Easy To Sew Pumpkins Tutorial

November 3, 2017 · Leave a Comment

Easy To Sew Pumpkins Tutorial

I’ve gone a little bit pumpkin mad this autumn.

Having returned from a trip to New England recently, I can see why pumpkins mean autumn for lots of people.

I actually don’t like eating them very much (although pumpkin spice latte is delicious!), but I love the orange and their lovely squashy shape! My boys dismissed my suggestion of having pumpkin shaped cushions as weird, so I’ve restricted myself to making small ones.

The weather’s turned colder now and winter’s on its way. So here’s one last pumpkin tutorial before they go away and we get ready for the next thing!

How to Make Easy To Sew Pumpkins

You Will Need

Fabric scraps in pumpkin colours (I got this bag of remnants from Ebay. This is an affiliate link), strong thread or sewing thread doubled, a needle, ribbon, rice or barley or nut shells, polyester filling.

How To Make

1. Draw round a bowl onto the wrong side of the fabric. For smaller pumpkins you could use something smaller than a bowl, and for larger pumpkins use something larger. You could use a plate, or for much bigger pumpkins, a bucket.

2. Using strong thread, sew a running stitch along the circle than you’ve drawn. Don’t knot the ends!

3. Pull the thread to gather the stitches. Once you have a bowl shape, put your filling in.

4. Pull the threads some more so that there is a small hole at the the top. Push some polyester filling in through the hole. This is to give the pumpkin a round and squishy shape.

5. Pull the thread tight and wrap it around the top of the pumpkin a few times. Tie the ends of the thread.

6. If the top is very bulky, trim some of the bulk away. Then wrap ribbon around it tightly to make a stalk. Tie the ribbon tightly.I think I’ll make some large ones next year whatever my boys say!

How to Make a Needle Felted Pumpkin

October 20, 2017 · 6 Comments

How to Make a Needle Felted Pumpkin

There’s something about autumn that makes me want to leave the sewing machine alone a little bit and reach for some woolly crafts.

I discovered wet felting a few years ago, and if you’re looking for a new craft to try, I’d recommend it!. The wool rovings are lovely to work with and it’s quite easy to get pleasing results, even if you generally don’t consider yourself to be artistic.

Needle felting has been on my list of things to try. I’ve never used wet felting it to make something solid, only pictures, and to be honest, I didn’t fancy clearing up all the mess and the water afterwards!

With wet felting, it’s the warm water, soap and rubbing that makes the fibres felt together.

With needle felting, the needle has barbs on it that catch the fibres, so the felting occurs that way.

It took me an hour or so to make a pumpkin, although the process could be speeded up with one of those pen things that allows you to use more than one needle.

Here’s how to make a needle felted pumpkin!

Instructions For Making a Needle Felted Pumpkin

I’ve included some affiliate links.

You Will Need

Wool roving in autumn colours (including green), felting needle, foam mat. If you don’t have a foam mat, you could use a washing up sponge instead.

Making the Pumpkins

1. Pull off some of the roving. This is easier to do if your hands are further apart. Pull the fibres apart until it’s fluffy.

2. Roll the roving into a ball.

3. Start jabbing the ball with the needle. Make sure you stab it all over so that it felts evenly. Just mind your fingers because stabbing yourself hurts!

As the fibres start to felt, you can shape it by poking the needle in diagonally. After a few minutes it will start to firm up. Keep going until you have a ball. It should be quite firm on the outside with no wispy bits, but still squishy.

4. To make the pumpkin shape, stab in a line from the north pole of your ball down to the south. Go over this a few times. Repeat on the opposite side. Keep going like this until your ball is divided up into little segments like a satsuma (or a pumpkin!).

5. To make the stalk, pull off some green roving and fluff it it up like you did for the pumpkin. Roll it into a sausage and start poking it with the needle.

6. Keep rolling it over and poking it with the needle. Leave one end fluffy and free. When it’s firm, fold the top over and felt it to the rest of the stalk.

7. Take the fluffy end and spread the fibres out. Position the stalk on the top of the pumpkin and using the needle, felt the stalk to the pumpkin.

Tips

To mix colours, pull the fibres apart. Put them together and keep pulling until the colours are mixed.

You can add other fibres to the outside of the pumpkin once it starts to hold its shape. Just remember that the gold stuff and the silk fibres won’t felt, so you’ll have to put a tiny bit of roving over the top, then felt it.

Remember that the felting process makes stuff smaller!

Have fun! It doesn’t matter if the pumpkins aren’t a perfect shape, because the real ones aren’t either.

DIY Autumn Flower Arrangement

September 29, 2017 · 3 Comments

DIY Autumn Flower Arrangement

One of the positive things I’ve discovered about getting older is that I’m much comfier in my own skin.

Among the things I have realised are that it’s fine to be a home loving introvert with anti social tendencies and preferring the colder months to summer is not a crime against humanity, the weather or anything else.

And I have discovered that out there in internetland, there are a whole lot of other people like me!

So for all you autumn loving, introvert homebodies, here is a diy flower arrangement for you!

It’s very easy. If you’ve not tried anything like this before, don’t be put off!

My tips are: odd numbers are best, keep it simple and fill up the gaps with greenery or small stuff, but don’t overdo it.

Ready?

How To Make an Autumn Flower Arrangement

You Will Need

Oasis flower foam, something to put the arrangement in (I was sent these drawers by Oasis Home and Hobby along with the flower foam), 3 sunflowers, 9 orange chrysanthemums, greenery with berries.

I bought the sunflowers and the chrysanthemums from the supermarket and for the greenery with the berries, I raided the hedgerows for hawthorn, which grows in abundance round here.

Before You Start

Cut the oasis block down to size and pop it in the sink to soak. It’s ready when it sinks. This won’t take very long providing it’s a fairly small piece and not a whole block! Mine was ready within about half an hour.

Cut the stems of the flowers. If you’re using the same drawer thing for your arrangement as I did, the sunflowers need to be about 20 cm high, the chrysanthemums about 12 -15 cm and the greenery/ berries about 10 cm.

If you’re using something different for your autumn flower arrangement, you’ll need to check against your container. Generally, the stems of the main flowers need to 1 1/2 times the height of the vase or container.

Making the Arrangement

1. Pop the oasis block into the container, then push one of the sunflowers into the oasis, in the centre but nearer to the front than the back. Push the other 2 sunflowers in on either side, closer to the sides and front of the arrangement.

2. Now add the chrysanthemums. Arrange them around the sunflowers so that they are evenly spaced. Put one each in the front corners, between the sunflowers and the rest around the back.

3. Fill in the spaces with the greenery and berries.

Of course it won’t be absolutely symmetrical and that’s part of the charm! But aim for a balance by using pieces of a similar size.

Now all you need to do is decide where to put your autumn flower arrangement!

10 Ways to Get Ready For Christmas Crafts Now

September 19, 2017 · 8 Comments

10 Ways to Get Ready For Christmas Crafts Now

Christmas always sneaks up on me. I know the date never changes, but somehow every year I find it’s the end of November before I’ve even started to think about Christmas crafts and what I might make.

I suspect it might be partly because all 4 of my boys have birthdays in the autumn and I tend not to think about Christmas until the Season of Birthdays is over.

I also don’t like thinking about it too early. I want to feel Christmassy at Christmas. I want to enjoy the cold weather and the twinkly lights. Feeling Christmassy is a hard thing to sustain if you have been doing Christmas crafts since July.

So if you want to get organised for Christmas crafting, here are 10 ideas to help you get ready now before the cold weather arrives without leaving it all to the last minute.

10 Things You Can Do Now to Get Ready For Christmas Crafts

1. Start planning. You can write down ideas if you want to or you could just start having a bit of a think.

What is your theme going to be? Red and gold? Blue and white? Natural?

Do you want lots of Scandi style decorations this year? Or things made from nature? Or felt?

Have you got small ones at home who might like to do some Christmas crafts?

Are you planning on making a lot of gifts or will be you be focusing more on making your home feel Christmassy?

Pinterest is great for organising ideas as well as finding them! My Christmas Crafts Pinterest board is here.

2. Start collecting pinecones. Pinecones are great for autumn crafts too, so collecting them doesn’t have to feel too Christmassy.

If there are no pine trees near where you live, plan a day out somewhere that does have them. Even though we live in the country, there are not that many trees near where we live. Thankfully though, there are woods not too far away, so the boys and I will be having a little trip off to the woods at some point over the next month or 2.

3. Dry citrus fruit slices. I love to do this! Dried fruit can be used to make garlands, tree decorations and wreaths. These can be used to decorate your home nearer the time, and they can be given as gifts too.

Drying fruit is very easy to do! Just slice some citrus fruit thinly and put it in a warm (not hot!) oven for a few hours. Full instructions for doing this can be found here. It’s possible to dry whole fruit as well. I usually stick to clementines as they’re small and take less time to dry.

4. Plan Christmas crafts for your kids. Also plan when you are going to do them. I always find that things get so busy in the run up to Christmas, we end up not having time to do half the things I wanted to. So decide what you want to do and when you want to do them.

If you have school aged children, it’s nice to have some things planned for them to do as the excitement before the big day is often enough to send everyone loopy. You can arrange them round trips to the woods/ common/ beach to wear them out and keep them busy.

5. Evaluate your Christmas fabric and ribbon situation. If you see something you need while you are out and about, you can buy it. Then when the time comes, you’ll be ready to make stuff without having to brave the Christmas crowds or wait for the postman.

It’s worth mentioning at this point too that shops get their Christmas stock delivered in September, but things like red ribbon, gingham and felt are usually available all year round! So stock up on what you need when you get the chance.

6. Identify where you can obtain greenery. Greenery is so useful for table centrepieces, candle decorations, decorating mantlepieces and for wreaths.

Christmas flowers are usually easy to find, but greenery is often less so. You might have some in the garden, or you might have a neighbour with a laylandii hedge who might let you have some if you ask them. I know several places near me where there is hawthorn growing in the hedgerows. I’ll be down there in a few weeks with my scissors ;).

7. Start collecting jam jars. Homemade jam makes for a great last minute Christmas gift and t’s very easy to make. Just weigh the fruit, chuck it in a pan with the same weight in sugar and a little bit of water and boil it until it starts to set. Pour the jam into sterilised jars. When it has cooled, put the lids on.

Jam tastes better if it is left in the jar for a couple of weeks, so if you can make it a little while in advance, it’s worth doing so.

Jam jars have other uses besides holding jam, which brings me onto…

8. Create a Pinterest board of last minute handmade gifts. Stuff you can put in a jar is great. Sewing kits, brownie ingredients, sweets, bath stuff and natural things to make your house smell nice are all things you can make up yourself and put in a jar. To make the jar pretty, you could tie some ribbon round it or cover the lid with a square of fabric.

If these don’t appeal, a quick search on Pinterest will throw up plenty of other ideas for last minute Christmas gifts you can make. Although the point here is to get ourselves organised, it’s a good idea to have some ideas like this as these will probably be quick and easy things to make if you do find yourself short of time.

9. Dig out stuff you have made or started to make over the last year and decide whether you can give any of it to people as presents. A couple of years ago I had a glut of mug cosies, some of which became presents for my sons’ teachers.

Perhaps you’ve made something that was more about trying out a technique than making something you needed. Or maybe you made lots of covered notebooks just for fun! It’s probably worth having a look at what you’ve made or not quite finished.

And if you want to make more gifts, it’s probably never too early to start., so that’s definitely something to start planning now.

10. Start making a list of anything else you might need. Successful Christmas crafting often needs more than fabric and ribbon alone. So start to consider what else you’ll need.

This could include oasis flower foam, wire for centrepieces, twine, raffia, buttons, glitter, gift bags and tissue paper. There’s probably a whole lot of other stuff too that you’ll think of once you start to make your list!

Having a list prepared well in advance will mean that you can get stuff when you see it. It’s no good sitting down to make a Christmas wreath then realising that you don’t have any bay leaves or florists’ wire!

It also means that you won’t find yourself wandering round the Christmas section of Wilko knowing that you need stuff but not knowing exactly what!

You might be interested to know that there is a Christmas craft planner available as part of the super good value Christmas bundle! You can find out more here.

Pumpkin Pincushion Tutorial

October 11, 2016 · 6 Comments

A Pumpkin Pincushion Tutorial

Earlier in the year I made a pincushion.

I had been guilty of putting pins in my mouth, even though I knew it was dangerous and therefore probably not a good idea.

While watching The Great British Sewing Bee, I noticed that firstly none of the contestants put pins in their mouths, and also that Angeline had a rather nice one that she wore in her wrist.

I thought it would probably be easy to make one, so I had a go! This was the result.

The fabric I used was left over from another project and the button was a spare one from a jumper I bought.It’s very handy with it being on my wrist, and now I almost never put pins in my mouth!

Anyway, with it being the autumn, it occurred to me that the shape, as well as being like a flower, was also a lot like a pumpkin. So I decided to make a pumpkin pincushion!

I had some orange fabric left over from something else and I used brown thread instead of white to make the pumpkin shape.

When I made the first version of this pincushion, somebody warned me that I might accidentally stab myself in the arm as she had a pincushion that was similar and she had done this herself. Despite efforts to be careful, I did manage to stab myself in the arm and it hurt!

So this version has 2 little squares of acrylic in the wristband, underneath the pumpkin, to reduce the chances of this happening.

Somebody else actually suggested using the plastic reinforcements from a “bag for life”, which is another option for the wristband.

Here’s the pincushion tutorial again. If you’d prefer the original version with pictures, you can find it here.

And if you would like to buy a kit to make a pumpkin pincushion, I have some kits for sale here.

How to Make a Pumpkin Pincushion

There are affiliate links below.

You Will Need

Scraps of cotton fabric in orange, a small piece of velcro, a button, polyester filling, singe strand embroidery thread in dark brown, acrylic squares, usual sewing supplies.

Cutting Out

From your fabric, cut 2 circles about 10 cm in diameter (distance across the circle passing through the middle). I used a roll of sellotape.

Cut a rectangle about 10 cm wide and long enough to go around your wrist and overlap by 3 -4 cm. Mine was 25 cm long,but I have freakishly skinny wrists.

Sewing Up

1. Sew the 2 circles together with the right sides together. Leave a gap. Clip the seam allowance.

2. Turn the circles the right way out and stuff with polyester filling. It will need to be firm so that it doesn’t yield too much when you stick the pins in it. Slip stitch the opening.

3. Cut a length of your strong thread (I used Perle cotton embroidery thread, but sewing thread doubled will probably do) and tie a good big knot at one end.

4. Bring your thread through the middle of your pumpkin pincushion. Take the thread over the pincushion and put the needle in again where you started. Bring it through again and pull it tight.

Take the thread round the outside of the pincushion on the opposite side, then back in through where you started. Keep going in this way until the pincushion is divided up into 8.

Tie the thread off.

5. Pick the side that looks neatest and sew a button at the centre.

6. To make the strap, pin the fabric strips with the right sides together. Sew along both the long edges. Trim the seams and turn it out.

7. Fold the strap in half widthways. Measure 2.5 cm from the centre. Sew across the strip where you have measured,

8. Slip the acrylic squares into the strap, one after the other. Sew the other side of the squares. Using a zip foot here will enable you to sew close to the squares.

9. Tuck the ends of the strap in. Pin, then sew.

10. Cut a small piece of velcro (about 3-4 cm) and sew to the ends of the strap. You will need one piece on one side, and the other piece on the other side.

11. Hand sew the pincushion to the middle of the strap.

The kits are available to buy here.

Linking up here