Kantha Stitching - a sneak peak

A little look at a project that has been in progress for well over a year. I pick it up, I put it down, I come back to it when I'm ready to work on the next installment.

Kantha stitching and a little bit more. A perfect travel or watching TV while stitching kind of a project. Here are some snippets.

Tiny drawstring bags for Montessori reading materials

It started with a request from OneLittleImps' teacher last term to repair some aprons the kids use, and next I know I have agreed to make little draw string bags in pink and green and blue....

.. agreed to make 36 of the fiddly little suckers! LittleImp goes to a local Montessori school, and these little bags will hold the relevant colour coded levels of reading materials for her class room.

Here is how to make just one bag.

What you need - fabric & ribbon. This bag is pretty tiny - approx 5"x6". Obviously you can upsize the dimensions & still follow the same instructions below.

Cut a rectangle 5.25" x 13" from your chosen fabric.

Mark each end on both edges at two points as shown - at 0.25" and 1.25". These marks are on what will become the inside of the bag.

Fold over the first 0.25" as marked & iron a fold across each short end.

 Fold the bag right sides together, matching up the short edges.

Sewing machine time. Line up your needle with the 1.25" mark and straight stitch using a 1/4" seam down each long edge (to reduce fraying you can either use an edging stitch here as I have, or zig zag down each edge after the straight stitching).

Back to the ironing board. Fold back & iron the top 1" of raw edge as shown

Using a straight stitch sew down each of these side folds. The pictures show how I did this - sew down one side...

...then turn the fabric & turn & sew back up the other side (I also reinforced with a few back & forward stitches at the point where the side seams meet given these little bags will take a bit of use by little fingers).

 This is what it should then look like. Repeat on the other side.

 Back to the ironing board to iron down what will become the casing for the drawstring. Use the 1.25" mark as a guide & fold the edge down to meet this point (or there abouts) & iron the fold.

Repeat on the other side and then straight stitch each of these folded edges down, keeping your stitches close to the fold. Make sure to secure the stitching well at the beginning and end, again to withstand the forces of the drawstring pulling.

Snip all the loose/excess bits of thread. Turn bag right side out & use a sharp-ish object to poke out the corners.

Now for the ribbon. Cut 2x13" lengths of ribbon for each bag. Use a safety pin to then thread one ribbon through both casings. (If the ribbon starts to fray then try folding it over a few times before pinning it with the safety pin.)

Once you have passed through both casings then knot the ends of the ribbon together (as seen on the left side below). Take the next piece of ribbon & thread this through both casings, starting from the other (non-knotted) side, once all the way around join the ends of the ribbon & tie another knot. All done!

 Only 35 to go...

Shower cap

The last showercap I made sure lasted longer than those flimsy ones you get free in hotel rooms.

I'm not sure that too many people still use showercaps, but if you do, then this is a pretty easy project to complete...not quite so easy to get a shot of someone wearing it at the end though!
OneLittleImp wasn't playing the game to wear it for a photoshoot, so I had to get creative. Thanks Tigger!

Quick How To:

Make a circle template with newspaper, pencil & string - my cap is 19"in diametre. If you want more frilly-ness then use a bigger circle to start with.

Use the template to cut 1 circle from fabric & one circle from a waterproof layer. I bought a cheap plastic table cloth from a $2 store a while back that I use for waterproofing different projects.

Place the waterproof layer and fabric right sides together & straight stitch all the way around the edge with a 1/4" seam, leaving enough opening to turn right side out.

Trim excess & clip seams before turning right side out.

Use your fingers to roll edge flat as much as possible while you top stitch all the way around using a 1/4" seam to hold the fabric & waterproof layers together at the edge. Change the colours of your top/bobbin thread if needed to match the colours of the fabric & waterproof layers.

Fold the circle into quarters & mark each quarter fold at the edge. This will be used to help with the gathering when you add in the elastic.

Use your own head to measure how much elastic you need - Cut this amount with about 1" extra added. Fold the elastic into quarters as well & mark each quarter fold.

Next, pin the start of your elastic (leaving the extra 1" tail that you will overlap at the end) to one of the quarter marks on the shower cap and then match up the next quarter lines on the shower cap & elastic before pinning these points together.

Back to the sewing machine. Change thread colours again if you need to.
Using about a 1/2-3/4" seam allowance, you now sew the elastic to the fabric. To create the gathers, pull the elastic as you sew with a multipoint zigzag to secure. Once you reach the first quarter mark, match up the next quarter of the shower cap & elastic & repeat. This will form your gathers.

Here are the gathers forming. Once you are all the way around you are all done. How simple is that?!?

...And then she finally let me take a picture!

Oliver + S Reversible Bucket Hat

I haven't just been making felt food. Promise!
These ones are definitely not originals though - the pattern used is a free one from the Oliver + S site for a reversible bucket hat. Thank you!

Here's proof of the 'reversible' - 2 hats shown both ways (one top, one bottom).

  

The pattern was pretty easy to follow, but I found the sizes on the small side. I made the medium size for Little Imp which in theory should have fit well - but it was a bit small. Lucky she has a smaller cousin who will benefit from that mistake!

Here are some more pics.

And here's a link to the last hat I made - 'Lucy's Cloche'

Felt Heirloom Carrots

Another felt vegetable installment, this time a variation on the original felt carrots I made a while back. Little Imp loves helping her dad in his garden, and takes delight in seeing the different colours of the heirloom carrots coming out of the ground, including the red 'beetroot' carrots.

The method for making these is the same as my original carrot post, but with one final step to make them a bit more 'bunky', a bit less like the straight, symmetrical shop bought variety.

To achieve the kinks in the carrots secure a doubled over matching thread somewhere along one one of the sewn lines on the carrot, then fold the carrot over & pass the thread through to another sewn line. Keeping the carrot bent between these two lines, tie off the thread. When you let go, the short secured thread will maintain some of this bend as a kink in the carrot. Add more kinks if you like for a really bunky carrot!

I liked the more authentic look this gave the carrots so much I have now added some kinks to the stock standard orange carrots too.

Now if only I could actually get Little Imp to eat carrot!

Felt Mushroom

I'm on a bit of a roll with felt fruit & veg again. Little Imp is pretty excited to have some additions to her original fruit basket.

Little Imp is known as 'Mushroom Girl' by our local greengrocer given we very often buy a mushroom or two to nibble on the way out. About time I made some mushrooms then!

Prepare the pieces you need for the mushroom:

Mushroom button 'top' – Use something circular as a template (like a glass) to draw and then cut out a circle approximately 8cm in diameter.

Mushroom stalk – cut a rectangle approx 3cm x 6cm.

Create the stalk by rolling up the felt along the short edge and then stitch to secure along the open seam. I also ran a thread through the width of the stalk a few times for extra hold.

Now for the button top. Double over some matching thread & secure at a point on the edge of the circle. Then, using a running stitch, sew all the way around the mushroom top, close to the edge, in the same way you would to create a Suffolk puff. Once back to where you started, pull the thread to gather and form a little bowl.

Assemble the mushroom by adding a small amount of stuffing into the ‘bowl’ (definitely don't over stuff these ones).  Then pull up the thread to begin to close the hole until it matches the diameter of the stalk, then tie off the thread to secure.

Poke the stalk into the hole and then sew back around the mushroom passing the needle through the gathers of the button top & the stalk in turn to attach the gathered top securely to the stalk. When doing this, make sure to keep the mushroom top quite flat (that is, when passing the needle through the stalk make sure you keep close to the top end of the stalk).

Once stitched all the way around, pass the needle through the stalk several times from different spots to really secure the stalk to the 'button' of the mushroom.

Oh by the way...
A fruit basket that can also become a chef's hat apparently!