I first discovered this perpetual paper chains project a couple of years ago when I bought a copy of Stitch the Halls by What Delilah Did.

I fell in love with all of the projects in the book, but especially this one. It’s such a wonderful idea! You can see the perpetual paper chains I made for Tom’s Mum here. Since I made these, I have wanted to make some simple ones without the embroidery as I thought that would work really well. As with lots of projects, they are on my ‘to-do’ list for a while before I actually get around to making them! But they seemed perfect for Little One’s first birthday, and I started in January to give myself plenty of time!

I had my eye on some lovely wool felt from Cloud Craft for this project, and was lucky to receive some for Christmas. I decided to add in an extra shade of pink (links below). You can cut 6 strips from one 20 x 30cm sheet, which makes 3 links of the chain.

You will need

Sheets of wool felt cut into 25 x 3cm strips – I used the Macaron collection, plus one sheet of Bonbon (all from Cloud Craft)

Matching stranded cotton (all available here)

9mm snap fasteners (2 for each link of the chain)

Needle and fabric scissors

Plasticard, 0.5mm thick and cut into 24.5 x 2.5cm strips

Paper scissors or a craft knife for cutting the plasticard

Ruler and pencil

Instructions

Step 1

Having made a batch of these perpetual paper chains once before, I decided to make a template for the felt out of some plasticard. This made it easier to cut out the felt at exactly the same size. Measure 25 x 3cm and cut out your template.

Step 2

Once you have made your template you can cut out your felt pieces. Place the template on the felt and lightly draw around it. Carefully cut out the felt using your fabric scissors.

Don’t the pieces look lovely all cut out?

Step 3

Take two pieces of the same colour, and position the snap fasteners. Using two strands of embroidery thread, sew the base side of the fasteners 2.5cm/1″ away from the end (see photo in Step 4). Sew the two top parts of the fasteners to the very end of the other piece of felt at the same distance apart. I found it helpful to double-check they lined up before moving on to the next step!

Step 4

Layer the two strips of felt together so that the snap fasteners are facing out. Join them together by sewing along the edges, using two strands of embroidery thread. You might find that the felt stretches a bit here, but don’t worry – we can sort that out later. Try to keep it lined up as much as possible (I found it easier not to use pins but you could if you wish).

When you have stitched along 3 edges, place a strip of Plasticard inside. You might find it helpful to make a Plasticard template too, which will need to be 24.5 x 2.5 cm. I found that I needed to trim the Plasticard down a little when I placed it inside, just to ensure a snug fit.

Step 5

Once the Plasticard is in position, stitch along the open edge to close it. Secure the end of the thread with a couple of back stitches and then finish off. Join the snap fasteners to turn it into a chain link, and then repeat with your remaining pieces of felt.

I hope that Little One will always have these – it’s so nice to have something special that will come out every year!

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The pattern

The pattern I used was a McCalls pattern M6541. My Mum found this pattern originally, and whilst I’m not really a fan of the appliqué designs, the actual dress pattern itself was just what I was looking for. I’ll probably have a go at making some of the little shorts for summer at some point, but the design I made here was design B.

Making the dress

This pattern is advertised as being an easy make, but to be honest I found some of the instructions a little confusing! I ended up finishing the inside of the neck a bit differently to what it said on the pattern because I just couldn’t work out what to do. I don’t have an overlocker so I couldn’t finish it that way. In the end, I just used my pinking shears – the neck facings have interfacing on anyway so it seemed like this was the way to go. If anyone has made this pattern and managed this bit, do let me know!

The other thing that might not be easy to do if you’re new to sewing is the buttonholes. I used the automatic buttonhole stitch on my machine (so nice after doing it manually on my old one!), and this did make it easier. If you are put off by that, you could easily use some snap fasteners instead and just sew the buttons on the top as decorative ones.

This dress was just the right fit for Little One, although it wasn’t brilliant for crawling around in! So she just had it on for a little while, but it felt so lovely to have made something special for her birthday. I’m hoping it will be the first of many! Here’s a shot of the full dress. In case you’re new to my blog, we’re not posting photos of Little One on here so this super hanger is from RedHandGang on Etsy.

I’ve got another birthday make to share with you and I’m hoping to share that over the next couple of days. I’m also working on the next newsletter, so don’t forget to sign up!

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I wanted to make a pillow for tummy time because I had all the materials and it seemed a bit bonkers to pay a lot of money for one! So I had a look online and found this Poppy pillow pattern from Made by Marzipan. It is actually for a much larger pillow for feeding support, but a friend had already bought me one of those. So I reduced the patterns by 50% to make a more suitable baby-sized one. There is a pattern to make the cover for this pillow form, which you can find here (at full size they will fit a Boppy pillow).

The pattern is super easy to follow, and even with a huge baby bump which meant I could hardly reach my machine, I was able to make the cushion and a cover in a morning. Pretty good going considering how long it had been since I had made anything! I did make one other change in addition to the size – the original pattern says to insert a zip fastening. But to be honest, I really couldn’t be bothered with that at the time! So I decided to use Velcro instead, leaving a large opening on the top side to be able to attach it. It’s a baby friendly Velcro, so she won’t scratch herself on it!

I made a couple of spare covers with some other fabric from my stash. Having a large stash comes in handy sometimes! I love the zebras, and the little people are on the back of the quilt that I made (see more here).

I’m really pleased with how this pillow turned out – if you’re wanting to make something for your own baby it’s an easy project, or it would make a lovely gift. Little One seems to be enjoying it too!

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Despite the weather, our wildflower meadow in the front garden is growing really well! This is a photo from earlier last month, and it has filled out much more since then. It must be all that rain with the odd bit of sun that has actually done the trick! My favourites are the poppies and we’ve had a good variety of them. I love that they just grow wherever they like too, especially the ones growing out of the doorstep!

I read lots of great things in July. I really enjoyed reading this post by Melanie at Geoffrey and Grace, which is all about slowing down – life dictates that we do things right now, but it’s good to slow things down a little sometimes. Appreciate the little things. I have also been reading The Crossroads of Should and Must by Elle Luna which has been a wonderful companion to Pip Lincolne’s Craft for the Soul (click here to read my review of that). I’ll get around to writing a review for this one soon too – it’s a great book.

My YouTube channelwent live this month – thanks so much to everyone who has watched so far! I’m currently working on a few more projects to share with you so watch this space. I’ve been doing a lot of sewing recently so hoping to blog about that soon – got a couple of new patterns to try out, including the Bettine by Tilly and the Buttons which I love!

What projects have you been working on?

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I think I might have mentioned a while back that I had got this trolley from IKEA. It is the trolley of dreams. I said that to Tom and he thought I’d gone mad, but my crafty friends know what I’m talking about! It is a bit pricey which is what put me off getting one for a long time, but it has made my life so much easier. Most of my crafting is done in the kitchen, so the trolley moves around a lot depending on where I am making things at the time. It took me a while to get it organised, but I have now got everything that I use regularly on my trolley. No more hunting for the seam ripper. No more wondering where I’ve put my bias tape maker. They’re on the trolley! So this is my little crafting set-up:

The trolley fits perfectly where I craft, and (handily) it is the same height as our kitchen table. I decided to keep sewing bits and bobs on the top so that I could reach them easily if I need them. I have my pin cushions on the top so that I can just grab a pin quickly if I need to, with my scissors, rotary cutter and other useful things in there too. There are also a few pens and pencils as well as my notebooks for writing things I need to remember (usually to include in a post about what I’m making!). You can never have too many notebooks, right?

And if I get a bit chilly, I’ve got the beautiful fingerless gloves that my friend Tiffany knitted for me!

The second shelf is also for sewing-related bits and bobs. I have quite a good collection of tins which store thread, sewing machine things (like feet) and other things that might be useful. I’ve also managed to squeeze my box of embroidery floss on there )although I probably need another one for the overflow now…) and a few patterns that I’m currently making.

The bottom shelf is for stationery (with an e for envelope). As a stationery fan I have quite a lot, so it took some time to really work out what I needed on there! The jars of washi tape were the first items to make the cut. I’ve managed to fit lots of pretty pens on there too

So my top tip for people who don’t have a craft room is – don’t worry, just get organised! I actually really love making things in our kitchen and have found that I have been longing for a craft room much less than before, if at all actually. Really! Find a space that works best for you, and then just be as organised as possible with your kit. My trolley hasn’t completely stopped me from having to make extra trips upstairs, but it has certainly reduced them and that makes me happy (what can I say? I’m easily pleased! ).

What have you done to organise your craft kit? Do you have a lovely craft room? I’d love to know!

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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!

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A few weeks back, I was really excited to see that the latest book by What Delilah Did (created by Sophie Simpson) is about to be released. A limited number of advance copies of Secret Garden Embroidery (pictured above) were available to buy so I snapped one up! I know people always say that you should never judge a book by its cover, but this is one that you can instantly fall in love just by looking at the beautifully stitched bee and the sweet cover illustrations. These illustrations run right through the book, and the projects are all tied together with the story of Mrs Merriweather and her wonderful garden. I am a big fan of Sophie’s books and wanted to find out more about What Delilah Did, and I’m delighted to say that Sophie very kindly agreed to do a little interview for Hello! Hooray! to tell us all about it…

Tell us a little bit about What Delilah Did, and how you got started.

I started up the business about seven years ago after being made redundant. I had always known I wanted to work for myself and do something creative, so it was a blessing in disguise. I had just rediscovered cross stitch but couldn’t find any patterns I liked so I started to design my own – at that time the choice was between teddy bears, kittens and Disney characters, none of which I would let within a mile of my house! I opened a little online shop and blog to sell my patterns and original stitched pieces, and word spread quite quickly through design blogs, Flickr and the like – apparently I wasn’t the only young person wanting to stitch something a bit different.

After a year or so my mum told me about the Best of British Open Call at Liberty, and I put together a prototype range of kits to take along – they bought the whole range and launched the kits in their London store a few months later. I sold my kits through Liberty for the following three years and it provided the exposure and opportunities I needed to expand my customer base massively. I now sell my patterns, kits and books to customers all over the world via my website, www.whatdelilahdid.com, and through boutique haberdasheries and lifestyle shops throughout the UK.

Little Bug Magnets from Secret Garden Embroidery by Sophie Simpson – Credit Rachel Whiting

Describe your creative process – how do you develop your designs?

My designs almost always stem from how I want the end product to look or function, so I often begin with a particular kind of linen or type of frame or style of cushion in mind and then design something to fit it. For larger patterns I sketch out different versions of an image in black and white until I am happy with them and then transfer them to the computer to make them into something stitchable. If I am making a very small pattern though I generally prefer to just use a pencil and some graph paper and play with the crosses until I have something I like the look of. Once I have the chart, I start to test colours and fabrics until I come up with a combination I like – this can be the longest part of the process because for threads can look completely different once they are stitched, so even if a bundle of colours looked beautiful together in your hand, they may look hideous on the fabric. I also like to check that there are not too many lone stitches and awkward little fiddly sections as these can make patterns a nightmare to complete. I never release a pattern until I have stitched it myself and know that everything works.

Mr Magpie Cushion PDF Pattern – Credit What Delilah Did

What is your typical day like? Do you design and write full-time or do you fit it around a day job?

Running What Delilah Did has been my full time job for the past couple of years (and by ‘full time’, read ‘all the time’!), though before that I did have to fit it around a number of day/evening/weekend jobs until I was confident that it was strong enough to stand on its own two feet.

There isn’t really any such thing as a typical day for me; every day is so different. Things always take so much longer than I think they are going to, so more often than not I end up spending a whole day/week on one thing and just keep going until it is done. That might be photographing new products, updating my website, answering emails, putting orders together, working on a commission, or designing new patterns and kits. Actually getting time to stitch in the day is a rare luxury – I normally end up doing that part in the evenings. I have tried many times to change the way I work so that I have more of a routine, but I still haven’t managed it yet.

Gigantic Circus Letter PDF Patterns – Credit What Delilah Did

Where do you get your inspiration? Do you have any favourite crafters/artists/bloggers?

I actually follow very few blogs and other artists now, partly due to lack of time, but also because they can sometimes leave me feeling a little overwhelmed – there is so much amazing design about that it is all too easy to be swayed by what other people are doing or feel that your own work isn’t good enough. I feel much more inspired when I shut myself off from all of that and rely on my imagination.

Most of my inspiration comes from sources that are not directly related to artists and crafters: old houses, stories, period dramas, film scores… Most recently I have loved the styling and music in Far From the Madding Crowd and Wolf Hall. Often I will try to capture the feeling that I get from a film or piece of music, or take a particular element such as a colour or a shadow in a piece of cloth or a building, and then translate it into my own work. I listen to a lot of period film scores while I work, so that has a strong influence on me.

Bee Cushion PDF Pattern – Credit What Delilah Did

The garden in your latest book, Secret Garden Embroidery sounds wonderful! Is it based on a real place?

The garden itself is fictitious, but the house and the setting is real – it belonged to a kind old man who lived down our road when we were children. I’m not sure how faithful my memory is to the true interior; I still look at it through a child’s eyes so it would probably seem smaller and less rambling if I were to view the inside as an adult. The house still exists but it has been made over and no longer has the overgrown trees at the front, or the orchard, or the air of romantic dishevelment. The dark rabbit warren of rooms that I remember being inside have probably been knocked through to suit modern tastes – arguably more practical, but less charming to me. Despite that, I have always hankered after that house and if I was ever in a position to buy it I would snap it up in a heartbeat.

Projects from Secret Garden Embroidery by Sophie Simpson – Credit Rachel Whiting

Secret Garden Embroidery is your third book – can you tell us a little more about what goes into writing and getting your books published?

I adore books and had always wanted to write my own, though I never imagined they would be about embroidery back when I was dreaming of being an author! My first book, Storyland Cross Stitch, came about when an editor saw my work in Liberty, looked up my blog and then contacted me to ask if I was interested in making a book for her publishing house. At the time it came completely out of the blue, and in all honesty I would have no idea how to go about getting published if I hadn’t been approached by publishers in the first place. Almost all books are commissioned these days and it is incredibly rare to get an unsolicited manuscript published, so I feel very fortunate that I didn’t have to go down that route.

Photo credit: Storyland Cross Stitch – What Delilah Did

The books themselves take more work than I could ever have anticipated. It was marginally less daunting to approach Stitch the Halls! and Secret Garden Embroidery because I knew what to expect, but the amount of work involved is still pretty hardcore. The main problem is that the deadlines are just insane. Most publishers are under a lot of pressure to get books made quickly (bearing in mind that it can take almost a year between a finished book being submitted and it actually landing in the shops), and they just have no idea about how long things take to make. An embroiderer is given the same amount of time to make a collection of projects as a papercrafter, despite the fact that it takes about thirty times as long to make embroidery projects. I also make things worse for myself because I am very particular about how I want things to be, so I end up doing a lot of the work that would usually be done by the publisher, just to make sure it ends up how I want it. The books are a wonderful thing to do, but more so in hindsight than while you are actually making them against the clock!

Photo credit: Stitch the Halls – What Delilah Did

If you had to choose, what would be your favourite project that you have worked on?

The most enjoyable things to work on are my PDF patterns, because there are no deadlines, no briefs and I can take all the time I need to make exactly what I want, so they are my favourite thing to make. But the books are probably the things I am the most proud of; partly because of the work that went into them, but also because it is lovely to hold a tangible object in your hand; almost like a beautifully produced diary of what you did that year.

Mini Folk Letter PDF Patterns – Credit What Delilah Did

What does the future hold for What Delilah Did?

I have had my hands in so many different pies for the past few years that what I am really craving is something simple. Once my new studio is up and running I want to spend some time working the way I did at the beginning, making small quantities of lovely things for my shop with my imagination as the only limit.

Miss Millicent Hare from Secret Garden Embroidery by Sophie Simpson – Credit Rachel Whiting

Thank you so much for taking the time to natter to us, Sophie – I know you’re super busy with your new book and renovating your house, so I really appreciate it! If you love Sophie’s designs as much as I do, you can buy them in her shop, and the Little Bug Magnets and Miss Millicent Hare (featured above) are available as limited edition kits here. I am just starting work on one of the projects from the book, and will be writing a little review of it over the next couple of weeks or so, so be sure to look out for that. You can also find out more on the What Delilah Did blog, Facebook page, Flickr and Twitter feeds.

Secret Garden Embroidery is published on 11th June by Pavilion – but if you can’t wait until then, you might find an advance copy here!

All photos used with kind permission from Sophie Simpson/What Delilah Did.

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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.

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Even the outside is lovely – not sure how sewing things ended up in a box for developing formula, but it’s a good combo and it’s all part of the history!

When I took off the lid, this is what I found: a selection of what turned out to be beautiful vintage iron-on transfers! I’ve got no idea how old they are, but some have been used and others haven’t.

The ‘A’ in these next couple could be a connection to our family name (which is Albans) – I wonder what these letters were embroidered on to…

These napkin designs are just wonderful – they even have a vintage name to match!

Hiding underneath the transfers was a glorious selection of embroidery floss. Look at the lovely colours!

And I’m saving the best until last here…there’s a transfer for a beautiful table runner! I’m definitely going to have this as a long-term project, as it would be so lovely to stitch. I’m not sure whether the pattern will transfer easily without spoiling the original, so I may trace it. I’d actually quite like to frame the transfer, as it’s so lovely!

I even have the original instructions, so hopefully I’ll be able to get the right colours too.

Not sure when I’ll be starting, but stay tuned for progress pictures when I do! I am so lucky to have been given these beautiful treasures, and I really want to do the old pattern justice so I’ll be taking my time… I hope you enjoyed seeing the photos! Hope you have a great weekend – what are you up to?

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The first special I bought was the photography special. I am really keen to improve my photography skills (which has been well-documented on my blog) and as I don’t really know much about the technical side of things I thought this would be helpful in terms of doing a bit more than just ‘point and shoot’! There are loads of really helpful tips in here and this special is great for giving ideas about new ways of taking photos. I love the idea of making your own camera! There’s also a really great section on food photography, which is notoriously very difficult.

The interviews with various people who do this for a living are really informative and inspiring. It definitely makes me want to get out there with my camera! This is where I really saw Project Life for the first time, and it was one of the reasons I decided to get started with that. I’m really glad I did![/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” interval=”3″ images=”7365,7366,7367,7368″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1429176774500{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]

DIY Fashion is up next – I love the Liberty print dress on the front cover (made by Lisa Comfort of Sew Over It, who also guest-edits here) and will definitely have to make one out of that fabric at some point! This special is divided into four different fashion trends: vintage, quirky, bohemian and retro, with different projects and features in each one. Whilst I don’t necessarily stick to one of these trends, each one has inspiring elements which you could adapt into your own style. So you could take the fabric painting technique used in the flamingo t-shirt, and make your own retro style print.

The embellishing tips are really useful here too – I’ve got some ideas in my head for projects and I’ve never really done anything like that before. It’s a good excuse to go and buy some supplies! So even if you’re not going to make the exact projects from this special, you’ll certainly be inspired to go and create your own wardrobe.[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” interval=”3″ images=”7357,7360,7358,7359″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1429177451187{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]

The Blogging special has been really helpful in so many ways for my blog, so whether you’re new to blogging or you’ve been doing it a while now, I’m sure there’s something in it for you. The interview with Elsie Larson from A Beautiful Mess is super interesting to read, as she talks about perceptions of blogging as a career and is really honest about the pros and cons of that. Great to read all about it from someone I really admire. The feature on Blogtacular made me even more excited about getting a ticket for this year – woo hoo! Can’t wait to make new connections and learn so much in June.

I guess that’s one of the main things I took from this special – there’s always more to learn. Since buying this I’ve tried to put some of the things I’ve learnt into practice, and I’ve also been signing up for online classes and events like Blogtacular. In a sphere that’s constantly changing with so many people blogging now, it’s important to be yourself and get yourself noticed as much as possible. This special will certainly point you in the right direction! I believe I am right in saying that all physical copies of this have now sold out (on account of it being really popular!) but you can still download it for Apple or Android through the newsstand (or Android equivalent).[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” interval=”3″ images=”7361,7362,7363,7364″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1429178510451{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]

Next up is Sewing, which features another of my favourites Tilly Walnes from Tilly and the Buttons (as well as a bit more from Lisa Comfort – yay!). How gorgeous is the patchwork dress on the front?! Like the DIY Fashion special, this is really inspiring, even if you don’t make the projects as you see them. There’s a lot of repurposing and reusing, and it’s great to think about things that are in your wardrobe that can be reworked into something new.

If you’re new to sewing, there are loads of handy tips about sewing machines and techniques. I just love looking at different fabrics and there are plenty to lust over in this edition! Will definitely be trying to track down some of them…[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” interval=”3″ images=”7369,7372,7370,7371″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1429175183628{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]

I’ve saved this one until last as it’s my favourite (even though they are all lovely!). It is divided into several main sections that cover Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest, with an extra (brief) section for things like Google+. For those of you who are completely new to any of these social media, there’s a handy bit at the start of each section to explain how they work and what the different functions do. Lots of people will know this already, but it’s great if you don’t know your likes from your pokes on Facebook, for example! Even though I know a bit about social media already, I have learnt so much more from this special. Who knew that Pinterest has an analytics function?! I didn’t, but will definitely be trying it out soon! It also made me have a little spring clean of my boards, so do check out my Pinterest boards if you’re on it.

Another thing that I love about this special is that they have included some suggestions of people to follow on each of the social media too – the feature on Emily Quinton of Makelight is really interesting and I’ve been a fan of hers for a while now so it was good to find out more about how she’s grown her audience. I found the section about Twitter to be really useful too. It’s my least favourite of the social media by far, but I know it’s one of those things that I’ve just got to do! Hopefully the ideas here will prompt me into being a bit more proactive on my Twitter account.

[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” interval=”3″ images=”7379,7382,7380,7381″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1429178784523{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]”So are there any downsides?”, I hear you ask…well, these specials are a bit more pricey than the usual magazines at £7.99 (the Blogging special was £9.99 but it is slightly bigger). I didn’t get the Christmas one last year because I actually had lots of the projects featured in it in craft books that I already have and it seemed like a waste of money really. So if you’re thinking of getting them you might want to flick through it first. If you’re an avid Mollie Makes reader and have been reading for some time, you may also recognise some of the projects from previous issues (e.g. the fabric camera strap in the Photography special was in a back issue a couple of years ago or so) – and the interview with Zoe Pearson in the Social Media special was in issue 51 of the main magazine only last month. It must be difficult to get the balance between reusing content that takes AGES to write and shoot, and keeping regulars happy. I really enjoyed reading the rest of the magazine so it didn’t bother me too much, but I wouldn’t want to see too many features reused in such a short space of time too often.

If you’re a blogger or a small business person looking to improve your blog or photography, or you want to get the most out of social media then you should definitely grab a copy of these specials! The sewing one is beautiful too – I was really inspired by some of the projects and especially by the prints and styling of the photos. Fab!

Have you bought any of these specials? What did you think?

***This is not a sponsored post – I am genuinely a huge Mollie Makes fan!***[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The post Mollie Makes specials appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

You will need

A selection of Liberty fabric squares – I used these 5″ squares and cut them into 4 pieces

Some lining fabric (I used white cotton)

White cotton thread

An iron

1 metre of ribbon

Needle and pins

Sharp scissors

Step 1

Arrange your fabric pieces to decide on the best layout, splitting your squares into two piles – one for the front and the other for the back. I decided to sew horizontal rows first, and stitched the first two squares with roughly half a centimetre seam allowance.

Open the squares and then stitch the next square along, again with a half a centimetre seam allowance. Repeat with the rest of the squares in the row, and then press the seams open.

Step 2

Stitch the rows together, still using a half a centimetre seam allowance.

Don’t worry if all the seams don’t line up – this just adds to the feel of the scrappy patchwork!

Step 3

Repeat the first two steps to make the back piece. Then use a ruler and a rotary cutter to neaten the edges.

Step 4

Place the patchwork pieces right sides together and pin along the bottom edge. Take the top edge and fold over once, using your ribbon as a guide as to how deep the gap will need to be – this worked out at just under half a square using this size of scraps. Then I cut 1.5cm along the seam I had sewn at the bottom of the first square and folded it in (see below). This is to make sure that the openings for the ribbon don’t meet when the side seams are stitched. Press and then fold under the top seam.

Step 5

Next, pin and stitch the side seams, starting at the top of the top hem and working around the corners that have been pressed out.

Step 6

Now to make the lining. Take your lining fabric and fold it in half, and place it on top of the inside out patchwork bag. Pin where the lining will need to be stitched, using the hems of the patchwork bag as a guide. Press over the top hems (a couple of centimetres is enough) and then stitch the side seams of the lining.

Step 7

Turn the patchwork bag the right way out (you could press it here if it isn’t laying flat). Trim the seams of the lining bag and then place it in position inside the patchwork bag. Make sure that the pressed hem of the lining covers the folded hem of the patchwork bag, but leaving enough room for the ribbon to pass through the gap. Take your time getting this in the right position, and then stitch.

Don’t worry if you miss out any bits – you can always catch them by hand afterwards.

Step 7

Thread your ribbon through the gap at the top of the bag – you can put a safety pin at one end to help you pull it through more easily. Make sure that it hasn’t twisted at any point and then hand stitch it to join it securely.

Ta-dah! I’ve put a few of my sewing bits and bobs in here already

The post Liberty patchwork drawstring bag appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

I matched the guitar colours with Kona cottons (it’s always good to have a reason to get the colour card out!), and it goes with Kona Jamaica (blue), Persimmon (orange), Lipstick (red), Pear (green) and Corn Yellow. I decided to use a dark blue binding to match (this was pre-made).

To make this quilt, you can follow my instructions from my first quilt (click here). I cut 7″ squares, but only used a 5 x 5 pattern to make a square quilt this time. It made sense to do that really, especially as I jut used solids for the patchwork. At first I modelled the layout on my first quilt, but I thought that the colours wanted to be a bit more random than that (although Tom has since pointed out to me that it can’t be random if I planned it…!). So this is the randomly-planned layout:

I’ll definitely be using this layout again – I’ve got one of each colour in each row, which is quite satisfying! I stitched the squares together, and then layered up the quilt. After my first two attempts at quilting, I used a different wadding this time – I went for two layers of Simply Cotton (pre-washed before quilting). It’s so much easier to quilt with, and I’m much happier with it overall so will definitely be using this and nothing else in future! Here’s the back – I kept the quilting simple by quilting in the ditch, which means that the pattern still shows through nicely:

I really must learn from my issues with binding though – after my first two quilts, I told myself that I must stitch the front on the machine and then hand stitch the back. Did I do this? Nope! So a few bits are a little untidy…let this be my reminder for the next one!

The post Another patchwork baby quilt appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

The Craft Cotton Co. very kindly sent me a lovely fabric bundle to be able to make this bag, and I chose these super blue vintage fabrics to make it. I like the contrast of the ditsy floral pocket with the bolder print for the bag, and there are so many possibilities to make it your own!

You can find the step-by-step tutorial here if you’d like to make your own  I’m the first blogger to be published there, but stay tuned for more exciting projects from other bloggers coming soon!

The post Foldaway shopping bag tutorial 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!.

I asked Tom what he would like his waistcoat to look like. Cue usual answer, which is “I’m not sure, really!” So I suggested tweed because I had secretly wanted to make something with tweed for a while – see what I did there?! Anyway, after a search online we found In Tweed and sent off for some samples (which arrived really quickly). Tom chose this beautiful lightweight Teviot tweed. It took a while to find some satin for the back in just the right shade of grey to match, but after sending off for some samples from Platinum Bridal Fabrics, we decided that the Duchess satin in Majestic Gunmetal would be perfect to compliment the buttons and the tweed. The satin samples arrived so quickly too, so we were very impressed!

So today, I started making this tweed waistcoat – if you follow me on Instagram then you will have seen these work in progress photos already (sorry!) but I wanted to share them here for those of you who aren’t on Instagram. I used the same pattern that I used last time, which is Vogue Men V8048. It all came flooding back to me as I started to make it – as my friend said earlier, it’s just like riding a bike![/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”6339,6340,6341,6342,6343,6344,6345,6346,6347,6351″ img_size=”large” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1415565359563{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]I am particularly pleased with these buttonholes – those of you who have been reading my blog for a while will know that on my old machine I didn’t have the foot that I needed, so had to adjust the settings manually which was a nightmare! This was a breeze in comparison, and I feel a lot more confident about doing them on other things now.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”6353″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” qode_css_animation=”” img_link_large=”yes”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1415565655897{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]Making this waistcoat seemed to go really quick – I was obviously in the sewing zone today – and also not doing any embroidery on it helped! I’m looking forward to Saturday when Tom can wear it, and I’ll try to get some good photos if he’ll let me…I keep forgetting that it gets dark so early now, which is nice for cosy crafting but not good for photo-taking.

I hope you have all had a fab weekend! What have you been making?[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The post Tweed waistcoat 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!.