Lavender Eye Pillows

would you like to make a lavender eye pillow for yourself or another person who may be very happy to have one of these?

here is a very easy and practical tutorial...

we generally use these eye pillows in savasana or meditation to help ourselves let go.
some people may not like using them, as it feels unconfortable and irritating especially due to cummunal use in yoga studios.
i was one of these people, but as i've always been in love with lavender fragrance and i thought it might be a good idea to have my own eye pillow.

and i also decided to add a new section on my ETSY shop called lavender eye pillows.

you may use different kind of natural fillings, i prefered flax seed and dry lavender. it is very easy to find both of them on eBay with affordable prices.

let's start with the materials you'll need;

1) 1 mug of flax seed (150-160 gr)
2) 1 teaspoon full of dry lavender (maybe 2 teaspoon full as you wish)
3) main fabric (outer layer): 22 * 22 cm
4) lining (inner layer) : 22 * 22 cm (optional)
5) 1 pc of small button or a small snap fastaner. (optional)

there are two options when sewing eye pillows; first one is you may sew only one layer and fill it up then sew the open parts.in this case  you will not be able to wash your eye pillow as it is full of filling.

the second option is the one i'm going to explain you below. outer layer (cover) is removable so it is possible to wash it in time.

if you'd like to make this process easier you may sew the pillow as a full rectangular shape. otherwise you may prepare a pattern as below, so there is a small hollow part for nose.
i will use this pattern for both inner and outer layers, if you wish you may use 1 cm wider pattern for inner layer or you can adjust this difference by changing seamallowance width. the point here is it is good to make inner layer only 1 cm wider (in every edge) than outer layer so it will fill all corners of outer layer nicely.

here we start with sewing steps one by one...

1. take both inner(lining) and outer(cover) fabric and fold them in the middle line as marked on the pattern above. 

then place the pattern on the fabric ( "folding line" should overlap with the folded edge of the fabric so top edge will be without seam. ) and trim it accordingly.

you should have below pieces.

2. inner layer (lining) : turn wrong side of the fabric and fold along the folding line which is marked as on the pattern above.

stitch 3 edges of it but leave 4-5 cm open (do not stitch)

so you have a hole to fill the flax seed&dry lavender mixture. turn inside out.

in the meantime mix the flax seed and dry lavender in a bigger bowl.

then fill this mixture in the lining layer.

after filling stitch up the open part of the edge.

so your inner part is ready:) put it aside for a while.

3. now we are ready to prepare outer layer.

as i have a "handmade" label i stitched it first on the left side of the fabric.

right edge of the outer layer will be open  to put the inner layer in so we need to make a clear stitch here.

so outer layer should look like as below photo;

then turn the wrong side of the fabric and stitch two edges, left edge and bottom edge. right edge which we stitched before should remain open.

if you have overlock machine you may overlock or directly make a clean seam if your seam allowances are wide enough. or simply you may make a regular stitch and then add a zigzag to prevent fraying.

turn inside out and make all edges( especially corners) very neat.

4. now it is time to add a snap fastaner to the open edge. if you wish this can be a button and buttonhole instead...

5. the last step is squeezing the inner layer (filling) into the outer layer.

  ta daaa!!!! it's ready :)

at the end of the project i was very happy with its dimensions and weight. its weight is  just what it should be, not heavy but enough to prevent light.

and lavender fragrance helps you to feel refreshed and cleaned.

Elmo also gave them a try today when she was meditating in the garden and she totally loved them. :)

makeup bags with Oilcloth PVC fabrics

couple of weeks ago I bought  these oilcloth PVC fabrics from eBay which seems very easy to wipe for cleaning...
I chose two fabric designs; one of them with CamberVans and Beetles design in lovely colors and the other one is with colorful cupcakes.

in fact I was planning to use the one with cupcakes for a kitchen apron which may be easier to use due it's stainless surface. before this I sewed two zipper pouches wth these fabric which can be used as a makeup bag or simply a pencil case.

both zipper pouches are listed on my ETSY shop... here are the links...
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/240967162/rainbow-cupcakes-makeup-bag-oil-cloth?ref=shop_home_active_1
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/235678055/cambervans-and-beetles-makeup-bag-oil?ref=shop_home_active_17

Multi-sectioned Women's Handmade Fabric Wallet Tutorial

i've always needed a big wallet for myself. i mean its dimensions must be as small as possible but there must be lots of slots, transparent ID pocket and coin pocket etc. unfortunately it wasn't so easy to find such a wallet, i therefore couldn't buy a new wallet for years.
after i started design and sewing my products i tried different design of wallets which can be suitable for different people.

finally i designed this wallet considering the people whose needs similar to mine. and off course i made first one for my self and also had a chance to change/improve some parts for next ones.

wallet will look like as below.

you will need;

1) around 1 mts of woven fabric in total (in medium weight) if you'll use contrast parts as I did, percentages may change according to your own design.
2) interfacing, medium weight would be enough (this is optional according to your fabric weight but even if your fabric is heavy/firm enough I suggest you to use interfacing at least on outer layer because it gives a more firm touch)
14*21 cm X 2 pcs
12,5*21 cm X 2 pcs
12*6 cm x 2 pcs

3) velcro tape or magnetic button or snap button for main closure and coin pocket closure.
4) felt (this is also optional, if you don't have felt or like it you may use main/contrast fabric as binding. I will give the details when we come to that step.)
5) 6*10 cm cellophane paper or another transparent paper

as we have have lots of steps in this wallet I prefer to group all sections seperately. it will help all of us to understand better. I also prepare my patterns with these group names so I don't mix up the pieces.

here are the dimensions of all pieces;

1) A+A' (outer layer of note pocket) : 21* 14 cm X 2 pcs( fabric). you may use same fabric design or contrasts.
21*14 cm X 2 pcs interfacing

2) B+B' (inner layer of note pocket) 21*12,5 cm X 2 pcs( fabric). you may use same fabric design or contrasts.
21*12,5 cm X 2 pcs interfacing

3) C+C' (left side card slots)
C: 11*13 cm
C':11*61 cm

4) D+D'+D flap (coin pocket)
D: 11,5*15 cm
D':10,5*12,5 cm
D flap: 12 cm length and 6 cm height in the middle X 2 pcs (you may use same fabric or contrast in this part)
flap has a rounded shape as you may see on the pictures.

D flap interfacing: 12*6 cm X 2 pcs (same dimensions as flap)

5) E+E' (middle card slots)
E: 19*61 cm
E': 19*13,5 cm

6) felt tab for main closure: 4*9,5 cm X 2 pcs ( as I used two layers of felt)

7) bindings: if you are using felt you will need;
1,5* 22 cm for  top of  B+B'
1,5* 72 cm for outer edges of wallet
0,5* 34 cm for transparent ID pocket.

let's start with ironing first. if this is your first time in making a wallet, i must say card slot pressing is one of the difficult processes, i therefore like to work with some extra fabric in these parts.
for example piece C+C' and E+E' measurements might be bigger than we need but it's better to cut at the end rather than having short in fabric. also even fabric thickness may affect card slot measurement; even if you press 1 mm smaller or bigger in each slot it makes almost 0,5 cm in total which may casue a problem later.

1) C left card slots; first take piece C and start iron slot by slot. I tried to explain on sketch which looked me easier, hope it is clear enough. also used lots of X and Y as an equation just to make easier.
when you finish pressing all 3 slots total height must be 12,5 cm and also height difference between slots is 1,5 cm , these two tips may help also help you if you have another way to press easily.

ps: outer layer height of first slot looks 8 cm in this sketch but 0,5-0,7 cm of this will go inside of the final wallet binding

2) E middle card slots.
you'll basically follow the same way but measuments changes a little because seamallowance in this part doesn't go inside of the binding, it's going to be stitched from wrong side of the fabric and then to be turned inside out.
here are the mesaurements that you need to mark and then press on. some of the mesaurements are very small and hard to adjust. so in order to make things easier another way to make these slots.

total height after pressing for piece must be 13,5 cm and height difference between slots 1,3 cm, looks fine to me. so you can insert a standard card between layers and then adjust&press all 3 slots.

3) then iron all interfacing pieces on to the wrong sides of the relevant fabric pieces. these fabric pieces are A+A' ; B+B' ; D flap X2 pcs
we are done with iron for now...

4) add top stitching on the top edges of all card slots. (C and E)

5) let's back to piece C and C'; place their fabric faces(correct fabric sides) towards each other. bottom edges must overlap without any difference.

*** as you may remember piece C has 2-3 cm of a fabric excess at the top. i prefer to trim this excess at the end but if you think it's messy and wish to trim forehand pls do so just after placing piece C and C' fabric faces towards each other.).

rest of the steps with these pieces are shown below on the sketch. i hope this way is much more understandable rather than writing long paragraphs.

6) let's prepare transparent ID pocket; as it is difficult to stitch cellophane tape i prefer to glue all binding pieces on to the cellophane edges first and then stitch transparent pocket opening.
finally  place this piece on to the fabric face of piece E' and stitch 3 edges down.
here it is ready.

7) take middle card slot pieces E and E'.
place their fabric faces towards each other and add 0,5 cm stitch all around it by leaving 5-6 cm of gap at the top. Piece E may have fabric excess at the top, if so pls trim them after stitching.

after turning inside out you should add a edge top stitching all around, the gap at the top will also be closed with this stitching.

8) here we start coin pocket; take D flap pieces which are already interfaced. i used two different fabric design here and the lilac gingham design will be under part.
if you use velcro tape for closure of this pocket you must stitch it at this point or if you use button or snap fastaner you can stitch them later.
if it is velcro tape, take make hook part of it and stitch on the fabric face of under flap piece as on the photo below. (i mistakenly used wrong part of the velcro, should have used male hook part instead of female loop part. pls ignore this detail on the photo)

then place both flap pieces to fabric faces be towards each other and then add 0,5 cm stitching around the edge. (length of flap will not be stitched!! so we can turn inside out from that opening!!)

9) here we will make a bellow to the coin pocket main piece but if you make a wide bellow this pocket is going to be too wide and coins may fall off.
therefore either you add very small/narrow bellows or don't add any bellow. if you don't add bellow pls trim the height of piece D to be 12,5 cm instead of 15 cm. width is still 11,5 cm, you may follow the instruction for this edge on below photo.

and stitch female loop side of velcro tape on to piece D.

velcro tape to be centered along the long side and  placed 0,5cm away from top edge

take piece D' (10,5 * 12,5 cm) fold the shorter edge by 1,5 cm so this piece becomes 9*12,5 cm and attach this piece onto the right side of piece B as below.

and we are adding pocket flap;

10) take left card slot piece and place them on the left side of piece B.

*** place piece B' under piece B. (back sides of both pieces will face each other)
*** it's time to add binding top of these pieces, take the one measured 1,5*22 cm.

11) Place middle card slots piece on the centered line of the piece B and stitch it down couples of times to reinforce it enough.

12) it is time to prepare outer layers;
as I wanted to use two different colors in my main closure tab, i had two layers of felt; first let's stitch male hook part of velcro tape on to the under piece of the tab and them stitch them together.

then place the velcro tape and tab on to the main fabric face.

13) here we come to the last step;

place all pieces together; piece A and A' back sides should face each other then put piece B+B' on it as below.
it is very important to make sure all edges are overlapping (if not pls trim them off otherwise these parts are going to be very problematic) also you may cut all 4 corners to make them a little curved.

last step (Hurrrraaaayy!!! ); you should bind all edges together, I prefer to start from under the tab, so cut point will be less visible.

*** this is the most difficult and important part. You must capture all layers into the binding, so stitch slowly and be careful at the corners.


here we go.... finally it is ready to use:))

hope you enjoyed this tutorial and all photo sketches were useful even though it is a bit long. but you have such a beautiful and useful wallet at the end:)

if you have any questions or unclear points above, pls just contact me...

About Me

My name is Ezgi and I'm a textile engineer.

I've always been in love with fabrics. Their touches and colors always attracted me and they always made me feel happy even when I was a teenager.
I graduated from Textile Engineering, my faculty is one of the biggest and important textile faculty in Turkey. As it was an engineering faculty I had chances to learn about production processes of -almost- all kind of fabrics; yarn types, carding, spinning, weaving, knitting, nontextile surfaces, yarn & fabric dyeing, special treatments on yarns & fabrics etc. In my 3rd year, I was specialized on apparel and ready made clothing side of textile.

After university I had worked in the business for 7 years. During this time I have seen all production process of clothing; pattern making, cutting, sewing, quality control, packing, shipping as well as whole collection process starting from design.

I had amazing experiences with lots of big Europian Brands. I saw their collection development and bulk/mass production processes. I personally worked with important Swedish designers and helped them to find suitable fabrics, accessories and also the most suitable production factories for on time shipments.

I had great times during this 7 years and gained lots of experience but I must admit that clothing production process is very stressfull. It wasn't easy to handle this stress at all and -thank God- I've met yoga in those days which is a great thing for me.

My husband and I moved to UK almost a year ago. I haven't been working in clothing production here but off course I'm still in touch with fabrics.

I bought a sewing machine and started designing  my own products such as, fabric wallets, cosmetic bags, makeup cases, yoga mat straps, tote bags, canvas shoulder bags etc. I opened online shops on eBay, ETSY and Folks. My main focus is ETSY nowadays.

Designing and producing my own products has been a great journey for me because I must deal with all details by myself. On this other hand I can use my past experiences and reflect them on my new products and this makes me really happy.

As you may understand all of my items save lots of fun and happiness during the process so I'm sure they'll bring a positive energy to their owners.

Besides sewing my own products I'm working on some unique hand prints as well.

I will try to share all my experiences in this blog and will try to add tutorials for all product kinds.


thanks for being in my blog and have fun when you are jumping from title to title.

feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
namaste!

How To Find My Products

if you are interested in any of the products that you see on this blog you may check my ETSY shop out. I will try to add a tutorial for all items on my ETSY shop but off course it will take some time. my shop name on ETSY is designedbyEzgi
Also you may follow me on facebook and instagram to see hottest news.

my ETSY shop: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/designedbyEzgi
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/designedbyEzgi
instagram: http://instagram.com/designedbyezgi/

<script type='text/javascript' src='https://www.etsy.com/assets/js/etsy_mini_shop.js'></script><script type='text/javascript'>new Etsy.Mini(9864695,'thumbnail',4,3,1,'https://www.etsy.com');</script>

Cable Organizer Tutorial

are you tired of this cable mess?

if so this tutorial may help you to organize them. this is really something I hate but my husband always has something to do with cables, his labtop, TV or external hardisk etc.
so I decided to sew a cable organizer today, you may see the steps one by one below;

you will need;
1) 13*26 cm woven fabric in medium weight (could be cotton or polycotton). these measurements may change according to your need, if you wish you may also sew a bigger organizer.
2) 13*13 cm interfacing in medium weight. if you think your main fabric is heavy enough then no need to use interfacing.
3) velcro tape
4)stitching thread
5) scissors
6) iron













let's proceed;

1) here is my cutting pattern for both fabric and interfacing. it is 13*13 cm(incl. 0,7 cm seam allowances on each side) if you'd like to make a wider organizer for thicker cables you may change the dimensions as you wish.  in this case you'll need to lengthen the "height".

2) cut 2 pcs of main fabric and 1 pc of interfacing according to this pattern. considering my fabric weight I will only use interfacing on outer side of organizer. if your fabric is light in weight pls cut 2 pcs of interfacing and attach on both sides of organizer.

(there are two sets of organizer here on this photo, one in green and one in lilac)

3) then press interlining on to the wrong side of the fabric. so one of the fabric will be interfaced other one is without.

here we start sewing...
4) place fabric pieces to both ones correct sides be faced each other. and stitch all around with 0,7 cm seamallowance. Pls make sure you leave an unstitch part(approx 7-8 cm) in one side. So you can make inside out.

5) turn inside out and iron all sides to make them more even before top stitching. then make a topstitch all around so open part will be stitched too. this top stitching can be edge stitch or 0,5 cm or 0,7 cm, so it's totally up to you. I prefered edge stitch as you may see below.

6) prepare 2 sets of velcro tape, length to be 1,5-2,00 cm. and stitch them on to the fabric. if you interfaced only one layer of fabric make sure interfaced layer is your outer side.
make sure you stitch on to the correct sides of fabric so once you roll it around the cables you will be able fasten the velcro tape.

7) here we go, cable organizers are ready to be used. as mentioned above if you need a wider one you just need to lengthen your height, you may make 17 cm or even 20 cm... it's up to you.

and this is the result... i think they look quite neat :)

if you have any questions pls don't hesitate to contact me.
your comments are welcome:)

Fabric Dyeing vol.1--- with Red Onion Skins

I bought 2 meters of white calico fabric from Ebay. It has very nice handfeel but unfortunately it is more light weight than I expected so it seems quite seethrough. I was thinking of to use it as lining or small details in bags etc but at that time I received an order and needed to use it for a kids apron. The plan was to make some cute appliques and hand drawings on front and I believed white fabric was a good choise to make all handmade detals more visible and striking.
But then when I was working on white fabric I realized that it is quite hard to work with as it is a big effort to keep it clean especially during the drawing So natural off white calico fabric color might be a better choise for the future... hereby you may see some photos of drawings and appliques from that apron. It turned out very cute and my customer loved it



Vespa is an appliqué which was cut from a nice fabric

 Hearts and flowers are felt appliqués and were hand sewn on apron.










After all, result was satisfying for me and I was happy with the apron but I was keeping to complain about “white” fabric . Then an idea appeared in my mind when I was preparing dinner; red onions… I put red onion skins aside first then I stirred up red onions with some soy sauce for dinner. It was a delicious side dish I recommend it.

I couldn’t wait to see the result of dyeing so long because onion skin had a gorgeous color. I cut almost half meters of fabric and put them in a big steel stewpot together with onion skins, then added a little salt and covered all of them with water. In fact the reason of adding salt is to improve the fastness of color, it helps dye stuff molecules to hold on to fabric fibers tightly and it is more necessary on darker colors than this color. So it is not a must with red onion skin dyeing.

It boiled around 1 hour then I took the fabric away from stewpot and rinsed with fresh water. Finally here is the result it is a very soft and natural color, a mixture of off white, light yellow and a little very light brown.

You might be surprised or disappointed after seeing the color, if so probably you were expecting another shade which is close to red onion skin color more red or burgundy. But red onion skin is natural “dye stuff” so, its color may vary from onion to onion due to its nature, also fiber type affects the color as well. My fabric was %100cotton, so if you use another fabric composition your results will definitely change.
Anyway I am very happy with the color because it is totally soft and natural so it must be a good point to use natural dye stuffs and have this kind of color shade.
As it is a quite light color I don’t think there will be a problem with its color fastness  but it is always good to be in safe side, so pls try to hand wash this fabric or machine wash with very similar colors at max. 30 degrees celcius.
As a summary I used 2,5 pcs of big red onion skins for half meters of %100 cotton calico fabric. (and 1 teaspoon of salt but as I mentioned above it is not a must for this light color shade)
My next project will be with spinach and will be shared here..
thanks