I'm woefully behind in posting about my Sewing 101 tutorials over at design*sponge -- but I've been hard at work designing, sewing, writing and photographing, and creating lots of good how-to posts over there for your stitchy pleasure. (They're specially made for beginning sewists, so newbies, don't be shy!) Click on over to design*sponge to check out my columns:



How to sew a pouf. Download a free template to make this chunky pouf, and learn everything you'll need to know to assemble it and create the tufting. It's easy, I promise! This pouf is looking cute in my living room right now. I love it against the gray -- I'm all about poppy colors on gray these days.




How to make your own roller blinds. Use cheap purchased roller blinds as a starting point, and add your own fabric panel. Not to toot my own horn but I gotta say, I LOVE these blinds! The one pictured here is hanging in my apartment, and I purchased enough fabric to make matching blinds for all my windows, which I am going to do, just as soon as I find a free afternoon!




Sew a custom hamper liner. Start with a folding frame for a hamper, and make your own fabric liner bag. Dirty laundry was never so cute! I'm loving this hamper too -- I've been living with it for a few weeks now, and even though it's stashed out of sight in my closet, I feel a tiny bit happy every time I toss something into it. It's nice to have those little details to brighten up random parts of the day, don't you think?




Make a wine bottle cozy. This super-quick project is great for a sweet hostess gift, or a cute way to spruce up your home bar for a party. (The cozy also catches drips as you pour the wine, which is a handy bonus!) I have fantasies of setting a big, long table for a dinner party, with all the wine bottles wearing one of these. Not that I actually have a big, long table -- but a girl can dream.




Sew a tissue box cover. One of my random pet peeves is the ugliness of tissue boxes. Why must they be so ugly?! Why?? I hope Kleenex gets on the ball with their designs, but until then, just cover it up with a cute cozy you can make yourself.




Make your own patchwork shower curtain. This is great for using up random fabrics and adding some major pop to an otherwise ho-hum bathroom. I had 1-2 yards of several fabrics which I loved but didn't have any plans for using -- so I was really happy to be able to put them to good use in this project!


And here's the link to where all of my design*sponge Sewing 101 columns live, so check 'em out for free patterns and easy sewing how-to's!