Hanmade duvet cover

I was given a fun butterfly double covet that had been cut at the seams. I decided to make it a single duvet cover for my daughter.

Follow this step by step to make your own duvet cover.

Grab your fabric. I used a single duvet cover as a template to know how long and wide to cut my fabric.

I put the butterfly fabric right sides together matching up the poppers. 

Then cut the right size. 

with right sides together sew the fabric following the two longest sides plus one short side. You want to leave the bottom side open (where the poppers are) If your not using an old duvet cover & just fabric, heam the bottom edge of each side of fabric before sewing the three edges. 

This is what your aiming for follow the ------ for your stitch line. 

Once three sides are sewn zig zag over those edges to make them super strong. 

And thats it. Turn it roynd the rigjt way and put duvet in! 

Simples! 

Good job duvet makers :-) 

Now lets make a matching pillow case....

click here for pillowcase tutorial

Hanmade pin cushion

I have needed a little pin cushion and decided to make ine. Rather than being on a mission to find a pin from my draw, my pins needed to be more accessible.
This is cute and super easy to make. Make it as fancy as you want. I kept mine simple with two different fabrics.

So grab your fabrics. Choose the shape and size you want your little cushion to be like. 

Cut your fabric to size. 

Yea I didn't iron my fabric! It's easier if you do! 

With the right sides together, sew around the fabric. Making sute you leave a gap on the linger edge. Double stitch at either end of the gap. 

Trim the corners off. 

Turn the right way round. 

Use the point of your *closed* scissors to push out those corners. 

looking good! 

Start to stuff your cushion. Making sure some stuffing goes into the corners. 

Stitch your gap closed. I used a slip stitch. 

Tada! 

It looks good. All ready to use. 

Around here recently, summer!

So it's summer! We have had a busy few months. Lots of visitors staying with us, days out, treats and I have even managed to squeeze in some sewing. My Etsy shop is doing well. Check it out *here*
So I thought you might like a glimpse into what we have been upto :-)

I have made a few seagull items for a local gallery which seem to be popular- who knew!? We have enjoyed lots of trips to the sea, my kids have had a great summer! Including finding jelly fish. They did some painting outside, which weng down SO well. Scote for mummy! My first commission to make a peg bag. And I loved it, so dod the receiver & lots of others. I now make peg bags! 

I have been looking at boats abit closer recently, the shape, how they sit in the water etc. I never know when it might get included in my sewing....I hosted a lovely baby shower for a special friend, lots of fun. And I have had to make up a few parcels of my Hxnmade goods to be posted. 

I went back to my youth as my 6 year old daughter asked me to do a hair wrap! 

We collected crabs, sea snailz and tiny fish in a recent cold trip to the beach. It was fun though! 

Plus more sewing; inspired by Mevagissey harbour and lighthouse I created a lovely one off cushion. Maybe the first in a cornish collection....

We have been busy znd it's not over yet! Hope you are having a good summer. What creations have you been making? 

Learn to sew - lesson 10 cushion

Hello again!
Here we are to make a cushion from an old T- shirt.

This has been on our agenda for ages. As my daughter has been enjoying to learn to sew, I decided it could be her project.
So how has your practicing been going? If its been a dhile, gind some old fabric that you can do a yest run on. Do some simple lines back and forth to get you going before you start.

This is a simple project with straight line sewing.
Lets begin....

grab your lovely t-shirt. If you don't have a t-shirt to use thats fine. Find some fabric. 

Using a t-shirt we are going to use the 2 side seams. So if you are using fabric, cut your fabric into a square or rectangle. Sew down 2 sides. 

here we have turned it inside out. I drew a line across the top, just below the arm hole. 

This will be your sew line. 

get sewing! 

then trim that excess off. 

There is a really cute frill on the bottom, which we want to keep. So pin together the bottom edge, leaving a gap in the middle. Sew the edge together. 

Here is the gap in the middle. 

Next for the fun & easy bit- fill the cushion full of stuffing. 

Pin the gap closed. 

With a needle a double thread ( my daughter loves threading the needle!- she is so good at it!) Sew the gap closed. 

* and your done* 

Tada! 

She loves it! 

She has added it to her comfy collection on her bed AND she made it by herself. 

What an easy sewing project. 

I hope you feel inspired. 

painted kitchen cupboards

So we got inspired to paint the kitchen cupboards, to freshen them up and give them a new lease of life- exciting!

Here is the before photos, brown cupboards that soaked up all the light.

We cleaned the front of the cupboards, choose the paint colour, took them off the hinges and got to work! 

We used Annie Sloan chalk paint. Now a few words if you have never used it....its AMAzing! No prep work just painting straight onto wood, plastic or metal. 

We have used this paint for lots of projects before so we knew how it worked. 

We choose to mix two colours together; provence and old white. We knew what kind of colour we wanted to we made a colour recipe and got mixing. We ended up doing 5 parts white to 3 parts provence. 

the mixing process

*top tip using some kind of tray ( take away trays work well) place the cupboards ontop so you can paint the sides. Saves the paint drying and sticking to any paper underneath. 

Also I didn't want kids hand prints on drying cupboards which is why we took cupboards off and painted in batches. 

It's slowly taking shape. 

We painted two coats of paint and then used the clear wax to seal it. Then hung the doors back on.

*Here it is * Complete.

It took us two weeks in total. We would paint and wax in batches and then hang the doors back on. 

Overall I think I was wanting a lighter colour but pleased how this turned out. The colour changes throughout the day with the natural light, which I like. I love how clean and fresh it looks. It has totally changed the kitchen. 

This is just the beginning...we will be repainting the white wood back splash and I will be making a blind for the window. 

It's been fun making the kitchen our own and both my husband and I have been involved which has been lovely painting together. 

New to Annie Sloan, check out our caravan paint job here