Fabric Hearts Bunting

Hello there, on this Snowy Monday!

Today sees the start of my Valentine's week of easy blog-makes. This delightful little project shows you how to make a swag of bunting for your kitchen.

It is not complicated, I promise!! and you could make the padded hearts in an hour or so. For the whole project, all you need are three fabric hearts and four twiggy hearts.

Lella Loves... Valentine's Ideas

The padded hearts are made from an off-cut of fabric and are stuff with recycled polyester filling (washed and saved from old poly-fill pillows).

Lella Loves... Recycling

A good stash of fabric and off-cuts is always a sight to behold!

If you wanted to learn more about recycling centres and how to salvage upholstery samples, please search in my blog's archive for Recycling Arts Clubs or click this link:

http://lellalovescreativity.blogspot.com/2011/11/scrapstores-and-recycling-arts-projects.html

Lella Loves... Fabric Hearts

To make your hearts, simply draw a template and cut out two sides for each heart.

Sew them together with the fabric facing inside out.

Leave an inch gap and then turn the hearts right side out.

Stuff with the filling and then hand-sew the hole using tiny stitches.

Lella Loves... Twiggy Hearts

These are handmade twiggy hearts made from willow. You could make them yourself but to save time this week, they can be found online or in Hobby Craft stores nationwide - £5.99 for 8.

Lella Loves... Valentine's Ideas

To create your heart garland, lay out the three padded hearts and use the twiggy hearts as spacers in between. When you are happy with the look, sew each of the padded hearts and the twiggy hearts together using three or four loopy stitches to hold the two hearts in place. Use invisible thread or microfine fishing wire to hide the joins.

Lella Loves... Heart Bunting

*Tip: Don't make the joining stitches too tight as your garland will buckle. Leave them ever so slightly slack. This will give the garland its natural swag.

I hope you pop back tomorrow for another heart-themed craft project. Do let me know if you make any of this week's blog-makes as I would like to see photos.

Bye for now,

Lella  xx

http://lellalovescreativity.blogspot.com

Jam Jar Bonnets

This is a simple yet very pretty way to gift jam to a neighbour or a friend, as a small token of thanks, if they watered your plants whilst you were away for a few days.

Lella Loves... Fabric Crafts

Here is the jam with its pretty bonnet and a bow.

If you wanted to follow this blog-make, look out for some cotton material which has a fruit and flowers pattern.

Lella Loves... Fabric Crafts

You will need:

Jam

Fabric

Circular template

Pencil

Pinking shears

Ribbon

Lella Loves... Fabric

To start, iron your fabric and select a section where there are matching fruits to the jam.

Lella Loves... Fabric Crafts

Using your chosen template, mark out a circle with the pencil.

Lella Loves... Pinking Shears

Cut your fabric using pinking shears. Every household should have a pair! They add that extra pop to craft projects and kids love using them.

Lella Loves... Fabric Crafts

Take your cut out and lay it on the jam jar. It is better to have the circle too big than too small but trim to suit.

Lella Loves... Fabric Crafts

Use an elastic band to hold the fabric bonnet in place and take the time to create pleats if you like that look.

Lella Loves... Fabric Crafts

Now take your ribbon and make a little bow to finish off.

This is a good rainy-day project for children toward the end of term. Teachers and grannies alike love to receive presents :)

Have a lovely day.

Lella xx

http://lellalovescreativity.blogspot.com

Bunting (Calico)

Hello there and Happy Monday! Today's post shows you how to jazz up some single-sided, plain cotton bunting.

I usually make mine and my flags are double-sided so I know the effort required. After seeing this beaded calico bunting, there was now way I could leave it in the shop: all of it was coming home with me.

Lella Loves... Bunting

I found this in Oxfam. Not donated goods; it was in their Fair Trade - New Goods section - and it was only £4.99.

The beautiful beads were already sewn on: that alone saved me an hour.

Lella Loves... Bunting

These are hand-painted gift tags and they are wooden so they make great embellishments.

Snip off the loops and save the twine for decorating your seasonal wreath or maybe you are following yesterday's blog-make. If you wanted to make your own twiggy wreath, here is the link:

http://lellalovescreativity.blogspot.com/2011/09/wreath-hand-made.html

Lella Loves... Bunting

The weight of the wooden tags helps the bunting to swing nicely. By adding alternate shapes, you can create very simple but joyful decorations for an older child's room.

I love this look and it took no time at all to create.

Keep your eyes open for unusual decorations in the run up to the festive season and think of ways to enjoy them all year round.

Lella  xx

http://lellalovescreativity.blogspot.com

Vintage Footstool

This darling little footstool is older than all of us and yet I found it, albeit in a sorry state, at a flea market. It is a 19th century walnut footstool with Tunbridge Ware inlay and bun feet.

Lella Loves... Vintage Footstool

Too cute for words. Perfect for little bottoms!

Lella Loves... Vintage Footstool

I recovered the top with a piece of upholstery fabric which was no bigger than a large dinner plate.

Lella Loves... Vintage Footstool

Much of the inlay is damaged or missing and its original cover would have been a needlework top. I don't mind the damage as the stool has a thousand stories to tell. Its current state is all part of its history.

Little stools like this can be found at larger antiques fairs and collectables markets where the dealers have the space to bring small furniture.

Lella Loves... Vintage Footstool

This is the underside: completely untouched and just as lovely.

Lella Loves... Vintage Footstool

I removed the seat pad by unscrewing the hand-made fixing.

Lella Loves... Vintage Footstool

Making sure I did not misplace the wooden nut, I removed the old fabric from the seat. For ease and speed, I reused the layer of filling.

Lella Loves... Vintage Footstool

I used a fabric with a pattern to centre the fabric and I did this by looking for one line to create my equator. I have placed the scissors to draw your eye to that line.

Lella Loves... Vintage Footstool

Using a heavy-duty staple gun, I fixed at the four cardinal points and then infilled. Every second staple, I checked to make sure the fabric was not being skewed out of shape.

The piece of upholstery fabric I chose was a designer sample which I picked up on my travels to a scrapstore. 

For more information on scrapstores, click on:

http://lellalovescreativity.blogspot.com/2011/08/scrapstores-and-recycling-arts-projects.html

Lella Loves... Vintage Footstool

I married the two pieces back together and fixed with the original wooden nut.

Lella Loves... Vintage Footstool

My lovely finished stool which soon found a friend :)

Lella Loves... Vintage Footstool

If you quite fancy a little footstool like this for your special ted, keep an eye on eBay. A stool like this is easy to wrap and post.

A fun day out can be had if you go to a large collectables fair but pop in to antique centres when you see them. I rarely shop with an item in mind but I do have a wanted list and it helps me to focus as well enjoying the search.

Have a lovely day.

Lella  xx

http://lellalovescreativity.blogspot.com

Hats (Wide Brim Floppy Diva)

Today's post is to show you how easy it is to take your favourite hat and give it a different look for the upcoming season. 

If you like this wide brim style, treat yourself to a floppy diva hat. My flower pin look works just as well on a cloche or a fedora. You won't have to spend more than a few pounds on the flower pins.

Lella Loves... Hats

I bought this lovely pure wool hat and even though I love the beaded bow applique, I had three black flowers just waiting to be used.

If you wanted to adorn your own winter hat, you will need:

Fabulous wide brimmed floppy hat in a muted, winter colour

3 fabric flower brooches

Lella Loves... Hats

Summertime is not the only time to wear flowers.

Lella Loves... Flower Brooches

To start, take your hat and brooches and make sure you are sitting in good, bright daylight.

Lella Loves... Hats

Open up the pins.

Lella Loves... Hats

Attach your first pin across the bottom.

*Tip: The trick to pinning your flowers is to set the pins in a triangle. After you have fixed all the flowers in place, fluff out the petals.

Lella Loves... Hats

The three brooches should now blend and look like one big frothy black peony.

Lella Loves... Hats

If you had always wondered why people buy black flower brooches or where do they pin them, I hope this little project will encourage you to buy three black lace flowers next time you see them.

It proves you can be super-chic even in cold weather!

Have fun :)

Lella  xx

http://lellalovescreativity.blogspot.com

Fabric Pin Boards

Hello there :) Today's post shows you how to rustle up a little cork board for the hallway. This blog-make should take about 15 minutes to complete.

Lella Loves... Fabric Pin Boards

To make the pin board, you will need:

A fat quarter (approx 20 inches square of your favourite fabric)

Very thick piece of cork

Staple gun

Iron

Lella Loves... Fabric Pin Boards

You will need to use one big cork tile.

Lella Loves... Fabric Rehab

To start, take your chosen fabric and iron it out so there are no folds or creases.

Lella Loves... Fabric Pin Boards

Find your centre point by eye and pop a drawing pin in there (on the front).

Gently pull the fabric so it is taught and start to staple in place at the back side. Work and secure the sides first. Do not pull the fabric so hard that the pattern becomes distorted.

Lella Loves... Fabric Pin Boards

You can see from the photo that the sides need to be secure before you fold and iron the top and bottom.

If you work in a methodical way, the fabric can be folded without any excess bulk or fiddly corners.

Lella Loves... Fabric Pin Boards

This is how all your finished edges should look. Once you are happy with the back, flip it around and it is ready to use.

Lella Loves... Fabric Pin Boards

The overall look should be smooth and professional.

Lella Loves... Fabric Pin Boards

If you want to make lovely flower pins for your board, they can be seen in a follow-up blog-make.

Lella Loves... Flower Pins

They are so pretty and cute but the best bit is that you can see them when they fall on the floor!

http://lellalovescreativity.blogspot.com/2011/11/pin-board-flowers.html

The beautiful fabrics all came from a fabric lover's website called Fabric Rehab and they have some incredible designs, ever-changing stock and a blog.

http://fabricrehab.co.uk/ 

Buying a single fat quarter or even a yard of a designer material (18'' x 44'') can go a long way if you make a few smaller projects such as this board.

Have a lovely day.

Lella  xx

http://lellalovescreativity.blogspot.com