I chose the same fabric to match my machine cover, but I needed it to be a bit stronger to be able to take the weight of the machine. I used some white cotton drill, which you can pick up fairly cheaply in many places. The amount of fabric needed really depends on your machine, but a metre should be plenty.

You will need:

1 metre of white cotton drill

1 metre each of two different colourful fabrics (you may have enough with 1 metre, but I made bias binding from the solid colour, which always uses more than you think!)

A rotary cutter and cutting mat

Matching thread

Pins

An iron

A bias binding maker (I used a 2.5cm / 1″ maker)

Step 1

Lay out your cotton drill and place your machine in the middle, so that you can bring the fabric up around the sides of your machine. Work out how deep and how wide the bag needs to be and then cut a rectangular shape to size – for my Janome 525S this worked out at two 75 x 54cm pieces. Then I cut out a 10 x 10cm square from each of the bottom corners. These pieces will form the lining of the bag.

Step 2

To make the outer bag pieces, I laid some of the solid colour over the bottom of the lining, so that it covered where I had cut out the squares and about another 12cm or so (to allow for seam allowance) up what will be the side of the bag.

Once you have cut this piece, lay out the lining and the solid colour to be able to work out how big to cut your patterned fabric (allowing a centimetre or two for seam allowance, and then pin them together. You can see the selvedge here on my fabric, so I stitched just outside of it so that it wouldn’t show when pressed open.

Step 3

Press open the seam allowance and iron the outer and lining pieces. Place them together and pin before quilting them to make them really secure.

I stitched between alternate kits shapes on this fabric, like I did with my sewing machine cover. This took quite a while with both pieces, but it’s really effective and will help the bag to be nice and strong. You’ll notice that I only quilted up to the solid fabric, and I think this looks really great, if I say so myself!

Step 4

The next step is to make this into a bag! Place the pieces right sides together, and pin along the sides and bottom. Don’t do anything with the cut out squares yet, but stitch along the other edges with a 1.5cm seam. Trim the excess and press to one side. Then you need to fold each corner so that the short, unstitched sides meet like this:

Pin these short sides together, checking on the insides that the lines of the outer fabrics match up (I forgot to do this, despite thinking about it, so I do have a wonky corner!). I found it helpful to pin the seam allowance to one side too, so that when I stitched along the edge (again, with a 1.5cm allowance), it tucked in the right way.

Step 5

Make your bias binding and then attach it to the top of the bag. I matched my binding to the solid colour of the bottom of the bag, and used matching thread too.

Step 6

The last thing to do is to make the handles. You could use some webbing here if you like, but I wanted my handles to match the patterned fabric as I love it so much! I cut out two pieces of cotton drill that measured 75 x 3.5cm, and then cut out two pieces of patterned fabric that were big enough to wrap around the drill (I just did this by eye rather than measuring).

Fold the patterned fabric around the drill and press it so that it’s all nice and flat. Pin it together and stitch to secure. I folded so that my seams ran down the middle of the drill, and then I stitched either side of them. Fold over the short ends and stitch them too.

Position the handles and stitch them in place. I did this with a rectangle around the edges of the handles, and then a cross in the middle. The cross is key to this, as it makes them really strong. It looks like there is lots of stitching here, but those handles aren’t going anywhere!

Ta-dah! That’s it Your new sewing machine bag is ready to use and take wherever you want to go. No more wondering where the pedal has got to – it’s in the bag!

This is such a spacious bag that even if you didn’t want to use it to put a sewing machine in, it would make a super beach bag!

Have you got any sewing projects planned this weekend? Happy sewing!

The post Sewing machine bag appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

As part of the challenge, Simplicity sent out a pattern for each category. The pattern for the ‘best dressmaking project’ is New Look 6145 – this lovely shift dress. Because of my shape I really don’t suit a shift dress (sadly) as they’re a bit snug on the hips, so I knew that I’d have to do some pattern adapting in order to change the skirt, and therefore the bodice as well. But I did want to get my head around how the pattern works, so decided I’d make a practice shift dress first anyway.

When I tried it on, it fit perfectly on top but not on the bottom – just as predicted! But it was really good to practice inserting the invisible zip, and I felt much more confident about doing this afterwards. My lovely friend Laura is probably going to have this practice one – I need to do some alterations on the top for her first, so that will be another skill that I can learn from this project!

I worked out the length of what will be the bodice for my adapted pattern, and made a mock-up of it so that I could try it on. I kept the original bust darts but needed to insert a couple of extra ones at the front to gather it in a little at the waist.

I used this lovely cream fabric from John Lewis for my dress – I don’t usually sew with plains, but because of my plans for flowers I needed to keep it simple. But it was a bit see-through so I decided to line it too, which was another addition to the original pattern. I’d never done this before either, so I looked up how to do it and adapted it to my pattern. Next time, I’d finish the edges of the fabric before sewing – it was a nightmare picking lining fluff off everything!

Once the bodice was complete (except for the zip), I made a gathered skirt – another new technique for me! I looked it up in Tilly’s book, Love At First Stitch, and it’s a really helpful tutorial. It’s good to have a pattern for a gathered skirt that I can now use for other projects too. I lined the skirt and then attached it to the bodice – didn’t take any photos of this as I was too busy concentrating on not messing it up! The next stage was to insert the zip. I kept the length the same as the original New Look pattern and used a 22″ concealed zip. There’s a brilliant tutorial on the Simplicity website about inserting them, which I watched a few times to refresh my memory! Thankfully it went in fine, and then I just had to finish the seams and the bottom hem.

The next stage was the fun bit – the fabric flowers! I bought some charm packs of silks from eBay and some tulle and lace ribbons, and cut out some flower shapes and layered them up. I joined the layers with a few stitches and then attached them to the waistband (you could make them on a sash if you prefer). Once I had done this, I decorated them with beads and pearls to make them look extra special!

I had really wanted to include a few more flowers around the waistline, and then sort of falling down the skirt a bit more – but I ran out of fabric and time, so I’ll have to add them on later! I underestimated how much fabric the flowers need, so bear this in mind if you ever make them yourself. But overall I’m really pleased with how it turned out!

Thanks to Tom for taking these photos – it’s so windy today and the sun kept going in and out, so it was difficult to take them! I’ve learnt quite a lot by entering this competition – how to adapt a pattern, how to line a dress (when it’s not on the pattern), how to insert extra darts, how to insert an invisible zip (properly!), how to make a gathered skirt…and I’ve also learnt that I could really do with a tailor’s dummy if I’m going to do this again! Right, I’m off to see what everyone else has made – you can do this by searching for #Simplicitybloggerchallenge on Twitter.

The post Simplicity blogger challenge appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

When we planned our new kitchen, we knew that it would be a lovely light, bright space. Now that we’re well in to spring and the days are sunnier and longer, we’re really feeling the benefit of this! We knew that we’d have to get some blinds for the windows, and found one for the front one no problem (we just got a cream Venetian one, so it matches the front window in the living room). But the back windows are a little trickier – we used to have a roller blind in the existing window, but fitting something over the new door and window would be tough as there isn’t a lot of space. And I really wanted them to match, so it meant one thing: having a go at making them! 

It needed to be something that wasn’t bulky at the top, and we also wanted to retain as much light as possible so it needed to be fairly thin. Our old roller blind was a blackout blind, and we didn’t really want anything like that this time. I remembered that my parents used to have some net curtains on extendable rods that sat on little hooks, and this seemed like it would be the perfect thing. I had a look online and found these in Homebase (there are various lengths, which is helpful – although we did need to exchange one because the hooks add about half a centimetre in length on to each end, so bear that in mind!).  The blinds for the door and small window either need to be up or down, so I decided that I’d make some ties to tie them up. The larger window is in front of the sink and I like to look out when I’m washing up, so longer ties would be needed on this one. These are roll-up blinds (not roller blinds) so you have to roll them up by hand. Although this sounds a bit faffsome, it isn’t really – they take no time at all to tie up.

Geometric painted roll-up blinds: materials list

Fabric – I used 2 metres of white premium Kona cotton from Plush Addict

Fabric paints – I used 3 colours and got them from my local art shop

A paint brush

Sticky back vinyl – you can pick up a roll of this cheaply in Wilkinsons

A cutting mat and craft knife (or scalpel)

Sharp scissors and a rotary cutter

Bias binding – I used just under 5 metres of 25mm binding, and it was easier to buy pre-bought

Matching thread

An iron

Dowel – for the length of each blind

Step 1

Measure the inside of your window, making sure that you take measurements at the window itself (i.e. not at the wall). Cut your fabric to size, adding on an inch at the top and at the bottom, as well as each side, to allow for hemming. I used my rotary cutter to do this so that it would be neat.

Step 2

Make your stencil out of the vinyl – you can draw the design on the back and then cut it out if you like. I just made some triangle shapes, so it was easy to do freehand.

Step 3

Take your fabric and peel off the backing from one of the stencils, before sticking it on to the fabric where you want the shape to be. You’ll have to check the instructions on your fabric paint, but I needed to paint and then let it dry a little before ironing to fix it.

I decided to use one colour for each of my three stencils, and found that the easiest thing to do was to paint one shape then hang the fabric out on the line to dry, before fixing and then moving on to the next colour. This did involve a lot of running around between inside and outside, but I think that I ended up with neater shapes and well-fixed shapes because of it! I kept the triangles fairly far apart, and I like the simplicity of the design.

Step 4

Once the fabric is painted, you can construct the blinds. Fold and press the side seams to the correct width of your window. Pin in place and stitch along each edge.

Step 5

Next, place your extending rod at the top of the fabric to work out where the top hem needs to be. Fold over enough fabric to allow the rod to pass through freely, and then pin in place. Don’t stitch just yet!

Step 6

Take your bias binding and press it in half. Stitch all the way along to secure it, close to the edge. This will form the ties for the blinds, which need to be measured to check the length. Roll up your blind as if you were going to tie it up and place some of the binding underneath (see below). You need to work out how long each tie needs to be to be able to tie it up comfortably – for me, this worked out as 55cm long for the door and little window, and 125cm long for the large window. Remember that you need to make two ties for each blind! Pin each one where you want it to be, then remove the rod.

Step 7

Stitch along the edge of the hem at the top, securing the ties in place as you go. At this point, you might want to hang the blind to be able to measure where the bottom hem needs to go, before pressing and stitching that in place. Once you’ve done that, put your dowel in the bottom hem and the blinds are ready to hang!

It was really tough to get a decent photo of the blinds – taking photos of a window is difficult! The one above will give you some idea of how much light we have even with the blinds down. You can probably tell that this was taken on a really sunny day! (Sorry about the bin in the photo…). I took a few once it had got dark, so hopefully you’ll get a better idea of what they’re like from these:

This is the blind for the larger window – it’s easy to roll it up to the middle. Not sure if we’ll ever need to roll it right up, which is good because I can’t reach!

These geometric roll-up blinds turned out even better than I thought it would in my head, and it’s brilliant to still have the light during the day without the glare of the sun bouncing off all the glossy units in the kitchen! You could apply the painting and stencilling techniques to any project, as it’s really easy and fun to do. Have you made anything for your house recently?

You may also like…

See more of our kitchen build progress here:

Kitchen progress: part 3

Make your own geometric meal planner:

Geometric meal planner

Put a little geo into your stitching too!

Link stitch geometric hoop

Make an easy painted fabric banner:

Painted fabric banner

Post updated 18th March 2021.

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You will need:

Some notebooks – I used these Moleskine plain paper notebooks which come in a set of 3

Fabrics – fat quarters would be great and will cover most sizes, leaving plenty spare

Mod Podge and a paintbrush

Sharp scissors or a rotary cutter and cutting mat

An iron

Step 1

Press your fabrics before starting. Then place a notebook on the fabric to measure how big it needs to be – these notebooks have a little flap i the back, which I covered as well. Cut out the fabric, leaving a few millimetres around each edge, and then trim what will be the inside edge to neaten it.

Step 2

Spread some Mod Podge on to one side of your notebook – I started with the inside flap here. Don’t spread too much on or it will just go a bit gloopy.

Leave for 30 seconds before placing the fabric on top, smoothing out any bumps.

Step 3

Repeat with the other sides of the notebook, smoothing the fabric as you go.

Step 4

Leave to dry for a while – you’ll probably find that the books bend a little, which is fine! Once they felt dry, I put them on my table and stacked a load of books on top of them to flatten them out again.

These notebooks will be really useful for jotting down my blogging ideas on the go!

The post Fabric covered exercise books appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

It was actually really good to take stock of everything and sort things out – even though I did make a huge mess before I could get everything organised! I had various thoughts beforehand about how to carry out the inventory. This included having a notebook with everything written down in it, so the name of the fabric and the amount that I have, along with the type of fabric too. However, I don’t know about you, but whilst I can remember what some things are called or which collection they are from, I certainly can’t remember them all. Many bits of fabric I have are from years ago (before I was a dedicated crafter), so there was no real chance of me remembering. But then I had a cunning plan: what would be most helpful would be to have a photo inventory! That way, I can have it with me on my phone and then I can browse through it when I’m trying to match things and make decisions for projects. Bingo!

So I found all my boxes and bags of fabric and laid them out on the spare bed. I sorted into three piles: plains, patterns, and a pile of fabric that is already earmarked for a project. Most of this pile is things that I’ve got to make into clothes – I decided not to take individual photos of these so that I don’t end up accidentally using them for another project by mistake! I laid out a huge piece of white card as a background for the photos. White is best for anything like this, especially as I’ll be using the photos to match up fabric for projects. Starting with my fat quarter selection (which I keep in my vintage suitcase) I took photos of my fabric. Most of these photos have a maximum of 4 fabrics in them, and I tried to group some that went well together, for example the Christmassy ones. There are a few exceptions – like the photo below which shows the selection of fabrics that I used to make the quilted record mats (which you can see here). In my suitcase I also have a few metre pieces that can be used for baby quilt backings or other small projects, so I grouped these together too.[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” interval=”3″ images=”7033,7035,7036,7053″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1425053180382{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]Next, I moved on to the other piles of large pieces of fabric. For the plains I stacked a few together to be able to get more in the photo. I’ll see how this works out when I actually use my inventory – I might have to take individual ones to get a better sense of the colours. Some of these fabrics are categorised by collection, just because they go together really well and it makes sense to know that they are by the same designer.[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” interval=”3″ images=”7048,7049,7050,7051″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1425051340672{padding-top: 30px !important;}”]

Once I had taken all of my photos, I decided to organise them in my photo stream. By having them on here, they will be easily accessible and I can also add comments to each of the photos – this includes the length, or any details about the colour or fabric, which will come in handy! I just gave a rough measurement for most of the pieces, but you could be more precise and measure everything if you wish. Our internet decided to play up at this point, so I had a right old faff trying to get them from my computer and into the stream, but eventually they made it! I edited them a little just to get the colours right and brighten them lighting a bit, and I also square cropped them so that they fit nicely on the album overview screen. You can see how I’m using the comments section to add details in this next photo:[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1425051357108{padding-top: 30px !important;}”]

In addition to creating my inventory, I also made sure that my fabric stash was a bit more sorted. Not having a dedicated craft space means that this is really important – especially now that we have had to find a new home for lots of things that used to live in the old garage. So I organised my boxes a little better, keeping those fabrics for projects in mind in one box, with prints and plains in another and everything else that didn’t really have a home in my final box. I’m hoping that by being a little more organised, I can stop the spread of the stash…at least for a little while anyway! :-)[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1425051368764{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]

How do you organise your fabric?[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The post Fabric stash inventory appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Before you get started and gather your materials, measure how big your drawers are (!!) and think about what sort of size you want the inserts to be. This will help you to work out how much fabric you’ll need for your own template. To work out the size, draw out a square or rectangle the size that you want the bottom of the insert to be (mine was 26cm x 26cm). Then think about how deep you want it to be (mine was 8cm) and add that on to each of the 4 sides, with an extra centimetre for a seam allowance on each side too. So, I cut out a 44cm x 44cm square, and then cut an 8cm square out of each corner to create the template, like this:

So once you have worked out how much fabric you need, you can gather your other materials. You will need:

Two pieces of contrasting fabric, plus extra to make binding (or buy pre-made binding if you prefer)

A piece of thin wadding/batting, the same size as your piece of fabric

Matching cotton

Your sewing machine

Needle and pins

Sharp scissors

Step 1

Cut out an inner piece and an outer piece of fabric from your selection using the template you made, and do the same with the wadding. Place the wadding on the wrong side of the outer piece and then pin the sides of the 8cm square you cut out together. Stitch along each of the 4 edges with a 1cm allowance.

Once stitched, turn it the right way out.

Step 2

Place the lining fabric (right side up) inside the insert, and pin each corner to fit. You might need to make a few little adjustments here, so increase the seam allowance if you need to. Once you have stitched the corners, pin the lining to the insert and then stitch along the top to secure it.

Step 3

Measure the circumference of your insert and then make the binding to the right length (or cut the binding you bought to length). Position it over the top, pinning as you go, and then stitch along the bottom edge.

Step 4

To help the insert stand up a little more, I hand stitched a few small stitches on the top of each corner. It’s really effective, actually – yay!

Ta-dah! Ready to place in a drawer to get things organised. I’m keeping my socks in these (I do have more than one pair – I wanted to show you what they look like in my drawer, although it isn’t the best photo I’ve ever taken…)

What have you been doing to get organised for 2015?

The post Fabric drawer inserts appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

So the first thing I made were these record placemats for my lovely sister and brother in law. They got married last year too, and had a record-themed occasion (Ant is seriously into his records – what he doesn’t know about dance music isn’t worth knowing!). I originally found this project in issue 41 of Mollie Makes magazine, which came out way back in June, and had them in mind since then.

I wanted to match the middles of mats to the colour scheme that Naomi and Ant had at their wedding, which was teal and purple, but I just couldn’t find the right thing that I had in my head! I found this selection of fabrics in John Lewis – most of them are from the Glow collection by Amy Butler, and they compliment each other really well. 30cm of each one was more than enough to make these and to have a bit left over for my ever-growing fabric stash!

The next project I made was a perpetual ‘paper’ chain for Helen – when I saw them I immediately knew that she would like them. I found it in a wonderful book called ‘Stitch the Halls‘ by What Delilah Did, and then they printed it in Mollie Makes too! But it’s such a lovely book that I’d highly recommend investing in it for next year, and I’m so pleased that I have the other projects to work on as well.

These chains are definitely a labour of love, but are really lovely! I had never used waste canvas before (and actually bought the wrong thing at first – get the right stuff here). The ESTs (Estimated Stitch Times) given in the book are quite accurate, although it did take me ages to stitch the stags, and it took me about 20 minutes to remove the waste canvas.

[vc_gallery type=”image_grid” interval=”3″ images=”6488,6484,6485,6483″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1417803771710{padding-top: 30px !important;}”]Plasticard is a new material to me (I got mine on eBay) but it’s really great for strengthening felt and I’ll definitely be using it in future projects. I got a pack of seconds with a few scratches on and this made it cheaper – no-one will tell when it’s sewn in!

I’m so pleased with how they turned out! I also made a fabric envelope to keep them in. In case you’re wondering how long the chain is, I made 12 links in 6 different colours and they fit nicely above a door frame with a small piece of ribbon at each end. It’s the kind of gift that you could add a couple of links to every year, which would be great!

My final make this year was our Christmas cards – I had the photos for this printed out for so long but it took me ages to get around to making them and we didn’t get them in the post until the 19th December. Oops! Tom took this photo in Keswick last year and we knew it would make a lovely card. I made them size A7 with mini envelopes to match (if you’d like to make some envelopes and cards this size, click here for my tutorial from last year).

What did you make for presents this year? Were you lucky enough to receive a handmade present? I received some wonderful craft books, so look out for more projects in 2015!

The post A handmade Christmas appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

I decided that I’d make a quilted cover, so chose some white fabric for the inside lining – it didn’t really need to be jazzy because no-one will see the inside! For the binding I picked out the pale aqua colour to co-ordinate, and got myself a bias binding-making tool too.

The first thing that I did was measure my machine with its plastic cover on – I measured from the middle of the front to the back, and then the width of the front. I also measured the width and height of the side. When I had the measurements I drew out some templates on craft paper, and to get the shape of the side pieces just right I drew around the side of the cover.

Once the templates were cut out, I then cut out all the pieces of fabric and wadding. I layered up the side pieces first and then pinned them together.

I tried out my quilting guide attachment for the first time today, and it’s brilliant for sewing evenly. I haven’t used it before because I’ve only ever used thicker polyester wadding, and not this thinner cotton wadding. I love the thinner stuff – it’s much easier to sew with! I decided to stitch between every other row after experimenting on some scrap pieces.

Once I had quilted the side pieces, I did the same with the large rectangular piece. This larger piece needed more pins to keep it all together, but I quilted it in the same way.

Once all three pieces were quilted, I pinned them (wrong sides together) before stitching. To make the cover fit a little better, I trimmed the excess afterwards.

The final thing to do was to make and attach the bias binding. The tool was really easy to use and it didn’t take as long as I thought! I also got a binding attachment for my machine, but I could not get the hang of it at all when I practised using it…so to save making a complete mess of my cover, I just pressed the binding in half and pinned and stitched it on.

Ta-dah!

I’m so glad that I chose this fabric – it certainly brightened up a very gloomy day today! Hopefully I’ll be able to sew dust free from now on…

The post Sewing machine cover appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

We had a cup of tea and something to eat before we looked around – we wanted to make sure that we had the stamina! And also the showground was filling up, so we thought that this was a good plan before the queues got too big. Then we had a good potter around the stalls, and it was really difficult to know where to start! There were so many gorgeous things there, but one of my favourite stalls was Colouricious. They have the most beautiful hand carved wooden stamps, and they were doing some demonstrations of how you can stamp with paint and decolourant and used mixed media for different projects. I bought a set of blocks for printing and some decolourant too – can’t wait to have a go! My favourite stamp is this one – as you know, I just love owls!

Another lovely stall that we found was Farne Designs – they print beautiful textiles in Cornwall. We both bought a little selection of fabrics, and I got an embroidery kit for Mum for Christmas. Their stall was just so inviting – look at these fabrics!

One of the things that I was most excited about was meeting Stuart Hillard from the Great British Sewing Bee! For those of you who don’t know this programme, it has got so many people into sewing and making clothes and Stuart appeared on the first series. He was at the quilt show to sign his new book, and Mum has very kindly bought me it for Christmas so it will be fab to have a signed copy! Stuart was so lovely – he chatted to us like he had known us for years and was so welcoming. It really was a pleasure to meet him!

After we had spent up, we looked around the exhibition quilts. I can’t begin to tell you how inspiring they were – all the quilters are so incredibly talented, and the attention to detail is amazing. I love that people had incorporated different techniques into their quilts (including felting – look out for the planets quilt in my gallery below) and there were so many different styles. I went away with so many ideas, although I’m nowhere near good enough to create anything like these! The first quilt here won the ‘Best in Show’ and was by Liz Villalobos from Newcastle (quilted by Kay Bell) – simply stunning! I tried my best to take photos of all the labels so that I could credit all the quilters here, but I did miss one or tow (sorry). Click on the photos to see the quilter’s details.[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” interval=”3″ images=”5720,5721,5722,5724,5723,5728,5725,5726,5733,5729,5738,5730,5731,5737″ img_size=”large” column_number=”2″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1412354012241{padding-top: 30px !important;}”]Very inspiring, I’m sure you’ll agree! We left talking about all of the lovely things we’d like to be able to do with quilting one day… On the way home we met a lovely lady called Jennie at Harrogate station – she had also been to the show and had picked up some supplies for Christmas! Jennie has a Facebook page, so do pop over and say hello! Making a new friend was certainly a great end to the day! :-)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The post The Great Northern Quilt Show 2014 appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

To make a little house, you will need:

A small wooden house shelf
Some white emulsion or undercoat and a paintbrush
Old newspapers
A piece of card and a pencil
A ruler
Scissors
A selection of pretty fabrics
Fabric scissors
Mod podge and another paintbrush

Step 1

Spread out your newspapers and then paint your house with the white paint. I found that the wood soaked up the paint really easily, so I had to do two coats.

Step 2

Once the paint is fully dry, measure the size of each shelf compartment and draw out a template of each shape.

Step 3

Cut out your templates and then choose which fabrics you want to use. Cut out a different fabric for each section using your fabric scissors.

Step 4

Paint some Mod Podge in a section of the house, and then carefully place the fabric inside, smoothing out any lumps and bumps. You may need to trim off any excess – I found that the size at the back was different to the front!

Step 5

Repeat this with the other fabrics and then leave to dry.

I made three houses altogether, and tried to make each one different but tie them together at the same time! I used some of the fabrics on more than one, and used the same selection of solid colours to (sort of) match them. Most of the fabrics I used are by Art Gallery Fabrics – I love the geometric patterns!

The other fabrics I used were by (L-R) Sevenberry, Lewis and Irene and Moda – the middle one was from Plush Addict and the other two (as well as the selection of Art Gallery fabrics) were from The Fat Quarters.

Eventually I’ll hang these up somewhere – possibly in our soon-to-be new kitchen, or maybe in the hall once we’ve decorated it!

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Happy Mother’s Day to my wonderful Mum! Hopefully you have opened your present…I’m about to tell people how to make it!

My Mum has a little one-pot tea pot, and she asked me to make a little tea cosy for it. When I visited her a few weeks ago, I measured it and made a template. It was actually quite tricky to make the tea cosy back here in Newcastle without being able to try it on the teapot, so I hope it fits!

You will need

Some pattern paper (some tissue paper or some parchment paper will work just fine)
A pencil
Some contrasting fabrics for your tea cosy (an outer and inner layer)
Some wadding
A needle and thread
Sharp scissors
A small piece of ribbon

You can make this by hand, or on a sewing machine.

Step 1: Measure your teapot and draw a semicircular shape onto your pattern paper. Make sure that you leave lots of space around the edge so that the cosy will be roomy. You might want to cut out 2 shapes so that you can check to see if they fit around the teapot, and adjust to fit.

Step 2: Take the lining fabric and fold it in half, right sides together. Pin your template on to the fabric, and cut around the edge leaving a 1cm around the template – this will allow for your seams. Then do the same with the outer fabric.

Step 3: Take one piece of outer fabric and one piece of lining fabric, and pin them right sides together. Leave about a 10cm gap at the bottom (for turning out later. Sew around the outside, 1cm from the edge.

Step 4: Clip the edges, turn the right way out and then press. Trim the wadding to size and then fit it inside the cover.

Step 5: Repeat step 4 with the other pieces of fabric and the wadding. Then cut a small piece of ribbon and secure it between the two sides of the tea cosy. Make sure that the ribbon points downward between the two pieces, which should be right sides together. Pin the whole thing together around the curved edge.

Step 6: Sew around the curved edges – this is the point where my old sewing machine decided that it doesn’t like sewing layers! If you’re doing it by hand too, keep the stitches as small as you can.

Step 7: Turn the tea cosy the right way out, and then use slipstitch to close the two open seams along the bottom.

Ta-dah! Time to put the kettle on

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I’ve seen lots of fabric covered letters around recently and have wanted to have a go myself – this weekend I finally got around to it! It is a project that you could complete on an evening after work (if you need a weeknight craft fix, as I often do!) and would make a great decoration in your home or perhaps a wedding gift. The possibilities are endless! I bought my letters from RE (if you haven’t seen my post about this amazing shop, click here) and raided my fabric stash – a fat quarter is more than enough for a letter. Tom chose this funky grey fabric with little buttons on it for his ‘T’, and for my ‘C’ I went for pink (obviously!) as I thought that the circle pattern would tie them together.

I decided against covering the ampersand for 2 reasons: the first was that I couldn’t decided on a fabric that matched the other two, and the second reason is that it would probably be really difficult…I’m pleased with the end result and think I made the right decision!

You will need:

Card 3D letters
Mod podge and a paintbrush
Some fabric (iron out the creases before you get started!)
Sharp scissors and a pencil

Step 1

Lay out some fabric and place a letter on top, and then lightly draw around the letter with a pencil. Trim the fabric so that you have a 2 cm border around the edge of the letter that you have just drawn. For this letter ‘T’ I cut out one T shape and a larger square so that I could cut some long strips to be able to cover the sides (but that’s in a later step!). For some letters, like the ‘C’, you’ll need to make sure that the fabric is the right way up for the front and the back (as shown in the second photo).

Step 2

Paint some mod podge onto one side of the letter and stick it onto the fabric. Trim the edges as required so that the fabric will fold neatly around the edges of your letter. For curved letters, you’ll need to snip around the edges at regular intervals so that you can fold the fabric around the curves more easily.

Step 3

Repeat step 2 with the other side of your letter. Cut out some long strips of fabric the same width of the letters, then paint on some more mod podge on the sides before sticking on the fabric.

Ta-dah! That’s it – you just have to leave them to dry now before displaying them in a suitable position

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Whilst shopping in Madrid, we found the best fabric shop ever! Situated on Gran Via is the Julian Lopez shop, and I think that Beth and I could have spent about a week in there. They had the most amazing selection of fabrics and then a home section upstairs too! It was simply beautiful – a crafting heaven!

These were the window displays – so inviting! It was like being in a sweet shop!

I managed to restrain myself when it came to purchases, although I could have bought the whole shop! I settled for a metre of this pink fabric which I’ll use for a quilt that I’m planning to make:

And I also bought two metres of this lovely fabric – I think I might make a maxi skirt or possibly a dress out of it:

It will probably be some time before I start making a skirt – I’ve got the wedding waistcoats to finish first!

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You will need:

A piece of cotton 38 x 60cm for the lining
4oz wadding, measuring 40 x 60cm (I split it in half so it wasn’t quite as thick)
A piece of cotton duck fabric (or other fabric for the outside) measuring around 44 x 64 cm
Cotton (in a colour to match or contrast with your material)
Ribbon (enough to loop around the button when you’ve sewn it on, so measure later)
An iron
Sharp scissors or pinking shears
Pins

Step 1: Cut out your piece of cotton for the lining. Place the ipad on the fabric and work out where the top of the hem should be (I allowed a couple of centimetres to make sure that the case covers the ipad). Pin securely along the top hems and then sew, before pinning the sides together and sewing them together.

Step 2: Place the ipad inside the lining and then wrap the wadding around to fit. Trim off any excess. Then place all of this on top of the outer material that you would like to use, and cut to size (allowing excess for hems).

Step 3: Take the outer material and fold so that the patterned sides are together. Turn back to make the top hem a couple of centimetres higher than the lining, pin and press with an iron (I didn’t sew the top hem here – I did it when I attached the lining to make it a bit neater). Place the ipad with the lining and wadding in the middle of the material and pin down the sides. Remove and sew down the side edges.

Step 4: Turn the outer layer inside out and place the ipad, lining and wadding inside (this may take a few minutes as you need to make sure that everything is in the right place before sewing!). Pin the lining to the outer layer, making sure the the top hem of the lining overlaps with the outer layer a little.

Step 5: Before sewing the lining and outer layers together, place the button where you would like it to be and sew it on. Then measure out a length of ribbon, making sure that you can tuck it in between the lining and outer layer and that it will be secure around the button. Hand stitch it in place.Step 6: Now you need to attach the lining. Don’t be worried if the lining seems much smaller here – hand stitch or machine stitch as far along the straight edges as you can, without stitching over the side hems.

Step 7: The final thing to do is to sew over the top of the case, from the outer edges until you reach the hem of the lining. This should be hand stitched, and you probably only need to sew around a centimetre in. Make sure you go over the top of the case (see photo).

Ta-dah! You now have your own unique ipad case! I like the contrast of the vintage style fabric with the ultra modern technology

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