I am VERY excited! I have a table at a Christmas Fair next Saturday! This has inspired me to get designing and I was thinking probably the best place to start would be something 'Christmasy' and something smallish (I don't know about you but I am always drawn to the smaller things at stalls because they are usually cheaper, plus small is cute!). So, inspired by my recent Charity Shop Button buying trip, I decided to use my red buttons as holly berries.
And here is how I made it (apologies for some photos being extremely stubbon and not wanting to rotate!):
I started by drawing, onto paper, the size of decoration I wanted (I went for Christmas tree shaped), then cut out of upcycled felt (husband's jumper which I accidentally shrunk!), just adding about a cm around the edge. I cut two pieces (front and back).
Next I sewed around the edge, leaving a couple of inches unsewn to turn right side out (felt doesn't tend to have a wrong or right side, which is great, so I didn't get in a pickle). Photo not really necessary but I wanted to include it because I've seen it on other blogs and think it looks cool!
Before I turned it inside out, I decided to cut the corner off (careful not to cut the thread), this helps to make the point more 'pointy'. I thought afterwards that I should have cut the two other corners too. That's the nice thing about making things isn't it, learning as you go along from trial and error?
OK, so after I turned it inside out and made the points as 'pointy' as I could, I stuffed it with some scraps of material (upcycled of course!) and sewed the hole up by hand.
I made some holly with some upcycled green felt like this:
Then sewed them onto the 'tree' with some light green thread and added a couple of gorgeous red 'berries' aka buttons. Note to self - must go to that charity shop and get another couple of scoops of those lovely buttons!
Next I made the hanging implement (what is it called? loop? hook?), which was a piece of upcycled t-shirt. If you make this, make sure you cut in the direction of the small ribs in the t-shirt fabric, rather than against it, so it is less stretchy.
Learning by trial and error again, when I went on to make more, I sewed the loop INTO the 'tree' when I did the edge stitching at the start, rather than sewing on at the end. I think it looks cleaner that way.
This is how big the tree decoration is:
Oh, and here are the tree's friends:
...I had fun!
Upcycled materials used:
- Felted grey (husband's!) jumper
- Felted green jumper
- Rescued buttons
- Scraps of a dark red t-shirt, too small for my boys
- Off cuts for stuffing
- The lower legs of a pair of green cords (top half waiting to be made into a skirt)
- Ribbon from some Christmas wrapping from last year
And here is how I made it (apologies for some photos being extremely stubbon and not wanting to rotate!):
I started by drawing, onto paper, the size of decoration I wanted (I went for Christmas tree shaped), then cut out of upcycled felt (husband's jumper which I accidentally shrunk!), just adding about a cm around the edge. I cut two pieces (front and back).
Next I sewed around the edge, leaving a couple of inches unsewn to turn right side out (felt doesn't tend to have a wrong or right side, which is great, so I didn't get in a pickle). Photo not really necessary but I wanted to include it because I've seen it on other blogs and think it looks cool!
Before I turned it inside out, I decided to cut the corner off (careful not to cut the thread), this helps to make the point more 'pointy'. I thought afterwards that I should have cut the two other corners too. That's the nice thing about making things isn't it, learning as you go along from trial and error?
OK, so after I turned it inside out and made the points as 'pointy' as I could, I stuffed it with some scraps of material (upcycled of course!) and sewed the hole up by hand.
I made some holly with some upcycled green felt like this:
Then sewed them onto the 'tree' with some light green thread and added a couple of gorgeous red 'berries' aka buttons. Note to self - must go to that charity shop and get another couple of scoops of those lovely buttons!
Next I made the hanging implement (what is it called? loop? hook?), which was a piece of upcycled t-shirt. If you make this, make sure you cut in the direction of the small ribs in the t-shirt fabric, rather than against it, so it is less stretchy.
Learning by trial and error again, when I went on to make more, I sewed the loop INTO the 'tree' when I did the edge stitching at the start, rather than sewing on at the end. I think it looks cleaner that way.
This is how big the tree decoration is:
Oh, and here are the tree's friends:
...I had fun!
Upcycled materials used:
- Felted grey (husband's!) jumper
- Felted green jumper
- Rescued buttons
- Scraps of a dark red t-shirt, too small for my boys
- Off cuts for stuffing
- The lower legs of a pair of green cords (top half waiting to be made into a skirt)
- Ribbon from some Christmas wrapping from last year
These look lovely Naomi (I hope I'm commenting on the right post..?) I'd love to make some of these and maybe attach one to each of the presents I'm giving at Christmas.
ReplyDeleteCan you give some instructions about the felting process? Many thanks.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mary. What a great idea to use them to put on presents!
ReplyDeleteSarah, I will do a short post on the felting process, Thank you for mentioning it. Start saving up any 100% wool jumpers that are out of shape or have been accidentally shrunk :)
I just love these
ReplyDeleteThanks Clare :) They were fun to design and make.
ReplyDelete