Monday, December 6, 2010

Art Bucket Tutorial - Light

As promised it's Tuesday so time for the second half of my gift that I'm so excited about.  I didn't get a comment from the person this is going to so I'm going to assume I'm not spoiling anything.  The first part of this gift is the art smock that you can read about here, that part of the gift will be included in the awesome art bucket that I've made.

This bucket will hold all of the cute girl's art supplies so when it's time to craft you can just pull out the bucket and she's good to go.  There are pockets all around and most of them are empty just waiting to be filled.  I got the idea here at a blog called Kotori.  She used a bucket tool belt but I wanted mine to be a little cuter and the belt was a little more than I was willing to spend.

One quick side note... I called this a light tutorial because I had a very sad thing happen while crafting this project, I filled up my Picasa storage space.  For those of you unfamiliar, Picasa is the site that automatically stores all of your blogger pictures.  Once your space is gone you can no longer add photos to your blog posts and you need to buy more space.  I've been really un-happy about my free hobby suddenly costing $5 a year (I know, it's only $5).  I was a little poutty about it so I just didn't take photos during my creation of the bucket, sorry.  I have now come to terms with the necessary $5 (unless you have an awesome suggestion for me) so the many photos can continue on future posts.  On to the tutorial...

Here's my bucket, naked and ready to be re-used.

I used a plain canvas type fabric for my cover and I started by tracing around the bottom of my bucket and then adding some seam allowance.  I also cut a rectangle that was wide enough to fit around the widest part of my bucket.  I made sure it was long enough to extend from the bottom of the bucket up to the top, over and down to the bottom again.

I sewed up the sides of my rectangle and slipped it inside my bucket to see how it fit.  I wanted the cover to fit nice and snug so I checked the fit a lot.  I thought a rectangle would work well because my bucket seemed really straight up and down, I was surprised just how much I ended up needed to cut off my original rectangle though, the slant was subtle but definitely there.  I placed the fabric in my bucket and then pinned the excess fabric so I could move my seam in where necessary.  I did this a bunch of times until my cover finally fit how I wanted and then I cut the excess fabric off the width leaving my length the same.

I would do one thing differently next time, the circle is going to fit the inside of the bucket which is smaller than the outside of the bucket which meant my circle was too big and I had to trim it, next time I would trace the outside and not add any seam allowance.  That extra size on the outside will become the seam allowance and the circle will fit the bottom.

I next pinned my circle onto my tube of fabric and sewed it together (a photo!)

At this point it looked like this.
I wanted the cover to stay snug on the bucket so I made a casing at the bottom and inserted some wide elastic.  I pulled the elastic as I went so everything is cinched into place.  You can see in the picture above the little hole where my handle goes (I removed it before I started), I marked that hole and then made a button hole.  I did the same on the other side so my handle could slip back into place (but I didn't put the handle on until my pockets were finished).

From this point I made my paintbrush pockets on the inside of the bucket (such a pain but it's like making a crayon roll), I then put pockets on the outside.  I made my pockets poof out a bit by not sewing them flat, I would pin one side and then lay the pocket flat but before pinning I'd move the second side an inch or two closer to the pinned side.  I'd make a little pleat on the bottom to give it the space to put stuff inside.  I did that all the way around the bucket making as many pockets as I had room.

Here's what I filled the pockets with (this little girl LOVES Dora)

I also plan on making some homemade play dough but I can't do that until closer to Christmas.  The art smock will slip in the bucket as well.  I've left plenty of room for supplies she already owns.

Here are some more pictures of the completed bucket (I added a few things to make it look more full).

I think the paint brush pockets are my favorite part and I just hope this Mommy and little girl enjoy it.



I'm going to link up to these fun parties and this one
Visit thecsiproject.com.

20 comments:

Jennifer Dawn said...

This is such a great idea. It makes all of the art supplies so handy. Thanks for sharing.

Pamela said...

I've made art boxes for kids but this is so different and fun. Awesome!

Michelle said...

This is so cute! This would be perfect for my niece. Thank you for linking up to my party!

Amanda @ Serenity Now said...

What a beautiful gift!! You can tell you really put a lot of love into it. I really like how you added the cute little holders for the paint brushes. :) Visiting from The CSI Project today. Hope you'll stop by my blog to say hi. :)

The Autocrat: Haley said...

Too cute! I totally want to make some of those!

Sarah@sweetpeaandjojo.blogspot.com said...

darling! My kids would love these!

Unknown said...

This is just lovely, and so resourceful with all of the little pockets :)

Anonymous said...

what an awesome idea! Thanks for linking up to Handmade Tuesdays @ ladybug blessings!

Cara said...

I love this idea for Christmas OR birthday presents! This would be just perfect for all of the little artists in the art playgroup I host!

Robin Ange said...

What a great way to reuse that bucket and what kid doesn't need something to store there art supplies. Thank you for linking up to www.thetshirtdiaries.com

Erin said...

How totally fun is that! Great job! My kids would love this!!!

Megan said...

great idea! it turned out really good!

Anonymous said...

This is fantastic! My DD would totally love one! Thanks for sharing!

Megan said...

featuring you in a post tomorrow on crazydomestic.com! feel free to grab our "I was featured" button!

Patricia L said...

That is awesome! We have a tool caddy like that (store-bought) but making one for art supplies is a great idea. On the photo storage note: I ran out of room awhile back and before I put out any money I tried going back to doing my posts in the "old blogger" instead of blogger in draft and it seems to be working. Can't remember what I clicked on to do that-- I found the idea in a forum where everyone was having this same problem.

Found you @ Paisley Passions.

annies home said...

what a wonderful idea this would be super to give to any young artist for christmas they could keep all their supplies in one place and have a seat as well as long as the bucket had a lid

AllieMakes! said...

This is fabulous! SO inspired! Thank you for the tutorial!
Thanks for linking up to Making It With Allie! I can't wait to see what you have for next week!
AllieMakes.Blogspot.com

Vivian said...

Love the bucket

Hopping!

Newest follow on GFC, Follow back at
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Shannon said...

I love it! I want one for myself :o)

Unknown said...

wonderful very good idea