Tutorial: Cupcake applique Half Apron

This post is very exciting, the first ever step by step tutorial I have posted here on my blog.

Some of you might have already seen this as this was one of the tutorials that I did for Crafters Companions blog and it was posted at the beginning of January I believe.

So today we will be making this.

Materials Required:

• Seeded Cotton
• Fat quarter Bundle- I used the cotton craft co starts and bunting canvas fat quarters
• Stick and spray for fabric
• Free baking template from sew inspired issue 4

Dimensions to cut your fabric

Main apron Piece- 22 ¾ inches by 11.5 inches

Pocket Piece- 22 ¾ inches by 8 inches

Apron Ties- 22 ¾ inches by 4 inches ( You will need 3 of these)

Bias Binding- 2 metres (you can either buy some or make your own like I did)

Step 1:

Round the corners of the main apron piece and the pocket piece

Step 2:

Using your free stencil cut out your desired applique. I chose to do the cake stand with 3 cupcakes on top.

Step 3:

Using your stick and spray ashere these onto the pocket piece of the seeded cotton and then using your sewing machine, sew around to applique them on.

Step 4:

Apply Bias binding to the top edge of the pocket to neaten it (use your prefered method) Then attach the pocket piece to the main apron and sew all the way around attatching the pocket. Sew close to the edge.

Step 5:

You then need to sew 2 lines to create your pockets. This can be however you would like it but I sewed my 2 lines roughly about 16cm from each edge to make 2 smaller pockets on the outside and the middle pockets so it is the biggest.

Step 6:

Apply your Bias binding to the outer edges of the apron being careful around the curves. I usually open up my bias binding sew at ¼ inch and then flip the bias binding over to cover that seam on the back. You can then hand sew this for the neatest method but this can also be machine stitched if your confident enough.

Step 7:

With the three tie piece sew the together on the short ends and press open. Then press the long strip in half and open back up and press each outer edge into the middle. Finally press in half again so that all edges are concealed. Also press about ½ inch of each short end in to conceal those edges too.

Step 8:

 Find the middle of the apron and the middle of the long ties and match these notches up. Pinning the middle piece of the ties to the apron to secure. Starting from one end sew along one short end, all the way down the bottom of the tie until you get to the apron, carry on stitching the ties onto the apron but being a bit more careful and steady with your stitches. Carry on until you get to the opposite end and finish by sewing up the other short edge. And that's it one apron fit for a baker!

I hope you liked my first tutorial. Please bear with me as I am still new to making step by step tutorials. I also have one I am going to post on how to make nesting makeup bags so follow my blog to keep in the loop!

Crafters companion- January projects- Try a new technique.

Hi everyone

So as promised here is what I have been making for my January projects for Crafters companion.

This time we where asked to try a new technique. Now over the past year or so I have tried out many techniques that I hadn't before such as English paper piecing but the one thing I have never tried and always thought to be quite scary was free motion embroidery or free machine embroidery which ever one you want to call it. I thought it was about time I had a go so I lowered the feed dogs on my machine and off I went. I don't know why I found the thought of it so scary. Safe to say I can't stop now and want to add it into as many projects as possible.

I only did a small project as I wasn't sure how my free motion skills would be. So decided to make a fabric covered notebook. 

I used the threaders ditsy floral fat quarters these fat quarters work so well for many projects I always want to have these in my stash!

I then used Debbie Shores heart nesting die for the little hearts and free motioned these on along with free motioning my name on there too.

To finish it off I used Debbie Shores Rose flower applique and cut this out in white felt and popped a pink button in the middle to give it a bit of colour. 

I hope this inspires you to try a new technique this year. I'd love to know what it is you want to try.

See below for products I have used.

Threaders Ditsy floral fat quarter bundle 

Debbie Shore heart frame die

Debbie Shore rose flower die

Crafters Companion Chesterfield store. Review and what I bought

Hi everyone, so on Thursday we made a little trip down to Chesterfield to go to the Crafters Companion store. I have already been quite a few times already as it's only around a 40 minute drive from where I live.

I love being able to go to the shop, don't get me wrong I think the website is fabulous and has lots of things on there but when it comes to choosing fabric I must admit I do prefer to look and feel.

I also find I get really inspired when I go there. I look at literally everything in the shop. I know I sew and the majority of the shop is predominantly card making and other crafts but who's to say they can just be used for that.

I am on a bit of a mission at the moment for myself to try and think outside of the box when it comes to my sewing projects. I want to try and use different products in different ways and you will see from what I've bought where I'm going with this.

Now for a mini review of the store. The staff couldn't be any more friendly, they always greet you when you walk in and make sure your aware that they are there if you need any help and true to their word there is always someone around to help you. I like how they are always interested in what it is you might be making at the moment, it shows they too have an interest in sewing/crafting.

Don't forget whatever club inspire discount that you get online you also get in store they will just search for your account on the till.

Now for the good stuff, what did I buy? I always leave with a bag full because even though it isn't far it isn't like I go once a week so I like to be stocked up.

First I'll talk about the fabric that I bought. I bought red, black and navy supersoft faux leather. I bought these to make bags with my Debbie Shore build a bag templates. The navy geometric fabric, the heart fabric and the star fabric if you haven't noticed match my faux leather and I'm going to use these as linings.
I then got some of the adorn it fabrics as these where on sale and such a good deal but I didn't go mad and only got 2 different prints. Last but not least I bought the pink dog fabric, I have seen the yellow one before and loved it. I have made something with this already and I am in love with is so I'll be sure to show you that in another post.

Next I bought templates. First the Debbie shore fox template I have to Scotty dog one and wanted the fox one so I picked that up. Then I got some of the Sheena Douglas stencils, you may see where I'm going now with the thinking outside the box. I have used the camper van one on a few projects and love it.

Then I caved and bought 2 sets of the spectrum noir illustrator pens. I already have quite a few of the original spectrum noir pens and pencils and recently got the colourista marker range but I thought having a finer nib would be great. I then decided to get the trays to store them in. I have also put my colourista markers and sparkle pens in here. I only bought 1 set which is 6 trays and fits 72 pens and I have about 100 original spectrum noir pens so haven't stored those in here but I will definitely be investing in more trays.

So that's everything. Have you been to any of the Crafters companion shops yet? What did you think and what goodies did you get?

Shop Online with Emi B Designs!

I have some very exciting news regarding my Business Emi B Designs.

I have built an ecommerce website for my Business. After a couple of years of trying out different platforms for selling my things such as craft fairs I came to a decision I wanted to have my very own website and promote my products to more than just the area that I live.

www.emibdesigns.co.uk

I would love it if you could take a look at my website, please bear in mind that there isn't much stock on there just yet as it is time consuming so I am adding bits on between working.

Here is a selection of some of the products on there at the moment. 

www.emibdesigns.co.uk

Crafters Companion December Project- Christmas gift- Twice as nice purse

Today I am sharing my other December project for Crafters Companion with you. My brief for this project was a Christmas gift of my choice.

After seeing the Debbie Shore twice as nice purse kit a while ago I thought that would make the perfect gift for someone for Christmas.

Don't forget this would make the perfect gift all year round too.

I was a bit skeptical about this at first with their being a clasp inside the clasp and even though I have been sewing for several years now and have made coin purses before I haven't made any like this. 

I think this proves we underestimate what we can do sometimes and with a little patience we can put our mind to it.

I used fabric from Dashwood studios which hasn't been on the site for long but it makes such lovely projects. I used seeded cotton/calico as the contrast as I wanted something neutral and that would make the navy flower print stand out.

I was so behind with blogging these projects I have already finished my January projects so look out for those being posted this week.

Unfortunately the particualr fabric I used is out of stock but there is plenty more fabric on the website to choose from, any of these fabrics would look great. 

http://www.crafterscompanion.co.uk/sewing/fabric/dashwood-studios.html

Twice as nice purse pattern

Crafters companion Design team project- December Christmas project

Today I am going to share with you what I made for Crafters companion for my December project. The theme I had was a christmas project of my choice.

My first ideas brought me straight to Debbie Shore's half yard Christmas book. I wanted to make something that you could put a gift into and decided on the christmas sack.

I wanted something that would look very rustic and traditional and knew I wanted to use hessian straight away. Although they don't sell this on the Crafters Companion website I bought mine from a local fabric shop and it is easily available online.

For the appliqué present on the front I followed the instructions in the book and used a Christmas fat quarter bundle which I will list below. I also used this bundle for the lining which actually shows through like a binding at the top as you can see in the photo.

For my embellishments I used lace to tie it up which is what I had in my stash and then I used red and white stripe ribbon from my local fabric shop.

I loved the way this turned out, it is exactly what I pictured in my head.

Don't forget this doesn't just have to be a Christmas project. Use other fabrics to make a present sack for a birthday gift or even valentines day since that's only just around the corner.

Happy sewing!


They don't seem to have the christmas fat quarters on the website anymore but they have lots of others to choose from how about this one for a birthday sack instead.

celebration fat quarters

Half yard Christmas