Lavender Filled Heart Tutorial

It felt like time for a tutorial so this week I am sharing with you instructions to make Lavender filled Hearts. You can hang them wherever you like, but perhaps with the festive season in mind they would make nice gifts.

What You'll Need

Cardboard
Fabric
Ribbon
Button

Step 1

First you need to create your pattern. Draw a heart onto the cardboard and once your happy with the shape cut it out. Take the shape and draw around it twice onto your fabric and cut out.



Step 2

You should now have two hearts cut out from your fabric. Place these right sides together and sew around the edge, remember to leave a gap about 3cm long on one of the straighter sides to allow the heart to be turned right way out.


Step 3

Turn your heart the right way out, pull it into shape and then press it with an iron. Now you need to fill the heart with dried lavender. Once full sew the open edge shut.

Step 4

Cut a suitable length of ribbon and fold in half. Sew either end of the ribbon to either side of the heart. To finish sew a pretty button onto either side of the ribbon.Then sit back and admire your creation!

Simple Upcycling Tutorial

It's that time of year now when we all unpack our hats and scarves. But sometimes you just don't like them as much as you did last year. Maybe you have a new coat or hairstyle, maybe you just fancy something new. Whatever the reason you shouldn't just bin last years wares, instead you should up/recycle them into something stylish and new. Here I'm bringing you one really simple and quick way to turn a plain hat and scarf into a gorgeous new item.

What You'll Need

Hat
Scarf
Buttons
Sewing Needle & Thread

 

Step 1

To be truly economical you should raid your button stash. If you don't have any buttons then take a look through your clothes, are there any you were planning to get rid of and could borrow the buttons from? How about making your own (see my previous tutorial here for instructions) or buy some.

Personally I like the buttons to be different sizes, styles and shapes. From a design point of view odd numbers always look better so keep that in mind.

Step 2

Arrange your buttons on the hat until your pleased with the effect, then sew them on. I sewed mine slightly to one side.





Step 3

Repeat the previous step on your scarf.

Step 4

Enjoy your brand new creations!! It really is as quick, simple and cheap as that!

Hairslide/Clip Tutorial

It felt like time for a tutorial, so today I am going to teach you all how to make a hairclip. These are great for children and adults alike and make fantastic gifts.

What You'll Need

Small piece of felt

Undecorated Hairclip

Needle

Thread

Buttons

1cm wide ribbon or cotton tape

Step 1 

Cut a small length from your ribbon or cotton tape. Sew the ends together and then stitch a long running stitch along one edge, pull your thread to gather the ribbon into a rosette.

Step 2

Cut a rectangle from your felt fabric. This needs to be just slightly longer than your hairslide so the clip will be completely covered when finished. Sew your rosette to one end of the felt. Next sew a button or charm to the other end.

Step 3

Now we need to build up the design, use whatever you fancy, trimming cut offs, lace flowers etc to create the background design. Remember to overlap them slightly.

 Step 4

I then used ribbon roses and buttons sewn on top of my fabric background.

Step 5

To finish we have to sew our design onto the hairclip. Flip your design over and lay the hairclip on to the back. There is usually a hole either end that you can sew through. Try to do it from several angles to make sure the clip is secure.

Ta Da! You have a beutiful hairclip!

Fabric Flower Tutorial

Today I thought I'd share a fabric flower tutorial with you all, we've been making these for years and they are so much fun. This is a really useful little technique to know as the flower can be made into a badge, sewn onto a hairband or hairclip or anything else you can think of. You can also vary the size with eaze and the end result looks very impressive.

What You'll Need

Cardboard
Fabric for petals
Fabric for flower centre
Felt Fabric
Buttons and beads to decorate

Step 1

First you need to decide on the size you would like your finished flower to be. The one in the picture above is about 9cms across. Next draw a circle onto your carboard the same size as the flower and cut out.

Step 2

Place your cardboard circle onto your petal fabric and draw around six times (to make six petals). Cut out the six fabric circles.




Step 3

Fold each circle of fabric in half, with the right side of the fabric showing. Now you need to gather the raw edges of your petals, sew small running stitches along the side.





Step 4

Pull the stitches to form your petal. Repeat with the other five circles using the same piece of thread going from one to the next.





Step 5

Join the first petal to the last and sew firmly together to form your flower.

Step 6

Cut a small circle from felt or a woollen material that doesn't fray and sew onto the back of your flower.

Step 7

Now we need to make the centre of the flower. I chose a contrasting blue material for mine. Once again use your cardboard circle and cut out a circle from this fabric. Gradually sew a running stitch round the edge of the circle turning the raw edge to the centre as you go.

Step 8

Pull your thread so that the gathers end up in the centre of the circle.

Step 9

Place this circle with the gathers facing down so they can't be seen into the centre of your flower. Next you will need a button to secure it. Sew it right into the centre to hold everything together. At this point you can add beads or whatever embellishments you fancy.

Step 10

Now your flower is finished you can sew a brooch back onto the back if you like, or add it to a fabric hairband or hairclip. I think I may add one onto a bag I'm sewing, really the ideas are limitless. Have fun!

Make Your Own Buttons!

If you've taken a look at our jewellery then you probably know that we love buttons! We mostly use vintage finds, but sometimes we have a vision and we just can't find the right colour or size. If you sew or knit you may have found this problem as well. It's easily solved though by making your own buttons out of polymer clay. Here's how to make a simple round one:

What You'll Need

Polymer Clay (I favour Sculpey as it's very easy to mould)
Moulding Tools
A Needle or Cocktail Stick
A clean mat or work surface

Step 1

First you need to soften the polymer clay, the quickest way is to squash and roll it in the palm of your hands


Step 2

Roll a small ball in your hand, place onto your mat and squash lightly with your finger.




Step 3

Take your needle or cocktail stick and press sewing holes into the circle you've made.

Step 4

Admire your finished button. Bake it according to the packet instructions, remember it may need slightly less time as it's so small. Next try out a few more shapes using your tools. I like making hearts, diamonds, flowers and so on.


I keep all my handmade buttons in a cleaned out Bonne Maman jar (they're just too pretty to throw away!)

We've Been Nominated! Plus Necklace Tutorial

Hello dear readers,

I'm in a very good mood today after finding out yesterday that our little blog has been nominated for an award! If you love us as much as we love you please vote by clicking here

So to celebrate I've decided to share a Button Necklace Tutorial with you all, if you've ever met us at a fair you might recognise these from one of our small kits. So if you like buttons old and new and have always wondered what else you can do with them have a go with these instructions which were penned by the other half of Angel Eden 'Anne'.

Button Necklace

You will need

Two lengths of waxed cotton about 90 cms long, (looks good if they are two different colours), small enough to go through the holes of your buttons.

About 19 buttons, can be 2 or 4 hole, except the button for the fastening which needs to be four hole.

All Purpose strong clear glue.

Instructions

1. Hold the two strands of waxed cotton at one end and fold them over and knot to make a loop. This loop will be the fastener going over the end button of the necklace, so its important to make sure it is the right size for your button to go through. Once you are happy with the size pull as tightly as you can.

    2. The buttons are now going to be strung individually on each strand, divide them in half and decide on the colour order. One button will be used to make the end button to fasten the necklace.

    3. Start threading buttons onto one of the strands of waxed cotton by passing the thread from behind through one of the holes of the first button and then pass back through the opposite hole. Now leave a space of about 5 centimetres before placing the next button in the same way. Continue until you have achieved the length you want or half the buttons are used.

    4. With the second strand put the buttons on in the same way but place the first one so that it lays half way between the first two buttons on the first strand. Continue until all buttons are placed making sure each button on the second strand sits between two on the first.

    5. With the last button use both threads to go through it from the back and cross threads diagonally to form a cross and pass thread back through the other two holes. Tie the two threads in a reef knot behind the button. This means to pass the right thread over the left and then pass under it, then pass the left thread over the right and pass under. Pull this knot as tight as you can.

    6. The ends can now be cut and some appropriate clear glue put on the knots at each end of the necklace to make it extra secure.

This necklace can be made with a variety of buttons, they do not need to all be the same size. The two strands could also be two different lengths to make a different design. It really does look attractive when worn but is more difficult to do justice to in a photograph. Depending on the colour and size of buttons used, it can make a very individual present for both adults and children.

I've also joined in with the Welcome Wednesday bloghop hosted by take it from me, take a look here

Book Review - Cath Kidston

Last Christmas I received as one of my gifts a book called 'Sew!' by Cath Kidston. I've always liked her fabrics and now that I have made a few of the items I thought I would share my experiences of the book with you all.

First of all the book lists 41 projects so I am a long way away from completing them all. They range from bags, cushions, tablecloths to aprons and baby/kids decorations. The book starts you on your way with some basic instructions of various sewing techniques. I think these are well written and fairly simple to follow.

Next the book comes with a large paper pattern piece, this is the kind where you trace over the lines you require and cut out on new paper. I'm not a huge fan of this method purely because I can only ever seem to lay my hands on small and stiff pieces of paper which are quite frankly rubbish for pattern making. But if you can locate something thinner/larger it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

The book also comes with all the fabric, buttons and even a label to make the shoulder bag shown on the front cover. So with fabric to hand this seemed like a logical place to start. Overall I loved this pattern, the bag came together quickly and looks pretty much exactly the same as the picture. The only difference is I left the Cath Kidston label off the front, no particular reason for this I just preferred it plain. I've taken a picture to show you the end result:


The book also has some applique templates at the back which could come in very handy. I think I'm going to make the knitting needle case next as mine is looking rather shabby. I would say that most of these patterns are fairly simple, if like me you appreciate the fact this means you can whip something up in a morning then you'll be in heaven. But for some this book might just be telling you what you already know but with pretty pictures. On the other hand if you can pick this up on special offer the fabric contained makes this a good deal in itself so still worth the purchase. So I would definitely recommend this book, it certainly gives you lots of ideas you can run with and of course your not limited to their fabric/decoration choices. If your from the US I did some checking and this has not yet been published, but it's coming in Oct this year so not long to wait.