Roll-Up Craft Tidy Tutorial

A few weeks ago the lovely people at Hobbycraft HQ sent me some gorgeous fabrics to play with.

I made three projects in all, and the first one is now live on the Hobbycraft Blog for you all to see and make yourself, if you like.

The fabric is just delightful  - I mean, who could not love purple elephants?

These roll-up storage solutions are great, just think of the things you could store in them.  I especially find one useful for my crochet hooks.

If you would like to make yourself one, pop along to the Hobbycraft Blog and check out my tutorial.

Hope you like it.

Abakhan in Preston

I had heard about Abakhan, in Preston, when my daughter called in there once and phoned me with a verbal list of what goodies they had on offer.  Ever since then I have wanted to go visit.  So, on a weekend break we found ourselves in that area so a trip to stroke some fabric was necessary.

Situated on Corporation Street in Preston, it was easy enough to find with the Sat Nav - and good parking right outside.  There is even a Staples next door which you can send the partners off to when they start huffing and puffing about how much you are putting in your basket  ;)

Most of the fabrics are folded into metal shelving, with a price per kilo noted on the front.  So, this was a bit confusing at first, I mean.... just how much fabric do you get to a kilo one wonders.

I took a bit off to the till and got it weighed - that didn't help as I didn't know how big it was.  But after asking the assistant it turned out it was around £3.50- £4.00 a meter for craft cottons, so that was a good price.

Then I saw a sign that you didn't have to take the whole piece either, as long as you left a meter you could have some measured off.

So I took 6 chosen fabrics and took a meter of most, but 70cms of a couple (as that then left a meter for them) and it came to just over £20.00 for the 6 pieces.

The photo below was just one of many....... this was just the purple shades!

The range of fleece was fabulous, I couldn't stop stroking it, so soft and fluffy!  And patterns in every theme you could possibly think off.

Of course, there was loads of other fabrics too - upholstery, tulle, satin, lace, the list is endless.

Then upstairs is haberdashery and yarn.  The yarns were not so keenly priced, unless you were buying bargain bulk bags. I did have to buy a ball of Sirdar Snowflake in Pink as Hobbycraft don't sell that colour, but nearly fainted at the £5.50 price tag when it is just £2.40 in HC!



Still, I bought some King Cole Opium yarn - not sure what I will do with it yet, but it was rather lovely.

And I got some quilting templates - including a puff ball one, so look out for the attempts of me making one of those.

So, if you fancy a visit, here is the website - http://www.abakhan.co.uk/ - click on stores as there are others beside the Preston one.  Do let me know what you think  :)

Fabrica Dabrica

A few years ago my friend, Mel, trotted herself off to Sri-Lanka to work as a teacher.  She ended up marrying a Sri-Lankan and making herself a home there.  We keep in touch in Facebook, and of course meet up when they pop over to the UK for a visit.

But I wanted to share this, her new little venture into the world of fabrics.

She has started a little shop on Facebook called Fabrica Dabrica where she offers up fabrics by the meter, or fat quarter bundles, and they really are quite lovely.

As she was coming over for a visit I thought I should take advantage of her luggage allowance and make a small purchase  ;)  (Her postage is really cheap though, so do pop over to her shop and have a wee look)

Gorgeous bundles, lovely meters and plenty I had forgotten I had ordered  ;)

And, this most lovely Sari fabric, which is a devil to photograph. It shimmers with colour when you move it about.  I might make a cushion cover out of this.

Pop over to her page and leave her a message on her wall, she will be chuffed to hear from you  :)  while you are there, have a browse through the albums and check out her lovely fabrics, with more due in very soon (I am led to believe).

Tractor Fabric iPad Case

My Uncle Bob is quite difficult to buy for at Christmas - well, aren't most men?  So I decided to make him a padded case for his iPad out of a gorgeous fabric covered with Tractors.   His favourite thing in the whole world is Tractors  :)

Nearly a year ago I went to a bag making class with Emma Redfern from Hole House.   I have used part of that bag technique here to make this case.

First of all I cut the fabric to size, using Hubsters iPad as a template.

I cut two pieces of the tractor fabric, plus two pieces of lining fabric and two pieces of wadding.

I laid the fabric on top of the wadding and stitched in-between each tractor image to give it a slightly quilted effect.

 Then I laid the fabric front to front, with the wadding inside and sewed around three edges before turning it right side in and pressing it.

For the flap I cut a piece of fabric, the wideness depends how thick you want it to be, it can be any size really.   I also cut a lining and a piece of wadding to match.   I then quilted it in the same way before sewing it together.

I added a lining and some Velcro for a fastening, as his fingers are not to goo to deal with fiddly fasteners.  (I also stopped taking photos with the subject on my manky old ironing board cover!)

A perfect fit  :)

What is a Fat Quarter?

I was asked what a "Fat Quarter" was the other day, so I thought there might be other people that do not know and are too timid to ask  :)

So, you buy fabric by the meter off the bolt  (the cardboard bit in the middle) and for arguments sake let's say that this fabric I am cutting today is 120cm wide.  You would end up with a piece 120x100cm.  (a meter measurement)

If you buy half a meter you would get 120x50cm, and if you buy quarter of a meter you would get 120x25cm.  Clear so far?

A fat quarter is when the half meter 120x50cm is cut in half in the opposite direction to when you are cutting lengths of the bolt.  So a fat quarter, in this example would be 60x50cm.

Basically then, if you buy a meter of fabric and cut it into four squares, you would get four fat quarters, but if you were to go to a fabric shop, pick up a bolt and ask for a quarter of a meter, you would get a long, thin strip measuring approx 120cm x 25cm.

Did that explanation work?  ;)

In the meantime have a drool over some of my recent purchase of fat quarters  (of which I still need to make things out of!)

Beautiful Fat Quarters

It doesn't do my wallet any good when I hold classes in Hobbycraft, because I spend as much (if not more) than I ever earn!

When I did the Rag-Rug class last Sunday I stupidly walked past the dump pin holding the Fat Quarters - 2 bundles for £20.   Well, I just had to, didn't I?

For those of you that might not know what a Fat Quarter is, let me tell you.   You know when you see fabric in shops on bolts (meters of it wrapped around a bit of cardboard) and you can buy it by the meter?

Well, a FQ is quarter of a meter, cut from the bolt, then cut in half again widthways.  So you get an uneven square rather than a strip.  They often measure 18 x 22" .

Does that make sense?

So these are Fat Quarter bundles.  You can usually buy a bundle in colours that go together.  I picked up this cute Owl pack and a striped pack.

There was 6 FQ's in each bundle 

And the best thing is, although they were different bundles, they match so well!

I have a plan for these   :)

Robert Kaufman Lumina Fat Quarter Bundle

I've been a bit of a naughty crafter.  I think I need to go to a crafting confessional, but I suspect the queue will be SO long that I will just never get heard, so therefore I will confess to you  :)

You know these sponsored ads that pop up all over your computer? (cleverly done and drag money from your purse)  Well one popped up with a link to Craftsy and in particular a Robert Kaufman quilt kit.

Oh yeah......  bring it on.

Cheap too!       Or so I thought.   Cheap until the whopping great big postage went on just before pressing the "pay now" button.

So, sadly, I shut the page down. Wasn't going to pay all that postage - more than the kit was worth.

By then though, I had that fabric stuck firmly in my little crafters brain, and no amount of soup-making, baking, crocheting would take it away.

After a morning of Googling I realised that this fabric bundle was probably easily worth the money (including the postage) plus it came with a patchwork quilt tutorial.  So I went back and bought it.  Whoops!

Yesterday it arrived.  What beautiful quality fabric, so wonderfully crisp and colourful.

I tried for AGES to get the ribbon undone without cutting it, my teeth were aching in the end so I had to give in and just take a pair of scissors to it.

Let me share the pieces with you.   The last one is a larger piece as it makes up the sides of the quilt, all the rest are fat quarters.  (approx 18" x 22")

Don't you agree that they are just divine?  I really must start this project sometime soon.

If you fancy it yourself you can find the kit (fabric and downloadable pattern) here..... http://www.craftsy.com/supplies/rk-kit-lumina/3553