Vintage Linen Bunting Tutorial

Antique Embroidered Garland  

Now I'm not known for being overly sentimental but there is something about antique embroidered tablecloths and tray covers that makes me want to swoon!  I think it's the combination of their great age and the hours and hours of work that first went into creating such gorgeous works of stitched art. I don't know how ladies in the 1940s and 1950s found the time to produce them, although the lack of television and internet might have been a contributing factor!

Vintage linens regularly turn up at car boot sales in all kinds of condition and I find that table cloths often show the most signs of wear, particularly in their centres, where crockery, cutlery and hands would have constantly rubbed against the fabric. However the edges, where the embroidery is normally to be found, is usually in far better condition having hung below the edge of the table top and therefore avoided such friction and wear.     

Once the centers are full of holes they're clearly no longer suitable for covering a dining table and besides, in our house, a tablecloth would need washing and ironing after every (messy) meal!  

Instead the perfect project is to stitch up some gloriously shabby chic bunting - Every upcycled garland produced is totally unique and it feels so good to breathe new life into these forgotten treasures!

If you're feeling inspired, I've written an easy to follow tutorial, with step by step photos, over at the Cuddly Buddly blog

Vintage linens are also perfect for pouches and purses.  This kitsch 'Crinoline Lady' was too large for a bunting flag but she works really well on a little patchwork makeup bag.

I love the Spring colours, and they still look as fresh as the day they were first stitched.

You can read more about it here, and having watched episode three of 'The Great British Sewing Bee', I'm feeling very grateful that my sewing is done on a modern Bernina machine, although those antique Singers are so charming. Do you think Mr Larkin would approve of me buying a fifth sewing machine because 'it's pretty'?!

Another string of my upcycled vintage bunting was featured in Reloved Magazine.

The full blog post is here.

The original stitched designs on the tablecloths I used were each so different but I love both sets of finished bunting equally.  I gave one set to my mum and the other is hanging in my kitchen where it reminds me of English summers full of village fetes and weddings!

Happy Repurposing!

Valentine's Jewellery Box

DIY Decoupage Decals

The Design Team theme over at Cuddly Buddly this month is Valentine's and I whipped up this little box for our darling goddaughter.  I used the same tissue paper and inkjet printer method as for these Halloween candles;

 

This technique allows you to take any picture and turn it into an image thin enough to decoupage onto your chosen surface.   It also means that you can create personalised items.  As our goddaughter is Japanese, finding a shop bought jewellery box (American - jewelry) with the name 'Ayana' on it might have been a long-shot!

Before....

During....

After!

You can find the full tutorial on the Cuddly Buddly Blog and the William Morris inspired clip-art can be purchased here.

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

Upcycled Christmas Sweater

Free Motion Embroidered Jumper

Happy New Year everyone and wishing you all a very blessed 2015!  We've had a lovely Christmas here in the North of England and, as the children returned to school today, I'm finally catching up with a bit of (belated!) blogging.

My youngest asked for a 'Christmas' sweater over the holidays, so I went to our local charity shop and picked out a plain red number.  Whilst I wanted it to have a festive vibe, I was reticent to stitch up something that could only be worn one or two days a year.  Instead I went with a very cute little penguin which can be used throughout the entire winter season.

I used this adorable digi stamp from Cuddly Buddly for the applique. 

I've posted a full tutorial over at the Cuddly Buddly Blog should you fancy making one.  It was a really simple process and can be adapted for any occasion.  How cute would a personalised onesie be as a precious new baby gift?! 

Happy New Year!

Felt Hanging Christmas Ornaments

Stitched Felt Decorations

 

This month's Cuddly Buddly design team challenge was entitled 'Something for the tree' and I stitched up these cute hanging felt ornaments.  I also included a second free-standing version.

They're really straightforward to make and so the perfect project to get the children involved.

 You can see my tutorial over at the Cuddly Buddly blog, along with lots of other festive makes from my talented team mates.

All of the materials you need to complete the project are available to purchase from Cuddly Buddly and if you enter my Christmas Giveaway, you could win a £25 Cuddly Buddly gift certificate....but hurry the giveaway ends today!

Good luck! 

Happy Christmas - £25 Crafting Voucher Giveaway!

SewforSoul Magazine Feature and Giveaway!

Christmas is just six weeks away, which in creative tasking terms, is waaay too soon!  I now really ought to start thinking about some serious festive crafting and having an article published in Reloved Magazine's Christmas issue was just the thing to put me into a festive frame of mind!

Regular SewforSoul visitors will recognise the project from this blog post.

I based the adorable Father Christmas applique on this digital stamp by Cuddly Buddly.

Digital stamps are perfect for applique, as they're so easy to re-size and manipulate.  Cuddly Buddly have a huge selection and, as well as digital items, they also stock a wide range of physical crafting products for card making, scrapbooking, sewing, decoupage and painting to name but a few! 

If you haven't yet visited Cuddly Buddly, you've been missing out on a fantastic crafting experience and as it's 'nearly' Christmas I'm holding a giveaway for a lovely £25 gift certificate and, with over 12,000 items held in stock, they really do have something for everyone.

To be in with a chance of winning simply leave a comment on this post and then pop over to Bloglovin.com to start following SewforSoul.  The winner will be drawn at random on 1 December, just in time for a little Christmas shopping!

Good luck!

Appliqued Hot Water Bottle Cover

 Upcycled Wool Sweater

September's Cuddly Buddly Design Team Challenge is entitled 'Teenage Christmas' and it proved to be just the nudge I needed to start my festive stitching.  I decided to make an appliqued hot water bottle cover using a Benetton vintage cashmere sweater, which cost me just 20p 'ready felted' (shrunk!) from my local car boot sale;  

I then downloaded and resized this 'Santa Sitting' digi stamp so that his face filled the front of my cover and got stitching. 

Pure wool felt is bliss to sew with as it doesn't fray and feels super expensive.  It's also ridiculously easy to make - Simply throw a 'hand wash only' woollen jumper into your machine on a hot wash.  Heck, I've even sometimes created it by mistake!

For a complete cuteness overload, gently rouge dear old Father Christmas's cheeks with a red colouring pencil.

 The back of the case features a simple overlapping envelope closure, in the style of a pillow case.  

This was such an easy project to make but it looks looks and feels so much more expensive than the usual polyester 'knitted' covers that the shops are full of at Christmas.  I have written a simple step-by-step tutorial over at the Cuddly Buddly Blog and don't forget that 'Pound Stores' sell hot water bottles nice and cheaply should you want to make your own.

Digital stamps are perfect for applique and you could even make a matching card for a real 'Wow Factor'.  Just have a look at this stunning example;

It was made by the very talented Wendy over at Crazy4FlowersCards, her whole blog is full of fantastic creations and well worth a visit.

Happy Christmas!

Caravan Heart Applique

Cuddly Buddly Design Team

It's almost time for September's Design Team Challenge over at Cuddly Buddly and I suddenly realised that I hadn't even blogged August's!  Summer always seems to push blogging into the background as I would much rather be outside in the fresh air than sat inside in front of a computer screen.

Anyway, the theme was 'Thank you' and I stitched up a little appliqued 'Thanks for the Memories' hanging linen heart.  The weather has now taken a turn for the worst and it feels almost autumnal, so I would happily indulge myself with dreaming of British summers spent in a cute little caravan!  I based the applique on this digital stamp which costs just 99p from the Cuddly Buddly store.

It was a quick project to stitch up and I used the same basic pattern as I created for this owl hanging heart which you can read about here.

I'm also intending to stitch up some Christmas versions, as I love to see decorations created in classic linen hanging from the tree!

In the meantime there's a full  tutorial over at Cuddly Buddly, with easy step-by-step photos, so you can get stitching one of your own.

Enjoy!

Free Motion Embroidery - Owl Keyring

Cuddly Buddly Craft Challenge

This month's Cuddly Buddly Craft Challenge is 'Beads and Charms'.  This is a great theme as just about any craft is improved by the addition of a few beads or charms!

I actually chose to widen an already loose theme even futher, stitching up a cute little owl using this Marianne Design die, rather than just adding beads to an existing design. It is now perfect as a keyring or handbag charm!  I've written a full tutorial which will be published on The Cuddly Buddly blog during the challenge.

Now that you've seen my attempt, it's time for you to whip up your own creation.  Once you've finished upload a picture to the Cuddly Buddly challenge page to be in with a chance of winning a lovely £25 gift voucher to spend on any of the 12,000+ products stocked in the Cuddly Buddly shop.

Good Luck!

Fresh as a Daisy ~ Embroidered Bag

Appliqued Zipper Pouch

It's time for the third Cuddly Buddly Design Challenge and this month's theme is 'Daisies'.  I stitched up a little personalised linen make-up bag for a friend called Joy!

Little pouches are one of my favourite things to sew as they make super cute, and also very practical, gifts. I have written a full tutorial, with easy to follow step-by-step photos, over at the Cuddly Buddly blog.  Zipper pouches are great projects to stitch if you're new to sewing (or feel a bit rusty), as they contain many of the most commonly used techniques including linings and zippers (obviously!).  They also feel less intimidating to start with than a full sized garment.

You have until Saturday 14th of June to enter the challenge and there is a very generous £25 gift voucher awaiting the lucky winner.  Your entry doesn't have to be stitched, in fact anything goes, the only rule is that Cuddly Buddly needs to stock the main items you use, even if you didn't actually buy them there!

As we are only in the third month of challenges there has only been a handful of entrants each time, so you are in with a very good chance of winning! 

Get Crafting!

'Diamond Geezer' Journal Cover

Freestyle Machine Embroidery

Get your thinking caps on as it's time to enter the second Cuddly Buddly design challenge and there is a lovely £25 gift voucher on offer for the best creation.  This month's theme is 'Diamonds' or 'Pearls' and you have until Wednesday 14 May to get your entry in.  The only 'rule' is that you use products sold in the Cuddly Buddly shop, but with over 12,000 products stocked this won't be a problem. Apart from this anything goes and your creation could be sewing, painting, mixed media, card making, paper crafting........etc! 

I decided to put a masculine spin on the diamond theme and stitched a 'Diamond Geezer' journal cover; 

I based it on this set of digi stamps but made a few changes so that it looked like our nephew Henry.  I wanted to stitch him a little present and, as he has recently received an offer to study History at Oxford University, a notebook cover with beer on the front seemed the perfect reflection of study and socialising!

I used Bondaweb to attach the pieces and then dropped my feed dogs and free motion embroidered around the outlines in black adding depth and definition. 

The wording was stitched in exactly the same way and this technique gives quite a 'modern' feel to projects so is perfect when creating gifts for teenagers.

I have written a full tutorial which you can see over at the Cuddly Buddly Blog and it can be easily adapted to suit any size of notebook.  The blog also has lots of other tutorials from my fellow design team members all intended to inspire you to get crafting and entering the competition! 

You also have until Monday to enter my Egg Cosy Giveaway, to take part you simply have to leave a comment on this blog and sign up to follow it either through Blogger or Bloglovin'.  The winner will receive a handmade pair of linen egg cosies lovingly appliqued in any design or colour scheme chosen from these.