Patchwork Christmas Stocking

Last summer my sister was helping me sort through my fabric drawers and encouraging me to get rid of the little scraps. She noted how much Christmas fabric I have piling up and suggested that if I hadn't used any of it in a year then I should probably re-home it.

So in order to save my beloved Christmas fabric I made this patchwork stocking!

I started by drawing out a template of a stocking on brown paper. I made two of these so that I could cut one up into the sections I had drawn out.

I used the paper sections to cut out shapes from my Christmas fabric. I'd labeled the sections with letters so that once they were separate like this I knew how they'd go back together.

Then I started sewing them together on my sewing machine, in pairs or threes, according to the template.

Then I joined the smaller groups together to form one big piece.

I cut out a back piece from red fabric and placed it with the patchwork front, along with some interfacing, and sewed them together.

I turned the stocking right side out and made a lining using the same stocking pattern and the red fabric.

 

Then I added a fabric loop so the stocking can be hung up.

It's a perfect celebration of all my Christmas fabric!

Patchwork Blanket

Get comfy guys, this is going to be a long one...

I spent the second week of my Easter holiday making a patchwork blanket! I'm pretty surprised that it all worked and hasn't fallen apart as this is a pretty big project and I didn't do too much research beforehand.

The first step is, of course, to cut out all the squares. I decided on 7cm squares and cut a few pieces of paper to that size to use as templates. I wanted there to be a colour theme and used a great piece of fabric featuring parrots as a starting point. It's the bottom left one there and has green, blue, turquoise and purple in it, so I found other fabrics in my stash that matched those colours.

Once I'd started cutting out squares I decided to draw out a plan so I'd know exactly how many of each colour I'd need. I needed the plan as I wanted the squares to make a pattern. I don't have it in me to just do it randomly, everything has to be symmetrical, though this did mean extra work for me.

I laid out the squares in the pattern and then grouped them into strips.

I sewed the squares into strips and ironed down the seams. Then I sewed the strips together and my blanket started taking shape. There are a few parts where the squares don't quite align but they're not obvious unless you look closely so I'm happy.

Once the patchwork was complete I had to work on the back. I bought a roll of wadding which I laid on the back of the patchwork and cut to size.

I'd bought a cheap fleece in duck egg blue to go on the back, on top of the wadding. As you can see the project got a bit trickier as the blanket got bigger as it only just fit in the space between our sofa and our tv.

I joined the three layers together by sewing edge pieces all the way round. Luckily I had enough purple fabric to make the edges. Things got a little bit wonky here but for a first attempt I think I did pretty well.

Because of the wadding and the fleece this blanket is super warm and cosy, and I love the colours.

I've still got some wadding left so maybe I'll make another patchwork blanket. I'll have to wait for the next school holidays as it is pretty time consuming. Maybe I'll even attempt English paper piecing for the next one!