Crafters Companion February Project- Friendship Bracelet

I have been a little behind on my blog lately so today I thought I would catch you up on some of my recent Crafters Companion projects.

In February ( I know this is some time ago now!) I was asked to make  project for National make a friend day. I'm not going to lie I scratched my head for a while trying to think of something to make. My first thought was a keyring which I did end up making but I will show you that in a different post.

I ended up making a friendship bracelet. This must have been the easiest project I have done for Crafters Companion so I wasn't sure if to make it or not but then I thought its not about making something really complicated but showing you all the different ways in which you could use your products, this is exactly what I did.

I used Debbie Shore's button factory to make my bracelet and love birds fat quarter bundle. It used very little fabric as you can imagine but there is loads left for other projects.

I used the ribbon that tied my fat quarter bundle together to make my bracelet made enough buttons to go around my wrist and then threaded these onto the ribbon and there you have it. If you are more experienced in jewellery making you could make a proper closure unfortunately I'm not so I simply tied a not but made it so i could adjust the size.

Click on the links below to buy everything I used for this project.

Happy sewing!

Button Factory

The fat quarters I used are out of stock but what about these.

Nesting makeup bag tutorial

Today I am sharing my second tutorial with you that I did for the crafters Companion Blog. Hope you like it and feel inspired to make these yourself!

Materials Required:

• Fat quarter bundle
• Heat n bond Vinyl
• Seeded Cotton
• Fusible interfacing
• Debbie Shore button factory kit
• Debbie shore English paper piecing Tumblr shapes
• Zips on a roll

Measurements for cutting outer front and back

Large: x2 11x8 inchs

x2 11x3 inchs

Medium: x2 9x10 inches

Small: x2 7x9 inches

Step 1: Cut out all outer front and back pieces for the Large and medium size bags Using the measurements above.

Step 2: Using the english paper piecing template cut out 5 of each of your 2 chosen fabrics, I use the prym glue marker to fold the fabric around shape. Then hand some 5 of those together alternating the fabric. You should now have two rows with 5 tumblers in each.

Step 3: Cut out the remaining pieces for the front and back of the smallest makeup bag. You shoud now have the the pieces like the picture below.

Step 4 Piece together the sections for the large bag and the small bag like shown in the picture below. This is also the time to add any embelishments to your oter pieces I used the riibon that tied the fat quarters together as a trim and my button factory kit to add a fabric button to the middle of my medium sized bag.

Step 5: Now cut out all the front and back lining pieces so they are the same sizes as the outer pieces.

Step 6: Now it's time for the vinyl. Cut out a piece the same size of each front and back. (so you should have 6 piees) Follow the instruction on the heat and bond to make your fabric washable!

Step 7: You now need to cut out your fusible interfacing for each piece of lining and adhere them on to the lining pices using no steam and on a medium heat.

Step 8: Cut the zips off your zips on a roll so they are slighty wider than the fabric, this makes is easier to sew so the slider doesn't get in the way.

Step 9: To attatch your zip get the outer front of your makeup bag, and place the zip tape right side down onto the right side of your fabric and sew, Repeat with the back piece sewing the right side of the zip to the right side of the fabric.

Step 10: This is where it may get tricky. Hold the zip in your hand so that both outer pieces are facing down and right side together, Now place one piece of the linig over the zip so the right side is facing the wrong side of the zip and sew across ( you will notice that your sewing over where you have already sewn the outer piece) Now repeat for the other side of the zip tape right side of the lining facing the wrong side of the zipper.

And when it's flipped the right way it should look like the photo above.

Step 11: Bring your outer front and back pieces so they are right side facing and the lining pieces so they are right side facing. Sew all way around the four sides leaving a gap in the bootom of the lining for turning through.

Step 12: On all four corners pinch the material so that the side and bottom seams meet to form a triangle and measure 1.5 inches from the top point and sew along that line. You can cut away the excess material above the seems when you have finished.

Step 13: turn the bag so they are right side out through the gap that you left. Making sure all the corners are nice and crisp. You can then sew the gap up that you left. Push the lining inside your bag and thats it ! Finished. Repeat these steps for sewing up on all of your makeup bags.

What i made my Nannan for Christmas

So i thoughy id just do a quick post today as i was scrolling through the photos on my phone I cam across the photos I had taken of my Nannans Christmas present that I made for her.

For her birthday which was in November i bought her the spectrum nois colourista pencils as she likes to colour and noticed she had started to do some colouring while she was watching tv and things.

I then had the idea to make her some sort of pencil case to keep her pencils in and knew that the pencil roll on Debbie Shores sew handy cd rom would be perfect and the flap pocket could maybe house her small colourista colouring book I bought her too.

I used these gorgeos floral fabrics. I also stitched the name Nannan on to the roll to  make it more personal.

As i say with most of Debbie's patterns it was a lovley and fairly easy make and I would deffinatly make more.

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?

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

Crafters Companion November Project- Christmas Tree skirt

Hi Everyone Since today is the 1st of December I thought I would do my first Christmas post!

For november my other Project for Crafters Companion was something from Debbie Shore's Half yard Christmas. I decided to make the tree skirt as this was the first thing to stand out to me when flicking through the book.

One of the things I like most about this book is that some of the projects could be changed for projects any time of the year and not just christmas. Take the felt gift bags as example. These could be any colour and would make a great Gift bag for birthdays.

For this particular tree skirt I used the Threaders Christmas fat quarter bundle. I Adore this bundle. I love the colours, so bright and festive. I love that there is still the Green that you would associate with Christmas but other bright and fun colours too which I think is very different to some of the more traditional Christmas fabric.

The pattern is very easy to follow. It tells you how to make the triangle template that make up your pieces.

What I would say is that I did the right size triangle and the right amount of triangles but it seems to make it too big and it ended up overlapping, I wasn't too fussed about this I added my buttons for decoration and didn't add the loops as they weren't necessary.

I hope you like my tree skirt and that it inspirers you to have a go at making your own Christmas decorations. Half yard Christmas is a fantastic book if your stuck for ideas.

Click on the images below and they will take you to the Crafters Companion website to buy them.

Happy sewing!

Half Yard Christmas by Debbie Shore

 9 Piece Fat Quarter Bundle - Christmas Collection

Crafters Companion November Project- Debbie Shore's Flower dies

Hi Everyone! Long time no blog.

Today I have got a post about Debbie Shore's new Flower Dies, Which might I add have got to be my favourite dies and one of my favourite products right now.

These flower dies are so versitile and there are so many ways they could be used to add a little umph to your sewing projects.

This is a project I have made using them, Plain makeup bags using the Debbie Shore charlie box bag pattern and the fabric is the linen look fabric in beige. This is currently out of stock on the Crafters Companion Website when I looked but I purchased mine from the Crafters Companion Chesterfield store, What a fabulous shop but that's something I might talk about in another post.

All I did was makeup the makeup bag as in the instructions then used the threaders felt pack (again sold out on the website but still available in store I believe,There is also other felt available on the website)to cut out my flowers. I have used the Rose, Peony and Leaves dies for these 2 makeup bags

I then rolled the flowers and used my hot glue gun as i was rolling. For step by step videos go to www.debbieshore.tv. I also used my glue gun to stick the flowers to the makeup bag, but you could so them either.

I have made a ton of these makeup bags now and I am experimenting with other things to use my new flower dies on.

As always click on the photos to be directed to the products I have used on the Crafters Companion website.

Fabric Flower Dies - Rose Flower, Leaves and Chrysanthemum Flower

Fabric Flower Dies - Daisy Flower, Peony Flower and Blossom Flower

Another Jewellery Roll

Hi everyone,

Today I am sharing with you another make. I have already shown you one I have previously made in other fabrics but I love making this so much that I couldn't resist making another.

I made this particular one in cotton canvas fabrics. I love using these kinds of materials weather it be cotton canvas, cotton linen, they just give a lovely look to your project.

This particular fabric has dressmakers mannequins on it which I felt was quite fitting for a jewellery roll. I used a black cotton canvas with white spots on for the inside. The lining (which I haven't shown in photos) is just a white dotty polycotton.

I have used the same black and white dotty cotton canvas for the bias binding around the edge which is a great contrast with the mannequin fabric.

To finish it off I have used a bright red ribbon which ties around the front in a bow and really makes the whole thing pop.

This jewellery roll is available to buy for only £15.99 on my Facebook page www.facebook.com/emibdesigns 

The pattern I used to make this is from Debbie Shore's Half yard Home, It is really easy to sew if you have good knowledge on sewing or your not afraid to give anything a go.

Debbie shore Half yard home

I photographed my jewellery roll in front of my new sewing machine which I haven't shown you yet, it is a vintage singer, hand crank sewing machine. It was a birthday gift for my 21st. I am sure I will be doing a blog post all about it soon.

Hope you enjoyed this post and I am going to be doing another blog post later today so stay tuned for that!

My Debbie Shore Christmas Templates

Hi everyone!

Today I am going to show you my new Debbie Shore Christmas templates that I got a few weeks ago now. I couldn't wait to buy them when they where launched.

There is a total of 6 all together. There is a santa, penguin, angel, reindeer, stocking and a snowman. Each template also comes with a project book which shows you how to make each of the projects shown on the front of the packaging which I think is an amazing added bonus!

The santa is my favourite at the moment, I haven't used them all but I have used the majority of them and I think I will be defiantly having a go at the projects in the project book.

I thought I would share with you a little project I made with the Santa and Penguin template. I used felt to make up the characters then added these to gift Jute Bags. I hand drew the facial features such as eyes and mouth. I am really pleased with how these turned out!

These are available to buy on my Facebook page for only £4.99! They make a great gift bag for christmas and then it is also a gift in itself.
www.facebook.com/emibdesigns

Have you got the new christmas template? I'd love to see what everyone is making with them.

If you would like to purchase any of these templates click the image below and it will direct you to the Crafters Companion website.

Debbi Shore Template sheets