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 :)
