How To... Up-Cycle a Top To Make Fabric Placemats

This thrifty How To for fabric placemats is a lovely way to use fabric from an old top or dress. Sometimes you love the fabric from a particular item of clothing so much that you don't want to part with it, although you'll never wear it again- this is a way up-cycle it to keep forever! Happy Making!

1) You will need

An old top or dress (I cut two placemats from one top), backing fabric (I used an old dress), sewing needles and thread to match the fabric, pins, paper, pen and ruler to make the template, fabric scissors, beads, sequins or other trimmings of your choice. Mine were taken from my top

This fabric is such summery print that the placemats are putting me in the mood for breakfast in the garden and summer garden parties! Depending on the garments you use, you may have some fabric left over- I'm saving mine for more projects.

2) Decide the size you'd like your placemats to be. Mine are 38cmx30cm. Cut a piece of paper to this size, allowing a 1cm seam allowance

3) Pin the template to your top/dress and cut a piece for the front of your placemat and a piece from the backing material

4) Place right sides together and pin and tack the pieces together, leaving a gap of aprox 10cm for turning through. I  leave a gap in the tacking to remind myself not to stitch all the way round, have done it many times!

5) Allowing a 1cm seam allowance, using a straight stitch, stitch all the way round the placemats (leaving the 10cm gap for turning). Stitch the loose ends in and then cut the excess fabric away from the corners, close to the stitching and on the diagonal- this will make the corners sharper when you turn the placemat through. Trim the seam allowance down to aprox 5mm

6) Turn the placemat through. Ease out the corners with a pin and press

7) If I were to make these again, before stitching the pieces together I would first stitch on any embellishments- I got to this point and realised I'd forgotten to do this, so stitching the pieces on was a bit trickier! I removed beads and sequins from the top and used them to embellish two corners of the placemats, stitching them on with gold thread

8) Use ladder stitch to invisibly close the open gap- check out this You Tube video for a tutorial on how to stitch ladder stitch. Press, covered with a tea towel to protect the embellishments

Happy making and enjoying your up-cycled top for many more years to come. Check out my How To to make the coasters using old cds and lace and napkins made from tea towels and pom pom trim to make a whole set of table accessories.

I'll be sharing the recipe for these Rhubarb Tarts on Wednesday, until then, have a lovely week!

How To... Fabric Scrap Photo Frame DIY

Do you have an old photo frame that you'd like to brighten up? Give my latest How To a try and you can display it with pride!

1) You will need

Old wooden photo frame, Mod Podge, paintbrush, fabric scissors, fabric scraps

My cotton fabric scraps were taken from fabric shade cards, but you could use scraps from your stash or even up-cycle pretty fabric from old clothes. I've gone for a bright and eclectic mix of fabrics as that's my thing, but you can be as matching or clashing as you wish!

2) Cut your fabric into strips

I cut mine into pieces roughly 5cm long by 2cm wide and  a few at odd sizes for variation

3) Get sticking!

Working on small sections of the frame at a time, apply a thin layer of Mod Podge to the frame and lay your fabric strips on top. Overlap the fabric pieces to create a collage effect, ensuring that the pieces are fully stuck down. Cover the outside edges of the frame too and allow to dry fully

4) Add a top coat of Mod Podge

Apply a thin layer of Mod Podge over the top of the collage of fabric to seal. Allow to dry fully

 5) Display your lovely updated photo frame!

 A special photo presented in a hand decorated frame would also make a lovely gift idea. Happy making!

How To... Make a set of coasters using old CDs and lace

If you're anything like me you'll have some old CDs or DVDs hanging around that you're not sure what to do with- like the free ones you get with newspapers that you never get round to listening to. Sound familiar? 

Well here's an idea of how you can up-cycle them into something useful- make them into a new set of coasters! Combine these with that tester pot of paint that's languishing at the back of the garage and those doilies you found at a boot fair that you'd forgotten you had and it makes for quite a thrifty make!

1) You will need

Old CDs or DVDs, paint tester pot, PVA glue, heavy cotton lace doilies or trimmings, plain cotton fabric (I used the cotton fabric from a lace edged cloth but you could use Calico, an old shirt or sheet, etc), felt to match your chosen colour scheme, paintbrush, fabric scissors

2) Glue the felt to your CDs

Apply PVA glue to one side of each of your CDs and stick onto the felt. Leave to dry

3) Cut away excess felt

 4) Repeat step 3 on the other side of your CDs, this time using your plain cotton fabric. 

Leave to dry and then cut away the excess fabric

5) Apply a layer of PVA to the cotton side of your CDs

6) Lay your heavy lace onto the glued side of your CDs and leave to dry

It's much easier if you leave each layer to dry completely before moving onto the next step, and less messy too!

7) When dry, cut away the excess lace

You could use a regular thin lace for this, but I find the heavier lace and crocheted cotton doilies are more effective as the paint really highlights their texture

8) Paint your coasters

You could choose to leave the coasters unpainted at this stage as they still look pretty left like this, or you could paint them using your tester pot. Give each coaster one coat of paint and allow to dry

You could try this on a larger scale- I'd like to cover a wooden tray or cork place mats and mix and match with different colours

9) Use your new set of coasters as a good excuse to have tea and cake!

I'll be posting the recipe for my white chocolate, rosewater and pistachio cup cakes that you can see here on Wednesday!

Happy making!

How to... Techniques: Make felt in your washing machine

Introducing a new series: "How to... Techniques"! 

This is a technique I learnt in College- making felt in the washing machine using Wool Tops. It's a great way to make small amounts of felt and is much quicker than making it using the traditional hand felting techniques.

1) You will need

Two A4 sized pieces thin lining fabric, Wool Tops, scissors, sewing needle and thread.

A few notes on materials:

Thin polyester dress or curtain lining is relatively inexpensive to buy, but you may already have a jacket or a skirt with lining in and you're planning to up-cycle it for the fabric, so that would be a double up-cycling bonus! I have tried this with thicker materials, such as calico and t-shirt jersey, and although it still produces a felt, it is next to impossible to remove it from the backing fabric, so I recommend sticking with the lining fabric!

You don't need much wool tops at all for this as you're only making thin layers (I only used a tiny amount of the bundle you see below). I buy my Merino Wool Tops from Crafty Notions as they source their wool from a single trusted farm in West Faulkland, and it is produced without herbicides and pesticides. They have a great range of colours and a small bag will go a long way- they also sell packs of colours if you just can't decide! But you may already have a stash just waiting to be used...

2) Make your layers

Gently pull thin pieces of wool tops away from your main bundle of tops.

You're going to make 4 layers altogether. For your first layer, firstly, take a single piece of your lining fabric. Next, lay your wool tops vertically on top of the piece of lining fabric, overlapping each piece of tops as you do so. Leave a gap of one inch around the outside

For your next layer, repeat the same process again, but this time lay your wool tops vertically. I've used pink tops for this layer to create a two toned piece of felt

Your next layer will be horizontal

And your next layer vertically once again. On this layer I've again mixed in some of the contrasting colour

3) Stitch your fabric together

Next, lay your second piece of lining fabric on top of the felt layers you've just made. Poking any stray fibres back in, you can now tack your felt parcel together. Stitch as close to your felt layers as you can

Next, tack a cross diagonally across your felt pillow. This helps to create a flat finished piece of felt. If you don't stitch the cross, you will end up with a small screwed up piece of felt (have done this a couple of times when I've forgotten to stitch the cross!)

4)  Felt in the washing machine!

Your felt parcel can now go in with a  regular load of washing on a 40 degree setting. The friction from the other washing in the machine, combined with the heat and washing soap will cause the wool fibres to felt together

5) It's finished!

Don't be alarmed if when you take your felt parcel out of the machine it looks a little out of shape- undo the tacking and remove it from the fabric and you should have a lovely flat piece of felt! 

These small thin pieces of felt would be ideal to hand or machine embroider onto, or to cut pieces from to use for Applique. I'll be back in a future post to show you some examples of how you can use your felt.

Happy making!

How To... Embellish an old jumper

If you're anything like me, you'll have clothes you haven't worn for a while hidden away in a drawer, or perhaps something you bought on impulse but have never worn and it's taking up space in your wardrobe. Well, this year I've decided to get more use from what I already have- I can't always afford new things and I'm also conscious of waste, so they'll be lots of customizing and re-inventing of my wardrobe from now on!
This is a quick D.I.Y way to update an old jumper...

1). You will need...

An old jumper, beads/gems/ other embellishment materials of your choice, thread to match your jumper, sewing needles, scissors

2). Stitch beads around the neckline

Choose your arrangement of beads and stitch around the neckline of your jumper. I've decided to up-cycle the plastic pearls from a broken necklace. This is a really versatile project- you could use what you have in your beads/buttons/bits and bobs stash, or you could buy new embellishments from a craft store.

 Just three or four stitches through each bead should be enough to secure them in place. Here I've just added one row of beads, but add as many as you like, or make a pattern! The world is your oyster here.

3). Add your gems

If you don't have any gems to hand or you'd prefer to use something else, you could use buttons or large beads, or any other embellishments that would go with your theme. There are no hard and fast rules, you're going to wear it so go for what you like! I've chosen these lovely star sew on gems

4). And you're done!

It really is as simple as that- one jumper saved from a life at the back of a drawer and a fun and cheap update to your wardrobe!