Monster Magic

Fabric Badge/Brooch/Hair Clip Tutorial

monstermagic — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:22:34 +0000

One of the comments I got back from the fabric in the post below was a friend wanting me to make one of the characters into a badge/brooch for a friend. I had a look at other tutorials on the net and found a few brooch ones but most of these involved turning fabric into a flower or sewing buttons/lace on etc to make them look pretty. These were all very good tutorials, but didn’t really serve the purpose I wanted, as they all obscured from the fabric a bit. So I trialled and errored and have written this tutorial for you.

1. First, find a fabric with some characters, illustrations, prints, flowers, anything you like, this is the fabric I choose:

2. Next, roughly cut around the design you wish to use. Cut from felt one piece the same size as the pattern you have just cut, and a rectangle just smaller than this design. You will also need cut 3 pieces of interfacing to fit on the pieces you have just cut out. You can get away without the interfacing, but I would suggest you use a stronger fabric than felt for the backing.

3. Iron the interfacing to the cut pieces (be careful the felt doesn’t melt, I lightly pressed on the back of the interfacing on a low heat)

4. With wrong sides together and using a very small straight stitch sew the outer image to the larger piece of felt as neatly as possible. You can hand stitch this if you prefer.

5. Carefully trim around the design cutting all layers. If, like mine, your fabric is cotton you will notice some fraying around the edges. You can buy special glue/no fray solutions to stop this and these will work perfectly. I however used clear nail varnish on this occasion which seems to have done the trick to stop any fraying.

6. Cut the rectangle of felt you made earlier just smaller than the back of the design and place this lengthwise. Neatly hand stitch the top and bottom on to the design being careful to only sew through the backing and not the front. People who know me well will know how much I hate hand stitching and so how much I detest this bit!

And there you have it, all finished.

You can now put safety pins through the backing to make a brooch, or hair pins to make a pretty hair clip, the world is your oyster.

I hope you liked my little tutorial, it was very simple I know but I hadn’t found anything on the internet which was similar. Please feel free to make these to your hearts content. If you do make one I would love to see your finished products so please post a comment underneath so I can take a goosey.

Happy Sewing

Monster Magic xx

Looking for inspiration

monstermagic — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 21:22:14 +0000

So those that know me will know I have been struggling with motivation for quiet some time. Im not sure if this is just down to me finding other things in life I want to do instead, it’s been a busy year already, or the battle with UK regulations which has forced so many of us into a brick wall. But on a much happier note it looks like all it took was a cuppa with the sister in law, and a trip out with the mother in law to a stitches exhibition, and I am all fired up to go again. Yippee!

So what am I going to do? That is the next question. Following the visit to the stitches fair I got bought a pattern to make up a quilted cat. I really fancied trying my hand at something different and I just love the kittie, it really reminds me of little Leo. So off I went on the net in search of some fabric to make this up and I got completely sidetracked by this:

Isn’t it amazing! I am in love with this fabric and am so happily to have it now. I bought it from Emma’s Fabric Studio and it was a lovely super fast service so I would recommend and will likely be buying more from them in the future. Now the question is just what an earth am I going to make with it as I can’t make the cat quilt now? I have already had one suggestion from a friend that wants a brooch making from one of the cat sections. Time to trawl through some tutorials and see what I can see. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Other than that I have just been trying to tidy my craft room up to help organise and inspire me. It was that much of a tip though it is taking me days! I will have to post some pics again when it is spic and span as there is so much more clutter in there than when I first posted. Let’s also see if having an iOS app actually helps me keep this site up to date, fingers crossed.

A long time coming

monstermagic — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 20:45:11 +0000

Hi everyone, well that one month break at Christmas went on a little longer than I expected, life stuff, and lack of motivation have kept me away for a bit longer than it should really. However, thanks to seeing some of the great work some of my plushy friends out there have been doing, I am happy to say that I am feeling the urge a bit again. I think this time round though I will stick a bit more with web sales rather than trying to go all out and do a craft fair every week which just drained me with working full time as well.

So today I decided to get my toes wet again and made up this adorable fluffy batty cushion, it is very similar to my other batty designs but bigger, fluffier and more cuddly . It is a little more on the cushion theme which is the direction my work seems to be taking.

I do realise that there are a few of you out there who are after a yeti so I do aim to make up a few now as soon as possible (though you know they take me an age!), so dare I say it, watch this space.

Walter the Walrus

monstermagic — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:52:48 +0000

So I am part of the etsy stuffed team and we were recently challenged to create a marine life creature to sell in the stuffed team shop. I made Walter the Walrus! You can see him below. We are also having a competition to vote for the monsters so why not head over there to have a look at Walter along with the other entries. Simply click here or on the photo of Walter to be directed to the site and don’t forget to vote for your fave.

Apples and Pears 25 Sept 10

monstermagic — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 18:06:07 +0000

I am very pleased that myself and Socksy Beasts have been invited to join the next apples and pears again at Sneinton Market on 25th September. Really looking forward to meeting lots of lovely new peeps, both public and designers. I just hope that the weather will hold out for us a little bit!

Dont forget if you cant wait that long we will be in West Bridgford on 17/18 Sept xx

Grey Yeti’s inc.

monstermagic — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:01:43 +0000

So this week went to plan, I managed to finish the two grey Yeti’s off, they are really nice colour combo’s, I like them a lot. I especially like the Grey and Purple one Mmmmm delish, its going to be hard to sell that one!

On the down side, I broke my Digital SLR this week So annoyed at myself, the tripod fell over knocking the zoom and now it wont retract booo. I do at least have the point and shoot digital but it will never take as good quality picks as the other. Hopefully we will go and find out about repairs at the weekend, hopefully it wont cost me an arm and a leg!

I am currently, optimistically, busy sewing away in prep for Christmas, I know it is a bit of a way off and seems a little insane in September, but with not having loads of spare time it sort of seems sensible to be making a start now. I think it does mean I am going to have to have a sort out in my craft room, I am fast running out of empty shelves to put stock on which is not filled up with other craft items. Alternatively I need to beg the other half to put more shelves up!

Now I just have to decide what next weeks goal is, do I try to finish off the reindeer’s which are cut out but need machining (those antlers take an age!), do I get on and make a few more of the apples which I want to do, and am aware I have been slack at taking a good pic of these, Make some more yeti’s, of which I think I need to make at least 3 more just at the minute, or do I do some Batty’s as my stock is very low and we are nearing Halloween? So much to do, but not right now! xxx

Yeti Mayhem

monstermagic — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:56:29 +0000

Having lots of fun tonight making Yeti’s and listening to the Labyrinth soundtrack tonight! They are not quiet going to get finished but roll on tomorrow when they hopefully do!

Run to the Hills

monstermagic — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:54:08 +0000

Looking forward to trading at Run to the Hills this weekend with the fabulous Socksy Beasts. Lets hope the eather holds out for us! More info on the event can be found here http://www.runtothehills.org.uk/

Thursday – Reindeers

monstermagic — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 12:02:08 +0000

These guys seemed to take an age, but I suppose it will trying to make 9 things at once! I love them now they are finished though. And the best thing about preparing your Xmas stock, getting the Xmas tree out in August to photograph them <3.

Tuesday

monstermagic — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:40:42 +0000

Well, I managed to get the custom starfish order made up. I was really stumped with this one trying to work out how to not just make a plain star shape with a smiley face, but I cracked it and am really pleased with the result. I just hope the person who has ordered it is pleased, I will blog about it a little more when I have traded it over .

Also managed to make a couple more ice creams today, Blackcurrent and Lemon Sorbet nom nom nom! I know I prob didnt need more ice cream stock atm, but I have been wanting to make these flavours since I made the first batch so couldn’t resist! Now just need a sunny day to photo shoot them.

Lets hope for as productive a day tomorrow!