Cardmaking

These cards were all made back in April but since the people they are for may see them on this blog (well Mum will, anyway), I've deferred posting them until now.

First up, a birthday card for my Dad.  No plan on this one other than wanting to play with some bright colours and to try using some hexagon dies (sizzix) because I'd not used them before.

Next up are my two attempts at waterfall cards.  I've never played with moving cards before but flipping through a magazine it looked cool so I gave it a whirl.

First up has a nature feel. The idea is that you are looking further down as you pull the tab.

The other one was to use some new stamps I got- one set was dragons and the other was a cute little unicorn (but I totally was reasonable as I only bought those and not the other set that contained four other unicorns- see?)
Ahem.  Anyway, so while I am not totally happy with the end results (my clouds and were hand cut and look a little dodgy) it's a cute idea.

Inside is a stamped message that says 'you're more awesome than unicorns and rainbows'.  This one may end up being a birthday card for my niece.  We'll see.

Thanks for reading!

This is a little one but I actually got a 'little job' done.  I had a lace curtain in my bedroom that was way too long.  For several months I tried to pretend that it was OK because it was artistically draped but the reality of a little kitten meant I had to do something.

This is the point I would show you the before photo. 'Aha' I thought.  I don't need to worry as I can use that photo from when I first painted.  Trouble is, it turns out that photo was prior to me getting the curtain.  So the short version is, I don't have a before.  But I did cut off over 20 cm of material and the amount of material folded over for the new pocket was... hmm, 5+5 for the pocket, 1.5+1.5 for the bit at the top plus another 1cm for the folded mock french seam... 14cm?  ish?

Anyway, there was a lot of excess.  Got that mental picture in your head?

OK.  So here's the after.  I was quietly astonished that it is A) straight and B) not a teeeeennyy bit too long or short in a Murphy's law kind of way.  Woohoo!

It wasn't terribly high tech.  Basically I first measured to see what length I wanted (197 cm).  Then I laid it out in the most open area I had (dinning room floor).   Then I did the above again AFTER the cat didn't think this was the best new toy ever *sigh*
Using pins, I added a pin to mark the bottom of the pocket, top of the pocket (5cm), 1.5 for the top bit x2 (as it will be folded over here), 5cm for the other side of the pocket and 1cm to fold over for the seam.  That was the point that I then very very carefully cut so it wasn't wonky.

After that, I pressed the folds before sewing (very low heat, no steam as I think it was synthetic material).  That made the sewing SO much easier.  Fold the 1cm edge over first (this hides it in the pocket and makes a nice finish) and press.  Then I used the nice ironed line to measure the other fold line- 6.5 cm from the new fold to the old, pin in place then press.

Finally, sew the two seams- I used a zig zag stitch as my two second google research says that's best for lace/shear fabric.  One just above the bottom fold first (the bottom of the pocket) then the other at the top pocket line.  Not having a cat jump on the material can be helpful in this case, as can that cat not deciding that it was time for cuddles...

And of course don't get me started about putting the curtain up and the joy of a certain four legged, fur covered creature deciding to play with the big pile of lace again...  Sill, he's cute so he's easily forgiven.

Interchangeable patches

This is not a full project but more of an idea that you can implement into a project.  A few posts ago I showed off my little embroidery that came with a cute bag kit.

It's OK but it's not 100% my style although the bag is cute.  Now I could make the bag without the embroidery or I could put it on anyway and deal but then I got thinking.  What if I could do both?

This is a bit of a 'make it up as you go along' job with the odd ebay purchase to help.  The first step was from the kit- make up the backing border.  This is pretty basic- two pieces of fabric cut to size (allowing for seam allowances) and then sew around the edges, right sides facing.  Then cut a hole in one side to allow you to turn it inside out to make a little pocket thing (this hole is going to be the back when it's attached to the bag).

This is the point where things take a turn.  Jumping on ebay, I found some very thin little powerful magnets- you can see one of them in the photo above.  They are about 1 mm thick but are strong enough to stick to a metal washer through a layer of material (I checked before sewing them in).

Handsew these into place inside the fabric pocket onto the BACK piece of material.  That way the front stays nice and plain.

This is the BACK view of the pocket- you can tell by the rough slit to gain access and the stitch marks holding those magnets into place

Then all you need to do is sew some metal washers onto the back of whatever pieces you want to add to the patch.

Not the most pretty sewing job but shhh, no one else is going to see this bit!

Put the top patch in place and the magnets will hold it in place nicely

With four magnets (plus I bought an extra just in case that I've just stuck in the pocket with the others to add a bit of oomph) it's more than enough to hold the patch in place- holding it up and giving a good shake doesn't move it so it should?  be enough to keep things in place.  At least for something with low interaction- it probably will not work as well as is on a piece of clothing that rubs and catches on other things.  You could boost the strength in the attachments if you used more magnets instead of washers to the embroidery- just make sure you don't sew the magnets the wrong way so they repel rather than attract!

Feel free to leave a comment if you try it!  I realise that I could also have used velcro, but this way you don't see anything if the embroidery isn't put into place.  Plus maaagneeets...