flat batteries

mine and the camera !!

I think i am having those January blues , i have lots of things to do
work and home wise but i just feel fed up .
I have manged to sort out 2 yes 2 black bin liners of rubbish
and i have lost count of the recycling done .
I am still not in my workroom my home is a mess and its stressing me out a little

I shall loose myself in my sewing tomorrow ,
i can drift away for hours playing with scraps of fabric then hopefully i will
feel refreshed and ready to get on with it what ever it is this week !
I have lots of things to take photo's of but that will have to wait until the batteries charge .


These are the only photo's i managed to take
before that dreaded flashing battery sign ended my plans for today .

I have listed some things on etsy i do have more to go on as
i have decided to give all my shops a go and fill them up with pretty things
and not just work on the website .
My plan is to build up sales and then slowly direct more traffic to my website
and then see how that goes .

Dont forget to check out the tutorial
i will be doing another one this week so please do keep checking in x x

Tutorial

so here we go firstly you will need

1. some felt
2. pretty lining fabric for the inside of your pouch
3. a strip of fabric to make the loop
4. a couple of buttons
5. thread
6. tracing / pattern paper
7. tape measure or ruler

so first of all i make up my pattern


you can make it any size you like .. mine is 11cms across by 12cms down
next we make the loop
cut a strip 3.5cms wide by 14cms long

fold in each end like so

next fold the strip in half

then fold this in again

now iron and stitch so it looks like this


put this to one side for later ..


when you have drawn your pattern you need to pin it to your felt
you need to cut 2 of these for the pouch outer
then cut 2 out of your lining fabric !!


Next give them a quick iron
(only one in the photo i didn't think you would need to see all four pieces after they had been ironed )

If you want to add some applique or embroidery or whatever to decorate your pouch
this is the time


i have appliqued a little bird that Kitty drew a while ago
(yes i do keep everything)
and i have free machined Kitty's name
i will do a simple applique tutorial next week if you like ?

You can of course decorate your pouch anyway you like !!!!

Now you can start to make up the pouch


put one piece of fabric and one piece of felt right sides together like so and pin


this makes one side now do the same with the other piece of fabric and felt
pin
stitch these together like so



now open out and iron out the seams


next you need to put both sides together with right sides on the inside



match up the seams like so



match up all the way around and pin



then when you are happy sew this up leaving a gap for turning
this should be on the lining piece

i sew from here all the way around to here

now the fun bit turn your pouch through
do this slowly and carefully
pushing out the sides as your go along


there you go a pouch
now iron the more time you spend ironing at the stage the nicer the finish
now stitch up the turning gap and snip the threads


turn the lining into the pouch and iron again


you can top stitch if you want
just take your time an go really slowly
just sew a little way in from the top all the way around


now you add the loop we made at the start
now measure up on your pouch where you want the loop to go
and stitch on like so


add a button to the front and away you go

now i know this seems to go on a bit but i wanted it to be clear so if you have not done any or only a little sewing before you can do this ... honest x

If you like this tutorial please leave me a comment and let me know and let others now too .. pass it on by all means !!
if you get stuck and need help please just ask me !


I would love to see photo's as well


If you would rather skip the making section you can go to my website
to find some i have made already !!

All change

a long time ago i made this
please excuse the poor photo it was taken with my old camera !!

over time things change and i stopped making this style of purse
ok the truth is a mastered the ZIP .. yay !!!
so zips in purses became my new thing

Then at some of the fairs last year i was asked for simple ipod or gadget covers

so i have given the little purse a bit of a face lift and a bit of applique
and i am please so far ...

I have removed the flap and used some of my mahoosive pile of felt (instead of Cotton duck)
a little red spot fabric and little applique stitching and some gorgeous toadstool fabric on the inside !!
I have also added a loop and button on the others i have made so far i did think of buttons or velcro but i hate buttonholes and i have run out of velcro !!!!

I have made some more like this but i cannot show you as they are pressies for peoples !!

I do like to change things and i know that this design is no way unique
I just drew a simple shape thats it .
I think we can all put our own twist on things so feel free to use this shape

this one is mine for my little phone

*** would anyone be interested on a simple tutorial for this pouch ?????

bunting !!

For a nice neat secure finish i make my bunting like this


first of all i cut out the flags and sew them up
press and turn them the right way and press again



sorry i dont have photos of this bit just yet but they will be here soon
then you need to cut the bias binding to the length you need


find the middle of your binding and then you can start to put your bunting together
leaving the same amount of space between each flag

you need to pin your flag to your binding like so

If you pin the top edge of your flag to the outside edge of the binding you can then fold the binding over but we will get to that in a mo !!

next you need to sew slowly along the line

this should be what you are left with ...

next to give a neat finish you need to snip off the thread ends and give it a good ironing
then you can fold the binding over like so

pin along the flag and all the way along the binding
you can also give your binding a quick iron to make it easier to sew
(but please be careful the iron is not to hot )

then sew all the way along keeping the line as straight as possible

and removing the pins as you go along ... i put in lots of pins so i have to sew slowly and then dont end up making a mess and having to unpick it all ;0)

so now you should have a lovely piece of bunting just snip the threads and away you go !!