Button Up Neck Cowl
A warm-you-up neck cowl can get you through wicked weather in style. It’s like a mini scarf that buttons around your neck. Ours is smooth flannel on the outside and soft luxury fleece on the inside. Toasty yet lightweight!
Liz Johnson.Editor.Sew4Home
Easy Banded Napkins + Napkin Ties
Napkins are a great project for beginning sewers and an excellent way for anyone to practice hemming. Adding a simple fabric border kicks them up a notch, and the clever beaded ties are a cute alternative to place cards.
Round Potholder with Front Petal Pocket
This project is designed to throw you a few curves. No worries though, we’re talking about beautifully curving circles and semi-circles. A free pattern and notes on using a Circular Sewing Attachment make things quick and easy.
30-Minute Therapeutic Neck Pillows
Pain in the neck?! One of these fast and easy neck pillows is great for proppin’ your noggin for reading, napping and more. They have the perfect contour and softness to cradle your head and neck in comfort. A great gift idea.
Soothing Scented Eye Pillows
Soothing spa-style eye pillows are wonderfully calming. Each one uses just small amounts of fabric plus a bit of trim. We opted for fun, colorful cottons. You could also choose a luxury fabric, like satin or silk.
Reversible Sweetheart Apron
This apron is one of our most popular ever. The free downloadable pattern allows you to cut the front and back as single panels. We love the retro style of the sweetheart neckline and mini-sweet pockets.
Fast Bound Blanket
Fast and easy. Soft and cuddly. Isn’t that what we all want in a toasty throw to ward off winter’s chills?! Our luxury plush blanket features a velvet binding, which allows you to take the rich softness all the way to the edge.
Vinyl Gift Pouch Trio
For tiny treasures, holiday treats or gift cards, this clear-view trio is perfect for all types of gift-giving. Recipients can re-use the pouches for business cards, as a mini wallet or turn the largest one into a toiletry bag.
Embellished Ribbon Bookmark
With their intricate designs and rich colors, jacquard ribbons from Renaissance Ribbons are ideal for making these bookmarks. Simple charms and bits of vintage jewelry, like an old pendant, add the finishing touches. Great gift idea!
Velvet Evening Bag
Perfect for holiday parties: an elegant cinched evening bag in a mini bucket shape. We used two of the most popular special occasion fabrics: velvet with a gorgeous drape and silk dupioni with its crisp, slightly textured finish.
Star Shaped Pillows in Three Sizes
Star Light, Star Bright. Make a wish upon these pretty stars of the holiday season. Our decorative pillows come in three sizes and three mix-and-match styles, each with a free pattern download. Use individually or as a set.
Box Style Tufted Floor Cushions
These floor cushions, with their piping and tufted buttons, are a home décor classic. We added a clever harness to bundle them together. Carry the stack from room to room or keep the tower stable when used as a comfy foot rest.
Sparkling Holiday Placemat
Pretty stitching takes a simple surface from ordinary to special in the blink of an eye. These traditional linen placemats include eight tiny tucks for texture plus 15 lines of decorative stitching in sparkling metallic thread.
Rice-Filled Microwave Hand Warmers
Perfect for pockets! Our mini warming pads feature a great-to-grip jelly bean shape. Heat in a microwave for 20-30 seconds to deliver up to 30 minutes of soothing heat. A clever thumb loop helps hold them in place.
Faux Fur Bow Pillows
Our luxurious bow pillow can pretty up your bed or glamorize your sofa. Hesitant to work with faux fur? It’s really quite easy and particularly forgiving thanks to the deep pile that conceals any less-than-perfect stitching.
Bound Eyeglass Case
A soft case keeps track of eyeglasses and protects them when tossed into a larger bag. This fast and easy project can be made with scraps. We used a piece of classic Pendleton wool and added a cool leather + bead fob.
Folk Art Embroidered Zip Pouch Set
For the holidays and beyond, these classic zip pouches – with brilliant colors and detailed embroidery, are sweet as a set or individually. Get the instructions as well as the three custom machine embroidery designs in our Etsy shop.
See Through, Box Bottom Zip Pouch
One of our most popular project categories is the Zip Pouch, because you simply cannot have too many in a variety of sizes and styles. Here we combine pretty cotton at the top with a see-through bottom in flexible vinyl.
Fancy Hostess Half Apron
Our vintage Cocktails At Eight apron echoes a bygone era of elegance with its rich taffeta, frothy organza, a gorgeous ribbon waistband, and a sprinkling of tiny, shiny bows. We include a link to our full Sewing with Sheers tutorial.
Patchwork Bed Runner
A bed runner is a decorative throw for the foot of the bed that helps protect a fancier full-size quilt or bedspread. Sit on it or stretch out and place your feet on it. We used ours to show off some very pretty patchwork and quilting.
The Walkabout Corduroy Backpack
From the wraparound zipper to the adjustable shoulder straps to the six handy pockets, there are so many great features on this backpack! Our signature step-by-step instructions and photos take you through each section in detail.
Drawstring Apron
Facings along both sides of the bib are made into casings, then threaded through with an extra-long tie that acts a continuous drawstring, creating both the adjustable neck loop as well as the wraparound waist ties.
Pin Cut Sew Appliquéd Pillow Trio
Display your passion with this set of clever appliquéd pillows. They break down the craft into three easy steps. Get free template downloads for each word and instructions to create professional, precise appliqué.
Topstitching and Edgestitching Techniques
Learn to achieve tip top topstitching and enviable edgestitching. For embellishment or assembly, stitching visible from the right side is an important detail and its precision can make or break the final outcome of your project.
Patchwork Lap Blanket
A lovely patchwork panel meets an ol’ softie fleece panel; they fall in love and become inseparable. That’s the true tale of this beautiful lap blanket: the perfect pair. Love the yarn bows at each intersection!
Zippered Belt Bag
Go Hands Free! This bag slips onto your belt. We put some Janome specialty presser feet to work to handle thicker layers, piping application, and seam finishing. Using the right foot for the job always makes a project easier.
Tortilla or Flatbread Microwavable Warmer
There’s nothing like a freshly warmed tortilla or flatbread. But, keeping things warm from the oven or stove to the table can be a challenge. Our microwaveable warmer is a great solution. Just close the flap and zap.
How to Turn and Press Skinny Ties and Straps
Learn our tips for using a pair of standard hemostats to quickly, easily, and smoothly turn tiny ties. Once turned, we also show you how a thin piece of cardboard is the perfect template jig for pressing the tie flat and even.
Quilted Yo-Yo Tote
The front of a bag is a bit like a blank slate. We started with a gorgeous metallic linen, then added a quilted windowpane grid, and finally, arranged twelve tone-on-tone yo-yos as the perfect dimensional accent.
Sweet Dreams Bedside Caddy
It’s a fact: the nightstand is always covered with stuff without a square inch of space to spare. Solution: our pretty bedside caddy that can hold everything you need within arm’s reach. Where you want it – when you need it.
Patchwork Linen Table Throw
If you’re used to table linens being long and narrow, take a look at the Table Throw – also known as a Table Square. Ours finishes at a generous 50” x 50” and is a perfect showcase for bold patchwork in gorgeous linen.
Quilted Casserole Carrier
A wonderful present for the foodies on your gift list who love to share their homemade treats. The wraparound design includes a handy loop to clip a pot holder and an inside pocket for a serving utensil.
Wine Bags with Carabiner Handles
Narrow and thin, but big enough to hold the tallest of Rieslings and the roundest of Champagnes. Carabiners are the perfect size and shape for the handles. For your next special occasion, turn a gift of wine into two presents in one.
Washcloths with Pretty Patchwork Binding
The unique binding is created from a patchworked panel. Piece together skinny scraps side by side, then cut bias strips from the assembled fabric panel. Includes links to full tutorials on both making and attaching bias binding.
Slim Messenger Bag
Tall and slim, this handsome messenger bag is a casual, fun style that’s perfect for everyday and anywhere you need to go. It works well for either guys or gals. An exclusive PDF pattern bundle in our Etsy shop.
Hair Scrunchies with Optional Tie
Scrunchies are super fast and fun, and they take just a tiny bit of fabric and elastic. Ours are done with a unique double-turn method that eliminates the hard center seam found in many other styles. Pretty with or without a tie.
Modern Two Tone, Fold Over Clutch
Two colors, two fabrics, one awesome look. We love being able to give you the inspiration and instructions to make your own beautiful bags for a fraction of the hundreds of dollars listed on designer price tags.
How to Narrow Wide Webbing to Fit Small Hardware
Sometimes the perfect webbing or strapping you’ve selected for a project is simply too darn wide for the D-ring or Swivel Hook you really want/need to use. Try this quick trick to bring your wide webbing down to size.
Round Floor Pouf
Time to put your feet up! This tone-on-tone floor cushion falls into the Pouf category but without the super-soft structure that’s traditional. Instead, it features a form-fitting upholstery style cover with clean, modern lines.
Mini Coin Purse
Our little frame-style coin purses are as adorable as they come! Not only do they get five stars on the cuteness chart, they’re super easy. The front of each features a beautiful pleated strip accented with decorative stitching.