Saving money makes you feel good, and it can make a real difference to your home and your quality of life. MoneySupermarket has worked with crafty

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2 Saving money makes you feel good, and it can make a real difference to your home and your quality of life. MoneySupermarket has worked with crafty bloggers to put together these tutorials to give you tips and tricks that will help you save money and make your house look great! 2

3 Cushion Cover Tutorial... 5 Pillowcase Dress Tutorial Scrabble Cufflinks Tutorial Resources

4 After completing my Textiles and Fashion degree I worked as a freelance designer for many years. I then trained to be an infant school teacher and had a very rewarding and enjoyable few years teaching reception classes. Now I am proud to be a full-time mother to our two little boys. I enjoy quilting, dressmaking, knitting, painting, drawing, gardening, baking and reading. I make do and mend. And I love being at home with my thrifted and hand-me down treasures. I like to be creative every day. Luckily, I don t like having my two arms the same length (doing nothing), so I can always find a little time for my sewing. I try to find joy in the mundane, and don t believe in keeping things for best.. 4

5 Cushion Cover Tutorial So, here it is: a tutorial. One which will hopefully solve the perennial problem of what to make for all those really hard to craft for men. 1) Get your materials ready. I have re-purposed some suit fabric for this and used a chalk pencil to write on the words before embroidering them. Wash and press all the fabrics before you start, and make sure you measure twice and cut once. 2) Print out your flying birds (please see template on the following page). You will have a small, medium and large flying bird to choose from, or use all three! 3) Make cushion pieces: Cut a square for the front, 1 bigger all round than the cushion pad you will be using. The cushion has an envelope back. For this you will need to cut two pieces of fabric, each piece to be 1 wider than the cushion pad and then half the length of the cushion pad plus a further 3. Clear as mud? My cushion pad is 12 x 12. So, I cut the front fabric 13 x 13. And cut the two fabric backs 13 x 9. 5

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7 4) Applique the bird: Using the paper template on the next page of this tutorial as a guide, cut out your bird (or birds) and pin in place. With a small neat running stitch, sew the bird in place. 5. Embroider: In your very best handwriting and using the chalk pencil (or similar) write blue sky thinker across the bottom of the cushion front. Then using embroidery silk (floss) and running stitch, embroider over the words. 6. Make the envelope backs: You will need to hem one long edge on each piece of fabric. Fold 1/2 over, press and then fold this edge over again, so that the raw edge is hidden. Stitch in place. Repeat for both back pieces. 7. Assemble the cushion cover ready to sew: Take the finished front and place on a flat surface, right side facing you. Take one hemmed back piece and place it level with the top of the cushion front, with the right sides together. Then take the second back piece and place level with the bottom of the cushion, with right sides together. The back pieces should overlap. Pin carefully in place, before stitching all around on your sewing machine. 8. Clip the corners: With small sharp scissors cut straight across the seam allowances at each of the four corners. This will help to make the corners sharper on the finished cushion cover. 7

8 9) Nearly finished now: Turn the cushion the right side out, carefully prodding the corners from the inside to make them as sharp as possible. Press. Insert cushion pad. 10) Admire you handiwork: It s all done and well done! I ve obviously made a cushion here, but the basic idea and the applique pattern are very versatile and could easily be adapted. You could make a pencil case, sew it on a t shirt, make a picture. For myself, I m very tempted to make a patch and sew it to the lining of my very own blue sky thinker s work suit 8

9 I'm a sewing, gardening, wine drinking mother of two now the wrong side of 40. A fabric addict who is slightly obsessed with buying fabric (sorry Mr Bank Manager!). Also now addicted to Twitter and Pinterest. I have recently opened a little online fabric shop to feed my addiction to pretty fabric. Want to have a look? Its Go on, you know you want to! 9

10 Pillowcase Dress Tutorial Make a pretty child s dress out of a pillowcase! These dresses are easy to make and can be donated to the Dress A Girl Around The World charity where they are distributed to girls living in poverty in the developing world. For more information please see the pillowcase dress information page on the Sew Scrumptious blog. The charity in the UK has made and collected over 4,500 dresses and distributed them to girls in over 15 different countries. 1) You will need to print out arm holes patterns on the following page. 2) Cut along the closed end of the pillowcase to create another opening. Lay pillowcase flat, pin on the armhole pattern and cut out. Repeat for the other side. 3) With the inside of the pillowcase/fabric facing you, fold down ¼ along the top of the dress and press. Fold down another ¾ and press again. Pin and sew along the bottom edge to create a channel for the elastic. Repeat for other side. 4) Cut 2 pieces of elastic both 6.5 long. Attach a safety pin to one end and a large pin to the other. Thread through the casing and pin at each end. Repeat for the other side. 10

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12 5) Sew the elastic in place at both ends of the casing. Sew backwards and forwards several times to firmly secure in place. 6) Measure and cut 2 pieces of bias binding both 36 long. Find the mid-point and match to the bottom of the armhole where the seams meet. Sandwich the fabric between the bas binding all around the armhole and pin in place on each side. 7) Starting at one end of the bias binding, sew down around the arm hole and to the other end of the strap. Secure firmly at each end and go backwards and forwards several times where the binding covers the elastic casing. Do the same for the other armhole. 8) You may find that your pillowcase has a large flap on the bottom of one side which will need securing down. Simply sew along near the top of the flap to secure. I used Ric Rac to cover the stitching. Your dress is finished! 12

13 My name is Jen, I live in the South-West of England with my lovely hubby and our two fantastic, amazing little boys - BigSmall who is 3 and a half (the half is very important!) and SmallSmall who is 1, and two crazy cats! I started sewing just after having had our first little person having never even touched a sewing machine before, and then discovered crafting of all sorts, and now am a devout upcycler. 13

14 Scrabble Cufflinks Tutorial I was lucky enough to stumble across an old unloved scrabble set in a local charity shop and snapped it up thinking I must be able to do something with it! Father s Day was looming and the cogs started to whir, and I thought monogrammed scrabble cufflinks might be just the thing! I found some silver plated cufflink mounts here and away I went! These are the supplies you need: Cufflink mounts Scrabble letters 2 part Epoxy glue Drawing pin Ear buds (Q-tips for those of you from the US of A!) Baby wipes or a damp cloth It s not rocket science and I m sure you could figure out for yourselves, but here goes... Step 1 Clean your scrabble pieces if they are pre-loved and looking a little grubby. I just gave them a wipe over with a damp flannel. Step 2 Use the drawing pin to score a cross hatch into the central circle on the back of the scrabble pieces you want to use. Step 3 Make up your epoxy glue following the instructions given. I pull the cotton wool off one end of the ear bud and use this to mix the 2 liquids together, on a piece of scrap cardboard (note to self-don t use a cereal bowl to do this in - it WILL be ruined..!) Take note, once it s made up, you only have about minutes before it starts to go off and harden, so unless you work at warp speed, only make up a small amount at a time! 14

15 Step 4 Use the naked end of the ear bud to apply a small amount of epoxy to the pre-scored central circle on the underside of your scrabble piece. Step 5 Line up your cufflink mount and apply and press down. Use another ear bud to clean off any excess that squidges out. Step 6 Leave overnight to dry - DO NOT BE TEMPTED TO FIDDLE BEFORE THIS! I found out to my cost that this weakens the bond. Step 7 Stand back and admire! Step 8 (optional) Find a handsome man to model..! What do you think? These would make great gift for the man in your life for Fathers Day, birthday, or just because he's great...! 15

16 Resources Visit to save money on your creative materials! Simply enter MONEYSUPERMARKET to get 10% off your first order! 16