Loving my new bag

It's the bestest bag ever!

My sister bought me some packs of small fabric pieces for my birthday. I've done a little bit of patchwork but I'm definitely no expert.

I chose 12 of the fabrics, and cut out 2 squares from each - 12 squares for each side.

And I stitched them together - remembering to reverse the pattern so that nothing was upside down. I felt very clever for thinking of that!

I decided to put a layer of wadding and used some turquoise fabric for the other side. 

So this project became my first attempt at proper quilting. It was rather awkward doing the middle stitching - not sure how you'd manage on a piece much bigger.

Here's the inside; I made the trim and handles from some old jeans. This is why the handles are quite short - I have pretty short legs!!

And I even made a tab with a buttonhole. I still have a completely ungrounded fear of buttonholing and avoid them wherever possible.

So, there it is - my new bag, it's not perfect but it's mine, and I made it all by myself without a pattern or even a proper plan.

Ready to be filled with sweet wrappers, old raisins, a biro which doesn't work, old receipts and an odd glove...

Machine stitched Christmas card

Some fabric left over from the advent calendar, glued onto card then embellished with machine sewing.

Handwritten message and mounted onto a square card.

Pirate boat on canvas (can you spot a theme to these recent posts??)

This is pretty similar to a bag I made for a first birthday.

It is 20 cm square and made from scrap pieces of fabric. I rather like the flowery sea!

I'm going to put it in my etsy shop (when I get one - would like to accumulate a few more first.) I think it would make a great decoration for a little boy's bedroom.

Ooh, look, it's handmade Thursday - go check out some more handmade things!

Cupcake on canvas

Another stitched picture mounted on canvas :)

This one is 20 cm square, and upcycled from scraps of fabric. (That floral print was my blouse!)

I am thinking about opening an etsy shop to sell these. It's a very scary thing though; I like to show off on  my blog but I am serious lacking in confidence when it comes to asking people to part with their cash.

Sewing arty canvas thing - handmade Thursday

While browsing around a local craft centre with a friend I saw some embroidery / applique art mounted on canvas and selling for £100.

£100!!!!! 

Well, mine cost £2.24, plus bits and pieces from my button and scrap stash.

I wanted to make a "family" piece, something which celebrated the five of us.

When I'd sewn all the pieces together I simply used my glue gun to stick it onto the canvas.

And I'm really rather happy with it :)

More handmade thursdays at White Lily Green.

I love upcycling!

Making stuff for free is one of my favourite things!

Add my new found passion for patchwork and the upcycling possibilities are endless...

The idea for these trousers came from these patchwork shorts.

I cut out loads of 10cm squares from old t-shirts - ones with stains, holes etc. I just used the good parts!!

Then I used the overlocking stitch on my sewing machine to make 2 pieces of fabric. I drew around a pair of pyjama bottoms to get the pattern.

Why did nobody tell me making trousers was so easy? 

Just 2 pieces, 3 seams and a channel for some elastic :)

Poppy loves them; I only asked her to try them on and she won't take them back off!

(And I like them; they remind me of a pair I had when I was a student.)

Blog Post 201; you can win this upcycled cushion!!

 I thought it would be nice to have a giveaway to celebrate 201 entries on my blog.

So this morning I made this cushion...

 ...which used to be a very large man's shirt.

 The great thing about upcycling a shirt is that the button band is a ready made opening for the back of your cushion.

Just needed a little bit of applique made from fabric scraps and buttons.

Would you like to have this very cute cushion all for your very own? 

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post before Saturday 17th September.

I will put all of the names into a hat and draw out the winner :)

Happy commenting!

Applique card

Yesterday a new family moved in next door.

Perfect excuse to make a little applique card out of that endless supply of fabric scraps.