Sewing Projects Archives -

Embroidered Pincushion Tutorial

June 27, 2020 · Leave a Comment

It could be possible to become addicted to pincushions. Like having an collection of pretty teacups, pincushions can be as different as you want them to be and pretty as you like. There are so many different ways to make them and, because they are little things, you can use scraps that are too big to throw away but too small to use for a larger project.

This embroidered pincushion is part of a kit that I’ve been developing. I wanted to call it the Safe At Home kit, but as the extra time people kept telling me I was going to have never appeared, it’s taking me a while to finish it!

The other projects in the kit are this bunting, and this needle case.

Anyway, the last project is now finished and here it is, an embroidered pincushion!

It can be sewn entirely by hand, or you could speed things up a bit and use the sewing machine to sew the pincushion together.

The embroidery design is free to download, but I do ask for an email address. You can find out more about why I do this here. The form is at the bottom of the post.

Making the Embroidered Pincushion

You Will Need

Scraps of felt in pretty colours
Embroidery thread
Polyester filling, sawdust or emery sand to fill your pincushion
2 buttons
Pattern pieces and the embroidery design. You can either download mine (the form’s at the bottom), or you could make your own.

Cutting Out

You will need 2 circles the same size, and one circle a little bit smaller.

Embroidering the Design

I used lazy daisies, fern stitch, woven wheels and French knots. It’s worth remembering that odd numbers of things usually look better, but you can do what you like! Just remember to leave a space in the middle for the button.

Sewing the Pincushion Together

Attach the embroidered section to one of the larger circles. You could hand sew it or use your sewing machine.

Place the other larger circle on top of the embroidery. Sew around the edge, leaving a gap.

Trim the seam if you need to. Turn the pincushion the right way out. Fill it with your chosen material. It will need to be firm to make it easiest for pushing the pins in.

Take a plain button (this one will be at the bottom) and tie the end of length of thread to it. You might want to use a stronger thread for this, or you could use ordinary sewing thread doubled.

Now push the needle through the centre of the pincushion from bottom to top.

Thread a pretty button onto the needle. Pass the thread through, then back into the pincushion and through the button at the bottom.

Do this a few times and pull it tight. Cut the thread and tie it off.

If you wanted to turn this into a wrist pincushion, you could attach it to a piece of elastic, or make a strap for it like this one.

If you like pincushions, I have a whole Pinterest board devoted to them here!

How To Alter a T Shirt

June 18, 2020 · Leave a Comment

One of the things we were going to do in Japan, as well as admire the cherry blossom, look at Mount Fuji from several different angles and visit the snow monkeys at the hot springs, was to go clothes shopping for souvenirs.

I’m not one for shopping very much generally, and the idea of going clothes shopping with a herd of boys in tow brings me out in a cold sweat!

But it was hubby’s idea to bring back souvenirs that were actually useful and that people could wear. My boys already have quite a nice collection of t shirts from places we’ve been and they’re a lovely reminder of all the places we’ve visited and the things we’ve done.

As the trip had to be postponed, hubby decided to raid Uniqlo online instead as the next best thing. He got the boys Pokemon t shirts and he bought me this.

Unfortunately the t shirt was way too big! I have put on weight since we’ve been in lockdown, but I’m not wider than I am tall!

I decided to do something about it, mainly because I like the t shirt, but also because I don’t like to have things taking up space in my small wardrobe that I don’t wear.

The other thing is that I’m only just starting to realise the impact clothes and textiles are having on the environment and it’s shocking, even something as small as a t shirt. There’s more about it here. Also Patrick Grant on the Sewing Bee said that there are currently enough clothes knocking about to last 6 generations! So I’m going to think twice before throwing something away.

Fortunately, it’s easy to alter a t shirt that’s too big, and it doesn’t take more than an hour or two. Here are the instructions in case you want to alter a t shirt yourself!

Instructions For Altering a T Shirt

You Will Need

The t shirt that doesn’t fit
A t shirt that does fit
Tailors’ chalk, a pen or a pencil
Usual sewing supplies

Instructions

Take your t shirt and smooth out any creases. Then fold it in half.

Now take the t shirt that fits properly, smooth out the creases and fold it in half.

Pop the t shirt that fits on top of the one that doesn’t. Line up folded edges, the neck and the shoulders.

Draw round the t shirt that fits, leaving a seam allowance. This will probably involve cutting further up than the existing armpit area. We’ll sort the sleeves out in a minute!

You can decide at this point whether the t shirt is also too long, or whether you want to leave the length as it is. If you want to shorten it, draw the new hemline on the t shirt.

The sleeves are likely to be too wide as well, so draw underneath the sleeves of the smaller t shirt.

Cut the t shirt along the lines you have drawn.

On my t shirt, the shoulders were halfway down my arm! So the next job is to move the armhole. On the t shirt that fits, find where the sleeve meets the shoulder, and make a mark on the t shirt that’s too big.

Redraw the armhole on the big t shirt by joining up the new armpit with the mark you made at the top of the shoulder. The armhole should curve a little bit. If you’re not sure how much it should curve, have a look at the t shirt that fits and draw a line that’s similar.

Cut along the new armhole.

Now take the sleeve sections that are now no longer attached to the t shirt, and cut them away along the seam.

Check that the sleeve pieces are the same size. Find the centre of the seam edge. Match the centre to the shoulder seam and pin the sleeve to the open armhole. Sew the sleeve to the armhole. Do the same with the other sleeve.

Now pin the side seams and the under arm seams. Usually I would start at the armpit and sew the side seam, then go back to the armpit and sew the underarm seam.

You could start at the armpit, but if you are leaving sleeve length and hem length as they are, you might want to start at the hems instead to be sure of them matching.

Try the t shirt on and check the length of the t shirt and the sleeves. If they are still too long, decide how much you need to remove, cut it off and hem it.

And that’s it! Being stretchy, it will look fine even if you haven’t done a perfect job, providing that the obvious things like hems and sleeves match.

Tips

Your sewing machine probably has a stitch for sewing stretch knits. If it does, I’d use it. Otherwise use a zig zag.

Try to resist the urge to pull the fabric through the machine while it’s sewing! If the feed dogs appear to be struggling, you might need to take the bobbin section of your machine apart to clean the fluff out.

If you haven’t changed the needle for a while, it might be an idea to as a blunt needle will snag the fabric.

Jersey knits have a tendency to curl. My t shirt wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be, but it did still curl a bit. I don’t really have any tips for this, just to check before you start sewing, or you’ll end up with bumpy seams.

If you like this post showing how to alter a t shirt, and upcycling and refashioning are your thing, you might like these posts.

This one shows how I refashioned a tea dress from something that was ghastly and didn’t fit at all into something wearable.

This post is about a top that I turned into a dress.

This post shows how to make a pair of toddler trousers from a man’s shirt.

Embroidered Needle Case Tutorial

May 31, 2020 · 3 Comments

Needle cases might be seen as a little bit old fashioned, but I like them.

I’m the worst person in the world for losing needles, so having somewhere pretty to put them might stop me from losing so many!

This DIY embroidered needle case will eventually end up being part of a new craft kit I’m working on. I actually started it early on in lockdown, and I was going to call it the safe at home felt craft kit or something like that.

However, all the extra free time people kept saying I was going to have didn’t materialise, plus there’s been a dangerous virus to worry about, so I’ve only just got round to the second project (the kit will probably have 3-5 projects. The first one will be this mini bunting).

Whatever is going on, it’s always nice to have something to work on and craft kits make good gifts for crafty people. So I’m carrying on with it and I’ll just call it something else! Once the kit is ready (hopefully not too long!) it will be in my Etsy shop, and there’ll be a treat for the people on my email list as well.

This needle case is made from felt, bits of ribbon and lace trim and embroidery.

If you have a die cutting machine that can handle felt, you could decorate it with felt flowers. I don’t have one, and anyway I’m a little bit addicted to sewing woven wheels!

I’ve decided to keep it simple and not too fussy, but needle cases are the kind of thing that are easy to personalise. So you could use this as a starting point for your own ideas!

For more inspiration I have a Pinterest board dedicated to needle cases here.

Instructions For Making a DIY Embroidered Needle Case

You Will Need

Small pieces of felt in complimentary colours.

Bits of ribbon, lace or other trim. I used cotton lace, grosgrain ribbon and some pink decorative bias binding.

Embroidery thread. I used pink, 2 shades of green, off white and pale grey.

Cutting Out

The pattern pieces for the embroidered needle case are free to download in exchange for an email address. Information about why I ask for an email can be found here. The form is at the bottom of the post.

I used green, pink and white felt for my embroidered needle case, but you can swap those for whatever colours you like!

Cut a piece of green felt and one of white felt 7.5 cm x 12.5 cm.

You’ll also need a smaller pink piece 7 cm x 12 cm. The larger pieces will be the cover and the other will be the inside of the cover. The smaller one will make the 2 pages in the centre.

Cut a larger circle and a smaller circle both from the pink felt and from the white.

For the inside of of the cover, you’ll need a pink rectangle 4 cm x 4.5 cm, and a white rectangle 2.5 cm x 3.5 cm.

For the safety pin tag, you’ll need a rectangle of white felt 4.5 cm x 3 cm and a 4.5 cm length of pink trim.

Cut a 4.5 cm piece of lace trim cm long, plus a piece of white felt the same size.

Cut a piece of grosgrain ribbon 5 cm long, and two more pieces 13 cm long.

Embroidery Stitches

The stitches used in the embroidered needle case are:
Chain stitch
Running stitch
Back stitch
Lazy daisies
Woven wheels

I’ve included links to some of these if you’re not sure of them.

Embroidering the Cover

The cover will be folded in half, so you might like to mark the half way point with pins first.

Position one of the larger circles onto the cover. Place a smaller circle on top of the larger one. Position the other circles on the cover and pin them in place.

Sew backstitch across the circles to divide them firstly in half, then into quarters, then into eights.

Sew stems in chain stitch.

Embroider lazy daisies for the leaves.

In each corner, sew a woven wheel for a flower. Then sew 2 lazy daisies on either side of the flower for leaves.

Making the Insides of the Needle Case

The white piece will be sewn to the wrong side of the cover to conceal the sewing, and the pink piece will be sewn to the centre, then folded in half and sewn together.

So for the moment, you can treat each rectangle as a whole.

Embroider woven wheels and lazy daisies in each corner on both pieces.

Take the white piece of felt first. On one half, attach the rectangles using running stitch.

On the other half, fold the ends of the shorter length of ribbon under, then attach the ribbon to the felt by embroidering woven wheels and lazy daisies at either end.

Take the pink piece of felt and pin the lace trim with the little bit of white underneath it. Using the holes in the lace, sew the trim and the white felt to the pink felt.

On the other half of the pink felt, pin the pink trim to the rectangle, then to the piece of pink felt. Sew woven wheels near the top edge to attach them.

Making Up the Embroidered Needle Case

With the wrong sides together, pin the white felt inside to the green lining. Using running stitch, sew the 2 pieces together. You could use a sewing machine for this if you prefer, or you might like to sew blanket stitch instead of running stitch.

Now pin the pink centre piece to the white and green pieces. Mark the centre with pins. Sew down the centre of the pink piece.

The sewing won’t be visible on the pink felt, but it will be on the cover, so think about what colour you would like the stitches to be! I did mine in pale grey. You could use the sewing machine for this too if you wanted to.

Fold the pink bit of felt in half and pin. Sew it together using a running stitch.

Attaching the Ties

Take one of the longer lengths of ribbon. Fold the end under, then sew a woven wheel and a couple of lazy daisies to attach it to the front of the cover.

Do the same with the other piece of ribbon and the back of the cover.

Now your embroidered needle case is finished! You have somewhere to keep needles, pins, safety pins and a needle threader.

I actually can’t remember making anything quite this pretty before. There is a bit of a mistake though! Did you spot it? The white section was supposed to be the other way up, so the ribbon was nearer the top, not the bottom. This is what happens if you’re watching the Great British Sewing Bee at the same time!

Fusion Quilt Part 1: Making The Squares

May 15, 2020 · 6 Comments

One of the things that I’ve had on a Pinterest board for a long time is this.

It’s a fusion quilt, which basically means that you make quilt squares then crochet them together, so it fuses sewing with crochet.

Every time this quilt pops up again, or when I see it there on my Pinterest board, I’m reminded of how pretty it is and how much I like it!

I’m not one for making quilts. I’ve only ever made one pram sized quilt when my eldest was a baby, although I’ve started a few!

A fusion quilt is different. Because you make the squares, then crochet them together, I think there’s enough variety to prevent boredom from setting in. Also the crochet part is the sort of thing that can be worked on for a few minutes at a time.

So this week, still having a desire to make pretty things, I started making my own fusion quilt!

I should say that the original on Pinterest doesn’t have a tutorial with it, and I’m not trying to copy it but make my own version.

Another raid on the fabric pile behind the bedroom door turned up some pretty fabric in colours I wanted to use, and some fleece fabric for the back of the squares. I also found some yarn for crocheting the squares together.

Obviously I couldn’t crochet straight into the fabric squares, and sewing fabric with yarn was going to cause some problems, so I used embroidery thread to edge the squares in blanket stitch. I was then able to crochet into the embroidered stitches.

Making The Squares

You Will Need

Cotton fabric. This is a good project for using up bits left over from other things. If you don’t have enough to make a whole square, you could make quarter squares and sew them together.

Something to back the squares with. I used fleece fabric. Quilt batting would also work, but you would probably need to make extra cotton squares for the back too.

Embroidery thread. Something like cotton perle is better that the stranded sort.

Yarn and a crochet hook. A neutral colour is probably best, but you can use what you like! I used a beige colour in DK with a 4 mm hook. A lighter yarn would probably achieve a lacier look.

Cutting Out The Squares

One of the advantages of this kind of quilt is that you can make the squares quite large if you want to. It’s great if you tend to get bored with longer projects as you’ll be able to finish your fusion quilt more quickly!

I cut my squares 12 cm x 12 cm (4 3/4″ x 4 3/4″).

If you wanted to make some quarter squares to make larger squares of this size, you would need to cut them 7 cm x 7 cm (2 3/4″ x 2 3/4″).

The backing needs to be the same size.

How many squares is up to you, but bear in mind that they will need to make a rectangle. 24 is a good number to start with. You can always add more later.

Sewing The Squares

Take one cotton square and one backing square.

With the right sides together, sew round the edge leaving a gap for turning out.

Trim the seams and cut off the corners.

Turn out and pin the opening.

Using a long stitch on your sewing machine, top stitch around the edge of the square.

I forgot to take photos of this stage, but I made the squares in the same way as these reusable cloths. There are some step photos in this post if you need them.

Blanket Stitching The Edges

The blanket stitches allow you to have something to work the crochet stitches into.

To sew blanket stitch, sew a loop so that the loop is on the front of the square.

Then pass the needle through the loop from the back to the front. Pull it taut. The top of the stitch should sit on the edge of the square.

Now make another loop by passing the needle through from the front of the square to the back.

Take the needle through this loop, from back to front and pull it taut. Keep doing this until you get to a corner.

I used the top stitches as a guide to get them all about the same size. This also means that if you are finding it difficult to get the needle through the fabric, you can reuse the holes made already by your sewing machine.

Corners

This might not be the proper way of doing corners, but it’s the way I did them!

When you get near a corner, make the next loop directly underneath the corner.

Pass the needle through and pull it so that the end of the stitch is at the corner.

Now make the next loop by passing the needle front to back in the same place.

Pull the thread through again so that the end of this stitch is on the next side of the square and about the same length as the previous stitch.

Then continue until you get to the next corner.

Keep going until you’ve got all the way round. When you get to the last stitch, thread the needle through the loop of the first one and tie the ends.

If you are particular about things being very neat and accurate, you’ll want to make sure that you have the same number of stitches on each side of the square.

I haven’t done that. I’m not too worried about the joins at the corners looking messy because I have a plan for those!

Crocheting Round The Edges Of The Square

Please note that being English, I use English crochet terms!

Round 1

Into one of the blanket stitches, join the yarn and make 3 ch.

Tr into the next stitch, and subsequent stitches until you get to the corner.

Into the 1st of the 2 corner stitches, tr twice.

Then 1 ch, and 2 tr into the next stitch.

1 tr into each of the following stitches until you get the next corner. Crochet round each of the corners in the same way.

When you get back to where you started, join it with a ss.

Round 2

3 ch, then tr into each stitch until you get the the corner.

When you get to the first of the 2 trebles crocheted into one stitch, crochet 2 trebles into the space between them. Then 2 tr into the ch sp, then 2 tr into the next 2 tr.

Continue with 1 tr into each stitch until you get to the next corner. Work each of the corners in the same way as the first one.

When you get back to the start, join with a ss and tie off the ends.

So far I’ve completed 3 squares, with another 2 ready to crochet.

As I have the attention span of a gerbil, it is possible that I won’t finish my fusion quilt! But I feel good about this and I’m hoping to get it done over the next 2-3 weeks, and , so watch this space!

Boxy Pouch Tutorial

May 7, 2020 · 2 Comments

This post contains affiliate links.

Creativity is an odd thing sometimes. Usually I have lots of ideas, but this hasn’t been the case as much recently.

Alan Turing apparently had his best ideas in the bath, and I suspect there’s something in feeling relaxed that helps ideas to flow.

The current global situation is enough to make anybody feel the opposite of relaxed, so I suppose it’s not really a surprise that I haven’t felt as creative as I often do.

Anyway, last week I had an overwhelming urge to make something pretty. The fabric pile behind the bedroom door yielded a little piece of Tilda fabric, and some plain pink cotton. I also found an old bag that I’d kept, thinking that I could use the zips for something (the whole of the front panel is zips; it’s a weird bag). Last week that bag finally came into its own and I used one of the zips!

The size of the boxy pouch was decided by the length of the zip. And, as a word of warning, if you use a zip that doesn’t have things at the ends to stop the zipper thing coming off, pull it slowly! It’s tricky to get it back on once it’s come off.

I used boxed corners on the ends to make the boxy shape, and I added ribbon tabs to make it easier when pulling the zip open and closed.

Instructions For Making a Boxy Pouch

You Will Need

Cotton fabric for the outer and the lining. You could use the same fabric or a plain cotton with a contrasting print. I used a little bit of a print with some plain for the outer, and the same plain for the lining. If you are new to sewing you’ll find it easier to use one whole piece for the outer.

Interfacing. I like to use a medium weight sew in interfacing because it gives it some weight and just enough squodginess, but you can use what you have. Even lightweight interfacing will make a difference.

A zip. The zip I used was 26 cm long.

Ribbon or similar for the tabs (optional)

A zip foot (optional)

Cutting Out

Cut 2 pieces of outer fabric 26 cm x 18 cm, 2 pieces of interfacing 26 cm x 18 cm and 2 pieces of lining fabric 26 cm x 18 cm.

To make the outer from 2 different fabrics, cut 2 pieces 26 cm x 10 cm and join them along the long edge.

The finished boxy pouch measures 27 cm x 8 cm x 7 cm.

If you want to make a pouch that’s a different size but has the same proportions, the long edge needs to be the same length as the zip, and the short edge needs to be 2/3 the length of the long edge.

Cut 2 pieces of ribbon 5 cm in length.

Sewing the Boxy Pouch

If you are joining pieces to make the outer, do that first.

Take one one of the lining pieces and lay it down with the right side upwards. Position the zip on top of the lining, also face up, with the edge of the zip aligned with one of the long edges of the lining.

On top of this, place one of the outer pieces with right side down on top of the zip, and a piece of interfacing on top of the fabric. Make sure that the long edges are lined up and the zip is inside.

Pin it together, then sew along the long edge, leaving about a cm at either end. This is much easier to do if you have a zip foot, but it’s still possible if you don’t have one.

Fold the lining and the outer the right way out away from the zip. It’s a good idea to run the iron over it at this stage. As you are doing this, check that you have pulled the outer and the lining away from the zip. Otherwise you’ll end up catching things in the zip (guess how I know!).

Leaving a cm free at either end, top stitch the lining and the outer, keeping close to the folded edge.

Repeat these steps to attach the other lining piece, outer and interfacing to the other side of the zip.

With the right sides together, sew the other long edge of the outer with the interfacing.

Repeat with the lining, but this time leave an opening.

Trim the seams.

Now open the zip a little way. This is very important! When you turn the box pouch out, it will need to go through the zip opening as well as through the gap in the lining, so make sure you open it enough!

Squash the lining and the outer so that the seams you have just sewn are aligned with the zip. Pin the short edges of the lining, then pin the outer and interfacing.

This is where it will make a difference if you remembered to leave a cm or so free at each end. If you didn’t do this, don’t panic! Just unpick a few stitches.

If you want your box pouch to have tabs, take a piece of ribbon, fold it in half and slip the folded edge inside the seam. Pin it in place, then do the same on the opposite side.

Sew the sides of the lining, catching the zip in the seam each time.

Repeat with the outer and the interfacing, again catching the zip in the seams. Trim the seams.

Making the Boxed Corners

Find the half way point between one of the corners and the bottom seam. Mark it with a pin.

Press from the corner with your finger to crease the fabric. Now open out the corner and match the crease to the side seam. Pin the corner where you marked the half way point.

This is a bit fiddly and you might have to put your hand in through the gap in the lining to get the crease and the seam lined up.

Do the same with the rest of the corners of the lining, and with the outer.

If you would like a more detailed tutorial showing how to make boxed corners, there’s one here. Please note though that these were boxed corners for a bag and although the process is the same, it was less fiddly!

Sew across the corners at right angles to the seam. Cut the corners off. Trim away all the threads.

Finishing the Pouch

It’s time to turn it out! This is where I’m really hoping that you remembered to open the zip!

If you didn’t, unpick the side seam of the outer a little bit, open the zip a few cm, then resew the seam.

Push the corners of the pouch out. Handstitch the opening in the lining.

Now all you have to do is decide what to use your boxy pouch for! I think I might keep the pens I like to use for drawing in mine!

Making the Embroidered Pincushion

You Will Need

Cutting Out

Embroidering the Design

Sewing the Pincushion Together

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Instructions For Altering a T Shirt

You Will Need

Instructions

Tips

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Instructions For Making a DIY Embroidered Needle Case

You Will Need

Cutting Out

Embroidery Stitches

Embroidering the Cover

Making the Insides of the Needle Case

Making Up the Embroidered Needle Case

Attaching the Ties

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Making The Squares

You Will Need

Cutting Out The Squares

Sewing The Squares

Blanket Stitching The Edges

Corners

Crocheting Round The Edges Of The Square

Round 1

Round 2

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Instructions For Making a Boxy Pouch

You Will Need

Cutting Out

Sewing the Boxy Pouch

Making the Boxed Corners

Finishing the Pouch

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