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Felt Mug Cosy Tutorial

February 2, 2020 · 2 Comments

Felt Mug Cosy Tutorial

Mug cosies are great. They keep your tea warm for longer when you’re out in the garden. They’re a good way of using up bits of fabric left over from other projects and they’re quick to make. Also they make nice gifts for people.

This mug cosy is made from felt. I used acrylic felt because that’s what I had, but you could use wool felt if you wanted to.

Felt is perfect for this project because it’s inexpensive, it comes in a wide range of colours, it doesn’t fray and it’s easy to work with.

Giving it two layers means that the felt has more weight, making the overall finish neater. The velcro means that you’ll be able to use your felt mug cosy on several different mugs, even if they are of different sizes!

Mug Cosy Instructions

You might like to make a felt mug cosy just like this one. If this is you, the templates can be downloaded at the end of the post. Please note that I ask for an email address. If you want to know why, you can find out here.

Alternatively, you may prefer to use it as a starting point for your own ideas. I love geometric flowers because they are simple but they look lovely. For more ideas, you might want to take at look at this Pinterest board here.

You Will Need

Felt in various colours. I used 3 for the flowers, 1 for the stem and leaves, 1 for the outer and 1 for the lining. This made 5 in total because I used the same pink for the lining as for one of the flower pieces.

Velcro. I used a 6 cm piece (5 and bit inches), but check with the mug you are making the cosy for as you might need more or less depending on the size of your mug.

Cutting Out

Cut 1 large rectangle from your outer felt, and 1 from the lining.

For the flowers, cut 3 large ovals from 1 colour, 3 medium sized ovals from the second colour and 3 small ovals from the third colour.

Cut 3 small rectangles for the stems and 6 leaves.

Appliqueing the Flowers

Usually with applique I find that it’s easiest to start with the smaller things, ie flower centres, then build them up, before sewing them to the main fabric.

With this project however, the bits of the flowers overlap, which makes it tricky to sew in this order.

So you need to start with the largest ovals and applique them to the outer section before attaching the other pieces. Check that they are evenly spaced, pin then sew.

Then take the medium sized ovals and pin them to the larger ones so that the bottom edges meet. Sew them in place.

Do the same with the smallest ovals.

Position the stems underneath the flowers. Pin and sew.

Now pin and sew the leaves. It’s a bit of squeeze, but if you’ve spaced the flowers out evenly there will be room.

If not, don’t panic! Just trim the leaves down a bit until they fit.

Finishing the Mug Cosy

Place the outer piece with the appliqued flowers onto the lining.

Separate the piece of velcro. Tuck one piece in between the layers of felt on one side, and the other piece in the other side. Remember to have 1 half of the velcro facing up and the other half facing down.

Pin the two layers together, then sew around them keeping close to the edge.

Now your felt mug cosy is finished!

If you like this felt mug cosy tutorial, I have two more mug cosy tutorials here:
Quilted mug cosy
Crocheted mug cosy

And here is the form for the templates! Please note that by doing this you will be added to the Tea and a Sewing Machine email list. All this means is that I will send you an email, usually once a week over the weekend. It’ll be tips, updates, links and the occasional freebie. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Hand Lettering For Embroidery

January 19, 2020 · 2 Comments

Hand Lettering For Embroidery

What is Hand Lettering?

Hand lettering has been a thing for a couple of years now, and having tried it myself, I can tell you that it is both easy and fun!

It doesn’t matter if you consider yourself not very artistic or if you don’t naturally have beautiful handwriting.

All it takes is a little bit of practice. You don’t even need any special equipment, just a pen, a pencil and and some paper!

I discovered hand lettering 2 years ago, and although my handwriting is not naturally beautiful (it could even be described on occasion as awful!), I have produced some things I’m quite pleased with, including the design for my tote bags.

bunting makes everything better tote bag handlettering for embroidery

So having tried hand letting and found it enjoyable and quite easy, I decided to have a go at handlettering for embroidery.

Hand Lettering and Embroidery Projects

What I found was that hand lettering for embroidery is exactly the same as hand lettering with a pen, just with a needle and thread!

My first attempt resulted in these Christmas embroidery hoops. The words are embroidered in a hand lettered style. I actually made these for All Free Sewing’s National Sewing Month in 2018.

I was in a hurry to get them made because we were going on holiday, and I don’t think a project has ever come together so quickly! The hoops were designed, made and written up within a week!

So hand lettering for embroidery can be good for a quick project, although you can make it longer and more complicated if you want to.

Hand lettering: The Quick Version

Before giving handlettering for embroidery a whirl, it’s a good idea to practise with a pencil and paper first.

The first thing to do is to write out your word or phrase in your neatest joined up handwriting. You’ll need to write the letters larger than usual, which can be a challenge for those of us with small writing!

Make sure you space everything out a bit too, because you’ll be making some of the lines thicker and you need to have room on the paper to do that.

It might not be perfect first time, so keep practising! If you’re finding that the letters are all over the place, you might find it helpful to draw some lines as a guide.

When you’re happy with your word or phrase, the next step is to make the downstrokes of the letters thicker.

So look at your word or phrase, and whenever your pencil moved downwards to make part of a letter, add another line on the inside. If there’s a bit of a gap between the line and the rest of the letter, shade it in with you pencil.

It can be hard knowing when to stop sometimes, and if you’re not careful you might end up thickening all the lines! As a general rule, only thicken the line until it starts to change direction.

Once you’ve done this, go over it with a pen. My favourite pens are these because they write nicely, they’re waterproof and they don’t smudge.

Give it a little while for the ink to dry, then rub out the pencil marks.

As I’ve already said, you probably won’t get perfect results straight away. But if you keep practising you will get better. I noticed a marked improvement after only 3 or 4 attempts, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t like your first attempt!

If you descide that you love handlettering and you want to do more of it, I recommend Handlettering For Relaxation by Amy Latta.

Embroidering Your Design

To embroider your design, you go about it in exactly the same way.

If you’re feeling confident, you could lightly sketch the word of phrase onto your fabric with a pencil, chalk or a washable pen suitable for this kind of thing.

Otherwise, trace the design onto the fabric.

(If you need to know about transferring embroidery designs to fabric, you might like to take a look at this post here.)

I wouldn’t bother with transferring the thicker lines, just the first lines so that you get the word onto the fabric with the letters the correct size and in the right place.

Now start to embroider over the lines that you have drawn using back stitch. Although the advice is usually to try to keep your stitches the same size so that they look neat, this advice doesn’t apply when you are embroidering letters. The straight parts of the letters look neater if you use longer stitches, but the curves will look better if you sew smaller ones.

There are instructions for sewing backstitch in this post here if you need them.

Once you’ve done this, find the downstrokes on the letters and add another row of stitches. Depending on the size of your letters you might need to add a second row of stitches to the whole word and a third row to the downstrokes.

Finishing Your Design

You might be happy to leave it as it is. It’s your design so it’s up to you!

However, if you want to add something to it, here are some suggestions. I’d recommend trying them out on paper first!

Put your design inside a wreath. You could draw a circle and add leaves, either freehand or by drawing round a bowl/ plate/ roll of sellotape. I acually think that circles that aren’t perfect have a rustic charm that’s much nicer than a perfect circle. It can be hard to draw them though, so another option is to go round and round a few times in the style of a willow wreath.

You can then sew over this using back stitch and add leaves, flowers, buds or berries. Woven wheels make nice flowers as do French knots. Seed beads also work, and that’s what I used on my little Christmas hoops.

Add some flowers underneath the text. Again, woven wheels make good flowers, or you could sew lazy daisies to make the kind with petals, or fern stitch for the kind on a long stalk.

Bunting. The answer to everything! If in doubt, add bunting! You could embroider it like I did here, or applique some little triangles to your design.

To display your embroidery, embroidery hoops are idea;, or you could pop it in a frame. You might have a plan for it already, and want to use it as part of something else, perhaps a purse or a notebook cover.

If you make something, I’d love to see! You can either share it on the Tea and a Sewing Machine Facebook page, post it on Instagram and tag me (@annaatteaandasewingmachine) so that I’ll see it, or send me a picture at teaandasewingmachine@gmail.com.

How To Transfer Embroidery Patterns To Fabric

January 11, 2020 · 1 Comment

How To Transfer Embroidery Patterns To Fabric

This post contains affiliate links.

***Are you looking for an embroidery project? The photos used in this post are from an embroidery project I’ve designed for us to do together! The text is a line from one of my favourite songs, Let The Bells Ring by Kate Rusby. It’s fitting for the start of a new year, but is good advice at any time! For more information about the project and to download the free pattern, click here.***

If you’ve made your own pattern to be embroidered, or if you’ve downloaded one from internetland, one of your first jobs will be to transfer the pattern to your fabric.

Over the years, I’ve discovered several different ways to transfer an embroidery design to fabric. Some of them are conventional, some of them are less so!

I’ll get to those in a minute, but a couple of tips first.

Tip 1is that the best method for transferring your pattern will depend on the fabric you’ve chosen, and on the level of detail and complexity of the pattern. It’s one of the reasons why having a few things up your sleeve is always useful! You can use what is best in the circumstances.

Tip 2 is to not worry about transferring all the lines onto the fabric. It’s to give yourself a guide when sewing.

With my current project, I traced the lettering, the flowers at the bottom, the circle of the garland and the leaves on the outside. I need to know where things are, and how big the letters are, but I don’t need all the little details. For example the buds on the garland are easy enough to copy. I didn’t need them drawn onto the fabric. And if it looks wrong, I can always unpick it!

how to transfer embroidery patterns to fabric

Tip 3 is to use either a washable fabric pen or a pencil. If you’re using a pencil, try to keep the lines light so that they won’t be visible when you’ve finished your sewing. A biro won’t do. It might sound obvious, but I don’t want anybody complaining that I didn’t say!

Trace It

The most obvious and the easiest way to transfer embroidery patterns to fabric!

This works best if the fabric you’re using is lightweight and is a pale colour. It also helps if the lines of the design are black or very dark grey so that you can see them through the fabric.

If your pattern is a digital one and the lines are not black, you could try printing it in black and white.

If this doesn’t work and the lines are still too faint, you might need to go over it with a black pen.

Trace It Using a Light Box

With thicker fabric, tracing might not work. If this is the case, you could use a light box.

A light box is basically a box made from opaque white plastic with a bulb inside. The light is diffused through the plastic, enabling enough light to pass through so that you can see the design through the fabric.

Alternatives To a Light Box

If you don’t have a light box and you don’t want to buy one, there are alternatives.

Alternative #1 A Window

All you have to do here is tape your design with the fabric over it to the window. It will work better if sunlight isn’t coming in directly through the window. A cloudy day is good for this, or a window away from direct sunlight.

Alternative #2 A Computer Screen or A Tablet

This is my favourite option if tracing doesn’t work.

A word of warning though: don’t press too hard or you’ll break the screen! Tablet screens are tougher than laptop screens, but please be careful!

Once you’ve turned the laptop/ tablet on, turn the brightness of the screen up and find something white to display on your screen. Opening a new document on Google Docs will do the trick.

Carefully stick your pattern with the fabric over it onto your screen.

If you can, stick it behind so that it’s on the outside of the laptop or tablet. If you can’t avoid sticking things to the screen, use washi tape or something else that’s not very sticky so it won’t damage the screen.

Use a soft pencil or a fabric pen to gently trace the design.

Print the Design Onto the Fabric

I have tried this several times and it is my least favourite method for transferring embroidery designs to fabric!

The main thing here is to make your fabric as much like a piece of card as possible, and to tape down all the edges so that any loose threads don’t get caught up inside the printer.

You can use freezer paper by ironing it onto the wrong side of the fabric, then taping down the edges, or you can stick it to a piece of card.

I have used washi tape to stick the edges down as it is easy to remove. The disadvantage with this is that it’s not very wide, so it’s difficult to get all of the edges stuck down and loose threads contained.

Once this is done, pop the fabric in the paper tray with the fabric face down. Then hit print.

I have found that this method sometimes works, but when it doesn’t fabric gets wasted because it gets ruined in the printer.

Also the amount of time it takes sticking it all down, untangling the threads from the printer’s insides and reprinting when it goes wrong means that it actually isn’t any quicker than the other methods.

Dressmakers’ Carbon Paper

Using dressmakers’ carbon paper usually works fairly well, but if you’re new to it, it might take a few goes until you get the hang of it.

It comes in a variety of colours. For light coloured fabric, I’ve found that the blue works best, although red works quite well too. I haven’t tried using it on dark coloured fabric. The official advice is to use a colour that’s close to the fabric colour, but I couldn’t see it!

To transfer the design, put the carbon paper over the fabric with the coloured side down. Pop the embroidery pattern on top, then trace over it with a pencil or a dried out biro.

You might have to press quite hard. It’s a good idea to try it out first on a scrap piece of fabric.

Tissue Paper

Using tissue paper is a traditional method used to transfer embroidery patterns to fabric. If you buy an embroidery pattern already printed, there’s a good chance it will be on tissue paper.

The way this works is that you pin the pattern to the fabric, then sew the design through the paper and the fabric. When you’ve finished, you pull the tissue paper away.

It has the advantage that no marks will be left on your fabric.

On the downside you might have to spend quite a lot of time pulling tiny bits of tissue paper out of your stitches with tweezers.

Stick n Stitch

I haven’t actually used this method, although it’s one I want to try!

Stick n Stitch is a water soluble stabiliser. To use it, print the design onto the fabric side (it will probably need to be fabric side down when you put it into the paper tray of your printer, but check first).

Stick the design to the fabric, then sew over it. When you’ve finished, cut away as much of the Stick n Stitch as you can, then wash it off. Lisa from Cucicucicoo explains how to do this with pictures here.

I’m not pretending to be an expert here, and there might be other ways to transfer embroidery patterns to fabric that I’ve not mentioned. If you have a favourite not listed here, then feel free to add it in the comments!

Don’t forget, if you want a project, you can download Just Take With You What Makes Your Heart Glad here.

You might also be interested to know that I have craft kits for sale on Etsy here, including some embroidery ones.

A New Year’s Embroidery Project

January 1, 2020 · Leave a Comment

New Year's Embroidery Project (With a Free Pattern!)

A New Year’s Embroidery Project

Who’s up for a little bit of a New Year’s embroidery project?

I’m in the process of writing several posts on the theme of handlettering for embroidery, and it occurred to me that it might be fun to have a project that we can do together.

I’ve been working on some handlettered designs for embroidery including this one.

The text is taken from one of my favourite songs, Let the Bells Ring by Kate Rusby. It refers to a Cornish tradition where everybody goes down to the sea to watch the sun rise on New Year’s Day.

A new year represents a new start, although I think it’s possible to have a new start whenever you like! It doesn’t even need to be a new day, never mind a new year, because it’s about our attitude.

Having said that, the end of a year and the beginning of a new one can be a good time for a kind of emotional stocktaking. It’s often worth having a look at what’s going on, what we need to leave behind us and what we can take with us forwards in our journey.

Without wanting to overshare, I do have some things I need to let go of. I think most of us probably do! It can be a hard thing to do sometimes, and focusing on the things that make our hearts glad is a step in the right direction.

So if you like the idea of an embroidery project to start off the new year, you can download the design for free at the end of the post. I will require an email address in exchange for it, and if you want to know why you can find out more here.

If you’ve never done this before, don’t worry! Everything will be covered as we get going. There’s a post that I’ve almost finished explaining how to embroider handlettering, and I’ll also explain how to transfer a design to fabric. There’ll be another post with suggestions for how to choose a colour scheme, although it’s fine to use the same colours I have if you don’t want to do your own.

So if you’d like the design, please enter your email address in the form below. Your information won’t be shared and I won’t send spam, but you will receive weekly (usually!) emails from me with updates, tips, freebies and links that I think you might like. You can unsubscribe from these at any time.

You might also like these tutorials:
“Joy” Christmas embroidery hoop project
Appliqued winter embroidery hoop

And if you like embroidery projects, you might like to take a look at the craft kits in my Etsy shop!

Book Review: Making a Life By Melanie Falik

December 10, 2019 · Leave a Comment

Book Review_ Making a Life by Melanie Falick

Book Review: Making a Life By Melanie Falik

I was sent a copy of this book to review. All the opinions expressed are my own.

About the Book

One of the things I love as much as making things is reading, so when I was offered a copy of a book about making things, of course I said yes!

And I’m glad I did because I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it.

Making a Life is an interesting, beautiful and inspiring book.

It is not a “how to” kind of craft book or one of those aspirational “Look at my space” kind of books (thankfully because I don’t really like those!).

It’s about why people make stuff as well as what they’re making, how they got to where they are, why it matters and how it affects their outlook.

In some ways it’s similar to Jacob Nordby’s book, Blessed Are The Weird, which I read last summer. Both authors talk about the important role played by craftspeople in times gone by, and how and why things have changed and the impact this is having on us as human beings.

book review making a life melanie falick

The Journey

Melanie Falick begins by talking about her own journey and how the book came to be written. She’s previously written books about knitting, but wanted Making a Life to be a different kind of book.

She also refers to the journey she undertook to find out about different cultures via their making traditions. Travelling changes a person’s perspective, and learning about handcrafts and how they fit in to a different culture affects the way in which we see our own.

Like Jacob Nordby, Melanie Falick talks about the journey of how we’ve got to where we are here in the west.

In our earliest days, if nature didn’t provide exactly what was needed, then something had to be made. Craftspeople and makers of all kinds, had a vital role to play in the community and were held in high regard.

The author refers to the people who wove by hand the cloth that made the sails on Christopher Columbus’ boat, enabling him to sail to America.

Now the arts have been largely reduced to the status of an unnecessary hobby enjoyed by those with time on their hands.

This is reflected in the underfunding of the arts, both in schools and elsewhere, and also in the status and salaries of science related jobs. Science is valued; the arts are not.

Yet there is an increasing feeling among people who make things that maybe this is something we don’t want to lose. It’s part of out heritage and our history, and part of our humanity as well.

Some of these are the people in the book. They don’t just have creative jobs. They’ve figured out a way to live in a way that gives their lives authenticity and meaning.

making a life melanie falick book review

The Chapters

The rest of the book features interviews with 30 different makers, arranged into 5 chapters: Remembering, Slowing Down, Joining Hands, Making a Home and Finding a Voice.

Obviously there’s some overlap between them. Making something by hand involves slowing down, as anyone who has ever made anything by hand will attest!

The second chapter refers in particular to slow fashion, and adopting a slower pace not just because the making process demands it, but to allow for family life as well.

The third chapter, Joining Hands, talks specifically about makers who are creating communities. There’s the African American Quilt Guild of Oakland, who through their quilts document African American history and cultural and social issues such as gun violence.

There’s also a shoe making collective in Brooklyn, New York, and an Englishwoman who runs crafting workshops at her castle in France.

But even the makers who are not directly building a community through their crafts, are still in a sense linking hands with the crafting community past and present. There’s a history and a set of skills, even if the makers use the same techniques to make something different. Annemarie O’Sullivan is a basket maker in the South of England. She makes baskets in the traditional way, but also uses some of these skills and techniques to make sculptures from willow.

Threads Running Through Making a Life

Several interesting threads run through the book and through the lives of the makers featured.

The first is that not many of these talented men and women were on a clear path to a creative life from their early childhood, but came to their craft later in life. There are several women featured who took craft classes as a way of getting a break when their children were tiny, and these turned out to be the first steps on their journey.

Having said that, the seeds of creativity were often sown while they were children. Sometimes it was a parent, a neighbour, a family friend or a favourite teacher. Often it was a grandparent.

We live in a society that downplays the useful role older people have to play in passing on skills and knowledge. Lots of us can relate to learning all kinds of things from older relatives.

It’s also interesting that the sweet elderly ladies of the African American Quilt Guild of Oakland (the oldest member is 92) are not just sewing and chatting, but are politically involved through their quilting.

The second is the idea that making things and being creative is an intrinsic part of being a human being. It’s a thing we are designed to do, and to be. It gives our lives meaning.

Not being creative is to lose part of that that makes us human and somehow makes us less than what we could be. Ellen Dissanayane, the first interviewee in the book, says that the emptiness and dissatisfaction we often feel could be due to not satisfying a primitive need to create.

The third idea that runs through the book is that the creative process enables us to connect spiritually with the Divine, nature or the universe depending on what you call it. It is a way of connecting with the Something that is greater than ourselves.

What Now?

There was so much of this book that struck a chord. I’ve felt for a long time that there is something very wrong with the way that lots of us live our lives.

It’s making us ill. We’re stressed out, depressed and overweight, and dealing with the consequences of all of these. We’ve lost sight of who we are and what matters. We’re destroying the world around us.

There’s a lot to be said for slowing down and reengaging with nature, the seasons, our creativity and our humanity.

These people in Making a Life are lights in the wilderness. They have slowed down. They have time for their families. They are forging new kinds of community, where people and the environment are not exploited at the expense of others’ success and are able to be creative and live in a way that give their lives meaning.

I don’t know at the moment how that might look in my own life, but I’m planning on spending a good chunk of 2020 figuring it out.

The book is here on Amazon (affiliate link).

You might also like this post about how sewing enabled the survival of the human race.

Felt Mug Cosy Tutorial

Mug Cosy Instructions

You Will Need

Cutting Out

Appliqueing the Flowers

Finishing the Mug Cosy

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Hand Lettering For Embroidery

What is Hand Lettering?

Hand Lettering and Embroidery Projects

Hand lettering: The Quick Version

Embroidering Your Design

Finishing Your Design

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How To Transfer Embroidery Patterns To Fabric

Trace It

Trace It Using a Light Box

Alternatives To a Light Box

Alternative #1 A Window

Alternative #2 A Computer Screen or A Tablet

Print the Design Onto the Fabric

Dressmakers’ Carbon Paper

Tissue Paper

Stick n Stitch

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A New Year’s Embroidery Project

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Book Review: Making a Life By Melanie Falik

About the Book

The Journey

The Chapters

Threads Running Through Making a Life

What Now?

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