Tag: sewing

Kids or Pet Applique Pillows

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Create these cute, fun and easy pillows for your child or pet! They come in either dog, fox or bunny and take very little time to make.  Plus, if you’re an embroiderer check out this free bunny embroidery design to match the bunny pillow.

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 Patterns

When printing unselect ‘print to scale’. Use the test square to check the correct sizing.

Materials Needed

  • 110cm x 90cm fleece for the pillow. The final pillow size is approximately 50cm x 40cm
  • Mixture of felt or fleece colours for the face
  • Stuffing or bean bag fill (you can buy this in a large bag)
  • Thread colours to match the felt fabric
  • Hot Melt Web

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March – Charity Sewalong

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Life’s Little Treasures

Robbie-with-LLTF-logo easter.jpgThe Life’s Little Treasures Foundation is Australia’s foremost charity dedicated to providing support, friendship and information, specifically tailored for families of children born premature or sick.

Having a child that is sick or premature can be a very traumatic roller-coaster ride and this wonderful foundation strives to give families the support and assistance they need.

Donate to Life’s Little Treasures Easter Event!

Life’s Little Treasures is holding an Easter event on the 3rd of April, 2017 for families who are desperately wanting to take home their sick or premature babies. This is why we are asking for donations including an Easter bunny toy or Easter themed baby bib to gift to these families.

If you would like to be involved, Life’s Little Treasures will require these donations by the 1st April, 2017. This means shipping to Life’s Little Treasures yourself, or dropping off your donations to Echidna Sewing no later than Wednesday, 23rd March.

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Embroider your world with Brother & Echidna

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by Gary Walker

It seems incredible that sewing machinery has been around since the early 1800’s and embroidery technology since 1964. This machinery started off as heavy, complex, incredibly expensive and mostly found in factories. Commercial machine embroidery for high volume orders replaced a much more tedious and painstaking process of stitching by hand. Yet the fundamental principle remains the same: a top and a bottom thread are stitched together over and over again to gradually produce a pattern.

We’ve all worn embroidered garments, we have embroidered articles throughout our homes, we decorate and identify ourselves with embroidery. Automated machine embroidery has influenced fashion and décor since its very inception.

Today, computer technology has put this automatic machine embroidery process within reach of everyone. You don’t even need sewing skills!

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Kids Toy or Lego Bag Project

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by Erin W

The first project I have created for the Koala Kids Foundation – Charity Sewalong is this free, easy to make kids toy or Lego bag, by Toni at Make it perfect. The photo instructions were very clear and simple to follow. I managed to cut out and stitch this project in less than an hour.

In addition, I have also embroidered the full-colour Koala Kids Foundation smiley mouth embroidery design and appliqued it onto the bag itself. You can choose either the coloured logo or an outlined logo if you want to do the same. If you’re interested in getting involved in our monthly Echidna charity sewalong, you can find out more about this months sewing brief on our February Charity Sewalong post.

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This is the perfect bag for children to fit their toys, Lego, blankets or overnight goodies to take to Grandma’s. As you can see there are two drawstrings, which allow you to enclose all of the toys inside, plus it then folds out to create a play mat for your child to sit on.

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Learn to Sew – Helpful Books

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by Erin W

These days with so many online tutorials, YouTube videos, blogs, patterns and programs, it’s very easy to get distracted and not know where to start on your sewing journey. Instead of being overwhelmed or spending large amounts of money on online tutorials, videos or subscriptions, why not start with something a little more basic… a book!

When you have so much information at your fingertips it’s easy to forget about the idea of hiring or buying a simple book that will guide you through the very basics of sewing, fabric types, techniques, tips, tricks and much more! Plus, if you search your local library you will often find a number of different topics whether you’re interested in the very basics, learning how to sew for children, learning how to make quilts, applique, embroidery, dressmaking and the list goes on. Best of all, this information is ready available to you for a simply library subscription.

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Image – Book Depository (Sewing Books)

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February – Charity Sewalong

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Koala Kids

Let’s help make Happy Help by sewing for Koala Kids

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Our February sewalong is dedicated to Koala Kids Foundation, an organization which provides the small things that bring happiness to children and young people (3 – 24 years) undergoing cancer treatment.

We can brighten their day by sewing special keepsakes to include in their very own Happy Bags, which are full of comforting and practical items for them and their families to use during hospital stays.

They promise that each and every item created will find its way to children and young people undergoing cancer treatment.

Sewalong Brief

  • February Sewalong will run from 1st –  28th February, 2017
  • We are asking you to provide an item of your choice, which can be folded to fit inside a Happy Bag with the other items (Bag is 300mm deep x 250mm wide)
  • Items may include a pillow case (silk, one side not embroidered), a cotton hand towel or face washer, a cotton drawstring bag (plastic lined for toiletries), a small zip purse, a larger, flat toy or Lego bag, a pencil case etc.

Please see more ideas for children’s sewing on our Kid’s Sewing Pinterest page.

Add a little Embroidery!

The fun part is embroidering the Koala Kids orange ‘smiley nose’ into your design.
There are a few ways you can use these embroidery designs to compliment your project.

Embroider one or a few full colour smiley noses onto your project for the children to find.

Or download the outline embroidery design to stitch on suitable fabrics for the children or family members to colour in.

Both embroidery designs will fit in a 4″ x 4″ (10cm x 10cm) hoop.

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