Curtains - DIY

I love trips to IKEA I could spend hours there wandering around and buying all those little bits for a household. We went there other day and one of the thing we bought was a very cute black fabric with white and orange Koi carps print. My boyfriend is a huge fan of Koi carps, so we decided to make a new curtains in a living room :)

DIY curtains - What you need:

- Fabric 5m long, at least 120cm wide (The best fabric for curtains is heavy       cotton, thick polyester fabric, or any firm, durable  fabric)

- sewing machine

- matching sewing threads

- scissors

- gathering tape

- Iron-on tape if you like for bottom hemming (I haven't used it at the end)

Step 1: Measure and cut fabric. I measured the length between the curtain rail and the floor and added about 5 cm on the bottom to account for the hems. To cut the fabric right, lay it out on a large flat surface - table is not enough, I lay it out on a floor. If using a patterned fabric it is important to make sure each drop starts ate the same point in the pattern so that the design flows across the window. 

Step 2: Sew the side hems as per below picture, allowing at least 1,5 cm for hemming. 

Step 3:  Press the top of the curtains down (about 2cm) to the inside and sew the curtain tape across the top of the wrong side of the curtains. Fold in ends and stitch along outside edges ensuring that the strings are not caught in stitch line. 

Now your curtain top corner should appear like this:

Below is a guide how to make equal ruffles by tying strings on gathering tape and also how to attach the curtain on a rail using plastic clips. 

Step 4: Sew the bottom hem on each curtain.

 

And that's it! Your new curtains are ready to be pressed and hang! :)

  

DIY - Envelopes made from fashion magazines

Do you find hard to bin fashion magazines? Well, I do. I find it very inspiring to look through those glossy pages and see various fashion clothing. They are useful resorts for me as I sew and design a lot. What I only dislike about the fashion magazines is that they are full of adverts! Errrr... But back to the point. I wanted to use these old fashion magazines somehow. I made vintage envelopes just couple days ago and I was thinking this could be great project for recycling magazines as well. So I created these tiny little envelopes to hold my business cards!

If you want to do this craft here is the tutorial: 

What do you need?

-          Old fashion magazines, such as Elle, Vogue, ..

-          A pair of scissors

-          Pencil

-          Glue stick

-          Ruler

-          Carton/cardboard (i.e. cereal box)

Steps:


             1. Draw and cut a template out from carton as per below picture.
  

2. Now place your carton template on magazine paper, draw the lines

3. cut  your envelope with a pair of scissors. 

4. Fold it up. Do the sides first then use the folded sides as a guide on where to fold the top and bottom.

5. Use a glue stick to stick your envelope together.

And that’s it! Enjoy your new recycled envelopes. You can use them as a gift card envelope; business card holder or you can store small things in it such as earrings, rings.. You can also draw bigger templates and do larger envelopes for wrapping a book, cosmetic, accessories or whatever gift you want to wrap up!

DIY project - envelopes made from vintage wallpaper

When I moved into our house three years ago, I found a bag full of very vintage wallpapers under the stairs. I didn’t want to use them on my walls, as I prefer modern style interiors. But I loved their pattern so much that I couldn’t bin them. I found them again after 3 years and I decided to do some paper craft with them and make them useful! I made small envelopes for a start. I might use them as a business card holder when shipping items from my shop or I will store my labels, stickers or tags in it!

What do you need?

-          Wallpaper or wrapping paper, magazines, or whatever paper you like

-          A pair of scissors

-          Pencil

-          Glue stick

-          Ruler

-          Blank A4 paper

-          Carton/cardboard (i.e. cereal box)

Steps:

1.Draw and cut a template out from blank A4 paper as per below picture.  (The reason why I draw it on blank A4 page first is because I wanted to see how it folds.  You can skip this step and draw the template directly on cardboard)

2. Trace it onto a cardboard and cut out with a pair of scissors carefully.

3. Now use your carton template on wallpaper/wrapping paper and cut your envelope with scissors. 

4. Fold it up. Do the sides first then use the folded sides as a guide on where to fold the top and bottom.

5. Use glue stick to stick your envelope together.

And that’s it! Enjoy your new recycled envelopes. You can use them as a gift card envelope, business card holder or you can store small things in it such as earrings, rings..  You can also draw bigger templates and do larger envelopes for wrapping a book, cosmetic, accessories or whatever gift you want to wrap up.  

.. I have also created a smaller version 

Enjoy your new weekend project! 

DIY Dog Bed

If you have a dog you know how hard is to keep his bed clean at all times. My dog Floo has several pillows and I wash these almost every week! I have quite small washing machine and sometimes it's difficult to get rid of all the dirt as pillows are quite huge :-/ That's why I decided to sew a pillow case that I can easily remove and wash properly anytime it's necessary. 

What you need:
- 2 rectangles of durable fabric such as denim, corduroy, or heavy cotton
- 4 side rectangles (as on picture)
- fiberfill stuffing or previously used dog pillow (in my case),
- zip 16-18 inches long
- sewing machine & polyester or cotton thread
- scissors, chalk and ruler

Instructions:
1. Measure pillow first. My pillow is 65 cm long, 60 cm wide and 10 cm high. 
2. Cut two large rectangles ( length x width ) and 4 side rectangles ( 2 rectangles = length x height and 2 rectangles = width x height ) from desired fabric as per below picture:

3. Pin and sew all side rectangles together to create large "square". If you want to make the project easier use only 1 long stripe for sides instead of cutting 4 smaller rectangles. I personally think the pillow looks better when sides are created from 4 individually cut rectangles.

4. Pin and sew this "square" with one large rectangle together. Make sure right sides of fabric face each other. For added durability, create a second row of stitches right inside the first row of stitches.

When you turn right side out you should have now clean edges like this on each side:

5. Pin and sew sides of "square" to the other rectangle. Leave 1 shorter side open. We will add a zipper to this side shortly.

6. If zip is shorter than width of the pillow, sew few cm/inches from each side.

7. Sew the last piece of "square" and zipper together using a zip footer. Make sure you leave a zip half open so you can turn right side out through it when you're finished! 

8. Turn your case right-side-out and fill it with a pillow. And that's it! You have just created easy-to-remove, machine washable pet bed!

If you have any question about the project or any recommendation and useful links please leave a comment! Thanks!!

DIY scarf

I have loads of remaining pieces of fabrics which I only store in paper bags for "someday" craft projects. Now it's time to start using them! This time I decided to do a scarf in combination of grey leaf printed cotton and  light grey jersey.  

Instructions:

1. Choose 2 fabrics you like. I chose light-grey jersey fabric and light grey cotton fabric with cute leaves print. 
2. Cut two long rectangles from each fabric in same length and width. My scarf is made from 170 cm (67 inches) long and 42 cm (16.5 inches) wide rectangles. 
3. Pin and stitch the sides right sides together to create a long tube.
4. pull the tube right side out, and pin the seams at the two open ends.
5. Stitch both sides separately to create long stole
6. This is it! Very easy 1 hour project! 

Does this scarf look more like a circle scarf? That's because I tied the scarf ends below the front fold! Here are other ways how you can tie a scarf. Isn't it great? (source: Pinterest)

Skirt tutorial - remake a wide & long skirt into thinner & shorter skirt!

I  kept myself busy with remaking this never worn skirt last weekend. I think I got it as a present few years ago. I don't remember from who eerrrrrrrrrr...but it was somebody who thought I am much taller and wider! I didn't want to bin it so I kept it for a couple of years in my wardrobe. I owe few pieces like this skirt which are only hanging  there waiting for their time to show up and be wore... Well, this skirt wishes have just came true! 

Instructions:

1. Turn the skirt inside out and put it on. Mark the skirt with a chalk or insert pins vertically along the sides. Adjust both sides equally to the desired tightness. In this case I marked skirts 1 inch from each side. 

2. Ensure the skirt fits your hips and belt comfortably. Hold the skirt tight and sit down. Ensure that you can sit comfortably. 

2. Sew along each side edge.  Remove pins as you sew! 

3. Cut the extra length off of the sides and bottom and then re-hem.