Hello! Things have been quiet on here for a few weeks, haven't they? Etsy got busy, Easter holidays happened and small children got sick and took quite a long time to get better, all of which impacted on my blogging. But....... I have an exciting blog post today..... read on....
A few weeks ago a very nice lady from Hunky Dory contacted me about doing a review of some of their products for them. I've heard of them, and indeed seen them on Create and Craft and had a very fixed idea of what they did. Card stock and toppers is what I had marked them down as. Before I said yes or no, though, I had a good root around their website Hunky Dory Crafts and imagine my surprise when I saw they also sell fabric and sewing notions as well as card stock, stamps, paper, toppers, pens.... So I said yes, picked my items and I'm here today to show you what I managed to do with 3 fat quarters and a glue stick...
So let's talk about those fat quarters. I use a lot of fabric in my Etsy shop, Bagageddon and I was very pleased with the quality of these. I have used fabric from the Craft Cotton Co. before and sometimes it can be a little hard even after washing. This was lovely from the start and washed up beautifully. You should always wash your fabric before using it to minimise future shrinkage. I also find that blues and reds can bleed quite a lot on the first wash, so this also helps, although with these there was no issue at all. I chose these for the beautiful Japanese style patterns which complement each other nicely, making them very easy to use for mixing and matching.
The fat quarters I chose were:
Kimono by Stuart Hillard - Fat Quarter - Waves (navy)
Kimono by Stuart Hillard - Fat Quarter - Abstract Flower (cobalt)
Kimono by Stuart Hillard - Fat Quarter - Dragonfly (white)
You can also buy this fabric in metre lengths, and I think it's a good price for a metre of nice quality cotton (£2.50 a fat quarter, so £10 a metre), given you can pay up to £15 a metre these days.
So what did I make? You really can get a lot out of fat quarters for lots of small projects. Here's my list and I have half of it left for more. I haven't given instructions on how to make them as that would take too long, but there are many easy to follow guides on YouTube.
1. A set of reusable make up remover wipes and a small drawstring bag to keep them in. You can easily get 6 sets of these out of 2 fat quarters. They are 2.5 inches each and backed with cotton or bamboo terry. A really great way to get into zero waste items. You can use old towels for this project too.
2. Two glasses cases - one slightly wider than the other to accommodate larger sunglasses. These are padded with fusible fleece and use two different fabrics. One for the lining and one for the outer. I use around half a fat quarter for each one.
3. A lavender eye bag - I discovered these at yoga and wanted to make some myself. Here's a picture of me down in my sewing basement using it. This uses about a quarter/third of a fat quarter with a muslin bag inside filled with lavender.
Throughout my sewing, I used the Stix2 Fabric Glue Pen. It's a washable pen that keeps your fabric together while you sew. It was really easy to use, not really sticky and I liked that it was pink so that I could see where I had put it. I used it on most of my initial sewing and was impressed at how well it kept the fabric flat, even when sewing the terry towelling for my wipes. That's a big win for me as pins and sometimes clips can even ruck the fabric slightly. I had absolutely no problems sewing with it - no residual stickiness or issues of any kind.
It comes with a refill which is good as I did use quite a lot of it. I found it a useful tool to have in my arsenal. Not something I would use entirely instead of pins and clips, but something to have for smaller projects where clips can overwhelm the project. I will be doing some more research - particularly with zips as they can be a big nightmare, and also stretch projects. I can definitely see it as being very useful for applique as it keeps fabric flat for sewing.
It's a definite thumbs up from me for both of these items. The fabric for the quality and quirky patterns. The glue stick for a useful addition to my sewing notions.
I hope you found this useful and if you have any more questions, please leave me a note in the comments or send me an email. I will be back tomorrow with more, this time with paper crafting! Thanks for reading and Happy Crafting, Everyone :)
A few weeks ago a very nice lady from Hunky Dory contacted me about doing a review of some of their products for them. I've heard of them, and indeed seen them on Create and Craft and had a very fixed idea of what they did. Card stock and toppers is what I had marked them down as. Before I said yes or no, though, I had a good root around their website Hunky Dory Crafts and imagine my surprise when I saw they also sell fabric and sewing notions as well as card stock, stamps, paper, toppers, pens.... So I said yes, picked my items and I'm here today to show you what I managed to do with 3 fat quarters and a glue stick...
So let's talk about those fat quarters. I use a lot of fabric in my Etsy shop, Bagageddon and I was very pleased with the quality of these. I have used fabric from the Craft Cotton Co. before and sometimes it can be a little hard even after washing. This was lovely from the start and washed up beautifully. You should always wash your fabric before using it to minimise future shrinkage. I also find that blues and reds can bleed quite a lot on the first wash, so this also helps, although with these there was no issue at all. I chose these for the beautiful Japanese style patterns which complement each other nicely, making them very easy to use for mixing and matching.
The fat quarters I chose were:
Kimono by Stuart Hillard - Fat Quarter - Waves (navy)
Kimono by Stuart Hillard - Fat Quarter - Abstract Flower (cobalt)
Kimono by Stuart Hillard - Fat Quarter - Dragonfly (white)
You can also buy this fabric in metre lengths, and I think it's a good price for a metre of nice quality cotton (£2.50 a fat quarter, so £10 a metre), given you can pay up to £15 a metre these days.
So what did I make? You really can get a lot out of fat quarters for lots of small projects. Here's my list and I have half of it left for more. I haven't given instructions on how to make them as that would take too long, but there are many easy to follow guides on YouTube.
1. A set of reusable make up remover wipes and a small drawstring bag to keep them in. You can easily get 6 sets of these out of 2 fat quarters. They are 2.5 inches each and backed with cotton or bamboo terry. A really great way to get into zero waste items. You can use old towels for this project too.
2. Two glasses cases - one slightly wider than the other to accommodate larger sunglasses. These are padded with fusible fleece and use two different fabrics. One for the lining and one for the outer. I use around half a fat quarter for each one.
Throughout my sewing, I used the Stix2 Fabric Glue Pen. It's a washable pen that keeps your fabric together while you sew. It was really easy to use, not really sticky and I liked that it was pink so that I could see where I had put it. I used it on most of my initial sewing and was impressed at how well it kept the fabric flat, even when sewing the terry towelling for my wipes. That's a big win for me as pins and sometimes clips can even ruck the fabric slightly. I had absolutely no problems sewing with it - no residual stickiness or issues of any kind.
It comes with a refill which is good as I did use quite a lot of it. I found it a useful tool to have in my arsenal. Not something I would use entirely instead of pins and clips, but something to have for smaller projects where clips can overwhelm the project. I will be doing some more research - particularly with zips as they can be a big nightmare, and also stretch projects. I can definitely see it as being very useful for applique as it keeps fabric flat for sewing.
It's a definite thumbs up from me for both of these items. The fabric for the quality and quirky patterns. The glue stick for a useful addition to my sewing notions.
I hope you found this useful and if you have any more questions, please leave me a note in the comments or send me an email. I will be back tomorrow with more, this time with paper crafting! Thanks for reading and Happy Crafting, Everyone :)
1 comment:
What a great review Ruth. Even though sewing isn't my thing, I enjoyed reading about the fabrics, what you chose and what you made with them. The fabrics are really beautiful and it certainly sounds like the glue pen is very handy to have around! It's always useful to find a new product that can make life a little easier :). I have one of those lavender bags but it needs a bit more stuff put on it as it's lost its smell now - they are really lovely to have laying on your eyes after a long day :) Lisa xx
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