New zip pouch project

This week I'm working on a new tutorial. I've been wanting to make zippered pouches like this for ages - 

and have finally gotten a round to it!

I'm still working on the finer points of the zip, but should have the tutorial ready for next week!

What would you like to have a pouch like this for?

I'm thinking a notebook and pens (like the ones above), perhaps a sewing kit, first aid kit....

Stay tuned to see what I come up with!

Any ideas welcomed as this is still a work in progress!

Thanks!

Vintage inspired dinner roll holder

A couple of years ago, I found the pattern for this Vintage Inspired Dinner Roll Holder on a blog called Gingercake.

I loved it and straight away dowloaded the free tutorial.  Then it has sat there on my computer - forgotten, ever since!

Until now!  

I decided it was time to give it a try and finally make myself a fancy dinner roll holder.

The instructions were nice and clear, and it's a pretty simple tutorial to follow.

Really you make 3 fabric circles..

And then measure and stitch them together in a particular way to produce the pretty basket-like result.

To fasten it together, I got out my collection of snap fasteners - which  I don't think I've ever actually used!

I decided on a packet that my mum brought me out from England on her last trip:

Can you see the price on the top right? 8.5p!  I think mum's had these a while too!

I followed the instructions and attached a couple to my dinner roll holder...

Popped the studs together...

And ta da..  I now have my very own dinner roll holder!

With some matching napkin rings I made a couple of days ago 

Of course you don't just have to put bread rolls in it!

You could fill it with small packs of chips for the kids..

Or a selection of sweeties..

Really whatever you would like!

It could even work as a desk tidy - filled with pens, erasers, paper clips etc!

A very versatile little fabric dish!

Midweek clothes upcycle - notebook and pencil folder gift sets

Over the past 2 weeks when my girls have been on school holidays, I spent a little time sorting through my cupboards and planning some projects.

I've set myself the target of upcycling something from my old clothes stash each week - and will show them here on my blog as my

 'Midweek clothes upcycle'

So here's my first project finished:

Two pencil and notebook folders (using my own tutorial here)

And a couple of matching gift bags:

I started out with a old pair of camo shorts of my husbands that are too big and the zip is broken. I matched this with some black fabric I had in my stash.

I cut the shorts so as to make use of the many pockets!

Here's the front of the finished folder, with one pocket:

The back with 3 pockets..

And inside of course I made a pocket for the notebook, and several for the pencils:

Then another pocket hand stitched to a brown paper bag for the gift bag! The pocket can be used for a gift tag or card.

So here's the finished gift - ready for the next boys birthday someone gets invited to!

And of course I need to be prepared for a boys or girls birthday party, so I found an old dress that is now far too small for my girls, but I've kept it for a long time waiting for the perect thing to make with it!

I teamed this dress up with some plain red fabric from my stash.

I used the buttoned front of the dress for the front of the folder - so making an extra pocket that could be used to slip in special notes or papers:

And the usual inside - notebook and pencils:

Again I used the scraps from the dress to spruce up a plain brown bag to give the gift in:

A simple ruffle in the middle, a couple of fabric yoyos and a spare button.

And a little tag bag using one of the shoulder straps from the dress and fabric scraps:

So here's the complete gift ready and waiting for a birthday girl..

It feels good to be upcycling some clothes again - using up some of my stash, and also getting organised and prepared by having some ready-made handmade gifts in the cupboard!

I had fun making these folders, using various parts of the clothes to enhance the basic design of the notebook and pencil folders.  I've given several of these as gifts and they've all been a big hit. Good to be able to add a new twist to an old favourite! If you'd like to make some of these folders yourself - go here for the tutorial.

Don't forget I have a whole page of clothes upcycling projects to inspire you.

There are over 600 ideas linked up.

Origami Flowers

A few days ago, a good friend of my daughters had a nasty bike accident.

We went to visit her yesterday, and wanted to take something special for her.  So together, my daughters and I made her a nice bunch of origami flowers!

The quick photos I snapped before we took them over to her house were a little out of focus - but thanks to Picmonkey, I fancied them up a bit so you can see the pretty flowers!

We then poked kebab sticks through the centre and taped the flowers to them - and down the stick to make the stems pretty, before arranging them all in a pretty box we had!

They were well appreciated - and have spurred me on to try some more origami!!

Any recommendations?

Notebook covers tutorial - 5 steps in 15 minutes

Today I want to show you how to make a very simple cover for a basic notebook like this:

We have heaps of these notebooks as the shops sell them for anywhere from 1c to 5c at the end of each year!

They measure 22.5 x 17.5 cm (9 x 7")

So this tutorial is for a notebook cover this size. But you can adapt this to any size book.

Simply cut fabric that is the height of the book plus 2 cm (0.75"), and the width of the book x 2 plus 18 cm (7").

So here's how to make a cute cover for a cheap basic notebook!

Step 1

 Choose and cut two pieces of fabric 53 x 24.5 cm (21 x 9.75")

Step 2

Pin these pieces of fabric right sides together. Then stitch around the edges with a 3/8" seam leaving a gap of around 10 cm (4") to turn it right sides out afterwards.

Step 3

Clip the corners, then turn the fabric right sides out. 

Press and top-stitch all the way around.

Step 4

Place your notebook on the inside of your cover and fold the cover in half.

Fold the edge of the cover over the edge of the notebook cover, and pin along the top and bottom edges.

With the book folded, repeat this with the other edge.

Step 5

Now open the cover out and remove the notebook.

Finally stitch the top and bottoms of the flaps where you have pinned along the line of your top-stitching.

Slip in your notebook and you're done!

Use different pretty fabric, or perhaps make your own patchwork fabric from scraps to use...

Or perhaps add embellishments to the front fabric before joining the two pieces together!

My daughter wanted one with a pocket on the front!

She's using it for her money saving record book - the pocket is for pictures she cuts from the junk mail of things she's saving for!

You could make a whole range of these for simple cute gifts..

Perfect for back to school time!

You could always match them up with a 

Giant twin zip pencil case like this:

For the downloadable PDF version of this tutorial, click here.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.

There are more simple 5 steps in 15 minute tutorials, along with over 100 other free sewing tutorials on 

My Tutorials page