Dinosaur Dudes

There has been a sudden influx of newborns in my life!  I'm trying to keep up and came up with this simple yet super effective idea for a toy having seen some examples on Pinterest...

1.  I found an appropriate dinosaur silhouette shape to copy from an image on the computer.  Once you've found the shape you want, draw and cut it out using suitable paper, being sure to add half an inch for seam allowance - this will be your pattern.  I will do my best to upload my shape once I get it in the right format!

2. Cut 2 dinosaur shapes in desired fabric.  I've chosen one plain and one patterned print.  And yes, I did iron my fabric but it didn't seem to make much difference!

3. On opposite sides of your cut out dinosaurs use embroidery thread to stitch crosses for eyes.  I prefer doing eyes like this rather than using buttons so that I'm not creating a choking hazard!  Make sure the eyes aren't on the same sides on both pieces!   

4. A little personalisation is always a nice touch too!  An initial or a name on the tail looks sweet on these.

5. Take one shape and lay it right side up (ie with the eye facing upwards).  Choose 8 ribbons and cut about 3 inches in length.  Fold each piece of ribbon in half and pin alongside the dinosaur's back like in this picture:

6. Place your other dinosaur shape on top, right side down (so the eyes are touching).  Pin in place.

7. Using a half inch seam allowance stitch around the outside of the pinned dinosaur shape, removing pins as you go.  Leave a two inch gap at the top of the leg arch.

8. Trim corners and clip edges.  This helps the fabric lie correctly when you turn it inside out, otherwise it'll pucker and pinch.

9. Turn the shape inside out by poking it all through the hole you left in your seam.

10. Stuff your toy with suitable toy stuffing.  I also like to put a little bell inside to make it jingle!

11. I've forgotten to take a picture here, but neatly stitch up the hole in the seam by hand using a blind stitch.

12. Your dinosaur should be done.  Here's one of mine prowling through the garden...

I hope you enjoy making yours!

Build Your Own Tipi - Teepee - Wigwam!

Last week as the sun started shining I wanted to get my little girl some exciting things for the garden.  I was initially looking into some little pop-up tents when I came across a couple of amazing tipis - so much prettier and lovelier!  They are so fun but I didn't really want to spend too much money so I decided to give one a go myself.

You will need:

- 4 metres of 44" width fabric or 2.5 metres of 60" width fabric for main body of tipi

- 5 x strips of fabric measuring 3" by 60" for the pole casing

- 5 x 6ft bamboo canes (or other similar poles)

- 2 x 44" pieces of bias binding

- 4 x 16" strips of fabric/bias binding for ties

- small piece of fabric and Bondaweb for star patch

I got my star fabric as an emergency purchase from Dunelm Mill - I desperately wanted to start making this and didn't want to spend the normal few days researching!  I had a meeting in Eastbourne and was passing so I popped in.  Saw this immediately and loved it! I also got 10 6ft bamboo canes from B&Q for under £4.

1. Cut 5 triangles to this size:

You'll need to do this in different ways depending on your width of fabric.  If you have 60" width fabric you can zigzag your way across the fabric until you have 5 pieces - they'll be slightly taller than 60" but that's fine (just adjust other measurements accordingly).  If you have 44" width fabric (like I did) it's a bit trickier but you can definitely do it with 4.5 metres. 

2.  Cut 6 inches off the top of each triangle.

3.  Fold down (twice) and press the hems at the top and bottom of each triangle.

4.  Stitch your hems.

5.  Measure the finished side length of your triangles.  Your 5 strips for pole casings need to be this length plus a couple of inches for your hems.  Mine measured 56" by 2.75".  Fold down (twice) press and stitch.

6.  Fold strips in half and press.

7.  Take 2 of your large hemmed triangle pieces.  Lay one right side up.  Line the pole casing up against the raw edge (as shown in photo) and lay another triangle piece right side down.  Pin in place.  Using a 3/8 inch seam allowance (approx. 1cm), sew this seam.  Trim seam allowance.

8.  Take another 2 triangles and repeat step 7.  You will now have 2 separate pieces made up of two large triangles with casing stitched in between.  Now repeat this step to join these two parts of your tipi together.  You will now have one single piece of work in the following order: triangle, casing, triangle, casing, triangle, casing, triangle.  Put this to one side for the moment.

9.  You should have one large triangle piece left.  Fold this in half and press.  Cut along the fold line until approx. 9 inches from the top of the piece - the cut will measure approx 44 inches.

10.  Take 2 pieces of bias binding (folded and pressed) and stitch in place along the cut fabric.  To neaten the bottom of opening allow an extra inch of binding and fold it up before sewing.

11.  Iron an 8cm x 8cm piece of Bondaweb to a piece of yellow fabric.  Cut out the shape of a star and then iron it to the top end of the opening, placing it a few millimetres over the top of the binding.  Of course you don't have to have a star - most other shapes will do the same job!

12.  Use a zigzag stitch to sew around the outside of the star patch, securing it in place as well as strengthening the opening.

13.  Use ribbon or binding (pressed and sewn in half) and place and pin somewhere along both sides of the opening using even spacing.  Mine were 14 inches apart.  Sew in place.

14.  Now sew this last triangle piece to the rest of the tipi along the two seams using the same process as in point 7, with the pole casing placed in between the fabrics.

15.  All your sewing should now be done!  Feed the bamboo canes into the pole casings.  Spread out the tipi and use ribbon, binding or a strip of fabric to tie the poles where they cross over (approx. 1ft from the top of the poles) to keep them secure.

16.  All done!  Have yourself a pow-wow!

If I'm honest my pole casings didn't always match the exact length of the side of the triangles - I think partly because I was so desperate to finish it before it stopped being sunny and partly because my triangles were a bit uneven too!  But fortunately little J doesn't seem to care!

DIY Sleep Eye Mask!

As dawn broke this morning I woke. As I do every morning at about 5.30 because our silly little curtains let all the light in. Admittedly my own fault, but super frustrating all the same. So at 5.30 this morning I planned this out.

It'd make a great going-away gift for someone heading off on their travels.  You could also embroider or personalise the outer piece of fabric before stitching it together.

You will need:

- 2 pieces of fabric measuring 10cm x 25 cm

- 5mm elastic about 37cm in length (cut it a bit longer and then check before you sew)

- 10cm by 25cm piece of wadding

- pattern for eye piece, which you can find here. 

1. Using the pattern, cut two shapes in your fabric and one piece in wadding.

2. Stack as follows: wadding, fabric right side up, pin elastic as shown in photo and as indicated on pattern, then final fabric piece wrong side up. Pin in place.

3. Leaving a 1.5" opening and using a 1cm seam allowance, sew around the outside of your work.

4. Clip/pink edges.

5. Turn inside out through the opening. Poke out edges (my poking device of choice is usually a knitting needle).

6. Press.

7. Blind stitch opening.

8. Sleep in peace!

Modelled by dishy husband!

Super Simple iPhone Sleeve

For this very simple iPhone case you will need:

• Small pieces of fabric
• Pins
• Sewing machine and thread
• Scissors

You can make this for other phones easily by measuring the phone and adding a couple of centimetres for sides and seam allowance.  It's made to have two handy little pockets either side for cards or other bits and pieces.  You can leave these out or just have one...it's up to you!

1.  Cut 2 pieces of fabric 8.5cm wide and 13.5cm long (this is for an iPhone 4/4S; for iPhone 5 add 1 cm to length).  These are the black pieces and they will be referred to as the 'long' pieces.  Cut 2 pieces of fabric 8.5cm wide and 9.5cm long.  These are the patterned pieces and will be referred to as the 'short' pieces.

2. Turn, press, pin and stitch one of the shorter sides of both short pieces of fabric.

3.  Stack your fabric pieces as follows: long piece right side up, short piece right side up, short piece wrong side up, long piece wrong side up. 

4.  Pin and stitch, leaving the top end open. 

5.  You can check at this point that the sleeve fits your phone snugly, and re-stitch seams if necessary.  Then trim corners.

6.  Turn raw edge down, press and stitch.  If too fiddly to do by machine you can do this by hand.

7.  Turn inside out.  Press.  Ta da!

Oh Scrappy Day!

When does scrap fabric become such a tiny useless piece of fluff that you really must throw it in the bin?  For me?  Never.  

My ever-growing bag of felt scraps - some can only really be described as fibres!

Unfortunately this means I am now drowning in scraps.  I've got drawers and drawers of the stuff.  My big dream is that one day I'm going to sew it all together to form a beautiful quilt full of wonderful memories connected to each little fragment.  This is unlikely.  But I'm holding onto it.  In the meantime, I'm always on the think and lookout for lovely little projects to help me work my way through my trove.  And I imagine that I'm not alone.  So I'm going to attempt a regular scrap-based tutorial for others like me.  Or anyone who'd like to give something a go!

So head over to my 'Scrappy Days' page and check out my first effort - a pretty Peter Pan collar.  Let me know what you think!  Thanks!

Peter Pan Collar Tutorial

There are a number of different ways of creating these, and this is my way!

Materials needed:

• Fabric of your choice – enough for 4 collar pieces (approx. 30cm x 30cm)
• 2 pieces of ribbon, about 30 cm in length and 5mm wide
• Paper pattern of collar piece – can be traced or printed from here
• Thread
• Pins
• Needle
• Sewing machine (although could be done by hand)
• Buttons, beads or sequins for embellishing

1. Using paper pattern, cut 4 collar sections.  I've used 2 different fabrics, one for the main fabric and one as the lining.  
   
   
   
2. Place one collar piece right side up. Pin one end of a piece of ribbon at the 'stumpy' end of the collar, with the long tail of the ribbon lying inwards – see photo.
   
   
   
3. Place another collar piece on top, right sides together and pin in place.
   
   
   
4. Leaving an opening of approx. 1.5 inches on one edge, machine stitch around the collar (with a 3/8" seam allowance).  I've done mine on the inside curve but would probably try it on the outside curve next time.   Be careful not to catch the ribbon in your sewing; you can use the opening to keep the ribbon out of the way.
   
   
   
5. Trim corners and clip seams.
   
   
   
6. Turn inside out. Press.
   
   
   
   
7. Blind stitch the little opening, or you can top stitch the whole collar piece.
   
   
   
8. Now repeat from point 2 for your second collar piece.
   
   
   
9. Using needle and thread, stitch your two pieces together (as shown in photo).
   
   
10. You can sew a button or bead in the centre of the collar if you fancy it! Buttons look particularly cute on little girls!
    
    
    
    You could of course use this as a base and add additional embellishments on the collar, either on your finished piece or before stitching it together.  It's also possible to make it a safer fashion accessory for little ones by extending the length of the pieces (at the end where you'd normally put the ribbon) and attach velcro tabs instead.

As this is my first tutorial I would appreciate your feedback!

Thanks!