Cute Little Cakes - A Fabric Fairy Cake Tutorial

Cupcakes/Fairy Cakes, whatever you want to call them, these quick and easy little makes are just adorable.

I was reading a post on a facebook group a couple of days ago where someone had asked what type of present any teachers in the group like to receive at the end of the school year. The unanimous vote seemed to be for something unique and personal that had been made by the children they had taught. Like the previous fabric flower tutorial, (click here to view),  these sweet little cakes would make lovely teachers' gifts and are so simple to make.

Here's how:

You will need:

1 large felt circle approx' 10cm in diameter (this forms the cake case)
1 slightly smaller felt circle 9cm in diameter (the cake)
Your cake decorations - this could be a felt "splodge" to form the icing, a circle of patterned fabric, or try a fabric heart. You can also add buttons, beads, brightly coloured thread.
A small amount of soft toy filling.

Step one:

Decorate the top of your cake. For this cake I added a button "cherry" to the centre and "sprinkles" of brightly coloured thread.

Step two:

Pin the cake circle to the top of the white felt circle and sew small, even running stitches around the outside edge leaving a small gap of approx 3cm.

Step three:

Remove the pins and gently pull the thread so that the felt begins to gather. Lift the top layer at the same time so that you start to form a 3D "cake" shape. Begin to add your soft toy filling to your cake until you are happy with the shape.

Step four:

Sew up the remaining gap and pull on the thread to add extra shape. You will need to smooth the felt around the thread so that the cake is even in shape.When you are happy with the shape of the cake make a strong finishing knot and cup the thread.

Your fairy/cupcake is now complete and looks good enough to eat. Now all you have to decide is who to give it to. Happy sewing!

Say It With Flowers - A Fabric Flower Tutorial

I love colour! Bold and bright is brash but beautiful as far as I am concerned. When it comes to doing colour with a flourish Mother Nature knows best. Just over a month ago we went for a family walk through Windsor Great Park - this is our regular stomping ground being near to where we live, but in late Spring we head over to an area know as "The Punchbowl" so that I can marvel at the blanket of colour made by the stunning Azaleas and Rhododendrons.

These pictures don't do justice to the vibrancy of the blooms but they give an idea of the stunning colour on show. They are the inspiration for my brightly coloured fabric flower. Simple and fun to sew they would make brilliant teachers gifts at the end of the school year. Here is how you make them:

You will need:

5 fabric flower shapes in lovely bright colours, (these were approx 8cmx8cm), 1 small fabric circle (3cm in Diameter), 1 button, 2 x felt leaves (approx 6cm in lenght), thread.
The fabric shapes were all cut with pinking shears to minimise fraying.

Step 1:

Take one of the flower shapes and fold in half.

Step 2

Fold again to make a quarter

Step 3

Pin the quarter flower on top of one of the other flower shapes positioning it so that it covers one quarter of the shape. 

Secure with a few stitches approx 1cm from the folded corner point along both the horizontal and vertical edges - make sure you sew through all of the layers of the folded fabric flower.

Step 4

Repeat step three a further three times until the base flower shape has been covered by 4 of the folded flowers, securing with stitches at the centre as you go.

Step 5

Sew the fabric circle in the centre to cover your stitches and secure it with a couple of stitches.

Step 6

Sew the button on top and your flower is complete.

Step 7 

The felt leaves are of course optional but do give a lovely finishing touch. These are simply sewn on to the back of the base flower shape with just a few stitches near the centre.

These easy to make flowers are fabulous as corsages (just sew a brroch pin on the back), or as hair decorations - sew on to a hairband. Here's what I did with mine:

I sewed it on to some green backing fabric and framed it in an old Ikea frame that has been sitting in a box of frames in my work room for ages. It now takes pride of place on my wall bringing a lovely splash of Summer colour indoors.