Scrap Fabric Key Tags - Tutorial

These key tags are super easy and quick to make; and best of all they're a great way to make use of those fabric scraps you've been hording for ages (or is that just me?).

What you'll need:

• Scraps of fabric
  I use a printed fabric for the 'front' and plain thermal backed* fabric for the 'back'. But you could probably use any non-stretch fabric for both the front & back.
  *I have a lot of these scraps as I often use this type of fabric to line the bags & baskets I make. 
• Stiff Pellon, Buckram or similar
  I have scraps of this stuff laying around as I use it for stiffening the skirts of my Irish dancing dresses, it is also commonly used in millinery. Basically you want something that's going to stop the fabric from being soft & floppy.
• Ribbon
  You'll only need a little bit. I have found that grosgrain ribbon works best as regular satin ribbon can catch on the metal key-ring and pill a bit.
• Key-ring
  This one's pretty obvious.
• Pins, thread, scissors & sewing machine
  Again, all the obvious stuff.

1. Start out by selecting a fabric scrap that you want to use as your front. I tend to use a picture from my fabric prints, but any pattern you want to use will work fine.
   
   
2. Cut the fabric into the shape & size you the key tag to be.
   
   
3. Trace around the fabric shape on the stiffener and wrong side of the backing fabric and cut them out.
   
   
4. Pin all 3 pieces together with the stiffener in the middle, and the front & back fabrics with right sides facing out.
   
   
5. Fold your ribbon scrap in half (right side out if it has one) and melt the cut edges with a lighter or lit match - this will stop it from fraying and also helps the ends stay together nicely while sewing it all together.
   
   
6. Insert the ribbon at the top of your key tag between the backing and stiffening layers & pin.
   
   
7. Using a straight stitch on your sewing machine, sew all the layers together around as close to the edges as possible.
   
   
   
   
8. 
   
   Trim any edges where they layers don't match up to ensure there are no layers sticking out from the others.
   
   
9. Using a zig-zag stitch on your machine, stitch all the way around your key tag going across the ribbon as shown. I set the machine stitch length to around .4 and the width to around 4.0.
   
   
   
   
   
10. Tie off & cut any loose threads.
    
11. Insert  your key ring to the top of the ribbon.
    
12. Enjoy your new key tag!
    
    

Note: you don't have to use your new key tags just for your keys... The little miss puts them on her bags as zipper pulls and decorations. Since I've used plain backing fabric we put her name on them with fabric markers too.

You can see that these are very well used by the little miss!

Ribbon Charm Necklaces

Whoa this month has been busy! I had a lovely 2 weeks with my parents visiting, but that combined with back to school, the little miss' dancing, and the school gala drawing nearer and nearer, it's been a little full on... But I'm starting to get back into the groove of things and that means it must be time for a new blog post.

I whipped up a tonne of these cute ribbon charm necklaces for the school gala one morning. I made around 50 of them in just over an hour - and that was with the little miss' 'help'.

I had a whole pile of these little metal charms, that came with a bulk lot of buttons I bought ages ago, and no use for them. So I got some inexpensive rolls of ribbon from the local emporium (a roll containing at least 15 meters cost only $1.80!) and made them into cute little necklaces the kids can buy with their pocket change at the gala.







I cut the ribbon into around one meter lengths and folded each into half before threading it through the charm and knotting it through itself.

And then to finish them off I melted each end of the ribbon with a lighter so that they don't fray and unravel - a very important, but often missed, step when working with ribbon!

To display these cute little accessories, I covered a piece of sturdy cardboard with some plain fabric and will pin the ribbons to it to hold the necklaces in place. Voila!

Easy Peasy Buntings

Here is another craft I've made for the school gala... buntings!

So far I've made a total of 9 buntings for the gala. Because the goal of these crafts is to make things that people will want to buy that can be made for a minimal cost without taking up too much time, I decided to make these buntings one-sided and cut them with pinking shears rather than hem them. I then attached them by sewing each triangle straight on to a ribbon (making sure to leave enough ribbon on each end for hanging). Each bunting has 5 flags and measures just under a meter long (plus extra for hanging). The length was really determined by the average amount of scraps I had in each fabric pattern.

I think they're really cute and would be the perfect size to fit over a kitchen window, above a single bed, over an entrance way, or under a hanging shelf. Oh, now that I think about it - maybe I need to make some more of these for our house...

Flax Bangles & Crosses

I did a couple of flax weaving courses at the beginning of the year and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I love weaving and have more kete & kono (bags & baskets) than I can use, so I generally just do it for the doing - not necessarily for the end product. I've been full on with the sewing lately and haven't woven a thing for the last few months, so it was lovely to get back into it.

Because I'm still a bit OCD with the school gala crafts at the moment, I was trying out a few things I could make that wouldn't take too much time that can be sold at the gala... The theme is Kiwiana this year, so I couldn't not do any flax weaving for it!

First I made some little flax crosses. I've been meaning to give them a go since I did my very first class as it reminded me of how my Grandpa used to fold our palms at Palm Sunday mass into crosses. I found a couple of sets of instructions on the internet to make a palm cross, but really I just ended up working it out for myself. They're ridiculously easy once you know what to do, so I made a few to sell on the day - actually, I may bring some prepared flax with me on the day and make some while I'm selling. And if you're wondering about me making crosses to sell at a school, it is a Catholic school so it's all good!

Next I made a bangle that I've also been meaning to try for quite some time since I found the instructions for it on the website of a South Island weaver Ali Brown. If you're at all interested in flax weaving, I recommend checking out her website. The bangles (or wristbands as she calls them) are not as time consuming as I first thought... The first one I made took me about half an hour, but that's because I have a habit of making my weaving strips very thin - it looks pretty, but takes a lot longer! Once I got the first one sussed I made another 16 over the next day or two (as you do) and in the end they were taking me about 10 minutes for the ones with a larger weave and 15-20 minutes for the real small weave ones. With one decent flax leaf I can make 2 bangles (one from each side of the leaf), so there's not too much harvesting to do either.

My to do list seems to be getting a little on the long side at the moment, but I'm hoping to squeeze in another flax harvesting session soon so that I can also make a few little baskets & bags for the gala as well.

Fabric Envelope Pouches

I'm still slightly obsessed with crafts for the school gala at the moment... It's not for another couple of months, but I know that if I don't do it now while I've got a bit of time I'm going to get swamped with other things and end up rushing to get them all done!

I found this fabric envelope tutorial while searching "fabric scraps crafts" on both Pinterest and the general internet. (I have A LOT of fabric scraps that are calling out to be put to good use for this gala!) It looked easy, so true to form I jumped into it by cutting out a dozen or so in various sizes. The tutorial doesn't have any actual measurements (because it doesn't really matter what size you cut it out to), so I made mine according to the size of scrap I was working with. Once fully made, mine measure anywhere from 17 x 11 cm down to 10 x 8 cm. I also made one of the smaller ones for myself as it's perfect for carrying my business cards around in my bag. 

I started with a rectangle, folded it into 3 (to make sure the final size would look ok), and then cut the 'top' third to a point like the top of an envelope. I then laid my cut out shape onto my lining fabric and cut out one of those too. I pretty much followed the instructions in the original tutorial, with a couple variations. After making the first 2 I skipped out the elastic loop part as I really, really, hate sewing loops into seams with thin elastic and decided that I'd rather sew on snaps or make button holes for the others - so that's what I did, and I also top stitched around all the open edges as I thought it made for a nicer finish.

I made 10 of these from start to finish in one afternoon (with my kids and husband around distracting me) so really, these don't take much time at all! And they're pretty much as cute as the fabric you use to make them with.

Jewel Hair Pins

This post is about another craft for little miss' upcoming school gala...

I actually made these hair pins last year when I had a table selling my own crafts at the little miss' kindy Christmas craft market... Since it was a kindy run market, I wanted to have a few little inexpensive things that the kiddies could buy with their pocket money. I found these hair pins and gave them a go...

I bought a big bulk pack of bobby pins and a jar of 'jewels' for a total cost of less than $10. I went for jewels rather than buttons because buttons are actually quite expensive and the little miss preferred the sparkly-ness of the jewels anyway! There were so many jewels in the container that I was able to be really picky with the ones I wanted to use and we the jar was still well over half full when we were done.

They were super simple to make and the little miss and I were able to knock out about a hundred of them in one sitting. We cut up some card stock we had laying around the house and pinned them on in pairs for the little jewels and singles for the large ones. I found some card slips that my husband had leftover from when he collected some sort of cards and they fit perfectly, so I packaged them in those to make them look even fancier. I sold them for $0.50 for a pair with little jewels and $0.50 each for the large flower jewel ones. They were a hit and I sold quite a few to the littlies and just as many again to the grown ups! I have taken them to other markets I have done as well and they do quite well - especially around Christmas and Easter as stocking/Easter basket fillers.

Needless to say, the little miss has quite a few and she likes to wear them all at once - unless, of course, she's using them as mini wands for her little dolls and other creatures.

Moreporks! (Owls)

I've volunteered myself to be on the crafts team for the upcoming gala at the little miss' school... This means I will be making a bunch of crafts to be sold at the school gala in early March. The aim of the craft team is to make inexpensive crafts that can be purchased at the gala by the kids with their pocket money, while raising some money for the school. This year it's a kiwiana theme, so I was hoping to get a few NZ-ish craft things made. I had a few ideas of things I could make with bits and pieces I already have around the house, and then I saw a friend post some photos of adorable little owls that she made. Along with the photo she posted the link to where she got the idea from, and that they were easy to make, so I had to take a look!

I looked at the photos from the tutorial and saw that the pieces were cut out at fairly specific angles, but then realised that the exact angles didn't really matter so long as it was the same general shape as what was in the photos. It looked easy enough, so as per my usual gung-ho-ness I jumped right in and cut out pieces for 7 little critters... And then I realised I probably should have just cut out one or two to see if it was actually going to work first! I cut some bigger than others and figured at least a few of them would turn out ok, but they were actually all super cute - or at least I think so. I used buttons for the eyes as opposed to felt material because I have a fair amount of plain buttons in the house and no felt.


They really were easy and the hand stitching part is perfect for doing while sitting in front of the TV at the end of the day. I've already got another 11 cut out and waiting to go (there's no shortage of fabric scraps in this house!) So, what do you think of my little moreporks? [*Moreporks are a type of owl native to NZ, so they can count towards my kiwiana content!]

I'll be posting about the various crafts I'll be making for the gala in the next little while... theoretically all should be easy and inexpensive. If you've got any ideas you think I should try (especially kiwiana type stuff), please do let me know!