Doesn't time fly when you're having fun..... can you believe it's week 4 of the 'a little happy Sew Along' ! Its been brilliant seeing all your Merry Christmas Mini Quilts coming together, thank you for sewing along!
This week we're going to be making the little felt stockings. Felt is a medium that I love to work with and over the years I have sewn with many different types of felt including acrylic, wool mixed with synthetic fibres, 100% wool and after many trials and tribulations, my felt of choice is a wool/rayon mix by National Nonwovens. Not only do I love the consistency of thickness and texture, I was completely blown over by the colours available. Forget the brash primary coloured thin felt you use to use when you were at school...this felt is for grown ups!
SCRUMMY SUPPLIES REQUIRED THIS WEEK
You will need to grab two colours of felt from your stash, some bakers twine and co-ordinating thread. I used Aurifil 12wt in #2260.
Just like last week you will need to print off the pattern, which you can download HERE.
CUTTING INSTRUCTIONS
From the Red Felt cut (8) stocking shapes*
From the White Felt cut (4) cuffs and (4) hearts
From the Bakers Twine cut (4) x 9" pieces`
*A little happy tip or two....... I like to fold my felt in half and cut both the front and back pieces for each stocking at the same time, that way I get perfectly matching stockings. I also like to make the required number of templates (I made 4 stocking templates), that way I can then lay them out making the best use of my felt.......felt is great as even the smallest scrap can come in useful! Sharp scissors are essential, I find my 5" Fiskers Needlework scissors, brilliant for this. For my other favourite notions, take a peek HERE.
LETS GET SEWING!
For each stocking, you need two stocking shapes, a cuff, a heart and a piece of bakers twine.
First off you will need to attach the bakers twine to the stocking. To do this, fold your piece of bakers twine in half and using tiny little stitches, sew over the bakers twine at the centre point to the top right wrong side corner of what effectively will become the back piece of your stocking (take a peek at the picture below!). Make sure all your knots are on the inside of the stocking i.e. the same side as the bakers twine! Leave the ends of the bakers twine as is, next week we'll be attaching the stockings to the mini quilt.
We're now going to decorate the front of the stocking, I know this sounds like a silly thing to say, but make sure you decorate the right side, it's easy to get in a muddle when working with felt as there is no obvious right or wrong side!
Position your cuff at the top of the pocket and sew in place. I did little running stitches at the top and bottom and added some cross stitches in the middle.
Position and sew the heart in place, I used blanket stitch for mine. You may find this 'a little happy tutorial' useful if you've never sewn blanket stitch before.
Finally place the back and front stocking pieces wrong sides together and using blanket stitch again sew around the edge, leaving the top edge open. Perfect for adding some sweet little treats!
Repeat for the remaining three stockings.
I hope that you'll join me next week for the final installment when we'll be putting the finishing touches to your mini quilt.
Don't forget to the use the following hastags:
#alittlehappysewalong or/and #prettyfabricsandtrims
Happy Stitches!
PS.... here's a sneaky peek of the next 'a little happy sew along' which I'm planning towards the end of January....think woven wool, linen, lawn and pretty trims!
So sweet. Friday night felt, scissors, needle and telly coming up! Thank you so much for sharing your designs Sarah.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sarah! xo
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