DIY Tutorial 4: Hexagonal Quilt

This one is less of a tutorial, and more of a documented journey into quilt making!  After seeing a beautiful tray in liberty covered in hexagonal shapes of liberty fabric I have always wanted to try making one of these quilts myself.  I'm not sure I have the patience to make a whole quilt (the first one I made I quickly decided it was going to be 'kids sized') so I might just aim towards a cushion.  So here it goes..!

I've been reading around a found a great website here which allows you to print out whatever sized hexagonal shapes you like onto A4 for you to cut out.

I printed the hexagons onto some thin card and then stuck some freezer paper onto the back before cutting out the shapes.  I had thought that this would make it easy to iron the shapes onto the fabric and I wouldn't need to stitch down the flaps around the hexagons to save time and stitches... How wrong I was!!  The hexagons kept falling off the fabric and it took me much longer than had I stitched down the flaps around the hexagons in the first place!  I highly recommend stitching each hexagon first...it may be time consuming but believe me it will save you time in the long run!

I stitched the hexagons together by placing them face to face and whip stitching along the edge, making sure the corners met.  When you open out the hexagons you can't see the stitching from the other side.  There's brilliant tutorial illustrating how here.

It's starting to come together...

Here's a view of the back.

Here's how far I've got!

DIY Tutorial 3: Emergency Sweets Supply Jars

Just a really quick DIY for you today.  Yesterday I made some emergency sweets supply jars for a lovely friend of mines baby shower.  I wanted to make them look really pretty so used some of the fabric scraps I had to give them all floral lids.  If you enjoy getting a bit messy and having your hands covered in PVA glue you'll enjoy making these! 

First you need to clean some jam jars really well and remove any of the old stickers.  I had some square shaped jars which I thought worked really well.  

Using PVA glue cover the whole top of the lid and around the sides.  Glue down some fairly thick plain white fabric to cover the top and sides, then trim away the excess.  This is to give a white background to the floral fabric you stick on top so that the colours of the lid do not show through.

Cover the white layer with more PVA and then stick down your floral fabric, allowing around an inch of excess fabric around all the sides for tucking in underneath.  Glue the inside rim of the lid and tuck the floral fabric inside, pushing it right up against the edge.  I found it helpful to rest the lid loosely back on its jar with the fabric wedged in underneath to help hold the fabric in place while it dried.  

Once dry you can fill the jars with your favourite sweets!  I used some string and made little paper tags to decorate my jars but you could use ribbons, flowers, pom poms or whatever you wanted to decorate your sweets supply jars!

DIY Tutorial 2: Lavender Letters

This is just a very simple sewing project I thought I'd make for a friend for Christmas using my fabric scraps.  Lavender sachets are really useful for keeping clothes smelling fresh and they look really lovely too!  These ones could have a ribbon sewn on top to be hung in a wardrobe but as usual I left making these a little last minute so ran out of time... anyway, here's how to make them!

Material Needed:
A bag of loose lavender (I found a large bag on ebay for a couple of pounds)
Access to a sewing machine
Fabric scraps
Needle and thread

Step 1

Draw or print out some letters onto paper of whatever word or name you like to the shape and size of what you would like your final lavender letters to be.  I drew mine with a ruler but if you prefer a more fancy font you could find a nice font on 'Word' or the internet and print them out really large.  Then around each letter draw a line 5mm line away from the edge of all your letters.  This will allow for the seam allowance when cutting out your fabric.  (I had already cut my letters out so did this by guess work!).

Pin your paper letters to the fabric and cut out two of each.

Step 2

Sew together the two fabrics for each letter, sewing 5mm in from the edge and leaving an opening around 2-3 cm wide.  Trim off the excess fabric around the edge and trim darts for curved and pointed edges so the fabric will lay flat when turned inside out.

You should end up with something a bit like this...!

*A quite note about sewing 'O's or any letter with a hole in the middle.  Cut out your O as with the others leaving a 5mm seam allowance, including on the inside ring.  Sew together the inner circle first, sewing all the way round and cut darts all the way around the seam so the fabric will sit flat once inverted.  Then it gets a bit tricky... Fold your O in half and fold the flaps from one side of the O around the other side, so that half of your O is tucked inside the other.  Sew around the outer edge gently pulling the inside out as you sew until you have sewn almost all the way round the O.  Remember to leave an opening for the lavender!

Step 3

Invert all your letters and fill with lavender!  I used a rolled up piece of card to help funnel the lavender in and then pushed with the end of a paintbrush to fill all the corners.

Hand stitch the openings to seal the lavender pockets, and there you have it!

DIY Tutorial 1: How To Make A Pin Cushion Sewing Jar!

I've been very lucky in the last few weeks to be given a huge bag full of liberty print fabric scraps from the lovely Alison, founder of the baby wear company Dribblebuster.  She sells fashionable neck tie/bibs for small children in beautiful liberty print fabrics!  Her house is like a textiles heaven, full of wonderful fabrics in all sorts of colours and patterns, so I was thrilled when she handed me a bag full of all her offcuts!  

Having it been drilled into me by my mother tirelessly trying to encourage me to finish my dinner as a small child, I'm now a firm believer in the saying 'waste not want not'.  The challenge now is to see what I can make from all these small fragments of fabric so they don't go to waste.  So from today here starts my DIY scrap fabric project to turn all these scraps into beautiful functional things for the home.  And I'd like you to join me!  

Every week for the next month or so (or until I run out of fabric!) I am going try and create something new out of these scraps.  I'll be sharing a step by step tutorial so you can make your own version out of the small scraps of fabric or unwanted clothes around your house.  Send me your own designs to catherinefreresmith@hotmail.com and I'll feature them on the blog!

First up, the pin cushion sewing jar!

Materials Needed:

Fabric (at least 7 inch square and another long thin strip at least 3cm wide)

Scissors

Strong Card Paper

Thin Card Paper

Needle and Thread

Clean Old Jam Jar with Lid

Toy/Cushion Stuffing

Pen (to draw on fabric)

PVA Glue

Glue Gun

Step 1

Draw around the lid of of an old jam jar on some very thick card (I used the back of an old paper pad) and cut out.  Choose one or two fabrics you like and using one of them, cut out a large circle, about 3 times the size of your lid.  

Step 2

Sew a running stitch all around the edge of your circle about 5mm from the edge and then pull.  

Step 3

Stuff the inside of your little circular pocket so it is quite full.  You may find that the stuffing wants to spill out up but persist with stuffing it as full as you can as you want to end up with a nice firm pin cushion.  Place the circular card on top of the stuffing and pull the thread tight so the edges of the fabric circle close in around it. Secure the thread with a backstitch and tie off.  

Step 4

  

Cut a length of thinner card about 1.5cm wide and long enough so that it overlaps and is just longer than the circumference of your jam jar lid.  Cut your second piece of fabric so it is 0.5 cm larger than your card all the way around.  Glue the fabric to the card on both with PVA, folding in the edges on the back to give a neat fabric strip.  

Step 5

Using a hot melted glue gun glue your cushion to the top of your jam jar so that is it firmly secured.  Don't worry if the edges look a bit messy as the will be covered over with your fabric strip.  

Then glue the fabric strip around the outer edge of the jam jar lid, so that one edge is in line with the base of the lid, and the other overlaps with the cushion.  Glue this on bit by bit as you work round the lid as the glue will harden too quickly for you to glue the whole strip and fasten on the lid on one motion.  

Step 6

Screw the newly cushioned lid onto the glass jar, pin some needles and pins into the cushion and fill with your favourite sewing bits.  Sit back and admire your new handmade sewing jar!  Don't forget to share with me your designs by sending them to catherinefreresmith@hotmail.com!

Brand New in Store!

I've started experimenting with some new techniques to expand my range of bags and purses.  Here are my two newest editions!  I was quite happy with the result (especially printing onto linen) so I'm going to try drawing more illustrations and apply them to fabric.  Would love to know what you think!  You can find these two birdy bags in my shop.

Feeling Festive!

With December only a day away I thought I'd better crack on with some card designs ready for the Christmas Concrete Market at Matthew's Yard on the 15th!  I thought I'd try something new by playing with  watercolour background on Photoshop.  I can't wait to receive the finished prints!

  

Traces Junk Shop!

The Traces Junk Shop is opening soon!  The shop will be packed full of designer goods (including some of my birds!) so head over if you fancy a rather different junk shop experience and maybe take home a treasure or two.  It will be running from 17-23 September 10-6 (10-8 Thursday, 11-5 Sunday) and showcase over 30 designers work at the Tom Dixon show room in Portobello.