Fabric Storage Buckets

Free Tutorial and Pattern

Easter is early this year and I feel very behind with my preparations.  We host lunch after church on Easter Sunday and each family always receives a small handmade gift.  I don't have time to go into overdrive this year, so instead I've decided to stitch up some quick and easy fabric gift baskets, which we'll be filling with little chocolate bunnies and chicks!

I've stitched a clear vinyl window to the bucket fronts, to hold a small Easter gift label, giving them that lovely personal touch which our guests should love!  

If you don't have any suitable vinyl (I upcycled mine from a thrifted toddler's activity book) then the baskets also make excellent storage buckets.  They can be stitched up in less than an hour and, if you don't add a vinyl window, they're also completely reversible! 

The tutorial gives a choice of two methods for creating the square bucket bottom, the first has the shaping included in the pattern piece, the second shapes the corners after stitching the side seams - Simply pick the technique which best suits your way of doing things :)

Tutorial

Materials

Pattern Piece

Two 34 x 20cm rectangles of contrasting fabrics

One 34 x 20cm rectangle of light weight iron-on interfacing

Method One

1.  Create paper pattern using the dimensions shown and then cut your two fabric pieces in contrasting (or coordinating!) colours.  Apply interfacing to reverse of outer fabric.

2.  Fold first rectangle in half as shown and stitch both side seams with a scant 1cm allowance.  Press seams open.

3. Fold in bottom corners as shown and stitch, again using a scant 1cm seam allowance. 

4. Repeat these steps with second rectangle.  Then place both pieces together, one inside the other, with right sides together.

5. Pin securely and machine stitch, remembering to leave a small turning gap!  Turn through to right side and hand sew gap closed with a ladder stitch.  Your bucket will now look like this; 

6.  Tuck lining inside bucket, then turn down top by a couple of centimetres, creating a lovely contrasting border..

...and that's it!!

Method Two

1. Cut two rectangles measuring 34 x 20cm from your contrasting fabrics.  Fold in half and stitch all side seams.

2.  Fold each rectangle in half and trim off corners 3.5cm from bottom point, then stitch as shown in photo above.  Now simply continue following steps 4-6 from method one.

See, I told you they were quick and easy!

Happy Easter!



Zingy Spring Colours...

And Lovely Linen!

Altered Tin Can Tutorial

Upcycled Shabby Chic Soup Cans

It shouldn't surprise anyone to hear that I'm a fan of creating upcycled crafts, after all my tagline at SewforSoul is 'Because life's celebrations shouldn't cost the Earth'.  In keeping with this, the female guests at our recent Easter party were each gifted with an empty cat food tin!

Thankfully, I washed and altered the cans first! 



I lovingly created them with the application of delicate lace, a lick of paint and some handmade clay embellishments, I then filled each tin with a gorgeous little Primula bedding plant.  Whilst mine were created for Easter, they would make equally stunning wedding table centres.  The romantic blend of lace and linen conjuring up visions of antique wedding frocks, and their shabby chic vibe adding a touch of relaxed glamour to the celebration. 

Unlike cut blooms, flowering plants also won't fade within a few days, thus providing a lasting memento of your perfect day, which honoured guests can take away with them!  I actually popped my plants into a small paper inner cup, so that they could be lifted out and planted into the garden where, as a hardy perennial, they will provide years of beautiful flowers.  The empty tin cans would then make wonderful pen pots.

Viola who blogs over at 'Shabby Chic Inspired' also uses hers for stunning art supply storage

Tutorial

So, firstly prepare your tins with a very hot thorough wash, as mine had contained cat food this was an essential stage to remove any lingering odours!  Once dry, I then used a pair of pliers to flatten out the slightly sharp inner lip on each tin.



Next came a quick coat of white acrylic paint followed by an application of Powertex Stone Art mixed with Powertex Fabric Hardener which provides a lovely rough 'aged' texture.  If you can't easily source Powertex you can either miss out this stage or mix your white paint with a small amount of craft sand and plaster of Paris.


Leave to dry and then let your imagination run wild with a glue gun and lace trims.  You can use any colour of lace as the tins will have more paint applied, however pale colours will require less paint to cover.  I used lots of different lace, some from my Granny's sewing box which are at least fifty years old, mixed in with more modern pieces.



Once you're happy with your lace placement, give each tin can a couple more coats of white paint and then leave in a warm place to dry.



If you like the plain white look, then you're done!  I left the tin on the right below pure white and it looked lovely.  However, you can also get busy with your paints again and 'antique' the lace by sponging it with complementing shades of cream, grey and taupe.

The beauty of this project is that once you've created the basic tin, it can be then customised in any way you like, creating a totally unique finished item which perfectly reflects your individual character and tastes!



I added linen yo-yos, vintage 1950s buttons and personalised embossed clay tags



I also gently sponged the same shades of cream and taupe paint onto my linen yo-yos (Suffolk puffs) to tie them in with the lace and really rock the vintage shabby chic vibe!

A matching embossed clay butterfly completed the romantic spring feel

The possibilities are endless, what will you add to yours? Silk flowers, pearls or gems perhaps? 

Happy Crafting!

Spring Egg Shell Floral Arrangements

'Easter Flowers' Tutorial





Spring has finally arrived and with Easter just around the corner, I decided to create some adorable floral decorations.  I simply painted empty egg shells in a variety of soft pastel shades before planting them with little viola bedding plants and then displaying them in a variety of egg cups and containers.

These ones are housed in an antique egg cruet set which I picked up at a car boot sale last summer.  It cost the princely sum of £1.50 and is late Victorian / early Edwardian. Some of the original plate has worn off but this gives it a wonderful shabby chic feel!  



Tutorial



The plants need quite a large hole in the top of the egg so don't 'blow' your eggs.  Instead gently tap a raw egg on top to crack it and then peel off the desired amount of shell.  Place a bowl beneath the egg and shake to release the white and yolk. Wash the shells out thoroughly and place in a warm place to dry.

Once the shells are dry, paint in a variety of soft spring colours.  I used tester pots of emulsion (vinyl) paint but acrylic craft paint would work equally well. If your eggs are quite dark, you will need to give them at least two coats of the light coloured paints.

Once the painted shells have dried plant them with your choice of spring flowers or use them as 'vases' to display delicate bunches of cut blooms such as mini narcissus, crocuses or irises . How fabulous would they also look at a country wedding or summer baby shower!

Aren't they gorgeous?



Happy Spring!





Craft Stamper Magazine ~ SewforSoul Feature

Speckled & Embossed Clay Songbird Eggs DIY

April's issue of Craft Stamper Magazine is available in shops now and my clay speckled bird's egg tutorial is featured!

The children and I had great fun making them and you can see lots more step-by-step pictures in this post.

We embossed ours with devotional words to reflect the season of Easter but they would also make an adorable birth announcement personalised with a name and date! 

Craft Stamper Magazine is available from most High Street branches of  WHSmith or can be ordered direct from Traplet Publications with free UK P&P. 

Easter Hanging Ornament Tutorial

Glittered Wooden Shapes

 

Now that Lent is here, I'm starting to think ahead to our Easter celebrations.  We try to uphold the season as it can feel overlooked in favour of Christmas, yet it's such an important part of our cultural and religious heritage. You can see some of our previous Easter decorations here, including these little cuties;

Created with Sizzix and Quickutz dies by SewforSoul

We always have an Easter tree, a wonderful tradition which originated in Germany where they are known as Ostereierbaum, but they're gradually becoming more common in the UK.  We bring in a tree from the garden and decorate it with little wooden ornaments and eggs, including many we've crafted ourselves.  It's always lovely to add a few new ones each year, so with that in mind I looked through my stash in search of inspiration.   

I came across these little wooden shapes which the children used for their Easter cards when they were younger.  I put aside a few in case the children wanted to get creative again this year and then set about giving the rest a fresh new look.

The first step was to simply give them a quick sand before applying a base coat of white paint. Wood shapes are easy to source and if you get blank ones you won't even need to sand them back first!

Once the white undercoat was dry I stamped the shapes, using a glue pad and one of my favourite clear stamps.  

Whilst the glue was still wet I sprinkled the shapes with some lovely sparkly glitter in a variety of yummy spring shades, before flipping them over and repeating the process on the reverse side.

The final stage was to give the decorations a quick coat of varnish to fix the glitter firmly in place, before drilling a hole in the top and threading with hanging loops.  

 And that's it......Don't they look great!

I now can't wait until Holy Week and we bring in the tree, so that they can take their place amongst the rest of the decorations.

Happy Crafting!