NHS rainbow

During the Coronavirus pandemic lockdown, rainbows have been appearing in windows across the UK as a sign of support, solidarty, and appreciation for our NHS frontline workers, so I decided to make my own using scraps of fabric. Didn't take long to do at all, here's how I made it...

You will need...

 a sheet of paper to make a templete

pencil

scissors, pins and a hand sewing needle

scraps of fabric in rainbow colours  

 sewing cotton

embroidery thread

STEP 1 Decide how big you want to make your rainbow. I used a sheet of A2 paper, folded it in half and drew a freehand rainbow shape. Cut out and mark out each colour band on the template, I went with 6 (pink, yellow, orange, green, blue and purple, but actually added an extra red one to the outer edge when I'd finished). Start cutting up your fabrics, laying them out on the template as you go so you know they will fit. I cut my fabrics to the width of the bands but the lengths varied. I also kept frayed edges, selvedges etc, as I liked the unfinished random look. Each scrap of fabric needs to overlap slightly, see below.

 

STEP 2 Once you've built up your rainbow, pile up each colour out of the way. Begin with the outer strip and just loosely tack each strip together using the sewing cotton to create each colour band of the rainbow arch. I didn't do mine very neatly at all, but that was deliberate.

 

Infographic 1 Press play on the video above

STEP 3 Once you have all your coloured bands joined together, lay them together again, with each arch slightly overlapping. Join them together using the embroidery thread, I used Pearl Cotton 8 in a spacedyed rainbow colour, by sewing a running stitch.

Diagram 1 Joining the strips with running stitch

STEP 4 That's about it!, I stuck mine to our sitting room window using clear sellotape. It looks like stained glass when the light shines through.

I could have made one using coloured paper but chose to make mine in fabric for dual purpose. When lockdown is over and life returns to some sort of normality, I can add a backing to the rainbow and stuff it to make a cushion!

Stay safe x

Carrots and sprouts are not just for Christmas...!

I have a couple of new free patterns, but have decided to go about putting these online in a slightly different way.  I have been an absent blogger this year, a few reasons, work, real life and health have had other plans.  More on that another time, but for now, better late than never, but as the title says, carrots and sprouts are not just for Christmas!

If you fancy squeezing in making some new Christmas tree ornaments in between online shopping and wrapping presents, these are very quick and easy and will look rather cute on the tree (and also hanging in the kitchen till next Christmas!)

Christmas pudding bauble,

As my part of the 'Sew a Softie for Christmas' campaign, here is my pattern to make a really simple Christmas pudding tree decoration.

Ladybird,

Many moons ago, I had a free pattern posted on a craft and sewing blog called Whip Up.  Sadly, Whip Up is no longer live, which, after double checking some of the links on my blog, also means the pattern for the ladybird is also no longer live. 

There's been a long absence for me from blogging, reasons for which I'll go into in my next post, but for now, I'm going to add the ladybird pattern here, it was a popular pattern and is also one I've used myself a few times when I've done teaching sessions, its small, simple, quick to do, doesn't require a huge amount of materials and can all the sewing can be done by hand.

pattern skill rating : easy

sewing bee...

Here in the UK, everyone in the crafting world is currently going Great British Sewing Bee crazy (for what it's worth, I am Team Lauren), although I suspect the rather easy on the eye Patrick Judge may have a little something to do with it's popularity!

Anyway, in celebration of all the sewing machines which will no doubt now be being purchased, here is my contribution to get people sewing.  In the Sewing Bee, they are making clothes.  In my humble opinion, sewing clothes can be quite complicated, so if you are new to the craft, here's a simple little project to try which encompasses a handful of techniques, a sewing bee softie...

You will need :

selection of fabric : black & yellow (I used fabrics with sewing related prints!)

selection of craft felt

toy stuffing

2 small buttons or beads

sewing thread

embroidery thread (I used Pearl Cotton 8)

paper, pencil & scissors

pins & a needle

Step 1 : First create 2 squares of fabric, (8x8cm) by patch-working together 3 strips for each. 

Step 2 :  Draft yourself a pattern for the Bees body by drawing an oval shape onto the paper that is roughly 6.5cm tall and 5cm across.  Cut out and pin the template to the first of the fabric squares and trim to size.  Repeat for the other piece.

Step 3 : Pin the 2 fabric ovals, right sides together, sew round the edge to join (either by hand using backstitch or on a sewing machine), leaving a small gap for turning it back right side round.

Step 4 : Through the gap, stuff the bee, tuck in the fabric edges and then stitch the gap closed.

Step 5 : Switch to the embroidery thread and add eyes by attaching 2 small circles of craft felt with a tiny button or bead in the center.

Step 6 : Make yourself another template, this time a wing shape (mine is kind of like a flower petal) and cut 2 from the craft felt.  Stitch into position with the embroidery thread.

Step 7 : To finish off, after the wings are attached, take the needle up through the middle of the bee and tie a loop in this thread so you can hang your bee up.

And that's it, all done.  A quick bit of sewing and you've practiced pattern drafting, patchwork, sewing, applique and embroidery!  You could make lots and create a mobile, and even nip over to Whip Up for the Ladybird project I posted there, both insects are about the same size so will work great as a pair.

Penguin finale...

Time for the final Penguin to add to the collection...

 

You will need :

10 x 12 cm of felted wool for the body (although if you have no felted wool, just use fabric)

10 x 10 cm of felted wool for the base, eyes and wings

4 x 4 cm of craft felt for the beak

6 x 6 cm of craft felt for the fish

6 x 5 cm of fabric for the tummy patch

5 x 8 cm of fabric for the wings

2 small buttons for the eyes

2 small buttons to attach the wings

Toy stuffing

Selection of embroidery thread (I used pearl cotton 8, but any will do)

Small pebble to weight the bottom

Small piece of card for the internal base

Tracing paper and a pencil to trace the templates

Plus the usual suspects, pins, needle, scissors etc…

Before you begin, print out the templates so the complete image is a finished size of  9 x 14 cm, that should make them the correct size to work with, any problems with that though, just send me an email (there's a link in the sidebar -->)

  

Step 1 : For the body cut two shapes ,using the template provided, from the felted wool.  Pin, right sides together and stitch, roughly 0.5cm away from the edge leaving the turning gap open.  Turn the body right side round, and fill with the stuffing.  Keep going until you are happy with the shape.  Make a well within the base of the stuffing for the pebble.  Pack the pebble in place by adding a bit more stuffing and finish off by cutting a small oval shape from the card (cut this by eye as it’s hard to give an exact size due to the felted wool stretching when stuffed) and place it just inside the open end.  Cut the base piece from the felted wool, place it over the open end to cover the hole and secure in place with random straight stitches.  

Step 2 : Place the felted wool for the wings wrong side together with the fabric.  Cut out one wing through both layers.  Flip the template and cut the second wing.  Sew around the edge of each wing using blanket stitch.  Attach one wing to each side of the penguin with a small button, positioning them fabric side facing out, with the more curved edge towards the front of the penguin. 

Step 3 : Cut two circles for the eyes from the felted wool and stitch onto the face with one of the small buttons in the center of each eye.  Cut out the beak, fold in half and attach along the folded edge with random straight stitches.  From the fabric, cut out a tummy piece and sew into place again with random straight stitches.

Step 4 : To make the fish, cut 2 fish shapes from the craft felt, join the 2 together by sewing blanket stitch round the edge.  Add a small french knot to each side for an eye.

Your little penguin is now complete.  You can make as many babies as you like! (sewing wise I mean, not literally!) 

(templates, just drag & drop the image onto your desktop to print)


As always with my free patterns, YES  ...you can sell what you make (as long as you don't go into mass production),  just add a copyright mark to say ⓒ Lucykate Crafts... within any written description and also make sure you join the Lucykate Crafts... Pattern Pieces Flickr group to show off what you make. Happy stitching!

Ready for the next free pattern?

Here we go, this week, it's the turn of the Matriarch of the family,

You will need...

14 x 16 cm of felted wool for the body (although if you have no felted wool, just use fabric)

8 x 18 cm of felted wool for the base, eyes and wings

4 x 8 cm of craft felt for the beak

4 x 4 cm of craft felt for the flower

8 x 10 cm of fabric for the tummy patch

8 x 12 cm of fabric for the wings

2 small buttons for eyes & 1 extra for the flower

2 large buttons to attach the wings

Toy stuffing

Selection of embroidery thread (I used pearl cotton 8, but any will do)

Small pebble to weight the bottom

Small piece of card for the internal base

Plus the usual suspects, pins, needle, scissors etc…

Before you begin, print out the templates so the complete image is a finished size of  12 x 12 cm, that should make them the correct size to work with, any problems with that though, just send me an email (there's a link in the sidebar -->)

Step 1 : For the body, cut two shapes using the templates provided from the felted wool.  Pin, right side together and stitch, roughly 0.5cm away from the edge leaving the turning gap open.  Turn the body right side round, and fill with the stuffing.  Keep going until you are happy with the shape, then make a well within the base of the stuffing for the pebble.  Pack the pebble in place by adding a bit more stuffing and finish off by cutting a small oval shape from the card (cut this by eye as it’s hard to give an exact size due to the felted wool stretching when stuffed) and place it just inside the open end.  Cut the base piece from the felted wool, place it over the open end to cover the hole and secure in place with random straight stitches.  

Step 2 : Place the felted wool for the wings wrong side together with the fabric.  Cut out one wing and join both layers together with blanket stitch around the edge.  Attach to the side of the penguin with a large button.  Flip the wing template, and repeat for the other wing. 

Step 3 : Cut two circles for the eyes from the felted wool and stitch onto the face with one of the small buttons in the center of each eye.  Cut out the beak, fold in half and attach along the folded edge with random straight stitches.  From the fabric, cut out a tummy piece and sew into place again with random straight stitches.  To finish off, cut out the flower, and attach to the head with a button in the center.

(templates, just drag & drop the image onto your desktop to print)

As is the rule of thumb with all my free patterns, YES  ...you can sell what you make (as long as you don't go into mass production),  just add a copyright mark to say ⓒ Lucykate Crafts... within any written description and also make sure you join the Lucykate Crafts... Pattern Pieces Flickr group to show off what you make.  Tune in next week for the final free pattern in this series!

Time for a new free pattern?!

Penguins maybe??

I'm going to post the whole penguin family, one at a time, maybe you can stitch along as we go?

Starting off with Mr Penguin...

You will need...

14 x 16 cm of felted wool for the body (although if you have no felted wool, just use fabric)

8 x 18 cm of felted wool for the base, eyes and wings 

4 x 8 cm of craft felt for the beak 

4 x 6 cm of craft felt for the tie 

8 x 10 cm of fabric for the tummy patch 

8 x 12 cm of fabric for the wings 

2 small buttons for eyes 

2 large buttons to attach the wings 

Toy stuffing 

Selection of embroidery thread (I used pearl cotton 8, but any will do) 

Small pebble to weight the bottom 

Small piece of card for the internal base 

Plus the usual suspects, pins, needle, scissors etc… 

Before you begin, print out the templates so the complete image is a finished size of  12 x 12 cm, that should make them the correct size to work with, any problems with that though, just send me an email (there's a link in the sidebar -->)

Step 1 : For the body, cut two shapes using the templates provided from the felted wool. Pin, right side together and stitch, roughly 0.5cm away from the edge leaving the turning gap open. Turn the body right side round, and fill with the stuffing. Keep going until you are happy with the shape, then make a well within the base of the stuffing for the pebble. Pack the pebble in place by adding a bit more stuffing and finish off by cutting a small oval shape from the card (cut this by eye as it’s hard to give an exact size due to the felted wool stretching when stuffed) and place it just inside the open end. Cut the base piece from the felted wool, place it over the open end to cover the hole and secure in place with random straight stitches. 

Step 2 : Place the felted wool for the wings wrong side together with the fabric. Cut out one wing and join both layers together with blanket stitch around the edge. Attach to the side of the penguin with a large button. Flip the wing template, and repeat for the other wing. 

Step 3 : Cut two circles for the eyes from the felted wool and stitch onto the face with one of the small buttons in the centre of each eye. Cut out the beak, fold in half and attach along the folded edge with random straight stitches. From the fabric, cut out a tummy piece and sew into place again with random straight stitches. To finish off, cut out the tie, and secure with a cross shaped stitch at the top.

(templates, just drag & drop the image onto your desktop to print)

As is the rule of thumb with all my free patterns, YES  ...you can sell what you make, just add a copyright mark to say ⓒ Lucykate Crafts... within any written description and also make sure you join the Lucykate Crafts... Pattern Pieces Flickr group to show off what you make.  Tune in next week for the next free pattern in this series!

Owl,

As promised, here is the chart for the Owl counted cross stitch motif.

As with the Fox, the finished counted cross stitch is only small, 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" (or 4 x 4 cm) and fits perfectly onto the laser cut disc (which is available from The Workroom) and works out at roughly 13 stitches to an inch (or 2.5 cm), but can also be stitched onto any aida or evenweave fabric.  The finished size will change depending on what count fabric you use.

So, in addition to what you decide to stitch the design onto, you will also need, thread (I call it stranded cotton, is it embroidery floss in the USA?) in the following colours (I used Anchor thread and have added the shade numbers in brackets as a guide), dark brown (382), dark grey (400), mid brown (936), brown (379), blue grey (850) and cream (386), plus a fine embroidery needle and some small scissors.

Follow the chart below for your stitching.

(click on the chart to enlarge it to stitch from)

The surrounding circle is just a guide for the edge of the laser disc, and I split the stranded cotton and worked with 2 strands in the needle.

 

Happy stitching!

Foxy fox...

It's been a while since I've offered a free project, but this is an idea which has been milling around since I first posted about these pendant blanks for cross stitch...

The finished counted cross stitch fox motif is only small, 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" (or 4 x 4 cm) and fits perfectly onto the laser cut disc (which is available from The Workroom) and works out at roughly 13 stitches to an inch (or 2.5 cm), but can also be stitched onto any aida or evenweave fabric.  The finished size will change depending on what count fabric you use.  

So, in addition to what you decide to stitch the design onto, you will also need, thread (I call it stranded cotton, is it embroidery floss in the USA?) in the following colours (I used Anchor thread and have added the shade numbers in brackets as a guide), dark brown (382), dark grey (400), mid brown (936), dark terracotta (884), terracotta (1003), beige (942) and cream (386), plus a fine embroidery needle and some small scissors.

Follow the chart below for your stitching.

(click on the chart to enlarge it to stitch from)

The surrounding circle is just a guide for the edge of the laser disc, and I split the stranded cotton and worked with 2 strands in the needle.

And there's more...  As I bought 2 of the laser cut pendants (indecision as to which shape I wanted!), next week, I will be posting another cross stitch chart for the Owl.

Happy stitching!

Whip Up...

I'm guest posting on Whip Up today with a new Softie pattern for this little Ladybird

so hop on over and grab the pattern and instructions for this teeny tiny little creature!

ps, don't forget about the giveaway, see below ↓↓↓

Dragonflies...

In celebration of National Craft Month, the Dragonfly from the 'Countryside Softies' book is up as a free downloadable pdf pattern on the Stash Books blog!

I've also set up a Flickr group, please feel free to join and post any projects made from the book there.

The Christmas project round up...

Over the last few years, since I started blogging I have amassed quite a few tutorials, most are listed and linked via the tab at the top of the blog homepage.

Since it is now December, here's a quick round of of what is there for Christmas...

First, there's last years Softie Christmas Tree,

and also the Robin.

Then there's the easy peasy cotton reel holly decoration,

and finally, believe it or not, one of my most visited tutorials is the Elf hat!

I'm guessing it's so popular for the same reason I made it in the first place, costumes needed for the school christmas play.  Wonder what other reasons there could be for wearing a pair of trousers turned into an elf hat on your head?!

:: :: :: :: ::

The 'Scandinavian Stitches' blog tour giveaway winners are...

number 131 - Terri wins the book & number 26 - Dolores wins the cards.

Ladies, I will be in touch for your postal addresses.

The 'decorate an alice band' tute...,

Next week, we have a wedding to go to, and due to unforeseen circumstances earlier this year which led to a distinct lack of funds, I consciously made the decision that Lucy & Luke's outfits were going to be put together using all my thrifty skills.  Clothing wise, we have struck gold numerous times on Ebay with a white beaded dress, fur shrug and a beige linen suit, and the last thing to sort was something for Lucy's hair, which naturally, is handmade!  This is what I did for a simple wrapped headband decorated with a fabric flower...

You will need  ::  an alice band, ribbon, triangle of fabric measuring 5'' (13cm) across the bottom and 12'' (31cm) in length to the point, pins, needle, sewing thread, fabric glue and a small length of lace or marabou feather trim.

First, spread some glue on the alice band, and beginning at one end, wrap the ribbon round and round to cover the plastic.  Keep going until the whole band is covered with ribbon.  Leave to dry.

Next, fold the fabric triangle in half, lengthways, and beginning at the smallest, tapered end, roll the fabric up.

Continue rolling, and as the flower gets bigger, you may need to make some tucks in the fabric to turn corners.  Just make sure the folded edge creates the outside edge of the flower petals and the unfinished edge is held, centrally underneath so it is hidden.

Once all the fabric is used, tuck under the last unfinished edge and anchor the whole lot in place with a few stitches in some matching coloured thread.

So, there we now have a finished flower!

Decide where abouts onto the headband you want the flower to go, and glue in place.  Use pins to keep it secure until the glue has dried.

Between the band and the flower, also glue in place a small length of lace or marabou feather trim.  This will hide any untidiness and also add a little more glamour to the design (although, if while doing this, the glue gives way and the flower pops off like mine did, you can add a few stitches to secure everything to the ribbon if need be)

And there we go..., one headband befitting of any bridesmaid, flower girl or party guest.  Actually, I might make one for myself in different colours!