T is for Tree Decoration

Happy Friday everyone!

Some people have a lot of handmade decorations on their tree. Most of ours have been bought from various shops (though we do have a lovely bauble that Emilie made for Sophie's first Christmas, and a felt star that my Nan made for Sophie this year). I thought it would be a nice idea to start a tradition of making a new decoration for Sophie for the tree each year. So today I quickly made this felt dove inspired by the Christmas special of the Great British Sewing Bee which I watched this week.

Isn't it cute? It was so easy to make. I made a paper template and cut out two pieces of cream felt. Then I cut out some tiny hearts out of red felt, and stitched them on using small running stitches with red embroidery thread. I used the same thread to sew the two doves together with mattress stitch, around the outside and over a small loop of ribbon for hanging the ornament, tucked between the layers. Just before getting to the end, I pushed in some toy stuffing (using a chopstick!), and sewed up the final few stitches. It took less than an hour, and that was alongside entertaining and feeding a baby!

Have a great weekend!

Laura x

S is for Stockings

This year, I decided to make some stockings for our family, so that we have pretty and matching ones to hang up each year before Christmas.

But they're not finished yet, and so neither is this post!

To be continued...

[Update: June 2015 - finished, but not blogged!]

P is for Pincushion {Tutorial}

Good morning!

Today, I'm going to show you how to make these lovely kilner jar pincushions. They are so easy and would make a wonderful gift. I've made several to give this Christmas.

Materials

A kilner jar with 2-part lid
A piece of cotton fabric about 20x20 cm
A small piece of felt
A small handful of toy stuffing
Craft glue / PVA glue
A spatula
Fabric scissors
A pencil
A ruler

Instructions

1. Unscrew the lid of the jar and draw around the jar plate on the reverse of the cotton fabric. 

2. Use a ruler to mark a circle 2.5cm bigger than the jar lid. Cut out the circle.

3. Carefully cut small triangles all around the edge of the fabric. This helps reduce bulk so the lid will still fit on the jar.

4. Cut out a circle of felt to fit inside the jar lid.

5. Take the stuffing and scrunch it into a ball. Place it on the centre of the fabric.

6. Put the jar plate over the stuffing, and push it through the jar rim to form the pincushion.

7. Use craft or PVA glue to stick the fabric to the plate. Use glue underneath and on top of the fabric so it sticks really well and as flat as possible.

8. Glue the felt to the plate to cover the raw edges of the cotton fabric. Screw the lid of the jar on straight away so that the glue sets in place.

(It should look like this.)

8. Have fun with your embellishments! I used some lace trim (£1.39 per metre) and paper flowers on wires (£1.29 for 6) from Hobbycraft.







You can fill the jar with whatever you would like. I included a tape measure, some ribbons, cotton thread, a needle (safely tucked inside the thread), some cute buttons, some safety pins, and a needle threader.

Laura x