Using stitches from my new machine and just a little hand embroidery I turned strips of scrap from old clothes and fabric remnants into a rustic placemat
A great way of trying out the decorative stitches.
Machine appliquè
Binding and lettering
I made these coasters to try out my letter character skills on my new machine and had to master binding to finish them off.
Spice craft
Rather than buy a jar of ras al hanout, my preferred mild spice for couscous, chicken and veggie tagine type meals, I decided to mix up my own and yes I have all the necessary supplies!
Just mix equal amounts of cayenne, pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, cardomum seeds ( blended in grinder) and turmeric with double the amount of ground ginger, coriander seeds (same grinder) and cumin.
Why did I not know it was that easy?
Easter treats
I made lots of slim boxes to hold up to a dozen little chocolate eggs.
I decided to use up some of the foiled and glitzy papers I have but these tubes only take 3 1/2 x 11 or 8 inches so the stash is still large!
Just score the paper at 3/4” down the long side so you have four equal panels and one extra for sticking. Then score in half an inch and one inch from either end of the narrow sides which will create a pinched closure.
I closed mine with some of the dozens of brads. Again not much of a dent in the pile but at least I won’t be buying Easter eggs this year.
Then to finish then I die cut out ribbons from matching paper scraps and used up the last of my adhesive jewels for a bling finish.
Buying a bag of 100 eggs meant these little gifts costed out at less than a pound and look delightful.
Blanket stitch mastered
Experimenting with the feet that came with my new Janome machine…
The over edge stitch recommended the c foot and the results blew me away.
So easy to line the foot up with the straight edge of the fabric just so that the standard width stitch finishes the edge exactly.
Who needs an overlocker?
This was due cut felt butterfly shapes on a 6” cotton square with a felt backing.
I used a decorative stitch to fix the shapes and it makes a simple glass coaster or mug rug.
New sewing machine experiment
Trying out the decorative stitches on my new Janome machine … I ran lines of stitches across a panel of denim cut from an old pair of jeans
I decided to turn the sampler into a mat so backed it with another denim panel then bound the edges with some ancient tape
Wisdom or cliché?
The use it up campaign continues with one of many surplus photo frames used to mount a little cross stitch.
Once the chosen phrase is charted out to get the letters centred I can work out the size of fabric required and then choose a frame big enough so I can add cross stitch decoration.
Essential tools:
Friction heat erasable pens help me centre the lettering and position the stitching.
Graph paper to write out the wording and get the spacing right.
Embroidery frame to keep the fabric straight.
Back to basics embroidery
ribbon roses (from the tags cut from new clothes), satin stitch leaves, French knots and a few scattered cross stitches made this a basic, but pretty little stitch project.
I hot glued some felt to the hoop to cover my workings in the back.
Seaglass trinket saucers
These little dishes were made by lining a saucer with cling film to make a mould, then mosaic-ing small, flat pieces of seaglass together in a sort of free style jigsaw leaving as few gaps as I could.
To stick it together I brushed uv resin over and set it before peeling the sea glass from the cling film (comes off quite cleanly) brushing more resin on the underside and setting that.
Final stages involve more thin layers of resin on both sides to smooth over dips and fill little gaps.
The first dish was thicker and had a more crinkly surface. For the second dish I used slimmer glass and less resin. Not sure which I like best.
These are both sturdy and stable as well as being useful. only took about an hour from start to finish.
Use it up ideas
I found a whole box of red serviettes in the Christmas decorations box so decided to try and use lots up.
So far, I have wrapped a few items with an outer wrap of snowflake acetate I have a large roll of.
I also made up a set of Father Christmas holders which will be gifted too.
Now need ideas for the last 40 red serviettes!
janecrafts 