napkin ring tutorial

24 cm x 10cm

Put fabric right side together (length-wise) and sew the bottom and length closed. Leave the top end open. Clip corners and turn the tube around to its nice side.

Iron it, making sure the corners are really square (use a pencil tip). Put the top end fabric inside, iron.

Topstitch all the way around, including the open end, to seal it closed.

I used different colour thread for some of mine...variety is the spice of life!

Make a button hole at one end, and sew a button at the other. Job done!

Vintage and quirky buttons make it look even nicer I think, so I used plenty.

Napkin rings

Today I made fabric napkin rings. I mixed together those two tutorials and added a button to each. They were very easy to make, especially with my fabulous log cabin ruler, which makes things oh-so-staightforward to cut and measure!
I used some leftover fabrics from Madrid, Brighton and Paris. Not quite the Olympic rings, but still quite international...

teaser

Soooooo excited about the content of this bag, I can't begin to describe it! It feels like ages since we started to prepare for our wedding, and now it's getting so close! It's funny how some decisions have dragged on for ever, and now everything seems to fall into place. Maybe it's the lack of remaining time that adds that extra little bit of pressure on and finally makes us take decisions quicker?

Anyway, wishing all of the fashionistas out there a lovely weekend!

new fabrics

I got those cute fat quarters whilst in Paris a fortnight ago. I love visiting this little shop. It's a nice enough area of Paris, too- a bit away from the hustle and bustle, but still very much in the city.

It's been busy in work again (hate June!) and there's still plenty to do for my our big day, so I'm preparing to make my sewing machine work non-stop for the next three weeks.

On the way to the patchwork shop, I stopped in a bar around the corner, and was amazed to see they still had small juke-boxes. Seeing the list of songs available, I reckon they stopped working circa 1994 ;)

What a trip down memory lane this was. There's nothing like songs to mark an era, is there?

café gourmand

How about a nice, strong coffee with a selection of delicious-looking desserts? I think we need it with the rain we've been having...Every restaurant in France is now offering "café gourmand" on its dessert menu. The craze started a couple of years ago as far as I can remember. Depending on the place you eat at, you can get real treats sometimes, or sometimes you can be a little disappointed with the freshness of your bite-size selection.
This place in Paris certainly did not diappoint when I stopped there last week. It's a really nice adress, with friendly service and affordable, no-fuss, lunch menu.