a skulk of foxes

I've made some cute new little Fox cushions! These ones are juveniles, and three-quarters the size of the originals. 

These little foxes are looking for a new home. So if you would like to adopt one, they are waiting for you at Where the Fox Lives at The Tannery in Woolston, Christchurch. 

More bunting...

Another weekend, another couple of birthdays, and more bunting to be made for our Little Miss' buddies. I think I got this fabric from The Make Company. The cute bias binding came from Fabric Vision. 

This fabric came from my stash, with bias binding from Fabric Vision. Here is the link to my previous blog, complete with bunting pattern dimensions and step by step instructions for constructing your own versions. 

Happy sewing! 

Girly bunting for our birthday buddies - tutorial

'Tis the season for birthday parties! With so many toy options available and quite a lot of indecision about which to choose, Little Miss and I have decided to go home-made in our gift giving. This is something we have often previously done, and I guess it's a response to the dilemma of trying to find something new and different for our little buddies on their birthdays. 

This bunting is super easy to make. All you need is 40cm of fabric and about 2.5 metres of pretty bias binding. If your fabric has a directional pattern, then you will need 60cm of fabric, or else 4 of the bunting patches will be up the wrong way!

Make your bunting pattern by measuring out a triangle that is 18cm across the top and measures 17.5cm from the top, through the centre, to the tip. This pattern includes a 1cm seam on all sides.

Fold the fabric in half, so it's doubled over with the selvage edges matching. 

Cut out 9 pairs of bunting flags. You will need to turn the shape 180 degrees and cut 4 of the pairs out of the gaps facing the other way. If it's a fabric with a directional pattern, then cut them out all facing the same way.

With the right sides of the fabric facing each other, pin all the flag pairs together. Sew the long sides of the triangles using a 1cm seam, leaving the tops open.

Trim the extra fabric from the tip as shown. 

Turn all the flags in the right way and iron each one flat. 

Cut the protruding piece of seam from the open end of each side.

The bias binding should be sitting with the short side facing upwards. Measure out 50cm of the binding. At that point, position the first flag between the halves of the binding and pin in place.

Measure a 4cm gap between flags, then position another flag. 

Continue to measure and pin until all the flags are in position. Trim the finished end of the bias binding off at 50cm. 

Fold the end of the bias over making a little tuck in the middle so the raw edge doesn't stick out. 

Fold the bias together and pin in place. 

Starting from the pinned end of the bias, sew the end, then along the open edge, through the flags, right to the other end. Finish by sewing across the end of the bias.  

And you're done! 


Happy sewing everyone. 

A pretty and practical new pencil case for Year 2 - pattern and tutorial

At this stage in the year the holidays start to seem like an increasingly distant memory. The weather is consistently hot, work is well underway for the year and Little Miss is back to school. Moving into Year 2 has its perks, like being allowed your very own pencil case. Year 1 girls have an open container (just imagine the sound of a class full of year 1's opening and shutting their new pencil cases constantly throughout the lesson, and you will realise that lid-less ice cream containers have their advantages). I wanted to make her a case that would be pretty and practical, and match the theme of the reading bag I made her previously. Like the reading bag, all that is required is a couple of complimentary fat quarters, as well as two heavy duty zips. In this case I used open-ended zips and sewed the ends shut; only because they were the only chunky, plastic ones available at the time. 

I designed the case so it has a small pocket for the more frequently used items, and a large main compartment for coloured pencil, felts, glue stick and so on. I got the outer fabric from Bolt of Cloth in The Tannery in Christchurch, and the lining came from my stash. 

Start by drawing out a pattern: 20cm x 30cm for the main panels, and 12cm x 30cm for the side pocket. 

Cut 2 main panels from the heavier Kokka fabric and two from the lining fabric, and cut one pocket panel from both the heavy fabric and the lining. 





If you have a directional pattern, think about how it will flow around the pencil case and ensure you cut accordingly. 

 If you are using open ended zips, start by sewing the ends so they don't undo later.

Starting with the smaller side pocket pieces, pin and stitch the zip onto the main fabric panel.

Now sew the lining fabric, right sides against the back of the zip so that the zip seam is enclosed.

Finish the process by under-stitching the seam: to do this sew the lining fabric onto the seam. This will ensure the lining is held back from the zip.





Press the whole lot into place and set aside while you sew the main side panels.

Attach the second zip to the main panels. Pin and sew the zip and fabric right-sides-together to the zip as shown. 

At this stage I sewed a printed cloth name label onto the outside of the case.

Leave each end of the zip/main fabric seams sewn 1cm short of the edge of the fabric.

Do this on both sides of the zip. 



Now attach the lining by placing it right sides towards the back of the zip so all the seams are enclosed.

Also leave the ends of the zip/lining seams short by 1cm at each end.










Iron into place. 

Repeat for the other side of the zip.

Now attach the side pocket onto the main side panel by placing both panels right-sides-together in a position where the bottom seam of the case will match when the pocket is folded back. 

Sew into place and fold back and iron. 













Fold the main fabric panels and the lining panels right-sides-together with the zip in the middle. Pin into place. Starting sewing from 1.5cm below the closed end of the zip as shown. 

Sew around the lining bag, leaving a 10cm gap at the bottom of the lining. This is to turn the whole case in the right way once your finished.

From the lining, sew over the open end of the zip as shown, and around the main panels of fabric until you arrive back at the closed end of the zip. Finish 1.5cm from the zip, (as shown in the previous picture) back-tack, leaving a gap where the end of the zip will poke through the end of the bag once it is turned in the right way. 

This picture shows the gap left in the lining; use it to turn the whole pencil case out to the right side, thus enclosing all the seams between the lining and outer fabric.

Ensure the corners of the main fabric are trimmed and well turned out so they form nice sharp points.

Pin and sew the opening in the lining shut. Then push the lining into the main bag.

Turn the closed end of the zip out so the corner sits square and the end of the zip remains inside the lining of the bag as shown.

Fold the open end of the zip together and the lining inside as shown and zip up the case. 

Press the pencil case seams nice and flat, and voila! One very practical little girl's pencil case. 
Happy sewing and happy school days everyone!

Make a Cute Little Handmade Charm Bracelet

Here is a cute little idea for a simple cloth and ribbon 'charm bracelet' that the little girls in your life will love. All that's needed is a scrap of fabric, matching organza ribbon and an assortment of charms and buttons. 

It takes very little time to complete, so is a perfect little gift. I made two of the bands, so I could keep one spare for up coming birthdays.

Start by cutting out the 14.5cm x 11.5cm main band piece. The size of the band can be varied. Measure and cut a 50cm length of 4cm wide organza ribbon. These measurements allow for 1.5cm seams. 

With the right sides of the fabric together, sew the strip together along the long edge using a 1.5cm seam. 

Turn the strip in the right way and position the seam in the centre of the back of the strip - as shown on the bottom panel in the photo. 





Tuck the raw edges in at each end and pin as shown in the photos.

Take the organza ribbon and fold the raw ends over twice.

Using a zig-zag stitch sew across the ends to prevent them from fraying.











Match the centre point of the organza with
the centre point of the fabric band and pin into place. Pin the remainder of the band and ribbon together.

Using matching thread, top stitch the ribbon to the fabric band. 


Now assemble your collection of charms, button and beads, arrange them onto the band in whatever pattern you might like, then hand sew them into place. 

The ribbon ties around any size wrist making it a perfect gift. Our little blossom was very happy to choose the selection of bits and pieces she would like sewn onto her charm bracelet. She chose the colours too. No surprises with the pink and blue ribbon combo! 

Happy sewing xx

Make your own cute laptop or tablet bag

With our ageing laptop starting to do the 'overheating thing' and all the seasonal sales, the time was right to trade up to a mobile device. Remember the days when the old laptops seemed so small? Anyway, a smaller, lighter laptop calls for a smaller, lighter bag to carry it around in. Inspired by the reading bags I have made for our daughter and her buddies, I made this variation.

I included a separate flap compartment for the cords and charger: nothing worse them misplacing those. The fabric is from Bolt of Cloth. Love that place. The floral bias binding is from Fabric Vision. This basic guide can be adjusted to fit whatever device you happen to have - any thing from ipad, to laptop, to tablet. 

Use the device as a size guide and make sure to allow at least 4cm extra fabric, plus enough for the flap, around the device. 

For the Surface 3 cover, I allowed 26cm for the short edges and 49cm for the long edges. Cut two matching pieces of the main fabric to this size. 

Cut one of the main pieces into two to form the separate devise and cord pocket flap panels. 

The devise pocket panel measures 26 x 34cm, the cord pocket panel measures 26 x 15cm. 

Use the main pieces as a pattern template to cut out the lining panels. Match them up to their main panels as shown. 

Machine stitch around each panel using a half cm seam to secure the main fabric to the lining. 

Sew the Bias binding onto each of the pocket openings.

Start by pinning the short edge of the bias binding onto the edge of the fabric.  

Sew down the fold, being careful not to stretch the binding.

Once the short edge is sewn, fold the binding over the seam and secure it so the long edge overlaps the first line of stitching. 

That way the 'stitch-in-the-ditch' will catch the wider underside of the bias binding. 
The stitching should be right up against the previously stitched binding, as shown in the picture.  

The right side of the finished binding. 

At this stage it is a good idea to sew on the two sets of velcro strips. 

For the flap pocket, I cut the width of the hook tap in half, as I didn't want to have too much of it around to catch on everything that was being put into the pocket.

Position it inside the pocket panel and top-stitch into place.



The stitching will be visible on the outside of the pocket - as shown in the picture on the right

Pin the flap cord pocket onto the main panel of the bag in order to determine the placement of the opposing fluffy half of the velcro. I left this half in one piece in order to allow plenty of space to fix the velcro together.

Top-stitch it into place as shown. The stitching from this will also be visible on the outside of the bag. It forms part of the fold of the flap.










Place another length of hook velcro onto the outside of the other end of the flap pocket and top stitch it into place. This is the velcro that will secure the pocket bag flap onto the main bag.

Pin both pockets to the main outside panel of the bag and put all the cords and the device into the pockets. 

Fold the flap over to determine where the fluffy velcro should be placed in order to comfortably close the bag.

Pin the velcro strip in place and top-stitch to secure.

Place all the panels together. Overlap the bias binding at the pocket mouths so the flap pocket bias is underneath the main device pocket opening.

Attach the two short ends of the bag together using the bias binding. If you have stripy pattern fabric, now is the time to make sure they match together.

Now use the bias binding to sew up the long edges of the bag.  Leave extra binding at the ends in order to fold them in before the second row of sewing. 

Here is the underside of the tucked in end of the bias ready for the stitch-in-a- ditch to secure it.












The finished underside of the bias binding.

Give the bag a good iron, and away you go. Here is the finished, closed bag complete with its contents. Happy sewing!