Fabulous Fabric Pom Pom Tutorial

Patchwork Bags are the projects in our sewing clubs next half term. This has meant fabric and I mean plenty of fabric at Hope & Gloria HQ - we now have 350 children who come along to our sewing clubs each week which has meant preparing enough fabric squares for 350 patchwork bags. 

This has also meant lots of small offcuts of fabric which are now lying around waiting to be put to use and turned in to a lovely sewing project. I think that these cute fabric pom poms may be the answer.

Pom poms have had a resurgence in popularity of late. I have seen lots of magazine articles suggesting tissue pom poms as party decorations or even wedding decorations. We made some once in a craft club I ran. They were simple to make and looked brilliant. I am a huge fan. However, for some time I have been planning to make them using fabric and this morning I finally got around to it and was delighted with the result.

Now these lovely decorations would also be perfect for upcycling old clothes, curtains, or even bedlinen. They can be made with any fabric strips. So grab yourself some fabric and here's how to make them:

You will need:

Long strips of fabric approx 2cm in width, two cardboard hoops (mine were approx 8cm in width and the hole in the centre was approx 4cm in width)

Step one:

Place the two cardboard hoops together and wrap one of the fabric strips around both of them threading the fabric through the hole at the centre until the cardboard is completely covered.

Step two:

Repeat step two a number of times, building up the layers of fabric until you have a small hole at the centre.

Step three:

This step is tricky so care and patience is required. Children should get a grown up to complete this stage for them as sharp scissors are needed. Cut through the layers of fabric on the outside edge of the circle. You need to cut through all of the layers all the way round until you have reached the two cardboard circles.

Step five:

Now you will need some strong cotton thread or some wool approx 30cm in length. Open out the two cardboard hoops very slightly so that you have just enough room to place the strong cotton thread or wool in between the two pieces of cardboard. Wrap the thread through the middle of the cardboard and around all of the fabric at the centre. Tie a very secure and tight knot to hold the fabric in place. Once you are happy that the fabric pieces are secure remove the cardboard hoops either by sliding off or tearing off.

Tie a knot at the end of the two pieces of thread to make a hanging loop. Give the fabric a trim to make a ball shape if necessary - now your fabulous fabric pom pom is ready for hanging!

An Apron For For A World Record Attempt

Friday was a very special day for my youngest son. All of the children in his year at school got a once in a lifetime chance to be part of a world record breaking team - Jamie Oliver's world record breaking team.

The school had chosen to join in with Jamie's attempt at the world's largest cookery lesson. "Rainbow Wraps" formed the recipe and at 14.00pm BST on Friday a live cookery lesson was beamed into schools across the globe. The children at my son's school were lucky enough to be a part of this brilliant lesson and they all had a fabulous time making their colourful culinary delights.

The school provided the ingredients, all we had to do was provide a box grater and an apron/old shirt for the day. With my children it's all about the equipment/outfit. Last week was ridiculously busy as we approach the end of half term with our sewing clubs and look ahead to the new ones and in my mind my little fella would have been fine to wear one of his Dad's old shirts.

I realised how wrong I was to make this assumption on Wednesday evening when he asked me "Have you made my apron yet?". "Er, no" came my reply "but you could just wear one of Dad's shirts couldn't you?" Apparently not and he was adamant that he wanted to look the part when he was receiving instructions from a world class chef like Jamie Oliver.

To be honest I gave it no more thought until Thursday afternoon when I had a major panic attack. Luckily I had some Cath Kidston deckchair stripe type fabric in the bottom of a box of fabric that had been lacking a purpose for at least a couple of years. Thanking my lucky stars that I had not thrown it out as the other flowery options wouldn't have been appreciated I set to work.

My eldest boy was at home on Thursday afternoon nursing a foot injury which was ideal as I needed a model to measure the fabric against and he came in very handy being only slightly taller than his brother.

Once the fabric was cut out, I edged it, sewed a pocket to the front and added some curtain tape around the neck and for the ties at the side. This is how it turned out....

It was surprisingly easy to make and I was delighted with the results. It has a touch of the Italian Flag about it but this was quite unintentional as this happened to be the only suitable fabric I could lay my hands on at short notice. The main thing is that my little man loved it and really felt the part when joining in with Jamie.

A Hope & Gloria First....Exclusive Netmums Tutorial

Today is a good day. Most days are good days but sometimes you like a day more than others. Today at Hope & Gloria HQ we gave a big cheer to see the first ever Hope & Gloria sewing tutorial appear on Netmums.

It is always lovely to design something that you love but it is made even lovelier when others like it too, so when I was asked to come up with an exclusively designed fab' fabric frame for Netmums I was delighted. This "Home Tweet Home" design was inspired by Spring and birdsong in the garden and now proudly adorns the walls in my workroom.

I am proud to say that the Netmums team like it too and if you would like to make one click here to go to the Netmums website and follow the six simple steps.