little linen projects

i've been slightly obsessed with the linen that i used for the hoopla bunting pillow, and i just keep finding more and more projects to use it for.

so far i've made pincushions, a nametag for guild meetings, and a cute little fabric basket to sit next to my sewing machine and hold all my thread scraps. these projects were all with hoopla, because i'm totally loving it, and i still had lots of scraps left over after the bunting pillow.

i made the mugrug with some scraps from the pillow, just playing around. i used wonder under to adhere the little flags, and then freehand machine stitched. there's batting behind the linen, but it wasn't enough to stabilize it, with all of the stitching i did, so it turned out slightly wonky. i like it, but it's definitely wonky!



the next thing i made was the nametag. i used this paperpiecing pattern, and instead of creating a rainbow, i alternated prints with the linen. i machine embroidered my name onto the centre fabric, which is a twill, so a little bit heavier than standard cotton, but it handles the embroidery better. the pattern is actually in three pieces, because of the letters in the centre. because i was embroidering on it, i didn't want any seams in the centre, so i adapted the pattern a little bit. there was one seam that i had to handstitch, no biggie.



and then i added the back and a pin, and did a teensy bit of hand quilting. i made the back in two pieces, and left a hole in the centre back seam. after i'd sewn the back and front together and turned the nametag rightside out, i stitched that up by hand. it's so much easier to stitch up a straight seam than it is a round one, if i'd left the hole in the circle seam!



and then for some reason i decided to make pincushions - i don't really know why, because i don't usually use pincushions! but i have been using the purple one, and i've been finding it handy, so maybe that's about to change...



anyway, they're just simple pincushions, 4 patch on the front, and linen on the back, and i stitched them together like a biscornu, with 8 sides. i stuffed them, and then stitched on some vintage buttons - i love having an excuse to use part of my massive button collection! i like them.

and then i made a little fabric basket, inspired by lili at spool of thread. her mom made a bunch of these, to sit by the machines in their sewing lounge, and i totally fell in love with them! i really want to make more of them, and experiment a bit with size, etc.



but i got sidetracked onto another project with the linen - here's a sneak peek!



yum!!

the other day i went back and bought 3 more metres of the linen.
(i told you i was obsessed!)