Taming the Sock Monster- sock bag tutorial and free design

Money tight but want to do a quick fun project that has the added benifit of making your house neater and laundry easier to do?... well come on!

In a family with as many children as we have sorting socks can take on a mythical proportions and become all but undoable when the sock monster becomes involved. Missing socks are the bane of my existence, but no more! This week at Target I ran into a colorful assortment of mesh laundry bags for a mere $1 each! These were larger than I needed but at $1 the price was right. ( Look for them in the Target Dollar Spot in the front of the store)

Since they were so big I decided to cut off 1/2 the length of the bag and bind the end with double fold bias tape for added strength but of course you would not really have to do this and if you did you could just serge the bottom shut.

Then it was time to put the bag in the hoop. So first hoop a piece of TEAR -AWAY ( believe me).. then use a bit of spray adhesive or pin the front center of the bag in place. The put down ANOTHER layer of tear away and then the fabric you are going to use for the applique.

Take the whole thing to the machine and run the first step which is a single running stitch. When that is done trim away the excess fabric but LEAVE the TEAR AWAY in place ( the tear-away serves two functions here, one to add more stability and second to protect the mesh fabric as you trim away the extra fabric)

Run the zig-zag and then the satin stitch and proceed with the rest of the lettering.

When done remove from hoop and pull the tear away from the design ( Hint: pull in the directly opposite direction of where the tear-away is stitched.. do not pull back over the stitching so that you do not distort the satin stitching.

Easy huh?

Want the design file?

CLICK HERE