Our House, in the Middle of Our Street

A good friend just moved house, and instead of the usual card, I thought I'd send her an actual diddy house. Tag on the top means you can attach the keys you always lose (the ones for the windows, we have several, none of which are for the home we currently live in), hook it on a door handle or hang it on a tree...well, why not?

You will need:
House coloured felt (really there is no form for this, fairies live in pink houses and astronauts like silver...)
Selection of threads
Needle
Toy stuffing (the old bag of cotton wool will do)
Ribbon for the top

To Make:
Cut out four walls and a floor in the same colour. I didn't measure any of these, but if you are precision minded, get some squared graph paper and decide on shapes that fit. If you are no good at 'nets' (Year 4 maths), get an old OXO cube box, carefully pull it apart and use this as a guide for the first one.

The roof is made up of two square-blongs that fit the width of the walls and are as steep as you like. Two small triangles (same width principle) and matching the height of the roof sit on the sides.

The decoration is the easy bit -cut tiny windows and doors, arrange them on the front to make sure they fit and then sew these on first. I use a small running stitch because I like it simple but you can go to town  if your house is posh...(I'm working on the logistics of bay windows).

Then, construct the roof -the top first with the ribbon sewn in, then sides. I like the seams showing so piece wrong-sides toegther and use a tidy small running stitch. Following this you need to attach the walls, one by one. Then work down the sides of the walls and attach the floor on two-sides only. Stuff, then sew up the other two sides of the floor. don't over-stuff, as the walls sort of 'bow-out' and your house will never pass the survey.

Warning: These are slightly addicitve and you may have a street before you know it...I garnished with 1960's toys (the sheep is marvellously out of scale) and Sam loves playing with them.

(Now available at: https://www.etsy.com/listing/102305318/miniature-felt-house-with-ribbon-loop)

Hot Under the Collar

Apparently I look like an
ostrich to the rest of the world...

Inspired by this month's Mollie Makes magazine, I wanted to cheer up my old knackered denim jacket with a fake Peter Pan Collar. This jacket is at least 13 years old and probably deserves a mini Jubilee in itself for the service it has provided. But it is a little love-worn and is starting to go in places, so I hoped perking it up might make it last a little longer.

All you need:

Poor old jacket...

Strip of pretty fabric big enough to cover the collar;
Equal sized strip of double-sided bondaweb;
An iron (and asbestos fingers);
Sewing machine (although you can do it by hand)

How to:
Trim off the old collar and place it on the bondaweb that's folded in half. This will form your pattern. Draw a collar shape with a curved edge that's equal in length to the original collar, cut out and measure against the neck of your jacket to make sure it fits.

Iron one side of the bondaweb onto your fabric (reverse side) then trim...It's really important that on the inner curve you allow a 5mm seam allowance for turning around and over the collar. Starting in the middle, pin right side to the inside of you jacket, both sides.

Sew along your pinning line -I take the pins out as I go because a) I usually bend them and b) if I don't bend them I snap them, and don't want to sew wearing safety goggles. Then (and this is the fiddly bit) fold over the collar and iron as you go along. If you've ever covered school-books, the principle is the same -start at the edge and carefully fold over and iron. Get the pretty scoop collar ends right, and expect a couple of folds -it looks pretty and more like a 'real' collar. Finally, sew over the top around the edge. Off to Neverland...