Vintage-Style Leather Cuff

Over the past few days I've brought you leather cuffs of several different styles. Leather & chain, painted leather, and even leather using spacer bars as decoration.

This is the final post of the set (for now) and can once again make use of upcycled materials!

If you've got an old brooch knocking about that you never wear, this is the craft for using it!

Painted Leather Cuffs (Plus a Paint-Free Bonus DIY!)

Yesterday, I posted a tutorial for a leather & chain cuff, and said I'd post more ideas.

Today I'm bringing you painted leather cuffs, in two styles--plus a bonus, paint-free style, for those who don't trust themselves with a paintbrush!

These can look a little daintier, and you can go wild with colour combinations--your only limit is the colours of leather/paint you can get your hands on!

As I mentioned yesterday, this is a good upcycling project for bags/garments no longer usable, and you can use faux leather too.

Leather & Chain Cuff DIY

I started making leather and suede cuffs when I was a kid. Mum bought some suede scraps and some eyelets, and showed me an old choker one of her old work colleagues had made. Then we made our own!

This is an updated version of our DIYs. I made it back in April along with some others, after finding some leather scraps at a local market (and then I forgot to post about them...oops!)

Leather cuffs - or suede ones! - would make a great upcycling project if you have an old and knackered leather/suede handbag or garment that's outlived its original use.
Of course, you can also use faux leather for this!

These are relatively simple to make. In fact, this one is the most complicated of the bunch I ended up making. Which isn't really that complicated at all.

Here comes the tutorial!

Upcycled Festive Heart Decorations

Yesterday I made these Scandinavian-inspired heart decorations for our Christmas tree. They're very simple to make, and almost completely upcycled!

The method is so easy it's guessable, so I didn't make a proper tutorial, but here's a quick run down.

I used:
Template (from junk mail)
Fabric (old pillowcase)
Filling (from knackered old pillow)
Embroidery thread (from charity shop)

Using the template, I cut out hearts and sewed them right sides together, leaving a gap for turning.

Then I turned them so the right side of the fabric was facing outwards, and stuffed them with filling.

After sewing up the gap, I threaded a darning needle with 5-6 inch lengths of embroidery thread and pushed it through the top of the hearts, tying the ends in a knot to make a loop.

Here they are on our tree! Also seen here are several homemade items I've posted about in the past:
Recycled Magazine Garland
Tin Can Tea Light Holders
Felt Doves and Peace, Hope & Joy Stars Decorations

Elasticated Jabot

Previously I shared a tutorial for a jabot with neckband. Today’s tutorial is for a simple elastic-neck jabot, perfect for wearing with a collared shirt! Mine is messy-looking because I didn't hem ;)

You can also make this without the elastic, and attach the jabot with pins (I’ve done this before too, due to laziness!)

Once again this is easy to make and can be put together using a small off-cut of fabric.

You’ll need:

Fabric

Elastic

Thread

Note: Thin cotton works best for this. The fabric I used in this tutorial has the black stripes printed onto it so it wasn’t completely ideal.

Jabot with Neck Band

With Halloween at the end of October, I’m sure some of you are already thinking of spooky décor and fancy dress costumes (whether that’s for yourself or someone else!)

Today I’d like to share this tutorial for a jabot, or ‘frilly neck thingy’, attached to a simple neck band. The fastening is a press stud.

I'll be posting other jabot variations in future, so if this isn't quite for you, come back again :)

I figured this out by trial and error when I made the one in the picture (hence why the top frill is slightly wonky).

Feather Hat Makeover

Hats seem to be a ‘thing’ in fashion at the moment, especially when you look at some of Louis Vuitton’s ad campaigns (seriously, can those hats get any bigger?)

Inspired by this and a hat I saw in a fashion magazine, I customised one of my old hats with some bits and pieces I had in my stash!

The original hat (a charity shop purchase, naturally) had a wide brim and a fairly shallow bowl, almost what is known as a ‘floppy hat’ but with less flop!.

To change the shape and height of the hat, I cut a rectangle of fabric about 1.5x a loose measurement around the bowl, and just over twice what I wanted the new height to be.

I stitched the long edges together loosely and pressed the fabric slightly so that the seam was in the centre back. Then I put a widely-spaced running stitch through the centre in order to gather it.

I wrapped it around the hat and sewed the ends together (folding in the raw edges).

Then I stitched it to the brim, with a few stitches in the bowl to hold it better. 

I then put stitches in to hold the fabric together at the top of the hat and create more shape, and added a length of velvety ribbon around the centre, stitching it to the hat at the back.

All of this was done fairly carelessly, if I’m honest--I didn’t even use the ‘right’ side of the fabric! I wanted the hat to have a slouchy, uneven appearance. 

When it came to the feathers, first off I used a short off-cut from a cheap feather boa, which I had left over from a fancy dress costume. I stitched this on with the same level of care (hah!) as everything else, and then added the ostrich plume on top.

The plume is pretty old. Apparently it came from my grandma’s place and has some link to funerals. Cheerful, right?! It’s slightly damaged and a little faded but is far more luxurious than the modern one that I stuck in the back of the hat! 

Admittedly, the modern feather was chopped in half in attempt to make it look ‘fuller’. I hope to eventually replace this feather with a number of them as I think it will look nicer!

Sadly I haven’t had the chance to wear this hat out yet--the British weather has predictably turned very wet! 

Will be linking up to the parties listed at the bottom of the page!

DIY Shoe Fringe

Whilst leafing through ELLE’s September edition, I saw some great loafers by Marni. They were leather, brown and white, but with a long black fringe at the front to cover (I assume) the lacing, which tied up on top of the fringe. The colours aren’t completely my style, but I did love the design!

Sadly, I don’t have money for designer shoes (or designer anything!)

So I dug out my old mid-heel brogues (from Primark, kingdom of cheapness!) and some scraps of faux leather left over from a fancy dress costume, and got to work...

Granted, Marni’s version had a double layer of fringe, but in all honesty I was feeling too lazy to set up the sewing machine. Plus I think one layer looks just fine on these shoes (Marni’s are a lot chunkier).

This is a great, non-permanent way to get a different look from a pair of shoes!

Drawing a pattern for the fringe is a little fiddly, though it’s harder to explain it than it is to do it.

Hopefully this tutorial explains clearly. However if you have any questions please comment to ask! :)

Higgledy-Piggledy Bracelets

Do you ever have days when you want to make something, but don't want to put in hours of time and effort to do it?

I had one of those days, and put together a few of these easy 'higgledy-piggledy' bead bracelets. (Called so because I threaded beads on at random!)

This is a great little stash-busting project, but also a child-friendly craft project!

Here is a bracelet I made when I was around 7 years old. In this how-to, I explain an alternative way of making a closure to finish off the bracelets!


It is so simple to make these bracelets that it barely needs explaining, but here's a quick tutorial.

Covered Bracelet

Since I'm going through a bit of a craft drought again (blame poor health and lack of money for crafting materials!) I thought I'd keep this blog alive by sharing a simple craft!

There are covered bracelets aplenty in blogland and I found them inspiring, so when I found a pair of plain bracelets in Poundland I snapped them right up!

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These are only cheap-looking plastic bracelets; Poundland had them in several colours but I chose trusty old black. :)

What I used:
Bracelet
Lace trim
Ribbon (from inside a top--those loops sewn in for hanging wider-necked jumpers, etc)
Flower trim
Glue

This isn't a real tutorial since there are already so many out there, and covering bracelets is pretty obvious anyway.
However, not wanting to cut a length of lace trim - in case I cut too much or too little - and finding it got tangled as I tried to wind it onto the bracelet, I realised I could do this:

I spent a minute or so winding the lace trim onto an empty cotton reel. After that it was easy to wind it off of the reel and onto the bracelet.
I secured the end of the lace onto the bracelet with glue, and once the bracelet was covered, stuck that down as well. After that I wound on the ribbon (again sticking down the ends with glue, on the inside of the bracelet) and finally glued on the flower trim.

I only covered one bracelet, so this project cost me 50p, plus random bits and pieces from my stash (mostly leftovers!)
Somewhen I may cover the second of the pair, but that will look different!

Embroidered Tags

Yesterday I posted about the gorgeous vintage suitcases I now use to store my fabrics. I mentioned that I can’t see through the sides like I could with the plastic boxes I used to keep the fabrics in. Well, here is my solution!

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These embroidered tags were made using things from my scraps box :)

I was inspired by these Anthro knockoff Penmanship gift tags, made by Bev at Flamingo Toes:

Source: flamingotoes.com via Kei on Pinterest

(I pinned this ages ago, intending to use the idea at Christmas…then was too crafted-out!)

As you can see, mine deviated quite drastically from Bev’s!

Keep reading for the tutorial! :)

Giant Curtain Tassel

Happy New Year everyone! I've been a bit MIA over the past few weeks, but I'm back now!

One of the crafts I wanted to do for the Pinterest Challenge was make a big tasselled curtain tieback, inspired by the giant tassels I saw on The Autocrat!

Back then I didn’t have the time or materials to make one.

Until now:

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And here’s the awesome tassel that I pinned:

Source: theautocrathaley.blogspot.com via Kei on Pinterest

Isn’t it fantastic?! I love the creativity in this; all the extra touches like the beads and luxurious mix of patterns and colours really make it special!

As for me, I had to work with what I had lying around...

It took me a while to work out how I was going to make mine. Hayley at The Autocrat wrote that the giant tassels had a water bottle in the centre, but also linked to a Hobby Lobby how-to.

I looked at Hobby Lobby’s instructions and decided their way wasn’t entirely for me (I didn’t have half of what they said I needed) so I went the water bottle route, too, and muddled along until I got the result I was after!

Basically, I used the top part of a 500ml water bottle:

To make an inner row on the tassel, I cut out the middle of the bottle and made a slit up the middle.

I then stapled it at a slight angle before hot gluing on the strips of ribbon.

After that I hot glued this inside piece to the inside of the first section of bottle.

Note: Plastic bottles don’t like hot glue! I did have some trouble with warping when I glue things together!

The rest of the bottle was made mainly in the way Hobby Lobby explained, but with the plastic bottle instead of the polystyrene ball.

For a final touch, I decided to put more lengths of fabric in the centre. I cut some length of purple cord and tied them to a large D ring.

I then popped the tassels and D ring through the centre of the tassel, from the top, and looped some cord through.

Instead of using a tassel topper I used a metal thing that I found in a box of junk. I threaded the cord through the centre top to bottom and then again bottom to top, to make two loops on the top of the tassel. I tied the ends around the D ring underneath before gluing the metal part down.

My curtain has needed a tie back for 9-10 years. Oops?!

I only made one tassel (rather than a pair) since the curtain on the opposite side of the room goes behind a shelf when I draw it back!

This tassel cost me nothing—everything I used was to hand. The plastic bottle was waiting to be recycled, the ribbons came from my Nanny, the purple cord used to be a skirt and everything else was either left over from old projects or lying around the house! Hurrah for free stuff!


Linking up at the parties in the sidebar!

Lavender Harvest, Lavender Heart

I've been a bit quiet in blogland this week. Though there are a whole bunch of things I want to share with you guys, this week has been super-busy and in the times I've been home, I've just wanted to chill.

Anyway. For all you Americans out there, happy Thanksgiving! :)

And now on with the post :) 

A few weeks ago I harvested some lavender from the front garden! I’ve seen some awesome lavender crafts online so felt spoilt for choice over what to do with it!

Eventually I decided to pick the most obvious choice: lavender pillows!

This is what I came up with:

I decided upon heart shaped lavender pillows, and made use of a mixture of techniques that I wrote about in my fabric heart and scented heart tutorials.

After cutting the lavender, I tied it in a bundle and placed it upside down in a paper bag on the boiler...and forgot about it for three weeks.

Once I remembered again, I spent some time removing the buds from the stalks. This turned out to be quite messy, despite having put newspaper down! 

Since these little pillows are a gift, I wanted to make them look a bit more special than something made with fabric scraps!

I used a combination of dupion silk and some lovely bird motif curtain fabric (I previously used some to make cushions). I thought that an all-blue heart would have looked too plain next to the others, so I appliquéd part of the motif from the cream fabric before sewing the heart.

 

Filling the hearts with lavender was fairly difficult! I ended up cutting a corner from a magazine insert and using it as a tiny scoop!

Filling these with lavender took longer than all the cutting, sewing and appliqué!

Hopefully the lovely lady I made these for will like them! :)

Will be linking up at the parties in the side bar!

Tutorial: Doily Phone Case

Following my doily display head, here comes another doily craft!

I wanted to make something useful, and since I upgraded my phone not too long ago, I needed a new phone cover! There are many available in the shops, but most fit permanently onto the phone--all I wanted was a little pouch to protect it when I'm carrying it in my bag or pocket.

This was simple to put together, so read on for a suits-all-phones tutorial!

Time needed: approx. 20-30 mins (excluding glue-drying time; longer if you screw up like I did first time around!)

You’ll need:

Your phone

Fabric

Lining

Interfacing

Doily (or doilies)

Fabric glue

Sewing machine

1. Fold the interfacing in half and put your phone on top (fold at the bottom). Cut around it, leaving a couple of centimetres around the edge.
I cut two layers of sew-in interfacing since the fabric I chose was quite thin, and I didn’t have suitable iron-on interfacing!

2. Cut the same shape out of the fabric and lining. Iron the interfacing to the fabric if using the iron-on type.

3. Fold the fabric and interfacing around the phone, fabric on the inside, and pin up either side, leaving enough space to slide the phone out easily.

4. Sew the place you pinned and trim down the seams. Turn the case around the right way.

5. Decide the placement for the doily and glue on, following the instructions on the glue. I had to leave mine to dry for 30 minutes, which gave ample time to move on to the lining...

6. Follow steps 3-4 for the lining, but leave the little pouch with the seams on the outside rather than turning it the ‘right’ way.

7. Once the glue has dried on the outside of the case, slip the lining inside and fold over the top of the outer and lining inside. Pin down evenly.

8. This is the point where I bodged up multiple times! I had to unpick stitching so often that I almost had to start all over again! Sew along the top of the case to finish. Due to my bodge-job, I did two lines of stitching, but I think it looks okay!

My phone is nicely snug in its new case :) Now I can sling it in my bag and not worry about scratching up the screen. Whilst I use a screen protector and a plastic case, I feel it’s much better protected in a pouch.

What kind of phone do you guys use? Do you use a protective case, or do you keep the phone as it came out of the box? 

I made a sunglasses case to match this case; check back soon to see it!