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Easy Flower Arrangement

July 19, 2017 · 14 Comments

Easy Flower Arrangement

I was recently sent a box full of goodies from the Oasis flower foam people.

As the end of term is fast approaching, I decided to put it to good use and design an easy flower arrangement for my boys’ teachers and the cub and scout leaders.

When I was a teacher, I would often receive bunches of flowers from the children at the end of the school year. I still remember a little girl giving me some beautiful red carnations, almost 20 years ago now!

It’s lovely to receive flowers, but there’s sometimes an issue with where to put them all.

Some of the items in the box of goodies were small blocks of oasis in little trays. So I decided to make some little arrangements using these trays.

Even if you don’t have kids at school, they’d make a nice gift for a new mum (or for anybody who likes flowers!) or a centre piece for a summery lunch table.

Here’s how to make an easy flower arrangement!easy flower arrangement

You Will Need

Oasis Neo foam blocks with trays, ribbon (I used this) raffia, flowers.easy flower arrangement

For the flowers I used 3 bunches of supermarket flowers, 2 of carnations and 1 of lisianthus. I made 2 arrangements and had quite a lot left over. I’d have probably got 4 arrangements out of the flowers. If you wanted to use different flowers, I’d recommend using a few larger ones and then some smaller flowers for filling in. If you have a garden, you might have something suitable.

Before You Start

The first thing you’ll need to do is soak the foam blocks.

The blocks lift out of the trays and you can pop them in the sink or in a large bowl of cold water.easy flower arrangement

As the blocks are small, they don’t take nearly as long as the full sized blocks. Mine soaked for about half an hour while I did something else, and that was plenty of time. You’ll know when they’re ready because they’ll be darker and heavier, and sinking in the water instead of floating.

Covering the Trays

The ribbon I used was wider than the trays were high, which was fine.

I cut a piece of ribbon the same length as the distance around the tray, plus a bit extra. I then tied some raffia around it to hold it in place.easy flower arrangement

To make things easier, you could use some double sided tape to hold it in place while you tie the raffia. I had plans to do this, only Aidan (also known as Tape Boy) was the last person to have the double sided tape and it has disappeared.

If you don’t have any ribbon you could use tissue paper or wrapping paper, or you could paint the trays with acrylic paint.

Making the Arrangements

Even if you’ve never done anything like this before, it’s quite easy to do!

One thing to remember are that odd numbers of things usually look best. The other thing is to try and keep it looking balanced, so if you put a flower in on one side, you’ll need to put one on the other as well.

So here are the steps and you’ll have beautiful arrangements in no time!

1. Remove the foam block from the water and pop it back into the tray. Take 7 of your larger flowers and cut the stems so that they are about 20 cm high. Put one in the centre of the block and 2 on either side, a bit further forward. Push the stems a couple of cm into the foam.

2. Push the 4 remaining large flowers into each of the corners. You might like to angle these a bit so that the flowers hang over the edge of the tray.

In the pictures it looks like there are 3 stems pushed into the centre. It was actually one, with a couple of buds attached to the stem where I cut it. easy flower arrangement

easy flower arrangement

3. Now take your smaller flowers and cut the stems so that they are about 10 cm high. Push these into the foam around the larger flowers.easy flower arrangement

Take care to keep things looking balanced! If you put some on one side, add the same number to the other side.easy flower arrangement

Don’t forget the edges and the back!easy flower arrangement

Keep going until the arrangement looks full. The oasis should be difficult to see past the flowers, but don’t over do it! Use your judgement to decide when you have enough.

It took me about half an hour to make 2 of this easy flower arrangement, so even if you have a few to do, it should be possible to do them in an evening!easy flower arrangement Linking up here.

easy flower arrangement

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Filed In: Blog, Other Stuff / Tagged: centre piece, craft fair, flower arrangements, gift, how to, wedding

Mobius Loops That Zip Together

July 14, 2017 · 6 Comments

Mobius Loops That Zip Together

If somebody had told me 10 years ago that having kids would result in my liking maths, I wouldn’t have believed them.

In fact, I think I would have laughed in that person’s face.

Just as having a transport mad child means that I know more about buses than I would care to, having a maths mad child means that I now love Mobius loops almost as much as mathematicians do.

What the Heck is Mobius Loop?

Mobius loops are the things that infinity scarves are.

To make a Mobius loop, you take a strip of something (probably paper), bend it round into a circle, but before you stick the ends together, twist it. Then you stick the ends together.

By doing this, you take something thing that has 2 sides and 4 edges and turn it into something that has 1 side and 1 edge.

If you then cut it in half, lengthways, you would expect to get 2 circles. But that doesn’t happen! I’m not going to tell you what does happen because you can try yourself ;). It’s weird. If you twist it more times, different things happen. Mathematicians love them!diy zip together mobius loops

Why Would I Want to Zip 2 Mobius Loops Together?

Joining 2 Mobius loops together along their edges will result in a shape that has 1 side and no edges. This is a Klein bottle.

If you make a Klein bottle (like this hat I crocheted for my little mathematician!), where the handle thing joins the to the inside, it will have to pass through the outside.

In 4 dimensions, it wouldn’t have to do that. It would join onto the inside bit without having to pass through the outside.

Sticking paper Mobius loops together with sellotape doesn’t work very well. I tried it the other day and the tape came unstuck and I got in a muddle.

Zipping them together means that they will stay together, although you will have to leave a gap for the outer bit to pass through to the inside.

How to Make Mobius Loops That Zip Together

You Will Need

Pieces of cotton fabric, 2 zips the same length as your fabric, usual sewing supplies.

Open ended zips are best. I made the mistake of buying closed ended zips, which had to be carefully separated with a pair of scissors.

How to Make the Mobius Loops

1. From your fabric, cut 4 pieces 15 cm x 42 cm. I was using up stuff I had already, so I cut 4 pieces from different fabric.diy zip together mobius loops

2. Take 2 of the pieces and pin them with the wrong sides together. Sew down the middle, leaving a couple of cm free at either end.diy zip together mobius loops

3. On one of the long edges, fold the raw edges inwards about a cm. Take one half of one of the zips and slip it in between the folded edges. Pin it, then sew the zip in place.

4. Take the other zip and divide it into 2. Sew this zip half into the other long edge in the same way. Make sure that both the zips are the same way round. It’ll avoid confusion later!diy zip together mobius loops

5. At one end, fold the raw edges inwards. Then bend the strip round to make a circle. Twist it once so that the inside is facing upwards, then slip the unfolded end in between the folded ends. Pin, then sew.diy zip together mobius loops

6. Once you’ve done this, check the zips. You might need to sew over the ends in again, especially if you had to unpick them a bit to fold the raw edges in.

Make a second Mobius loop in the same way, except when you twist it, turn the twist the other way. So on my first Mobius loop, I twisted it towards the right, and on the second one, I twisted it towards the left.diy zip together mobius loops

Turning the Mobius Loops into a Klein Bottle

To make the Mobius loops into a Klein bottle, you’ll need to zip them together.

Because my zips kept coming apart at the bottom, I put a couple of stitches at the bottom of each one.

Turning them into a Klein bottle is a bit fiddly. You’ll have to leave a gap (you wouldn’t need to in 4 dimensions but unfortunately you have to in 3!) and it helps if you know what a Klein bottle looks like. The key thing is to try to get the handle shape.diy zip together mobius loops diy zip together mobius loops diy zip together mobius loops

These would make a fun gift for a mathematician! Or just for yourself if you like that kind of thing 🙂

If you’d like to find out more about Mobius loops and Klein bottles, my boys love this Numberphile video featuring Cliff Stoll.

<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/AAsICMPwGPY” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

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Filed In: Blog, Sewing Projects / Tagged: craft fair, gift, how to, klein bottle, maths, mobius loop

How to Sew a Laptop Sleeve

June 24, 2017 · 11 Comments

How to Sew a Laptop Sleeve

I like my stuff pretty.

Not over the top pretty, everything pink and endless ruffles. But I do like pretty things, fabric boxes, cushions that I’ve made myself and I wear dresses for the school run.

Laptops generally are not pretty. Neither are sewing machines, although I have seen some pretty ones!

We don’t usually make these purchasing decisions based on how the things look. We need them to work properly, to not eat our sewing or our blog posts, so we buy them based on those things instead.

An easy way of making these functional machines prettier is to make them cover or case.

My sewing machine already has a pretty cover. So here’s a tutorial showing how to sew a laptop sleeve!how to sew a laptop sleeve

I love retro flowers with their geometric designs, and for inspiration I used the flowers on this top that I turned into a dress.

If you would like the templates for the flowers, these are available as a content upgrade at the bottom of the post.

Instructions

You Will Need

To sew a laptop sleeve, you will need some scraps of cotton fabric for the stems and the flowers (4 different colours), fusible interfacing, sew in interfacing or batting to give it a squidgy quality (I used Soft and Stable. This is an affiliate link), a zip and cotton fabric for the outer and the lining.

For a netbook, 1 fat quarter of each will be enough.

For a laptop, you’ll need more, maybe half a metre, so check when you’ve measured!

The zip will need to be long enough to go around the corners of the sleeve, so how long you need it to be will again depend on the size of your laptop.

Measuring Your Laptop

Take your tape measure and measure around your laptop, both the width and the length. Measuring like this will allow you to take into account the depth of the laptop as well.

Take each measurement and divide it in half. Now add a seam allowance and another couple of cm so that the sleeve is not too snug!

This gives you the size of the rectangle you need for the main pieces of the sleeve.

Cutting Out

You might want to make yourself a template first from paper.

Cut 2 rectangles from the outer fabric, 2 from the lining and 2 from the batting or sew in interfacing.

Cutting Out the Flowers

This design uses 3 circles of different sizes, 1 leaf/ petal shape and a long rectangle for the stems.

To get the circles, I drew around some cookie cutters! Once I’d worked out the size of the rectangle, I chose the largest circle that would fit comfortably 3 times on the rectangle.

For the smallest circle, I drew round the inside of a roll of washi tape.

To cut the leaf/petal shape, I started with the largest circle and divided it into 4. I used the curved edge of 1 quarter, then drew the opposite edge to match.

If you don’t want to draw your own, you can use the templates I made. You can get these at the bottom of the post.

I made 3 of each type of flower so that the back and the front of the laptop sleeve are different. If you want them to be the same, you’ll need to cut 1 more larger circle, 1 more middling sized circle and 4 less petals. You’ll also need to swap one of the small circles in flower colour 2 for a small circle in flower colour 3.how to sew a laptop sleeve

Once you have your templates, you will need to cut:
3 large circles from flower colour 1
3 middling sized circles from flower colour 2
3 small circles from flower colour 3 and 3 more from flower colour 2
6 stems in green
12 leaf/ petals in green
6 leaf/ petals in flower colour 1 and 6 more in flower colour 3

Appliqueing the Flowers

Before appliqueing the flowers to the outer of the sleeve, arrange the pieces on to get an idea of how close together they need to be. The sleeve I’ve made is for my little netbook. If you’re making a sleeve for a laptop, you’ll be able to spread them out a bit more.

Starting with the flower pieces that will be at the bottom, applique them in place. Add the overlapping pieces as you go. The pictures below show you how!how to sew a laptop sleeve how to sew a laptop sleeve how to sew a laptop sleevehow to sew a laptop sleevehow to sew a laptop sleevehow to sew a laptop sleeve

Sewing the Up the Laptop Sleeve

1. Make the covered ends for the zip. You don’t have to do this, it just makes it look a bit neater!

Cut 2 rectangles of fabric about 5 cm wide and 8 cm long.

Take one of the rectangles and fold it in half width ways. Fold the ends inwards about 1 cm.

Pop the folded rectangle over the end of the zip and pin. Sew across the folded edges.how to sew a laptop sleeve how to sew a laptop sleeve how to sew a laptop sleeve

Cover the other end of the zip in the same way.

The open end of the zip can be tricky. To make it easier, pull the zip slider thing back and pin the ends together, then make the covered end as in the steps above.

2. Take one of the outer sections and a piece of interfacing. Put the interfacing underneath, then the zip on the top. The zip needs to be face down, in the centre and with the edge aligned with the top edge of the outer and the interfacing.how to sew a laptop sleeve

You’ll need to clip the sides of zip to get it to curve round at the corners.how to sew a laptop sleeve

Once you’ve pinned the zip in place, pop the lining on the top, right side down and pin it to the zip, outer and interfacing.how to sew a laptop sleeve

3. Sew the zip together with the lining, outer and interfacing. I started in the centre and sewed outwards, then did it again going the other way.

4. Do the same with the other outer, lining and interfacing pieces and the other side of the zip. This is a bit fiddly!

5. Now open the zip at least 10 cm. It’s important to remember to do this otherwise you’ll have issues turning it the right way out.

Separate the lining and the outer. Leaving a gap in the bottom for turning out, sew the bottom and the sides of the lining up as far as the zip.how to sew a laptop sleeve

6. Now sew the outer in the same way, but without leaving a gap at the bottom. Trim the seams.

7. Turn the sleeve the right way out. This is where you’ll be glad you remembered to open the zip! Hand stitch the opening in the lining.

I found that the seam with the zip wouldn’t sit flat. Soft and Stable is quite bulky, but I didn’t want to trim the seams to closely in case the cotton frayed.

So I top stitched around the zip. This will also help to prevent the lining from becoming caught up in the zip!how to sew a laptop sleeve

Having said that laptops are not pretty, I actually managed to find a pink netbook!how to sew a laptop sleeve how to sew a laptop sleeve how to sew a laptop sleeve

If you want to sew a laptop sleeve and you’d like the templates I used for the flowers, please enter your email address in the form below.

Please note that by doing this, you will be added to the Tea and a Sewing Machine email list. I will send you regular emails, usually once a week, containing sewing tips, links, updates and free stuff. If you do not wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe at any time.

Linking up here.

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Filed In: Blog, Sewing Projects / Tagged: applique, craft fair, flowers, gift, how to, retro

Sewing a Tea Mat: A Pretty Way to Catch Tea Stains

April 21, 2017 · 13 Comments

Sewing a Tea Mat

In February we embarked on a diy project that was overdue by 14 years. We ripped out our old kitchen and put in a new one. We managed to get most of the new one in the week that hubby had taken off work to do it, and over the last few weeks we’ve been finishing it off. It’s still not quite finished, but enough of it’s done to start making some things for it!

 

One of the things that I absolutely love about it are the beautiful wooden worktops. The only issue is I’m worried about ruining them!

In the old kitchen I got the tea stains out of the laminate worktops with bicarb and vinegar, but I don ‘t want to use anything that harsh on the wooden ones.

So I had plans to make a pretty cloth to line a tray.

Unfortunately, all the trays in my house currently contain half finished lego models and I didn’t get round to buying another one.

So the tea tray cloth has become a tea mat instead!how to sew a tea mat tea tray cloth

To make it I used some linen (tea coloured already so the stains won’t show!) and some pretty floral fabric. I also used some sew in interfacing to give it some more weight.

I used machine embroidery to applique the teapot and embroider the letters. It was the first time I’d tried machine embroidering letters, and I’m happy with how it’s turned out! I went over the letters twice as they looked spidery after the first time.

Having an embroidery foot really helped as it allowed me to see what I was sewing! If you read the post I wrote about sewing machine feet, you’ll know that I don’t believe that having lots of feet is necessary. However it can be useful to have particular feet for certain tasks, and using an embroidery foot definitely made it easier.how to sew a tea mat tea tray cloth

You can find the full tutorial for the tea mat here on the Minerva Crafts Bloggers Network. There are free templates for the teapot and the lettering too.

These are affiliate links for the stuff I used to make the tea mat.

Linen

how to sew a tea mat tea tray cloth

Floral fat quarter pack

how to sew a tea mat tea tray cloth

Sew in interfacing

how to sew a tea mat tea tray cloth

Fusible interfacing

how to sew a tea mat tea tray cloth

Linking up here.

how to sew a tea mat tea tray liner

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Filed In: Blog, Sewing Projects / Tagged: applique, bias binding, craft fair, decor, easy, gift, how to, kitchen, machine embroidery

Tea Towel Projects: Quick and Easy Messenger Bag Tutorial

March 24, 2017 · 10 Comments

Tea Towel Projects: Quick and Easy Messenger Bag Tutorial

Tea towels are a great source of inexpensive fabric, especially for small projects.

They’re usually made from good quality cotton fabric, they come in a variety of prints and colours and if you buy a set of them, they all co-ordinate. Also, if you are careful, you can often use the existing hems and avoid having to sew new hems yourself!

For this project, I wanted to see how quick it would be to make an easy messenger bag out of a couple of tea towels.

I am happy to tell you that it was very easy and fairly quick! In total it took me about an hour and a half, including a tea break.
tea towel crafts quick and easy messenger bag

As I prefer not to trek into town unless I really need to, I bought some tea towels from Amazon. I love the blue and white and the print is not too kitcheny. This is an affiliate link to the tea towels I used.

I was careful to choose a non directional print as that would have involved extra cutting. I used some sew in interfacing with the tea towels to give the bag some firmness.

For the strap I used webbing for convenience (I already had some left over from another project), but I could have used the third tea towel. The bag doesn’t have a closure. I toyed with the idea of buttons but as I didn’t have 2 the same, I decided to leave it.

Here’s my quick and easy messenger bag tutorial!

Quick and Easy Messenger Bag Tutorial

You Will Need

2 cotton tea towels, sew in interfacing, webbing, 2 D rings, usual sewing supplies.

1. Cut a piece of interfacing the same size as the tea towels.

2. Take the tea towel you are going to use for the lining. Identify the bottom third and fold it upwards. Pin the sides and sew. Trim the seams.tea towel crafts quick and easy messenger bag main

3. Squash one of the corners so that the side seam is next to the fold at the bottom. Pin 2.5 cm up, then sew across the corner at right angles to the seam. tea towel crafts quick and easy messenger bag Repeat for the other corner. Cut the corners off.tea towel crafts quick and easy messenger bag

4. Make the outer in the same way. Sew the interfacing with the outer.

5. Pop the lining inside the outer so that the right sides are together. Sew around the edge of the flap and the top of the main part of the bag, leaving an opening of about 10 – 15 cm. tea towel crafts quick and easy messenger bag Trim the seams. Where the flap meets the bag, snip right into the corner, being careful not to cut the stitches.tea towel crafts quick and easy messenger bag

6. Turn the bag the right way out with the lining on the inside. Slip stitch the opening.tea towel crafts quick and easy messenger bag

7. Cut 2 pieces of webbing 8 cm long. Using a candle, carefully melt the ends by passing them over the candle a couple of cm above the flame.

8. Fold the webbing pieces in half and slip a D ring onto each of them.tea towel crafts quick and easy messenger bag

9. Sew the webbing with the D rings to the sides of the bag.tea towel crafts quick and easy messenger bag

10. Cut a length of webbing long enough to across your body, from your shoulder to your waist, twice. Melt the ends with the candle, then fold one end over one of the D rings. Sew in place. Repeat with the other end of the strap.tea towel crafts quick and easy messenger bag tea towel crafts quick and easy messenger bag tea towel crafts quick and easy messenger bag tea towel crafts quick and easy messenger bag

Tips

Using a non directional print will save you time. Otherwise you’ll have to cut and re sew the back of the bag and the flap.

Using webbing for the strap and the D rings will take less time than sewing a strap.

Quick and easy closures include velcro, magnetic snaps (there’s a tutorial here if you haven’t used these before) or buttons and elastic.

If you liked this easy messenger bag tutorial, you might also like these.

Shopping Bag Tutorial

Quick and Easy Backpack Tutorial

Quilted Bag Tutorial

Cross Body Bag Tutorial

Linking up here.

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Filed In: Blog, Sewing Projects / Tagged: bag, craft fair, easy, gift, how to, tea towel

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I'm Anna and I live in rural Norfolk in the UK. My mum taught me how to use a sewing machine when I was 10 and I haven't looked back! I love making all sorts of things and I hope you find inspiration here.

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