every day.

Lanyards are usually soooo boring, so I make my own!

So here's how I started

First I cut a strip of fabric 2 inches wide and 35 inches long {cut selvage to selvage}

Next iron the strip the strip lengthwise wrong sides together

Open it up and iron each side to meet the middle fold

Then fold it back in half and press flat

Please ignore how gross and stained my ironing board is, thank you!

 Then just sew straight down each side

Make sure you backstitch at both ends

I started with the open side to kinda put the fabric place so it doesn't slide around

I lined my edge up with that little metal piece under my presser foot...you see it?

I hope your machine has one too...if not, it's about 1/8 of an inch

Almost done!

Match up your ends and fold about an inch upwards

I held mine in place with a binder clip :)

I changed my needle to a size 16 for the next part because you are sewing through 16 layers of fabric!!

So just sew 2 lines right across where the ends are

Then slide on a split ring and you're finished!!

 Because you cut selvage to selvage your fabric shouldn't fray as easily, but just to make sure, I put a couple drops of Fray Check on those ends :)

And of course I have to show off my 2 pieces of flair! My District 12 button from Hunger Games! If you haven't read this trilogy, RUN, don't walk, RUN to your bookstore and read them ASAP!! And I have my Get Crafty button *wink*

So there you have it! If you can sew a straight line and iron, you're golden! 

These are super popular with teenagers too!

They love putting them on their keys...I see it all the time

Or you can shorten the length for a keychain for yourself :)

I hope you all enjoyed my little tut!

Come visit me at Haute To Sew

Much Love~

Meredith