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A Bustle & Sew Publication Copyright Š Bustle & Sew Limited 2016 The right of Helen Dickson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, or by any means, without the prior written permission of the author, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Every effort has been made to ensure that all the information in this book is accurate. However, due to differing conditions, tools and individual skills, the publisher cannot be responsible for any injuries, losses and other damages that may result from the use of the information in this book. ISBN-13: 978-1523304684 ISBN-10: 1523304685
First published 2016 by: Bustle & Sew The Cottage Oakhill Radstock BA3 5HT UK www.bustleandsew.com
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Hello, and welcome to the Bustle & Sew Spring 2016 Pattern collection that brings together some of my favourite spring patterns from the past. There’s lots of variety - you’ll discover bunting and bunnies, a baby lamb and lots of blossoms too! And we use a variety of techniques so I do hope there’s something between the covers for all to enjoy.
So if you’re looking for ideas that are just that little bit special - but don’t cost the earth or take hours to create, I do hope you’ll discover what you’re looking for in this little book.
Helen xx CONTENTS Tips for Stitchers: One
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Cup Cake Bunting
Page 31
Love Letters Blocks
Page 4
The Cutting Garden
Page 34
Poetry Corner: In February
Page 7
Gardener’s Apron
Page 36
Signs of Spring Hoops
Page 8
Poetry Corner: A Change
Page 39
Working with Vintage Linens
Page 14
Comfortable Cushion
Page 40
Gather Lilacs Tea Cosy
Page 17
Tips for Stitchers: Four
Page 43
Tips for Stitchers: Two
Page 21
Be Happy Hoop
Page 44
Baby Lambkin Softie
Page 22
About Sewing Machine Needles Page 48
The Easter Egg Hunt
Page 26
House Pin Cushion
Page 51
Easter Egg Tree
Page 27
Templates
Page 57
Tips for Stitchers: Three
Page 30
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Tips for Stitchers Tape measures have a tendency to stretch a little over time. So when you’re measuring up for your project be sure to use the same one all the way through, otherwise you may find inaccuracies creeping into your work.
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Love Letters Blocks I have always loved the look of old wooden alphabet blocks spelling out a word and had for a long time I’d wanted to create a Bustle & Sew version. But I wasn’t quite sure how to go about it until I discovered those wonderful Sulky Sticky Fabri Solvy Stabiliser sheets that you can put through your printer they make embroidering on felt so very easy. Tallest letter is 4 ½” x 3 ¼” x 1” ● 4” x 6” pale blue felt
Materials
● 5” square pale pink felt
● Printed cotton fabric in 3 different colours as follows:
● Sulky Sticky Fabri Solvy Sheet (or your own way to transfer the pattern to felt)
q For the L two rectangles measuring 4 ½” x 3 ¼” and one measuring 1” x 15”
● Stranded cotton floss in shades 309, 519, 520, 522, 550, 604, 727, 906, 935, 3382, 3726
q For the V two rectangles measuring 3” x 3 ½” and one measuring 1” x 13 ½”
● Toy stuffing
q For the heart two 2 ½” squares and one rectangle measuring 1” x 10 ½”
● Poly beads/rice to weight bottoms of letters.
● For the E you will need two white felt rectangles measuring 2 ½” x 2” and one measuring 1” x 9 ½”
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The frozen ground is broken Where snowdrops raise their heads, And nod their tiny greeting In glades and garden beds.
The frozen stream is melted, The white brook turns to brown And foaming through the coppice Flows helter skelter down.
The frozen air is golden With February sun, The winter days are over, Oh, has the spring begun?
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Loving those vintage fabrics
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cleaning rags. Nothing was wasted and crafting with vintage linens simply continues a wellestablished tradition.
s collecting, displaying and decorating with handwork and textiles becomes more important, "perfect" vintage textiles are becoming much more difficult to find. Chances are, when you are able to locate a perfect piece, it will be extremely expensive. Less than perfect pieces of vintage embroidery, clothing, doilies, quilts and coverlets are very easy to find, and are much less expensive than their "mint condition" counterparts.
Part of the fun of working with vintage pieces is selecting just the right items for a project. I like to maintain a stash of linens in my studio. That way, when I am ready to work on a project, the right items are on hand. Most of the items I use are one-of-a -kind, so it is difficult to go out and purchase to order. I generally have to buy an item when I see it, and save it until I need it. Here are some things to keep in mind as you shop.
Vintage pieces have also stood the test of time, and are very durable. Frequent laundering has made these pieces luxuriously soft, and fading and minor flaws only add to their charm. You can make a variety of new projects from these slightly flawed pieces.
● Look for items that have are in fair to good overall condition. ● Examine the piece carefully and check for stains, yellowing, or tears.
Another attraction of using vintage linen is its historical interest. Women used to grow their own flax crop, harvest it, process it, spin it and weave it into the cloth that their families used. They commemorated events both public (coronations, centennials, world's fairs) and personal (births, marriages, friendships). A bride's trousseau furnished all the household linens that she anticipated using for the rest of her life and sometimes was part of her dowry.
● You should also smell any piece you are considering buying. Some odours, like the slight mustiness of storage, will come out. Others, like smoke and mildew, will not. ● If the piece is in less than perfect condition, look for salvageable areas. Small stains and tears on a handkerchief render it unusable, but the same small tears and stains on a bedspread leave plenty of usable material for crafting and sewing projects. Don't be distracted by perceived flaws like incomplete trim or missing buttons. These items are not for use as-is, and their less than perfect shape allows you to cut into them without guilt, and also allows you to purchase items at much more reasonable prices.
Don't forget that repurposing antique pieces is a very "green" way of crafting as re-using and repurposing is always more environmentally friendly than buying new fabric. Vintage fabrics also connect us to stitchers of bygone years, giving us a sense of the person who originally created them so long ago. The tradition of "waste not, want not" meant that items were repaired, remade and re-fashioned in order to reuse them. Clothing was remade to accommodate the latest fashions or as "handme-downs" for another person. Worn sheets, clothing and tablecloths were cut down to become napkins, pillowcases or towels. Smaller sections became quilt squares, patches and
are great for making smaller projects, or for adding a splash of colour to larger ones. They come in a huge variety of colours and styles and may be embroidered by hand or machine, printed with floral or other patterns, or trimmed with crocheted or lace edges. Children's and souvenir hankies are also
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Crafting with vintage linens means making something truly unique
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Measuring your Pot It’s easy to change the dimensions. If you are making for a different sized pot, then please follow the directions below to determine the size of your cosy…
Next measure over the top of your teapot. Start at the table on one side, pull your tape measure up and over the lid and down to the table on the other side. Again divide your result by two, but this time add 3” (your pot will need room to breathe!) ?
First measure your teapot’s circumference by wrapping a tape measure around the entire pot,handle and spout included. Divide this figure in half to determine the width of each flat piece, and then add on 1½” for seam allowances and ease.
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Tips for When you return home with your lovely stitchy shopping, be sure to unwrap all your floss and wind it onto cardboard or plastic bobbins each carefully labelled with the shade number. If you keep your floss well-organised you’ll
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Baby Lambkin Softie This little lambkin softie is so adorable you’d never guess he’s a bit of a mix and match sheep! While I was looking for inspiration I came across a vintage pattern that had the cutest lamb head I’d ever seen - but the body was stiff and wired with separately constructed limbs. I wanted a lamb that children would enjoy playing with so gave him a different, much simpler body with no wiring at all. Baby Lambkin measures 9 ½” tall (approx) and I have given him safety eyes so he is suitable for children over 3 years old. If giving ● Toy stuffing
Materials
● Black embroidery floss or cotton pearl thread
● 1 FQ (or a little less) white fur fabric.
● Cream sewing thread
● 1 FQ (or a little less) light weight fusible interfacing
● Sharpie or other felt tip pen
● 6” square grey felt
● Stuffing stick (bamboo skewer with the point broken off and the end frayed so it “grabs” the stuffing.
● 4” square pale pink felt ● Two ¼” safety eyes ● 18” x 1” ribbon
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The Easter Egg Hunt Easter wouldn’t be the same in our family (in Rosie’s opinion at least!) without our Easter egg hunt on Easter Sunday morning. We have both chocolate and real eggs in our hunt and when Rosie was little she used to enjoy decorating the hard boiled eggs with felt tip pens or paints. But these days we feel it’s much nicer to use vegetable colour dyes to colour our eggs. Soaking the eggs in vinegar before boiling or adding a spoonful of vinegar to the coloured water does seem to make the egg shell more receptive to the colouring. Onion skins produce the most beautiful deep golden yellow, and if you deliberately wrap some eggs inside the skins you will find beautiful delicate patterns on them when they are cool. Try beetroot juice for pink, moss or birch leaves for green. If you tie a leaf or a tiny branch to an egg with cotton then its outline should remain delicately imprinted upon the egg when you remove the string after the egg has cooled. When it’s time for your hunt, choose one person to be the Easter Bunny and hide the eggs well so that they’re not too easy to find. Use both your hard boiled eggs and an assortment of sweet and chocolate ones too.
The Easter Bunny may need to get up super-early that day to make sure he or she has enough time to hide all the eggs before the family awake and spot what’s going on! Another good idea is to keep your egg shells from previous baking sessions - if you rinse them well they make great containers to keep the smaller eggs safely together. Everyone participating in the hunt will need a container - perhaps an Easter basket they’ve made beforehand, or a small wicker basket or bowl. Nobody must start looking until everyone is ready to begin at the same time. Eggs can be hidden behind bushes, nestled within clumps of daffodils or primroses, in tall glass or perhaps somewhere in an innocent-looking bush or shrub. Be sure to ban any pets from the garden while the hunt is in progress - although they may enjoy the hunt too, chocolate is poisonous to dogs. Very young children are often happy to bring their finds to a large communal basket - and I remember one year that a very clever Easter Bunny managed to secretly re-hide the eggs while the toddlers were still hunting. That was the longest egg hunt ever and do you know, those little ones never even noticed!
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The Cutting Garden
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Gardener’s Apron I’m a bit of a fair-weather gardener I have to confess, but by May I’m usually to be found outdoors fairly regularly digging , weeding and pruning. And now I have this apron, I may be tempted outside a little earlier this year! This is a really easy make, with some simple raw-edge applique, and would be a great project for a beginner. You could customise your apron with more loops for shears etc if you wanted, and there are two nice long tapes to wrap around your body. Finished dimensions 23” wide and 16” long, though it’s easy to adjust the length if you wish.
● 3 yards x 1” cream cotton twill tape
Materials
● Dark green embroidery floss
● 24” x 30” medium weight patterned cotton fabric (the striped fabric in my picture).
● Bondaweb ● Temporary fabric marker pen
● 24” x 23” medium weight plain cotton fabric (green)
● Grey or green and cream sewing thread
● 24” x 9” neutral cotton fabric
● Embroidery foot for your machine.
● Scraps of cotton fabric for applique work
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Fit the embroidery foot to your sewing machine and drop the feed dogs. With black thread in your needle and cream in the bobbin stitch twice around the edge of each shape in a sort of scribbled fashion (not too neat!). Stitch the washing line and work crosses over the windows (see photographs for guide) to represent panes.
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With your temporary fabric marker pen draw in the rambling rose and apples on the tree. Using two strands of floss work the rose stem in dark brown back stitch, the leaves in green straight stitch and the roses are pink french knots. The apples on the tree are red satin stitch. Remove marker pen lines and press on reverse. Sew buttons on doors.
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