Lavendar Hearts - For the mums!

One of the hearts is for my boyf's mum as part of her Christmas package; the other is for my mum's birthday which is inconsiderately on the 28th December. They have been made lots on blog land, but here they are again. I got the lavendar from Amazon of all places.

You will need: patterned fabric (scraps will do), some ribbon, some buttons, needle and thread and lavendar.  I have no idea on quantities, but it's not very much!

Cut out a heart pattern on paper, pin to fabric (I folded mine into 4 to get the shapes all at one time). I placed the right sides of the fabric together, pinned, machine sewed fairly close to the edge. Leave a small-ish gap for stuffing.  When sewn turn around the right way.

Fill with Lavendar - I think a funnel would be hugely beneficial - needless to say I had a tea spoon and my fingers. 

Hand sew the gap with slip stitch. Place the ribbon on each side with a button in front. Sew through the buttons until secure. And that's it.

Well there you go! I will post an image of the whole present after next week, as half of it is in Germany - I need to finish wrapping it there.

Have a fun week!

R x

Christmas Napkin Rings

I used the same principle as my flowered napkin rings, but instead used a star shape rather than flowers to make a motif that will fit with the table runner. Maybe now I just need to start the table runner....there's a lot of sewing to do....we'll see!

To make these sparklers, I used:

2 sheets of white felt (A4)
Silver sequins
Needle and Thread
Tacky glue
1 metre of silver and gold ribbon.
A star template scaled to match the ribbon width.

Step 1: I made the template on MS Word using Google shapes. This allowed me to make more than one and speed up the cutting out process. You need 8 star shapes.

Step 2: Sew beads or sequins into a design of your choice on 4 of the star pieces. This is the most time consuming part.

Step 3: Adjust the back. In this design the ribbon will be sandwiched between two star shapes.  To do this the back piece needs to have 2 points trimmed. I glued these to the reverse of the back piece with tacky glue to add stability to the points.

Step 4: I pinned the rings using the same method as with the flower napkin rings and then tacked along the edge to secure further.

Step 5: Using tacky glue, I secured the front and back pieces of the star together sandwiching the ribbon in between. I secured with the pegs* I am going to use to make some notice clips as cracker gifts. * mine left some peg marks on....maybe softer clips like paper clips would be better!

Step 6: Trim the remaining ribbon and neaten edges.

Ta dah!

I hope you like them.

R xx

Linking to: http://shabbyartboutique.blogspot.com/

Pretty Flower Napkin Rings

I completed my first set of napkin rings last night and they look really cute (well I think so!)

They are for my mum to use throughout the year. The next job will be to make to make the Christmas version to match the table runner that I finally opened yesterday.  There's quite a lot of sewing to be done. I hope I'm up to it!

To make these gorgeous little napkin rings I used:

4 sheets of pink felt (A4 paper sized)
1 metre of ribbon in a complimentary colour
A needle and thread
A glue gun
A toilet roll tube to shape the napkin rings
Some pins.

The tutorial for the flower was found at Emily's Little World blog.  I used felt and rather than glue the fabric I chose to hand sew it.  I did this by placing a cross stitch in the centre of each petal fold. I secured each one with a number of stitches.

For the napkin ring, I used ribbon. Although a I wanted something a bit more robust originally, when I tested the ribbon it looked very pretty and worked well in practice. 

 I measured it into 4 equal amounts and then pinned it around a toilet tube leaving a small amount to become the leaf.  I used a little bit of hot glue to secure the loop before hand sewing the ribbon together. 

Whilst doing this I noticed the ribbon was a bit allergic to glue, so I sewed a disc of felt to the join onto which I would glue my flower.

I then folded back the remaining ribbon to make a looped 'leaf' and stiched it into place. 

After sticking the flowers on with the hot glue and pressing down vigourously - I was left with 4 lovely napkin rings. 

I hope you like them!

R xx

I am linking to: Sunday Scoop, Making the World Cuter, Flamingo Toes

Project Christmas Mum

So....this week (or what is left of it) is all about sorting out my mum's Christmas present, and shopping for fabric (something I haven't done without my mum's help ever).

I will be with some luck:
 - designing and making 2 sets of napkin rings (felt)
 - starting to embroider a table runner (I found an amazing kit in Germany. As I am learning all of the stiches from scratch, I decided I could be allowed a template) (Well I've started! It's going to take Ages)
 - buying fabric, ribbon, zips etc for customised cushion covers
 - making a Christmas stocking pattern, or finding one
 - Investigating dried lavender

I don't own a sewing machine yet...I should be borrowing one until I can decide whether or not machine sewing is my thing. Therefore, each project might be quite slow moving. I will keep the site updated with progress though.

It's been really nice to see people visiting from all over the world. I would love to hear your comments on the few little bits I have done.  Or advice on my weekly projects.

Well, off to work now.

R xx