DIY Hair Clips and Hairbands - Review

Melissa from Think Bowtique, the huge online craft and haberdashery supplier and one of my lovely blog sponsors, recently asked if there were any items from her store that I would like to use for a crafty project.

After a quick browse, I asked her to put together some flowers, hair clips and associated accessories so I could sit down with Anna and have a girly craft afternoon.

Melissa totally nailed the brief - check out this lovely bunch of goodies that arrived super quick in the mailbox only two days after we'd exchanged emails!

Armed with my trusty glue gun, Anna matched the blingy little diamantes with the various flowers and I glued her creations together. The butterfly diamantes were the drawcard and she wanted to glue them to ALL THE THINGS.

We also used the pink fold over elastic to make a couple of headbands, where I hand stitched the flowers to the elastic.

My models were having a "we only get out of bed for ten thousand dollars" type of day so the pictures really don't do the finished products justice.

Thanks kiddos. I'm trying to be all professional here. You are letting my facade slip!

And while it's supposed to be me with all the brilliant crafty ideas, Anna said while we played with the big pile of lush faux flowers "Mum, we should do this at my birthday party when I turn six."

GENIUS!

I intend to ask Melissa to make up a flowers and hair clips party pack for me so Anna and her buddies can have a ball making their own designer hair accessories. Crafty fun activity and party favours all in one go. Think Bowtique's prices are significantly better than large craft stores and her range of colours and items are much wider, so buying in bulk is really affordable.

If you are a maker who sells at markets, a seamstress who uses a lot of embellishments, makes dance wear or hair accessories, or you are just a crafty person like me who likes to have fun with pretty things, you should definitely visit Think Bowtique and check out Melissa's great range of ribbons, elastics, flowers and other crafty supplies.

DIY Beaded Zipper Pull - Tutorial

When I made my most recent pouch for the Sweet Pouch Swap, I felt like it needed something a bit extra. A bit of bling perhaps? Several years ago I used to dabble in some jewellery making and I've kept all my supplies and tools, so I made a little beaded zipper pull. I was so happy with it - it added that little extra 'something' to the project and was really quick and easy to make. I've tinkered around and come up with this tutorial so you can make some too! 

Here is what you need:

All these are readily available in the beading / jewellery making section of your local craft store. There is also a huge range available online - Amazon has a huge range on their beading and jewellery supplies pages and you can also check out sites like Etsy and Craftumi.

1. Take a head pin and arrange your beads. Leave approximately 1cm (1/2") of wire at the top.

2. If necessary, use your wire cutting pliers to cut your head pin to size.

3. Use the round nose pliers to twist the top of the head pin into a loop. You may need to manipulate it a little bit to achieve the desired result.

5. Take a split ring and attach it to the loop at the top of the head pin.

6. Attach the beaded zipper pull to the zipper using the split ring.

All finished! Now make a bunch of them and make your zipper projects pretty!

If you make a beaded zipper pull using my tutorial, please share - I'd love to see it! Post it on my facebook page, tag me in your instagram pic or add it to my flickr group. To keep up to date with all my sewing projects and tutorials, make sure you sign up for my newsletter!

DIY Pet Bandana Tutorial & Vitapet Treats

Sponsored by Nuffnang

Have you met the fifth member of the Sew Delicious family before? Pharlap is our seven year old miniature dachshund. He is my baby and I took this opportunity to sew him something cute!

Pharlap (my husband chose the name, but it suits him - he runs fast on his little legs!) is such an affectionate little guy. He loves to cuddle up on the couch with us and play with our girls. We were unsure about how he would be when we bought the girls home when they were babies, but we needn't have worried, he was their protector when they were babies and has become their best buddy. Kids develop such special relationships with their pets and it's so lovely watching them together.

Little doxies have a few health issues that can arise if you don't care for their nutrition properly - excess weight can put pressure on their long spines and short legs, and we've found that it's important to watch their oral health too - our old doxie growing up had terrible issues with her teeth later in life. With nutrition in mind, the VitaPet  treat range is perfect for Pharlap.

Quite a lot of the pet treats available from the supermarket are full of additional salt, preservatives and not all of them use real meat products (!!), but not VitaPet. There is the Healthy Naturals range made from real meat such as beef, kangaroo, chicken and lamb, and the Vitapet range of tenders and sticks. Pharlap really loves the Vitapet duck and chicken tenders and you can see that they are just dried breast meat of duck and chicken, as natural as can be. He loves them.

They are a really great size for small dogs and they are quite chewy, which is good for his teeth. I like the resealable packages too, we only use these as an occasional treat so they keep fresh in the cupboard for a long time.

Make sure you check out VitaPet next time you are at the supermarket - your dog will love you for it! You can also find VitaPet on Facebook, they are currently giving away free samples to trial. Hurry, limited time only.

Pet lovers not only appreciate good nutrition for their animals, but it would seem many like a good accessory too! I've never been one to dress Pharlap in any kind of outfit (and with his long coat he doesn't need it) but I think a bandana on a dog is pretty cute! So here is a quick tutorial on how to sew one for your best friend.

Materials: fabric scraps / fat quarter, flannel for backing, plastic or metal snap button.

These measurements will make a bandana to fit a small to medium sized dog.

1. Draw up a pattern (it will fit on an A4 sized paper) using the measurements from the above diagram. Adjust accordingly if your pet needs a larger or smaller size.

2. Use your pattern to cut 2 pieces - a front and a backing. I used quilting cotton for the front and some flannel for the back.

3. Place your fabrics with right sides together and stitch all the way around, leaving a gap for turning (refer to above diagram)

4. Clip corners, turn right sides out and press.

5. Top stitch all the way around the bandana to finish and to close the gap.

6. Attach snaps to either ends (velcro is an alternative)

Put on your pet and admire how cute they look!

WIN - thanks to VitaPet, you can win a fantastic pack of pet treats for your dog. Just leave me a comment and tell me why your dog is so special to you and your family! Check out all the giveaway terms & conditions here.

If you make a bandana for your pup using my tutorial I'd love to see it! Share it on my facebook page, in my flickr group or tag me on instagram!

Paris Streets Duffle Bag

After finally outgrowing an old calico bag with a Wiggles motif that I upcycled from an old t-shirt, it was time for Anna to have a new bag. My bag making skills have certainly come a long way since the Wiggles calico bag (one of my first ever sewing projects), but still I felt that something fairly simple would fit the bill.

She already has a small suitcase for trips and her back pack for kindergarten, so this bag is just for times when she needs a change of clothes or her swimming gear. Or she wants to take her entire menagerie of soft toys to the supermarket. As you do when you are four.

How lovely is the fabric? It was kindly sent to me from my sponsor Fabric Fusion. The large print was perfect for project like a bag or cushions, but I'm currently waiting for Lucy to get over that "must draw on, spill food on or damage anything nice my parents own" phase and then we will get new sofas, then I will make the BEST CUSHIONS EVER. Man, I cannot wait until that day. So this time, a bag project was the winner.

The fabric is called La Vie D'Amour Paris Streets and you can grab some here. The bikes and the houses really evoke a Paris in Springtime feel (although, something about the tall skinny houses and the bikes also remind me of Amsterdam!) There is a gorgeous white coordinate which features major Paris attractions like the Eiffel Tower and the Arc D'Triomphe, and would be a perfect choice for Spring projects. You might also just love all things French themed, so francophiles, this fabric is for you!

The pattern for this bag is something I made up, but I wanted something user friendly for a small person, something easy to carry, and something fairly practical. I took a few pointers from this duffel bag tutorial by A Jennuine Life and the Lined Drawstring Bag tutorial by In Color Order.

A couple of things I did differently were to make the base out of oilcloth. Quilting cotton just isn't strong enough to take the wear and tear that the base of a bag will endure, so I though oilcloth would be a good option for it's durabililty and because it's water proof. I had a black and white polka dot oilcloth that looked good with the pink fabric. Denim or home dec weight fabrics would also be good choices.

Secondly, I made the bag so that the straps would create a drawstring style bag but would then be sewn into the base so it could be worn over the shoulder or as a backpack. To do this I left a small gap when sewing the base and the body of the bag together, and stitched the straps in at the very end. I used some green bias binding but it's not really strong enough so eventually I will make some sturdier straps and replace it.

In terms of measurements, I just used a dinner plate as a template for the round base, then measured the circumference to find the width I'd need for the fabric for the body of the bag. It's probably a bit too big for Anna now but she'll grow into it. The fabric is not babyish so she will get use out of it for several years to come without outgrowing it like she did with her Wiggles bag..

Anna is really pleased with her new bag and I am feeling rather smug that my idea to stitch the straps into the base ended up actually working!

Make sure you pop in and check out Fabric Fusion - they have a really lovely modern range and now that huge post costs have stopped many of us buying from the USA, it's great to have an Aussie retailer stocking lots of recently released designs. Or if you are lucky enough to live in Brisbane, you can go and visit Fabric Fusion in person!

Quilted Kindle Case

This year my brother organised for all of us to pool our resources and buy Mum a Kindle for Mother's Day. Exasperated by her plans to go and buy some books last week, he ended up giving it to her a week early!

Mum & Dad live in Queensland and travelled down to Melbourne for the weekend. After taking her Kindle on the plane, Mum expressed her worry that she didn't have a cover for it. Hmm...I asked her what colours she liked - she said, green, yellow, and orange. Off she went to take the girls to the Werribee Zoo for the day and I ran straight to my stash to investigate what I had in those colours! After a couple of very focused hours, I had it completed and ready to give to her when she got home.

Here is the finished result! I used the quilt-as-you-go method, referring to this tutorial by Oh! Fransson to make the exterior panels.

The fabrics I used are: Dot Spots in Lime from Moda Half Moon Modern (a left over charm square),  Citadel Sun Gold and Orchid Tangerine from Cuzco by Kate Spain (charm squares), Elephants in Olive and Hearts in Persimmon from an Umbrella Prints mixed trimmings pack.

I didn't have any cotton batting scraps left - argh - but I am being a good girl and trying not to buy too much at the moment. I had some polar fleece scraps that I cut to size and quilted the cotton onto that! I also lined the pouch with the polar fleece - it is nice and soft and will keep the Kindle well padded, and it will also clean the screen as it is slid in and out of it's case.

I made the back more simple, mainly using a green polka dot, but in hindsight I wish I had have added some yellow strips on either side of the elephants. I didn't have any more of the Cuzco Citadel print left though, as I only had one charm square to begin with.

I didn't really use a tutorial for this - I used the Kindle itself to measure the size of the panels I would need - I just added an inch all around.  I based the design of the case on this iPad case tutorial that I have used before - earlier this year I also made this quilt-as-you-go case for my iPad.

Quilt-as-you-go is fast becoming a favourite technique of mine because you can use tiny pieces of fabric and really scrap bust! It's hard to tell the size of this case in the pictures but it is very small - most of those pieces of fabric are only 2 inches in length, they just vary in width. It's also a great way to use up those little pieces of favourite fabrics you can't bear to part with.

Happy Mother's Day Mum! And to all of you who are Mums, Grandmothers, Great-Grandmothers, Step Mums, Foster Mums, Carers and Mums-to-be. Hope you get pampered today - or at least get a sleep in!

Quilt As You Go iPad Case

My husband and I have a rule that we don't get each other Christmas presents. For a few reasons, but mainly because if we really want something, we usually just buy it (or wait until it gets discounted!) So that naughty husband of mine broke the rules this year and bought me an iPad. I was very excited, but also felt a twinge of guilt that I had stuck to the rule and bought him nothing for Christmas.

After Christmas we had lots of family around and it gave me some good time to relax and get a lot of sewing done. One of the first things I did was make myself a case for my new iPad.

I'd seen a few quilt as you go projects around and I really wanted to try it. I used this tutorial by Oh, Fransson! and it was really great.

The panel has a few wonky bits but as far as a first time qayg project goes I think it came out well!

I used fabrics I had in my stash. They are:

Mustard - Love Birds by Michael Miller and the two that look like little flowers in the wind are  pieces from an Umbrella Prints Trimmings Pack.

Blues - Bright Sky Dot, Bright Sky Twiggy and and Bright Sky Tiny Deer, all from Oh Deer! by Momo for Moda.

Grey - small dot and large dot, both from an Umbrella Prints trimmings pack.

I decided the back didn't need to be another qayg panel, so I just quilted a piece of the Bright Sky Twiggy fabric, which I love.

I used the fabulous iPad case tutorial by One Shabby Chick. It is a really great tutorial which I used last year when I made a cover for my sister for her birthday.

It fits perfectly both with and without the protective case I have on the iPad.

I'm finding myself quite addicted to the qayg method - have you tried it? What have you made?

How to Make a Fabric Button Brooch - Tutorial

Here is an easy project for you and you can make these brooches to go with any outfit, to pin to your tote bag or to give as a cute gift!

I used Kokka Trefle Folklore Owls fabric for my brooch, but you can use anything! The possibilities are endless and these brooches are a great way to use up fabric scraps.

You need:
- scrap of fabric
- a self covering flat back button (I used size 45)*
- self covering fabric button tool (clear is best)*
- small brooch pin*
- hot glue gun or E6000 glue*

* All these items can be purchased at a craft store, or more easily online using craft supplies sites such as Etsy & Craftumi.

Take your fabric and button front piece, and place fabric over the button. Push into the large piece of the button making tool.

I recommend getting a clear tool if you can, so you can check the positioning of your fabric once your button has been pushed in.

Once you are happy with the position of your fabric, go ahead and use the tool to complete making the button. If you haven't made a fabric covered button before, here is a great tutorial by Cass Can Sew.

Turn the button over and carefully place a small amount of glue on the back of the button.

Press the brooch pin into the glue firmly. Be fast if you are working with a hot glue gun as the glue will dry very quickly.

Allow the glue to dry and you are finished!

Now go and make a whole bunch more with your scraps!

If you make some brooches using this tutorial I'd love you to share! Tweet me, post a picture to my facebook timeline, send me the link to your blog or upload a picture to my Flickr pool! I love seeing what people make from my tutorials, it makes my day!

New in the Shop

The last few months I've been wondering if I should continue with my Etsy shop. I find it pretty time consuming. Making, photographing, photo editing, listing...

That said, my sales tick over, slowly but surely. I've been able to use that very small income to buy new fabric and other crafty bits and pieces. Some months I pretty much ignore it if I'm busy with other things - ie. real life!

I've decided to give it a little boost after the market and add in some of the items I didn't sell. Here are some new things I've listed:

Some cute new bibs -the Santa bib is my favourite!

Some cute little button brooches -

Some pretty hair elastics -

And some totally gorgeous little skirts for Christmas -

 

Haha check out my cute model - that was the best shot we could get after taking about 50 photos!

If you loved any of those things, feel free to pop into the shop and have a closer look - the prices are pretty good ;)