Thousand Trails is on Pinterest! Have you taken the time to explore Pinterest, yet? Pinterest is a social network driven by content sharing and beautiful images. It allows users to organize ideas and favorite things onto virtual pinboards. From DIY ideas and top recipes to dream vacation locations and useful products, Pinterest is a great tool for us to make suggestions to our followers – and we’d be lying if we said we haven’t learned a thing or two from some of our TT pinners!
With the holiday season fast approaching, we’ve taken to Pinterest to search for a few gift ideas for RVers and campers. Throughout the month of December, we’ll be pinning gift ideas to our “Holiday Gift Ideas” board. Here’s a sample of a DIY gift we pinned!
Monogrammed Camping Skewer Set
Source: designsponge.com
Materials:
- Skewers with wood handles
- Heavy-weight fabric
- Thick trim (usually found near ribbons in craft stores)
- Spray adhesive
- Clear tape
- Letters printed on standard paper
- Wood-burning tool
- Sewing machine
Steps:
1. Print your desired letters onto standard printer paper. I used Baskerville Old Face font, 72 point. After cutting out the letters, apply spray adhesive to the handle and press down the letter. I also wrapped tape around the back of the handle to hold the paper down.
2. Using the fine point attachment on your wood-burning tool, outline each letter. The tool will burn through the paper and leave a faint outline.
3. Using the blunt-end attachment, fill in each letter with the wood-burning tool. Wash with soap and water to remove any remaining adhesive.
4. Now you will begin making the carrying case for your skewers. This does not have to be exact. I used an old curtain found at my favorite antique shop! To decide the size of my carrying case, I placed the skewers on top of the fabric and folded the top and bottom sides over. I then decided how wide I wanted the fabric. I opted to leave extra room to add extra skewers one day. I suggest placing each skewer about 2 inches apart, but if you have larger or smaller skewers, you will need to adjust this measurement. After deciding your width, you will want to sew down all the outer edges. Double fold each side down about 0.5″, iron and sew straight along the edge. The result will be a large rectangle with four “finished” edges.
5. Fold your top and bottom finished edges down where they loosely cover the skewers. You are going to want to rotate the skewers, so the case doesn’t have all the handles on one end. To do this, sew down one edge, then create little pockets every 2 inches on the folded-over area of the fabric. I created four pockets on one end, then rotated the fabric to create three more pockets on the opposite side. By sewing pockets on opposing ends, you allow the fabric to be loose where the pointed edge of the skewer goes. It also allows the case to carry more evenly. Don’t sew down the fabric directly opposite — that area must remain loose to slide in the skewers. The picture creates a better visual of this.
6. Starting on the end with the skewers, roll up your case. Next you will determine the length of your handles. I loosely laid the trim under the rolled up case and played with the trim until I found the length I liked.
7. Stitch the two ends of your trim together to create a big circle. I used several zigzag stitches.
8. Rest the carrying case in the handles to find where you want to attach the handles. I suggest placing the underside of the handles about 8 inches or more apart. Pin the handles to the area you want to attach to the fabric.
9. Using a zigzag stitch or straight stitching in the shape of a square, attach the handles to the carrying case.
10. Now grab some goodies for a campfire dinner, turn off your computer and go enjoy the beauty of fall in the great outdoors!