Sewing

Canvas embroidery sampler

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I have resurrected an old project and tried out a few new stitches which have reignited my enthusiasm for cross stitch.

The green and white is alternating oblong and cross stitch ( just stitch over an oblong rather than a square to make the oblongs), the grey and pink is layering upright and traditional cross stitch over a double sized square and the maroon is gobelin.

if you are interested,  graphics below,

I am working on a giant roll of canvas so have set myself a target of 100  stitch or colour variations, about 90 to go!

Clutch bag

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Discovered a dozen magnetic bag clasps in my sewing box, so decided to use one and follow a Debbie Shore tutorial. I made this bag with three squares of fabric, it is a quick and easy project.

I cut two 11″ squares of the floral fabric and one of a plain lining material. I cut a matching square of wadding which I free motion quilted to the back of one of my floral squares and a half square piece ( 11 x 5 1/2″) which I quilted to half of my other floral piece. I had a 15″ piece of cord for the wrislet and a spare button for embellishment. Vintage brooches would be perfect for this sort of bag embellishment.

Debbie’s tutorial is, as always, easy to follow. I top stitched at the end to give it a bit more finish.

Next time I will put some stabiliser on the lining and maybe round or angle the corners on the top flap. I might even put a pocket in the lining as this is such a quick and easy project.

Jeans to … Puppy present

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Next step on the jeans up cycling project …. A tug toy for a friend’s new puppy.

Inspired  by pinterest, I drew a bone shaped paper template and then cut matching pieces of old jeans leg with the seams at artistic(!) angles on each side then free motion embroidered the name before seaming, turning and stuffing. (Stuffed with trimmings from an ongoing sewing project)

The weak point might be my hand sewn closing of the seam but let’s see.

A quick, easy project that my dog approved before posting. So I did him his own version.

Brooch holder

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I love vintage brooches and try to wear them on jackets often

i have turned their storage into a display with this project

a piece of corduroy and contrast linen which was three inches longer and wider were sandwiched (right sides OUT) around some batting so that the corduroy was centered on the bigger fabric giving an equal border.

the border was pressed in half and then folded over the edge of the cord and pressed agin then pinned in place, creating the look of bias binding

I top stitched around the frame that was created (twice, once at the crease and once on the outer edge to sharpen it up).

the corners were folded as hospital corners on a bed with the long edges on top, to create a mitre effect but these were left unsewn so I could poke a curtain rod through the channel created when I sewed the frame

I threaded cord through the convenient hole in each end of the slim metal curtain rod (an adjustable one designed for net curtains) -and knotted it to secure it

Jeans to … sewing challenge

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Take one pair of jeans and too many hours on Pinterest and let us see what we can make….

so far the bottom of the legs have been chopped off and made into two simple storage pots.

I boxed the bottoms (the tops really to preserve the hems) and lined with some dotty fabric and some wadding. One leg had a longer lining piece to create a bigger contrast cuff

These will be used to store ready readers and sunglasses.

If I made them again and had enough firm form interface I would use that to make the sides more rigid but these will do the soft storage job

Now back to Pinterest to see what else to try … I have ppreviously made a garden apron/belt, some  oven gloves and mitts -see earlier posts-  so want to expand my jeans recycling repertoire

Scan n cut snowflake garland/paper bunting

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img_0185I followed a scan n cut you tube idea to create some home made decor this year. A modern version of paper chains!

For a Christmas themed garland you will need to cut out an assortment of paper snowflakes in different sizes.  I used a selection of papers and wish I had chosen doubled sided stuff as the garland twists a little in use.

if you don’t have a cutting machine folding the paper and hand cutting is an option if you have the time (or child labour!)

at the sewing machine pull a long tail of thread through then sew a long straight stitch through the centre of the first flake. (I used a white thread as most of the papers were pale or had white in but a contrast thread in a decorative stitch might be fun).

Be brave, go straight off the end of the flake and sew a few stitches in the gap before you put the next snowflake through. This creates a chain for your garland. You can overlap a few flakes or stitch a small one on top of a larger one as well.

Continue for the length you wish and leave a long tail of thread at the end for tying.

Easy to recreate for Valentines, Spring, Easter, Birthday, Halloween or Anniversary versions  …

Tip: remember that paper will blunt your machine needle

Cube door stop

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image

Am trying to use up some scraps of upholstery fabric so cut six squares  and a strip for another door stop.

if you make with lighter weight material you will need heavy duty interfacing

method: fold the strip- about the same length as the side of a square –  edges to middle and then fold in half and straight stitch along the length on either edge to create a handle. Position the handle on top of the centre of one of the squares and sew the ends firmly with a quarter inch seam. This seam will be hidden later.

take four squares to form the sides of the cube. With right sides facing and a half inch seam,  fix them in a box shape then pin the top square facing downwards carefully to form the cube lid.

seam  the top to the sides, go slowly round the corners to catch all the bulk and keep a consistent half inch seam to fix the handles in place

check your work before pinning the bottom square in place, still wrong sides facing. Seam as the top but leave a gap for turning. Leave at least three fingers for your turning gap as the fabric is bulky.

check the seams at the corners and maybe go round again as the finished cube has quite a lot of weight to bear

turn Right side out through the turning gap in the bottom. stuff at least  two thirds of the cube with pillow stuffing (it will take more stuffing than you expect and you don’t want it saggy from understuffing) and then fill up with gravel, lizard litter or rice. Hand stitch the gap closed to finish.

 

Brown paper packages for christmas

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img_0182

I am using brown paper for lots of my wrapping this year with scan n cut embellishments and stamping for most parcels, but these simple sewn packets are a joy to make and look very classy

fold your paper in half then trace the shape you want to end up with one side ( I used a frixion pen in case I needed to erase it but light pencil would do as well).

then choose a decorative stitch to sew around all but one side of your image. I used a white thread here but Am inspired to try lots of threads from the sewing basket now.

I had my walking foot on the machine so nothing slipped but you might want to help the paper through if using a standard foot

trim the paper close to the stitch line to tidy it up (pinking shears would add a good effect, but too much use on paper might not be good for your expensive scissors)

pop in the present then sew up the final side

tip: make the packet larger than the contents or you will struggle to sew the final side closed and don’t want to sew through the contents

if you want to decorate the paper or write on the addressee details you will need to finish it all before you put the gift inside

some people keep old machine needles for their paper projects, I will just dispose of this needle before I start my next fabric project as the paper will blunt it.

Plastic bag holder

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imagea quick sew to tidy up all those stray bags that still come back from shopping expeditions

a fat quarter or 18x 22 inch rectangle of material

8 inches of elastic , 1/2 inch wide is fine

8 inches of tape or ribbon

fold over 1 inch on a short end of the rectangle, which we will now call the bottom, and fold it over again then press and straight stitch at least 1/2 inch away from the top fold so you have made a casing for the elastic

fold over 1/2 inch once on the top edge of the fabric, fold again and press then stitch that so you have a neat hem at the open top where you will add bags in

fix a large safety pin to one end of the elastic and thread it through the casing, when it emerges pin the ends of the elastic together to form a circle

with right side of the fabric on the inside, fold the sides are together and seam from top to bottom to make a tube. While doing the seam make sure you sew the elastic ends  together maybe back stitching over the elastic for security

Fold the tape in half and stitch in place near the top of the side seam to make a loop for hanging

trim loose threads and excess seam maybe using pinking shears for neatness, turn right sides out and stuff with all those loose bags

 

 

Kitchen stitchery

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imageA set of fat quarters are going to provide inspiration for a ‘suite’ of kitchen kit. First off this hot pad with insulbright heatproof wadding and an extra layer of batting sandwiched between two contrasting fabrics.

Cut bottom fabric 3 inches wider and longer than the top piece so you can fold this over rather than bias bind the raw edges, cut insulbright and optional batting to same size as top piece

stick the insult right and batting between the two fabrics with removable fabric spray (stick and spray) with the bottom fabric  – face down -aligned so there is a 1.5 inch border showing all the way round

quilt the pieces together. I stitched a rectangke 1 inch and 2 inches in from the edge all  around

Fold and press the 1.5 inch frameof fabric in half so there is now .75 inch frame showing all around. Fold this over to the top fabric as though it was bias binding  and pin or clip it in place.  At the corner fold the fabric as though doing hospital corners on a bed , although you can trim away some of the bulk as you fold and pin each corner to mimic a mitred corner

top stitch around the edge to secure the frame in place

now shall I do mug rugs or coaster to go with this?