A bit of an update of my recent projects!

As Christmas approaches suddenly blogging from my end becomes very quiet! Everything I was making is a secret and ready to be packaged off and sent away to friends and family. So I thought I would do a little summary of the things I made in the run up to 2015.

I was asked to make some bunting for an advent calendar.  It was a really fun project - and quite simple once I got going.  The triangles were just made from 2 squares of fabric sewn together and then turned inside out before being folded into the bunting flags.

Heart Bunting Tutorial

As I have been posting my heart bunting up on my etsy shop this week I thought some of you might fancy making some of your own.  I am loving heart bunting at the minute - and although we are approaching that time of year when the shops fill with heart themed products I am of the opinion that a bit of heart decoration and bunting is totally acceptable all year round.  So here goes - I hope you have fun!

What you need:

Fabric of your choice, stuffing, ribbon, heart template (or great free hand skills), needle and thread, scissors, pins and chalk or pencil.

1) Choose your fabric and cut it a little bit longer in height than your heart template to make for ease of cutting.

2)Like so . . . .

3) Now fold your fabric backwards and forwards until it is stacked in a square like you see in the picture.  You need to ensure you don't do too many hearts at once otherwise you won't get a neat shape - especially be aware of this if you are using thicker fabric.  Then pin your heart template onto your fabric and cut round it.  If you are going to make 4 hearts on your bunting then you must end up with 8  individual hearts cut out.

4) You then should end up with 4 pairs of hearts.  Place them right side of fabric facing towards each other.

5) Now mark where you want the ribbon to be on the hearts.  I chose towards the bottom of the curve as you can see.  You need to ensure you mark this in the same place on each heart to avoid a wonky garland.  Mark on both sides of the heart.

7)  Now cut out your strips of ribbon.  I was making 4 hearts so needed 2 longer pieces of ribbon and 2 shorter pieces.  The longer strips are for the edges so that it can be hung up and the shorter pieces go in between the hearts.  The length is your choice but I used about 10cm between each heart and 20cm for the 2 edge ribbons.

6) Now move across to your sewing machine if you are using one ( if not just set up on a flat surface).  Place your ribbon (long piece first)  in between your two heart pieces and leave a small piece out the edge where you have marked. Now start sewing from just below that point.  Once you have sewn over the ribbon I find it helps to take the long piece and bring it round to where you started sewing so there is no risk of accidentally catching it as you sew the edges.

8) Continue sewing round the edge of the heart until you get to 2 cms before your next mark.  Then take a shorter piece of ribbon and attach as instructed above and shown in the pictures.  Continue sewing round the heart and stop sewing about 2cm before you reach the first stitch you did.

9) You should end up with something that looks like this.

10) Use the ribbon to help you gently tease the heart out through that gap you left so that you have right sides of the fabric facing you and just a small section remaining to be sewn.  

You now need to repeat the above instructions on each heart.  Always remember to work out how the fabric will turn right side so that you get the ribbons attached to the right side.  For example if you want to attach a heart to the right hand side of the heart below the ribbon will be sewn into the right hand side of the next heart.  When you turn it right sides out you will have the ribbon attached to the left side of the second heart and sitting to the right hand side of the one below.

11)  So now you have this line of hearts all linked together and ready for filling

12) Now this is where you pop into a comfy sofa, stick the telly on and merrily fill your hearts with stuffing.  Once you have done this take your needle and thread and stitch the little gaps closed. Cut loose threads and there you have it you are done!

Please do share pictures of your heart garlands with me.  Either post them here or pop over to my facebookpage  and when you do I'll give them a share.  Have fun crafting!

x

To make or not to make?!?

Everyone has different criteria for what makes a perfect gift and some people are really hard to buy for.  There is a challenge when it comes to handmade gifts – for many people handmade reminds them of those gorgeous little crafts that small children bring home to their parents dripping glue and glitter.  People love to receive those gifts from children but as we grow up we become concerned about anything we make turning out to be an explosion of random craft materials and that it won’t really turn into anything useful.  Handmade is tricky but when it is done right those gifts can be the best.  For me handmade gifts sum up what giving is all about – not just money but something of you has gone into the gift.  So how do you get it right? 

I think the key is not over complicating things – simple gifts can be the most perfect.  A gift I love to receive is pretty things for around my home – things I see every day and remind me of the person who gave them.  So I have decided to share a tutorial on how to make bunting.  This is perfect for any time of year but with some clever fabric choices and colour selection bunting can make a country chic style Christmas home.

You will need

-          Fabric of your choice

-          Bias binding to match your fabric

-          Ruler, pencil and card/paper

-          Pins

-          Needle and thread or sewing machine

-          Iron

1    1.    Measure out a triangle on paper.  This can be done by measuring the base and then marking the half way point all the way up to how high you want your triangle to be.  Then draw the lines.  You can fold in half to ensure it is even

2.       Trace out the triangle onto your fabric as many times as you want.  I made 6 triangles for my bunting so I cut out 12 triangles of fabric.  You can make your bunting as long or as short as you need

3.       Place your triangles with the right sides of the fabric facing each other in pairs.  Sew from the base up to the point and leaving your needle down lift the foot and turn the fabric.  Then sew the line along the other edge of the triangle back to the base.  Leave the base unstitched.

4.       Once you have done this turn the triangles so you have the right side of the fabric facing you.  Push the point out using anything that isn’t too sharp ie the end of a pencil or crochet hook.  At this point it is really important to iron the bunting to ensure it is sitting correctly.

5.       Now you need to work out how wide apart you want the triangles on your binding.  I left a 10cm gap between each flag.  Place the triangles into the binding and fold it over hiding all the raw edges.  Pin in place and sew neatly along the edge of the binding.  I used a zig zag stitch as it looks nice but also ensures you don’t miss any of the bias binding when it is folded.

6.       Now trim your edges and display or wrap up for that perfect gift!

The fabric I have used was gifted to me by a friend and it has previously belonged to her Nan who didn’t have the opportunity to use it.  Hanging this bunting up I think honors her and the special person she was in my friend’s life.

If you have something special that belonged to someone who was important to you why not incorporate it into a gift for someone or for you so that it becomes a part of your home on a daily basis.

I hope you have fun making the bunting – do send me pictures of how you get on!

x