liberty fabric | A Crafty Chai

Tag: liberty fabric

03
May
2013

Handmade Applique iPhone Case

categories: Crafty

I’ve been really inspired by the Great British Sewing Bee. I will never be at that level – I don’t have the patience! But I like making things & being creative. So after I made my applique cushion cover, I decided to make a case for my iPhone. I’ve been meaning to do one for a while, even attempted a few but couldn’t get my measurements right. (Maths was never my strong point!) So I went freestyle. I took some basic measurements & sketched out my design, borrowed some techniques from the cushion cover & set to work.

I used the same linen fabric that I had made the cushion out of and then used the same applique technique to create the fabric chevrons. This was a lot trickier tho, as I didn’t create a template & it was really difficult to get the paper backing off the wonderweb. I used my phone as a template & cut the fabric round. I know! It’s not very technical but it worked!

I sewed the fabric pieces together, inserted some wadding, said a small prayer & hemmed the sides. This is usually where things come unstuck. Either the case is too small or too big or my sewing is a bit dodgy, but I checked throughout to make sure that the phone would fit inside easily. And guess what – it did.

I have to admit I am really pleased. I love this Liberty fabric and against the linen it really pops! The edges of the chevrons aren’t great, but they were really awkward. Plus I made this! What’s not to love about something homemade and unique?

I’m so pleased! So many times, I try to make something using my sewing machine & something doesn’t go right. This time everything went really well. Very happy! What can I make next?

02
May
2013

Handmade Applique Cushion Cover

categories: Crafty

One of the blogs that I follow over on Bloglovin’ is Design Sponge. A few weeks ago I saw a lovely post on how to make a Spring Applique Pillow, using Liberty fabric. This really interested me as I had an old wool cushion cover that was in terrible condition. So I decided to have a go at making my own cushion cover. Making a cushion cover is one thing, but this one had added difficulty in that it required Wonderweb and applique – I’d not used either before so was a little apprehensive. I made sure I set aside plenty of time & got all the instructions together then set to work.

The cushion I needed to cover was 2″ bigger than the one in the blog post so I had to increase the cushion fabric and make about 4 more fabric chevrons. This was fine, as I had plenty of fabric, but did make for quite a lengthy applique process!

The Finished Article

Even Poppy approves! It’s by far the best thing I’ve ever made, with very few mistakes. I think that’s mainly to do with the instructions being so clear and me making sure I followed them to the letter. I might not be ready to join the Great British Sewing Bee, but my sewing skills are definitely improving! What do you think? Have you made anything recently?

27
Jan
2013

A Crafty Afternoon

categories: Crafty, Sewing

One of my resolutions last year was to spend more time crafting so I’ve decided to dedicate some time every weekend crafting on specific WIP’s. Just knitting isn’t enough, as I do this most evenings anyway so I want to make sure that I spend time on the other craft that I enjoy and it’ll help me keep my Folksy shop nicely stocked!

Last year, I failed to send quite a few birthday cards on time. Part of the reason was that I didn’t have any cards in the house. So I decided that I should make a stock of birthday cards just for me to use. I won’t write them in advance, as I’ve done that before & a few recipients haven’t made it to their birthday. Yep, I’m that superstitious that I won’t be doing that again! So for the moment, I’ll keep them safe & blank.

I’ve used Blom Flowers and washi tape, but I have quite a few other ideas that I’d like to develop further. But, you can pretty much guarrantee that I’ll be using my new favourite thing, washi tape!

Some of my time today has also been spent working on a little project using some Liberty fabric I received before Christmas. But I wanted to do something a little different, something to brighten up the house & use an idea I’ve seen on Pinterest. It’s a Work in Progress, so here’s a little snippet of what I’ve achieved today, during the Murray/Djokovic final.

This is something that I’m going to work on everytime I sit down to watch sport, so with the Six Nations coming up, it shouldn’t take me too long to complete it & move on to the next one! I’ll keep you posted on this & on all my other craft WIP once a month! What are you working on at the moment? Feel free to share it & a link to your site in the comments below!