craft

Slowly making progress on the Christmas makes – next up a Embroidered flower embroidery hoop.

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Now I have got my sewing Christmas makes (Trees, Stockings) out of the way I have been able to focus on finishing some of the embroidery makes I have been working on over the last few months. First one completed is a embroidered flowers embroidery hoop.  The pattern is one I put together using a pattern from Crossstitcher magazine (April 2018).  The original pattern was too big to fit in the hoop I was using so I used bits from the pattern to fill the hoop.

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I covered the hoop with fabric by sewing strips of 4cm wide fabric together and folding the raw edges inwards, I then wrapped this around the hoop.  I created a loop using 2 strips of 20x4cm wide fabric (place pieces right sides together, sew around leaving top edge unsewn, turn out the right way and slip stitch the gap closed).

Fabric Christmas Tree Decorations

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Its that time of year where it all gets a little manic as I realise theres not long left for me to finish off all my Christmas present makes, no mater how early I start I always seem to end up at this stage with me looking at the calendar wondering if I will actually manage to get them all finished.  Luckily I have always managed to finish just in time – although i have been known to be frantically finishing off an item on Christmas Eve ready for the next day!

I have got most of the Elf gift bags finished, and I have now decided to focus on some of my sewing Christmas makes.  First up is a fabric Christmas tree, these are perfect presents if you are needing to post them as they are nice and flat so are easy to post without having to box everything up.

I made these using fat quarters from the Christmas Birdhouse  and Essential trends (red) fat quarter sets by The Craft Cotton Company.

To make one tree you will need:

2 pieces of fabric:

5×5 cm, 7×7 cm, 9×9 cm, 11×11 cm, 13×13 cm, 4x5cm.

10 cm ribbon.

5 buttons.

Take each of the two pieces and placing right sides together sew around leaving a gap for turning.  Turn out the right way, press and slip stitch the gap closed.

Lay the square pieces out so each one is lying on top of the largest square, then starting with the smallest square fold up the bottom point and sew to secure.  Next sew a button onto the folded up part of the square.  Repeat with the remaining squares.

Take the rectangular piece and place on the back of the largest square 1cm up from the base and in the middle and slip stitch along the top edge of the rectangle to secure.

Take the ribbon, fold in half place on the back of the smallest square 1cm from the top point and sew to secure.

Crochet Elf drawstring bag

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After making my Crochet Elf Storage baskets I had an idea to make an Elf drawstring bag for some of my other Christmas presents to go into, I always seem to use paper gift bags at Christmas when gifting and decided to go for something a bit different this year. I also seem to have acquired a mass of green and red wool (I’m sure wool sneaks in overnight!) so these makes will be perfect for using some of it up!

The pattern is available over on my Etsy shop:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/HookStitchSew

Crochet tumbling blocks strawberry cushion

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After my tumbling blocks pineapple cushion make I had a few ideas for some other crochet fruit cushions and first out is a strawberry cushion.

The pattern is available over on my Etsy shop:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/HookStitchSew

Something a little random (but very cute) a couple of camels!

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After making some teddy camels a little while back I had the idea of making some more but this time rather than just a singular teddy I would make one camel which a couple of little camels could fit in.

I used fabric from the Moroccan Bazzar range by The Craft Cotton Company.

For these camels you need a template for the main camel (with separate legs) and a template for the smaller camels (with separate legs).

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For the main large camel (adding a 0.5cm seam allowance):

In one colour: using the leg template cut out 8 pieces of fabric for the legs (2 for each).

In another fabric: using the main camel template cut out a front and back piece.

In batting: using the main camel template cut out a front and back piece.  Using the leg template cut out 4 leg pieces.

In another fabric: using the main camel template cut out a front and back lining piece.

In another fabric: cut out two  20cm x 4cm strips for the tail.

For the smaller camels (adding a 0.5cm seam allowance):

For each camel (Make 2 small camels)

In one colour: cut out 8 pieces of fabric for the legs (2 for each).

In another fabric: using the small camel template cut out a front and back piece.

In batting: using the small camel template cut out one piece.  Using the leg template cut out 4 pieces.

In wool: for the tail cut 3 10cm long pieces.

Making the large camel:

The legs

Take a piece of the leg batting then place two of the leg pieces and place right sides together on top.  Sew around the leg leaving a 4cm gap for turning.  Turn out the right way and slip stitch to close the gap.  Repeat with the other 3 legs.

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The Tail

Take the two tail pieces and place right sides together.  Sew around the edge leaving a shirt edge unsewn. Turn out the right way.

The body

Take the front and back piece and place right sides together placing the tail in-between the front and back with its raw edge against the raw edges of the front and back piece, then place the body batting piece on top. sew around the edge leaving the hump part of the camel unsewn. Turn out the right way.

Take the front and back lining piece and place right sides together.  Sew around the edge leaving the hump part unsewn.

Place the lining into the body piece and fold the raw edge of the lining backward by 1cm and fold the raw edges of the lining inward by 1cm.  Pin to secure and slip stitch around.

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Sew the legs on to the body using embroidery thread and long stitches.

Making the small camel:

The legs

Take a piece of the leg batting then place two of the leg pieces and place right sides together on top.  Sew around the leg leaving a 2cm gap for turning.  Turn out the right way and slip stitch to close the gap.  Repeat with the other 3 legs.

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The body

Take the front and back piece and place right sides together placing the 3 strands of wool which make the tail in-between the front and back piece with the raw edges f the wool against the raw edges of the front and back piece, then place the body batting piece on top. Sew around the edge leaving a 3cm gap for turning. Turn out the right way.  Slip stitch the gap closed.

Sew the legs on to the body using embroidery thread and long stitches.

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But of floral fabric fun with a reversible bag and woven cushion

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Don’t think it’s possible to have too many flowers so this English Garden fabric by The Craft Cotton Company was perfect for me to get making with! I decided on two different makes which combined used 1 jelly roll and 1 fat quarter set.

I was a bit worried about problems I might encounter with the woven cushion but the only thing that went wrong was me forgetting to pin some of the strips before lifting it up for sewing so they all went all over – serves me right for not checking they all had pins!

I really wanted to add something to the reversible bag when I had got it finished so decided to add a bow to the handles, I really like how it adds a little bit of detail.

These tutorials are available on The Craft Cotton Company blog:

Woven cushion:

https://www.craftcottonblog.co.uk/single-post/2018/05/15/Woven-Cushion-Cover-Tutorial

Shopping bag:

https://www.craftcottonblog.co.uk/single-post/2018/05/17/Sew-a-Reversible-Shopper-Bag-with-Bow-Detail

A year in stitches weeks 13-17

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How can we be in May already, it doesn’t seem two minutes since it was the start of January and I was just getting started on this year in stitches journey.

Here’s a little update on what’s been going on over the last 5 weeks (weeks 13-17).

Week 13: saw the completion of the tulips and the addition of a branch ready for some other flowers to be added.

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Week 14: the identity of the branch detail added in week 13 was revealed as a bleeding heart plant with the addition of the leaves and flower detail.

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Week 15: fluttering in were some purple butterflies.

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Week 16: leaf stitch leaves were added and some flowers using a petal stitch.

Week 17: some more autumn leaves and snowflakes were sewn on, along with some grass detail and the start of some thistles.

Am loving how this is all coming together, can’t wait to see it continue to grow over the next few weeks.

A few triangles later a folded star cushion emerged….

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I’ve been looking at folded star/pine burr quilt designs for a little while now and have been wanting to see if I could make one. I received some gorgeous floral fabric from The Craft Cotton Company and decided it was now or never and would give it a try by making a cushion cover.

I seriously underestimated just how many triangles would go into making the cushion cover, but after a few extra cutting out and ironing sessions I had enough to put it all together. I was surprised how easy it was to make the folded triangles and put the star pattern together – the effect looks much more complicated when you see it all finished, the main thing was trying to keep all the gaps between the triangles the same distance, if the gap started to change it effected the overall pattern.

I really enjoyed making this and will be making another one soon – possibly a square cushion or maybe a quilt, although the amount of triangles needed to make a quilt would take me a age to get all cut out and ironed, then there’s still all the sewing together….

The tutorial to make one of these is available over on The Craft Cotton Company blog:

https://www.craftcottonblog.co.uk

A year in stitches weeks 9-12

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I’ve quite surprised myself so far with this year in stitches project, I thought I would have been way behind by now but I’ve actually managed to keep up with it – only just I must add, and we will see how long this lasts!

It’s great to watch the space filling in with all these different additions, and it’s been a great way to try out some new stitches some I look forward to trying again, others I will be avoiding at all costs!

Week 9 saw the completion of the ladybird and bee (finally managed to get some black thread) and a little nest was started.

Week 10 began with finishing the nest and adding some eggs and the start of some daffodils.

Week 11 was meant to see the completion of the daffodils but I got sidetracked with doing some other flowers!

Week 12 the daffodils finally got finished and I started on some tulips alongside them.

Still got quite a few flower ideas to go so am looking forward to the next few weeks!