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ur last bit of stitching yeah i know get me with the snazzy label now it s a simple matter of sewing around all four edges of your cushion cover i usually make a second pass with a zig zag stitch as this helps to prevent fraying and also ensures nice strong seams that won t burst open any time soon it s also a good idea to snip the corners off to reduce fabric bulk and make it easier to turn your work and speaking of turning your work that s the next thing you ll need to do it s time for the big reveal are you as excited as i am well how does it look time for a final press with the iron and then we ll pop a cushion inner into our marvellous make if you ve followed this tutorial closely you ll have made a cushion cover that s just the right size to take a krakris cushion which you can buy at ikea for the princely sum of 1 total bargain ultimately though you ve made something that looks like a million dollars you should be dead proud of yourself and now you know how to do it what s stopping you go on make a few more and give your home a little makeover you ve got no excuse not to happy stitching folks are you sitting comfortably posted august 8 2015 in the garage tags big blue bully bus cushion dresden plate patchwork soft furnishing ideas stitching tutorial wulli bulli 0 plump up a cushion and come and join me for a chat you may well need to be sat down for this feel free to plump away after a lengthy hiatus i have returned with not one but two back to back tutorials which will hopefully see you making your very own soft furnishings just like the example pictured above what s that you say you don t think you ll ever be able to make such a thing don t be daft it s easy let me show you how by the end of this tutorial you ll have created something that looks a bit like this here s the deal by following this first tutorial you ll have created the bulk of your first ever piece of dresden plate patchwork you ll also no doubt have had to stop a few times along the way to do a little happy dance as you see how incredibly easy it really is you might even have to pause to post pictures on instagram facebook and beyond either way i guarantee that you will be bursting to share what you ve made with your friends just you wait and see first of all you ll need to gather together your crafting arsenal it s a lengthy list to tick off you will need roughly half a metre of a plain hardwearing fabric this is more important in our next session so don t worry if you haven t got anything to hand straight away you ll also need plenty of fabric scraps that measure at least 5 inches long by about 3 inches wide you re going to need twenty separate pieces to make up the circular part of your patchwork plus one extra piece that we ll be using to make the centre for my design i chose ten different fabric prints but ultimately it s up to you how many you use one two twenty you decide coordinating thread a sewing machine pins scissors etc a dresden plate ruler rotary cutter and mat scissors and a card template work just as well but it ll take three times as long to get everything ready a dresden plate ruler handy if you ve got one but not essential to the task don t forget to find something blunt to help turn any corners inside out it s tempting to use scissors but really annoying when you push too hard and burst through the fabric right i think that s about it let s make a start first things first you need to cut out twenty separate pieces of fabric that are all five inches in length you ll see that they resemble a wedge shape with a wide top that tapers to a much narrower bottom from now on we ll refer to these as blades once you have all your blades start laying them out in a circle and have a little play around at mixing your different fabric designs and colours until you re happy with the way they look don t be too worried about changing your mind at this stage nothing is set in stone until we start stitching gather your blades together into a neat little pile and now we re going to start sewing take your first blade and fold the widest end in half with the printed design on the inside make sure that the fabric design is kept to the inside sew down the folded edge but don t break your thread let the machine sew a few blank stitches and then sew your next blade just keep sewing no need to break your thread after each blade keep on sewing until you re left with a little blade bunting that way everything s kept in order ready for the next stage use your scissors to remove the first blade by stitching down the wide end we ve effectively created a corner which we ll neaten up by first snipping off any excess fabric and then turn to reveal the point snip any excess fabric away which could create bulk in the corner don t go too close to your stitching turn your corner inside out use something blunt to achieve a neater finish press each blade with an iron for crisp clean corners still with me by now you should have twenty stitched and pressed blades arranged in some kind of order that works well for you if you still need to play around then now s the time to do it in a moment we re going to start sewing everything together so you can t change your mind ok now it get s really exciting take your first two blades and place them so that their right sides the printed bits are facing each other match the sloping edge of each corner point and the side pieces together and stitch it s important to make sure that the sloping edges of each corner and the long side of each blade match up accurately keep working in the round stitching each blade together until you run out then stitch the two ends together and do a little happy dance it s at this point when you might find yourself breaking off every few minutes in order to admire your handiwork just keep joining each blade and enjoy taking a sneaky peek at how it s all beginning to come together heck put that sewing down and have a little happy dance you re making something that looks awesome way to go you have you sewn everything together have you joined the end pieces together to make a circle aren t you just the happiest little bunny on the block give yourself a pat on the back and do your first reveal to the world whooo hoo i made a circle thingy with lots of thread sticking out all over the place is it supposed to look like this your final task for today is to give everything a little press with the iron first you ll need to place your work face down and pull any excess threads down and into the centre we don t need to trim anything off it s all going to be hidden away in our next session now press your work so that all the seams are facing in the same direction time to make yourself a cup of coffee and celebrate all your hard work with a round of biscuits most of the fiddly stuff has been done in the next tutorial i ll show you how to complete your patchwork by incorporating it into a simple but effective cushion cover design until then happy stitching folks it s great to be back a taste of summer posted august 11 2014 in the garage tags allotment courgettes leeds and district allotment gardeners federation pickles and preserves plot 29 recipes summer 3 plot 29 all posh and grown up with it s own blog and everything the last few months have been manic what with allotment stuff non stop making a rather marvellous holiday with wall to wall sunshine and an extra campervan to look after my t5 daily driver no less in truth i really haven t had a minute to blog that much about stuff i just seem to be busy all the time but today i stopped to draw a breath albeit after three hours spent at the sewing machine since early this morning and tried to capture a little bit of summer before i blink and it s gone so i went up to plot 29 my little bit of heaven now officially the eighth best little bit of heaven in the whole of leeds and the surrounding areas i confess that i got a bit competitive over the last few months i mourned at the fact that the weather may have laid waste to a few things shrugged my shoulders see how i don t get stressed and picked some big plump courgettes with a mind to preserving them for days that are drearier as a result here s a recipe for courgette relish or what i did with the rest of my day you will need 1kg of courgettes washed dried and then chopped into little bits 2 medium sized onions chopped into little bits 1 shallot chopped into little bits 1 green pepper chopped into little bits what can i say i find chopping vegetables to be very therapeutic the smaller the better 1 tbsp of salt place all your chopped vegetables into a bowl sprinkle mix in the salt cover with a tea towel and leave to brine for at least an hour rinse thoroughly with cold water and drain once this is done try to leave your vegetable mix brining for at least an hour this will help to remove some of the excess liquid held inside the courgettes and keep them crisp and with bite in the finished relish in a heavy based pan measure out 250 ml of cider vinegar 250ml of white wine vinegar 350 g of granulated sugar 1 finely chopped green chilli 1 tsp turmeric 2 tsp mustard powder 2 tsp cornflour 1 tsp dried coriander seeds 1 tsp fresh coriander seeds this is optional if you can t get fresh seeds just add an extra tsp of dried ones then you just place the pan on a medium heat and keep stirring until the sugar is dissolved add the chopped vegetables and bring to the boil make sure you keep giving everything a good stir once boiling reduce the heat and simmer for 45 minutes stirring occasionally if after this time it has reached the consistency of relish spoon carefully into sterilised warmed jars and seal if it needs a little more time to reduce simply turn up the heat and boil vigorously for a few minutes more at this point i usually give the mixture a little stir with a sterilised skewer to remove any air pockets bubbles seal jars and allow to cool before labelling ideally this relish needs about six weeks to mature and allow the flavours to fully develop once opened it should keep for a further six weeks two months keep refrigerated once opened voila a little taste of summer captured in a jar courgette relish using ingredients picked straight from the eighth best plot in leeds and beyond fun thrift and a new adventure or two posted march 25 2014 in the garage tags campervans darlington digital stamps easter gift idea egg cosy features writer festival of thrift freemotion machine embroidery gerardine hemingway handmade harbour john orchard lingfield point recycling road less travelled school of thrift sewforsoul sewing tutorials sustainability uk handmade upcycling volkswagen wayne hemingway 0 exciting stuff is happening and there s the promise of some very busy times ahead at the bully bus manufactory recently i became a features writer for uk handmade it s kept me working hard for the last month or so and i have to say i m enjoying the new role and the challenges it brings i m writing fortnightly articles for a series called the road less travelled something i ve been featured in myself many moons ago which celebrates the stories behind the people who ve left normal nine to five careers far behind them to pursue a creative path and build their own businesses it s very inspiring everyone s story is different no journey is ever the same you can read the latest interview here or wait until saturday 29th march 2014 for the next article to be published then there s an invitation i recently received to become a participant in the festival of thrift s school of thrift project john orchard wayne and gerardine hemingway part of the driving force behind the festival of thrift the festival itself launched in 2013 over the weekend of 27th 28th september at lingfield point darlington and made a big impact both regionally and nationally with 27 000 visitors 17 000 more than expected pouring through the gates all eager to see what the uk s first ever festival of thrift was about and if you were one of the people that attended you would have seen examples of sewing dancing foraging playing music making hula hooping theatre gardening upcycling eating bargain hunting learning oven making quilting baking crafting and plenty of inspiring talks on sustainable topics also taking place the festival of thrift build it and they will come the idea behind the festival was to bring a free cultural celebration to the people of the north east the uk and beyond where people could find the fun in learning how to reuse recycle upcycle and ultimately save money and benefit the environment wayne hemingway of red or dead the fantastic team behind last year s accomplishment co curators wayne and gerardine hemingway festival director stella hall and john orchard a director of marchday the owners of lingfield point are back in full force for 2014 with dates set for the same weekend in september wayne said the success of last year proves even further that thrift is not just a flash in the pan but a set of values applied to the way you live your life thrift has become a vital contemporary movement reflecting traditional values and it s evolving each day as our needs and the needs of our planet change what we found last year is that thrift provides a community and a reason for people to get together from families who want a free fun day out with fantastic entertainment food and activities to those who are looking to learn new skills whilst saving money and contributing positively to the planet as they re doing it the festival of thrift is an apt response to the economic climate and can play a positive and uplifting role in helping folk to navigate their way through times of low disposable income i m delighted it s back for a second year and i hope it makes even more of an impact this time round and the school of thrift what s that all about the school of thrift is a network of bloggers that support the principles behind the festival of thrift basically the aim is to create a really fun thrifty online community for people to be a part of and go to for advice tips and tricks and find folks like me ready to share my wonderful wisdom with everyone i didn t come up the wonderful wisdom thing btw credit must be given to the bods behind the project for that little gem so what do i do what can you expect from me business as usual basically i ll occasionally post content written specifically with the school of thrift in mind hints tips tutorials recipes etc the same kind of thing i ve been doing for the last few years really i m delighted to say that my blog has been described by the team back at fot sot base camp as right up their street so there s no real change planned for the approach to how i work or the kinds of things that i ll be posting business very much as usual i m really looking forward to taking part the festival of thrift campervan friendly for more information on the festival of thrift 2014 programme please visit the website at www festivalofthrift co uk ...