Make your kids Duvet Covers

 

I find duvet covers ridiculously expensive and there are very few really fun covers our there for kids! I'm sick of the cartoon characters and as my little man gets bigger so is he! So why not make your own?

 

IKEA fabric is 150cm wide (single duvet cover is only 90cm wide and 190 cm long). Buy 4 metres of fabric for about €20, fold it over, stitch the two sides to 90cm wide and use the left over side fabric to add ties to the bottom to hold the duvet in or just use velcro! You'll also have enought left over to make a pillow case in exactly the same way! Easy peezy! 

 Their fabric is all machine washable to 60degrees and its really fun for kids, plus its unique!

 

 Look at the fab fabrics: IKEA Fab Fabrics

Curtains and knitting!

Scarf for my little man for his first day of school - knit 5 pearl 5 - as for the letter, don't ask, it was trial and error!!!

The wool is from a cool shop in Naas called Treasure;
tel 045 843527, just beside AIB - and for those of you like me that can only do Plain and Pearl, there are knitting classes and groups you can join - give it a go! 

Make a REALLY easy Roman Blind - honestly!!

Roman Blind - Not difficult - with a little patience and  a glass of wine to the ready once your done - or half way through if you're feeling really confident!!

My kitchen window needed to have a blind mainly to hide the fact that I still don't have a proper garden! Before you say - 'no way I could make that' - read this - 

1. Measure 1 large bit of fabric for the outside (the fabric you will see when its finished) 10 cm wider and longer than the window frame
2. Do the exact same thing with a piece of lining, or just put your coloured fabric on top and cut around!
3. Put the two pieces right side facing each other and sew on both sides and at the bottom, 10cm in from the edge.
4. Turn inside out and iron! while you have the iron fold 5cm neatly under like a hem on the top part you haven't stitched and stitch in matching thread 1 cm in.
5. Then divide your finished piece (depending on the size of your window - more for longer) into 4 or 5 equal lengths like steps on a ladder and mark each line across from one side of the blind to the other with pins or a pencil! this is where the wooden strips go, like tiny curtain poles. Fold the fabric over on the line and iron, you'll need to do this for each line, i.e. 4 of them dep on how many you want! See fig 1! The cm gaps will dep on the length of your blind/window so ignore the actual figures on the diagram.
6. Stitch each line from lining side 1cm in : see fig 2,
7. Buy stick on Velcro, its so strong you don't need to sew it!

   

   fig 2

   

   fig 1

8. Stick Velcro across the width of the top of the blind.
9. Get your hubby to measure a piece of wood the width of the window and screw to the top of the outer edge - or you can do it yourself if you have a drill!!!!!!
10. Stick the opposite side of the Velcro to the wood - it doesn't matter which side you used on the blind.
11. for the rest of the instructions follow this really easy to follow link! 

Roman blind instructions in case mine are crap!

I started and finished mine in 2 days! And I only started to sew a few months ago!

PLEASE NOTE: this is my first time trying to explain work that I'm only learning to do myself, feel free to let me know if there is an easier way to make them, or better way of explaining things - I promise you won't insult, that's what this site is about!!!!!

Covering my Sofas!

This is one of the sofas in my kitchen area that had cream covers. 3 dogs and a small boy later it resembled a mucky brown and needed to be covered. I got a ridiculous quote to have it covered and to get upholstery fabric (which is what I was told I would need) would have cost just as much. So, I headed to IKEA (my fav store as anyone who knows me can confirm) and got lovely heavyweight fabric for €80, enough to cover both sofas and can go in the machine. I had a Brother sewing machine (2 years old, very cheap and a dust gatherer) a book from the library about making curtains (which was no bloody use) thread, scissors, and no clue where to start. Took off the old covers, cut out some fabric with my fingers crossed and sewed 4 big 3D squares, and I swear thats how easy it was. the back that sits against the couch is open but you cant see it, I'm not brave enough to do large zips yet so they have ties on them! My only advice would be to try it once with cheap fabric or lining before you cut into the good stuff! Try an old cushion or somthing small first, I would love if we started trying this out ourselves instead of paying someone else ridiculous amounts to do it!

Below is the finished product after about 3 days of sewing on and off - the sofa was too shallow so I removed the large back cushions, tore them up and used the filling to make smaller ones with some fabric from a designer I love called AMY BUTLER, a link to her fabric is in my links section!

Ta Dah!!