Cushion making

I'm not going to go into too much details about how I made this cushion 

as I'm sure most people have their own patterns and ways of doing things. This is just a little blog post so show you what I created and hopefully inspire you to make something yourself.

This was a very simple idea for a cushion for my granny. She loves lavender so using 

the free machine foot to create the simple picture seemed like a great personal idea. 

I hadn't used the free machine foot in a while .. I forget how much fun it can be.

Just a simple toggle fastening on the back is all I do. I sometimes I think zips can look a bit boring and this makes a statement of the fastening.

All ready to post... A great and easy present for someone you love... and you can make it as personalized as you want.

How to Alter your Jeans

Another Little job that has been waiting around for me to complete for a few weeks now was altering this pair of Topshop jeans.

These were a great pair of high waisted jeans, that over a few years lost quite a lot of stretch in the waistband. This led them to be super baggy and not very flattering to wear. I finally got round to doing it.

Here's how.

These are what the jeans loo like now. I wasn't going to take a picture of what they looked like before, not the most flattering. I began by separating the waistband from the legs about 3" long at each side seam. While wearing the jeans I pinned them to get an idea of how much I needed to take out.

I then transferred this through to the inside and pinned the line that I would sew.

As you can see here, after I stitched the side seams the waistband is much bigger than the legs. If you were altering something with a simple waistband that is easy to put on and off you could take the whole thing off, make it smaller and put it back on again. But with the button and button hole, I decided to alter the waistband instead (The lazy option!) 

I turned the waistband inside out and took the same amount out of it as did the side seams.

Before I stitched the waistband back on, I cut down and over-locked the extra seam allowance that I now had. 

I stitched the waistband back on.

Super easy and saves me having to buy a new pair of jean. Now I can finally wear these great jeans again.

Making a quick peg bag

Just another thing I have had to make since moving into our new house. 

so a quick and easy way of creating a peg bag, I Drew around a hanger to get the right shape at the top

making it a little shorter and leaving space a the top. Making the back of the peg bag shorter than the front so that I can hem the opening and create a flap front.

After hemming the opening I stitched the top sides together leaving the top and the small edges, Then I stitched the bottom half over the top, leaving a small slip at the edge to squeeze the hanger through the edges. 

This is the end result nothing too fancy but it does the job.

Making a Bean bag

A little project I was asked to make, for my boyfriend's birthday was a Bean bag!

I created a simple pattern for this bean bag without any hassle. The fabric he chose 

was a heavy dark denim type. 

firstly I began by cutting out a large circle for the base of the bean bag. I created a circle with the diameter of around 60cm but this can be made smaller or larger.  

I then cut out a long strip of fabric to stitch around the edge of the circle to create the 

sides of the bean bag. i did the exact same thing on another fabric which is to sit inside the bean bag so that if the bean bag ever ripped the beans would not pour out. 

This was me collecting a very large bag of beans ready to pour inside

I used a few scraps of fabric to create the lining as it was just handy to get rid of fabric that I wasn't going to use. to actually fill the bean bag it would have been goo to stitch up the bean bag fully and use a funnel to pour them in, however i had to hang the bean bag off the edge of the bed and use a saucepan to scoop the beans in slowly. 

I then hand stitched the lining up I stitched it by hand first so no beans would get out then went over it with the machine to make it much sturdier. 

As you can see quite a few beans made it onto the floor :s

After I completed the inside I put the lining bag inside the outer bean bag and slip stitched the top of the fabric together.  

Another way would to be to add a second circle piece and fit it on top but 

I love the shape and style of this, It looks much more comfier and welcoming to sit on.

and Ta Dahhhhh !!! 

Map cushion

I decided to create some new cushions using the map patterned fabric. I began by creating a 

simple square pattern for the inside cushion. This I filled with wadding and then stitched shut.

I used the same square pattern piece for the back of the cushion and then made two 

half pieces that are two inches longer than exactly half so that they can be turned under to have a neat edge and also overlap with three buttons to keep the cushion closed.

Here are the Images of my final cushions.

Here are the cushions on our new sofa, I personally love the colours together.