Large stripey cushion cover

I made this cover a good few months ago, but never got round to adding it as a post to the blog.

 

I had found myself with a rather large, bare cushion and some stripey material that I picked up cheaply on a recent trip to Ikea, which had not yet found a use, other than occasionally adorning the side of the sofa with the nail varnish spill on...

After some umm-ing and ahh-ing and a bit of tape-measuring, a handy, zippable cushion cover was born.

All I did was...






Measure and cut out two squares of fabric 1-2 inches bigger than the square cushion all the way around.





I then gathered my tools (pins, needle, thread, sewing machine, scissors) and began pinning the two squares of fabric together, face to face, along three edges. I left the fourth edge open in order to attach a zip later on and turn the cushion cover the right way out eventually.

With the fabric still inside out (two pieces pinned face to face) I sewed along each of the three pinned sides with a sewing machine.

When all three sides were stitched, I folded back the fourth edges by about an inch and pinned them to make the hems for the zip to be sewn on to. I pinned the zip (about an inch shorter than the length of the cushion) to both sides of the top egde to the inside of the hems (now on the outside of the fabric, as it the cover is still inside out). Unzipping the zip at this point makes this easier.

 
When pinned in place, I sewed along each underside of the zip (the bit you don't see when the zip is done up). Where the zip didn't reach to the ends of the edge of the cushion cover, I turned the cover out the right way, and sewed the two sides of the cover together at each end of the zip, by hand, making sure that I sewed right up to where the zip started and finished, at each end, to give a neater finish.

In full swing on the sofa...!

Sparkly greetings cards

  

 

Spring throw

Hi folks! So it's been a while since I last posted on the Faberdashery blog. I have no excuse really. It hasn't stopped raining for the past month so it's not as if I've been undertaking any great outdoor activities instead of crafting. No, I have just been taking my time with the latest project, as I wanted it to be something that would last well - even though it looks like it's thrown together (which it really is). I had the idea of making a "throw" that could be as versatile as possible - used to chuck on the sofa to cover up the unattractive spilt nail varnish stain, to use as a picnic blanket when the sun eventually comes out, or to throw on the bed if the weather takes an even colder spell.

To create a light, easily storable, and versatile throw you will need:

• Squares of fabric (mine are all approx 30cm squared)
• A backing sheet the total size of the throw you want to make
• Needle, thread, pins, tape measure, scissors
• Sewing machine (not vital)

Method:

1. I began by cutting the squares out of various leftover scraps of fabric and then laying them all out on the floor in a haphazard pattern, before pinning them in rows and sewing together with the sewing machine:

2. When the rowns were ready to be sewn together I ironed the underside seams flat so that the throw would lie better while I was sewing and once it was finished:

3. When all the squares had been sewn together to form the main body of the the throw, I pinned a plain old sheet to the top of the throw, so that effectively the topside (the patchwork) and the underside (sheet) were pinned face to face and then I sewed up three sides using the sewing machine.

4. I ironed the fourth unsewn edges back in on themselves to form creases so that they would stay in place when sewing them together by hand, which I then did.

5. When the topside and bottom side were completely sewn together I set about sewing simple white stitches diagonally across each square to create a quilting effect and to hold the two layers of the throw firmly together:

This was the most time-consuming part of the project and I successfully broke two machine needles in the process...oops.

But finally, I ended up with a country-bumpkin-ish spring throw, that can be used whenever and wherever:

 

Perfect for wrapping yourself up in and hiding from the rain until it goes away :-)

Parisian pastry

As I am off to Paris in less than 36 hours (aahh!!) I thought it would be fitting to practice my pastry-eating skills beforehand (although I know they're excellent).

I rustled up this very easy and very tasty pudding using:

• 1/2 pack readymade puff pastry (or however much fits in your baking tray) rolled out to 1/2 cm thick, placed in a baking tray and with approx 2cm of each edge folded over
• 1 tin of apricot halves in juice and
• a couple of tablespoons of frozen berries laid in rows straight onto the rolled out pastry
• 1 egg lightly whisked and brushed onto the pastry edges

 

 

Place your fruit-covered pastry in an oven pre-heated to 180 degrees centigrade and cook for roughly 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden:

Serve warm with a spoonful of creme fraiche. Bon appetit!

Hendricks gin soap dispenser

Does what it says on the tin.

Do remember to drink all the gin before adding the soap, and do make sure the original soap bottle top is wide enough to fit onto the spirit bottle, and the straw bit is long enough to reach the bottom.