I made this!! Rag Pom Pom!!

Now I promise I am not being sponsored by Clover, but, I must urge people to buy one of their amazing pom pom makers! They are such a clever design that makes pom pom making so easy and professional. They come in lots of different sizes from tiny 20mm to big huge ones - and even heart shaped! I bought mine on eBay, but you can get them from lots of different craft supply shops too. Here's what they look like . . .

To make a pom pom you just wrap your wool, embroidery thread, fabric etc around each pair of semi circle arms (which hinge out of the centre) - there are two pairs of arms by the way - make sure you wrap your chosen material around the two together. One you have filled up the two semi circles you push back to the centre, making sure everything is together securely then using a sharp pair of scissors or snips cut all the way around. Loop a ribbon or strong thread in between the two discs - give them a wiggle to make sure the they reach the centre then knot very securely!!

To release the pom pom I find it easier to open the hinged arms on each side then pull the whole thing in half (the two discs are held together with a pin in the centre). Give your pom pom a fluff, trim off any straggly bits with a pair of scissors to tidy up and hey presto - a pom pom!!

Here I have shown a pom pom made from very roughly cut scraps of leftover fabric. Some of these strips were only a few inches long but that doesn't matter - they just need to be long enough to wrap around the arm once. So this is a fantastic way to use up all your leftover scraps of fabric. What do you all think?

I'm in heaven!

Just a quick mini post - just had to add this lovely image of chairs upholstered in my current fave fabric - Dandelion Clocks by Sanderson (Fiona Howard pattern). I know I've already posted about this before - but hey - you can't get enough of a good thing!!

How lovely is this!??

I have bought several metres of this to make roman blinds from for my guest bedroom - have enough scraps left over for bags!! - Hooray!!

Should fabric make a person so happy??

I made this! - Lavender Birds!

Still love anything birdy - so was dying to make my own bird hangers. Thought they would be great for my very first craft fair - they went down a treat luckily - especially as they took much longer than expected to make!

I made this! - Doorstops!

Used a pattern from one of my favourite books - Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter.

The largest one is from the actual pattern and the two smaller ones are a scaled down version as I found the original to be too large - and costly to fill!

I adapted the handle from Lotta's original specification as I prefer it to be the full width with the ends hidden in the seams - you just have to make sure that you really securely stitch the ends inside the seams as they are pretty heavy.

Pretty easy to make - just have to take it slow and be careful when you attach the top section as if you are slightly misaligned it will look pants.

I made this! - Pleated Bag

Started making this in my soft furnishings class during the week. Was supposed to be learning how to make a fabric box. Due to my dodgy measuring the box wasn't going to work so to save wasting this lovely fabric I had a spark of inspiration to add a few pleats and a handle and hey presto a new bag!!

Used this for the first time today - such a pleasure to make use of something you have made - can't wait for the day that someones says "Oh I like your bag . . . " and I can say "Why thank you, I made it myself!!" (proudly). I'll have to swing it around a bit to get it noticed!!

As you can see my cat Fizzy decided to use it as a cushion whilst she had a little nap - nice - a hairy handbag!!

I made this! - Easter Egg Card

Instead of those calorie ridden, overly sweet and naughty eggs we gave my other halfs sisters money this year for Easter. But to "Easter it up" a little I just had to make a little fabric egg card to hold the money in!

Are quite simple to make. Cut four egg shapes from card (I used foam board which is about 3mm thick). Two of the eggs were about 5mm smaller. Using alot of pritt stick, UHU, sellotape and double sided tape I smothered the cards in tissue paper for one of the smaller ones, Velvet with foam padding for the back, spotty cotton with a pocket for the other smaller egg shape, then for the front I sewed ribbon and buttons onto some stripey cotton using lots of different stitches.

Glued all the bits together with bright pink grosgrain ribbon to hold the front and back together and to also tie the card up with a big colourful bow!! Pressed under a weight overnight to set (all that glue takes a while to dry!!)

After all that I think the money was the most exciting bit for the girls - but I still enjoyed making them!!

Happy Easter everyone!!

I made this! - Easter Eggs!!

Thought I'd make a few fabric Easter Eggs for my family this year - this way everyone can have an egg - dieters, diabetics and all!!

They are all a little mishapen - but as always I'll put this down as character!!

What do you think?

I made this! - Rosettes

Learned how to make rosettes in my Soft Furnishings class last week.

Amazed at how easy it is - all you do is -

• cut (or rip - I prefer the raw frayed edges) a strip of fabric - no specific size or length.
  
• Using double thread, stitch a loose running stitch along one edge (about 5mm from the edge works well).
• When you reach the end gently pull and gather the fabric the together - you will see how the rosette starts to take shape.
• When you are happy with the shape sew the ends together - I prefer to knot in the centre then stitch the two ends together to hide the gap.
• You can either add a button - or a smaller rosette, or a ribbon rosette, or a pom-pom - whatever you fancy.
• Maybe sew onto a scrunchy or a brooch or a bag or a jumper!! So many options - so little time!!