A quick DIY...

I had some spare printed paper lying around and decided to make some more paper cranes to liven up the corner of my sewing space. I made eight in total and strung them with some cotton thread from a piece of twine. I love that the move around in the breeze and I might even make some more to add to it. I used this tutorial to make my paper cranes, easy peasy! 

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DIY Cute Plush Heart!

Happy Valentine's Day! I thought it would be super sweet to share this easy DIY plush love heart today. If felt isn't your thing you could always substitute for fabric or anything your heart desires. It's a perfect day to get creative!

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DIY: Pretty Window Decorator

I am currently away for the weekend, visiting the family up north again. The Weekend Wrap Up post will return mid when we I get back home. For now, enjoy this cute DIY post! 


I have a confession: I love peace cranes/paper cranes/whatever else you want to call them. Awhile ago I made a paper crane 'mobile' that hung from my non existent curtain rods in my studio. Lately, because of the warming up weather, the windows have been open and my mobile has been getting tangled with the cord (see next photo). I didn't want to throw away my mobile, and so I decided to remake it into something that wouldn't get tangled and would look cute! 

Supplies needed: Paper cranes, needle and thread, twine, scissors. 

 

I chose to use a length of twine to hang my cranes off to match in with my other twine strip that I hang notes and photos on. The twine could be replaced with yarn, thicker thread or most other stringy things that can take a small amount of weight. Measure the twine on the window you are going to decorate before cutting it. 

Take your needle and thread and poke a hole from underneath, so it pops out at the top of the cranes back (middle ridge?). Make sure to knot the thread first, this will hold the crane in place. Then simply tie the crane into a desired position along the twine! 

Now enjoy your pretty window decorator swinging in the breeze!

Don't like paper cranes? How about substituting hearts or leaves? Using felt or patterned material? The possibilities are endless! 

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Tutorial Tuesday: How to make a lacy top!

I had this extremely large piece of old lace, that was the remnants of an old curtain that my Nan gave to me. I decided that with the start of spring, I would make a lacy top/vest.  

I cut a quick and easy pattern off a top that had the shape I was looking for. The sleeves didn't interest me, and so I just made a sleeveless version! Once I had my pattern ready, I pinned and cut out the pieces (One back piece, and two front pieces). 

It was then a simple job to sew up the side seams and across the top shoulder section. Don't sew the armholes together! (This didn't happen to me, but I did go to pin them together accidentally. Whoops!) 

Then, just to make it more interesting, I cut and sewed the scalloped edge of the lace to the bottom of the sewn top. 

The next part involves folding over and under the raw edges around the neckline, front pieces and armholes and sewing this up to create a nice finish!

After a quick iron, I was all done! This was a quick project, I think it took me under two hours (including tea breaks!). Next time I will cut the pattern bigger for a more relaxed fit. I'm glad I still have lace leftover!

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Tutorial Tuesday!

I absolutely love reading tutorials on DIY stuff. So when I was planning to do this myself, I thought 'why not make a tutorial out of it?' For this tutorial I am going to show you how to Decorate a Hat box. 

So here's the back story behind my hat box:  

After a friend’s wedding I decided that I would like a hatbox to house my pretty hair accessories. I bought a creamy/white feather fascinator thing to wear, but it’s too nice to put in my ‘regular’ hair draw so that’s where I got the idea for a hatbox. Naturally, I’m not going to shell out big bucks for a nice one, so I decided that I would make/decorate one myself.

I picked up a round wooden box at my local craft shop. From memory it cost me less than $5? I then took my time to find the ‘right paper’. (I bought gift wrap, only $2 and I got 3 metres of it!). Here is my tutorial on how I decorated my hatbox.

Step 1: Assembling all items. You will need a box (round, square, rectangular, what ever your preference) paper to cover it, paint brush, glue (I used PVA, but most craft glue will be fine as long as it dries clear), pen and scissors. 

Step 2: Making the shapes. Use the form of the hatbox as your template. Draw the outline and then add extra (enough to cover the sides with some more to tuck under). Be quite generous with the shapes, you can always trim them later. Proceed to cut out these shapes.

Step 3: Get the glue ready. I didn’t pour enough out and so I had to keep stopping to top it up. You can start on the lid or the bottom, it’s your choice. Glue the surface of the lid/bottom to the paper. Then spread glue on the remaining paper and fold up and over the sides to tuck it in until it looks like the picture below.

Step 4: Repeat the above step on the other piece of the hat box. If you are glueing the bottom piece now you will notice there will be a lot of excess paper. What I did was simply fold the pieces on a diagonal to sort of ‘pleat’ the paper so to speak. You could also trim the excess if you wanted a tighter looks.

Step 5: Once you have finished the previous step, go along on the inside and glue any pesky pieces that may have popped up. At this point I like to also go along and cover the entire paper in glue to seal it in. Now leave to dry!

 Step 6: Add decorations. I choose to add a lace decoration on my hatbox. I sized the pieces to fit over the top of the box and tuck under for easy gluing. Feel free to interpret and decorate your box however you like! I then filled the hatbox with white tissue paper and introduced my fascinator to its new home!

All done! I hope you enjoyed my first tutorial. I really enjoyed decorating my hat box, and I will definitely do more to house other pretty things!

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