Garden Accessories to make

When I grow up we had two gardens in our half acre yard. Now, I patio garden a little bit.  I never used accessories until I patio garden.  Here are a few ideas.

This first one is a upcycling idea.

Easy 10 Minute Garden Gloves

 

Materials:  Old long sleeve sweatshirt, Scissors, straight pins, tracing pencil, sewing machine, matching thread and tracing paper or paper bag for pattern of your hand

Directions with pictures:

First grab an old long sleeve sweatshirt.

Turn it inside out and insert your hand into a sleeve. Stretch out your fingers and pin at the deepest and highest points of your hand shape. You can also use the bottom edge of your sweatshirt to make your gloves. You can plan to make 3 pairs from one small sweatshirt. You can just start with the sleeves as see below.

              

Take out your hand and mark your glove shape with a marker/pen using your pins as guides.
             
Sew along your pattern line.

               
Trim.


               
On to second glove, use already made glove to make a copy by tracing around your hand trimmed seams and sewing a bit inside the line. You can do the pin & marker thing again if you want to though.

Turn the gloves right side out.

 
For more information on the gloves you can look at this tutorial

http://latelyreconstructed.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/10-minute-sweatshirt-garden-gloves-tutorial/

Easy Gardening Apron

Directions:

Cut the fabric. With the following measurements:

For the tie: From the longest edge of your fabric, cut a strip 4″ wide. (If this piece doesn’t seem long enough to tie around your waist, cut two 4″ strips and piece them together to make one long strip.)

For the apron body: Cut two pieces measuring 20″ x 15″.

For the pocket piece: Cut one piece measuring 20″ x 20″.

Sew the pockets as shown below:

 

Fold the pocket piece in half with the wrong sides together, and press the fold to flatten it. Place this folded piece on the right side of one of the body pieces, with the folded edge as the top edge and the raw sides and bottom edges aligned. Determine where you would like your pocket divisions to be placed, and lightly draw a line in these spots using a pencil or chalk. Pin all layers of fabric together along these lines.

Sew along the marked lines, sewing through all layers of fabric and back stitching at the beginning and end of each seam to secure.

Sew the apron body as seen below:

 

Place the remaining apron body piece over the pocket piece with the right sides together. Pin all layers together around three sides, leaving the top side unpinned.

Sew all the layers together around three sides (the sides and the bottom) with a 1/2″ seam allowance.

Trim away some of the fabric from the corners please be careful not to cut too close to the stitching.  See below:

Turn the apron body right-side out, and press all the seams flat.

Next, make the tie. Fold the strip you cut for the tie in half lengthwise, with right sides together. Pin.  With a 1/2″ seam allowance, sew along the short ends and the long edge, leaving an opening in the center of the tie that is 1/4″ longer than the width of your apron body, or about 19 1/4″.

If desired, sew a slanted edge on the ends of the tie (or a squared edge, if you prefer). Trim away the excess fabric from the corners.

Finally, turn the tie right-side out and press the seams flat. Turn under the raw edges of the fabric along the center opening 1/2″ and press.

Here is how to attach the tie. Slip the tie opening over the top edge of the apron body, sandwiching the apron inside the tie’s opening. (The top edges of the apron body should be enclosed between the two layers of the tie.) Pin together.

Beginning at one end of the tie, topstitch close to the edge of the fabric all along the length of the tie.

When you reach the section where the tie overlaps the apron, just keep on sewing.

Sew all the way to the other end of the tie, pivot and continue sewing back along the tie going in the other direction.

When you’ve sewn around all four sides of the tie, you’re done.

http://www.designsponge.com/2011/05/sewing-101-gardening-apron.html

This next idea is not for a beginner sewer; so, you may not want to attempt this idea. Besides gardening cushion you may use for picnic.
 

Outdoor Padded Roll Up Cushion

 

Materials:  Sewing machine, optional with a walking foot; 2 yards of 54" wide outdoor fabric in a print; : 2 yards of 54" wide outdoor fabric in a print; matching thread; 2 yards of 1" thick x 27" wide Nu-Foam®; 4 D-rings ,; See-through ruler; Tape measure; Seam gauge; Fabric pencil or marking pen; Scissors or rotary cutter and mat; Straight pins; and Iron and ironing board

Directions:

First, cut a 28" x 72" rectangle from the print fabric. Fussy cut to center the pattern and cut a 28" by 72" rectangle from the striped fabric. Fussy cut to center the stripes.  From the remaining striped fabric, fussy cut THREE strips 3¼" wide x 72" long, centering a stripe on each strip as shown below:

 

There should be no need to trim the Nu-Foam®; it is already to 27" x 72". It's important it fits tight into the cushion cover to maintain a smooth look. You can trim off a bit prior to folding in the cover's raw edges and stitching closed.

At Your Sewing Machine & Ironing Board

Press in ½" along both sides of each strip. Fold each strip in half (so they are now 36") wrong sides together, matching the pressed edges.

Top-stitch close to the edge, starting at the raw end, stitching the length of the strip, pivoting at the fold, stitching across the folded edge, pivoting again, and stitching along the length of the remaining side.

 

Each of the three strips will now be a double layer with a finished end and an unfinished end.

From one strip, cut a 28" section, starting at the unfinished end. Discard the remainder of the strip. This section will be used as the handle.

From each of the remaining two strips, cut a 3" section, again measuring from the unfinished end.

These 3" sections will hold the D-rings, and the remaining sections with the finished ends are the straps.

We used our fabric to plan placement of the handle and straps so the stripe of the straps matched the fabric's stripes. Your fabric may be slightly different; we've also included approximate measurements so you can best match placement on your fabric.

Lay your striped 28" x 72" rectangle flat on your work surface, right side up.

Position the raw edge of each strap along the vertical stripe closet to each side of the rectangle (or approximately 4" from each side). Pin in place so the raw edge of the strap is flush with the raw end of the rectangle. 

Insert each end of the handle under each strap at a 90˚ angle 3" up from the raw edge. The handle should insert under the strap almost all the way; leave it just about ¼" short of the opposite folded edge of the strap to conceal the handle's raw edge. The handle will bow in the middle, which allows it to be, well... a handle. Pin the straps and handle securely.