• felt leaves
    Autumn - crafts - handmade - sewing - tutorial

    Felt autumn leaves

    September 15, 2011 - By 

    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…

  • Gingerbread house finds - sewing - vintage

    Gingerbread house finds

    September 4, 2011 - By 

    I’m a bit of a craft addict and if I didn’t have my hobbies sometimes I think I would go crazy. I love having several projects on the go and at the moment I am planning some appliqued tshirts for Edward, a cot cover/crawling blanket for the Second Baby as well as some fun autumn and Christmas crafts. Unfortunately we don’t have much space for my craft supplies so they are dotted around the gingerbread house until we move somewhere bigger next year. As well as my lovely Cath Kidston sewing  basket and shelves of sewing books I have jars…

  • Cath Kidston - crafts - sewing - tutorial

    How to make a duvet cover

    August 27, 2011 - By 

    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…

  • Cath Kidston - crafts - handmade - sewing - tutorial - vintage

    Fabric bracelet a la Cath Kidston

    August 4, 2011 - By 

    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…

  • Cath Kidston - crafts - sewing - tutorial

    How to re-size a pillowcase

    July 21, 2011 - By 

    Edward’s bedtime routine is pj’s, bottle and climbing the stairs to his bedroom. In his bedroom he has a cuddle with both of us and we give him his dummy and a little noo noo (made from an old muslin) to take to bed. I’m not sure how it started but we’ve done this for months and it’s very cute to see. For a long time Edward has put the muslin under his chin and cuddled up with it in his cot and lately I’ve been thinking he’s ready for a pillow to lie on. I picked up a lovely…

  • how to make a fabric business card holder
    crafts - Handmade gifts - sewing - tutorial

    How to make a business card holder

    July 13, 2011 - By 

    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…

  • A Monthly Make 2011 - crafts - handmade - Patchwork & Quilting - sewing - swap

    Birds mini art quilt

    June 30, 2011 - By 

    I signed up to the Summer 2011 Handmade Gift Exchange and exchanged a couple of emails with my partner who seems to have similar interests to me. I’ve been meaning to make something from Scandinavian Stitches for a while, the book is full of amazing projects, and I put my own spin on the birds mini art quilt. I got to use my favourite bondaweb for the bird applique (which I finally feel I’ve mastered) although missed out the quilting as I didn’t want to ruin the quilt top! I also got to try some freehand machine stitching on my…

  • Gingerbread house finds - sewing - vintage

    Vintage tins

    June 19, 2011 - By 

    I’ve been on the look out for a suitable tin for my button stash. I inherited a great collection of buttons from my grandmother, the buttons survived but not her old tin. Since then they’ve been stored in various boxes and even an old sweetie jar. Along the way I’ve picked up some lovely tins:   But none have been large enough, until I found this old Cadbury’s Chocolate Biscuit tin in a charity shop. I think it really complements my vintage button stash and looks great alongside all my vintage thread boxes, patterns and ric rac. I’m linking up…

  • Gingerbread house finds - handmade - sewing - vintage

    Vintage embroidery

    May 8, 2011 - By 

    I’m a bit of a hoarder, probably not surprising that I decided to become a curator. It started off with rubbers, then My Little Pony stickers, vintage postcards,  and since I’ve been a grown up, fabric. My hoarding instincts got so bad I had to limit the number of fabric shops I went to, only going in if I needed something specific. However there is one exception to the current moratorium on fabric buying and that is vintage embroidered napkins and tablecloths. I can’t bear to see something that has been stitched by hand being sold for 50p so I…