Sewing Needle Knowledge

Have you ever considered that one of the most frustrating things about sewing, is actually the simplest to resolve?  I am as guilty as the next sewer when it comes to pushing my humble sewing machine needle to work harder than it should and cursing when it doesn't work out.  The weirdest thing is that the sewing machine needle is actually really cheap to replace, and when you get the right needle and thread combo then your sewing goes like a dream.

I discovered this great video about needles and wanted to share it with you.  I personally prefer the Inspira brand of needles.  I find that there is almost no faulty needles in a pack, and the brands in this video are definitely not as reliable!  Anyway whichever brand you use, are you using the right kind of needle, that is the question.

Take a look here:  Sewing Needle Knowledge

Twelve Days of Christmas Decoration Tutorial

I love the song Twelve Days of Christmas, and have wanted to make a quilt with the blocks representing the song for ages.  I have no time to actually do that, but when I found this great Machine Embroidery redwork design, I just had to stitch it out.

The designs can be purchased here.

Here's how I made my cute (and fast!) wall hanging.

You will need

Embroidery Designs

Twelve 8" Embroidery hoops (just cheap ones because they are simply the frames).

Twelve 10"squares of green felt.

Twelve 10" squares of white fabric.

Tear away stabiliser

Red thread (I used Wonderfil) & Bobbin fill

Circular Attachment tool for you machine (if you have one)

White construction thread

Sewing and Embroidery Machine

Chalk maker

Begin by stitching out the designs on the white fabric.  Be sure to centre the designs to make it easier when cutting the 10" square down to a circle.

Using one 10" square of felt and one embroidery stitch out, layer the stitch out on top of the felt, centring the design on the felt.

Using white construction thread, and your circular attachment tool, sew the white fabric to the felt.  I used a straight stitch, and set my circular attachment to a 16cm diameter.  

Keep the work attached to the circular attachment tool, and use scissors to trim back the excess white fabric.

Re-thread with red thread.

Select a decorative stitch, and sew around the outside edge of the circle (this is why you don't remove it from the circular attachment tool!).

Remove the tear away from the back of the work.

Use a chalk maker and trace around the outside edge of the wooden embroidery hoop.

Use scissors and trim around 1/2" wider than the chalk line you drew.  This will allow extra fabric to make it possible to mount the design into the hoop.

Clam the design in the hoop (you can use extra glue on the hoop edge to help the fabric stay in place if you wish).

Use ribbon to loop through the hoops to string them together.

I intended my design to be hung in two vertical columns, but when I asked Louise at the shop to photograph it she hung it from side to side, which looks really cute too!

Enjoy!

How to make Felt Christmas Gift Bags

I'm on a bit of a roll with making Christmas craft at the moment, and with the shops Mega Christmas Workshop coming up, I wanted to design a quick to make gift bag. The result is a pretty and versatile Felt Bag.

You will need the following:

1 x strip of red felt 21" x 8" (although this can be anywhere between 6" - 10" depending on how high you want your bag to be)
1 x circle 7" diameter of red felt
1 x strip of white felt around 4" x 25"
1 x button
1 x 4" length of fine ribbon (red)
1 pack of Silver Hot Ribbon Art
Spool of metallic variegated thread
Red construction thread
Fusible webbing
Hot Fix Crystals
Hot Fix Crystal applicator
Sewing Machine
Open Toe Foot
1/4 Foot
AccuQuilt Go Fabric Cutter (or cut circles using a compass and scissors)
AccuQuilt Die # 55012
Chalk Marker
Iron

Begin by threading your machine with Decorative metallic thread (bobbin fill works best in the bobbin), and using an assortment of decorative sewing machine stitches sew in rows down the length of white felt.  You need to make sure that the entire strip is covered with decorative stitches.

Iron Fusible web to the wrong side of the white felt strip.

Use your Go! cutter and the 2" and 3" circle's on the die, cut three small and three large circles from the decorated white strip.  Cut just one layer at a time, because the felt is thicker than normal fabric.

If you don't have a Go! (and you really should), then go ahead and just use a compass to draw out the circles onto the felt, then cut them out using scissors.

Use a chalk maker to rule grid lines on the 21" x 8" strip of red felt.  I used a 3" grid.  This will simply allow you to place your decorated circles evenly.

Cut lengths of the Hot Ribbon Art ribbon to make the strings for the baubles.

Use a hot iron to fuse the Ribbon and the baubles into position.

If you find that the baubles want to lift off the felt (mine did) just use a couple of pins to help hold the baubles into position.  It is more important that the ribbon fuses since this will not be sewn.

Choose a blanket stitch on your machine.  I used a simple one that didn't sew back on itself, because I didn't want an issue with my metallic thread.

Put the open toe foot onto your machine, and stitch around the edge of the bauble to hold them into position.  Because my felt was fairly thick I didn't need to use a stabiliser, but if you are using thinner fabric you may need to put a tear away stabiliser under your work to allow it to feed smoothly through the machine.

Re thread the machine with a red construction thread.  With right sides together, fold the red felt strip in half, bringing the two 8" sides together.  Sew a 1/4" seam to form the body of the bag.

Pin the base of the bag, making sure that the right sides are together (this will place the seam inside the bag).  Use a 1/4" seam and sew the base into position.  Here's a hit, sew with the circular base under the sides, this will make it easier to machine smoothly.

Use the machine to stitch a loop of ribbon to form the closure, and hand stitch the button into position.

Now have some fun and add some bling to the bag, with Hot Fix Crystals!

All done!

I will be teaching this bag during the Christmas Mega Workshop at Ringwood Sewing Centre, where I will have some other variations including a cute santa, reindeers & sleigh and more.

Decorated Christmas Gift Bags

I love to re-use those little brown paper bags that some shops use!  I simply raid my supply of useful (but unused?!?) sewing supplies, things like trim, braid, buttons etc and fire up the hot glue gun.

This year I was enchanted by the range of very wide ribbons at my local Costco, and grabbed a couple of rolls.  Trouble is I am wicked (not in a good way) at making gift bows, so I used the bow to decorate one of my brown paper bags.

If you'd like to decorate a plain brown bag like me, here's how:

Begin with preparing your ribbon.  If you are using wire edge ribbon you will need to pull out the "wire" from one edge.  Do this by pulling the end of the "wire", and remove it all.

Now using a ruffler foot on your sewing machine, or a gathering foot if you don't own a ruffling foot, ruffle the edge of the ribbon.  I stitched around 1/2" inch from the edge of the ribbon (the edge I removed the wire from), but you will need to work out a measurement that suits the width of your ribbon.

Draw a line on the bag using a pencil so you will glue it on straight.  

Plug in your hot glue gun, and let it warm up before gluing the gathered ribbon in place.

There are many different ways to decorate the rest of the bag, but I used a black marking pen, and drew some curvy lines towards one side, then I made some yo-yo's to glue onto the bag.  I adore the Clover range of sewing stuff, and the yo-yo maker is always in use in my sewing room.  I used the "small" size, because it suited the design I wanted to create, but there are several sizes in the range.  you will also need some fabric, scissors, needle and thread.

You will need to make a few Yo-Yo's depending on your design.  I used four for the design you see in the photo.

Use your hot glue gun to glue the Yo-yo's into position.

This is just one of many ideas for decorating your Christmas Bags.  If you are interested in more ideas for decorating for Christmas you might want to check out our Mega Christmas Workshop coming up on Saturday 6 December at Ringwood Sewing Centre, Melbourne, Australia.

Free Pattern

As the weeks go by and it get's closer to Christmas I am terribly aware of how much more sewing time I have.  It is a horrible thing to confess but I am a serious procrastinator and if I can put off starting something until the last frantic moment I seem to do it.  It often ends in tears but I've been that way for so long I'm not altogether sure I can change the habit of a life time!

Anyhow for many of you there is still time to get one last Christmas project done, and I found this delightful pattern which I'd love to share with you.  I think I'd be tempted to make some of the blocks for a table runner too!

To get your own copy of this pattern you just need to join our mail list and it will be sent to you!

Click Here!