Christmas is rapidly approaching;  if you want to receive your order before Christmas, please take note of the last dates we can accept orders, which are as follows:   For posting to Eastern Europe and Malta - December 9th For posting to Australia and New Zealand - December 9th For posting to Canada, Czech Republic,  Italy, Poland and  USA - December 11th For posting to  Finland and Sweden - December 11th For posting to

  Now that it is fairly easy to get small quantities of fabric  printed  (from 20cms²), do you ever think that you'd like to create your own design?  And then think, 'But I don't know where to start!'? Here is your chance to try designing with a hand to guide you along the way. Over the next 5 days, I'll walk you through creating your own Christmas tea towel design.  It doesn

This month, we have two beautiful cut and sew dolls in our monthly challenge.  They are very different. We have Maddalee Doll by Nancy Archer: and Olive by ByCornelia: Aren't they both gorgeous?  I think that's presents sorted for a couple of my grandchildren! Maddalee comes with instructions (they are legible when printed at full size!) and a little skirt to make.   Olive just has cutting directions.   Do, please, tell the designers

  As I've said before, and as I'm sure you're aware, fashion is a strange thing.  The images we have in our minds of the fashion of past centuries are mostly the clothes worn by the wealthy.  Working men and women couldn't afford (and, at times, weren't allowed to wear!) the luxurious fabrics and extravagant styles worn by the Royal Court. Neither were such clothes even remotely practical. Much the same still applies

  This month's design challenge is not a pattern - it's a doll! Can you create a cut-and-sew fabric doll on either a fat quarter or a tea towel? The doll can be any size which fits the fabric and can either be made with printed clothes, or you can include her/his wardrobe on your fq / tea towel.  Simple instructions would probably also be useful! As usual, designs will be shown on Facebook and the

  Apologies for the late announcement of our Christmas Cushion Design Competition winner.  We have a first - after 5 and a half years of competitions, we have our first tie!  As there were only two entries this time, in consultation with the entrants, I have decided to share the prize between the two. So, congratulations to Becca and Carla on their shared win!  Thanks to both of them for their lovely designs, and thanks to those who

 We've had two entries for this year's Christmas Cushion competition.  They are:  The Usual Suspects Cushion and  Waving to Santa. I hope you like them - I think they're both fun Christmassy designs.  Please vote for your favourite, either below or on our Facebook page.    The winner will be announced next week. If you want a reminder of the brief, you'll find it here: Design Competition - Christmas Cushion.

  It's time to start making for Christmas! Why is it that we are so keen to make things for Christmas?   Is it a longing for times past? Or perhaps it's the pretty fabrics.  Who knows? But there are certainly plenty of ideas around for adding hand-made touches to your Christmas décor. You can make some of your own at our Fabric Fun Craft Club nights in November and December. November - we will

  It's well into October now, so I don't feel quite so bad about mentioning the C word!  And it's in connection with a competition - we haven't had one for a while, so this month's design challenge will be a competition.  Hurray!! Your challenge this month, should you choose to accept it, is to design a Christmas cushion.  We did this a couple of years ago, but we have some new designers

  October's Fabric Fun Craft Club night is on Tuesday, October 8th, when we will be continuing with Half Square Triangles, and making another cushion cover using the HSTs in a different pattern.  (If you need to remind yourself how the club is working now, the details are in the blog post Fabric Fun Craft Club in September. In September, we learnt how to make HSTs and started to make a cushion cover.  This month (after a

  Here are the entries for this month's design challenge.  The theme was Blue & White (you can see the brief here) so the entries are very different. Suzanne, aka Heckadoodledo, created a design based on a Cuban car - something close to many boys' hearts!  (awaiting image) Blue Cuba Cornelia's  (ByCornelia) design  is more of a picture: Cheater Quilt Cowboy Helen (Polly Dextrous) went for a more traditional patchwork quilt design, with her signature

  Have you had a go at making a 9-patch block? If so, you may like to take it one step further and turn it into a magic 9-patch, also called a disappearing 9-patch. Start with your 9-patch block.  If you missed last week's post you can find it here: Patchwork - The 9-Patch.   Cut it in half, vertically and horizontally.   Do this as accurately as possible, measuring the centre square