Cloud Cushions!

I've been staring at my fabric stash and trying to think of something to with it all. I wanted to practice my invisible stitching which is something I've yet to master so I thought I'd whip up a cute little cushion.

So why not a cloud!
These are really simple and you can even change the shape if you want to something festive or just something to match your decor.

First up I made a cloud template, I just taped together 4 sheets of A4 together, drew out a cloud shape and cut it out.

I took my fabric, which like me you may need to iron so it's crease free. I have a long piece which I folded in half so that once I cut out I will have two of my cloud shapes.

Pin your template down to your fabric and carefully cut out the shape.

Take your two pieces and place them good side together, like above, then pin together.

Sew around almost all of your cloud leaving a 3/4 inch gap so you can stuff your pillow. If you have a  cat like me you is obsessed with anything sewing probably best to keep them away from your machine. (Don't worry this was turned off so I couldn't catch her at all).

Once I'd sewn round the cloud I went round and added little cuts so once I turned it the right way out the edges would be as smooth as possible. Make sure you don't cut throw you sewing though.

Turn your cloud the right way out and get your stuffing at the ready. I actually used the inside of a cheap cushion I wasn't using but you can easily buy it at craft shops or on Amazon.

Once you've completely stuffed your cushion get ready to sew you invisible stitch! As I'm still new at this stitch and haven't quite perfected it yet I thought I'd include a link here which is what I used to teach myself. But once I've figured it out I promise I'll post a tutorial.

Once you're finished plump up your cushion and pop it into place!

I'm pretty sure I'll be making this cushion in lots of different shapes! Especially for Christmas it'll look super! 

Katy xx

Sewing essentials

I've been sewing for quite a while now, I began with the little things like sewing up a hole in a pair of tights or a pocket and have moved on to bigger things like cushion covers and hopefully dresses and skirts soon.

Since I've posted a couple of sewing tutorials I thought a little 'Sewing Essentials' post might be in order. So here are a couple of things that I think every new sewer should have to hand when they get started!

1. Needles of various sizes, and lots of them. You will loose them and never find them again, sometimes even mid sewing.

2. All the basic coloured threads black, white, brown, navy. If like me you have a cat who is obsessed with stealing them you'll probably need extras.

3.Pins and lots of them. They will be easily lost and you will always need about a million more than you think you need. Similar to bobby pins. Somehow they will mysteriously disappear over time until you're left with a single lonely pin which is useless to you.

4. Scissors. Pinking sheers. Fabric scissors. Sounds like a lot of different types right? You'd be surprised. I have strictly fabric scissors and will get crazy if someone uses them for other purposes. Same with my pinking sheers (the zigzag ones) specific to fabric.

A little added kitten in there too! She loves to play with anything sewing related.

5. Tape measure. Another one of those things you'll probably lose every other day. But a good tape measure will always come in handy even for the littlest sewing projects.

So get started and I'd love to see what you're learning or trying out! I want to give Crochet a go!

Have fun!
Katy xx

Weekends..

Hello! I hope you've all had a lovely weekend. 

G and I discovered the best fruit and vegetable stall our local market so we've been going through fresh food at a crazy rate.

On Saturday we made eggs and fresh grilled vegetables. So yummy! Local food is definitely the best kind of food. 

Anthropologie deliveries! YAY! I'm crazy for Anthro and there's always something I could add to my growing kitchen. This cute little egg crate has been on my wish list so thank you for my birthday discount Anthro!

We treated ourselves to a waffle maker this weekend and had such a good breakfast on Sunday! Seriously how have I survived without one of these? Try the lovely Lemon Sugar's waffle recipe for the greatest waffle ever (I promise)!

I also had fun and some down time making the sweetest DIY Hostess Apron from Stylemepretty!

Using fabric that had been looking for a home and tweaking a few things here and there I ended up with such a cute little apron I'll surely be making for everyone I know!

My pleats aren't perfect as this was actually the first time I've ever done them but I still love it! The perfect use for this fabric. 

It's been a crazy Monday and feels like the week should be over already but only a few more days and I'll be (almost) free from University for the Summer! 

So watch out for a few exciting things happening this next few weeks!

Katy!

Handmade: Napkins

Pinterest is one of my big inspirations, it's such an easy and simple way to find examples of anything you want. One thing I spotted recently was hand embroidered napkins. I've very much been getting back into hand embroidery lately (check out my previous post for constellation embroidery), I find it's so easy to personalise something for your home with this technique and it's no where near as difficult as people think.

Before I made my napkins I did a little research to find out the best fabric for their purpose and settled on a natural coloured cotton linen blend. It's a thick fabric but sewable, and absorbent so hopefully it will wipe up any spills. (Plus I'm going to use the left over to make tea towels!) I got my material from eBay at Dottychic11.

These are really easy to make and you can match them to you colour scheme. Mine is a minty green!

I took my fabric and cut it into 10" by 20" pieces. To do this I used pinking shears all the way round which will stop the fabric from fraying on the raw edges. 

I then hemmed the edges of the fabric folding the corners into a neat point in the way shown in the pictures below. 

1.

 2. Next fold the fabric next to that over on both sides so as to create a sharp point.

4.

Pin this in place, from there fold the edges over by about a centimetre all the way around and pin in place. 

Sew along these edges with a simple stitch on your machine, careful with the corners as your machine might struggle so just take it slow and make sure to feed the fabric through carefully. If your machine can't handle these you can hand sew the corners and machine the rest.

Once your finished hemming you can decide on what you want to embroider on to your napkins.
I chose the word 'Yum' in a mint green embroidery thread, to go with my theme.
I lightly sketched on the word I wanted to embroider in the style I wanted and popped it in the embroidery hoop.

For my stitching I chose a split stitch something which is new to me but I think ended up looking quite good. 

For this you do a normal stitch first then come back up halfway through said stitch like in the picture above. Keep repeating this process as along all of your word. The final product should look something like below.

I am really pleased with the final product. I now have matching napkins that fit in my colour scheme and of course have that handmade look which I love. 

So get sewing! Hand embroidery is so much simpler than people think and looks impressive. Plus isn't it nice when someone asks where they came from and you can say they're all you! 

What do your napkins look like? 

Katy

Hand Embroidery: Constellations

Constellations are so pretty and ever since I heard the Jack Johnson song Constellations I've been a little bit in love.
So embroidering constellations seemed like a logical step to include them in my home.

The things you'll need are: 

Your chosen constellations, 

Needles,

Fabric- I think embroidery is a perfect time to use up the scraps you might have laying around,

Coloured embroidery thread, 

Pencil, 

Embroidery hoop, 

First of all look for your chosen constellations. I just did a quick google search and loads of images popped up, draw these down on a scrap of paper so you have them to hand. 

Choose which of your constellations you’re going to embroider, and lightly draw them on to your fabric. It’s easier to draw on the fabric not in your hoop and then pop it in when your ready to sew. 
I've chosen Ursa Major and Ursa Minor: 

Next step pop your fabric in your embroidery hoop. 

Thread wise I use embroidery thread which usually comes in a string made up of around 6 thinner threads, I split these in to two groups of three so I get a thinner line when I sew. But if you want yours thicker or thinner then just change up how many of these threads you use.

Next up thread your needle and tie a knot in the other end as you usually would with hand sewing. 

Start of with a cross, this is to mark each spot where the stars are on your constellation. 

Then connect this to your next marked point with a straight line. 

Do this for all of your constellation until you've connected all of your 'stars'. 

To do the crosses can sometimes get more difficult especially around the corner of shapes, so here's a little step by step: 

Once you've finished connecting all of your 'stars' your embroidery should look like 4 in the step by step above and something like this...

A simple way to finish your embroidery at the back of your fabric is like below:

Firstly slide your needle underneath the nearest strings of thread like in 1. This will make a little loop like you see in 2. slip your needle through the loop and pull tight. Like in 3. you should end up with a tight knot. You might want to repeat this once more to make sure the knot will hold and then snip the end of the thread short. 

These are really easy to do and you can do them in which ever constellation you like.
I've also done the Aries constellation (Me) and the Scorpius constellation (G) underlined with our dates of birth.

Embroidery is much simpler than everyone thinks, you can embroider anything you like, I'm in the process of doing a geometric pattern in a selection of bright colours. Keep your eyes pealed for a how to. 

I'd love to hear about anyone else's embroidery and techniques!?

Katy