Ideas with Washi Tape – 5 fun crafts to make…

We’ve probably all got a few rolls of washi tape in our crafting stash. It’s great for wrapping gifts and sticking up those fun motivational postcards you get with your fabric orders 😉

But, what else can you use these pretty rolls for? Well, we’ve scoured Pinterest and found 5 fun projects you could try this weekend!

 

Clockwise from top left…

Organise your charger cables by covering the cords with washi tape and allocating a designt o each erson in your household…great for stopping those pesky arguments about whose cable is whose!

Decorate plain white envelopes by trimming the edges with washi tape

Jazz up tea lights with a strip of tape…so cute!

Organise your keys and make them easy to spot in your bag with some bright tape on the ends

Why not DIY yourself a new phone case with strips of washi inside a clear case…

 
 
We have the Rico Paper Poetry set of washi tapes in stock so why not give these fun crafts a go. These projects would be great to do with the kids too, minimal mess, lots of fun…this definitely counts as an Art lesson!

Debbie’s handmade wardrobe series – March update

How is everyone doing? What a strange month it has been! I never ever thought we would be in this situation. The upside is I’ve had more time for sewing and it really is helping to give my days purpose…think my make 9 will be more like a make 30 at this rate! 

I feel very lucky to have a hobby which gives me so much joy and distracts me from reality for a few hours a day and it’s making me want to try some new crafts while we have this time in self isolation. On my list is knitting, crochet and Macrame! Sammy has just uploaded some gorgeous macrame cord to the shop so once I’ve decided what colours I want I’m going to buy some and give it a go. There are loads of instructional videos on You Tube and also one on the blog here.

Anyway, I thought I’d give you an update on where I am with my handmade wardrobe so far…

I’m making myself a summer dress with the McCall’s M7950 (view C) With this lovely plaid cotton

I’ve made the bodice and have started on the patch pockets. I’m a little worried that the straps are too long so I might need to adjust them and shorten them, but it’s a fully lined bodice so I’m not quite ready to unpick it all just yet! I’m sort of whishing I’d made view D now which are simple tie straps which you can adjust yourself…next time!

I’m hoping this dress will look good with a t-shirt or long sleeve top underneath so I can get some wear out of it in the colder months too!

I’ve also made a True Bias Shelby dress which I’m really really pleased with. It’s a priness seam playsuit/dress. I made View C which is the playsuit version and it’s going to be super handy in the summer at saving my modesty when I’m riding my bike!

I love a polka dot so this Georgette fabric would work beautifully.

I couldn’t help but give it a real 90’s twist and add these adorable daisy buttons! At only £2 for a set of 5 you can’t go wrong! I wore this last night on ‘Date night’ (in the house with my husband and a bottle of red wine!) and I felt so comfy but also like I’d made an effort so I would highly recommend this pattern and i’ll be making a few more!

 

I also made the Fennel Fanncy pack with the Flower Market Fabric from A Beautiful Mess

I’ll go into more detail in my dedicated post about this but I found it a really fiddly make and made a few mistakes with this one! It hasn’t put me off making more though, I think maybe I rushed it a little so next time I’ll take it slower, sometimes you just have days where everything goes wrong!! I love the result though, it’s the cutest little bum bag and wll be great on dog walks to store a few treats and poo bags! Who else has made this project?

That’s it for now! What are you sewing at the moment? Are you finding time to sew? 

Stay safe everyone and sending lots of love to you all. I love this fabulous sewing community and it’s really keeping me going at the moment.

The dogs are enjoyng the sunshine which is a bonus too!

Debbie x

Carol’s Closet Case Ginger jeans with stretch cord

Ginger Jeans review

Hey there, hope you’re doing okay? #sewingkeepsmesane is certainly relevant right now!

I know I’m really late to the game with my first ever pair of Closet Case Ginger jeans, but I must admit to being a bit nervous of making jeans. I kept thinking, I don’t need to make my own I can just buy the ones I want, I’ll make all the pretty things and leave jeans to the experts!

Well, I’m so pleased I finally bit the bullet as I absolutely love my custom fit Gingers and I’m sure you will too!

For my first pair of Gingers I chose this lovely soft stretch cord from the Samantha Claridge Studio, I confess to loving corduroy its so soft and cosy, just perfect for these colder months!

I ordered the black cord along with a matching colour of Gutermann sew all thread, its so great to order the thread along with your fabric. Sammy chooses the best matching colour and sends it along with your fabric delivery, how great is that!!

I recently made a pair of Carolyn Pyjamas in size 18 and the trousers are a perfect fit, so I cut my Ginger jeans in a size 18. Well they are supposed to be skinny and there is no way the 18 was skinny fit on me!

So, I unpicked and cut down to a size 16, this was still too big, so I enlarged the seam allowance from the 5/8” up to ¾ and that was much better.

The Closet case sew along is really great, even as a seasoned dress maker I found it really helpful and informative, so I’d definitely recommend it at least for the first attempt at jeans!

I had a few attempts at pocket placement, my final version is actually the third attempt, but do you know what I really enjoyed making these, it was so satisfying working towards the best fit, I never once got fed up.

 It was so satisfying, and I really love my Ginger Jeans, this cord is so soft and the stretch makes them so comfy, they are real secret pyjamas!!

Thanks for reading!

Update last years straw bag with some raffia embroidery

 

Last year, straw bags were a massive trend.. I bought two as I thought they were so cute and affordable and the big round one was the perfect bag for a country wedding I went to.

This year I thought a great way of jazzing up my bags would be to add some cute and colourful embroidery, like on some of the incredible bags I’ve seen on Pinterest! Below is a slection of the gorgeous designs I found…they look incredibly tricky so I’ll be sticking to something simple for now!

Raffia is the perfect ribbon to do this as it’s a simliar fabric to the straw bag and gives a rustic feel and finish! We have 3 colours in stock so I decided to use all three and do a simple flower design…

Warning…pushing the neelde through the bag lining (if your bag has one) hurts!! So maake sure you use an embroidery thimble!! I’ll be working on this in the evenings in front of the telly so I’ll post a pic on Instagram when it’s finished!

What projects are you working on in front of the telly at the mo? And what are you binge watching?!

Easter wreath DIY with ric rac flowers

Rudy's fun Easter craft!

The spring weather is finally starting to arrive and I am loving all the lovely spring flowers popping up everywhere. I thought I would make a nice Easter wreath for the door as we always have one for Christmas but never Easter.

This project was super easy but amazingly effective and I’ll try and explain it as well as I can so you can re-create it if you’d like.

First I bought a foam wreath base and gathered all my materials. I’m using the Rudy Star society fabric as my base so I ordered half a meter of this along with a selection of different ricrac’s from Sammys amazing collection.

I decided I wanted the rugged edges of the fabric to show and give it the shabby chic feel, so instead of cutting my fabric strips I ripped it along the grainline, giving it a lovely fluffy edge. I ripped three strips of 15cm to cover my 25cm wreath base. I pinned one end into the polystyrene and started wrapping so that each strip overlapped about half of the previous strip. Once that strip was finished I pinned it and then pinned a new strip on top and continued the process. Once all the strips were wrapped around I took all the pins out and it held everything together as I had wrapped it very tight. I used a little hot glue to fasten the final strip down, and make sure the others would stay where they were supposed to I used a tiny dob of glue on any exposed edges along the back.

Then on to the ricrac flowers, these give varying results depending on what size ricrac you use so my suggestion is get a bunch and try it out to see what you like best. I found how to do this on pinterest and it is super easy! 

First cut your ricrac into two lengths. I have used 1m for each flower so about 50cm each run. Then you need to weave it together, like in this picture, so that you get the wiggles on both sides then sew it all the way down the middle. Then all you need to do is coil it up around itself, and either hand sew it together at the bottom or I used hot glue in a zig zag fashion to keep all the pieces together. Once is ricrac is all coiled, cooled and secure you can then start to turn back some of the wiggles to make the petals. This is more effective with the larger ricrac so bare that in mind when you are selecting.

For comparisons the white and fuchsia flowers are made from jumbo ricrac. The violet is 13mm and a wider wiggle. The light pink is 12mm. The silver is 9mm. The yellow was the most fiddly at only 4mm, and to be honest I gave up because it was making my brain hurt!

I then glued all the flowers onto the wreath with the hot glue, and sat back and enjoyed my creation! 

 

This was a super quick project which would be great to do with kids or for a quick project on your own. I think these flowers would look brilliant as hair clips and button holes I’d love to do more with these and see where else I can use them.

DIY re-usable make-up pads…a great gift idea!

This project is great for the environment and your fabric stash! Plus, this is such a great gift.

It hardly requires a tutorial as it’s a very simple make, but here are  few steps to get you going…I also made a rectangular face pad to use with face wash.

You’ll need the following:

Simply draw around your circular template onto your towelling and cotton to make as many circles as you like. Pin a cotton one to th toweling one and overlock around the edge (or zig zag if you don’t have an overlock machine).

I also made an face cloth and this was just a rectangle of cotton and one of towelling, right sides facig stitch them together leaving a gap to turn through, turn through and top stitch around the edge!

Giving these as a gift in a beautiful storage jar is a really lovely, thoughful present and only takes 30 mins!
What are you giving your Mum this Mother’s Day?!

Debbie’s handmade wardrobe series -the Kalle shirt with Ruby Star Society fabrics!

I made my first Kalle shirt this year. I’m officially addicted to this pattern…It’s the perfect casual shirt.  I can wear in with jeans, leggings, under a dungaree dress tucked into a skirt…endless styling possibilities, which makes it a really great addition to my wardrobe.
 
As soon as I had finished my first one I knew I needed another and I had the perfect fabric in mind…in fact 3 of them (love a jazzy shirt!)

It’s safe to say i’m OBSESSED with these Ruby Star Society prints. As soon as I saw them I knew I wanted to combine them all and make a cool 80’s/90’s inspired shirt.

I had 1 metre of each of these fabrics, and have used them for another couple of projects for Simply Sewing mag (which I’ll be sharing on social media in the next few months). With what I had left I played around with positioning the pattern pieces and managed to get a cropped version of the Kalle out of it…so really it’s a scrap buster 😉

I used the Pink Anagram print for the front and sleeve cuffs, Grid pattern in blue for the placket, pocket and yoke and the Anagram letters in cream for the back and collar.

I just need to finish the cuffs and find some suitable buttons…suggestions please!

I love using quilting cottons for dressmaking projects. They sew up really nicely and are easy to press!

 

I can’t wait to get this finished and wear it…just need some sunshine now so I can show it off!

Debbie x

Fashion: Get the look with our fabrics! The spring shift dress

 
Are you always seeing lovely things in the shops and thinking ” I could make that” ? Us too!
So, with that in mind, our series on Instagram called ‘Get the Look’ will give you some ideas of how to translate high street trends with fabrics we have in stock in the Samantha Claridge Studio shop!

 

Quilting cottons are just for quilting! They make the most wonderful crisp summer dresses. These brand new fabrics by FIGO from the Moonlit Voyage collection would be perfect to get this look…

Top right clockwise:

Figo Moonlit Voyage -Blue

Figo Moonlit Voyage – Houses

Figo Moonlit Voyage – Sea

Why not try this look with the following patterns and whip up a gorgeous new dress for work or your summer hols!

You can even make yourself a matching bag with New Look 6095!

Fashion: Get the look with our fabrics! Gingham and Stripes

 
Are you always seeing lovely things in the shops and thinking ” I could make that” ? Us too!
So, with that in mind, our series on Instagram called ‘Get the Look’ will give you some ideas of how to translate high street trends with fabrics we have in stock on Samantha Claridge Studio shop!

Mixing checks and stripes but keeping in the same colour palette is a great way to add interest to an outfit! (Picture from Pinterest)

Top right clockwise:

Orange Tram stripe cotton (also comes in sand and lilac) 

Ruby Star Society Grid Coral 

Red check polycotton seersucker

Why not try the Simplicity Wrap skirt pattern 8606 with the ‘Our Lady of Leisure’ Screwdriver top to get the look!

Floral Tilly and the Buttons Cleo Pinafore Dress

The dress that should have been a top!

 

 

This make is a tale of inspiration and indecision! 

I had in mind a sort of sports lux sweatshirt- apparently that is an actual thing as I learnt from a girl at the hairdressers! She was wearing a sort of cross between a blouse and a sweatshirt made from a lovely woven print but with ribbed cuffs, hem band and neckband. I came home from the hairdressers with a new haircut and full of enthusiasm to recreate this garment. I was immediately attracted to the colours and patterns in this cotton on the Samantha Claridge Studio website. I searched further and found a perfectly coordinating Merchant and Mills ribbing.

Beautiful, however this is where things started to go wrong!

In my enthusiasm and hurry to get on with the project I hadn’t read the fabric description in detail. This lovely fabric is a much heavier weight stretch cotton, gorgeous but not for the project I had planned (reminder to self-read carefully, check and if unsure order a sample which Samantha is always happy to send!)

So……… I have this beautiful fabric-what do I do?

I spent several days stressing, looking at patterns, googling, searching Pinterest and asking for ideas on sewing sites. The morning after a sleepless night spent thinking about this fabric, I knew I had to make a decision. Suddenly I knew what I wanted to do and that was to make a reliable Tilly Cleo Pinafore.

I’ve made 3 Cleo’s previously, a rust corduroy, an indigo denim and a black and grey polka dot velvet but not a floral so this would be completely different.

After so much indecision suddenly this floral pinafore was the thing I wanted most in the world and so I made a start straight away. 

I find Cleo suits my body shape as I don’t have a very defined waist and so I struggle with the lovely vintage style waisted dresses. With Cleo being narrower at the waist it gives a nice illusion of shape.

The first thing I discovered was that the direction of most stretch with this fabric is lengthways rather than widthways. However, this was not an issue as the fabric is so wide and Cleo doesn’t take a great deal of fabric so it was easy to cut it out across the fabric.

The Cleo pattern always goes together nicely and this time was no exception. 

I thought I had a set of dungaree clips but when I looked more closely I found I had the clips but no buttons. Luckily I had some fabric covered buttons in my stash that I bought a couple of years ago at the Hebden Bridge rag market and the colours toned perfectly so it was a great opportunity to use them.

 

After a false start I’m pleased with the result and I have enough fabric left to experiment with some kind of garment using my ribbing. The sports lux blouse is still in my head but next time I will pay more attention to the fabric description!


See you next month! 
Kathrine x