Sewing with Laminates Mini Tutorial and a Giveaway!

Have you ever sewn with laminates? I hadn't until yesterday. I had some beautiful Queen Street laminate and quilting cotton by Jennifer Paganelli and decided to try them out using my new "Ruched Happy Bag" pattern. The pattern is available in pdf form from my Etsy shop.


The bag is lined with laminate in case of cosmetic bottle spills.



I also used the laminate for the bag's focal band for a little bit of shine and interest.



The band was fussy cut to center the design. I love the look that gives. It's worth the little extra effort and tiny bit of fabric waste. I used quilting cotton for the back of the bag and for the ruched/gathered bottom. I am sure it would have been possible to use laminate but I like a softer feel to the gathers.

I learned a thing or two when attempting to sew with laminate for the first time and thought I would pass along these pointers!

Sewing With Laminates Mini Tutorial


First off, laminate punctured with pin holes loses it's water resistant properties! You can use fabric glues to hold your fabric in place when stitching but I didn't have any on hand. Instead, I pinned within the 1/4" seam allowance.



You can't iron laminates or they will melt. You can press with your fingernails but I also found that using a Hera marker as a bone folder worked well.



And finally, you need a Teflon presser foot to sew on laminates. Otherwise they stick and drag on your presser foot. I didn't have a Teflon foot so I settled for another solution that worked just fine for a small project like this. I placed tissue paper over my project and then stitched. I also lengthened my stitch length to 3.0 which looks nicer for top stitching and makes it easier when tearing away the tissue.



I was able to see clearly through the tissue and edge stitch quite nicely.



Simply tear off the paper and you are all set. This is where it gets a little annoying. Some tissue will stick on the stitches and you will have to pick it out with your fingernails. I'd buy a Teflon foot if I were sewing a raincoat but for this project, it is completely unnecessary. When sewing with laminate on both the top and bottom, I placed the tissue under the project AND on top.
I hope these hints were helpful.



To celebrate the release of my "Ruched Happy Bag" pattern, I'd like to offer a little giveaway. I will give away one copy of my pdf pattern on Saturday, July 2nd. You may enter by leaving a comment telling me what you like best in my shop. Leave a second comment if you are a follower.

Eyeglass Case or Pen Sleeve Tutorial

A lovely lady named Margaret asked me to write up a tutorial for the pen sleeve that I made a few weeks ago. While thinking about that, I realized that I should combine it with an eyeglass case tutorial as I use the same construction methods for both.

You can make either following the same steps but using a pattern with different dimensions.

Click here for the pattern pieces and here for the directions.

Please remember that I hadn't planned on writing a tutorial so the photos are scarce but I hope the directions are clear!

Click here to enter to win a GO!baby!

Patchwork Blanket

My first project of the year was a patchwork blanket..not quite a quilt...but big enough to snuggle under :)

Here is the process in pictures...

Cut out 150 squares of around 15cm by 15cm. (I used about 15 different fabrics)

End up with a pile like this...

Lay the squares out in a favoured pattern..I tried to mix and match the colours so it was varied...

Find a backing fabric...I used this fleece which was a bargain at £2 from tesco, and fitted my needs perfectly!

Sew strips of squares, then sew the strips together...I prefer the not so perfect look, so none of my squares match up perfectly...

And here is the finished blanket! Its so cosy with the fleece on the back, and super colourful!

My next mission is a full sized double quilt...In fact im starting this weekend :)

p.s I havent been around much lately, My laptops broken so its hard to get on and post! :)

Hot Water Bottle Cover Tutorial

Remember that kilt i bought in a charity shop a few months back for £1? There i was, sat thinking about what to make next...and so here it is...padded quilt hot water bottle cover :)

You will need:

Outer Fabric (Kilt)
Padding/wadding - very cheap from john lewis or fabric shops!
Inner/Lining Fabric (Strawberry)
Thread (try and make this the same colour as your outer fabric!
Bias Binding - not much, about 50cm!
Greaseproof/tracing paper.
Sewing machine optional, but a lot faster with one!!

Lets Get Started!!...

First, draw around your hot water bottle, leaving a 2cm gap round the edge all the way round.

Do this onto greaseproof/tracing paper as it is easy to work with.

Pin this to your fabric and cut out one whole one, a small half for the top and a larger bottom half, so that when placed on top of the whole one, they overlap.

Next place your cut out sides onto the wadding and cut out - leaving a gap of about an inch all the way round. Do this for all three pieces.

Next do the same with the lining/inner fabric. In the end you should have a sandwich seen below.



Pin this sandwich together and then carefully sew together.

Bias bind together the two straight edges from the broken half.

Lay the whole piece, right side up, and place the smaller piece on top right side down. then the larger broken piece also right side down. So that when all turned inside out, the outer fabric only is showing.

Sew round all edges carefully, The machine will go through this as its all thin fabric!

Turn inside out and voila!!

I know mines not perfect, but its my first attempt and i love it!...

Another christmas present in the bag!!

Lil x

Pretty Bunting Tutorial

This is a really easy tutorial for making pretty bunting. It can be used to decorate rooms, stalls and even cars (yes im thinking car window bunting!)

What you will need...

Fabric..This can be all the same colour, or different patterns as i have gone for.
Scissors..for cutting out your triangles.
A cardboard triangle template...Mine is 14cm at top, and 16 on either side.

Some Bias Binding (170cm) in the colour of your choice (really cheap from fabric shops)

Cotton in a matching or contrasting colour to your bunting.

...Sewing machine is optional but very quick if you have one!

Lets get started!...

Firstly you will need to choose your fabrics, I chose ten as this makes a nice length of bunting.

Place your triangle on the fabric and cut out, leaving a cm either side of the cardboard. You can save fabric by turning the triangle upside down each time you cut.

You will need two fabric triangles per bunting triangle (does that make sense?) for front and back!

You should end up with something that looks like this...

Next, place correct sides together and sew down each side - not the top!!

(Quick tip for sewing machine users..Sew down one side, At the bottom of the triangle keep the needle in and turn the fabric - saves time and having to sew each side separately!)


Trim the excess and turn inside out. Press with an iron to keep flat.

Repeat this for all sets of triangles!






Next you will need to work out which order you want your triangles and fold the bias binding over each of the triangle tops. It makes it way easier to do this all in advance and pin in place, like below :)

Sew all triangles onto the bias, making sure it is always folded correctly, and the triangle is sandwiched inbetween! I just do one continuous sewing strip, and sew together the empty bias inbetween each triangle. This will save you a lot of time over sewing each one in individually!

And here is the finished bunting!

Let me know if you make this yourself as i would love to see pictures!!

Lil x