Fabric Peg Noticeboard Tutorial - Upcycle and old picture frame

A couple of weeks ago me and my great friend over at Socksy Beasts went out for a little visit to a local craft shop. We were told it was a bit chaotic but crikey it was like an Aladdin's cave for craft!! The problem is I went in without a project in mind and so I was just a bit overwhelmed by the amount of stuff, my mind went completely blank so I walked away with absolutely nothing. That's a bit strange for me but I really am trying to make more room not fill it! Mrs Socksy however didn't find the whole thing as overwhelming and managed to come away with a nice little haul.

So a little dissapointed and uninspired we left and as we drove round the corner we spotted a little kitcsh cafe. As Master Fox needed a feed, and we are never a pair to pass up a cuppa we stopped in while we decided what to do next. Amongst all the second hand kitsch furniture and oddments in this little cafe was a very cute fox themed fabric peg noticeboard. It was lovely and I very nearly bought it, until my age old habit kicked in and we decided we could do it ourselves for less.

So like the looneys we are we finished up our cuppas and cake and went straight back to the craft shop for supplies.

Because it was so simple and fun I wanted to share with you how I went about making one of these up. This is a great little project for a horrible rainy bank holiday like this one! Its also a perfect project for one of your favourite fat quarters.

Supplies:

• An old wooden picture frame the size you want your finished board to be. You can get these really cheap in charity shops
• Some fabric which is just bigger then the frame, a fat quarter will usually suffice unless you have a really big frame. 
• Wool or twine
• Some mini wooden pegs - you can pick these up from most craft or card making suppliers
• Wadding
• Chalk effect furniture paint - we picked up a tester pot of Craig and Ball for a couple of pounds in the local B&Q diy store.
• Scissors
• Glue Gun

First of all remove all the glass and backing from your picture frame. You dont need the glass front so you can discard this or find another use for it (like a pallet for your lino printing inks). You can then paint up your frame with the chalk paint, just be warned it might need a couple of coats.

Whilst your frame is drying using the back of the picture frame cut your fabric so that it is at least 3 inches wider on all sides.

 Next cut out some wadding to the size of the back of the frame. I used a couple of layers as I had very thin wadding left over from a baby quilt. If you are using thicker wadding you will only need one layer. Use your own judgement, the more you use the more cushion like the board will be.

Now we are going to stick it all together Place the fabric right side down, then the wadding on top of that and finally the back of the picture frame so the hooks are facing outwards. Using the glue gun put a good amount of glue along one edge of the frame back and fold the fabric over sticking it down well.

Repeat with all four sides until the back of your frame looks like the above.

Next you need to fold under the corners which are sticking up and glue them down with a blob from the glue gun. It should look something like the above. I'll admit its not very neat, I am sure you can make a much better go of this but no one is going to see the back once its hung on the wall. Maybe think about the neatness if you are going to give it as a gift though ;)

Then once you flip it over you should have a lovely soft cushioned square like the picture above. See it looks lovely from the front. Do think about pattern placement etc when you are placing your fabric.

Cut a couple of lengths of wool or twine, wrap it all the way around the back of the frame and tie a good knot round the back to secure. You can then add the pegs on and pop the whole thing into your nicely dried frame.

Now you have a lovely new noticeboard to keep reminders/pictures/ keepsakes or business cards. It looks lovely on my craft room wall, it's almost too pretty to hand things one ;) If you make one of these do send me a link, I would love to see it.

Scented Hand Warmers

Happy Halloween! This weekend I will mostly be dressed as a pumpkin (check it out on instagram...)

It feels a bit fraudulent to be writing a post on Halloween which has no relevance to Halloween whatsoever. Especially as its one of my favourite holidays. That's just the way the cookie crumbles I guess, I have Christmas crafting to prioritise this week instead in time for Christmas project craft (which is only 9 days away).

So what do we have here? It's getting colder outside, well I say that, its really not, its pretty warm today and I am roasting pretty much all the time now (tropical moment anyone?) but in theory its getting colder, and the nights are most definitely drawing in. So on that thought we have made some scented heated hand warmers. These little things are great when heated up as they keep your hands toasty warm, but not only that they can be put inside your mitts or socks to keep your extremities warm. Then when its not cold outside anymore they can be popped in your dresser drawer and you will have sweet smelling unmentionables for the rest of the year! Brilliant.

The insides are very simply stuffed with some dry rice which was very expertly scented for me by Ellen with some essential oils.

You simply cut out 4 rectangles, about 3 inch x 4 inch and placing 2 pieces wrong sides together (right sides facing out) sew around three edges in a U shape using a 3/8 seam allowance. Repeat with the other 2 pieces so you have two hand warmer socks. The seams will be on the outside but thats perfectly ok.

Stuff the little bags about 2/3 full with some of your smelly rice

Then stitch the final open seams together making sure the rice is pushed out the way of the machine needle. Ensure that the stitching meets the original seams as we don't want those little riceicles escaping now do we!

The final step is to trim those big seams with a pair of pinking sheers to make them look all neat and pretty and decorative. The great thing about pinking sheers is that they also stop the fabric from fraying all over the place.

In order to make your hand warmers toasty warm you just need to pop them in the microwave for no more than 15 seconds and them take them out. Be careful though as they could be quiet hot to touch as soon as they are done. I don't want to hear of any of you burning yourselves!

And that's it. This was a very quick tutorial but it was so easy it was silly not to show you all how to have a go!

I hope you all have exciting plans for Halloween. We likely won't be doing anything, I am shattered now after a morning at the machine. Its also sad to think this time last year we were in Mexico for Day of the Dead, I would definitely like to go back there one day. But here's looking forward to many future Halloweens with little people in them to make costumes for and take out trick or treating.

DIY Fabric Bow Belt Tutorial

Hello, and happy bank holiday! Its a gorgeous day so you shouldn't be reading this, you should be outside enjoying yourself, but if you are saving this until after the bank holiday then read ahead.

Last week I brought you my leather bow belt tutorial to make your very own very easy elasticated belt featuring a leather bow on the front.

This week I wanted to show you that this pattern is so very versatile and so if you don't fancy having a go with leather you can make a version from your favorite fabric, how good is that! Whats even better is that this is a great little stash-busting idea, perfect for your favorite fat quarter, or just some of your favorite leopard print fabric that you use to make everything! This little version took me less than an hour to make yesterday whilst I waited for the supermarket delivery so gogo get at it. 

For that fabric bow belt you will need:

• Enough 2inch wide elastic to fit round your waist (colour of your choice)
• Some of your favorite fabric
• Heavy Interfacing
• Polyester thread
• 4 x popper notions (I used the same as my leather belt but you can use sew on as well)
• Popper tools (if not using sew on studs)
• Bow pattern (click here to download the PDF)

N.B. this will work with most fabrics but cottons work best. thicker fabrics such as denim/twill may not require interfacing, but anything thinner will to keep the bow looking sturdy.

The pattern follows the same basic steps as the leather version however there are a few additional sewing steps.

Step 1: 
Using the outside edge of the pattern cut out the following in both your fabric and your interfacing:
2 x large bow pieces
2 x thin center pieces
4 x rectangle popper pieces (on the fold)

Step 2: 
Iron on a piece of interfacing to wrong side of each fabric piece

 Step 3:

Using a 1/2 inch seam allowance sew around the pattern pieces as shown on the pattern document, making sure to leave one end of the large bow piece open to turn

Step 4:
Turn all your pattern pieces the right way up and press

Step 5:
Finding the center of the elastic, and with the ends of the bow folded in to the center at the back, stitch the center of the bow to the center of the elastic with a straight line making sure your raw edges or tucked in.

Step 6:
Tuck in the two raw edges of the center bow strip and stitch them together. Thread them over the elastic and bow so it sits neatly in the middle covering your straight line of stitches.
(picture details on these steps can be found here)

Step 7: 
Making sure your raw edges are tucked in fold your popper piece over the end of your bow and top stitch round all edges on both ends of the belt.

Step 8: 
Attach two poppers to each end of the belt making sure the tabs overlap neatly when closed.

Step 9:
Wear your new creation with pride, and contemplate just how many of these you can fit in your wardrobe!!!

Of course it would make me very happy to see your versions of these so please feel free to leave a comment linking yours, or send me a picture.