Giant Paper Flower Update

My giant paper flower is one of my most looked up items on my blog with whopping 123,647 views over the last four years.  Do people still love paper flowers this much or have they had their time?  I just found my notebook all this time later with some of the dimensions and card stock weights.  I've never done a tutorial but there are so many around to follow, I don't think it's necessary to add one more :-)

I used 3 x sheets of Canson 300gsm card stock  for the outer petals and leaves.  The dimension of the card was 500 x 650mm (19 x 23").

I used 7 sheets of Vivaldi 120gsm white paper.  You can also use Canson cartridge paper 500 x 600mm sheets.

My outer leaves and petals were constructed in a similar way to "The House that Lars Built, Giant Paper Flowers" and my petals were all cut free-hand in varying sizes. The centre of my rose was constructed similar to this tutorial but I didn't attached anything on a stick, I just folded the bottom of the cone over and stuck it flat so I had a flat base to work with.  I built up the petals around the centre, alternating placement as a real rose looks.  My hot glue gun was my weapon of choice, I went through quite a few glue sticks!  I hope this is helpful. x

Geometric Millennium Falcon - Paper Piecing

I was brave enough or silly enough to have a go at paper piecing back in May - it's not for the faint hearted people.  Of course I choose a tricky geometric piece but it was a cool free pattern by Quiet Play that I knew Josiah would like.  After initially commenting he thought it looked nothing like the Millennium Falcon, he now loves it and it gets organised next to his pillow every night before he goes to sleep.

Quiet play has some tutorials on how to piece and I also used this video which I found super helpful including the ruler she uses.  I bought one on Amazon, I can't imagine how you would paper piece without it.

Sewing: Purl Soho Patterns

Purl Soho has some fabulous free patterns, they are a go-to for modern, simple and classy patterns and they have impeccable fabric taste. This is my first Everyday Tote, there will be more...  It is a great size and I love all the seams enclosed in bias binding - so neat.  My bias was a garage sale find and quite stiff - I wished I had changed my needle as the stitching got pretty rough which shows on the chambray.  

We use the tote mostly for a library bag and my school pick up bag complete with snacks and plenty of room to fit book bags, notes and craft etc! The only criticism is the pocket is too high and probably not deep enough for my liking - it also flaps about. Next time I'll sew a pocket on the bottom half of the bag. While I love the bias inside, I'll probably just insert a lining next time for a quicker sew!  I also used a Noodlehead trick for the handles as I had no webbing on hand.  Instead of folding in half again as Anna would I added the bias for contrast and strength and I ran out of fabric and didn't want thin handles.

These are lovely mitered napkins which I made from hand printed Thea & Sami fabric I've had for ages... I wished I'd sewn them sooner, I love using them and sewing through my stash.

Sewing: World Book Day - How to Train Your Dragon

World Book Day was a Viking inspired affair... due to a friend having a Horrible History party a little while back and I knew our costumes were going to double up for WBD.  My favourite thing to sew was Josiah's tunic and Anya's shrug!  Josiah had a linen longer tunic to go under the pleather top pictured below, but his classroom is hot and it restricted his running around.

I made a tube for the bodice out of the pleather reversed, then cut rows of scallops and sewed them on for the 'skirt' and a small rectangle to go over the shoulders too.  Josiah's costume was inspired by the outfits on Horrible Histories classic, We Sell Any Monk!

My 'Astrid' is never short for a pose!   I followed this tutorial for her shrug, just free-styled the skirt out of Josiah's leftover fabric.  The sleeve's were also leftovers from Josiah's under tunic, as the first set were too tight for him but worked perfectly for her forearms.  We bought tiny skull buttons and faux suede cord from Amazon.

Anya also had a stone age dress up the following week!  Fabric is sourced from Simply Fabrics in Brixton, London - it is excellent for dress up fabric at great prices.  Anya's costume cost me six pound, we had everything else at home.  We cut the toes out of an old pair of hubby's socks and sewed the fur trim around the top, the leopard print covering the boot was badly hacked and sewn under the fur - I'd run out of steam by then! ha ha    Last year's Book Week Costumes.