DIY - Elbow patched jumper

The Elbow patches - For someone it is the latest fashion statement, for someone it is just the way how to fix the hole on her/his favorite jumper. For whatever reason  you have just found this post - here is how you do it!  

What you need:

- jumper 

- piece of fabric ( leather, leatherette, denim, manchester, firm cotton, ..)

- pair of scissors 

- paper

- pins

- sewing machine /  overlocker (not necessary )

Steps:

1. On a piece of paper draw the shape of the patch - it can be simple "O" shape, or cute hearts, squares - whatever you fancy.. 

2. Pin the paper shape to piece of fabric and cut it with scissors ( x2)

3. Seam the edges with sewing machine or overlocker. It will stop fabric from fraying, but it's not necessary if you use leather, leatherette or suede. 

 

4. Use a ripper or a pin to tie the thread ends

5.Try the sweater on, place the patches at elbow level and pin them on sweater. Just make sure they are both at the same level.

 

6.  Now you can sew the patches to the sweater by sewing machine or by hand. I sew it by hand as the sleeve or neck hole wasn't wide enough to put it through the sewing machine arm. 

7. Ta daaaaaaaaaa... Elbow patched jumper is live! 

DIY - How to shave your dog

It is the time of the year when dogs are changing their "coats" for warmer weather. If you have a dog you know how hard it is to keep your house hairless in Spring. It is just impossible! Therefore I decided to visit a local dog groomer, who informed me that earliest available date she has for Floo is 20th of April. Now what do you do?

• a) Wait till the end of April and hover every second day to keep your house tidy
• b) Travel to different town to find another groomer
• c) Shave your dog by yourself

Well, I decided to go for c) option and shave Floo at home. I thought it would be hard job but it wasn't at the end. It was actually easy and I enjoyed it! Here is the result 

Steps:

1. Choose your shaver. I have bought a classic human shaver with several attachments (various blades from 0.5 mm to 2.5 cm) I made sure that shaver is not loud as Floo is afraid of the noise. If your dog is too, turn it on before starting to shave and let your dog get used to it. Hold it near his/her head.You can also buy proper dog shavers at a pet shop or an animal grooming store.
2. Hold your dog still. I asked my boyfriend to hold Floo for me. If you want to do it on  your own, you will need to put your dog on a table and hold your dog's collar so he/she keep their head up and won't jump off. 
3. Attach the 0.9 mm blade and start with the face. Hold your shaver flat against the skin and shave toward the eyes, moving the same way as the hair. To get the corners, shave away from the eye. If your dog is moving around, wait untill he/she settles down. 
4. Go to the underarms. When the dog is standing, lift up their arm in a comfortable position. Shave under the arm and repeat with the other arm.
5. Move to the groin. Lift your dog's legs. This will keep the dog clean when they have to go to the "bathroom". 
6. Now go to their bottom. Raise theire tail and shave around their bottom. This is also to keep them clean when they "do their business". Be careful in this area! :) 
7. Shave the rest of the body. I changed the blade from 0.9 mm to 1.8 mm. Start behind the head and go down the neck going on to the back and then down both sides. 
8. When you are done you can give your dog a bath and groom him/her with a brush or comb.

And there we are - nice & groomed! :)

DIY - Envelopes made from fashion magazines

Do you find hard to bin fashion magazines? Well, I do. I find it very inspiring to look through those glossy pages and see various fashion clothing. They are useful resorts for me as I sew and design a lot. What I only dislike about the fashion magazines is that they are full of adverts! Errrr... But back to the point. I wanted to use these old fashion magazines somehow. I made vintage envelopes just couple days ago and I was thinking this could be great project for recycling magazines as well. So I created these tiny little envelopes to hold my business cards!

If you want to do this craft here is the tutorial: 

What do you need?

-          Old fashion magazines, such as Elle, Vogue, ..

-          A pair of scissors

-          Pencil

-          Glue stick

-          Ruler

-          Carton/cardboard (i.e. cereal box)

Steps:


             1. Draw and cut a template out from carton as per below picture.
  

2. Now place your carton template on magazine paper, draw the lines

3. cut  your envelope with a pair of scissors. 

4. Fold it up. Do the sides first then use the folded sides as a guide on where to fold the top and bottom.

5. Use a glue stick to stick your envelope together.

And that’s it! Enjoy your new recycled envelopes. You can use them as a gift card envelope; business card holder or you can store small things in it such as earrings, rings.. You can also draw bigger templates and do larger envelopes for wrapping a book, cosmetic, accessories or whatever gift you want to wrap up!

DIY project - envelopes made from vintage wallpaper

When I moved into our house three years ago, I found a bag full of very vintage wallpapers under the stairs. I didn’t want to use them on my walls, as I prefer modern style interiors. But I loved their pattern so much that I couldn’t bin them. I found them again after 3 years and I decided to do some paper craft with them and make them useful! I made small envelopes for a start. I might use them as a business card holder when shipping items from my shop or I will store my labels, stickers or tags in it!

What do you need?

-          Wallpaper or wrapping paper, magazines, or whatever paper you like

-          A pair of scissors

-          Pencil

-          Glue stick

-          Ruler

-          Blank A4 paper

-          Carton/cardboard (i.e. cereal box)

Steps:

1.Draw and cut a template out from blank A4 paper as per below picture.  (The reason why I draw it on blank A4 page first is because I wanted to see how it folds.  You can skip this step and draw the template directly on cardboard)

2. Trace it onto a cardboard and cut out with a pair of scissors carefully.

3. Now use your carton template on wallpaper/wrapping paper and cut your envelope with scissors. 

4. Fold it up. Do the sides first then use the folded sides as a guide on where to fold the top and bottom.

5. Use glue stick to stick your envelope together.

And that’s it! Enjoy your new recycled envelopes. You can use them as a gift card envelope, business card holder or you can store small things in it such as earrings, rings..  You can also draw bigger templates and do larger envelopes for wrapping a book, cosmetic, accessories or whatever gift you want to wrap up.  

.. I have also created a smaller version 

Enjoy your new weekend project! 

DIY Dog Bed

If you have a dog you know how hard is to keep his bed clean at all times. My dog Floo has several pillows and I wash these almost every week! I have quite small washing machine and sometimes it's difficult to get rid of all the dirt as pillows are quite huge :-/ That's why I decided to sew a pillow case that I can easily remove and wash properly anytime it's necessary. 

What you need:
- 2 rectangles of durable fabric such as denim, corduroy, or heavy cotton
- 4 side rectangles (as on picture)
- fiberfill stuffing or previously used dog pillow (in my case),
- zip 16-18 inches long
- sewing machine & polyester or cotton thread
- scissors, chalk and ruler

Instructions:
1. Measure pillow first. My pillow is 65 cm long, 60 cm wide and 10 cm high. 
2. Cut two large rectangles ( length x width ) and 4 side rectangles ( 2 rectangles = length x height and 2 rectangles = width x height ) from desired fabric as per below picture:

3. Pin and sew all side rectangles together to create large "square". If you want to make the project easier use only 1 long stripe for sides instead of cutting 4 smaller rectangles. I personally think the pillow looks better when sides are created from 4 individually cut rectangles.

4. Pin and sew this "square" with one large rectangle together. Make sure right sides of fabric face each other. For added durability, create a second row of stitches right inside the first row of stitches.

When you turn right side out you should have now clean edges like this on each side:

5. Pin and sew sides of "square" to the other rectangle. Leave 1 shorter side open. We will add a zipper to this side shortly.

6. If zip is shorter than width of the pillow, sew few cm/inches from each side.

7. Sew the last piece of "square" and zipper together using a zip footer. Make sure you leave a zip half open so you can turn right side out through it when you're finished! 

8. Turn your case right-side-out and fill it with a pillow. And that's it! You have just created easy-to-remove, machine washable pet bed!

If you have any question about the project or any recommendation and useful links please leave a comment! Thanks!!

DIY scarf

I have loads of remaining pieces of fabrics which I only store in paper bags for "someday" craft projects. Now it's time to start using them! This time I decided to do a scarf in combination of grey leaf printed cotton and  light grey jersey.  

Instructions:

1. Choose 2 fabrics you like. I chose light-grey jersey fabric and light grey cotton fabric with cute leaves print. 
2. Cut two long rectangles from each fabric in same length and width. My scarf is made from 170 cm (67 inches) long and 42 cm (16.5 inches) wide rectangles. 
3. Pin and stitch the sides right sides together to create a long tube.
4. pull the tube right side out, and pin the seams at the two open ends.
5. Stitch both sides separately to create long stole
6. This is it! Very easy 1 hour project! 

Does this scarf look more like a circle scarf? That's because I tied the scarf ends below the front fold! Here are other ways how you can tie a scarf. Isn't it great? (source: Pinterest)