I know we haven’t had Halloween yet but I’ve been itching to show you our wooden Christmas tree. I’ve seen lots of variations of wooden Christmas trees using driftwood so every time we were at the seaside I would scour the beach for suitable pieces. After months of looking and not finding I gave up and decided small branches from the local woods would do just as well! I also found a piece of scaffolding wood outside our house so knew this project was meant to be. How to make a wooden Christmas tree You will need: a selection of…
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The Knitting and Stitching Show is the highlight of my year. If you haven’t heard of it before it’s the textile event of the year, featuring hundreds of exhibitors, galleries from leading artists and groups, plus hundreds of workshops. I’ve gone every year since I heard about it but last year was really strict with myself and only bought items I actually needed or would make. This worked pretty well and I made everything I bought except one (due to an elusive Moda quilt pack). This year I was lucky enough to go with a friend and we took our…
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I love bunting and I love making my own gift tags and I wanted to share a way of making your own simple stamp to decorate gift tags which I originally saw on pinterest. We seem to have a glut of pencils, the type with a rubber on the end. I took one of these and, using a scalpel, cut three sides of the rubber away to leave a bunting shape. This can then be used on an ink pad to create your own small garland of bunting on a piece of card. To finish, punch a hole in your…
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It definitely feels like Autumn don’t you think? Not just the wind and the rain but the nights drawing in. You can’t walk through the park for kicking the fallen leaves. I’ve been dying to take my son for a walk in the park and when we did we made sure we collected tons of pretty leaves, twigs and conkers to show daddy. It made me wonder if it was possible to make something a bit longer lasting to brighten up the house and so we made autumnal felt leaves. I just googled for some templates of suitable leaves, cut…
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A couple of weeks ago Edward got his first pillow (which he is slowly getting used to!) and as the weather has been so cool we also thought it was time to introduce a duvet too. His nursery has a Cath Kidston vibe so I thought I would make a patchwork duvet cover using some of my favourite blue fabrics, mainly Cath Kidston, Amy Butler, Michael Miller and Orla Kiely. I wanted to make it something that Edward will be able to use for a long time so picked fabrics that he will like, including plenty of cowboy and Indian…
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At the weekend we headed to the South Bank for Vintage @Southbank. We were lucky enough to go last year when it was at Goodwood and knew to head straight for the Vintage High Street and Vintage Marketplace. There were lots of goodies to look at, from clothes to accessories to furniture. I visited the Cath Kidston pop up shop and bought a new fabric patch to add to Edward’s badge blanket. The displays were lovely as usual. I always enjoy looking round a Cath Kidston shop and I spotted some children’s bags made from beautiful vintage style animal fabric…
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I was recently asked if I would like to try some DYLON fabric dyes and I umm-ed and ahh-ed for a few minutes, quickly racking my brain just how I could use them. I soon remembered that I had always wanted to dye a woollen blanket so purchased a beautiful vintage cream blanket with a Snugdown label (which shows it was produced by the Co-operative Wholesale Society). How to use fabric dye on wool You will need a wool blanket and some Dylon fabric dye (for hand use rather than machine) The blanket I bought was huge so I cut…
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Edward is used to boats as we often travel by car ferry or catamaran to visit family on the Isle of Wight. Last week we managed a couple of trips by boat which Edward loved. He really enjoyed holding on to the side of the boat and looking over the side. He’s always loved water play and our weekly swim sessions so this was a great crafty project for us. Looking around the house we had limited supplies so I thought we would make a cork sail boat, reminiscent of the boat in which Julia sails to the island. Sadly…
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I have some business cards and wanted to make a fabric business card holder to keep them in order in my handbag. This project took less than 30 minutes and you can make them for yourself or as presents as they can be used to hold business cards, credit cards or photographs of grandchildren! How to make a business card holder 1. Choose two pieces of fabric and cut 5″ x 10″. You’ll also need a piece of interfacing (to give it some stiffness) cut to the same size. 2. Place the pieces of fabric right sides together with the…
