Two Crafty Brownies

Pottering and Prettifying

Hello darlings! How are you doing? It's been a sad couple of weeks here in Two Crafty Brownieland. I'm sure you saw Lu’s post about losing her beloved cat Gnasher. Mostly, I prefer dogs to cats, but I was very fond of Gnash. She was a gentle, playful cat, much like her owner!

Lu and I work together every week, and if we were at Lu’s house, Gnash would potter about keeping us company. When we were laying fabrics out to look at, she would plonk herself down on top of them, as if to help us decide. I will miss her, and it's been horrid seeing my beloved Lu so sad. Her family rallied round to give Gnash a good send off, and some of you lovely people left comments which I know Lu really appreciated. You are a wonderful lot, thank you!

So what else has been happening? We went away for a few days during the Easter holidays. I was really needing a little break, and after seeing Jen Little Birdie’s lovely pictures of Yorkshire we decided to go there. We stayed in a lovely cottage near Whitby, which was beautifully decorated. The rooms had all been very ‘interior designed’. Each room was decorated in a different colour with matching accessories. It really made me think about our home, and how some little touches might make it a whole lot nicer.

Photos courtesy of Gorgeous Cottages.

One night, we needed pudding. I had bought meringues and some double cream…….but what to whisk it with? There was no mixer, and no whisk! But there was a cheese grater, and I am happy to report that with a bit of determination and elbow grease, you can whip cream with that!

The weather was terrible my lovelies! But we did a few trips, ate nice food, sat by the fire, caught up with the telly and had a very relaxing time. Our older son won't come with us anymore, but our younger son did, and found a little nook to stay connected in. (And can I just say, when I took that photo neither of us knew it would end up here! He just won't be photographed anymore. Sigh........)

When we got home, I set my mind to prettifying. One of the things I decided to do was make a new cover for my ironing board. A few years ago I had a hankering for a wooden ironing board. I sourced one on EBay, and acquired it for the princely sum of £1. I made a cover from some fabric Lu and I found in the remnants bin of our local fabric shop, and felt very pleased with it for the next couple of years.

Well recently I have noticed that this cover is looking rather old and stained. I found some fabric that I liked, but which was slightly too small. I sewed another coordinating piece on with a french seam, and used the old cover as a template. Doesn't it look better?

These last few weeks I have had a bit of an epiphany. I have been wondering about getting a subscription to a crafting or sewing magazine for a while. Whenever I read such magazines, I end up feeling a bit cheated. So many ads, and not enough substance, sometimes for nearly £5.00!

Instead I signed up for Creativebug, which delivers online classes. I started watching Cal Patch’s pattern drafting classes……. And I was hooked. The thing is, darlings, I have what you might call an African bottom. That is to say my waist is small in proportion to my hips. I can never find clothes to fit me, if they fit my hips they are baggy around my waist. Cal’s calm lessons made me think I could actually draft my own pattern. So I got drawing, and after a couple of adjustments, ended up with these tunics. And I am so thrilled...... they fit me just right!

Hello!!

So I have made a Decision. I hate clothes shopping, and can never find what I want. So…… deep breath…...I am not going to buy any clothes for the next year, I am going to make my own. I will tell you all about it as I go along.

To end, do any of you clever people recognise any of these feet? I inherited them with a sewing machine and I have no idea what they are for! The one on the top left doesn't even have a hole for the needle to go through! Please help!

That's it for now my lovelies. I hope you have a lovely weekend. 

Much love,

Jenny xxx

'Take One' PreLoved Jumper Part 3 - Pincushion, Little Hearts and Teddy

Hello my dears! I hope you've had a good week. All is well here in my little corner of London. The sun has been shining, and thoughts of Spring have started to emerge.

Did you see Lucy’s lovely pot holders, lavender heart and mug warmer? That pretty shirt certainly went a long way! Today I am finishing off my jumper, and I have to admit, I am glad. Lucy will tell you, I have a terrible habit of getting bored of projects. I find something new, and research and make obsessively for a few weeks. Then one day, I wake up, and poof! I'm bored. Time for something new! That's why I could never settle down to just one craft. Don't get me wrong, I am envious of people who do…. I just have too short an attention span!

So I have to say I picked up the scraps I had left after my hot water bottle cover and my wristwarmers with a tiny bit of Resentment. I have had enough of this jumper, I thought. But Lu had made so many lovely little things, and not wanting to let the side down, I got sewing.

Lu is really good at appliqué. Her stitches are soooo neat. I am not so good. But I do like a bit of reverse appliqué (is that a thing??). When you sew some fabric to the back and cut around so it shows through. Stay with me, you'll see what I mean….

Reverse Appliqué Felt Pin Cushion

What you need is

Two small squares of that jumper

Some contrasting fabric

Tracing paper, I use grease proof paper!

Matching thread

Ground walnut shells

Two Crafty Brownies Sewing Essentials

 What you do is

Cut two squares of felt. I decided to make my pincushion 3” square, and I added half an inch seam allowance so my pieces were 4” by 4”. Sorry, Lu, I did not make a template......

Draw your design on the tracing paper. I did a simple little flower. Layer your paper, design up, on top of your fabric, right side down. Lay this onto your felted fabric, right side down. Pin the layers in place. Sew on top of your design, right through the three layers.

Pull off your tracing paper. Carefully poke the end of your scissors through the jumper but not through the fabric and cut around close to your stitch line.

Finally lay your felt squares right sides together and sew around, leaving a gap to turn it through. Once turned, stuff (I used ground walnut shells) and admire!

Little Felt Hearts

These little hearts are inspired by Faith Essenberg’s Liberty Heartstrings, which I think are so adorable.

What you need is

Felt pieces

Heart template (I had this from before, cut out of acetate)

Tracing paper

Matching/contrasting thread

buttons and string

Toy stuffing

Two Crafty Brownies Sewing Essentials

What you do is

Take two pieces of felt and trim them to the same size and shape. Cut a piece of tracing paper about the same size of your two felt pieces. Trace hearts onto the paper, leaving space between. I will not be turning these through, I'll leave the seam on the outside. Pin the layers together, paper on top, then the two pieces of felt, one right side up and then the other right side down. Sew around the hearts, leaving a gap on each one for stuffing. Remove the paper carefully.

Stuff each heart (I used toy stuffing), and sew across the gap. Back stitch wherever you stop, you can then use a needle to take the threads through to in between the layers and cut short. Cut around each heart as you finish it, or do them all at the end......

I used some pretty buttons from Lucy’s Attic 24 shop on Wool Warehouse, and some pink string. I threaded most of them into a length and a couple separately. Luckily I was also able to source a bit of matching chocolate to keep me going....

Little Teddy

From my last bits, I made this little teddy. I drew a template and transferred this onto tracing paper. I may have had a little shandy to help me at this point....

I used the reverse appliqué method above to do a tummy, ears and paws.

I left a gap for stuffing, and cut all around him once he was filled and the gap sewn closed.

Phew! It feels like I've been working on this jumper for ages. I am really pleased with all I managed to get out of it, and I am inspired to go searching through the charity shops again soon, (just not too soon!)

Take care, my lovelies, until my next post! And thanks for the jumper, Lu!

 

Jenny xxx

'Take One' Preloved Shirt Part 3: Pot Holders, Lavender Bag and Mug Warmer Tutorial

Hello friends!

I am loving Jenny’s preloved jumper makes and I love my gorgeous, grey wrist warmers. It is cold here and they are keeping my hands and wrists really toasty! Thank you other Brownie! You may remember that I have been upcycling too. I have ‘taken one’ preloved Boden shirt and so far made a skirt for my little girl and a peg bag for me! Now I am down to just a little bit less than the sleeves, just enough to make a few more lovely things don’t you think? Well, I have been busy trying to use every scrap of fabric from this shirt and I have pretty much managed it! I have made a couple of pot holders/small place mats, a coaster, 2 mug warmers with the cuffs and with some of the scrappy scraps left over, a heart shaped lavender bag.

Read on for the tutorials….

Pot Holder/Small Place Mat

What you need is:

The sleeves from a preloved shirt. (Of course you could use any fabric in this tutorial)

Batting - depending on thickness of potholder/coaster desired.

Pot holder template (always a template!) - using some card, make a template to your desired size and shape. My template is a square measuring 16.5 x 16.5cm.

A long ruler or rectangular ruler.

A Rotary cutter or fabric scissors.

Cutting Mat.

Matching or contrasting thread - whatever floats your boat!

Two Crafty Brownies Sewing Essentials

What you do is:

Cut off the cuffs and open up the sleeves of the shirt.

Make the template.

Iron the fabric left over from your previous makes.

Using the template, ruler and rotary cutter or fabric scissors and cutting mat, cut around the template 4 times, so you have 4 squares of fabric. This will make 2 potholders.

Using the same template, place onto the batting and cut 2 squares. I actually cut 4 squares of batting because I wanted the pot holders to be thicker.

Place 2 squares of the fabric right sides together on top of the batting. You can pin here if you like, but I didn’t.

Machine stitch a 0.5cm seam around the squares of batting and fabric leaving a gap (about 5cm) to be able to turn it the right way round.

Snip the corners and trim off any excess batting (it stretches a little). Turn the pot holder the right way round using the gap and using a blunt pencil or toy stuffing thingy, poke out the corners.

Hand sew the gap closed. I do this rather than overstitching the gap closed because my seam allowance is so little it wouldn’t actually close the gap.

Iron your potholder and now overstitch a few rows of stitching all the way round. This makes it look nicer but isn’t essential. It depends on the look you are going for.

Repeat this process with the other potholder/small place mat. I also made a coaster to go with my potholder. Admire your work by making yourself a cup of tea, slicing yourself a piece of cake and using them straight away!........

And here's a couple more I made from other shirts...

Lavender heart

What you need is:

Some scraps of fabric for the heart and the stuffing -  you could use other scraps of fabric and toy stuffing instead.

Heart template - To make a heart template, fold a piece of paper in half. Draw half a heart from the inside edge of paper according to the size you want and cut out, revealing a whole symmetrical heart. Draw your heart onto a piece of card or cardboard for a longer lasting template.

Dried lavender - I bought mine from a local health food shop.

Matching thread.

2 buttons.

Two Crafty Brownies Sewing Essentials.

What you do is:

Place two scraps of fabric on top of each other with right sides together.

Place the heart template on top of the fabric and draw round it.

On one of the straight edges of the heart draw a rectangle coming off the heart. This will be the gap you will use to put the stuffing into the heart when turned the right way round and which will be tucked into the heart later and hand sewn shut. Cut out. Gosh, I hope that makes sense - here’s a pic to help out!

Machine sew from this rectangle all the way round the heart and stop at the other side of the rectangle. Cut a few notches into the curvy bits and snip the tip.

Turn the right way round and using a blunt pencil, gently tease the corner and curves out. Tuck the rectangular bit that will be sticking out, into the heart and press with a hot iron.

Stuff your heart with scraps of fabric or toy filling adding the dried lavender as you go.

Stop when you feel you have stuffed your heart out enough! Hand sew the opening closed.

 

Sew your buttons onto the front and back of the heart. I sew on the buttons at the same time, going from the front to the back, pulling slightly as I go to make a cushioned effect.

Take a deep inhale of your lavender pillow, exhale and relax!

I am sending mine off to my lovely Mum, who has been feeling a bit poorly recently......

 

Mug Warmers

What you need is:

The cuffs of a preloved shirt - I have of course used the cuffs from the preloved Boden Shirt. My cuffs measure 28 x 7.5cm which is nice and wide to go round a decent sized mug.

Batting

Small length of 7mm elastic

Small piece of felt

Two Crafty Brownies Sewing Essentials

What you do is:

If you haven't done so already, cut the cuffs off your shirt.

Cut along the width of the cuff, just inside the button holes.

Unpick 4-5cm of the single side seam of the cuff (my cuffs had one single seam which would have been the outer seam and a double seam where the cuff would have been attached to the shirt)

Cut a piece of batting smaller than the cuff size. It needs to fit inside the cuff so needs to be the size of the cuff minus the seams and buttons.

Turn the cuff inside out. Lay the batting on top of the cuff and sew a 0.5cm seam along the open side of the cuff, attaching the batting.

Turn the cuff the right way round, using the opening you unpicked earlier, smoothing out the batting inside the cuff. Top stitch closed the opening and along the seam you have just sewn.

Measure around your mug and the length of your cuff. My mug measured 27.5cm and the cuff 24cm, the difference being 3.5cm. Double this because you are making a loop with your elastic and then add 1.5cm to each end of the elastic for the overlap to be sewn onto the cuff. Add 1cm for good measure. My elastic measurement is 11cm and I found that this stretched nicely around the buttons. Cut 2 lengths of elastic if there are two buttons on your cuff. Otherwise cut just the one.

Make a mark where you need to sew your elastic by folding the cuff in half so you can see where they line up with the other side of the cuff.

Double your elastic and attach the loose ends to the place on the cuff that you have marked, by machine stitching. I machine stitched backwards and forwards a few times to make sure the elastic was securely attached.

If you like, attach a small piece of felt to the cuff on top of the elastic to hide the ends of the elastic. You could also sew buttons to hide the stitching on the other side. You could even embellish your mug warmer with embroidery stitches, beads, fabric flowers…..etc!

You are done! Make yourself a cup of tea or coffee and keep it warm using your new mug warmer!

So my preloved Boden shirt fabric has been well and truly upcycled! I must confess I do have a few scrappity scraps leftover, not enough to make another pot holder or lavender heart, but enough to make a few covered buttons perhaps (thats a whole other tutorial!), or use as stuffing for something small. I am so pleased with these makes and I know that if I see a shirt in a charity shop made of lovely fabric, I have these projects ready to go! Here’s a quick reminder of the things I have made with just one shirt!

Phew!

If you have a go, let us know!! (#itsallabouttheupcycling)

Take Care lovelies!

Lucy xx   

'Take One' Pre-Loved Jumper Part 2 - Wrist Warmers

Hello lovelies! It's been cold round here this week....... how have you been? I have been using the sleeves of my pre-loved jumper to make some wrist warmers. I have very cold hands........ good for making pastry but not so good for examining patients! I love wearing wrist warmers to keep my hands warm in winter. I sadly can't wear them at work (infection control you know....) but I wear them at home on these chilly days.

What you need is

The sleeves of a preloved jumper that has been felted/shrunk

matching buttons

matching embroidery thread

Two Crafty Brownies Sewing Essentials

 What you do is

Mark where you want your thumbhole to be by laying your hand on the sleeve. Position your hand so the top is where you want it to be. Put your hand in the sleeve if that helps! Do be careful, lovelies, I did prick myself and may have said a Bad Word.

Cut a very narrow strip between the pins for your thumb. If you try it on now, you will see it’s a bit baggy around the wrist. This is where we get to embellish however we like, and make it fit better. So then cut up the opposite side. Overlap the edges so they fit your wrist and pin into place. Depending how tight your sleeve is, you may want to cut up both sides and pin/sew a seam under your thumb as well as on the other side.

Choose some matching buttons and thread. I think the potential for different embellishments is huge. Here I decided to use buttons and a running stitch.

I have a few jumpers I have collected over the past few months. They have been sitting waiting to be used, and in order to do this post I finally got round to making a few different wrist warmers!

Lu has been nagging begging me to make her a pair, so I let her choose a colour and made her a grey pair..... here she is having a nice cuppa while we work..

And I am very pleased with all the pairs I have kept........shall I wear them, or give them away?

Next week Lu will be using the last bits of her shirt to make more pretty things, and I'll be back the week after with some little felt things.

Happy friday, lovelies!

Jenny xxx

'Take One' Pre-Loved Jumper Part 1: Hot Water Bottle Cover

Hello lovelies! I do hope you have had a good week. It's been a couple of weeks since I posted, Lucy has been in charge, using a pretty pre-loved Boden shirt to make a gorgeous skirt and a clever peg bag, which I can't wait to try making myself. Now I'm back, talking about jumpers.

The Story

Have you ever washed a jumper too hot and shrunk it? I certainly have, in fact I have even done this on purpose!! Are you shocked? The thing is, when you shrink a jumper made from natural fibres, you get felt! Or in any case, a lovely, soft, thick material which doesn’t fray. I spent a few months trawling through charity shops looking for jumpers, I asked friends to give me old jumpers, I weeded some old ones out of our cupboards. I washed them on a 90C cycle. Some didn't shrink. So they went back to the charity shop. But some did, and I have been having a lot of fun sewing them into things! Today, I'm making a hot water bottle cover to snuggle up with on cold nights.

Hot Water Bottle Cover

What you need is

A pre-loved jumper, washed and shrunk. Lu gave me this one, it's one of our very favourite colours.

A hot water bottle ( I bought mine from our local pound shop)

Matching thread, buttons

Coordinating fabric (adhesive or lined with Bondaweb) 

Two Crafty Brownies Sewing Essentials

What  you do is

Turn your jumper inside out. Cut the sleeves off, and cut up the sides. Lay your hot water bottle on the piece you want to use for the front.  I decided to use the inside as the outside as it looked a bit nicer...... (well, it has been well loved!).

Draw all around it with a fabric marker. Leave enough around for a bit of stretch and a seam allowance. I used 2cm. Cut around your front piece. To make it symmetrical, I marked it in half with a pin, folded it in half and used the first half as a template for the second. Oh it was such a dreary day in London, lovelies, the pictures are not great.

For the back, there will be 2 overlapping pieces, so each needs to be longer than a half, if you see what I mean. I used my front as a template, folding one third of the bottom up to cut the top, and folding a third of the top to cut the bottom. I don't blame you if you need to go off and lie down now for a bit……

Hem the edges of your back pieces. If your jumper is thick you may not need to, mine is quite thin so I think it'll need the extra stability. I used a zig-zag stitch as the fabric is stretchy.

Pin your front and back together, with the right sides together (for me this was actually the inside of the jumper, as I wanted this to be the final outside..... On the back, lay the bottom piece on top of the top piece if you want the top piece to be on the outside. Sew all the way around, I went back and forth a few times where the pieces overlapped to make it stronger for opening. Turn it inside out!

When I hemmed the edges, the fabric stretched a bit. In order to make the opening nice and tight, I made sure I pulled the edges out and trimmed off the excess.

Now here I thought it looked a bit dull. I decided to hand stitch around it with a blanket stitch, and embellish the front with some hearts. If I were doing this again, of course I would put on the hearts before I sewed the front and back together. I can just imagine Lucy is rolling her eyes right now……

Let me digress just for a moment to tell you a little about how Lu and I roll. Lu is a planner. She makes lists, keeps notes and generally does things way ahead of time. Darlings, I am not. I wing it quite often, let things develop as I go along, and am often doing things at the last minute! In many ways we are very similar, but in this we are not! We work really well together though, I think I help Lu worry less, while she certainly helps me slow down and think things through first....

So, back to our hot water bottle cover…… Lu bought me some lovely adhesive fabric from Tiger ( not sure of you have this in other countries…….it's like IKEA but without all the furniture!) I cut out 3 hearts, stuck them on and sewed around them with some embroidery thread.

And that's my hot water bottle cover! I can't wait to try it out one of these cold nights......

I must say a big thank you to my Photographer, without whom I couldn't have done the lap pictures. My big, gorgeous son, J.......

That's all from me for now, lovelies! I'll be back next week, turning the sleeves into a pair of cosy wrist warmers....stay tuned and have a lovely weekend!

Jenny xxx

'Take One' Preloved Shirt Part 2: Peg Bag Tutorial

Hi folks!

The Story:

Last week, I upcycled a preloved Boden shirt by making a skirt for my little girl. In fact I made a few skirt shirts and she is wearing them constantly. This week I am using more of the fabric from that same shirt and showing you how to make a peg bag. I must admit I got very excited about this peg bag - the idea that is! I really thought I had come up with something original (like you do!) but before I could claim it as mine all mine, I decided to have a little look on google. Of course someone had already thought of it! Silly me! I got over it quickly and got on with making what was in my head……..I think this would be a really good project for a beginner sewer as there are just a few steps with 2 basic stitches on the machine and a little bit of hand sewing to attach the buttons and you have your finished item. Can’t wait for slightly warmer, drier weather to start using mine properly. At the moment, I am just admiring it!

What you need is:

One preloved man's shirt. You are going to use the top part of the shirt that was cut off when making the skirt last week.

A small hanger - less than 30cm wide - see template notes below.

Buttons and matching thread

Two Crafty Brownies Sewing Essentials

A square/rectangle of cardboard as a template. It is useful to have a template to make the straight edges but you could use a rectangle ruler. I just happened to have a square of cardboard measuring 30 x 30cm so I used this. The width of my hanger had to be less than 30cm in order to fit into the peg bag once made.

Double-sided sticky tape

What you do is:

You have already stitched up the middle button panel, when making the skirt - check this step out in last week’s tutorial, and removed the buttons. I left the top button on.

Turn the shirt inside out and place the cardboard template onto the shirt making sure it is centred. Mark an outline of the template onto the shirt. Remove the template and pin about 1.5cm within this outline.

Machine sew a running stitch along the line you have marked followed by a zigzag stitch next to this running stitch, to minimise fraying.

Cut just beyond this zigzag stitch cutting the rest of the shirt away (sleeves mostly) in the process. Put these aside. We’ll need them for Part 3!   

Snip the corners before turning inside out. Push the corners out using a blunt pencil. Iron if necessary.

Sew on some buttons where buttons would have been, making sure you leave the top part of the shirt undone - so you can get the pegs in and out!

Open up one sleeve of the shirt by cutting close to the side seam and cut about 6 x 1cm strips along the sleeve. Attach some double-sided sticky tape at various places on the hanger and wind the material strips around sticking as you go to cover the entire hanger.

Pop in the hanger, pop in some pegs, admire whilst pegging your washing on the line!

Here's one I made earlier.....

I’ll be making some more lovely things with what is left of the shirt - I am going to try and use every last scrap! Of course, I’ll show you how in another blog post very soon. In the meantime, Jenny has been upcycling a preloved jumper and will be bringing you the first of her tutorials next Friday. Please come back and visit then! Don’t forget to use the tag, #itsallabouttheupcycling, so we can see your clever upcycling ideas and makes.

Take Care lovelies,

Lucy xx

 

'Take One' Preloved Shirt Part 1: Little Skirt Tutorial

Hello Friends!

If you have visited us before, welcome back to CraftyBrowniesVille! If this is the first time you have checked out our blog, you are welcome too and we are so very pleased that you are here. If you take a little gander down the left hand column, you will see that our Graphics Designer (Jenny’s son...thank you over and over lovely boy!) has been busy with the tie-dye links and you can now click and find us tweeting on twitter!

The Story

As promised in Jenny’s mouth-watering post last week, we are sewing again! Oh and upcycling! And we are ‘showing you how’ too! I’ve told you I love upcycling before and this is a fab upcycling project. We are going to try and use up as much of a pre-loved item of clothing as possible by making other lovely things out of it. We are calling it our ‘Take One’ series. For my first ‘Take One’ tutorial, I am ‘taking one’ preloved man’s shirt and this week, I am turning it into an elasticated waistband skirt for my little girl. Next week, I will be making a peg bag with some of the remaining fabric and a few blog posts later, I will be using up what is left of the shirt and making some more lovely things!

Back to this week’s tutorial and a skirt for my little girl. Here’s one I made earlier….a few years earlier!

What you need is:

One preloved man’s shirt. You can find some lovely things in charity shops. I found this 100% linen Boden shirt from my local Marie Curie Hospice Shop.

2.5mm wide non-roll woven elastic

Matching buttons and thread

Two Crafty Brownies Sewing Essentials 

What you do is:

Before you start, the process of making an elasticated waistband skirt can sound more complicated than it actually is. If you would like to be able to visualise the steps in motion, there are lots of YouTube vids out there but I am going to point you in the direction of Made by Dana. I am a huge fan of Dana. Her wonderful, sunshiny, positive approach is infectious and she really does inspire you to try things and believe that you can do it! Her site is full of free video tutorials and fantastic makes and ideas. Have a look at her skirt video tutorial. Enough of the Dana love, let’s get on with it!

Measure the waist of your little person. My little one is 5 years old and she likes to wear her skirts slightly below the waist. Her measurement is 60cm with a little wriggle room. The width of my shirt is 120cm which is great because double the waist measurement produces a good ‘gather’. You could of course make a skirt (mini) for a larger person. The finished skirt just won’t be as ‘gathered’.

Measure your elastic: You will need another 2.5cm added to your waist measurement for the elastic overlap. So the new measurement is 62.5cm. Cut your elastic by stretching it gently to reach 62.5cm so that when cut it is comfy when stretched around the waist. My elastic once cut measured 56cm.

Close your shirt using the buttons. Pin along the middle all the way up, stopping about 12cm from the top button at the collar, removing the buttons as you go. Now secure by machine sewing all the way up from the bottom to this top point.

Measure the length you would like the skirt to be and add 4.5cm to this for the ‘tunnel’ or ‘tube’ you are going to sew at the top hem to put the elastic in. 34.5cm length is my measurement at the moment. Note this down.

The bottom of a man’s shirt is often rounded and longer at the back than at the front. You now need to decide whether you would like this to be the look of your skirt or whether you would like a straight bottom (tee hee!) hem.

If you don’t mind the rounded and longer at the back look, then flatten your shirt out on a table or the floor. Measure 34.5cm from the bottom middle of the shirt and cut across the shirt in a straight line at this point.   

If you would prefer a straight bottom hem, lay your shirt out and cut the rounded bottom off using a long ruler and a rotary cutter leaving a straight edge. I cut across from the bottom hem at one side to the bottom hem at the other as a guide. Now this is next bit is important: You need to add 2cm more to that length measurement (34.5cm), because you need to add a bottom hem. So from this bottom straight edge, measure 36.5cm at a few points, mark and cut across the shirt.

Turn your skirt inside out. Measure and iron the bottom straight edge down by 1cm and then a further 1cm. Pin if you like and then machine stitch all the way round creating the bottom hem.

For those of you with rounded bottoms (tee hee!), join in here! We are now on to the top hem.

Turn your skirt inside out and measure and press the top edge down by 1cm first and then a further 3.5cm. Pin if you like. Mark a 5cm gap at the back of the skirt using pins. Machine stitch this top hem leaving this gap unsewn so that you can insert the elastic.

Attach a safety pin to one end of the elastic and feed it through the tube. Be careful not to lose the other end in the tube as you go along. To prevent this, you can attach this end of the elastic to the skirt near the gap using another safety pin. Continue threading the elastic through until it comes out the other side. Attach the ends of the elastic together by machining with a 2.5cm overlap. You can use a zigzag stitch for this which will stretch with the elastic. Insert the elastic into the tube and sew the hem closed. You may want to use your zipper foot for this as the elastic can get in the way.

Turn the right way round. You may need to play with the elasticated waist at this point to make the gathers even all the way round. Attach buttons for decoration to the middle panel where the buttons would have been on the shirt.

My little girl loves her skirt! She had great fun modelling, for a little bit of pocket money in return I might add. She even thought of her own props!.......

I made another from a white shirt, adding a layer and appliquéing some hearts around the bottom.

And yet another (I did get a bit carried away!) with a lovely stripy pink shirt. For this one, my little one chose her own buttons!

Notes:

As the shirts are preloved and therefore preworn, they might be slightly stretched in places. This can make it difficult when cutting and hemming. I just went with it, sometimes creating a fold in the hem - the elasticated waist is very forgiving!

If you try this idea or you have other upcycling projects on the go and you post them on instagram, tag your photos #itsallabouttheupcycling so we can have a look. Don’t forget to pop back next week for the peg bag tutorial! Happy Crafting!

Lucy xx

Fabric Yoyo Angel/Christmas tree

The Story

Friends, I love Christmas too. However one chooses to celebrate it, I love the idea that in the middle of darkest winter (in this hemisphere) we come together with friends and family to exchange gifts, eat, drink and make merry. Like many people I do get stressed and overwhelmed. I take on too much, I have over ambitious plans of making all my gifts and I seem to spend much of the run up feeling panicky and fraught. Each year I try to simplify, to put less pressure on myself, to focus on what really matters. Love, warmth, friendship and togetherness! How am I doing this year? Better for sure, but not quite there yet! As usual, things I had planned to make are dropping fast off the bottom of my To Do list........apart from one.

Every year for the past few, I have made a different decoration. I am trying to build a collection of handmade things for my own tree, and if I make several I can give some away. Here are some from years past......

This year I decided to make Angels. I thought and dreamed of how they would be, and finally came up with a plan. I love fabric yoyos. I am always amazed at how a simple circle of fabric can turn into such a pretty, flouncy thing. I decided to use yoyos for my angels' bodies, and I must say I love the way they look.

What you need is

Fabric

Thread

Double sided tape

A compass for drawing circles or circle templates

Wooden beads such as these

Wool, or string for hair, limbs and sewing together

Beads for hands and feet

Fine black marker for eyes

Blusher

Our sewing essentials

What you do is

Prepare your templates. I used a compass to draw circles on an acrylic sheet such as this. I have also used old plastic folders such as these. It means you can use them over and over, but of course you could just draw your circles straight onto the fabric. I did 9 circles, the smallest had a diameter of 4cm, and I made each circle 0.5cm bigger than the last. Draw your circles onto your fabric. I used a silver pen as the line won't show once it's sewn. Cut out your circles.

Sew a running stitch around the edge of each circle. When you pull the thread ends tight, it magically makes these pretty, ruffled discs.

For my angel heads, I bought some 3cm wooden beads here. Because we are Brownies, I painted some of my heads brown and left some natural. I stuck strips of double sided tape on the beads, around the hairline and a couple more crisscrossing the head to stick the hair on. I used lengths of wool for the hair. For some I wound the wool round in circles, for others I laid it in straight lines. I used a marker to draw on the eyes, and blusher to give a little colour to the cheeks.

Find a needle that will fit through your beads. Make a loop of string through the largest yoyo for legs, and thread a shorter length through the sides of the third smallest for arms. Thread beads onto the string/wool for hands and feet, making a knot at the end to keep them on.

With a new piece of string/wool, take a stitch through the top of the largest yoyo, and then up through one side of each smaller one, through the head, back down the other side of all your circles, finishing with a knot between the two largest yoyos. Phew, you definitely deserve a nice pat on the back now (possibly accompanied by a g and t......)

If time is short, you could just sew a simple triangle, stuffed with some batting for a different body. You could also turn the yoyos into Christmas trees.

Well that's all from me, my lovelies. I do hope you feel inspired to make a little something for your tree too. Take care and be kind to yourselves in this hectic period!

Jenny xxx

 

Jenny's Fabric Grocery Bag

Hello my dears! I do hope this week finds you well. We have had a great week here in Brownieland. We are so blown away by the support the lovely blogging community has shown us newbies. A big thank you to Anne and Meredithe who mentioned us in posts. They both write gorgeous blogs, do pop over and have a look.

And now to this week's post. Today I am sewing a fabric grocery bag.

The Story

I must admit I was delighted with the new law of 5th October in England, which meant large stores had to start charging for plastic bags. Every time I go home to Malawi, I am shocked by the number of bags piling up on street corners, caught in trees, floating in the lake. For years I have tried to take reusable bags out with me. One new year I decided to see how long I could go without acquiring any plastic bags. I managed to get to July! Lucy and I always have bags on us, although she is always better prepared than I am and I usually have to borrow one or two from her! I have a lot of over the shoulder cloth bags, but sometimes you need something shaped like a plastic grocery bag, that you can just hold in your hands as you walk along.

And so I bring you my fabric grocery bag. Using an existing plastic bag as a template, with a small facing and French seams, it's quick and easy to sew.

What you need is

A plastic bag

2 fabrics, one for the bag and a contrasting one for the facing.

Matching thread

Pencil/Tracing paper (optional)

Usual sewing supplies, check out our Sewing Essentials page

What you do is

 

Lay your bag flat and cut off the bottom and the top of each handle. These bags usually have a gusset, or folded sides, so put your hand inside and stretch the bag out to its full size. Cut down each side.

Using one piece, fold this in half and trim to make the handles a sensible size. Cut along the fold so you have 2 identical pieces. On one half, mark the edge that was folded, for when you lay it on your fabric. Cut the other half short to make a facing pattern. I made a tracing paper copy of my bag template, you can do this too or just use the bag.

Fold your main fabric and lay the pattern along the fold. Cut out, leaving your usual seam allowance. Then cut another one! Measure your facing fabric using the shorter pattern.Using one of your main pieces as a pattern (so they are identical sizes) lay it on your contrasting fabric and cut a short facing.

I have made these with a full lining in the contrast but I find them too bulky to carry around. Cut another facing! Now we are ready to sew. Fold the bottom edge of your two facing pieces twice to make a hem. Pin, sew and iron this hem.

 

Lay one main piece and one facing piece down, right sides together. We are going to sew around the curved edges, but on the outer curve we are going to stop a few centimetres short of the end. Do you see the black pin? That is where we will stop. You can see the end of my sewing where the 'bead stiletto' is! Do the same for the other two pieces. You should now have two pieces, each with one main and one facing fabric. Clip your curves so they lie smooth. Turn them right way round and give them a little iron.

Lay your pieces together, either with the main fabrics touching or the facing, it doesn't matter. We are going to join the two pieces along the top of the straps. Stay with me here........ This bit was impossible to photograph! Grab two edges that are the same (where you stopped a few cms short of the end) and pin them together. We are going to sew along that edge which will join the tops of the straps. It's a bit fiddly but it does work. Do the same for the other strap. Pin the open edge closed and top stitch around all the curved edges, closing that gap as you go. Phew! That is the trickiest bit. Have a cup of tea or a gin and tonic to celebrate. 

We are going to do French or enclosed seams. Lay your bag as if it were finished and the right way round. Sew all around the 3 sides with a small seam allowance. Turn the bag inside out and sew all the way round again. Make this seam a bit bigger so you trap the raw edges inside. Now we just box the corners (if you want to). To box the corners, turn the bag inside out and fold along the centre of the back and front. This means the side seams lie on top of each other. Lucy, have your eyes glazed over yet? Measure 1.5 inches from the corner up the seam and mark. Sew at right angles to this from one edge to the other. Do the other side!

Turn your bag the right way and admire it! Now go and put it in your handbag so whenever you need a bag you have one to hand! I've cut out several of these and will be giving them away as gifts this Christmas.

I hope you have a lovely week! Jenny xxx

Lucy's 'Just Start Challenge' Upcycled Denim Bunting Tutorial

 

The Story:

Uncharacteristically of me and ironically, it took me ages to ‘just get started’ with this project. I do have the ability to procrastinate believe me, to write endless lists, tidy up, sort things out before I start, but I really thought I would find it easy to decide what to make for Jenny. Although I had so many (too many) possible projects in my head or written down in my ideas book, and so many (too many) craft books for inspiration, I had a case of ‘crafters block’. Is there such a thing? It sounds silly but the gravity of this being my first ‘Two Crafty Brownies’ tutorial post was weighing heavily on me. After all the time talking about it and preparing for this moment this would be the official beginning and we would finally be communicating with you, our readers! We would be bloggers with a business that was out there, for comment, feedback, criticism and so on. I do so like to please and get it right. Anyhow, after giving myself a stern talking to, reminding myself that we just need to keep it real, to be true to our intentions, I took the advice from our friends and I Just Started!

Sooooo....

My first tutorial is Upcycled, (Personalised & Appliquéd), Denim Bunting. Long-winded I know, but I’m trying to earn brownie points! Upcycling is so rewarding! I feel like I’ve cheated the system somehow. It is good for the planet and it is such a thrifty way of creating gifts for family and friends too. I looked through the piles of pre-loved shirts, woollen jumpers, ties, jeans etc, made a note to myself to stop visiting charity shops for a little while, and decided to make a dent in the pre-loved jeans pile. Personalising by appliquéing a message, in this case ‘Just Start’, onto bunting is such a lovely touch. I decided to use a pre-loved shirt and some scraps of fabric to create the letters. Of course you could add any message you like.  

What you need is:

2 pairs pre-loved jeans (makes up to 16 bunting flags)

1 pre-loved shirt and scraps of material for the appliquéd lettering/design

Paper, pencil and a ruler to make template letters with the message ‘Just Start’ and a template heart – of course, your message/letters/design can be anything you want it to be.

Iron-on fusible webbing bought on the roll – my advice is to buy a metre as it is such a useful sewing essential

Cutting mat

Long ruler

3m of 2cm wide bias binding  

Buttons to decorate

Plus some sewing basics – click here for Two Crafty Brownies Sewing Essentials

What you do is:

Decide how large you want your bunting flags to be. This will effect how large your letters will be. Then draw a triangle. My triangle is 21cm wide by 22cm long. I used the half way point of 10.5cm (half of 21cm) to work out where the tip should go and drew a line from this point measuring 22cm. This ensures that the two long sides of the triangle are equal.

Based on the size of your bunting flag, decide how large your letters or design should be. You will sew a 0.5cm seam along the 2 long sides of your flags when attaching one flag to another to make double-sided bunting, so bear this in mind when drawing your letters or design. I drew 8cm by 8.5cm rectangles and drew my letters within them. I only needed 6 letters for the message 'Just Start' as the 's' and the 't' are repeated.

For  my heart I cut out a rectangle with the same dimensions, folded it in half lengthways, drew and cut out half a heart so that it became a whole heart when opened.

Cut out your templates and set aside.

If you are using a shirt, cut off the sleeves, close to the seam joining it to the main body of the shirt and also cut along the bottom seam of the sleeve to open it out. Cut off the cuffs being careful to retain them and the body of the shirt for future upcycling projects (watch this space!).

Cut out a section of the iron-on fusible webbing by loosely placing the letters/design onto it and measuring roughly how much you need.

Place the webbing rough side down (this is the gluey side) onto the wrong side of your fabric. Using a hot, dry iron and following the manufacturers guidelines, press the webbing onto the fabric. I placed my webbing onto the shirt sleeve so that the stripes of the letters would be vertical.

Now place your letter/design templates back to front onto to the webbing and trace round with a pencil, so that once cut and placed fabric side up onto your bunting, the letters/design are the right way round.

(Oops! Have you noticed? My letter J isn’t back to front in this pic – just testing you are paying attention of course!!).

Cut out and set aside

 

Cut both legs off the jeans as close to the back pocket as possible. Turn legs inside out and iron if necessary to flatten. Place on the cutting mat.

Place the bunting template on to the jeans and draw round it using a biro or fabric pen. I placed the template sideways and managed to get 3 triangles this way and one facing the right way round, so 4 in total for each leg.

Using your long ruler and rotary cutter, or fabric scissors cut out the bunting triangles, making sure to cut through both layers of the jeans. You will be sewing these triangles together to make double-sided bunting.

 

Peel off the webbing from the back of your lettering/design. This will leave the gluey side of the webbing on the back of your lettering.

Place each letter fabric side up (glue side down) onto the right side of a jean triangle, ensuring that it is placed so that there will be enough room for a 0.5cm seam all the way round when you sew the triangles together. I placed my letters and hearts 4cm from the top of each bunting triangle. Secure with a hot, dry iron.

Webbing secures fabric very well and you could leave the lettering and hearts the way they are. However, I feel that sewing around the letters is attractive and gives the added security that they will not come off. If you are appliquéing onto fabric that will be washed, such as a t-shirt, I would always recommend sewing around your design.

Using the zigzag stitch on your sewing machine, sew around your lettering and hearts. I have used a stitch width of 2.0 and length of 0.8 to make the stitches small and closely spaced.

Once all the lettering and hearts are sewn onto the bunting, place one jean triangle on top of its matching triangle with rights sides facing. I don’t tend to pin here before I sew but of course please do so if you wish.

Sew a 0.5cm seam around the 2 edges of the ‘v’ (not the top) of each triangle.

Snip the tip of each corner of the triangle before turning the right way round, being careful not to snip through the stitching. Snip any lose threads.

Using a blunt pencil, push the tip of each flag out to make sure it is pointy. Iron to flatten out.

Iron the 2cm bias binding in half lengthways. This makes it easier to stitch onto the bunting. Sew the bias binding to the bunting, leaving 20-30cm at each end (for hanging up the bunting once made) and placing each flag 2cm apart (you can pin first if you like), ensuring that the letters are in the right order. I placed a heart flag in between the words and at each end. Sew right from the beginning and right to end of the binding.

Now attach any embellishments you wish to the bunting. I sewed on a few buttons.

And there you have it: Pretty, upcycled, personalised, appliquéd denim bunting!

Notes:

Try making personalised bunting with a name on as a birthday/Christmas/new baby pressie.

Some jeans, e.g. jeggings, have quite a bit of lycra in them so they stretch when stitched, so I avoided these and used jeans with only a little stretch.

 

When choosing/buying your preloved jeans, make sure that the leg is wide enough to fit the template.

 

Once printed and cut out, draw round the templates onto cardboard. Cut these out to make stronger and longer lasting templates.

 

For a different and perhaps more striking effect, try using a contrasting colour of thread when appliquéing the lettering or design onto the bunting flags.

 

Come back and visit us next Friday when Jenny will be revealing what she has made for me and showing you how to make it too!

 

See you soon!

 

Lucy xx