Monthly Archives: April 2015

Porker the Pig

I’ve been wanting to try needle felting for a while, but it always seemed quite an expensive thing to try, especially if you don’t know that you will get to grips with it. But I found a pattern for a pig at Tally’s Treasury which sounded like it should be a reasonable first project.

The needle was 1.50 and the felt cost just 40 pence, with enough left over to make another pig.

Porker

Porker the Pig – his eyes are scraps of blue felt

I hadn’t realised how easy felt would be to sew on the machine – even with a 1/4 inch seam, it behaved perfectly, not even attempting to ram some of the felt into the bobbin holder! The needle felting was a challenge, as I wasn’t really sure what I was doing, but once the snout started taking shape, I got the hang of it.

Porker

Felt is surprisingly challenging to get an accurate photo of! This is Porker’s true colouring

So, here’s Porker the Pig – he needs a little more work on his snout, but other than that, he’s ready and waiting for me to make him a little brother. Apparently one little pig is lonely on his own….

Porker

All this modelling for photos is tiring work…. well, his legs are slightly lopsided too, which means he tips over quite easily

Zips…. attempt number one

I’ve heard a lot about zips being a nightmare to sew, and seeing as the dress will need an invisible zip, I needed to learn how to at least sew in a regular one. After having made that card pouch, I realised that I also could do with one to hold my reward cards – that way I can find the one I need a little easier than having to pull them all from my purse when I get to the till!

zipper1

I came across a free pattern at Craft Passion for a zipper card pouch, which sounded just what I needed. I couldn’t get a 9 inch zip (the store only sold them in even numbered lengths), so I went with an 8 inch plastic zip instead. I had some fabric left over from a fat quarter bag, and that worked perfectly for the pouch, with some starry fabric for the lining.

zipper-inside

Apart from a slight adventure when I accidentally let the zip pull fly off the open end of the zip, and several tense minutes afterwards, trying to put it back together again, it went quite smoothly!

I will admit my hand sewing skills are relatively non-existent, so I did machine the final seams together, with some top stitching around the outside.

zipper-side

It’s slightly wonky, but it works, and for a first zip, I think it looks pretty neat! 😀 I’ve been using the card pouch for a little while, and it’s holding together perfectly.