The importance of enjoying what you do! - curtains to tablecloth tutorial

Here in Australia it's winter.  Up in FNQ (Far North Queensland) that means that weather-wise it's one of our most pleasant times of year.  Low humidity, little rain (the dry season in the tropics), sunny days and temperatures around  25C. Just lovely!  BUT, not very conducive to sitting inside at my sewing machine looking out of the window at this gorgeous weather!  

But I know I need to find the motivation to get things done - I can't justify being a stay-at-home mum if all I do when my kids are at school is sit by the pool in the sun and read a book.....I need to feel I'm being productive, otherwise the guilt at thinking of my husband working so hard when I'm enjoying myself at home is terrible!

So, I decided to take my work outside to enjoy and appreciate the fantastic weather we are having, while still being productive!

The task I set myself to get 'A Round To' last week was to transform an old pair of curtains that I no longer needed into something useful. I decided to turn them into a tablecloth for our old round plastic table:

(These curtains have already gone through one transformation - you can read about that here!)

Since the curtains were in need of a wash anyway, I figured cutting out outside, and laying them on the ground wasn't a problem. Washing could be done after I'd finished sewing!

So finding a nice shady spot, I checked the curtains would fit around the whole table:

Then letting them hang to the ground where I wanted the tablecloth to reach to,

I just cut around leaving a large overlap from there I figured the join would be.  I did this for both curtains:

Next was to use the remaining top part of the curtains to cut the round table top part.

One curtain for each side:

So now I had all the parts for the tablecloth, they just needed putting together:

At this point I allowed myself to be a little distracted, by a beautiful pink flower in the secret garden..

And looking up at our palm tree with the stunning clear blue sky background:

But back to the sewing!

Next I pinned the top parts together along the straight join at the centre of the table. 

 I put in two pins to make sure and leave a gap in the centre that will allow me to use the tablecloth on the table in the future if I decide to get a sun umbrella to go over it! (pole would slot through the hole in the top centre of the table):

Once I'd stitched the top together (a brief interlude out of the fresh-air into my sewing room), I placed the fabric upside-down back on the table outside, and pinned the drops to the top, again inside out:

Once that was pinned, it was inside for the last time to stitch it, then back outside to trim the seams, then test it on the table!

Perfect!  Then I just needed to throw it in the washing machine and I'll give it a good iron before using it out our next market stall!

I really enjoyed doing this project outside.  I think it's really important to remember and enjoy all the good things we have in our lives - not just take them for granted and plan to enjoy them another day!

To end, I want to add a quote from the little book of inspiration I won in a giveaway :

"When faced with a problem, free your mind and think creatively - the possibilities will be endless."

I hope you all have a great day!

Hanging hair tie/ clip holder from jeans - a tutorial

I wanted to make something fun for my girls to store their many many hairclips and ties in, rather than the boxes they were stuffed in!
Now isn't this....

Much better than this....?

I used a pair of jeans that no longer fits either daughter to make two of these special hangers for them.

Here's how to do it:

First collect your materials:

A pair of jeans - or other trousers

scraps of fabric for the pockets and ruffle

stiffening to hold the shape of the hanger

dowel rods and ribbon to hang

Then cut the front and back sections of the jeans apart:

Stitch the legs together to make 2 rectangles, these are the basic hanger shapes:

The next step is to choose your scraps of fabric for the pockets and cut several squares.  I didn't measure any - just cut rough squares and placed them on the jeans until I'd filled the spaces. My pockets were approx. 8cm square, and I cut 16 in total:

Next, I decided to make use of my new overlocker (or serger as some of you may call it) to finish off the edges of all the pockets. Nice and simple - and since it's trendy to have ripped jeans - I didn't worry about making it all look too tidy!!

Then pin them in place on the jeans:

Now just stitch around 3 edges of each pocket (leaving the top open of course) and add an extra triangle of stitching on the top corners of each pocket for extra strength:

Next comes the ruffled edge.  For this I used a nice shiny pink remnant I bought the other day and just cut 2 strips about 4cm wide from each (it's about 150cm in length - but again, nothing is exact - it's as much decoration and personal taste as anything!)

Once again I decided to play with my overlocker.  I finsihed off one edge by 'ruffling' it! and the other edge I did a rolled hem to make it look pretty.

Now it's almost ready to put together!

Cut a rectangle of stiffening the same size as the jeans - for the backing:

Then place the jeans on the stiffening, and pin the ruffle evenly around the edge, making sure to pin through the stiffening too.

Then stitch it all together!

(rear view!)

Now all you need is a way to hang it!

For some reason I had 2 pieces of dowel rod about the right size with holes ready drilled in either end!  Push the dowel rod through the belt loops at the top of the jeans hanger.

Thread ribbon or cord through the holes in the ends of the dowel rods:

Then cut and tie to desired length:

All done!!

Now all that's left to do is fill those pockets - attach pretty hairclips to the ruffles and hang up!

If you would like the downloadable PDF version of this tutorial with measurements in both cm and inches, click here!

If you enjoyed this tutorial, there are over 100 free sewing tutorials for all levels of sewing ability that can be found on

My Free Tutorials Page.

Back from holiday!

Well I've just returned from a lovely 2 week break driving and camping down the East Coast of our wonderful Australia! We had a wonderful time, but it is good to be back in the warmth of Cairns, and with the kids back to school I'm catching up with the washing, tent airing and general unpacking and settling back into home!

Before I get into a few photos from our holiday, I was very happy to find out that while I was away, my entry of a pillowcase handibag, into the iron crafter competition run by Fireflies and Jellybeans made the top ten!! Yippee!!  I didn't then win, but was amazed once more by the creativeness of so many people!  Congratulations to the winners!

But back to the holiday and a few photos:

Here's where we went in Queenland (top right hand corner of Australia) : starting in Cairns and driving down to Brisbane, around 1700km

First stop was Townsville, and the highlight for the kids was the free water park on the esplanade...

Next we went on to Airlie beach, where we did a day cruise around the Whitsundays islands.  We had been there about 12 years earlier, and wanted to show our girls Whitehaven beach, which is quite spectacular!  Unfortunately that was the only wet and cloudy day we had on the trip, but we still had a lot of fun, and even saw a whale!  Here's how we saw the beach from the lookout:

And here are a couple of pictures of Whitehaven beach on a beautiful sunny day, so you can see why we wanted to go back so much:

The sand is so white and fine it's like snow!  Just amazing!

And the sunset at the end of the day sailing home was lovely too!!

Next stop was south and inland a bit up into the hills to Eungella, where we had a fantastic view down the valley from our campsite (here's our tent - a room on one side for us, and one on the other for the girls!):

And the view..

We went up here to see Platypus in the wild!  A pretty special sight - not so easy to photo since they're only about 30cm long and come out at dusk!!  But here's one!

We did see lots of other wildlife, possums, kangaroos, and lots of birds including this Kookaburra very close up, munching on a locust!!

More wildlife was seen at our next stop Australia Zoo.  I was hugely impressed with this place.  It's owned and run by the Irwin family (I'm sure everyone remembers Steve Irwin - The Crocodile Hunter). 

Apart from the Elephants, the zoo had much the same selection of animals as other smaller parks in Cairns, and other locations around Australia, but it managed to present them in a different way.  It's very much centered around conservation and that theme shines strongly through in all the displays and shows. 

For a large, commercial, and hugely popular park, it manages to get across this vital message about conserving our wildlife.  I know some people think it's too commercial, but it's nice to know that some of that money (and I do believe it is a large part) is going back to the environment, animals and conservation.  I think of parks with that message as being small, run by volunteers and entry is the cost of a donation.  The Irwins have found a way to reach the masses with their message - and gain donations from people who may not otherwise give money to the cause - but in this way they get a fantastic experience out of it themselves!

The best part for me was the show at the crocoseum, where we saw amongst other things, the crocodiles being fed.  The Irwins (Terry, Bindi and Bob) are all very entertaining too!

Our final stop was Brisbane, where we were lucky enough to stay in a city centre appartment - a nice change after camping, especially since the temperature was quite a lot cooler than we were used to!

On the last night, we went to see an AFL (Australian rules football) match at The Gabba.  My team ( the Brisbane Lions) unfortunately didn't win, but as always it was exciting to be there at a sports match!  Here's our star - Brendan Fevola kicking a goal!!!

We then spent the last two days of the holiday driving back up to Cairns.  Things didn't start well at 4.20am on our first day with a flat car battery!  Fortunately the RACQ man was just next door, and we had a new battery and were off just 40 mins later!

All in all a fantastic holiday - heaps of new experiences for the kids, and a good break for us - with plenty of fresh air!

Time now to get back to reality!

Jill