Quick and Easy Bobble Hat - A Free Pattern

As often happens, this week didn't turn out the way I planned!

I arrived back from a month in Toronto just a week ago. What a wonderful month that was! I was there to visit my new grandson and his very proud mum and dad. Oh dear! I am missing all those baby cuddles right now!

On arriving home I dived into my yarn stash with the idea of knitting something for the baby. I pulled it all out and decided that it definitely needed to be culled and organised.

My son  and his wife follow my beliefs in using natural, organic yarns where possible and in order to buy more yarn, I needed to use up some of the old stuff first.

I decided to use a bag of super chunky weight yarn to make some charity hats.

These are just a few of the ones I've made so far.

I'm going to send them to Knit For Peace. Although it's almost Spring I'm sure they will be welcomed  for refugees.

As usual I made up the pattern to suit my needs. 

I've written up the pattern to share with you. It gives instructions for three sizes:

3 - 6 yrs

6 yrs - teen

Adult

I've given instructions for both knitting in the round and knitting flat. Choose whichever is your preferred method. 

You can get the Dropbox link HERE

I was working on the pattern yesterday over a cup of tea when an interesting conversation with my adult son ensued.

He asked what I was making and I said "A hat with a pompom". He said "Oh, you mean a bobble hat" 

"Yes, I suppose I do" I replied.

So I started to wonder which name I should give to the pattern. Hat with Pompom or Bobble Hat?

In the end I decided that he was probably right, but I would love to know which term you would use. Pleased let me know. I might end up changing it!

So, a week ago I thought I was knitting baby clothes. About 7 charity hats and plenty of pattern writing later, I now have a smaller stash, and yes, I think I can justify a little baby yarn purchase, don't you!

Advent Bunting Pockets

Are you beginning to think about your Christmas sewing projects yet?

About this time last year I designed a pattern for some mini Advent bunting for Justine and Lisa's Simply Solids blog and this year Justine asked if I could design a larger version.

Each of the pennants along the bunting is actually a pocket that you can fill with little treats to be opened one day at a time throughout Advent, just like a traditional Advent calendar.
The pockets close with a loop and button, so little hands can't go prying before the day!

Simply Solids have a fat quarter bundle for the Christmas fabrics available here and will be selling kits for the advent bunting at the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show next weekend.

To make the bunting you need 6 fat quarters of Christmas print fabric, 6 fat quarters of solid fabric for the lining, 1.5 metres of ribbon for the loops, 24 buttons and 5 meters of tape.
This Christmas Dreams line by Dashwood Studios is the perfect fabric, I think!

Download the Free PDF pattern to get detailed instructions with photos and full size templates. The pattern is easy to sew and suitable for beginners. 

I used a machine zig zag stitch to sew the numbers on, and a Sewline glue pen to hold them in place whilst I sewed, but you could just as easily use a regular straight stitch or sew them on by hand.

If you are short of time, you could use adhesive felt numbers instead.

You can choose to place all the pennants in one long line or make 2 separate pieces.

I made 2 separate ones with numbers 1-12 in the first section and 13-24 in the second, but then ended up placing both together to get this shot!

They will make a lovely bright start to the Christmas festivities, so download your pattern and start our festive sewing today!

As always, if you're on Instagram, show me what you've made with the pattern using the hashtag #mackandmabelpattern I'd love to see your version!

Triangle Baby Quilt Free Pattern

Today I'm delighted to say that I'm once again guest blogger on the Simply Solids blog. When Justine asked me to make something with any of their new range of fabrics I knew exactly what I wanted to make. I love the modern look of triangle quilts and the new Linea Tonal fabrics by Makower UK were perfect for this.

I have made a triangle quilt in the past, and I have to be honest, my points weren’t all that I’d hoped they’d be! This time round I used a few tricks that meant everything went together quickly and easily. 

This is a quilt that you can make in a weekend!

I chose 5 Linea colours: Teal, Yellow, Charcoal, Grey and Cream

They read as solids, but the tonal hatching design really adds depth to the quilt.

I have written up a free pattern for this quilt.You can download the PDF with full size templates, fabric requirements, instructions and layout diagram HERE

I lightly spritzed my fabrics with starch to reduce any stretch on the bias edges.

Print off the templates, cut them out and use them to cut your fabric triangles. Always place your quilting ruler over the template and use it as a straight edge for rotary cutting. Be careful not to shave any of the seam allowance off the template.

The next step might seem a bit of a pain, but I think it really made a difference to how my points turned out.

With a needle, I made a hole on the paper templates at the 3 seam intersections. The hole needs to be large enough to get a fabric marking pen through. I used a Frixion Pen. I then marked the 3 intersection points on the back of each triangle. It took me about 20 minutes to mark them all, and I consider it time well spent as I didn’t have to resort to my seam ripper later on!

Then you simply pin two triangles together lining up the dots.

I think the technique worked!

I did not press my seams with an iron until I had finished the whole quilt top. I just finger pressed, again to avoid distortion. You need to press the seams on the first row to the right, on the second row to the left, third to the right, and so on so that when you join the rows they lie nice and flat

When thinking about quilting this, I decided that the beauty of the quilt was in its simplicity and that should I should simply follow the lines of the triangles. I was very tempted to add more lines or just to straight line quilt it, but I’m pleased with how it turned out.

I used Architextures extra wide fabric for the backing and had plenty left over, so I used the remaining piece for the binding. I’ve never been able to that before. I love the effect!

                                         
If you want to have a go at this pattern Justine and Lisa have all the fabrics in their shop so hop on over and take a look. They are offering a 15% discount on all Linea fabrics until 15th July 2015. Just use the code: Triangles

If you're on Instagram and make this quilt, make sure you tag your photos #mackandmabelpattern That way I can see what you've made!
Happy sewing!