Dolly Sling Tutorial: Quick-Make Straps

And the imaginatively named Brown Teddy comes too....

Well, I don't know, you write a pattern, or a recipe, as I like to call 'em, and you think, ooh, i like doing it that way, ooh, I should change the pattern, oooh this is a nice way to do that, ah, maybe I should change the pattern, ooh i could add a little sketch in there...

Luckily I am able to recognise these thoughts for what they are - my inability to just leave things alone!  Everyone does things differently, and the recipe is fine.  It's fab, in fact, but it is one of our "Needs Loving Care" difficulty ratings, so of course, I'm always worrying about whether I've communicated it properly.

But oh hello - blogs! Aren't they just perfect for precisely this sort of refining touch to the published article.  So I'm sharing a little Dolly Sling tip for you here, to help you make the perfect sling from your pattern.

Just before we start, here is where you can buy the Dolly Sling Pattern for just a few of your finest shiny coins. 

The Signature OriginalStitch Straps

Dolly Sling in all its strappy glory

When the first Dolly Sling prototypes were cranked out of Old Mother OriginalStitch's (that's my mum) machine, she had used what have now become our signature strippy things.  We use these for our Backpacks too. I love this method coz I have never got to grips with rouleau loop turners, the darned pesky varmints, so I hate having to do the turny-inside outy thing with narrow straps. And this zigzaggy patchworky look (yes, those words exist, people. In my world.) is very much our thing - great for using up scraps and fun and funky.  But I have discovered some people find 'em a bit tricky and fiddly.  I don't, which is unusual because I have almost always fallen into all the pitfalls other sewists have, but even so, there are long-winded, and short-winded (now I'm not sure that's a word....) ways of doing it.

Oh and hey, you don't have to buy our patterns to make these - these straps do look great anywhere.  Apron straps, bag handles, loops, drawstrings...you've got projects that could use them, right?

So, here's what you need
* 2" wide long strip
*1" wide long strip
*Double Sided Fusible Interfacing (herein known as DSFI, I think, don't you?!)
*Iron, contrasting cotton, sewing machine

1: Cut your DSFI to fit the 1" strip of fabric, or even better, slightly narrower.
 
2: Iron the DSFI onto the Wrong Side of the strip (stitcher Katie, who has made a few Dolly Sling orders in her time, puts baking parchment under and on top of hers to save ironing board and iron from 'orrible sticky goo - it's good advice!)

3: Peel the waxy layer away from the fabric

4: Now place the 1" strip Right Side up onto the WRONG side of your 2" strip and iron

Et voila. Your 1" strip is now cunningly stuck down, and you don't need to use pins.

Next, press the overlapping edges of the 2" strip down on to the Right Side of the 1" strip, ready for sewing.  Straight to the sewing machine now then.....where your fabric suddenly mysteriously turns into a different fabric entirely....hm, weird.  Continuity Officer!  Emergency!

5: So all you need to do now is be tuck the raw edges under a quarter of an inch, and neatly stitch the folded edge down on to the 1" strip. You can see here the left edge is not stitched yet, and the curling under of the right edge as I tuck in the raw edges.

6: And here is the nice zig-zagged edge, all neat and stitched in place.  Repeat with the other edge, and your work here, as they say, is done!

Giveaway Winner

Ooh, and can we just say congratulations to Mairi, who won the TopCat Red Kite Canvas Giveaway from the last post, extoling the virtues of buying handmade.  Well done, and can I also say that I know, she's my sister, but I promise you, the Hat and the Names Out Of process was entirely legit!