Crafty Colour Palette #2: Colour list

Yellow: DMC 3078 / Anchor 292

Orange: DMC 3856 / Anchor 1010

Pink: DMC 3689 / Anchor 49

Purple: DMC 155 / Anchor 1030

Blue: DMC 3811 / Anchor 1060

Mint: DMC 966 / Anchor 206

These colours immediately made me think of the amazing wool felt colours from Cloud Craft. They are definitely the best colours in wool felt! So I got in touch with Nicole from Cloud Craft, and she very kindly sent me the felt for this project. I have such a large collection of embroidery thread that I had all the DMC thread that I needed! If you would like to purchase the thread or the felt in these colours, you can find the links in the project list below.

Crafty Colour Palette #2: Enamel pin holder

When I was thinking about what to make with these felt colours, I knew that I wanted to showcase each shade and I thought that a rainbow effect would be the best way to do this. I have recently started adding to my pin collection and thought it would be great to have something to keep them on. Ta-dah!

Materials

Templates (click here to download – prints on A3 paper)

7″ embroidery hoop

Needle and pins

Sharp fabric scissors

Paper scissors

A pencil

You will also need wool felt in the following colours (with matching thread in brackets):

Buttery (no matching thread needed for this layout, but matches DMC 3078)

Barbie (matches DMC 3858)

Ascot (matches DMC 3689)

Lavender posie (matches DMC 155)

Spearmint (matches DMC 3811)

Pistachio (matches DMC 966)

Step 1

Print out your templates and cut them out using your paper scissors. Lay out the template pieces next to your felt colours, so that you can work out which one goes with which colour.

Step 2

Carefully pin each pattern piece on the colour you want to use, and cut around them using your fabric scissors. Then layer each piece with about 1cm overlap on each side (I went from left to right putting the next piece on top each time). Pin in place. Don’t worry if it doesn’t make a perfect circle, we’ll sort that out shortly!

Step 3

When all the pieces are in place, check the positioning by putting the outer ring of the embroidery hoop over the top. Make sure you can see enough of the outer colours, and adjust the positioning if you need to.

Step 4

When you’re happy with the positioning, you can start to stitch! You only need one stitch for this, which is back stitch. Using the thread colour to match the felt (I started with apricot), thread your needle with 3 strands. Come up through the fabric and make a small stitch, a little way from the edge (see 1 and 2 in the photo below). Then bring your needle up one stitch length away from that (photo 3), before bringing the needle down through the felt at the point where your first stitch ended (photo 4).

Step 5

Repeat all the way along the line, following the line of the felt as a guide. Then do the same with the other colours, matching the thread colours each time.

Step 6

When all of the stitching is complete, turn the felt over so the wrong side is facing up. Put the outer ring of the hoop over it, and draw around the inside with a pencil. Use your fabric scissors to cut out the circle. You might cut some of the knots off at this point, but that’s ok!

Step 7

Once trimmed, place the felt back in the hoop and tighten the screw to secure it. You can leave the back open to see the pretty colours! I thought about adding an extra circle of felt at the back to cover it up, but this makes it too thick to put the pins through. No-one can see the back anyway! You may notice that I’ve painted my hoop to add a bit of extra colour.

Ta-dah!

Your hoop is ready to display all of your lovely pins on! Or just leave it plain if you prefer – that’s the beauty of this project

The pins on my hoop are by the following makers: Sally Sunshine pin by Leslieanne Made It, Fuelled by Tea pin by Samantha Eynon and I Love Tea pin by Kate Garey.

Want one of these enamel pin holder hoops?

If you’re not a crafter but you’d like to get your hands on one of these, fear not! They are now available in my online shop, where you’ll also find a vegan friendly version too. Also, head over to @hellohoorayblog on Instagram for details of a giveaway coming this week! You could win this hoop! Give @cloud.craft a little follow while you’re there too as Nicole has a super inspiring feed!

If you want to get your hands on some pastel highlighters, you can find them here.

Thank you so much to Nicole at Cloud Craft for providing me with the felt for this project. All other materials and tools my own.

Post updated 11th November 2019.

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The magazine has a 2-page spread with an interview where I’m quizzed about all things craft-related, and I also designed a copyright free tutorial that appears on the Craftseller blog. I wanted to design something that people could adapt with their own designs too, so I came up with an embroidered felt brooch with a little bird on it. What do you think?!

You can find the full tutorial on the Craftseller blog – just click on the link above! And don’t forget that you can use the basic principles from this tutorial to design any brooch you fancy, so just adapt it to whatever design you like. As a little bonus project, I’ll be sharing a new design on my blog over the next week, so keep a look-out for that!

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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!

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To get me started, I was kindly sent some vouchers for Hobbycraft so that I could get some supplies for my wreath. I decided that I wanted to make an indoor wreath so that it can be used again each year and become part of our Christmas traditions, and so felt seemed like a good choice! I already had some lovely wool felt in my stash, and so I used my vouchers to buy everything I would need to try out needle felting. As many of you know, I’m always keen to learn something new, and this seemed like the perfect time to have a go! You can find the links to the supplies I bought in the list below.

You will need:

A polystyrene wreath (mine was 350mm)

About a metre of wool felt in dark green

Some 1cm red pom poms (I cut them off some pom pom trim!)

Mod Podge (or other glue that will work with felt) and a paintbrush

Paper, pencil, marker pen and paper scissors

Sharp fabric scissors

Needle felting tool

Wool roving (I used this Christmas pack)

Needle felting mat (optional – you might find it easier without one)

Some craft wire

Step 1

Draw out a few holly leaf shapes and choose the one that you think is the best shape. Draw around it with a marker pen and then cut it out with your paper scissors.

Step 2

Pin the template on the felt and carefully cut around it. You will need a lot of leaves to cover this size wreath – I cut out 120!

Step 3

When all of your leaves are cut out, add a little texture to them by machine stitching along the leaf. This is really effective, but you could leave it out if you don’t want to. Theres no need to tie the thread at each end – just cut it close to each leaf.

Step 4

A little while later (when you have cut out and stitched all your leaves!) you can start to stick everything on to the wreath. Cut out 2 long strips of felt, about an inch thick, and stick them around the bottom edges of the outside and inside of the wreath – this will make sure that you can’t see white bits around the edges.

Step 5

Brush a little Mod Podge or glue on the back of each leaf and then stick it on to the wreath. I found it easier to work from the outsides up to the top, so stick leaves along the edges first before layering up like this:

Once the edges are covered, your layered leaves will begin to look more wreath-like!

Step 6

When the whole thing is completely covered with leaves, add the pom pom berries. Place them first and then add a little glue on the back and press down firmly.

Step 7

Now to make the robin! As I said, I had never done this before so it was trial and error really. I have a lovely book called Wool Buddies by Jackie Huang which I used for a technique guide, but I made up the design as I went along! I started by taking a ball of white roving, and prodded it a bit to make it into an oval shape. Then I covered this with brown roving, leaving the front white.

Next I attached the red wool, and at this stage the robin needs quite a bit of prodding to make sure it is attached. I’m not sure if that’s the technical term, but hopefully you know what I mean!

Step 8

The eyes and beak are made next using tiny pieces of black roving. Position them first before carefully attaching with the needle felting tool.

As I said, my design kept changing as I went along and at this point I decided that his head and wings could be shaped out of his body. I did some serious prodding to do this – please mind your fingers here!

Ta-dah!

Step 9

The final thing to do is to attach the robin to the wreath, and I wound some craft wire round and round to do this. Poke it into the bottom of the robin (sorry, robin!) and then poke the other end into the wreath. You may wish to glue the wire in to the robin too – I did this just to make sure it is really secure.

Then attach a wire loop at the back of the wreath so that you can hang it up, and you’re finished!

I hope you have enjoyed my tutorial – if you have a go at the wreath or the felted robin, then I would love to see them! Feel free to leave a link in the comments box below. If you are looking for more inspiration, you can visit the Direct Blinds inspiration blog for more ideas! What are you crafting for Christmas?

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This year, me and Tom decided that we’d make each other a Christmas present with a budget of £10. I’ve been meaning to get around to making Christmas stockings, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity! I found a lovely template in issue 33 of Mollie Makes magazine – it is originally a template for a quilted stocking, but I wanted to make a felt one. I’ve seen lots of templates with funny shaped feet, so I was pleased to find it! I bought this lovely wool felt from Wool Felt Company (the shades are Christmas red and dark green) and I already had the other trimmings.

The first step is to pin and cut out the stocking pieces – I folded the felt in half and cut the two pieces together to make sure they are the same. I added 14cm length to the top of the template.

Then I measured the holly fabric by laying the felt over the top and cutting around it – I did this by eye but took measurements afterwards! You’ll need two 21.5 x 10.5cm pieces, pinned to the top with a small hem.

Next, I cut two pieces of gold ric rac and stitched them over the join between the fabric and felt. (If you’re wondering about when to stitch the rest of the fabric, don’t worry – that will be done shortly!) I also stitched a felt ‘T’ (for Tom) on the front piece of felt.

The next step was to machine stitch along the tops of the two stocking pieces. Then I cut a length of ribbon and put it between the two stocking pieces before pinning the whole thing together. The last step was to machine stitch around the sides of the stocking.

I’m so pleased with how it has turned out – hopefully Tom will love it too Merry Christmas!

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There are some lovely felt Christmas decorations in this month’s edition of Mollie Makes magazine, and I just had to have a go at making them! They have been designed by Samantha Stas, and she has decorated them in a fabulous retro style. Samantha stitches hers on a sewing machine but I decided to do mine by hand – mainly because my sewing machine was hidden away when we had the boiler fitted this week! I love hand sewing anyway, so you can choose what you prefer to do. I chose some red and green felt and some lovely ribbons and threads to make them:

I decided to use the templates (which you can download here) and then do my own thing with the design. On this green bauble I sewed some gold strands in star shapes and some red beads to decorate (probably not the technical names, but you’ll see what I mean in the photo!).

Next, I cut out some wadding to the size of the bauble shape and a length of ribbon to hang it up with. Pin the front and back bauble shapes and wadding together and stitch with a small running stitch.

The last thing to stitch to the bauble is the top felt topper pieces.

Ta-dah! There are so many different ways that you could embellish these decorations, and there are even lots of other shapes on the templates for you to try. Just remember that this project cannot be sold without permission, but they will make great gifts! I’ve made some other designs but can’t show you yet…you’ll have to wait until they have been given to my friends!

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