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!

On the third day of Christmas ...

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

A fun little flower brooch!



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

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!

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!

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!

New addition to the HQ Team

 

This lovely lady has just joined the HQ team!  She's stylish AND she's fabric mad, just like the rest of us ... problem is, she's not got a name, poor love. Well we can't have that, can we?

Enter our competition (just for fun) to give her a fitting name by leaving a comment here on this post - and if you're passing through Wendover, give her a wave ... she might just wave back .... OK, maybe not but do pop in to our little shop upstairs at the Courtyard Gallery on the Highstreet. There's someone here 10am to 3pm Tuesday-Saturday and we LOVE to talk fabric - even if our new friend is a little quiet.

We'll have a look at your suggestions and choose a winner next week.

And if it's prizes you want, don't forget to enter our competition over at The Sewing Directory for your chance to win 3 metres of fabric of your choice!

Now - what SHALL we call you, missy?

 

 



 

Want to win 3 metres of fabric?

Yes, do I hear you cry?  Well head on over to the Sewing Directory, where the lovely Fiona is very kindly hosting a giveaway for us. 


The Prizes

1^st Prize – 3 metres of fabric or combination of fabrics totalling 3 metres from our website.

2^nd prize – 2 metres of fabric, or combination of fabrics totalling 2 metres from our website.

It's easy to enter - just head over to our website www.fabrichq.co.uk and have a mooch around, then head back to The Sewing Directory and fill out the form telling us how you think we could improve our website.

Easy Peasy!

All entries must be received by 6pm on Tuesday 24th of September - so enter now!

Guess what arrived in the post today?

More Briar Rose!

Oh didn't we have a lovely surprise when we got an email saying it was coming?  Not expecting it until next month we'd resigned ourselves to having an even longer wait but no - we now have these little lovelies to add to the other Briar Rose we received recently.



    





 

We also have a delicious Briar Rose fabric stack made up of one imperial fat quarter of each of the 20 fabrics in the Briar Rose collection.  There are only a limited number of these fat quarter yard stacks in the UK - we were so happy to get hold of these.  Grab them while you can!

 

 

Need a little inspiration? You can download the pattern for this beautiful smock dress on Heather Ross' website here.

 

 

Have a looksee at Plain Stitch Deb's beautifully crazy Briar Rose Hex quilt here.

 

Rae Hoeskstra designed this bright and simple quilt for Windham using Briar Rose.    Click here to visit the Windham site and download the pattern.

 

 

 

Fancy taking a class at HQ?

We've just announced our Autumn/Winter program of classes in Wendover.  Email now to book your place.