Tutorial - Make Bunting (with free pattern!)

Whether it's for a birthday, baby shower, wedding or to brighten up a room, bunting is pretty awesome stuff and it's super easy to make at home. Also, I've made you an awesome free downloadable pattern for both circular and triangular bunting!

A special thanks goes to David and his computer skillz for taking my hand drawn patterns and making them look like real patterns.

Download your free pdf Bunting Pattern here!

The pattern is designed to print onto 1 A4 sheet of paper - no random printer resizing should be required.

While I have used the circular pattern in my tutorial, if you choose to use the triangle, the steps are exactly the same.

Supplies:

• Free Bunting Pattern
• Fabric Scraps
• Bias Binding (learn how to make your own here!)
• Thread
• Fabric Scissors

Steps:

1. Gather your scraps of fabric and iron. Lay your bunting pattern on your fabric scraps.

Note: Get creative when laying out your bunting pattern and use as much of the fabric as you can, you don't need to really worry about grain when making bunting. You'll be surprised at where you can squeeze your pattern onto.

2. Cut your bunting out. As this is reversible bunting, you'll need 2 pieces of fabric for each bunting piece.

Note: Feel free to mix it up and use different fabrics on each side. This works particularly well if you don't have enough of one type of fabric.

3. Right sides together, sew your bunting together leaving the top open.

4. Trim seam allowances and clip corners.

5. Turn bunting inside out and iron. Now you can decide the order of your bunting.

6. Once you've decided on the order, take your bias binding and fold the end in about 1 inch (so you can pin your bunting to the wall, table etc). Place your first piece of bunting on the binding so that the raw top edge sits in the middle of the binding line.

7. Fold the binding over the top raw edge of your bunting and pin in place. Then place the next piece of bunting onto the bias binding - you can either place the bunting right next to each other (as I have done) or leave spaces between each piece.

Keep adding your bunting pieces to your binding until you run out. Then leave another 1inch of folded binding at the end.



8. Starting about 1/4inch in, sew a straight line down your binding. Make sure you catch all of the bunting edges in your binding.

Iron and Ta Da! You have your very own reversible bunting.

I used 10 pieces of circular bunting placed right next to each other ended up with a length of bunting measuring just over 64inches long.

A quick note about the size of your binding - as you can see, I used a really small width of binding for my bunting, and while it looks really cute, I wouldn't recommend it. It was difficult making sure the top bunting edge was securely sewn in. This was some vintage binding that I had had my heart set on using for this purpose ever since I got it though, so if you're like me, you've been warned :)

Let me know if you make any! I'd love to see it :)

xx
Jen

It's Giveaway Time!

It's my birthday next Tuesday and to celebrate, I'm giving you a present :)

I've been working hard on my Etsy shop these past few weeks and have gotten it to a point that I'm finally happy with the stock and the photography.

I've turned my embroidery designs into screen printable stencils and have been happily screen printing away in my kitchen ever since. It's so much faster than the embroidery I was originally doing, though I am still offering custom embroidery in my shop.

I have a range of pillow/cushion slips, tote bags and tea towels available. There are three screen printed designs currently in the shop, but I have just put the finishing touches onto a cat design that will be available hopefully next week sometime.

As I had spare fabric remaining from previous projects, I ended up changing the backing out on the screen printed versions of my cushions - can anyone guess which projects they are left over from?

My screen printing method was mostly trial and error in the beginning. I have done it before, but it was years ago, so I was going off what I could remember and thankfully, they turned out quite amazingly well!

Are any of you interested in hearing a little more about screen printing? It's a great way to customise fabric for your garments and you don't really need much to start with. If you are interested in hearing a little more about how I did my screen printing, let me know in the comments and I can do a small 'beginners screen printing' series.

WIN!!

In honor of my birthday next week, I am giving away one tote bag to a lucky winner and one tea towel to another winner - the winners get to choose the design they prefer.

All you need to do is:

Visit my shop and then leave me a comment on this post telling me what you would like the most - a tea towel or a tote bag, and your preferred design (rabbit, mouse or bird).

Please leave me your email address as well so I can get in touch with you easily (feel free to email it to me once you've left your comment so it's not out on the inter webz for all to see - jenniferlauren.is@gmail.com)

I will ship any where in the world!

I will announce the winners a week from today (Wednesday 29th May). Please feel free to share the give away anywhere you feel appropriate as well :)

Good luck!!

xx
Jen

Me Made May - Week 3

Another Me Made week down!

I don't know about any of you, but it's starting to get harder to get dressed in the morning. I find myself checking my instagram far too often to figure out if I've already worn a combination before or to make sure that there have been sufficient days in between before I can wear the same piece again.

It's been great for forcing me to think a little more creatively about what I wear each day, to pull out those Me Mades that don't get any wear and to not just throw on the same old thing each day. But it's definitely becoming a challenge.

All I can say is, thank goodness for cardigans and their ability to transform the same outfit into something new.

Day 14 - 
It's started to get much cooler in the evenings here now. Today I invented a new fashion - pj's under dresses. Comfy and warm!

Wearing - Polka Dot Billie Jean

Day 15 -
I can't even remember what I did that day... but I really like those shoes.

Wearing - Self-drafted Grey Circle Skirt

Day 16 - 
Today you got a bonus glasses shot. No, they are not 'for show'. I wear them all day every day so I can see you :)

Wearing - Stripes and Stripes Dress

Day 17 -
I did baking today. I made a gluten free version of these. Yum.

If you plan to make them, put chocolate chips into the muffin batter as well. You won't regret it. Promise.

Wearing - Self-drafted Black Circle Skirt

Day 18 - 
It's Saturday! We went to look at art and made an impromptu stop at the Australian Museum. They have snakes and lizards there. Awesome.

Wearing - 60's McCalls Wool Skirt

Day 19 - 
Mostly couldn't be bothered getting dressed today. But I did get a lot done. Watch out for a bunting tutorial coming up on the blog this Friday (with a free downloadable pattern I drafted!).

Wearing - Vogue Violet Wrap Dress

Day 20 - 
Ahhhh Monday, we meet again.

Wearing - Self-drafted Blue Circle Skirt

xx

Jen

 

Tailors Ham 101

You guys - I made ham!

Okay, I made a tailors ham. But it was still delicious to make. Simple and I used up some fabric scraps to boot.

I used this free pattern from Chance of Rain (bonus, it also has a kidney shaped ham and a sleeve roll, all in one) and also mostly followed her tutorial.

Since I didn't have any sawdust to hand, I did some research on whether I could just use poly-fill, and found that while you can, if you want to be fancy and do it like the pro's, sawdust is the stuffing of choice. Fabric scraps are widely regarded to be just as good, but your ham may need re-stuffing in a few years since they squash down over time (have any of you had any experience with this?).

I also ended up using 5 layers of fabric in total. The inner layer is calico/muslin, the bottom layer is a scrap of vintage rosey pink wool left over from this skirt and the top is a scrap of floral fabric left over from this dress, as well as the underlining from it. The scrap I used still had the under lining attached so I just went with it and thought that it would give some extra smoothness to the finished ham.

I managed to find my sawdust from a pet shop, but the smallest bag they had was 1 kilo. I still have enough to make a sleeve roll and a several more hams from it I think.

Also, just a quick note when stuffing your ham with sawdust, it's best to do it outside. I ended up with it all over the courtyard, myself and Monty, who was innocently snoozing in the sun. To be fair though, it was windy...

xx
Jen

Patterns and Spots

So, something quite exciting happened a few weeks ago. I was asked to be a pattern tester for a new indie pattern company that Abby was starting called Blue Ginger Doll. I was quite chuffed to be asked really. I've never done any pattern testing before (except for my own adventures in pattern drafting) and so I jumped at the opportunity to be involved.

I received a lovely big package in the post a few weeks later that turned out to be the pattern for Abby's first dress, the Billie Jean.

It's a truly lovely pattern to work with. I didn't really need to make any alterations besides the ones I normally have to make to most patterns.

I did end up pinching a bit of excess out of the neckline though, probably about 3cm all up. The dress straps are designed to sit off the shoulder but I wanted to be able to wear the dress as an 'every day' dress and so needed to be able to wear a bra without the straps showing.

This is really very easy to do - simply cut out the front pattern piece in a muslin, place it on yourself or your dress form and pin the shoulder straps where you would like them to sit. Pinch out the excess on the neckline evenly on both sides, iron the excess down so that you have a flat pattern piece and redraw. Do the same for the back pattern piece so that the shoulder straps line up. You will need to slightly true up your pattern piece around the neckline after that, but it's really very minimal.

I made version 2 of the dress but made the skirt less full. My version is made from a light cotton black and white polka dot fabric and is lined in the same fabric.

The Billie Jean dress is Abby's first pattern and is available for pre-sale at the moment in both downloadable pdf and paper variations. Check out her website for other variations of the dress, you'll see that it's really a great pattern for mixing and matching different fabrics and styles.

xx
Jen

Me Made May - Week 2

Time for my weekly Me Made May round up! Follow along daily on Flickr or Instagram.

Day 7 -
Simple and comfy for a day of running errands. I actually wear this combination a lot in real life (not just Me Made May life).

Wearing my self drafted blue circle skirt.

Day 8 - 
Blending in nicely with my background.

Wearing my 7 Bloggers 1 Dress Burdastyle dress.

Day 9 - 
I'm still mad at the plaid, but I really like this dress so can't stay mad at it for long.

Wearing my Mad at the Plaid dress.

Day 10 - 
Felt very uninspired today.

Wearing my 60's McCall's Rose Wool skirt with self drafted belt tabs.

Day 11 -
Ahh, nothing like freshly washed hair and a sunny, warm Sydney autumn day to get out of a rut. Also, my first repeats of the month.

Wearing my Sleeveless Jasmin Blouse and Self-drafted Red Circle Skirt.

Day 12 - 
Sundays are for sewing (and making gluten free lemon meringue pie!!! Major sugar overload...).

Wearing my first Afternoon Blouse and Self-drafted Black Circle Skirt.

Day 13 - 
Feeling uninspired again today and my face looks weird in all the photos that were taken.  Below is the best one. Maybe this is what it always looks like on a Monday?

Wearing a Self-drafted Floral Circle Skirt. (I'm thinking about cutting my hair that short again too. I am in major need of a hair cut!)

How are you doing so far in Me Made May? We're nearly half way through, can you believe it?

xx
Jen

Tutorial: Replacing Facings with Bias Binding

I've mentioned before that I love bias binding. I especially love using it in place of facings on arm holes and where appropriate, neck lines. It moulds nicely around curved edges and leaves you with a lovely clean finish on the inside (and outside!) of your garment while reducing the bulk that facings can sometimes leave. 

I have a tutorial on how to make your very own bias binding here. 

Supplies:

• Bias Binding (the required length depends on the facing you are replacing)
• Pins

Optional - Needle and thread (if you are not going to machine topstitch your binding down)

*Note - in the pictures below I am replacing the neck line facing but I did also replace the arm facings on this dress.

Steps:

1. Right sides together, pin your binding along the closest ironed line to the facing area you are replacing. Pin all the way around and leave about 1 inch loose at each end (ignore the fact that I didn't leave said inch in the photo below!).

2. Once your binding is pinned all the way around, pinch the loose ends of bias binding together (right sides together) and pin. 

*Note - I forgot to take photos of steps 2 & 3 on the dress and so recreated them later. I just realised the binding is pinned to the wrong side of the fabric on these though! Sorry!!

3. Sew ends together along the pin. Trim seam allowance and iron flat.

4. Machine stitch your bias binding in place following the folded line you have pinned down.

5. If you don't want any binding showing (as in the headline image), fold the binding all the way over your raw edge, iron and pin in place. You can then either invisible hand stitch the binding in place or top stitch using your machine.

*Note - As I used an underlining on this dress, I hand stitched my binding to my underlining using a whip stitch instead.

OR

If you want to make a feature of your binding, fold it down around the raw edge of your garment so half of your binding is exposed. Hand stitch or machine stitch as desired. An example of where I have done this is here.

And, that's it!!

xx

Jen