X-mas Present #3 Done: Placemats + TUTORIAL

Hello, Crafty Christmasers! It's Stephanie here from The Naked Seamstress. I have another x-mas present made: placemats for my mum.
 
I documented the whole process so I could put together a little tutorial for you here. Christmas is coming up very, very soon, but these placemats are easy to whip up as a last minute present. I made two different sets for my mum: a spring set (flowers!) and a Christmas set (red and white stars!). I'd already made her a set earlier this year for her birthday and she hasn't stopped telling me since how much she would really, really fancy more of these placemat sets. So what better Christmas present could she get?!

So, here for the tutorial: You need 8 pieces of fabric in a placemat-friendly size, 4 for the front and 4 for the back. I made mine 30x40cm, but different measurements will do too. You could use placemats you have at home as templates. You also need 4 pieces of batting in the same size.

Next, you need to draw a grid onto 4 of the fabric pieces with chalk. This will help you quilt your placemats evenly.

Then you sandwich a layer of batting between two pieces of fabric, one with chalk marks and one wihtout, and pin it in place with 3-4 pins.

Next, - and this is a very important part - iron this fabric-batting sandwich with as much pressure as you can muster. This will help avoid fabric bunching and keep your batting nice and flat while sewing. I negelcted this step with the first set (the Christmas set) I made with this batting and it ended up being quite bunchy (scroll down for pics).

Once ironed take your placemat straight to the sewing machine and sew along the chalk lines. I sewed all lines in one direction first and then in the other. You can use a straight stitch, a zigzag stitch or any decorative stitch your sewing machine has. I used a fun decorative stitch on my spring set.

Repeat all steps for every placemat you are making.

When you are finished cut your placemats to the desired size. It's best to cut your placemats when you have already quilted them, because the quilting might make your layers shift resulting in uneven edges (see above).

 

When you cut them into shape after quilting all your placemats will have the exact same shape. I used an oval shape for my placemats, but any other shape would be fine too.

Once they are cut the only thing that remains is to apply bias binding around the edge. Unfortunately I have no pictures of this part of the process, but luckily Lauren from Wearing History has recently put together some excellent bias binding tutorials. This one is super useful for making these placemats.

And that's it. Enjoy your lovely placemats.

Wishing you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Embroidered Jam Pot Covers...

Back in the Autumn I made a couple of varieties of chutney as Christmas gifts. Spiced Marrow Chutney and a Tangy Beetroot Chutney using a combination of recipe ideas from this brilliant site. They've been "maturing" since October so should be perfect for the Christmas table by now. The only thing left to do was make them look all Christmassy and add a little personal touch to them; so I opted for some hand embroidered jam pot covers tied with grosgrain ribbon....(I actually had about 12 jars in total but some had already been gifted before I had a chance to take these photos!)

I got all OCD on getting the right size circle for my covers. Just didn't like the idea of cutting a square and trimming it to size once in place. I just KNEW I would screw it up that way. So if anyone else is as mildly obsessive about these things as me here's my method...


I had several sizes of jar so just repeated the process for each different size. Firstly draw round the the lid of the jar on a sheet of paper...

Then find the centre point of the circle by folding it in half lengthwise then across the width. It's actually the circle itself that needs to be folded in half so I held the paper up to the light as I was folding so as to see through it and line the edges of the circle up as I was folding...

Measure the diameter of the circle, let's say this one was 3". Then mark a point the exact same distance, 3", from the centre point, extending out beyond your original circle, on each of the four fold lines...

Then find a plate/bowl/object (or use a compass if you want to be super precise!) and use it to draw a circle that encompasses these four points equally(ish)...

Et voila...Cut out your template(s)....

Because I planned to emroider my covers I cut out heavy weight iron on interfacing the exact same size as my jar lids....

And some squares of fabric (thrifted and upcycled of course!) slightly larger than my templates.....

Place fabric square RS down on the ironing board. Centre the interfacing sticky side down on top of the fabric and press to adhere. Then pin the template on top of this making sure the centre circle of the template lines up with the circle of interfacing....

Cut around the template with pinking shears...

It should look like this...

I then embroidered snowflakes on each cover with embroidery floss. These are a combination of French Knots, Lazy Daisy Stitch, and Back Stitch and took about 15 mins each to do so great as a last minute personal touch...

Secure the covers to the jar tops with elastic bands then tie with ribbon......

There are so many ideas out there for "Gifts in a Jar" and these would add a nice finishing touch to anything in a jar. Not just chutneys  :)
Px

Oven gloves and stockings

Hi everyone! Joanne here from StitchandWitter. I've been thoroughly enjoying all your crafty Christmas makes so have snaffled the guest login from Tilly to add my own small post. This weekend, I've been whipping up a bunch of oven gloves for my mum and sisters, using this tutorial. It's been so easy and a great way to do a bit of stash-busting. I used insulated wadding which is extra protective for handling hot stuff so hopefully they're practical as well as unique.

On my sister's request I also put together a few Christmas stockings for her.... dogs! Yep - these are for Nancy, Clint and Nacho. Hope they appreciate them :)

I've been so inspired by all your crafty makes - I've already got loads of ideas for next year. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all xxx

Cloth napkins and an iPad Cover

Hello fellow crafters. It's Andrea from Stitch Parade with another update. I’m going to keep this one short and sweet because the holidays are approaching at light speed and we’re all super busy, no doubt. On that note, if you’re running out of time, own a serger, and have a metre of colourful quilting cotton in your stash, I have the perfect hostess gift for you: cloth napkins! I made the two sets below in less than an hour.

Here’s how: After pre-washing your fabric cut it into rectangles approximately 18”x 14”. You should be able to get six rectangles out of a yard/metre of 44” wide fabric. Once you have your rectangles ready, set your serger to the rolled hem setting and serge each side. Finish it off by cutting away any stray threads and sealing each corner with a bit of fray check. Let the fray check dry, press and fold – you’re done!

The corners may look a bit frail, but I can assure you they are not. I made a set for myself about a year ago and after several washes, the ends have held up quite nicely.

On to a totally different kind of present, I also made this iPad cover for my mother-in-law. I wish I could show you what it looks like with the iPad inside of it, but I don’t own and iPad so fingers crossed it will fit.

This project also took me less than an hour to complete. If you are interested in making one, here’s a link to the tutorial I used, which includes a picture of the finished product with the iPad safely ensconced inside.
Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday crafting frenzy!

Napkin Basket Tutorial

I'm Swoosh and I blog over at auxetically. The problem I've always had with napkin holders is that the napkins tend to fall (or rather, not stand upright) when very few are left. So I've decided to make a few napkin baskets this Christmas. I'll make 3: one for me, one for my dad and one for my grandma. My grandma will like something hand made especially, she's very happy I took up sewing.

It's a fairly simple design.  You'll need two measurements:

1. size of the targeted napkin (usually a square with width measurement only)
2. basket height

To make your pattern:

The pattern will consist of three pieces.

PIECE A:
The first piece represents your overall basket.
1. draw on a piece of math paper the napkin
2. draw 1cm (2/5") all around
3. draw a 4 rectangles representing the height; extend the rectangles to the corners (this will result in 4 squares on the corners)
4. draw the seam allowance all around the resulting rectangle. I used about 1cm (2/5")
5. using a glass or other round tool, round off the 4 corners

PIECE B:
The second piece represents the napkin. It will be a square with the side of the width measured above (width of the napkin)

PIECE C:
The third piece represents the sides. It will be a rectangle of width of the napkin x height of the basket.

I made my 1st and 2nd pieces on the fold

Cutting list:
2x PIECE A, main fabric
2x PIECE A, interfacing
1x PIECE B, something stiff (batting, felt)
4x PIECE C, something stiff (batting, felt)

To make the basket:

First, arrange the stiff pieces on the wrong side of one of the the main fabric pieces according to the pattern.

Then, add the interfacing and press according to the manufacturer's instructions:

Interface the second main fabric piece as well.

Take the two interfaced pieces of fabric and, right side together, start stitching on the seam allowance. Make sure to leave a bit unstitched so you can turn over later.

Once you're done, notch the corners:

Then turn through the opening you left. After turning, make sure to press.

Once you've done with the turning and pressing, topstitch around the edges:

At this point, the corners should look like this put against a light:

What you want to do is bring one edge against the one next to it:

And stitch next to the stiff fabric. Mare sure this stitching is done at a 90 degree angle. You can use your fingers to feel the edge:

Once you've done this for all 4 corners, you will need to edge stitch along the bottom sides. This is done to ensure the basket will stand properly on an even surface. This is how you need to position the basket sides. Make sure the angles are all at 90 degrees:

You're done! My finished basket has a festive spirit, it's all red!

Felted wool needlecases...

School's out for Christmas! Today was my last day of college this year. I like to take a little something in for my fellow students to mark the start of the holidays, that's just the kinda gal I am ;) . A couple of years ago it was homemade Elderflower Champagne (literally the best taste in the world!). Last year I made some dinky little pin cushions for everyone. This year I thought I'd whip up some needle cases and try my hand at some embroidery in the process. I kept it kitsch and silly. The overall effect is definately handmade, but I think they turned out pretty cute!

The blue felted wool that I used for the main body of the cases came as part of a joblot I picked up from freecycle.  The inside cover from thrifted fabric. The coloured felt was left from another project and the embroidery floss and buttons were all from my stash. So there was no outlay at all for these. In case you're interested, here's what I did...
I found something roughly the size and shape I wanted (yes that's an allotment card. I took on an allotment this week. Eeep!) and used it as a temlate to mark out my needle cases on the felted wool...

I cut out the number I needed plus a few extra in case I messed up...

The felted wool was a little too floppy on it's own and as I also planned to embroider the covers I interfaced using heavy weight iron on interfacing, a few mm in from the edges...

I cut the "inside covers" from a medium weave pure cotton (a thrifted curtain to be precise)and pinked the edges to limit any fraying. They are marginally smaller than the needle case but large enough to obscure the interfacing...

Then I applique'd (does applique have a verb form??!) and embroidered each cover with a different design using felt scraps, buttons, beads and embroidery floss(sorry about the picture quality. Light levels have been awful!)....

Sewed the "inside covers"  on to hide the back of all the stitching etc et voila!

I sewed with the RS up to make sure I didn't ruin things by sewing over the applique and used a dark thread on the spool and a cream thread on the bobbin to match the stitching to the colour of the two fabrics...

They're not perfect, but considering they were made from just what I had at hand, not too shabby either, and they were certainly snapped up at college with lots of  "oohs" and "ahhs" and exclamations of "did you make these" Ofcourse I concluded that they were just being polite but I did at least refrain from pointing out all the mistakes, lol! I'm getting better ;)
Px