Cushion Cover

Just before Christmas, I made up a simple cushion for a friend, to give to her as a surprise Christmas gift. However, when I'd finished I measured the cover against the cushion I had bought - and it was far too small! I don't know where I went wrong and though I could probably have just bought some smaller cushions, I decided instead to make them bigger using the remaining matching material.

The original cushion was a simple flap over fastening - no zips - held with a couple of buttons.  I kept the fastening 'as was', deciding not to make my alteration any harder.  I decided to unpick the original cushion and then add on 2 inch strips all the way round back and front of the original cushion. I even overstitched the edges as the material tended to fray! Yes it was a bit more 'faffing' about!

Once I had two new improved cushion sides, I matched up back and front (back to back) using pins to hold the sides together in the right places - at the corners - while I stitched the sides together.

Overall I was really pleased with the finished cushion (I actually made two) - and I decided not to tell my friend about my original mistake - of course if she ever reads this..........!

Mini Christmas Quilts

 This week, I decided to make some Christmas mini-quilt gifts for friends.

I started by drawing out a word filled Christmas tree design which I transferred to material. I stitched the tree and star design using 'outline stitch' (maybe not as neat as it should be looks effective). 

I use a great stitching reference site called http://www.embroidery.rocksea.org/. 

I thought the satin pot would be hard to appliqué so I ironed that on.

I used a selection of Christmas materials to build up the simple quilt block. I chose a neutral fabric for the backing. Once I had sandwiched the three materials (front, wadding, backing) together I hand quilted around the Christmas tree but machine quilted the rest. A hand stitched red bias binding finished the mini-quilts along with a piece of ribbon for hanging.

I was really pleased with these. They looked nice when all placed together. Next project - make a full size Christmas quilt or use this idea to make some cushion covers!!

College Bag

The original skirt

My daughter was looking for a new bag for college and just couldn't find what she wanted - so she decided we could make one! As usual, this was a one-off project without a pattern and only a vague plan. Having browsed tinternet she decided she liked the idea of using recycled material. So we bought a large tartan skirt at a charity shop for all of 50p and found a pair of old jeans at home.

Turned inside, cut to size and
pinned ready for stitching up

As the skirt already had a lining, the general idea (for this easy project) was to cut off the top of the skirt and its waistband to make the top of the bag. This seemed like a good idea but the skirt was actually wider than we needed - so that needed adjusting - and later it was super difficult to then make the bottom of the lining and bag. 

Jeans pocket in place

Denim decoration

Before the super difficult part I used the jeans pocket for an outside pocket and a strip of denim for decoration. 

So to the super hard bit. My daughter wanted a curved look to the bag so I first cut a long oblong piece of both denim and matching lining (I had some leftover from the bottom of the skirt).  Somehow I managed to to gather the tartan and stitch to the denim oblong. Repeated with the lining.  This was particularly tricky as the lining was already attached to the skirt and I was working from a pattern. No nice 'how to guides' as just a lot of fiddling involved. 

Jeans leg cut and stitched
closed at ends

Anyway now to a clever bit! I used the leg of a pair of jeans to make both a flap over finish and an inside zip-up pocket at the same time. 

I inserted a zip onto the reverse of the jeans leg. This will turn the jeans into an inside pocket.

I then firmly stitched the jeans leg to the back waistband of the bag.

The strap was also recycled from another charity shop bag we bought for 50p, and stitched on with some more leftover denim.

Ta-dah!!!!!!!!

Handily, the skirt's side zip is at the side of the bag and so it can be opened to create a little more space in the bag. As I say, I'm not known for following patterns, so it was simply a case of cut and sew and see how it turns out. The finish at the bottom is not great - it was hard to make the lining and tartan match and it was tricky fixing in a piece of card to make it sturdier. 

Admittedly in terms of time taken it's probably easier and quicker to get the material and cut from a pattern. However, my daughter now has an individual bag she loves - so much so she doesn't want to waste it on college! Aarggh!

10 minute Infinity Scarf (2)

Well, I don't have an infinity scarf but I do have a bit of spare material around. So, yesterday I decided to test the claims that you can make one of these in 10 minutes.

I've used a black, stretchy material that has a kind of sheen to it. Can't remember exactly what it's called but at the time I bought it, I was also recommended to buy ballpoint machine needles - if that helps.

Right the clock is ticking! 

Basically I used the same method as before. First I made a long tube by folding the material over lengthways and sewing along the edge. I used the whole width of the material, cutting off a small piece to use for a cuff later. The tube ended up being about 58 inches x 8 inches. 

I turned the tube the right way out and folded it in half so that the open ends met. I pinned and sewed together the two middle edges (for photos see Infinity Scarf (1), black material isn't good for clear photos).

Turn the tube inside out, seams now on the outside, and sew together the remaining two edges, leaving a gap of a couple of inches. 

Watching the clock, I turned the scarf inside out again and used the machine to sew the gap closed, sewing neat and close to the edge.

Result - basic infinity scarf complete in about 20 minutes! Not bad.

My model, no.2

Remember the material I saved for a cuff? I made a rectangle about 2 1/2 inches x 5 inches (double thickness) and sewed round edges leaving a small gap so I could turn it inside out. I put on the scarf, doubling it over and then slipped it all back over my head. I then wrapped the cuff (turned right side out) around the scarf and sewed the cuff together using the machine. 

You could add buttons or flowers to the cuff too, but they look good without cuffs too.

Infinity Scarf (1)

This evening I've had a go at repurposing an old pair of my daughter's flannel pj's into an infinity scarf for her. To make an infinity scarf all you really need is a long tube of material (my measurements are at bottom).

So, I started by cutting off the legs of the pyjamas. I thought if I cut off both legs, I could stitch them together and tadah! - long ready made tube of material. However, when I measured the material I realised that even if I stitched them together it would not quite be long enough to go around her neck twice but a bit too long for once. It's OK to make an infinity scarf that just wraps round once but I fancied making one that went round twice as I thought it would be snugger. 

As I'd already cut the legs off, I had to piece some more material together to get a longer tube. (If I wasn't trying to repurpose something it would probably have been easier to simply cut a piece of material and fold and stitch to make the tube). Anyway, once I had my tube the process was quite simple.

Completed tube, turned right way out.

With the tube of material the right way out, seams on the inside, I first folded the tube so that the open ends met, like there were now four layers of material. I pinned and then stitched together the two middle ends of the material.

I turned the scarf inside out so that the tube seams were now on the outside. Just go with it, it really does work! Surprisingly, I found that the two remaining unstitched ends of material were now lying together. I pinned and stitched these ends, leaving a few inches gap.

I turned the material inside out again through the small gap - right sides now back on the outside - and hand stitched the opening closed. 

Basic infinity scarf finished!     

My model!

You could leave it like that but as I'd pieced a few bits of material together to make the tube I had some ugly seams. So I got some scraps of t-shirt material and made a few cuffs to hide the seams. 

Later on we decided to secure two pink cuffs into place. However with a third cuff, we thought we could add buttons or a flower to it and then leave it loose so that the wearer could move it into place once they were wearing it.(I say we because as it was for youngest daughter she did have some say in this!). 

Update: The following day we decide to add a flower.

I cut a 27 x 2 inches long piece of white material, folded it over, turned it under at one end (just to neaten) and sewed a running stitch along the edge. 

I pulled the thread until the whole piece softly gathered. I secured the gathering with an extra stitch but left the needle on the thread. 

Then I started to roll the gathered material around itself from the neatened end, occasionally sewing a couple of stitches to secure it. You could use hot glue. 

Keep rolling and securing until you get to the end of the material. I found this a bit tricky and was a bit too fussy at making it look just right. Maybe I rolled too tightly at first but it turned out lovely in the end....

Infinity Scarf Measurements

I think if you're making your own scarf you can probably just estimate length and width (wrap a measuring tape around your neck twice to where you want the scarf to hang to). 

This scarf is snug but still wraps comfortably over my daughter's head - length was determined by however long the pyjamas were!

However, as a rough guide, measurements for a double wrap would probably be a tube about 55-60 inches long and 7-9 inches wide. For a single wrap I guess a tube somewhere round 35-40 inches long.

Having made this infinity scarf I think I'll definitely be trying it out in different materials or widths. You could repurpose other clothing - eldest daughter has now offered black jog pants that she's going to bleach dye first! Or how about the sleeves from long sleeved tops for a thinner look.