50 Home Crafts - Stitched Clock - 4/50

I made myself a stitchy clock. What do you think? The clock mechanism is from eBay and cost about £4. It came from Hong Kong with no instructions. Dixon had to put it together for me. The stitching took about 30minutes and the fabric is some scrap I had left over! I'm going to re-inforce the back with a bit of card so the hands don't rest against the fabric. I'm pretty happy with it!

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50 Home Crafts - Make an Envelope Cushion - 3/50

Cushions are a super easy way to add colour and personality into a room. Making your very own cushion cover means you can style an area exactly how to want it; you choose the material, colour, pattern, the size & the style. I am kind of picky so this is perfect for me. You can see a little video that I did on Vine of my first envelope cushion cover a few weeks ago. And here is how you can make your own:

You'll need:
     - A pillow!
     - Material: 1 patterned & 1 plain, matching thread.
     - Sewing machine.
     - Scissors.
     - Iron.

1. Measure your material; For the patterned front cut out your pillow size + 1cm on each edge. For the back cut out your pillow size + 1cm on 3 sides, but on the 4th, which will be the bottom edge of your cushion cover add an additional 11cms.
2. With what will be the bottom of the back piece nearest you, measure half way up and draw a line horizontal left to right. Cut along this line. This will be your envelope!
3. On the two edges you just cut iron in a double seam about a centimetre thick. Pin in place and sew along each seam. Back stitch to seal each end.
4. Place your patterned front piece flat with the pattered facing up, pin your two back pieces in place around the edges. The back pieces where you have sewn a seam (in step 3) should overlap by a few cm's.
5. Stitch around the whole cover parameter, around a 1/4inch seam. Back stitch to seal again.
6. Snip off your corners, flip the whole thing the right way around and you're done!

I hope I explained that well enough for you, its a super easy thing to make. If you have any questions please let me know! And if you make one yourself, plllease let me know that too!

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I'm going to make this into a mini-series of sorts. In the coming weeks I'll be sharing with you guys ideas on how you can customise your cushions; from patch working to adding lace. I have 6 left on my sofa that need new covers so a lot to share. Exciting!! Enjoy your Tuesday.

50 Home Crafts- Hand-printed Cotton Napkins - 2/50

Most of my spare time recently has been spent sat at my sewing machine. It's great getting to grips with everything again, and I can't wait to make something amazing. I had a sewing machine back at my parents house in my early teens. So it's more refreshing my memory than starting from scratch. But, I am in love!

I have made a few tote bags, a draw string bag, and a whole bunch of cotton napkins. I'll  have a huuggge pile of them soon. I've wanted to get my hand on some napkins for a while. There are some wonderful designs on etsy, but I can never bring myself to pay shipping from America that is more than the product itself. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough, they seem hard to pick up in England. 

I decided to try my hand at stamping some beautiful material I bought from eBay to make my very own one (okay, two) of a kind napkins. Heres what I did;

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Don't they look amazing? I am smitten! I stamped 1 fat quarter and made two napkins. I think if I used the same colours but a smaller stamp it'd make a wonderful peter-pan collar. It'd also be a great table runner, or place mats! The possibilities are endless. Do you have any tips for a almost-noob sewing machinist? 

50 Home Crafts- 1/50

I mentioned recently that I have been brain-storming a whole load of projects and goal ideas for 2013 and beyond. Well, here is another one; 50 Home Crafts. 50 is a big number, huh? It is quite daunting for me to tackle something where I can't see the finish line.

I'm not setting too many restraint. No time limit for example. Food doesn't count. Each individual project should result in something I can have around the house, or something I can gift to friends and family to decorate their own homes. This is all about trying out a whole bunch of new things, but I will be incoporating a few variations on crafts I've done before. So, here it goes! Wish me luck. 1/50.

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I thought that I would start with a little one. I bought this little watercolour on eBay early last year. I was looking for some nice paintings to have over our dining table. After bidding on then losing out on a few I loved, I started bidding on a bunch that I didn't care too much for. You know how eBay is! This was the results of that wild bidding. I did only cost me around £2.50 including postage, so I can't complain. 

So, there it sat for a few months until I decided to make it into a little piece for our hall way. 

I used card for the arrow stencil. Then an old tough paint brush to cover the whole thing in white acrylic paint. I wanted it to be quite thin so a few of the original paint colours showed through. A little rustic! I peeled the stencil off right away  and left it to dry. I then put it back it its original frame (Although I may stain that too at some point). Now, I'm quite fond of it!

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