Category: Free Projects

1. Fabric Wreath Tutorial Free project

   Posted on 9:45am Saturday 15th Sep 2012

   Hi everyone, fabric wreaths have been around for a long time, they are a simple and easy way to create a pretty decoration. The wreaths are so versatile, just by changing the colours of the fabric you can change the theme of your wreath, oranges & black for halloween, pretty pinks & reds for valentines, and so on. I decided to make a wreath using the red and green vintage rose fabric which can be found here.

   You will need: a wreath, approximately 1/2 metre of fabric (I used 2 fat quarters as I chose 2 different fabrics), some glitter netting, narrow ribbon & 2 felt hearts.

   Step 1: Fold the fat quarter in half, and then in half again (so you have 4 layers). I cut the fabric into 1 inch wide strips, and then I cut them in half. (So each piece is now 1 inch wide by 25cm long).

   

   

   Step 2: Tie each strip of fabric around the wreath, I did 2 red, 1 green, 1 red, 2 green and repeated it. I also tied the odd glitter netting strip in. Carry on until the wreath is full.

   

   

   Step 3: Cut out 2 felt hearts (or use pre-cut ones). Place a ribbon between them, then sew or glue the hearts together.

   

   Step 4: Tie a knot in the ribbon about 2cm away from the hearts, and then tie this to the wreath, use the left over ribbon above the wreath as a loop to hang your finished wreath.

   

   Carole

2. Cookie Monster Cupcakes Free Project

   Posted on 8:43am Wednesday 5th Sep 2012

   Hi everyone, today I am sharing a free project on things you can do with the Little Venice Cake Company's icing nozzle #233 grass. You can find this product here. I wanted to make some cupcakes for my daughter's kindergarten class, and I thought that monsters would be pretty cute, so I had a look around this internet and saw some pictures of "hairy monsters" made with buttercream, so here is my attempt.

   Step 1: You will need, cupcakes, icing bag & #233 nozzle, I used blue buttercream because I wanted to make cookie monster from Sesame Street, you will also need white chocolate buttons for the eyes, and mini cookies. For the hairy monster I used Smarties for the eyes and nose and a black food pen.

   

   Step 2: Making the hair on the hairy monster, this is the same technique as making grass. Hold the piping bag vertically above the cupcake and squeeze down hard and pull up and release the pressure. I practiced this a few times to get it right, it is definately very forgiving, if you made a mistake, you probably wouldn't notice. Pipe the hair all over the cupcake - it was very quick to do!

   

   Step 3: For Cookie Monster: To make sure it looked even, I cut off the little dome of cupcake that was just sticking up (see picture) and then for Cookie Monster's fur, hold the icing bag vertically above the cupcake and squeeze the bag, but this time hold the pressure and move around the cupcake so you have a continuous stream of icing coming out, again cover the top of the cupcake.

   

   

   Step 4: The eyes: take 2 white chocolate buttons for cookie monster and 2 smarties for the hairy monster, stick them on the cupcake. Then make black circles for the pupils. I used an edible pen and drew them on, but you could use chocolate or royal icing.

   

   Step 5: Cookie Monster's cookie. Take a spoon and using the end of the handle, push it onto the cupcake to create a gap to push the cookie into. Then pop the mini cookie into the gap. You can always add abit more icing around the cookie to hide the gap if any is showing.

   

   

   Cookie monster is now finished! You could leave the hairy monster like this or add another smartie for a nose like this:

   

   And this is the collection of monsters I ended up with (a couple of hours later...)

   

   Gina x

    

3. September Project

   Posted on 8:18am Monday 3rd Sep 2012

   Hi everyone, for this month we are focusing on the 16 piece fabric pack. Our free project this month is how to make a fabric box! Below you will find easy to follow instructions. Carole & Gina

   

   Step 1: Take one pack of 16 fabrics and trim them to make sure they are all the same size (25cm x 13cm - we cut our fabrics generously).

   

   Step 2: Sort them into lights and darks, and sew them into groups of 4 like this...

   

   Step 3: On the reverse of the fabric iron on some interfacing.

   

   Step 4: Sew one dark and one light piece together.

   

   Step 5: Decide which colourway is going to be the inside of your box (we chose LIGHTS) put this piece on the bottom nearest you when you turn the fabric over. With the chosen colour nearest you TACK wadding to bottom half only, repeat to the other piece of fabric.

   

   Step 6: Place the right sides together making sure to keep the wadding on the bottom pieces.

   

   Step 7: Pin all around, but leave a 16cm gap in the middle (this will be used for turning). Machine around the edge.

   

   Step 8: Take one corner and match up the side seam so you have a point, measure down to 10cm, mark and machine across.

   

   Step 9: Repeat for the other corners, and then trim off the excess.

   

   Step 10: Turn the box the right way out, and you should have your open seem on the bottom of the box. You should now slip stitch this seam closed.

   

   Step 11: Turn the box the correct way up and turn down the top to form a cuff.

   

   That's it! Your box is finished

   

4. August Project

   Posted on 5:02pm Friday 10th Aug 2012

   Hi everyone, for this month we are focusing on the 10 piece fabric pack. We have made some items to showcase what you can do with it! The bib, booties and make-up bag eash took 2 pieces of fabric. The brooch, tissue holder, needle book and mini purse each took 1 piece. And the pin cushion was made of of the larger pieces of scraps. There is certainly more thing you could make out of the fabric pieces such as, a glasses case, fancy bookmark, and of course if you patchworked the pieces together the possiblities are endless! Below we have 3 picture for you to see our creations, and you can also see the scraps left over, which of course you can use to keep on creating! Gina & Carole x