For those of us with no time to make elaborate Christmas decorations, this is a really quick and easy way to make something special and personal for your home. Also, if you aren’t a particularly good crafter, you can not go wrong with this rag wreath.

A couple of years ago I pinned this image of a scrappy ribbon garland by Whitney Caroline Designs. I started to put one together this year with all my scraps of Liberty fabric and then a rattan wreath arrived in the post that I had been waiting for to make a dried hydrangea wreath. I decided to combine the wreath and my ribbon garland to make a rag wreath. It looks so pretty hanging on the window and it took me less than ten minutes to make…

Tie strips of fabric scraps onto a strip of Christmas lights. Wind it round a rattan wreath (mine is a 12 inch one from Hobbycraft). That is literally all there is to it.

Make sure you hang it near a plug, or use a strip of lights with a small battery pack.

I’ve seen another  version of a rag wreath over on the gorgeous Found, now home blog. If I’d had more time, I would definitely use twigs, instead of the ready made rattan wreath, and I also love the felt balls. Pop over and take a look.

Have you got any quick and easy decoration ideas?

Katy x

So, before I get too festive on you I wanted to share some glorious pink flamingo fabric that I was sent by designer Venture de Saboulin, who launched My Little Venture  in 2013.  Venture’s Pink Flamingo design is printed on beautiful quality cotton poplin and would be perfect for any number of sewing projects. I’ve decided to join the current craze for embroidery hoops but I’m going to use it in a slightly different way to normal to make a laundry hamper. This is very easy to make and it’s very useful because it can be hung anywhere and it takes up no floor space. Also, if you can’t sew you can just use a pillow case for this project. Bonus.

You will need:

12 inch/30cm Embroidery hoop

Two pieces of fabric each measuring 52cm x 83cm

11mm Grommet and tool – I bought mine from John Lewis

Hook for the finished laundry hamper to hang on

Tutorial:

1. Press a 1cm hem at the top of each piece of fabric (the short side). Then fold over and press a hem of 7cm.

2. Sew the hem.

3. Pin the two pieces together, hems at the top, right sides together. Sew the sides and bottom, leaving the top open.

4. Mark the centre point on the inside of the bag in the middle of the hem.

5. Use the grommet tool to punch out a hole, where you have marked the centre point.

6. Follow the instructions on the packet to insert the grommet.

7. Make sure the right side of the grommet is in the inside of the bag, as this will be the side that you can see.

8. Put the hoop with the screw to one side and pull the other hoop up over your bag so that the hem is folded over the top.

9. Place the other hoop over the top and fasten the screw. Make sure you line up the screw and the grommet.

10. Fix a hook in place and you’re done! Do you like my new chalkboard door in the bathroom?!

Thanks again to Venture for the beauteous fabric. Do pop by the My Little Venture site – Venture’s other designs are just as charming as the pink flamingos.

Katy x

Call me crazy, but my mission this year is to make handmade gifts for everybody this Christmas! Not only are these gifts more cherished but making and creating really gets you into the festive spirit – if it’s a toss up between an afternoon on the high street or a craft session, I know which I would choose every time.

I’ve been inspired by The Amazings (did you see my previous post about this brilliant organisation?) to try another of their online classes to help achieve my goal. This time I went for the heirloom patchwork quilt class, led by Virginia. Admittedly, I took lots and lots of shortcuts (such as buying the hexagons ready-cut from Liberty!) but I got there in the end. This is my hand sewn cot quilt that one lucky little kinder will be getting this Christmas:

Find out more from The Amazings about why you should go handmade this year and check out the cute pug in this video they’ve made…

Have a browse on The Amazings website and give one of their online classes a try – or why not buy a class for someone for Christmas?!

Thank you to The Amazings and to Viriginia for the brilliant hand-quilting class; I’m going to find it really difficult to give that little quilt away.

Katy x

I’ve got a goal in mind: make everybody handmade Christmas presents this year (sorry, I did it, I mentioned Christmas but with such a goal I need to start now). More of my goal to come, a whole post in fact, but for now I want to show you one present I’ve already made that I’m really rather pleased with – and might have to keep for myself. Ha!

So far with the vintage wallpaper that I bought from Sarah Moore Vintage I have been able to do a vintage makeover on my bathroom cabinet and line a chest of drawers. I have just enough left to make a set of six placemats. I’ve seen lots of people covering placemats with photographs of their children and such so I thought I’d experiment with the wallpaper.

I’m really pleased with the outcome…

You will need:

Wallpaper  that I bought from Sarah Moore Vintage or you could try pretty wrapping paper (just use less PVA and more varnish).

Cork placemats that I bought from Amazon but if you have an old set of mats at home you can re-purpose those.

PVA glue and a brush.

Clear acrylic varnish and a brush.

Pencil and scissors.

Tutorial:

1. Draw round your mats onto the wallpaper and cut out. Cut ever so slightly within your line so that the paper is an exact fit and does not hang over the edge of the cork mat at all.

2. Pour a lot of PVA glue onto the wallpaper and spread out using a brush (use far less if you’re using wrapping paper as it will wrinkle badly). Make sure every single bit of the paper is covered right up to the edges. However, don’t get any PVA on the right side of the wallpaper.

3. Stick the paper onto the mat and smooth out any air bubbles. Make sure you line the paper up with the board as accurately as possible. If any glue squeezes out run your finger round the edge of the board and smear it over the cork board – try not to let it go onto the paper.

4. Leave to dry for at least four hours and weigh it down with a big heavy book, otherwise the mats can curl up at the edges slightly (which I found out when I tried the first one).

5. When the mat is completely dry start applying lots of thin layers of the varnish, leaving about an hour between each coat. I did about five coats (you may need more if you’ve used thin wrapping paper). Make sure you paint the varnish round the sides of the mats too (I put mine on top of food tins to let the sides dry).

Finished! This project is quite time consuming but it’s very, very easy to get a really good finish if you’re patient.

Ready for a little vintage tea.

Now I have to decide who to give them to…

Katy x

Before you say it I know it’s only November BUT if you want to make this adorable Christmas advent calendar bunting you need to get started now.

I was sent a collection of beautiful Liberty prints to make a Christmas project for the Liberty Craft Blog and the next edition of Sew Liberty. Sadly, the whole craft blog has since been removed from the Liberty website so find the full tutorial here.

Happy sewing!

Katy x