Category: How To

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PROJECT OF THE MONTH: HOW TO MAKE A SCRUNCHIE

Materials:

A lightweight cotton or muslin fabric 10cm x 55cm per scrunchie (we’ve used a cotton and a muslin fabric to make 2 scrunchies!)

25cm piece of 5mm Elastic

X2 safety pins

Tools and Equipment:

Needle, thread, scissors, Sewing Machine, Iron and Ironing Board, Large Knitting Needle

Let’s get Making!
  1. Cut your fabric to 10cm x 55cm, press in half – length ways right sides together and stitch along the long 55cm side on the sewing machine with a straight stitch and 1cm seam allowence.

2. Turn inside out – a large knitting needle can help with this but be sure to use the blunt end and not the pointy as otherwise the needle could break through your fabric and rip it!

3. Press, and turn in one of the open ends 1cm.

4. Next grab your 25cm piece of elastic and attach a safety pin to each end. Take one end of the safety pinned elastic and also attach it to the turned in end of the fabric. Now use the other safety pinned end and use the safety pin to push through your elastic till it comes through the other end.

5. Un clip the safety pin from the end of the fabric – be careful not to loose the elastic back in the scrunchie! and tie both ends in a knot – 2/3 knots nice and tight to be enough!

6. Now tuck the raw end into the turned in piece of fabric.

7. Ladder Stitch the two ends together – to make sure it’s secure as being a hair tie this will getting pulled a lot go round twice.

There you have it! Please let us know how you got on with this project and if you share on social media tag us in with #bunyippotm so we can see them!

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How to make a Face Mask

We’ve had many requests for a face mask pattern so here it is!

Please note that any homemade masks are not medical grade and is not designed to replace them. When wearing a covering around your nose and mouth however it can discourage you touching your face when you are out and about.

You will Need:
Materials:
X1 Piece of tightly woven cotton fabric 30cm x 23cm
x1 40cm piece of 5mm elastic

Tools and Equipment:
Matching Thread to your bias binding, Pins, Needle, Fabric Scissors, Ruler, Erasable Pen, Iron and Ironing board, Sewing Machine,

Let’s get Making

Take you piece of fabric and fold it in half right sides together so you now have a piece of fabric that measures 15cm x 23cm.

Measure out your elastic – I used x2 16.5cm lengths of elastic however for my husband he needed it slightly longer at x2 18cm lengths – so if you’re planning on making several masks perhaps make a practise one first so you can see what size you need.

Pin your fabric together leaving a 10cm gap along the long edge and then sandwich and pin your elastic inside one corner like in the photo.

Try to have your elastic at a 45 degree angle into your corner
Be sure to leave a turning gap.

Stitch from the middle (don’t forget to leave your gap for turning) towards the corner and be sure to go back and forth on your sewing machine several times over the elastic to keep it nice and secure. Pivot and grab the other end of the same piece of elastic (that’s hiding inside your fabric) and bring it to the other corner and then stitch along this edge securing the other end of elastic inplace with many stitches again.

Do the same for the other side.

Now turn inside our and press with an iron – DO NOT IRON on the elastic as it could melt and loose it’s elasticity.

Next grab your erasable pen and a rular – you can use pin to mark the lines but I find a pen easier. Draw lines across your fabric every 3.5cm. Now comes the tricky bit, the pleats.

It’s quite difficult to explain so please be sure to check the photos and we’ll add a video to our stories on Instagram (@bunyipcraft) You pinch from line to another and pin in place.

Pin in place at both ends and then Stitch in place with a 0.5cm seam allowence around the whole of your mask even the long edges to keep it extra secure.

Don’t worry if you can’t get the pleats exactly right, just aslong as there are two pleats that then allows for the mask to stretch over your nose and mouth but keep tight near your ears.

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Beginners Embroidery Stitches

If you’re not familiar with some of the stitches from our recent Project of the Month (Embroider a Rainbow Hoop) I thought I’d create a little how to for all of these simple stitches!

Chain stitch

A brilliant stitch that can be used for making thick lines, curves and even petals for flowers!

Couching

To make something a little more 3D couching is a great option. As you use the whole thickness of the embroidery thread and then just one line of thread for the couching – this can be the same or a different colour to make your piece multi coloured!

Running Stitch

One of the easiest by far is a simple running stitch. It’s always best to try and keep each stitch and gap between the stitch consistent. This can be all the same or the gap can be much smaller than the stitch. It’s completely up to you but keeping the gap the same as the next and the stitch the same as the next helps things look neat.

Stem Stitch

This stitch can be great for creating lines curved and straight, and as its name suggests perfect for embroidering flower stems!

Back Stitch

One of the most traditional stitches for embroidery and mending

French Knots

These are perfect for the dot over an i or for creating the tiniest little filled in circle, or the middle of a flower!

And there you have it! I hope the photos are detailed enough to follow. This should now make our recent blog post for How to embroider a Rainbow Hoop even simpler!

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Project of the Month: Embroider a Rainbow Hoop

You will need (For our size project – you can obviously go much bigger if you’d like!)

Materials:

5” Embroidery Hoop Piece of plain fabric 20cm x 20cm

(we’ve used white but could look great with a sky blue!)

Piece of Felt 20cm x 20cm

X6 Different colours of embroidery thread

Tools and Equipment:

Embroidery needle, sharp scissors, Tailors chalk / erasable pen,

Fabric Scissors

Let’s get Making!

Press your fabric into your hoop – make sure it’s nice and tight a bit like a drum!

Draw on your rainbow *Top Tip!* Find a rainbow shape on your laptop or computer, whack the brightness up and lay your fabric over the screen. Trace the rainbow onto your fabric!

Measure out our thread to 50cm, then split your thread in half so you’re using 3 of the inner threads at a time – makes for easier stitching into fabrics and make your thread last twice as long!

We’re using our colours in this order (from outside to inside) Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple but feel free to mix things up and make it even more colourful! Also using a different stitch for each line of the rainbow, however you could always use the same stitch for each or 

  1. The Red line – chain stitch.
  2. Orange – Couching
  3. Yellow – Running Stitch
  4. Green – Stem Stitch
  5. Blue – Back Stitch
  6. Purple – French Knots

Now to neaten up the edges of your fabric. Keeping your fabric in it’s hoop (You may want to pop it out and then re-stretch it so it’s nice and tight again) cut your fabric into a circle roughly 1 inch larger than your hoop. Grab a needle and thread and do a large running stitch around the edge of the circle (not too close to the edge about 5mm from the edge. When you get back round to the beginning of your running stitch pull your thread and it will gather the fabric to the back of your hoop! Knot in place.

Next grab your felt and cut it into a circle slightly smaller than your hoop – an easy way to do this is to draw around the hoop onto your felt and then cut it inside of the drawn line.

Either Glue or stitch your felt onto the back side of the hoop.

There you have it! Please let us know how you got on with this project and if you share on social media tag us in with #bunyippotm so we can see them!

If you’re unsure of any of the stitches keep an eye out for another blog post coming.

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Project of the Month: Quilted Potholder

You will need:Materials:
X1 Piece of fabric 60cm x 20cm
X1 Piece of batting (If it’s a think batting then double up)
X1 150cm piece of bias binding
Tools and Equipment:
Matching Thread to your bias binding, Pins, Needle, Fabric Scissors,
Ruler, Pen / Tailors Chalk, optional embroidery thread for hand quilting.
Iron and Ironing board, Sewing Machine,
Let’s get Making!

Cut your fabric into x2 20cm Squares, then with you remaining fabric cut diagonally so you have a triangle. Then do the exact same with you batting.

Working with your triangles sandwich together your fabric and batting. One triangle right side of fabric facing down, piece of batting triangle of fabric right side of fabric facing up, pin in place. Grab your bias binding, press in half with an iron and then fold over the raw edges – the long diagonal edge. Stitch on the sewing machine. – Or for a neater version check out our instagram stories for more detailed images!

Do the same sandwich pattern again with your square – Right side of fabric facing down, batting, right side of fabric facing up. Pin in place. You now have the option of quilting the layers together, either by hand of machine – if your wadding is quite thick perhaps go for hand quilting, a simple running stitch in a spiral would be plenty. Or criss cross squares on the sewing machine.

Now place your triangle on top of your square and pin in place. Next fold your bias binding around the raw edge of the square also catching in the edges of the triangle and stitch all together.

You should have a bit of bis binding leftover to make an optional hoop to stitch onto one of the corners for hanging your pot holder and Volia!

There you have it! Please let us know how you got on with this project and if you share on social media tag us in with #bunyippotm so we can see them!

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Project of the Month: How to Make a Ribbon Rosette Brooch!

You can obviously adapt this project depending on the width of your ribbon and your desired brooch size, for this project our ribbon is 16mm wide and 1m in length.

Materials:
1m of ribbon – we’ve used tarten to get ready for Burn’s night!
Brooch back
Small – mediem size button
Tools and Equipment:
Thread,
Pins,
Needle
Pair of sharp scissors

1. Have one end of your ribbon in the you hand and be working with the long length. Curve your ribbon in the way shown in the photo, try to have the curve quite pointy as it helps to keep it in shape. Then have your long length meet in the middle but turn it slightly so that it pokes out at a slightly different angle to the first point. This way when you make another point it won’t just keep coming back to the same point. Think of it as your point is 12 on a clock and the two ends are at 4 and 8. It’s quite difficult to explain so please see the photos for this to make more sense =P

2. Keep going round making more ‘points’ till you have a nice full circle – we made 5 but you could keep going and make them longer and have even 10 to make a much larger rosette!

3. Now work round again but making the points much smaller so that they make a mini circle in the bigger circle. It can be quite tricky keeping all of the ribbon in neatly and together at this stage so you could pop a pin in to keep the first circle in the place.

4. When you’re happy with the number of points pop a pin in the keep it all in place and grab your needle and thread. Do several stitches up and down in the middle of the rosette going through ALL of the layers. This should be enough to keep all of the ribbon in the place but you can add a few more stitches to the underneath layers being careful not to catch down any of the loops.


5. Next trim off your excess ribbon and stitch on your button to hide the end of the ribbon. (You can keep using the same piece of thread, you don’t need to knot and cut it off till the end!

6. Now stitch through to the back of the brooch and sew on your brooch back. Several stitches till it’s nice and secure, Knot the thread, trim off the excess and ta-da!

Please let us know how you got on with this project and if you share on social media tag us in with #bunyippotm so we can see them!

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Project of the Month: Reusable Gift Wrapping Bags

You can of course make these bags whatever size you fancy but to get you started let’s start with a little one!
You will need: 
Materials:
x1 piece of festive fabric 36cm (width) x 23cm (height)50cm Satin Ribbon
Tools and Equipment:
Sewing Machine,
Thread,
Pins,
Needle,Safety pin,
Fabric Scissors,
Pen / Tailors Chalk,
Iron and Ironing board,

1. Have your fabric facing down onto your ironing board and fold up your top edge 1cm, then again by 2 cm. Stitch about 2-3mm (using the edge of the sewing machine foot is an easy way to keep it even) from the folded edge all the way along your fabric so you’ve got a nice channel.

2. Now flip your fabric over so your looking at the patterned side and fold book style in half. Where your channel is at the top do a couple of stitches (1cm seam allowance) on the machine, lift up your foot and move the bag up till you are then past your channel, then stitch all the way down and then along the bottom – a big L basically!

3. Trim your threads and corners then turn. Attach a safety pin to the end of your satin ribbon and use this to push the ribbon all through the channel til you have a bit of ribbon out both ends, the poke them through the hole you left when assembling to have your ribbon sticking out of the bag instead of inside.

4. Tie the ends of the ribbon in a good knot near the end and trim your ribbon for a nice neat edge (you can briefly run the end over a lit match or candle and this stops the ends from fraying but of course take care!

5. And there you have it! Once you’ve got the hang of it these bags could be made in all sorts of different sizes, even for food! Please let us know how you got on with this project and if you share on social media tag us in with #bunyippotm so we can see them!

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Project of the month: How to make a Pin Cushion

You will need:
Materials:
x2 Different fabrics 15cm x 15cm
x1 Button between 15mm
2m Embroidery thread
Toy Stuffing
Tools and Equipment:
Sewing Machine,
Thread,
Pins,
Needle,
Fabric Scissors,
Pinking Shears
Pen / Tailors Chalk,
Iron and Ironing board,
a bowl / something with a curve to
draw round, Let’s get making!

1. Grab both of your fabrics and draw around your bowl – this can be any size just bare in mind that your finished pin cushion being full of toy stuffing by the end will be padded therefore raised so it will appear slightly smaller by the end.

2. Cut out your fabrics and place them right sides together and stitch around the edge with a 1cm seam allowence, leaving a gao of roughly 5cm for turning.

3. Use your pinking shears to trim the edges, press with an iron and then turn – use a large knitting needle or even a pen with the lid on help turn the edges and then press with an iron again.

4. Now stuff your pouch with toy stuffing, using small amounts at a time helps to get an overall good level of even ness, when full use slip stitch to finish off.

5. Next grab your embroidery thread, thread onto a needle and tie a good knot at the end. Find your centre point of your cushion and stitch down, and bring thread through – don’t worry about the end thread and the knot it will soon be hidden! Bring your thread around the edge of your cushion and then stitch down all the way through again. And again 6 or 8 times – see photo for example, try to keep each section even it’s sometimes easier to neaten up when they’re all done as then you can compare them to each other.

6. With the last bit of your embroidery thread stitch up. Now stitch on your button 2 – 3 times up and down through the whole cushion should be plenty. Knot and tuck the thread in and snip – see our stories on instagram saved in the highlight section if you need and extra guide.

And there you have it! Please let us know how you got on with this project and if you share on social media tag us in with #bunyippotm so we can see them!

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Project of the Month: How to make a Cutlery Pouch


You will need:
Materials:
x2 Different fabrics 14cm x 62cm
x1 Button between 15 – 20mm
Tools and Equipment:
Sewing Machine,
Thread,
Pins,
Needle,
Fabric Scissors,
Ruler,
Pen / Tailors Chalk,
Iron and Ironing board,
Pinking Shears,
a mug / something with a curve to draw round

You’re find this project very similar to last months Pencil Roll so I’ve you’ve made that one then this should be a breeze, Let’s get Making!

1. Decide which fabric will be your inner and which your outer. For this cutlery pouch the yellow raindrops is the inner and light denim with beetles and bugs the outer – perfect for a picnic right? Cut out of both fabrics one piece 14cm x 37cm, and one piece 14cm x 25cm. To the longer piece curve the edges like in the photo.

2. To make the pouch take the two smaller pieces of fabric, right sides together and stitch along the top – shorter edge of the fabric (1cm seam allowance for this project) Open out and press and then fold so that wrong sides are facing and press the seam down.

3. Next you need to make a little sandwich. Take your inner large piece of fabric right side up. Lay on top the newly sewn pouch with your outer fabric UP. Then finally the outer larger piece face down on top. Pin.

4. Stitch around the edge leaving a 5cm turning gap along one of the straight edges, then trim the corners and curved edges with pinking shears

5. Turn outside out – use a really large knitting needle to help with the corners and press with an iron.
6. Ladder stitch the gap

7. Fold the top flap down and there’s only one step left, make a button hole! You can use the feature on the sewing machine or hand stitch whichever is easiest! I placed the button so when in use it was about 2cm up from the edge of the pouch as shown in the photos. It’s nice to have the flap completely down so that your cutlery can’t poke out when you’re on the go.

And there you have it! Please let us know how you got on with this project and if you share on social media tag us in with #bunyippotm so we can see them!

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10 Things I wish I Knew When I Started Sewing

I got my first sewing machine 13 years ago and, to be honest, I just muddled along. I had my fair share of ‘how on earth did I do that!?’ and ‘why can’t I do this!’ conversations with myself and learnt as I went. Recently I’ve tried more advanced sewing techniques and it got me thinking about what I would tell my 18 year old self to make her sewing going more smoothly. So here’s a mixture of tips and just things that are really useful to know.

10. Zips aren’t scary. Yes, even invisible zips. I used to get myself in such a tizz at the mere thought of inserting a zip. I remember very clearly pacing around the room before finally sitting down at my machine in some sort of terrified state. But now, a zip is one of the easiest parts of a project and no longer do my invisible zips look far less than invisible…

When it comes to invisible zips my ‘trick’ is definitely to use the correct foot. And to iron the zip first. More on this in another post.

9. This button is actually there for a reason… and it’s actually really useful! I’ve recently starting sewing with really thick fabrics and this magic button makes this easier. You press it before lowering your presser foot and it keeps it level. When this is no longer needed, the button pops out and you can sew normally. Now I bet you’re going to go and try that now aren’t you?

8. Your shop bought size is never your sewing pattern size. The first pattern I ever bought, I immediately made a size 8; that’s what I wore so what could go wrong? Well a lot of things actually but the main being it didn’t fit. Now I always check the measurements on the packet and compare them to my own. Even then it’s still not always right. So if I’m sewing with an expensive fabric, then I’ll make a mock up (or toille) of the item in a cheaper fabric so I can adjust it if need be.

7. Sometimes you’ll just wing it when a pattern doesn’t seem to make any sense. Some patterns, such as Tilly and the Buttons patterns, are great because they have step by step photographs to follow and lots of online support. Other patterns however…. I’ve recently used a pattern from one of the ‘Big 4’ (Butterick, McCalls, Simplicity and Vogue) and the instructions were AWFUL! I read, I reread, I asked other people to read it… but I was getting nowhere. In the end I just went with my gut and used my experience and it worked out ok. Now I couldn’t have done that when I started necessarily but I probably wouldn’t have had the confidence to even try.

6. There is a way to make your stitching straight. When I started sewing I would keep my eye on the needle and, inevitably, my stitching wouldn’t be straight. Instead, I use the guide lines on my sewing machine. Normally when making clothes I have a seam allowance of 5/8″ so I just line up my fabric with that line and voila, much more accurate sewing.

5. You don’t need to pull the fabric as you sew. When I started sewing I’d pull on the fabric as I was sewing because I thought I had to do this to pull it through. Not the case. Machines have ‘feed dogs’ which are the metal ridges you can see in the photo below. These move as you sew and grip the bottom fabric helping it to pass through smoothly. So by pulling my fabric, I was skipping stitches as the fabric was passing through too quickly.

4. Jersey isn’t that scary Now this is a relatively recent revelation for me. I’d put off using jersey until last year and I wish I’d started using it sooner. There’s no need for zips or buttons and it isn’t half as bad to use as people say. I found that using my walking foot really helped. The walking foot (see below) is designed to have an extra set of feed dogs for the top fabric. It basically keeps it all together! My other trick is to cut using a rotary cutter as it really reduces stretching when cutting.

3. Ironing is essential I hate (and hardy ever do) ironing when it comes to my already-made or shop bought items but it really is essential when sewing; particularly clothes. So why iron?

  • Ironing before cutting eliminates inaccuracies
  • It helps seams to sit flat and therefore look more polished.
  • You can manipulate fabrics, particularly wool, in to different shapes by stretching and shrinking it.
  • It just makes the finished item look better. Simple.

2. There is a hidden compartment in a lot of your sewing threads. Again, this is relatively new to me. It doesn’t really help with my sewing but it’s interesting. Most threads have a little bit at the bottom that detaches; this is mainly for keeping the thread secure. But if you remove it, you have a little compartment for needles for on the move sewing. Just seal up the hole with tack or something similar.

1. You will ALWAYS have to use a stitch unpicker. On every project. Embrace it.