How to sew Easter gift tags

In the past I've blown eggs to give at Easter (see my feature on how to blow and colour eggs), decorating them with painting, mini collage, sticking on ribbon, flowers… all kinds.

This year I'm giving Lindt chocolate rabbits and, to add a personal touch, I've sewn felt gift tags to go round their necks. And if they like, they can hang them on a doorknob or drawer handle as a decoration. Of course, you can sew felt gift tags for any occasion.

On the left is a sort-of sunflower, for my mum, who loves the colour yellow, and is pining for sunshine.

On the right is a head in a swimming hat with a drop of water, for my stepdad, a wild swimmer.

Go for a design that means something; it could be a pet, an activity, food or drink… and there's no shame in having to explain to the recipient what it is!

Here's how to sew felt gift tags
Vary the colours and designs however you want.

For the sunflower
• Four rectangles of yellow felt, around 7x3cm
• Scrap of dark brown felt
• Needle and thread
• Ribbon
For the swimming hat
• One rectangle of dark blue felt, around 7x3cm
• Scrap of light blue felt
• Scrap of beige felt
• Needle and thread
• Ribbon

To make the sunflower, lay four rectangular scraps of felt cross-ways on top of each other.
Cut a circle of dark brown felt for the centre, using pinking shears, and place in the centre of the pieces of yellow felt. Snip off the corners of the yellow rectangles. Thread your needle and sew the layers together. You can stitch from the edge of the brown circle to the centre, or along the edge, or in a spiral, it doesn't really matter. Bring the thread through to the back. Make a loop of ribbon and stitch to the back of the flower, taking care not to push the needle right through to the front side.
You might also like: how to sew a felt anemone brooch

To make the swimming hat, cut an oval of beige felt and use this as a template to cut a swimming hat from light blue felt. Place the hat on the head and the head on the dark blue felt. Thread your needle and sew the layers together, stitching along the edge. Bring the thread through to the back, and attach a loop of ribbon, as before.

And here they are around the necks of the chocolate rabbits...

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Christmas is coming…

It's the time of year when many more of us like to get creative, so here are some of my ideas from Christmases past, on this blog, in features I've written, and on Instagram. And there are Christmas presents to buy, too, in the form of a couple of gift guides for particular people.

Christmas cards and decorations

So-simple Christmas cards Your own photos pasted onto cards

Make a mini wreath

Make a festive foliage bauble

Transform tealight holders

Make paper Christmas decorations – perfect for children

Sew a felt Christmas stocking

Make a popcorn and cranberry garland

Make pine cone decorations

Make a paper bag advent calendar

Gifts to make

Step-by-step instructions, or simple inspiration

How to make spiced gin

How to make sloe gin

How to make preserved lemons

Make mulled wine sachets

Embroider a hashtag

Make bird-feeder balls

Knit a cowl

Make beard oil

Knit for babies (11 free patterns)

Christmas gift guides

For particular people, more to come, and more to be added to each.

Houseplants and horticulture 

Valentines: handmade with love

Hearts are the symbols of Valentine's Day. One shape, so many possibilities...

Sometimes, keeping it simple has more impact. It's really easy to make your own Valentine card. 

All you need to do is cut out a heart shape (template below) from whatever you want – fabric, wrapping paper, coloured card, corrugated cardboard, a picture in a magazine, an online print-out, your own photo/s – stick it to a blank card (decorating with a button, ribbon, petals, sequins).

Or stick on several smaller hearts of the same size, or layer smaller and smaller hearts on top of one another...

A good way to come up with your finished design is to cut some hearts from scrap paper and play around with layouts and sizes until you're satisfied. Then cut out the heart shapes you'll use on your card.

Add a heartfelt, handwritten message... what could be more meaningful for the one you love? (My own Valentine this year features a picture cut from a magazine, plus a paper heart; no previews here though.)

You can also cut heart shapes and string them horizontally, like these map hearts, or vertically.

And if you want to give a present too, how about a fabric heart? Filled with lavender, they can be moth-repellers, drawer scenters, keyrings, hanging decorations, and you can, of course, attach them to a card. Cut two hearts from fabric. Stitch them right sides together, leaving a gap for filling, and enclosing the ends of a ribbon (or string, or yarn) loop, then turn inside out. Fill with lavender, rose petals, cotton wool, cut-up old tights or soft toy filling, and stitch the opening closed. See the heart template below; enlarge to your chosen size.

Here's an example of instructions that I wrote for Hearst Magazines' Allaboutyou.com: a spotted heart card with gingham ribbon bow.

















And here's a variation on the fabric heart: sheer fabric machined together without being turned inside out, and filled with rose petals, and trimmed with a tiny heart and mother-of-pearl button.

Wool Week 2016: knitting for charity

These are the first two hats I ever knitted, and they're now on their way to an unknown recipient.
I made them for my OH and he was kind enough to wear them a couple of times (sizing is a bit of an issue!), but we're having a bit of a clear-out and I agreed – eventually – that he needn't hold on to them.
Obviously, I wanted them to go to a good home, and I knew just where that was, having had previous positive dealings: Knit for Peace UK.
This charity receives knitted items and distributes them to hospitals, refuges, drop-in centres, and to developing countries. They'll also take gifts of unwanted yarn and needles (great way of getting rid of an out-of-control yarn stash).
Knit for Peace also came up with the idea of the Good Gifts Catalogue, where you 'give a goat' (or seeds for crops, bikes for midwives and so on) as a present, and someone who needs it is the actual recipient of the gift.
If you want to knit for charity, there are free patterns available on the Knit for Peace website. At the moment, they're looking for knits for adults, like hats. I like the idea of my two helping to keep someone warm, wherever and whoever they may be.

Will they be finished by Christmas?

Currently racing to finish knitting a snood and a scarf for Christmas - they're presents. Last year I was casting off on Christmas morning - not recommended!

I had also started knitting garter-stitch dishcloths but the green string (Conran Shop) was v hard on the hands to work with so they're abandoned.

Somewhat more successful is the jingle-bell jewellery: I've made a few pairs of these earrings (photo courtesy of That's Not My Age) cos they take about a minute each. I also made jingle-bell rings for my friend's two daughters.

Made for me...

There's a little flare of happiness that comes from seeing items that you use every day being handmade. And here are two that were handmade for me by friends. Here's my crocheted iPhone cover, made for me by Janey, who knits and crochets (and clog-dances) like a goddess.

And down below is my Kindle cover, made for me by Kirsten, who's a mistress of precision and dispenser of sound advice. I turned it inside out - but the stitching is so neat you'd hardly notice...