Knickers Galore

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Trixie Lixie

I would like to say thank you to Joanne for my lovely knickers, and thanks to Sonia at Fabric & Flowers for organising the knicker swap! They fit perfectly, are beautifuly made and have got cats on them, I love cats! (I have two)

This is a picture of them from the back so that you can see the gorgeous fabric!

I made a pair for Kerry at PennyDog Patchwork who’s blog is great, her quilts are amazing! They turned out so well that we have made them into our latest knicker kit at TrixieLixie

.I have been pretty busy making knickers this week, I sell them on my Folksy site and here are a few pairs that I made for Valentines orders.

I think making knickers is quite addictive, I must have made at least 100 pairs by now and I still love doing it and I love seeing the look on peoples face’s when I give them a pair and tell them that I made them! If you haven’t had a go yet I really recommend it!

Happy Sewing!

The Lola Apron & the Retro Apron

Posted on December 2, 2013 by Trixie Lixie

This week I have had a go at making some aprons, one is a retro apron pattern that I think is from the fifty’s, the other one is the Sew Liberated Lola Apron pattern that is available from TrixieLixie.

I made the Lola apron first as the pattern and instructions for the vintage apron didn’t seem to be complete. I used gorgeous red gingham, ric-rac and spotty lace trim bias binding. I think it has a very Cow-girl feel to it. The instructions are very clear and it was very easy to make.

I love the curves at the bottom and the circular pockets!

Next I tackled the vintage pattern which only had 2 pieces and very limited instructions,however having made the Lola I managed to bluff my way through this pattern and I even used some trimmed bias binding to finish it off. It was in fact quite easy and is really lovely,. The skirt part is almost a full circle so you can really twirl around the kitchen in this one.

For this apron I used Moda Oh Deer cherry spot fabric and gingham lace trim bias binding.

I can’t decide which one I like best, they are both ear-marked for people for Christmas, they are perfect for the 2 people that I have made them for!

Happy sewing!

Plastic Bag Tube

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Trixie Lixie

A quick and easy tutorial today, my Mum requested one of these so I thought I would include them in my gift making tutorials, I have made several, they are always useful!

The fabric I used is from the Red Rooster range at TrixieLixie

To start cut a piece of fabric 50cm long x 30cm wide for the tube and 2 pieces of elastic 18cm long. You will also need a piece of ribbon or twill tape for the loop to hang it up with.

zig-zag stitch around all the raw edges to stop any fraying and then turn over the top and bottom edges for the elastic casing

Use a safety pin to pull the elastic through the top and bottom openings, leave .5cm of elastic out at each edge and pin in place

Make a loop with the ribbon and pin it to the right side of the fabric about 2cm from the top of the tube at a slight angle.

With right sides together fold the tube panel in half lengthways. Pin and stitch, sewing in the ends of the elastic and the handle loop.

Turn the tube the right way round and stuff it with your plastic grocery bags.

Happy sewing!

Tote bag tutorial

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Trixie Lixie

I always think a tote bag or book bag makes a great gift, and they are so quick and easy to make.An even better gift is a tote bag with something inside it! I am making lots of these bags in all sorts of sizes for my nieces for Christmas this year, all with a surprise inside. Shhh, don’t tell them!!

I used an A4 file as a template for the large book bag and cut out 2 piece of the main fabric Village Trees and 2 pieces of the lining fabric Village Flowers

Pin and sew up the side, bottom and then the other side of both the main bag and the lining, neaten the edges with pinking shears or zig-zag stitch,

I like to use my trusty Fiskar pinking shears, they are so sharp and reliable, which reminds me, here is my facebook post from today:

Turn the main fabric piece the right way round and insert the lining so that the wrong sides are together

With this bag I wanted to show the lovely lining so I turned the top over to the outside rather than the inside, fold over twice to get a neat edge pin and sew in place.

This bag is to go over the shoulder so I made long handles, so I cut 2 strips of fabric to the length I required and folded them in half lengthways sewing and neatening with my pinking shears

My special trick for turning the handle the right way around is to put a safety pin at the top and pull it through the tube like when you thread elastic

Iron the handle and pin inside the bag, sew on securely

Now, what shall I put inside this one?

The fabric I used on the mini version is an oil cloth called Field Study and I used a red spotty fabric for the lining.

Happy Sewing!

Memory Photo Xmas Decorations

Posted on October 21, 2013 by Trixie Lixie

I got the idea for these personalised christmas decorations from a post that I made for Mothers day, fabric photographic memory albums, you can see the tutorial here

These funky Michael Miller Christmas fabrics are available from TrixieLixie

Cut some 10cm squares, 2 of each style of fabricFor the photographs I used Iron on fabric transfer paper, don’t forget to flip your photo’s when you are printing them off so that when you iron them onto the fabric they are the right way around, iron them onto some plain white fabric.

I used some medium weight wadding to pad out the photo and then I zig-zag stitched it to one of the the pieces of fabric

Next I sandwiched a piece of heavier weight wdding between both pieces of fabric

Put a piece of ribbon in the top so that you can hang it on the tree

They are so quick and easy to make, I made these 4 in half an hour! I think I will be making them for every single member of my family, I’m sure I can find plenty of embarrassing Xmas photos of them all!

Happy Sewing!

Quick & easy Bunting tutorial

Posted on October 14, 2013 by Trixie Lixie

I have a big birthday celebration coming up and I want to decorate the church hall for my party so I am making lots and lots of bunting. I have done a bunting tutorial before but somebody told me about this quick and easy way of using charm packs for making it so I thought I would give it a go and pass it on.

I used the Moda Comma Charm pack

All you have to do is fold the pieces corner to corner right sides together and sew along one edge;

Then trim the bottom corner, turn right side out and iron flat in a kite shape;

Fold the top into the body of the fabric;

Then attach folded over bias binding to the top;

Make lots of bunting flags and attach them to the bias binding in one go so that you have a long string of bunting, I used half the charm pack for this 4.5m string.

It was so quick to make, I am going to do the other half of the charm pack tomorrow.

Pyjama Bottom Tutorial

Posted on October 8, 2013 by Trixie Lixie

I make lots of Pyjama bottoms, they are a quick and easy gift to make, I usually make all the family a pair for Christmas. I wanted to do a tutorial but I haven’t had time to write a detailed pattern so I scoured the net for a good free pattern and found this excellent one on the Simplicity Creative website here

You can print off a FREE pattern and very good instructions, they are unisex and very easy to make!

Here is a pair I made using this tutorial

I love this Michael Miller fabric: Trailer Travel its so kitsch!

Another pair:

This jersey fabric is very soft, my daughter says these are really comfy pyjama’s

This is the pair I made for my son in the summer using Michael Millers Lil’ Dino’s fabric;

I am going to make some in this Michael Miller Many Mini Gnomes fabric for my daughter for Christmas this year

Happy Sewing!

Crafty Christmas Roses Scarf

Posted on September 22, 2013 by Trixie Lixie

Well here we go, Christmas is less than 100 days away and if, like me, you have a lot of people to make presents for you may want to make a start now.

We had these beautiful Voile fabrics in from our lovely suppliers at Rowan and I have decided to make some lovely scarves for my sisters for Christmas. These 3 fabrics are Wish Voile by Valori Wells for Free Spirit Fabrics.

Patience

Courage

Passion

Haven’t they got great names!

I have chosen to use Studio Sketchbook Roses in Butter from Amy Butler’s Alchemy Studio Collection for the first scarf, it is a very easy make!

I used half a metre of fabric and just under a metre of pink pom pom

Simply fold the fabric in half, right sides together and sew up the full wiidth of the fabric to make a tube, neaten the edge with pinking shears or a zig-zag stitch.

Turn the right way round and iron, turning the unfinished ends in by about 1.5cm pinning the pom pom between both edges;

I then used an ordinary zipper foot to sew this seam, its quite tricky because the pom pom rolls about the place as you sew!

Its as simple as that, one down, 3 more to go!

Here is the finished article;

And here is my cat Spike helping me make it!

Keep reading my blog posts over the next few weeks for more Crafty Christmas gift idea’s for you to make for friends & family.

Lots of cushions & a give-away

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Trixie Lixie

I have been busy making cushions for my sisters new house, I used all the different colours in the Moda Simply Colour leafy stripe fabric

I used the envelope cushion cover technique so no zips, see the tutorial here

There are six colours in the range dark blue, turquoise blue, purple, green, gold and grey. To celebrate the arrival of spring in the UK (finally!) I am going to give-away a set of 6 fat quarters from this range

This give-away is open to all readers I can post it worldwide, to be in with a chance of winning just leave me a comment telling me what you think you would use the fabric for. For further chances of winning like my facebook page & follow me on twitter

Machine embroidery fun!

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Trixie Lixie

A few posts back I showed you the card that I made for my Mum for Mothers day, I have been playing around with machine embroidered cards for a year or two, they are fun to make and never fail to impress people so I thought I’d attempt to show you how it is done.

First of all choose some fabric and cut it out, I like doing stars and hearts and I like to put a plain piece of fabric against a patterend background. So I cut out my shapes

I have a machine embroidery foot for my sewing machine which is great because it allows you to move the fabric smoothly around and it is not gripped in place. Before I had the special foot I used to just take the foot off my machine and work without one. (if you do this remember to still put the foot down so that the machine works properly)

I like to use a bright contrasting thread, you can use different coloured main thread and bobbin thread for a bit of interesting contrast.

You just move the fabric backwards and forwards as you sew, some times it can be a bit wobbly but I think that adds to the design, also you can go over the stitches several times to make them really stand out. I use an air erasable marker pen to write the name before I embroider it on

Once I have done all the work on the fabric piece I sew it straight onto the card blank, you could glue it on, but I am usually about to post my card so haven’t got time to wait for glue to dry!