Wednesday 30 October 2013

On the fifth day of Christmas ....

Lisa at Sew Blue Poppy gave to me .....

a fabric Christmas card tutorial
 
https://www.facebook.com/SewBluePoppy

Lisa creates beautiful handmade fabric gifts using free hand machine embroidery.
 
From personalised bunting and egg cosies ....

https://www.facebook.com/SewBluePoppyhttps://www.facebook.com/SewBluePoppy
 
... to make-up bags and cushions.   

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Lisa's sense of fun and colour shine through in all of her designs. If you would like to find out more or commission a piece from this very talented lady, come see some of her work at Fabric HQ, The Barn Courtyard, Wendover or contact her via her facebook page

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In this tutorial she shows you how to use this technique to make your very own Christmas cards that are guaranteed to take pride of place on the recipient's mantelpiece this holiday season.



1.  Firstly, you will need some cardstock. You can either buy large sheets of card and cut to size or you can buy ready cut packs of cards with envelopes.

I am using 5x5 inch cream ready cut card.
2.  Now you will need to choose some backing fabric. This is the fabric onto which you will sew your appliqué design and then sew to your card.
 
I have chosen some lovely natural linen.
You will need to cut a square of this fabric slightly smaller than the size of your card. In my case, I have cut out a 4x4 inch square.
 
3.  Next, it’s all about your appliqué design. Choose some lovely Christmassy fabric and cut out your shape. I drew my design freehand on some tracing paper first and once I was happy with the shape, transferred this to the fabric and carefully cut it out.
4.  Next comes some wonderful free hand machine embroidery.  In order to set your machine up for free hand machine embroidery, you must remember these important rules;

·         Drop the feed dog on your machine. You want your fabric to be able to move freely under the needle so make sure that this is dropped below the metal plate on your sewing machine.

·         Take off your sewing foot. If you have an embroidery foot with your sewing machine, then attach this now. Otherwise you can use the machine without a foot but please please don’t sew your fingers! Take great care to keep your fingers away from the needle.

·         Lastly, change your stitch length to zero and you are ready to go.

Position your appliqué fabric on top of your square and pin it in place. As the square of fabric is too small to use an embroidery hoop I find that pinning a piece of paper underneath the fabric square helps to stabilise the fabric while you sew.
Sew all the way around the edge of your appliqué fabric.  Don’t worry if you have some wobbly lines, this is the joy of machine embroidery and it will make each card you make unique. 
 
5.  Before you do anything further, remember to set your machine back up for normal sewing. Feed dog back in the up position, stitch length returned to normal and sewing foot back onto your machine.
 
6.  Next add any embellishments. I have chosen a piece of lace, a vintage button and some raffia but the options are endless. Hand or machine sew these in place before moving onto the next step.
7.  Now it is time to sew your fabric square onto your card. I used a straight stitch but a zigzag stitch would work well too. Sew around the outside of your fabric square onto the front of your card and trim any loose ends.

8.  Ta da! Your lovely handmade fabric Christmas card is complete. Now all you need to do is decide who the lucky recipient is going to be and spread a little Christmas joy.
 
Thank you so much Lisa for this beautiful tutorial.  Come back next Wednesday for the next of our great festive gift ideas! 

Saturday 26 October 2013

Ripley's Halloween Challenge

Halloween is just around the corner so this week Ripley insisted on wearing her witchy star frock.  She also took a shine to these two fiendish fabrics.  Do you know what they are?
 
 
 
Once a month we post a pic of Ripley here on the blog.  Your mission, if you choose to accept, is to go visit our website and tell us which fabric she is sporting.  In order to enter you need to do two things:
 
1 - add a comment on the post telling us what you'd make with this fabric, or alternatively, what's on your sewing table that week.
 
2 - tell us the name of the fabric in an email sent to hello@fabrichq.co.uk
 
Whatever you do, DO NOT mention the name of the fabric on your comment on the post - sort of defeats the whole object, doesn't it?
 
We'll then pick a winner just before the next Ripley Challenge and send you a fat quarter of a fabric of your choice. Et Voila! Easy peasy way to build your stack.
 
So, this week Ripley is mainly wearing ...... (shhhh - just in an email - remember!)
 
We also have a whole lot of fabrics we think would be perfect for your Halloween project
 
 
Please do remember we're running at only 50% this week so orders will be slower than usual getting out to you. If you're quick, you might just get these for next weekend if you're planning a Halloween party.
 
 
 
Whatever you're making, get into the Halloween mood and have a spooktacular week!
Mwahh...ha...ha...ha...haaaaaa....... cue MJ's Thriller ....
 
 

Wednesday 23 October 2013

On the fourth day of Christmas ...

... we made for our little ones ....

Cloud Cushions!


These look fab bunched together on a bed or lined up on a shelf.  The perfect project for today - the weather being what it is. 




So, how to make these ....

 
1. take your piece of fabric and fold in half or cut an place good sides together if the pattern has a right way up.  Otherwise you'll end up with one side upside-down - not a good look!
 
 
2. draw a cloud onto a piece of paper, cut out and lay onto your fabric with at least 1cm around the edges (this will form your seam allowance).
 
 
3. Draw around your template...
 
 
4. ...then pin the two halves of your fabric together.
 
 
5. Cut around the line leaving your 1cm seam allowance all the way round.
 
 
6. Sew around the line ...
 
 
7. ... but leave a  7-10cm gap in the middle of the bottom.  Backstitch well to secure at the beginning and end of the stitched line.
 
 
8. snip along the curved seam allowance so that the fabric sits nicely when turned right-way-round. 
 
 
9. Be especially careful to snip into (but not over the stitching!) the inverted corners to get these bits nice and pointy. 
 
10. Turn in the right way and give it a good press. Take care when pressing under the open seam allowance at the bottom so that you get a nice straight bottom! 
 
 
11. Stuff with your favourite stuffing (we LOVE wool balls) and handstitch the gap at the bottom.  You now have your first cloud cushion!
 
These look brilliant in little clusters. Never really understood Wordsworth's 'I wandered lonely as a cloud' - in my experience, the real things very seldom hang about on their own - so why should yours?  Grab some contrasting or complimentary fabrics and whip up a stormy sky scene of your very own.  Great presents for kids (just think about how much space two or three of these would take up in their stockings!) and so quick to run up it almost feels like cheating.  In fact, the longest part is getting them nicely stuffed - long but strangely satisfying....
 
We used Lotta's Ruta navy, Amy Schimler's Birds in Flight but they would also look amazing in any of these, to name but a few.
 
 
 



 
On with your Christmas making, peeps - only 9 weeks to go!

Wednesday 16 October 2013

On the third day of Christmas ...

... Lucy Levenson gave to me ....

A fun little flower brooch!



See our new blog for this lovely tutorial....

Wednesday 9 October 2013

On the second day of Christmas ....

... I gave myself ....

A fabulous Hostess Apron! This is a really useful but also downright fun hostess pinny to wear over the Christmas season - see our new blog for this tutorial plus updated version!



Sunday 6 October 2013

and they call her ....

Ripley!
 
And the winner is Iris!  Congratulations Iris - I'll be in touch for you to let us know which is your fabric of choice. Don't forget to keep checking back to see what Ripley is wearing next for your chance to win a fat quarter of one of our fabrics.
 
 
Thanks to all who came up with names for the newest recruit at Wendover HQ.  We particularly liked Ziggy, Fabby Gabby and Peggy but it's just got to be Ripley - aka Sigourney Weaver - queen of the iconic Alien films.  She's quite the Amazonian standing a good 6ft tall in bare feet - and with that short hair and 'DON'T MESS WITH ME' look, we couldn't help ourselves! Thanks to diycouture for suggesting it on the twitter #sewingsocial last month.
 
Now time for the first Ripley Challenge.  Once a month we'll post a pic of Ripley here on the blog.  Your mission, if you choose to accept, is to go visit our website and tell us which fabric she is sporting.  In order to enter you need to do two things:
 
1 - add a comment on the post telling us what you'd make with this fabric, or alternatively, what's on your sewing table that week.
 
2 - tell us the name of the fabric in an email sent to hello@fabrichq.co.uk
 
Whatever you do, DO NOT mention the name of the fabric on your comment on the post - sort of defeats the whole object, doesn't it?
 
We'll then pick a winner at random next Saturday and send you a fat quarter of a fabric of your choice. Et Voila! Easy peasy way to build your stack.
 
So, this week Ripley is mainly wearing ...... (shhhh - just in an email - remember!)
Sorry, competition closed for this month.  Check back soon for the next Ripley Challenge! 
 

Don't forget to comment below telling us what you're sewing or want to sew with this fabric. Also to check back on Wednesday for the second instalment of our 12 days of Christmas project series.

Good luck, y'all!

Wednesday 2 October 2013

On the first day of Christmas ....


Sue Kavanagh of Liberty Rose gave to me: a tutorial on ...



Yes it's a little way off to Christmas yet with barely a whiff of autumnal chill to the air but for those of you vowing to be organised this year - we thought we'd start to share a bit of crafting loveliness now.  The idea is that we bring you 12 projects - one each week from now until the week before the big day.  That way you've got plenty of time to have a go at them all without getting flustered trying to fit them all in.  We have enlisted the help of some truly amazing makers to help smooth the path to Chrimbo and to kick off we have HQ's neighbour at the Barn Courtyard, Wendover - Sue Kavanagh of Liberty Rose.
 
Liberty Rose is a tiny lifestyle store selling vintage found objects and unique handmade gifts, cards and things for the home.
 
Nestled in the heart of the Chilterns, she just happens to be right next door to the Courtyard Gallery in Wendover where we have our little shop and oh - it's dangerous having her so close!
 
 
 
I think in my mind I have given almost everything in her shop a home - mainly my own - but best of all, Sue takes commissions!
 
 
 
So if any of her creations have turned your head, you can have your very own bespoke version.  A little piece of French inspired beauty could be yours.  Particularly delectable are her little inspiration packs which make beautiful and unique gifts.
 
 
 
But on with the creative cleverness - how to make your very own, very grown-up advent calendar (not a moulded chocolate in sight!) Take it away Sue....
 
 






 











Now doesn't that look beautiful? Thanks for sharing this with us, Sue.

Pop back next week when we will be sharing another project designed to help you on your way to a very crafty Christmas.

Enjoy your week!