Craftwork – Initial Signs

I recently picked up two little basket boxes for my bathroom, one which houses my perfumes and the other which plays host to my boyfriend’s assortment of toiletries. Ever the crafty thinker, I’ve been trying to come up with a creative way to jazz these boxes up a bit, and then it hit me – fabric squares, decorated with our initials.

So I pulled out my sewing box – I needed scissors, a measuring tape, cotton and embroidery threads, fabric scraps and felt for the letters.

I cut out two squares of this Tone Finnanger fabric (which I’ve used here before) and cut myself and my boyfriend’s initials out of felt. Once I’d lined them up where I wanted them to be, I hand-stitched the letters with pink cotton thread and snipped the corners off the bottom of the squares.

The trickiest part of this project was to then hang the initial signs onto the boxes. For this, I made very small incisions in the top corners of the squares, through which I pulled a short length of embroidery thread. I then wound the thread through the woven structures of the boxes so that the signs hung in place nicely, before tying them off with a double knot.

And there you have it! A very cute little way of brightening up the baskets, making use of old scraps of material. They turned out exactly as I’d hoped, making me one happy crafter!

Craftwork – Contrast Cushion

I’ve been feeling super creative this week, what with unemployment and boredom taking their toll, and I’ve been meaning to make a quick and easy cushion for a while. I do love me a good soft furnishing, and these are just so easy to make, there’s hardly an excuse not to!

I started by cutting two pieces of contrasting fabrics. I used Tilda by Tone Finnanger fabric which I bought in Sweden, which you can order online here for £3.99 per 1/4 metre. Then I placed them together, right sides facing, and hand stitched all the way round, leaving a 20cm gap in one corner.

Next, I pulled the cushion cover outside in, and filled it with toy stuffing. Then I sewed up the closing and hey presto! my cushion was complete. And ready to be covered in cat hairs by my beloved Hercules.

Craftwork – Olly the Owl

Let me preface this post by saying this: I’m relatively new to crafting, which goes some way to explaining Olly’s lopsided eyes and overall peculiarity. At the end of last year, I suddenly became inspired to get creative in a new way I’d never considered before, so I started to craft. Crafting can mean working with paper, flowers, etc., but my material of choice at the moment is fabric, and Olly is my latest creation.

Olly’s body was made out of floral polycotton fabric which I bought from eBay, £3.50 p/m. His eyes, beak and feathers were made from contrasting pieces of felt, which I got in my local haberdashery. After browsing the Internet for some quick inspiration, I cut out the pieces according to my desired design and lay them out to get a feel for what the finished product would look like.

I started by hand stitching the felt pieces in place. Then, I placed Olly’s back and front pieces together, right sides facing, and stitched all the way round, leaving a 15cm gap through which to carefully pull him outside-in. Once that was done, I stuffed him with toy-filling, which I also picked up at the haberdashery for about £5.

I threw in three small bags of lavender too, to give him a nice scent. The best place to get lavender is online; mine was from Provence Lavender, at the low price of £5.99 for ten small bags. It’s top quality dried lavender and smells divine!

Finally, I stitched up the gap. Et voila! Olly was born…and I love him all the more for his wonky eyes!