Showing posts with label felt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label felt. Show all posts

Thursday 5 March 2015

Hair clips

I love spending my time sewing and making patterns but often those spare time gaps during the day are so short that by the time I get my sewing stuff out, lay it on the table and get ready to start, it's almost time to do the school run, or my toddler wakes up from her afternoon nap or something else needs my attention.

For that reason I needed some really quick projects, something that I could make in these precious twenty minutes when it's quiet and there are no other distractions.

These small felt hair clips turned to be the perfect project. They are so quick and easy to make.







Till recently I had never used a hot glue gun, but now I can't imagine not having one. It's so useful in making accessories.

My daughter loves the hairclips, although she plays with them more than she wears them. I am lucky that I managed to photograph them all. You can find them around the house in the most unusual places. Yesterday I found one of them in my son's school bag and another one in his pencil case.







Friday 24 January 2014

The Dinosaur jumper

 
In one of my previous posts I have mentioned that I had to draw a dinosaur for a project. The so called "project" was my funny attempt to hide a few stains on my son's jumper. Everyone would agree that stains on kids clothes is something quite normal. I also agree that, but in my case there were a few important points:
1. I quite liked that jumper
2. The jumper had been worn just a couple of times
3. He was going to be able to wear it only at home
4. The jumper was large enough to fit him for an year ahead, which was leading to number
5. Apparently I had to see these stains every time he wore that jumper for a whole year

that is how the jumper looked before the makeover

Someone might think that this is the most important jumper in the world, after having written so much about it. All I wanted to do was just to explain why I had to applique that dinosaur on it.
Now you would probably ask "Why a dinosaur?". My boy had several books, featuring dinosaurs, so I thought I could easily trace or draw one of them. Amazingly when we started flipping through the pages none of them seemed to me attractive enough to be sewn on the jumper.


The funny thing was that my son liked the first dinosaur he saw and declared that he wanted that one. But with his body shape, it definitely wouldn't have been able to fulfil its purpose of hiding all the stains, plus it wasn't good-looking. And I certainly couldn't tell him "No, you can't have this, I don't like it" so I had to find a way to trick him out of it. I told him that the dinosaur in question didn't fancy orange colour, that's why he couldn't go on his orange jumper, but mummy would draw one that truly loved orange colour. That's how I ended up drawing a dinosaur.


 I took the body of one dinosaur, used the head of another, added some spikes and here it was. Not too bad, I think. And what was more important, my boy liked it.
For the applique I used felt. It is so easy to work with it. The only downside of felt is that after washing small bobbles (is that how they are called actually?) form on it.
So do you like the new look of the jumper or you think it's too bright?

 
If you like my dinosaur, feel free to use it for your own projects. Just click on the image below and save it on your computer, resize it if necessary and print it.

Thursday 16 January 2014

"Helicopter" cushion


"Mummy, sew me a helicopter", that's what my little son told me when I asked him what he wanted to have on his cushion.



To be honest I was quite relieved that he chose a helicopter. And I would have been equally relieved if he wanted a plane, or a ship or any vehicle. Just not planets, the Moon or a spacecraft.
I was terrified he was going to ask for them, as for some time he has been very interested in them, asking a lot of questions and often looking at them in his book of the Solar system.
I couldn't imagine how I was going to make the planets with some bright felt. Undoubtedly these would have been the most ridiculous, funny and unrecognizable planets, you have seen.
For the cushion itself I used soft polyester fabric, originally from a blanket I had bought from IKEA two years ago. I had bought a white blanket and a red one to use in my sewing projects rather than as blankets. They were quite reasonably priced at about 3.50 £ each, which came cheaper if you had to buy the fabric from a fabric shop.


I have almost used the whole white blanket making the helicopter cushion and a kind of blanket for the buggy. With the small piece of white fabric left, I was thinking to make baby shoes or booties for my little girl, but as she is growing, she wouldn't need such any more so I have to take these off my 'To do' list.
Now the Helicopter cushion proudly sits on my son's bed. Somehow it feels great knowing that something that I have done with so much love for him sleeps next to him.


If you fancy the helicopter applique, please feel free to use the template below. All you have to do is just click on the photo, save it, resize it if necessary and print it.








Monday 6 January 2014

"Pretty flowers" footmuff/blanket for the buggy


When my little girl was three months old and the spring was knocking on the door I decided to make her a kind of springtime footmuff for the buggy. It was not thick and warm like the winter ones but it was great for a warmer weather. I thought that if I used a blanket it would probably land on the ground every two minutes and by the end of the walk it would be all dirty. So I decided to make one that couldn't be kicked and thrown out of the buggy. So this was the result.



It is so easy to sew and decorate something for a girl - just add a few random flowers or butterflies and it already looks pretty. With boys, it's a different story. You have to come up with something else like cars, trains, ships, pirates and etc. In my case I had to draw a helicopter for one project and a dinosaur for another. I will write about them in my next posts. For me personally sewing for a girl leaves me with more ideas than sewing for a boy.


And talking about girlish things, let me show you a photo, I took a few days ago in a shop (I had to do it secretly because I wasn't sure the staff would be happy with that).


It is a vintage-looking car with flowers. It looks so girlish and sweet. I think that would make a great applique on a girl's top. If I manage to draw it nicely, of course. I am putting this on my ever growing "To-do" list. There are so many things I wish to do and such a lack of time.
I like to snap things with the camera while wandering through the streets with the buggy. I usually snap things that I would like to try to make or somehow reproduce in my projects. But not always. Sometimes I just take photos of things that I would definitely not make but which inspire me somehow.
And by the way, looking at that car now I find it more and more attractive. I start wondering if i should go and buy it. It would make a nice addition to my kid's bedroom.At 20 € it's not very cheap. I still got some time to think.

Thursday 26 December 2013

Christmas time

Christmas has always been special time for me. There is something very exciting about the whole preparation for it- taking out the decorations, choosing the dominant colour to decorate around the house, buying presents and wrapping them..
Then it comes Christmas Eve and it's time to set the table. In my native country of Bulgaria certain traditions are followed when setting the table. The number of dishes on the table should be uneven number, ideally seven or nine. There are foods like cooked beans and rice, dried fruits, nuts, garlic, honey, wine and bread which should be present on the table as it is believed that this would bring health,  luck and profusion in the home. The bread should be with round shape and a coin is hidden inside it. The person who gets the chunk of bread with the coin would be the luckiest in the house.
When the meal comes to an end, the whole family should leave the table at the same time, which is believed to keep them united and close in the new year. The table shouldn't be cleaned but left like this for the whole night. I especially like that part as all you have to do is toss down the last of the wine and head straight to bed for a well-earned rest. Of course the next morning you wouldn't want to get out of bed knowing what a mess you have left.


                          
But let me get back to Christmas decorations and gifts.
Last year I decided to make some felt ornaments for my parents' Christmas tree. My mom has always loved everything I have handmade, so i love making things for her. Here you can see some of them. The funny thing was that once they were ready, I put them aside, ready to be sent (unfortunately we couldn't spend the festive days with my parents so I had to send them by post). Half an hour later they were nowhere to be seen. After spending almost half an hour looking for them, I finnaly spotted them crammed in one of my son's trucks, ready to be "delivered" to his granny (at that time he was 2 years and 8 months).