How to Make Bunting

One of the things I am doing for the wedding myself is making bunting. Pre-made bunting in shops and online seems to be so expensive so I decided that I (with the help of my maid of honour) would make it myself. Our wedding is losely themed around a 1950s style garden party. We are having afternoon tea and I am planning for quite an informal day with cottage garden flowers and bunting.
I used fabric that I had already, as well as some new fabric from Ikea - a lot of it was in the bargain corner and started life as curtains or duvet covers.
I made a cardboard template of the shape and size I wanted for the bunting and then cut out lots of bunting pieces from different materials. As  you can see from the picture, I left a lip at the top of each triangle - this is so I can attach it to the cotton tape to hang it from. I am making mine double sided so once I cut out lots of triangles, I machine sewed them together, close to the edge. I sowed them right side out - this was easier than trying to sew them right sides facing and turn them out. The bunting will be hung up high so it doesn't matter it the stitching isn't perfect. I am also making place mats and jam jar covers to go on our jam favours from the same fabrics. Now I have all my buting triangles the next job is to attach them all to the cotton ribbon. I'll post an update as soon as I have made some progress!

Green Woodworking

Recently I went to a green woodworking day for the press at Shovelstrode Forest Garden. Set in secluded grounds that offer what I would refer to as "glamping" (camping but in really cosy and comfy looking yurts), I met Lisa and Charles who own the forest garden. They were friendly and enthusiastic as they showed me round the grounds which are still very much a work in progress. It was a very homely place to be as we sat drinking tea and chatting. I have never been much of a camper - guide camp when I was 13 in a smelly canvas tent made sure of that; but a close inspection of the yurts started to make me think that a few nights without electricity perhaps wouldn't be so bad.

 I know that people choose camping holidays because they are perceived as cheap but my experience of trying to organise a camping trip in August to the Isle of Wight proved that having a "stay-cation" or holidaying in the UK, isn't necessarily any cheaper than a foreign holiday. In my mind, if you're going to go camping in the UK, then you might as well do it in style and a yurt seems like the perfect solution. Despite being in the English countryside, stepping inside the yurt felt like being transported to somewhere exotic and foreign.

The rest of the day was spent getting to grips with green woodworking. I won't go into too much detail about it here because there are lots of sources online that will be able to tell you much more than I could after just one day. Essentially it involves making objects or furniture from freshly felled, rather than seasoned wood. I was amazed at some of the examples of chairs and stools, and even more amazed that I might be able to make or help make something like this myself.First things first, I learnt how to chop up logs into pieces of wood to work on to make the component parts of a chair. I then got to grips with the lathe horse and how to gradually whittle the wood down into cylindrical posts for the rungs of a chair. I was quite surprised to find how naturally this came to me, and also how peaceful it felt. I know it sounds a bit cliched but it really did feel good to be working with something so natural in a rural and peaceful atmosphere. Charles was really encouraging and soon enough, I was onto my second and then third rung.

Although in just one day I didn't get anywhere near to making a chair in its entirety, I did get a feel for the craft of green woodworking and I would definitely recommend it. With just the few basic skills I learnt, I feel that with a bit of imagination it wouldn't be long before I could make something to be proud of. With all the tree chopping down that has gone on around here since we moved in, I only wish that I'd learnt this craft sooner so that I might have been able to do something with all the wood from the garden. With just a few tools and a few lessons, it would be quite possible to make objects as gifts at home.

A Sunny Afternoon At The Beach

Since we moved to Brighton, one of my favourite things to do on a sunny day is stroll along the seafront and sit and watch the world go by and the waves roll in. Our favourite beach is Rottingdean, it's quiet and scenic, it has an olde world charm AND best of all, if you're lucky you'll find some sand to sit on and not just pebbles. We spent Friday afternoon sitting on the sand, soaking up the rays and watching the world go by. (There was more world going by than my photos suggest!)

The beach is a great day out, our niece and nephew love it, running about, hunting for crabs and making sand castles keeps them amused for hours. I like wondering along the shoreline hunting for shells or pieces of driftwood to use in the house or garden. I have also been known to collect bag-fulls of seaweed for the garden. It makes a great addition to the compost heap, or you can use it to mulch around plants while it slowly releases nutrients back into the soil. Again, collecting seaweed is that it is totally free and great for the garden.

Best of all, a trip to the beach can feel like you've been transported to somewhere completely different and far flung, but it's completely free.

Spring Fayre & Seed Swap

I helped to organise a Spring Fayre and Seed Swap at work a couple of weeks ago and I decided to hold a stall myself. I made soaps (you can read about how I did it here), lavender bath milk, lavender hearts and fizzy bath salts in two flavours - lavender and coconut.

I also made some little hearts (you can see them at the front of the photo) with letters on them that I was making to order to spell whatever word people wanted.

Despite working in a pretty male dominated environment, I did quite well. Lots of people were asking whether I had actually made all of the things and were pleasantly surprised that I had. It gives me a lot of pleasure knowing that people like the things I make and especially when they like them enough to give them away as presents to their friends and family.

As part of the Spring Fayre, I also organised a seed swap. I asked people to bring in seed they didn't need to swap for something new and if they had no seeds to start with then I asked for 50p per packet which I am using to set up a gardening club at work. We are hoping to grow some flowers and veggies around the office grounds, and maybe even have a few competitions and trips out. I was surprised at the amount and variety of people who signed up for the club. There were a lot of people who had never done any gardening before and were interested but didn't know where to start. Both of my parents did some gardening and passed on knowledge to me when I was a kid and it's nice to think that even a novice like me can pass on what I have learnt to other people. Here comes the gardening revolution!

How to Make Soap

There's a Spring Fayre coming up at work next month and I have decided to take up a stall. I had one at the Christmas Fayre which was a surprise success. At Christmas I made sample decorations and took orders so that I didn't end up with lots of something no one wanted. I probably spent about £20 on materials - I already have a lot of craft stuff at home, and I took about £100 so not a bad profit.
This time around, I am making soaps and lavender hearts and maybe some other bits (but I haven't quite decided yet).
Here's how I make my soaps.

You will need:
Soap base
knife
heatproof jug
essential oils for scent
colour (optional but don't use food colouring if you don't want to dye people's faces)
botanicals (flowers, salt/scrub granules, cocoa butter etc)
moulds

First, take the soap base and cut it into small even sized pieces (I got my base from Hobbycraft, it cost about £6 for a big block and I use about half a block at a time)

Put the pieces into a plastic jug and melt in the microwave - stop it and check every 15 or 20 seconds, you don't want to boil the soap base because this can discolour it and you seem to end up with lots of bubbles in it.

When all of the base has melted, you are ready to pour it into moulds. At this stage, add any scent or colour, you don't need very much unless you want really strong fragrances/colours.

Pour the liquid soap into your chosen moulds - I use silicone cupcake cases.

If you are adding any dried ingredients, only fill the moulds half way and let the soap set. Then add the dry ingredients and another layer of liquid soap to fill the mould. Leave about half a centimetre at the top of the mould to make it easier to get out once it has set.

If you want to, you can decorate the tops of your soaps with anything you like.

I have made 3 different kinds of soap for the Fayre; coconut and cocoa butter (the cocoa butter makes your hands feel really soft), lavender and rose, and elderflower and lemon with nutshell exfoliants.

I'm hoping everyone will like them (or I will have a lot of soap to get through!).

How to make a Kindle Cover

We decided that instead of buying presents for everyone this Christmas, we would make our presents. Some were easy like the sloe gin we made from sloes we foraged on Sunday walks in September which made the perfect gift for friends. Other people were a bit trickier to make for. I stumbled across this idea for a homemade kindle cover in a magazine and thought it would be perfect for my brother's girlfriend. Here's how I made it.

You will need:
Thick card or mountboard
A roll of wadding
Glue gun
Material of your choice (ideally something quite sturdy)
Length of elastic
One large button or toggle
Sewing machine
Needle & thread

First, cut out 2 pieces of card and 4 pieces of wadding (the size will depend on which version of the kindle you have but roughly 14x22 cm for the version with the keyboard), abd using the glue gun, attach a piece of wadding to either side of each piece of card.

Next choose your fabric and cut two rectangles (you can either use the same fabric for the inside and outside, or use 2 contrasting fabrics) measuring around 38x26.5 cm

Pin the fabric together, right sides facing and stich a 1 cm hem around 3 sides of the rectangle, leave the right hand short side unstiched. Turn the cover right sides out and slide one of your covered card pieces inside, it should fit snugly inside the fabric (if it doesn't take your hem in a little until it fits).

Next using the sewing machine, stich the fabric as close as you can to the edge of the cardboard to secure it in place. Sew a second line approximately 2 cm away from the first, this creates the "spine" of your book. Next slide the second piece of card into the cover, making sure it is as close as possible to the line of stitches you have just made.

Fold the open edges of the fabric inside the cover making sure the edges are even and pin together. Cut a length of elastic around 9 cm long, fold in half and tuck it inside the cover so you have a loop sticking out over the edge of the fabric (you will use this to fasten the cover closed). Machine stitch the final opening making sure the elastic is caught in the stitches and the cardboard can't move around inside the cover.


Choose a large button or toggle, sew it to the front of the cover (left hand page), lining it up with the loop of elastic. Make sure there is enough space between the button and elastic to create enough tension to hold the cover closed, but not so much tension that the material puckers.
Finally, cut 4 strips of elastic measuring around 7.5 cm and pin them diagonally onto the right inside cover. When you are happy the pieces are even, stitch them into place. These pieces of elastic will hold your Kindle in place.

And there you have it, a homemade Kindle cover. It makes an ideal present (my bro's girlfriend was chuffed with hers) at a fraction of the cost of a bought cover and it can be made in just a couple of hours. Of course, you can customise yours however you like. You could add a pocket to the inside left page by stictching in an additional smaller rectangle or triangle of fabric, you could stitch beads or buttons to the front or even sew your name to the front in letters of contrasting fabric. I'd love to hear your ideas and see your finished covers - send your pictures to me and I'll post the best ones to the blog.