Personalised T-Shirts

I'm still knitting the scarf... but these things take time!
So in the meantime, I had some fun with my boyfriend making personalised T-Shirts using transfer paper.

It's really fun and simple. I went for a mix of vintage-inspired pictures in the shape of a heart.

And for James we jazzed up a classic picture of one of his favourite Mathematicians using fabric pens over the transferred picture (yeah, nerd).

Fun, fun, fun! Now.. back to knitting.

xxx

How To Make Your Mug Rather Snug

For my girlies I made very special Christmas presents...
The Cuppa in a Jumper...(with a Gingerbread man)

What you need to make this:
Some paper
Outside Material
Inside Material (for the jacket lining)
Wadding
A button
A Mug

And this is how..
Firstly, use paper to make a template like this: (make sure the mug handle can fit in the hole & that there is about 4cm extra length after wrapping around the mug)

Then pin & cut this shape out in the Inside Material (the tartan in my pictures), the wadding & the opposite way round with the Outside Material (the white material). Important: Make sure you don't cut the handle hole out of the Inside & Outside Material, just cut an X.

Next, place the wadding on top of the Outside Material & pin into place. Then pin the excess material from the Inside Material that is around the handle whole over the wadding.

Separately, pin the excess material of the Outside material to itself.

Then place the Outside material onto the Inside Material & Wadding, sew around handle hole.

Next fold & pin in all the edges of the materials.

Check it fits nicely around the mug. Make alterations accordingly.

Sew together.

Fold over edges & pin.

Sew on the edges a pretty quilted pattern (i.e. stripes)

Pin around mug & sew on a button.

As an option, you can use Porcelain Pens (as previously blogged about) to add lips & a beauty spot/some individual personality to the mug...

You can also add a Gingerbread man if you like... (recipe has also been previously blogged about).

But most importantly, use a variety of fabrics & styles to make each cosy mug as unique & quirky as your soon to be very happy friends...

xxx

Paint Your Own Porcelain Presents with Pens!

For my cousins' Christmas presents I made some fun and unique porcelain sets!
It's quick & easy to do, all you need is some porcelain & these pens.
They are great because you draw straight onto the porcelain and the paint sets without baking. Plus, you get about 30 seconds before the paint drys where you can easily wipe off any mistakes.

The first set I made was a Breakfast Set (Plate, Bowl & Mug):
For this I drew snowflakes inside all the pieces & a fun cartoon alpine scene on the outside.

The second set was a Tea Set (Tea Pot, Sugar Pot & Milk Jug).

For this I drew green & silver stripes. I also drew a quilted pattern on the tea pot to make it look like it had a Teapot Cosy on. 

They appear to have liked them, and I certainly loved making them!

Have a go :)

xxx

Make Your Own - Messenger Bag

I have bought wayyy too much fabric lately! So, it was really about time I made something!
The Messenger Bag is a really easy bag to make....simply cut out these shapes:

(Make sure the strap is long enough to go around the A pieces (as the sides of the bag) and still be a good length strap. Also, make sure it is double as thick (and a little more) then you want it to be)

Then, making sure you have the outside of the fabric facing each other, sew A Front & A Back together in a U shape like this:

Turn inside out (so the outside fabric is showing), fold the unsewn edges over & sew final edge.

Then do the same with B Front & B Back, and Flap Front & Flap back. 

Fold the strap in half (make sure the fabric is inside out) & sew along edge. Turn inside out (so it's the right way round) and sew ends so it's a circle. You fabric pieces should look like this:

Now sew the Flap pieces to the A pieces (along the straight edge).
Sew the strap to the A/flap pieces & the B pieces into the bag shape.

Lastly, cut this shape into the Zip Material:

It must be big enough for the zip to fit in. Then fold the inner edges & sew the zip on. Finally sew the Zip Material (with Zip) into the inside of the bag. This gives your bag a zip inside! (You don't have to do this bit)

Also, you don't have to do this but, I sewed the strap in half again because I wanted the bag to be thicker then the strap around my shoulders. This is my finished product:

:) I'm very chuffed. xxx

Cheeky Transfers

Thanks to my sister, I have a book of very cool transfers.
They are so easy to use & can make any old t-shirt into something really creative...

So, here is my plain top, book of transfers and trusty iron & board.

Simple cut out the transfer & iron it upside-down onto your top (check the instructions for temperate & length of time needed. Mine needed full heat for about 40 seconds each, the iron needed to be moved in small circles)

And here is the finished top...

I love it! And I hope you do too!

xxx

Becoming a Foxy Lady

As you know, I have just hosted a Zoo themed fancy dress party.
For this, I made a fox costume... and now I'm going to show you how.

First off, I bought a brown top & orangey-brown skirt from some charity shops (always great for a bargain!)
Then I bought some white fur (70cm) & some brown fur (1 metre)... and I bought way too much... I probably only used half of it! Anyway....

The belly:
Simply cut out an oval from some newspaper (I'm such a fan of using newspaper to make my patterns) and pin to the white fur. Then cut out the oval shape on the white fur, pin & hand sew onto the top (I didn't dare use my machine with fur fabric!)

The Tail:
A big ol' fluffy fox tail :)
For this I made a pattern out of newspaper. I'm not sure how to word the pattern, so hopefully the pictures will explain it.
This is how to make the pattern for the orange/brown part of the tail. Sew together by hand, make sure its inside-out so you cannot see the seems.

For the white part (again I cannot verbally describe the shape of it so please use the pictures), make sure the width is half the width of the end of the brown tail piece pattern. Also, you will need to cut out 4 of these, this will make your tail 3D. Sew together by hand & make sure you sew it inside-out!
Lastly, sew the tail onto your skirt.

The Ears:
This is probably my favourite part :)
Unfortunately, I got a little too into making them & therefore didn't take enough photos of how to make them.
I will try my best to explain how.
First cut out a large & long fox ear shape out of some newspaper. Then use this to cut out 4 pieces of orange/brown fur. Then cut out another pieces of newspaper which is the same shape as the last, but smaller. This will be the 'inside' of the ear and your'll need to cut out 2 pieces of white fur with it.
Sew 1 white piece onto 1 orange piece, it should look like this:

Then repeat with another piece of white fur & another piece of orange fur.
Next you need to sew the backs of the ears on. To do this, sew one piece of orange fur to one orange & white piece. If you sew it inside-out, you will not see the seems. Also, try to leave the bottom of the front & back pieces unattached. Then you can wrap them around a hair band & sew them into place.
If you managed to understand all that, your finished ears should look like this:

AND, if you've done all this... your'll have a costume that looks like this:

:) I'm a very happy fox indeed xxx

Make your own - Cute Felt Hats

I made some cute mini top hats for the guests at my birthday. I was really chuffed with them! So, I'm going to show you how to make your own... because they are way too expensive to buy!

What you need
- 1 Felt Sheet
- Thread & Needle
- Pins
- A pair of Scissors 

- A ruler/A straight edge

- A Pen/Pencil/Tailor Chalk

- A big cup
- A little cup

- 2 Hair clips

Draw around the big cup on the felt. Then draw around the little cup directly in the middle of your first circle. Draw around the little cup again on a different part of the felt. Finally, draw a rectangle using the ruler - this needs to be long enough to go around the perimeter of the small circle and as tall as you want your top hat to be. I made mine taller than mini top hats normally are because it looks better when the feathers & ribbon are put on them (about 8cm). Your drawings will look like this:

Then cut them out.

Pin the rectangle around the perimeter of the small circle and sew together. 

Then pin the donut shaped felt to the bottom & sew. Like this:

Once you've done that your hat is made!! Simple slide some hair clips into the stitching so you can attach it to your head! Or sew the hair clips onto the bottom of the rim (I would advise the latter). 

Now you can personalise your hat by adding some ribbon, button, feathers, lollipops... whatever floats your boat!

xxx