Category: Craft

With spring approaching it’s time to get making some spring chickens!
Sewing · Craft · Patterns

With spring approaching it’s time to get making some spring chickens!

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With spring sneaking up on me I decided it was time to get making some spring themed makes so I wouldn’t get behind (Like normal) and end up making things in a panic at the last minute.

First up are some drawstring chicken bags. I used a pattern I put together for The Craft Cotton Company last year for these and some Craft Cotton Company Fabric (Chickie fat quarter set) from in my stash that I used to make the original one.

Pattern to make these is over on The Craft Cotton Company blog:

https://www.craftcottonblog.co.uk/single-post/2019/03/26/Chicken-Drawstring-Bag

Time to organise my fabric stash with some fabric storage baskets
Craft · Patterns · Sewing

Time to organise my fabric stash with some fabric storage baskets

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I’ve been needing to organise my fabric for a while now – every time I open the cupboard it’s in I have to be quick to get what I want and get out again before it all falls out! I decided it was time to get it organised and soon realised I needed some more storage baskets to keep the smaller bits of fabric together in.

Luckily I put together a pattern a few years ago for The Craft Cotton Company to make some fabric storage baskets so I used that to make some more. I found some Lewis and Irene fabric in my stash to use – County Life for the outside and The Glen for the lining.

Now I’ve got it all tidy I can now get in my cupboard without having to avoid any falling bits of fabric – hopefully I can keep it tidy for a bit longer this time!

Pattern is available over on The Craft Cotton Company blog:

https://www.craftcottonblog.co.uk/single-post/2016/11/17/Fabric-Box-Tutorial

Bright and flowery iPad case tutorial
Craft · Sewing

Bright and flowery iPad case tutorial

hookstitchsew2 Comments

I recently completed an iPad case tutorial for The Craft Cotton Company using their new lovely floral sketches fat quarter set. I added on a pocket for storing a USB cable – no excuse for misplacing them with one of these cases! 


Link to this free tutorial and many more on their blog: 

http://www.craftcottonblog.co.uk/single-post/2016/09/27/IPad-Case

A huge help for pattern cutting and made only with fabric scraps, these pattern weights are a must have that I wish I had made sooner!    
Craft · Sewing

A huge help for pattern cutting and made only with fabric scraps, these pattern weights are a must have that I wish I had made sooner!    

hookstitchsewLeave a comment

I’ve been meaning to make some pattern weights for a while now and just haven’t got around to doing them. Now that I have got them made I wish I had got them made sooner – they are absolutely brilliant for holding patterns in place while cutting out without having to mess around with pins which also often leave marks in the fabric. In fact I was so pleased with how well these worked I went on a bit of a making spree and at current count have about 30 of these little gems! 
What’s even better about these weights is I made them all with just scraps of fabric out of my stash and anything that can help use up some scraps is a winner with me! 

Pattern weight pattern:
I made two different sizes of these weights, so had had some longer ones for long pattern sections. The method to make both sizes is the same, the only difference being the size of paper template used.  

Materials 

Fabric scraps

Ribbon scraps

Thread

Pins

Scissors

Paper

Pencil

Ruler

Aquarium gravel 

1- Make your paper templates, 7×7 cm for the smaller weights and 10×7 cm for the larger rectangular ones and cut out your fabrics. 

2- Cut your ribbon into 7cm pieces 
3- Fold a piece of ribbon in half and place with its raw edges just over the raw edges of a piece of fabric placed right side up. 


Place a second piece of fabric right side down on top of this and sew down the side, along the bottom and up the other side.

Cut diagonally accross at the bottom 2 corners to help with getting a nice sharp corner after turning. 
4- Turn the right way out, and fill with gravel.


5-  Fold in the top edge by 0.5m and match the two side seams together, slip stitch to close. 


Now make as many as you need, and maybe just a couple more incase you run out while cutting out a pattern…think I definately got carried away, don’t think I will be running out any time soon! 

A drawstring bottle bag, a solution for me to put bottle gifts in this year rather than fighting with a piece of paper!
Craft · Patchwork

A drawstring bottle bag, a solution for me to put bottle gifts in this year rather than fighting with a piece of paper!

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I always have problems wrapping up bottles as gifts, although to be honest anything that isn’t a square box tends to give me problems! I can never get the paper to look right without it tearing a few times and rather than just buying a paper bottle bag I thought I would make one.  I wanted to make something a bit different to my previous crochet bottle holder that I made so I thought I would do a fabric one using some very cute Craft Cotton Company penguin fabric.

 

I am really impressed with how this came out, I might do some smaller ones for some beer bottles I have as gift too – obviously I don’t have enough things I need to make in time for Christmas already!

Drawstring bottle bag:  

  • Cut a piece of penguin fabric 12 inches long by 11 1/2 inches wide. 
  • Next cut a piece of the red zigzag fabric, 12 inches long by 3 1/2 inches wide.

  

  • Place the zigzag piece right sides together at the top of the penguin fabric with the bottom edge of the zigzag fabric lined up with the top edge of the penguin fabric and sew along to join.

  

  

  • Fold the fabric in half with the red zigzag fabric along the top of the bag and place right sides together.  Now starting 6 1/2 Inches from the top of the fabric sew down the side and along the bottom of the bag.  Turn out the right way.

  

  

  • Fold over the top edge by 1cm, and then on both the front and back side seams, fold in the raw edges by 1 cm.  Next fold the zigzag fabric inwards so it lines up with where you started sewing the front and back together – now pin and sew along the bottom edge. Now sew another line 2cm up from the previous line.

  

 
  
 

  • Thread through the ribbon for the drawstring, fold over the end of the ribbon a few times and sew to stop it fraying.

 

   

  • Slipstitch closed the side seam above the drawstring section.

  

 

   
  
 
 

 

 

 

Jumping in just in time for the colder weather is a frog woolly hat!
Craft · Uncategorized

Jumping in just in time for the colder weather is a frog woolly hat!

hookstitchsew2 Comments

Im glad I have managed to get some time to get this frog hat made, the colder weather is starting to creep in and it won’t be long before I will be needing a hat to keep the chill at bay! 
I saw this frog in Vanessa Mooncie’s book Crocheted animal hats and it stood out above of all the wonderful hats as the first I needed to make – I know for a fact many more of these hat makes will follow – they are just brilliant, I’m not too sure which to do next but I need to get cracking as I’m hoping to make some more of these as Christmas presents for friends, although I think I may be running out of time – in sure they won’t mind getting them a little late! 

  
  

Almost time to go pick a pumpkin, until then here are some fabric ones! 
Craft · Sewing

Almost time to go pick a pumpkin, until then here are some fabric ones! 

hookstitchsew2 Comments

I have seen quite a few fabric pumpkins on my Pinterest feed lately and really wanted to make some for Halloween. It was only while rummaging through my craft drawer yesterday looking for some wool when I suddenly realised I still had some orange and green The Craft Cotton Company fabric left over from when I made the hexagon patchwork spider (Brights fat quarter bundle). I knew this fabric would be perfect to make some, so I got cracking making them. I really need to sort out my craft drawer – there’s all sorts hidden away in there! 

The tutorial I followed was on: 

http://thompsonfamily.typepad.com/thompson_familylife/2009/11/fabric-pumpkin-tutorial.html
I chose to make three pumpkins in total, each different in size: 

First – 7×14 inches 

Second – 4×8 inches 

Third – 3×6 inches 
These were so easy to make and they look great, I think might make some bigger ones to go with these!