Felt and Fabric Craft Swap Goodness

Recently I signed up for a craft swap. A craft swap--yipppppeeeeee!!! The official name is the "Great Camp-Out Craft Swap" and it is sponsored by a Amanda Lester at apple blue vintage. With a camping theme in mind I started making a list of 'camp' related things I like:
campers
animals
s'mores
campfire
flashlights
tents
trees
nuts
signs
sunglasses

After looking on Etsy for camping related crafts, I was totally stumped. And then I saw someone's blog post about how they made some cool sun glass cases. I would love to share the link with you. I have spent the last hour looking at every blog in my blog roll and I cannot remember who gave the the idea or even what the original sun glass cases looked like. I did not save the original image. I barely looked at it. I just remembered that it looked easy and I started dreaming up my own way of creating the little cases using felt so that I wouldn't have to iron under a bunch of seams.

So I made up my own plan of attack.

I wish I would've made this into a DIY. But I did not. haha.

1. First I made a rough measurement of my fabric and cut out a rectangle that would fold in half and fit over my sunglasses. Since I was creating a whole bunch, I cut out all the fabric I needed at the same time.
2. I put it on a piece of felt and cut the felt slightly larger on the top end. I cut out all the felt at the same time.
3. I stitched up the edges, wrong sides together, leaving the top open. I did all the sewing for each one at the same time.
4. I turned the 'pocket' inside out. I used an iron to press it flat and in half. I also pressed the top flap down to cover the top edge of the fabric. I did all the ironing at the same time.
5. Finally, I stitched around two sides to close it up and added embellishments. It was so nice to clip off all the loose strings and glue on the flowers. This was so fun! I wish I would've used pinking sheers on this project, but I can never find my pair when I want them!

I had to make 16 for the swap, but I think I made 20 so that I could keep a few for all my sunglasses!

 Now I know you are wondering about the embellishments that I used. For the one below, I just covered a couple of buttons and stitched those on. I love covered buttons!

Below you can see another version that I made. I had the soft vintage-ish fabric above and I also had this great corduroy fabric so I decided to use both.

 For the felt flowers....let's see....Oh yes, a couple of months a go LollyChops (the very lovely and talented LollyChops!)  had an awesome video tutorial on felt flowers. I made a bunch but I never used them for anything. They were just trapped inside a plastic container waiting to be freed. I used fabric glue to attach them to the fabric cases and made some little felt leaves too! Total cuteness!

I hope you enjoyed this post. Stay tuned for another post later today. I didn't have time to post last Monday so I decided to do two this week!

Oh and to see what another craft swapper made, check out Run With Scissors's Janel created! Compass bows---sweet!

DIY Sunday: Flower Brooch

Hey everyone! :)
I hope you are having a wonderful Sunday. I am having a fabulous one with lots of sleep and some creative fun. One of them was this cute little project I want to share with you:


It's a cute little flower brooch! YAY :D Perfect for warm spring days.
You will need:
fabrics in different colours and patterns
green felt
sewing machine / sewing needle & thread
pin

First, cut 3 x 2 circles from the fabrics you want to use.


Facing each other, sew 2 circles together. (repeat for all circles...) Leave a bit open to turn the circle inside out.
Like this!

See? :)

Once you have finished your three circles,

turn each one inside-out.


Three cute circles :D


Now, take one circle and fold to half.


Take another one and wrap around the first.


Then, wrap the third one around the other two.


Sew them together on the bottom of the flower.
Don't cut off the thread!


Now, cut a strap from green felt.


Sew it to the flower and start wrapping the felt around the bottom of it.


Use some loose stitches to keep the felt close to the flower ;)


Now, take a pin and sew it to the flower.


I'd suggest you better sew it to the top of the flower and not to the bottom like I did. Believe me, it will work better!


Now, your flower brooch is done!!!! YAY! :D




Hope you are enjoying our cute blog project! It's always so much fun reading the other girls' posts and feeling inspired everyday!

We love you.

xo.
Katja

recycled plushies

I am busy, busy, busy. So today just I quick hello from me. But I won't leave you without some eco and recycle inspiration. I found these cute plushies, made with recycled fabric, on Etsy:


sleepyking's Bon Bon and Belchick - Woodland Squirrels in Love
cuddlemonstre's Plato
violastudio's Bandit Groundhog
woolcrazy's Who...Who loves you...felted wool owl

Next week, I'll be in France. With Wifi! So I'll be back next week with a French post.

à la semaine prochaine!

DIY Sunday: polaroid holder

Happy Sunday everyone and welcome back to a new DIY with me!
Oh, but first: My favorite way to dress for spring?

Well, I love wearing dresses and even though I dont dress up too often, it's my favorite thing for spring! The dress above is my new favorite dress, by the way! Soooo cute! :D

But let's move on to todays' DIY!
I made a tutorial on how to sew this pretty polaroid holder:

I used fuji instax mini polaroids, but if you have a regular polaroid camera, it will work too!

So first, you will need some pretty polaroids you want to store.

Then, grab some felt, fabric leftover and a pair of scissors. You could use a sewing machine but you could also handstitch the case. :)

I used a disappearing pen to mark the measurements of the polaroids. I also added 0,5 cm to each side of the polaroid (for sewing). Cut two equal pieces!

I also wanted to sew a tiny heart to the case, so I took some leftover fabric and my disappearing pen and drew a heart on it and then I cut it out. Of course! :)

Next, I sew the heart to the felt.

Done! :) The next step is the final one - you see it's another very quick DIY!

Lay the two pieces of felt onto each other and sew around them. Make sure you leave the top open! :)

Now, simply put the polaroids in the holder and feel free to carry it around with you wherever you may go!

Hope you liked this DIY and if you do.... let me know!

xo.
Katja

DIY: Ruffled Dot Wall Art

Hi Guys! Happy Wednesday!

I'm here today to share a cute little wall hanging DIY. I am constantly looking for cool art to add to the wall in my living room. I haven't hung anything on the wall yet because I'm waiting until I have the perfect collection {and I've lived here for a year and a half!}

To complete this wall hanging you will need:

• 1 canvas, your choice of size {I used a tiny 4x4 canvas}
• 3 different fabrics in various shades of your color choice {a great project for scraps!}
• fabric glue or otherwise all purpose glue
• scissors
• a little bit of patience

Step 1:
Cut out all your little circles. My circles ranged from 1/4 to 1/2 inch in diameter. As I cut out the circles I placed them on the canvas so that I could watch the canvas fill up and judge how many more I needed to cut. It's definitely not an exact science!

Step 2:
Clear your canvas and get out the glue. I just put a small dot of glue at the top of each fabric dot and placed them individually on the canvas. Each row overlaps the row before it, creating some texture and movement...a ruffle effect, if you will.

Step 3:
Continue gluing, and cut more circles as needed. I did my rows light to dark to create a variegated look...but I think a monochromatic would be cool too.

Enjoy!

Let me introduce you to Lucy

Hello there, this is Lucy.

Lucy is the first doll I ever made and I just made her tonight. She is made from recycled fabrics: pillowcases, a t-shirt and some felt-scraps. Since she was my first ever doll sewing project I greatfully used a pattern from someone else. The pattern, called Dew Drop Girl, is made by Rebecca Dunn from Blinking Flights. Rebecca is a great crafter. I admire her dolls and she makes beautiful drawings.

Here are some pictures of the proces of making Lucy: