Showing posts with label craft tutorial. Show all posts
Showing posts with label craft tutorial. Show all posts

Friday, 14 June 2019

Crafting With Felt Flowers: Floral Crown Tutorial

Sew a pretty felt flower crown or headband!

Felt Flower Crown Sewing Tutorial

Throughout this week I'm sharing ideas for crafting with felt flowers, and ways to re-use the flower templates from my April Felt Flowers Wreath tutorial. Today I'll show you how to make a floral crown that's perfect for parties, festivals or even weddings.

Felt Flower Wreath Tutorial

This tutorial was originally designed for The Village Haberdashery's blog and was created using felt and other craft supplies from their shop.

Felt Flower Crown Sewing Tutorial

You will need:

- The flower templates from my April wreath tutorial
- Wool felt in assorted colours
- Embroidery thread to match the felt
- 1 metre ribbon
- Sewing needles and pins
- Sewing scissors or embroidery scissors (these are great for cutting out detailed felt shapes!)

To make the floral crown:

Use the flower templates to cut out the flower pieces from felt (see step 1 of the wreath tutorial - I’ve used different colours to make the crown, but you’ll need the same quantities as listed to create seven flowers). Arrange the pieces, as shown.

Felt Flower Crown Sewing Tutorial: cut out the felt pieces

Stitch the flowers with half strands of contrasting embroidery thread (so for six-stranded embroidery thread just use three strands), sewing radiating stitches from the centre of each flower. I stitched nine stitches for each of the larger flowers, and six for the smaller flowers. If you like you can also add some extra stitched details to decorate the flowers, as I did. For extra decoration you could add buttons, beads or sequins to the flower centres.

Felt Flower Crown Sewing Tutorial: decorate the flowers

Cut a metre long piece of ribbon, cutting the ends at an angle to help prevent fraying. Pin the flowers onto the ribbon starting with the largest flowers in the centre then working outwards.

Sew the ribbon to the back of the flowers, using running or whip stitch in matching sewing thread. Remove the pins as you sew and take care to sew into the felt but not through it, so your stitching won’t show at the front of the crown.

Felt Flower Crown Sewing Tutorial: add the flowers to some ribbon
Felt Flower Crown Sewing Tutorial: add the flowers to a piece of ribbon
Felt Flower Crown Sewing Tutorial: pin then sew the flowers to a length of ribbon
Felt Flower Crown Sewing Tutorial


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P.S. Subscribe to my newsletter for a monthly free pattern and visit my crafty tutorial archive for lots more free projects.

This tutorial is for non commercial use only: you can use it to make as many flower crowns as you want for yourself or as gifts, but please don't make any for sale. You may borrow a couple of photos if you want to blog about this project, but remember to credit me and link back to this page on my blog, and do not reproduce my entire tutorial / share my templates on your site. Thanks!

Monday, 10 June 2019

Crafting With Felt Flowers: Felt Brooches Tutorial

Add a pop of colour to any outfit with a felt flower brooch! 

Felt Flower Brooches Tutorial

This week I'm sharing four easy ideas for using the templates from my April Felt Flowers Wreath tutorial, kicking off with some pretty flower brooches.

 Felt Flower Wreath Tutorial

This tutorial was originally designed for The Village Haberdashery's blog, using felt and other craft supplies from their shop.

You will need:

- The flower templates from April's wreath tutorial
- Felt in assorted colours
- Matching sewing thread
- Contrasting or coordinating embroidery thread
- One button per flower
- Brooch clasps
- Sewing needles and pins
- Sewing scissors or embroidery scissors (embroidery scissors are great for cutting out detailed felt shapes!)

 Felt Flower Brooches Tutorial

To make the brooches: 

Use the flower templates, mixing and matching shapes to create layered flowers. I used two colours but you could use as many as you like. Top each flower with a small circle cut using template H.

Felt Flower Brooches Tutorial: layer the felt pieces

Sew the layers together with a small X of two stitches, using sewing thread to match the felt (or the buttons you’ll be adding later).

Then use half strands of embroidery thread (so, for six-stranded thread just use three strands) to decorate the flowers. Sew single stitches along the inner petals, starting each stitch from under the central felt circle. Use a contrasting or coordinating colour for this - I used dark pink.

Felt Flower Brooches Tutorial: embroider the flowers

Add a button to the centre of each flower, sewing them securely in position with a double thickness of matching sewing thread.

Felt Flower Brooches Tutorial: add a button to each flower

Use the templates to cut a backing circle for each brooch, small enough to fit within the largest flower shape. I cut these from purple felt but any colour will do as it won’t be visible when worn.

Position a brooch clasp just above the centre of each circle, sewing them in place with a double thickness of matching sewing thread.

Felt Flower Brooches Tutorial: prepare the back of the brooches

Place the circles on the backs of the flowers, as shown. Sew them into position with whip stitch and matching sewing thread, sewing into the layers of felt but not through them – so the circles are secured but the stitching isn’t visible at the front of the brooch.

Felt Flower Brooches Tutorial: sew on the brooch backs
 Felt Flower Brooches Tutorial: the finished brooches
  
Enjoyed this free tutorial? Buy me a "coffee" and help support my blog!

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

P.S. Subscribe to my newsletter for a monthly free pattern and visit my crafty tutorial archive for lots more free projects.

This tutorial is for non commercial use only: you can use it to make as many brooches as you want for yourself or as gifts, but please don't make any for sale. You may borrow a couple of photos if you want to blog about this project, but remember to credit me and link back to this page on my blog, and do not reproduce my entire tutorial / share my templates on your site. Thanks!

Saturday, 8 June 2019

Felt Butterfly Hair Clips Tutorial

One of the awesome things about felt crafting is how easy it is to get creative and adapt projects to make new things. Swap ribbon for a brooch clasp to turn an ornament into a brooch, stuff a pincushion with lavender to turn it into a lavender sachet, enlarge some brooch templates and use them to add an applique design to a cushion… there are always so many crafty possibilities!

Inspired by this, after working on my Year of Wreaths tutorials for The Village Haberdashery's blog I created some easy ideas for re-using the templates from some of the wreaths. I'll be sharing these ideas here on my blog over the coming months, starting with today's project: making some pretty felt butterfly hair clips using the templates from June's butterfly wreath.

Felt Butterfly Hair Clips Tutorial
 Felt Butterfly Hair Clips Tutorial
Felt Butterfly Wreath Tutorial

You will need: 

- The template sheet from the Butterfly Wreath tutorial
- Wool felt in assorted colours
- Matching sewing threads
- Hair clips
- Sewing scissors or embroidery scissors
- A sewing needle and pins
- A glue gun and glue
- A heat-proof mat for the glue gun
- Newspaper to protect your workspace from any glue drips

Felt Butterfly Hair Clips Tutorial
 Felt Butterfly Hair Clips

To make the hairclips: 

Use the templates to cut out the butterfly pieces from your chosen felt colours (I used butterflies 2, 4 and 5).

Follow step 3 of the Butterfly Wreath tutorial to sew the butterfly pieces together.

For each hairclip, cut a felt circle approximately 17mm in diameter in the matching felt colour. Sew each circle to the end of a clip using matching sewing thread, as shown. This felt circle is the base onto which you’ll glue the butterfly pieces.

Felt Butterfly Hair Clips Tutorial: attach felt circles to the hair clips

Very carefully glue the butterfly pieces to the circles. Add the wings first, adding a small amount of glue to the circle then carefully pressing the wings into place.

IMPORTANT: take care when working with the glue gun as the glue gets very hot! Always place it on a heat-proof mat when not in use, and use newspaper or other scrap paper to protect your workspace. Work slowly, squeezing the gun with care to control the amount of glue you’re using and keeping your fingers out of the way of the hot glue.

Felt Butterfly Hair Clips Tutorial: glue the wings in place

Then add a very small amount of glue to the back of each body piece and carefully press them into position between the wings.

Felt Butterfly Hair Clips Tutorial: assemble the butterfly pieces

Ta-dah! Pretty felt butterflies to wear in your hair!

Felt Butterfly Hair Clips Tutorial


Enjoyed this free tutorial? Buy me a "coffee" and help support my blog!


Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

P.S. Subscribe to my newsletter for a monthly free pattern and visit my crafty tutorial archive for lots more free projects.

This tutorial is for non commercial use only: you can use it to make as many hair clips as you want for yourself or as gifts, but please don't make any for sale. You may borrow a couple of photos if you want to blog about this project, but remember to credit me and link back to this page on my blog, and do not reproduce my entire tutorial / share my templates on your site. Thanks!

Wednesday, 29 May 2019

Felt Barn Owl Mask Tutorial

The next free project for my pattern newsletter subscribers? A tutorial for making a fun felt barn owl mask!

 Sew a fun felt barn owl mask!

This mask is really easy to sew and would be great for summer festivals, costume parties, Halloween or just dressing up like an owl because you feel like it. (And why not, right? Owls are awesome!)

Sew a fun felt barn owl mask!
 Sew a fun felt barn owl mask!

I've been working hard to catch up on my monthly newsletter projects, sharing a felt barn owl brooch tutorial (March) and a felt raincloud brooch tutorial (April) earlier this month. I should have May's barn owl mask sent out this week (if the weather co-operates for photo-taking) or early next week, and I've already started work on June's project... so hopefully I can get that sent out actually in June and be all caught up. Hurrah!

I'll be including the links to the raincloud and barn owl tutorials when I send out the barn owl mask in the next few days, so now is a great time to subscribe if you've not yet done so! 

Sew a felt barn owl brooch!

Click here to read more about my newsletter and subscribe! As well as the free monthly(ish) pattern email, you can choose to sign up for weekly(ish) crafty updates from me or less frequent notifications about new patterns and special offers.

Click here to visit my tutorial archive for lots more free patterns and project ideas... including a step-by-step tutorial for sewing this embroidered owl mask!

Sew a felt owl mask for Halloween!

Wednesday, 15 May 2019

Smartphone Snaps: DIY Travel Notecards Tutorial

Today's crafty project is inspired by travel and all the holiday snaps we take on our phones then share online!

Smartphone Snaps: DIY Travel Notecards Tutorial
Smartphone Snaps: DIY Travel Notecards Tutorial
 
ADVERTISEMENT: This tutorial is sponsored by Bostik, and is part of a series of crafty projects I'm creating to promote their range of adhesives. Click here to see all the posts in the series!

This is the second of a trio of Bostik-themed posts I'm sharing this week. On Monday I made fantastic festival hairbands with Bostik's Power Repair glue, on Friday I'll be getting creative with Blu Tack... and today I'm making cards with PVA Glue, Glu Dots, and Micro Dots.

 Smartphone Snaps: DIY Travel Notecards Tutorial

These fun travel-inspired cards would be great for sending to your social media loving pals! You can use the templates and printable provided to replicate my beach and mountain scenes or design your own travel scene then use the blank phone printable to sketch a mini version.

As well as making notecards, these designs would also be great for decorating a notebook cover to make a travel diary. You could also easily adapt this project to feature one of your own holiday photos! Simply print out a full size picture for the background, then trim a smaller version to fit the phone screen.

You'll find the links to the PDF templates and printable at the bottom of this post. The templates are designed to be used with 5 x 7 inch card blanks. You can make bigger or smaller cards, of course, by printing the templates at different sizes, but remeber that you'll need to stick to the same proportions.

Summer Holiday Beach Scene Notecard Tutorial
Summer Holiday Mountain Scene Notecard Tutorial

To make the cards: 

1. Use the templates provided to cut out all the pieces from coloured paper or card, using the photos as a guide when choosing colours.

Turn each paper template over and draw around it with a pencil. Once you've cut out the shape flip that over so the pencil marks will be hidden at the back.

For the very small pieces (the shells, the starfish, the flag, and the trees) just use the drawings on the template sheet as a guide and draw your own shapes directly onto the coloured card/paper.

2. Begin building up the picture by sticking the largest pieces in position with PVA glue. Apply the glue evenly on the back of each card/paper shape and press them down firmly. PVA is quick and easy to apply and will allow you to reposition each paper piece slightly before the glue sets so you can make sure the edges line up neatly with the sides of the card.

For the beach scene, add the sky and the sand...

Smartphone Snaps: DIY Travel Notecards Tutorial

... then all the overlapping wave pieces, working from the top downwards. Use the photo as a guide when positioning these pieces.

 Smartphone Snaps: DIY Travel Notecards Tutorial

For the mountain scene, add the sky...

Smartphone Snaps: DIY Travel Notecards Tutorial

... then the mountains...

Smartphone Snaps: DIY Travel Notecards Tutorial

... then the grass.

Smartphone Snaps: DIY Travel Notecards Tutorial

3. To attach the next set of shapes, I used Bostik Glu Dots. These mess-free permanent sticky dots come on a little roll  and create a firm hold when they're pressed into position.

Because the edges of these card/paper pieces won't be stuck down (as they would be if you'd stuck them in place with glue) this helps give a sense of depth to the card.

Add the sun, boat and sail to the beach scene...

Smartphone Snaps: DIY Travel Notecards Tutorial

... and the sun and snow pieces to the mountain scene.

Smartphone Snaps: DIY Travel Notecards Tutorial

4. Now it's time to add the smallest pieces! For these I used a sheet of Bostik Micro Dots. You peel off the top sheet of plastic and press your shape onto the dots and then when you lift it off again it's become like a little sticker. Magic!

On the beach scene, add the flag of the boat and several shells and starfish to the sand...

Smartphone Snaps: DIY Travel Notecards Tutorial

... then add the river and an assortment of triangle trees to create a little mountain forest.

Smartphone Snaps: DIY Travel Notecards Tutorial

Your two cards will now look something like this:

Smartphone Snaps: DIY Travel Notecards Tutorial

5. Use a fine-tipped black pen and a ruler to add the mast of the sail boat and the line dividing the two mountains. Also add details to the shells and (if you want) little smiley faces to the starfish. Then turn the cards over and carefully use craft scissors to cut away any excess paper/card overlapping the edges (take care during this step - I accidentally cut away too much from the side of the beach scene! Oops!)

Smartphone Snaps: DIY Travel Notecards Tutorial

6. Next, use colouring pencils or felt tip pens to colour in the hands and phones. Make sure the colours on screen match up with the scenes on the cards.

Smartphone Snaps: DIY Travel Notecards Tutorial

7. Finally, carefully cut out the pictures (I left a very small bit of white all around each drawing so the outlines remained clear) and stick them in place on the cards. I stuck my paper pieces straight onto the cards with lots of Glu Dots but if I made these again I think I'd use the PVA Glue to stick them to some white card first to make them a bit sturdier, then cut them out again and use the Glu Dots to stick them in position.

Smartphone Snaps: DIY Travel Notecards Tutorial

And you're done! 



DISCLOSURE: this post is sponsored by Bostik, who also provided all the adhesives I used to make the cards.

P.S. Fancy some more free crafty goodness? Subscribe to my newsletter for a monthly free pattern and visit my crafty tutorial archive for lots more free projects.

Smartphone Snaps: DIY Travel Notecards Tutorial