Doily Dream Catcher

I started to make this dream catcher quite a while ago after the outer ring of one of my embroidery hoops broke. The attachment for the screw completely split away from the wood but I kept the inner ring in case I could find a use for it. I'd seen lots of dream catchers on Pinterest using lace or doilies in the centre so I thought I'd try to make my own. 

 I gathered up some scraps of lace and ribbons,some fabric to cover the hoop and a doily ( I crocheted mine as I could not find one the right size to fit the hoop )

I cut some fabric in to strips, mine measured a little over an inch, and began to wrap around the hoop. The ends and any fabric joins were secured using a hot glue gun. During the wrapping my fabric began to fray slightly so I snipped off the threads.

Using crochet cotton I weaved through the edge of the doily and around the hoop. When I reached the end tied the cotton in a knot.

I then threaded the oddments of ribbon and lace through the bottom of the hoop. I also crocheted some chains, threading beads randomly as I went along and added some small tassels to the ends.
All finished.

From A Dress To Apron

I've had this dress in my wardrobe for a few years now. It looked awful on me when I bought it but I'm terrible at sending my on line buys back. I knew I'd never wear it so yesterday I took my scissors to it and turned it in to an apron.

I unpicked the bodice from the skirt and both of the skirt side seams.

From one skirt piece I cut off 2.5in from the skirt fabric and lining ( this is the piece I was keeping for the front of the apron ). From the other skirt piece I cut off three 2.5in strips. These are to make the waist and neck ties. All of these pieces I sewed together, right sides facing each other, turned them and top sewed around each strip. 
I inserted the ones I was using as waist ties in to the open sides of the waist band then sewed them closed. 
I re-hemmed the skirt and lining. 
Then sewed the skirt front and lining together on the inside so there would be no raw edges showing.

With contrasting fabric I cut out pieces to make the apron top and cut two 1.5in strips from the remaining skirt fabric. 
I used a close zig zag stitch to tidy up the edges of the strips and down the centre sewed a line using a large straight stitch. I then pulled one thread on the straight stitch to turn the fabric strip in to a ruffle. 
I pinned the ruffles to one of the apron pieces then sewed them on.

I pinned the neck ties in to postition ( I didn't want mine to tie at the back of the neck so I cut one shorter than the other ) then right sides facing, sewed the two apron pieces together. 
I turned the apron pieces the right way then top sewed the edges. 
I inserted the apron top in to the top of the waist band then sewed it closed. 
I sewed two buttons on the the apron top and it was finished.

Christmas Jackalope Ornament

Today I've been making some Christmassy jackalopes to hang from our tree.

I drew a silhouette of a rabbits head using a photo then added some antlers. The head and antlers were cut from thin vinyl taken from showroom sample books.

A hole was made with a hole punch in the top of the head and the antlers were painted. I didn't have any metallic paint and wasn't keen on Little L's glitters so I painted mine using nail polish.

When the paint (nail polish) had dried, the antlers were then glued on to the head and a length of thin ribbon was used for hanging up the ornament .

This is the template that I made to make the jackalopes.

Skull Book Marks

I made these quick book marks yesterday using scraps of felt and ribbons

Using one skull shape, I sewed on the eyes ,nose and teeth using small straight stitches. I then sewed the two skull pieces together, inserting the bone shapes as I went along until I reached the chin part of the skull where I inserted a length of ribbon then sewed shut.

When I cut my ribbon off to the length that I wanted I dabbed on a tiny bit of clear nail varnish to prevent it from fraying.

I think this skull would also be suitable for making into a nice brooch or hairclip.

Recycled Calendar

Anyone who knows me knows that I loathe to throw anything away if I think I may find a use for it so I hung onto my last years calendar trying to think what to do with it. The pictures on the calendar were these William Morris designs and I thought they would be ideal to cover something with.

Having nothing to cover, they ended up being made into a paper garland instead. I used spray adhesives to glue two pieces together so that there was now a different design on each side of the paper, instead of a nice design on one side and my scribbled appointments on the other. I cut out circles, rectangles and squares then using my sewing machine I sewed them into a string.

I apologise for lack of colour in this photo - we have an extremely dark hall way.

Little L's Owl

Little L is always wanting me to make her something, anything will do usually but recently she told me she wanted some pictures in her room ( not that she spends much time in there ). She asked for pictures of an owl, a panda and a teddy bear. Here's the owl picture that I finished last night.

For this I used a 7in embroidery, felt and threads in matching colours, cotton fabric for background. Where I have used printed cotton on the face and belly, I ironed on some light weight interfacing as the fabric was quite flimsy. When positioning the felt pieces I always put a stop of fabric glue on them to prevent them moving about ( its safer than using pins round Little L as she can't help touching things even when she knows she shouldn't ). I then sewed the pieces on using tiny straight stitches.

Pieces used the owl



Felty Christmas Tree

This is another christmassy picture that I finished last night.

I used a 6in embroidery hoop, cotton fabric for the background ( I love this snowy looking one - purchased from Ebay UK ), scraps of felt, tiny buttons and embroidery thread to match the felt colours.

The pattern shapes that I used for the tree are pictured below. I used simple straight stitch throughout.

Let It Snow

A quick little snowflake pic using back stitch and a few french knots and lazy daisy stitches

I used a 5in embroidery hoop, jute fabric to fit and Anchor thread no. 46. I used 3 strands of thread throughout.

 This is the first pattern I have made myself and I'm not entirely happy with aspects of it (especially the wording) Its not brilliant by any means but its here if you want it.