Precious Baby Boy Garland DIY 

Personalised Bunting Garland Tutorial

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Yet again over a year has flown by since my last post!  It's been a busy 12 months, with a complete remodel of our downstairs but the builders have finally left now. My sewing machines were safely stowed away for the whole time and now they're not only unpacked but also newly serviced. I wonder what excuse I can use next year, if this pattern continues!

Anyway apologies over, Let me show you the adorable bunting I stitched for the newest addition to the lovely La Spada Ristorante family. We are so lucky to have this wonderful Italian restaurant just five minutes away, the food is gorgeous and the atmosphere welcoming. The family who own it treat their customers like family and even gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers when I was undergoing surgery and treatment for breast cancer.  I was therefore delighted to take the opportunity to create a gift for the chef's new baby boy.

Our house renovations included a new kitchen and TV lounge, along with a complete refit of my sewing room. I'm only letting you see two sides of that at the moment, as I haven't finished unpacking the cupboards and shelves on the other walls yet!

I'm delighted with all three rooms, their design and quality exceeded my expectations, so Paul and the team from Dragonville Interiors will also be doing our bathrooms next year!  

Sewing Room

(Still waiting for the oak bullnose bottom step!)

TV Lounge

Tutorial 

The first step is to make a template for your fabric letters and bunting flags. Simply use Microsoft Publisher/Word, or similar software, to create a 14 cm equilateral triangle and then resize your chosen font until the letters fit nicely in the middle of the triangle.  Print onto thin card and cut out.

Now take your card letters and turn them over before tracing around them onto the smooth side of a sheet of Bondaweb.  Iron onto the wrong side of the navy polka-dot fabric and cut out.....They will now be facing the right way round!    Cut the required number of pennant flags from the light blue and beige fabrics, not forgetting to cut out the same number of linings.

Peel the backing paper from your letters and place centrally onto the flag fronts and, once you're happy with the positioning, fix with a hot iron.

Using white thread sew around each of the letters at least twice to create a 'sketchy' feel.  Don't worry if you have a couple of wobbles as this all adds to the appeal of raw edge appliqué!

Place each appliquéd flag onto a triangle cut from your lining fabric, right sides together, and stitch the side seams leaving the top open.   Trim seam allowances and clip the bottom point to reduce bulk. 

Turn the flags right side out and use a chopstick or blunt stick to gently push out the points.  Press and then trim off the little 'ears' at the top of the flags creating a nice straight edge.

We now need to enclose the raw edges, the easiest method is to use pre-made purchased binding or even just fold some ribbon or canvas tape in half.

To apply bias-binding, open it out and stitch to the right side of your flags matching up the raw edges at the top.  Carry on sewing whilst placing your flags with an even spacing and leaving at least 10cm of tape at each end for hanging.  Then fold the binding over to the wrong side and catch into position with little hand-stitches, using the machined line as your guide.

This method ensures a neat finish on the right side of the flags with no visible stitching.

....and that's it!

If you can sew a straight line, you can sew adorable personalised bunting!

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Finally, no blog post would be complete without

Lola, Luna, Digby and Orla 

 

DIY Applique Bunting Tutorial

Meet 'Refuse' Chester Le Street! 

Due to the increasing health needs of my elderly parents-in-law, I now have precious little time to blog or sew but I've been working late into the night this week to welcome a wonderful new venture to Durham!

The REfUSE Cafe is a not-for-profit social enterprise which collects food that would otherwise go in the bin to make delicious Pay-As-You-Feel (PAYF) meals.  Its founders are Nikki Dravers and Mim Skinner who met as students at Durham University.  After graduation Nikki worked at the Durham Marriott Hotel where, at end of every breakfast shift, she was told to throw away huge amounts of mushrooms, sausages, bacon, bread and freshly squeezed juice. In the afternoons she was volunteering for the Salvation Army in Durham where she witnessed real food poverty, this injustice led Nikki to The Real Junk Food Project which in turn inspired her to set up REfUSE and, after a couple of years operating as a 'pop-up', they now have a permanent location in Chester-le-Street.

All the food in the cafe is provided by local shops, supermarkets and businesses having been deemed to be either 'surplus' or past its 'best before' date. The menu is ever changing, as it is obviously dependant on what has been donated on the day, but expect lots of delicious soup and curries, gorgeous quiches, filling sandwiches and simply scrumptious cakes - all lovingly hand baked on the premises!  Customers are then provided with an envelope so that they can pay what they feel is an appropriate amount for their feast.

To celebrate this amazing venture I've stitched Mim and Nikki a string of personalised bunting, fashioned from some of Mr Larkin's worn out work shirts!          

Upcycled Shirt Bunting Tutorial

The first step is to make a template for your fabric letters and bunting flags. Simply use Microsoft Publisher/Word, or similar software, to create a 14 cm equilateral triangle and then resize your chosen font (I used 'Moonflower' to match the cafe's logo) until the letters fit nicely in the middle of the triangle.  Print onto thin card and cut out. 

 

Now take your card letters and turn them over before tracing around them onto the smooth side of a sheet of Bondaweb.  Iron onto the wrong side of  your dark fabric and cut out.....They will now be facing the right way round!  Cut the required number of pennant flags from (upcycled) fabrics, not forgetting to cut out the same number of linings. 

I then introduced some lace to the design as I thought a touch of 'shabby chic' would work well in the cafe.  

If you also fancy this look simply stitch a strip of lace to the top of each of your fabric triangles 

Now take your Bondaweb letters and remove the backing paper before placing them centrally onto the flag fronts and, once you're happy with the positioning, fix into place with a hot iron.

Next, using black thread and an open-toe machine foot, sew around each of the letters at least twice to create a 'sketchy' feel.  Don't worry if you have a couple of wobbles as this all adds to the appeal of raw edge appliqué!

Place each appliquéd flag onto a triangle cut from your lining fabric, right sides together, and stitch the side seams leaving the top open (it looks like I've stitched the top seam, but that's just where the lace was sewn onto the triangles!).  Trim seam allowances and clip the bottom point to reduce bulk. Turn the flags right side out and use a chopstick or blunt stick to carefully push out the points, then gently press with a warm iron.

Finally, unfold a length bias binding tape and place flags inside at approximately 2 cms intervals, lining up top edges.  Make sure you leave at least 15 cms of tape at both ends of the garland for hanging purposes, then machine stitch.  If you don’t have any bias-binding simply use some pretty ribbon or tape folded in half.

You've now created a beautiful upcycled fabric bunting garland! 

Perfect for summer vibes!

REfUSE Waste....

Recycle Food and Fabric!

Should you ever find yourself in the stunning North East of England pop into the REfUSE Cafe for a delicious, and ethical, handcooked lunch!

'Big Top' Applique Circus Bag

Embroidered Circus Tent Sack

May's issue of Sewing World Magazine is available in shops now and it's packed full of lots of lovely projects just waiting to be stitched, including my 'Big Top' Toy Sack.

Leanne, the magazine's editor, asked me to design a drawstring bag which pulled up to create the vaulted top of a circus tent!

It has a fantastic retro vibe going on (not least because we no longer expect animals to be used as a source of amusement and fun!) and the nice and roomy size means it can easily swallow absolutely loads of toys or a full PE kit.

As usual I used my favourite freemotion machine embroidery and raw edge applique techniques.  I just love the way the 'doodled' black stitching really brings the pictures to life  ~ Take look at that cute monkey!

We also have a baby elephant...

 ..and a very talented seal

 

Happy Stitching!

Beautiful Bags ~ New Bookazine

Applique Peg Bag

I've had seven different projects published in various sewing and crafting magazines so far this year and it's only March!  However, in between the actual stitching and writing of patterns, I juggle the needs of my children with caring for elderly parents, suffering from dementia, so blogging unfortunately takes a (very) back seat.

I'm hoping that as the nights draw out taking photos will be easier and I'll therefore be able to use the lighter evenings to create some longer blog posts but in the meantime it remains hit and miss!  However I wanted to quickly share this project featured in a new bookazine by the folks behind Sewing World Magazine.

I particularly like bookazines as I find they work out such good value, this one is priced at £6.99, and contains fifteen new bags with clear step by step photo instructions and a full sized pull-out pattern sheet ~ That's just over 45p per project!

My contribution is an appliqued peg bag with a very cute little house and washing line

 I want to live in a house with a white picket fence!

 The bag has a little velcro strap so that it can be quickly and easily fixed to the washing line.  The bucket shape also means that it can be free standing, if preferred, so your pegs will always be close at hand.