These triangular pouches are great for storing sewing supplies. The small one is ideal for holding a pack of our sewing clips, or other little things like safety pins. The larger can fit rotary cutters, seam rippers, snips and other sewing tools or several packs of our sewing clips. 

We used fabrics from Art Gallery Fabrics Foresta Fusion range, and the lining on the green pouch is from their Oh Meow collection.… Read More...

Free foundation paper piecing projects

We have been doing a lot of foundation paper piecing lately to test out our new foundation paper. Whilst doing so we found several free free patterns that we thought we would share. If you are new to foundation piecing we have a free tutorial with a beginner’s block here. 

Unicorn Harts

Unicorn Harts have several free foundation paper piecing (FPP) patterns in their shop, as well as paid ones. Many of them are cute animals. I recently made the penguin block and turned it into a cushion (shown above). 

Quiet Play 

Quiet Play are well known for their rainbow geometric foundation pieced patterns. But you can also find some brilliant free Star Wars patterns in their Payhip store too, these are next on my to make list! 

Lillyella

The chances are if you use Instagram you’ve probably seen Lillyella’s popular undercover maker mat, which is a brilliant free pattern. That project incorporates a paper pieced butterfly block. But on her blog you’ll also find the butterfly charm blocks shown above, foundation pieced humming birds and other free foundation pieced patterns too. Pop over to https://lillyella.com/tutorials/ to browse and download them. … Read More...

We have designed this project to work with the 6.5 inch quilt block tutorials found in our Quilting Maker’s Workbook.

The Maker’s Workbook is a quilting journal to help you keep track of your quilting projects and design new ones! There are ten 6.5 inch block tutorials contained within the book, this cushion tutorial uses 9 of them. 

You could also use any 6.5 inch blocks you have, or use 6.5 inch squares of fabric for an even easier cushion. 

You will need

• A selection of co-coordinating fat quarters, fat eighths or large scraps. We used the Art Gallery Fabrics Summering edition fat quarter bundle. Find UK stockists of this bundle here. You also need at least 1 scrap which can be fussy cut. 
• 1 metre of background and backing fabric. We used Art Gallery Fabrics Pure Solids in Mediterraneo. 
• A 22 inch cushion pad.
  If you have slightly larger or smaller cushion pad you can adjust the size of the sashing and borders to make it fit. You want the finished cushion cover to be the same size as the cushion pad for a good fit.  Just make sure you take in account the seam allowances when doing your calculations. 

It looks like we are set for a long cold winter this year, so our thoughts have been turning to nice warm garments and layers to keep us warm. We’ve found several great free patterns to help keep you cozy and warm this winter.

Deer & Doe Plantain T-shirt

This free 3/4 length sleeve t-shirt pattern from French Pattern brand Deer and Doe makes the perfect base layer. Why not whip up a few to wear under thick jumpers this year?  Download the free pattern here.

Melly Sews Long Sleeve T-shirt

If you’d prefer full length sleeve then this free long sleeve t-shirt pattern from Melly Sews is just what you need. 

Ladies’ Raglan Top

This ladies’ raglan top pattern from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom could be made up in jersey to be used as a long sleeve t-shirt, or from sweatshirt fabric or sleeve to use as a jumper. Get the free pattern here: 

Cowl Neck Sweatshirt

You can’t get much cosier than this cowl neck sweatshirt pattern from Sewing Rabbit. Guaranteed to keep you warm this winter!

Neck Warmers

Made for Mermaids have a free pattern for neck warmers for the entire family!… Read More...

This cute pincushion is a great way to use up pretty scraps, or you could use a single fussy cut fabric for the centre if you prefer. It’s a quick and easy make so you can knock one up in no time. We designed this pincushion to hold our new product – glass headed pins. 

Supplies

A fat eight of fabric for the front corners and backing. I used Art Gallery Fabrics’s Mystical Land collection by Maureen Cracknell.

Assorted scraps (6 x 1.5 by 4.5 inches) for front

Toy stuffing or crushed nut shells for the filling

Cutting instructions

Backing fabric – Cut 4 x 3.5 inch squares and 1 x 4.5 x 6.5 inch rectangle

Scraps – Cut 6 x 1.5 by 4.5 inch rectangles

Seam Allowance – ¼ an inch

Choose a layout for your scraps, bearing in mind that the first and last scrap in the row will barely be visible on the finished pincushion.

Sew the scraps together using a ¼ an inch seam allowance, and press the seams open.

Take your 3.5 inch squares and draw a diagonal line across each with a chalk pen

With your scrappy rectangle facing upwards place one of the squares into the bottom corner, aligning with the side and bottom edge.… Read More...

Project Bag Tutorial

This large project pouch will easily hold the fabric and pattern for your next project, or your works in progress. Why not make several because let’s face it we never just work on one project at a time! I’ve designed the pouch to showcase some of your favourite scraps, but if you wanted to you could just use a single fabric front and back and show off a large-scale print instead.

Materials

1/2m of fabric for the exterior. I used a grey linen.

1/2m of lining fabric. I used a grey blender.

A selection of scraps cut to 4 inches high by 2.5 inches wide, you will need 16 in total. I used Makower’s Stitch in Time fabrics which I fussy cut.

1/2m of light or medium fusible interfacing. I used Vlieseline F220

A 15 inch zip (or larger cut down to size which is what I did as I never seem to have the right size zip to hand!)

Cutting instructions

Cut 4 pieces 16 inches wide by 5.5 inches high from the exterior fabric

Cut 2 pieces 16 inches wide by 14 inches high from the lining fabric

Tip – If you want to make your exterior from 1 single fabric instead of patchwork cut 2 pieces of exterior fabric the same size as the lining pieces

Cut 16 pieces of 2.5 inch wide and 4 inch high scraps for the centre strips of patchwork

Cut 2 pieces of interfacing 16 inches wide by 14 inches high

Cut 2 pieces 1.5 inch square from the exterior fabric for zip tabs

Seam Allowance – ¼ an inch throughout

Step 1 – Making the exterior

Choose the layout for your scraps.… Read More...

This spacious fabric box will hold your sewing tools, fabric and haberdashery plus it also fits our Maker’s Workbook into the side too to help you keep track of your projects. I managed to fit over 10 metres of fabric into my Maker’s Box. The Vlieseline Style-Vil gives it really good body which means it can hold it’s shape even when empty. It has padded handles to make it easy to carry even when full, this fabric storage basket is ideal for sewing room storage or taking sewing projects and supplies out with you. 

Materials required

1 metre of exterior fabric. I used the same fabric for the lining and exterior, if you use different ones you will need 1/2 metre of each. I used a vintage red denim material from my stash. Find a similar one here. 

1/2 metre of pocket fabric. I used Art Gallery Fabric denim in Endless Paradise (find UK stockists here)

1/2 metre of light or medium weight fusible interfacing. I used Vlieseline H250

1 metre of Vlieseline Style-Vil

1/4 metre of fusible fleece for the handles (or you could use interfacing if you prefer) I used Vlieseline H640

50cm of co-coordinating double fold bias binding

9 inches of elastic

Cutting instructions

Cut 5 x 10.5 inch squares from:

• the exterior fabric
• the lining fabric
• the Style-Vil

Cut 4 x 5.5 by 11 inch rectangles from:

• the pocket fabric
• the fusible interfacing

Cut 2 15 x 5 inch rectangles from the exterior fabric for the handles

Cut 2 14 x 5 inch pieces of fusible fleece or interfacing for the handles

Seam allowance – 1/4 an inch unless otherwise stated.… Read More...

SpoolPod Case Tutorial

This quick to make pouch is big enough to hold 4 SpoolPods at a time, and because it’s clear you can easily spot the spools inside. You can even fit your Maker’s Workbook or Garment Planning Notepad in it too.  Don’t be daunted by sewing vinyl, it’s not as scary as you think, I’ve included some tips below.

Materials:

1 fat quarter of fabric

1 fat quarter of medium iron on interfacing

1 fat quarter of vinyl (I used Premium Clear Vinyl from Search Press)

14 inch chunky zip (or longer cut to size which is what I did). You could also use a normal zip but because this is quite a large pouch I think a chunky zip looks better.

Cutting instructions

Fabric: Cut 2 pieces 15 inches wide by 7 inches high

Interfacing: Cut 2 pieces 15 inches wide by 7 inches high

Vinyl: Cut 2 pieces 14.5 inches wide by 6.5 inches high

Tip – I’ve found cutting vinyl bluntens my rotary cutter so I use an old one for vinyl only, or you can use paper scissors.

Seam allowance: ¼ an inch

Step 1

Iron the interfacing to the back of your two fabric pieces, allow it to cool down.… Read More...

Do you ever wish there were a few more pages in your Maker’s Workbook?  Do you want to write about more than 25 projects?  Do you have a large stash and require more stash pages?

Good news!  We’ve just made some of the workbook pages downloadable so you can print extras and add them to your workbook.  Find all our downloads here.

If you’re wondering how to store these extra pages, we have a solution.  Below is a simple tutorial for adding a pocket to the back cover of your workbook which you can store the extra pages in. All you need is a piece of card which is 13 x 16cm. You could use some cardboard from your recycling to colour match the Kraft covers of the workbook.  Or like me you could pick a contrasting colour. I decided to use a piece of turquoise card as that is my favourite colour.

Start by drawing a 13 x 16cm rectangle on your card. Yes, that is a ruler of rulers I have there in the picture, when I spotted it I couldn’t resist!

Measure in 5cm from the top right hand corner and make a mark.  Measure up 5cm from the bottom left corner and make a mark. … Read More...