Beautiful Girlhood: 52 Crafts in 52 Weeks

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

52 Crafts in 52 Weeks – Week One

A few days after Christmas, my mom and I were at home with the little ones while my dad was out with Nancy and Beth. My mom had bought a lovely craft magazine as a Christmas present to the whole family and on this particular morning, we were sitting outside with a cup of coffee in hand, browsing through all the interesting ideas featured in it.

We began to discuss how we could possibly fit in more craft evenings during 2013. Suddenly an idea of a 52 week craft challenge came to mind and, after talking to my mom about it, the idea turned into a reality.

We hardly had time to do any crafty things in 2012 due to circumstances, so we weren’t able to give any homemade gifts to close friends and family over Christmas, which we found very sad. We prefer to give homemade gifts as they are more personal and very special and a whole lot easier on our budget!

I also realised that my blog is lacking attention and something exciting and a weekly feature on our personal craft challenge could very well be a source of inspiration for me. Hopefully you, my dear readers, will find yourselves interested too.

...........................

And now I shall begin with our very first craft for 2013 – beautiful bunting that was created from various pieces of vintage material from our collection and from the backs of old curtains that needed to be upcycled.

I’m actually a big fan of upcycling at the moment and I hope to bring you many more craft projects that were inspired and created from old items that we find lying around gathering dust or taking up precious space in our home.

I needed to make bunting for my sixteenth birthday party for the decor. Although I’m not exactly keen on sewing, I made myself at least try and sew the bunting myself! I needed to make two separate ones, each with eleven flags – a bit of a challenge for me... I was planning on using plain calico for the backs of the flags, seeing as they aren’t actually seen, but then I discovered my grandmother’s old blue curtains in the linen closet. The backs of the actual curtains were made from blue gingham – gingham that matched perfectly with my choice of vintage fabrics! I managed to cut twenty two flags out of the partially stained gingham – exactly the right amount! I was so thankful for that:)

It took almost a full day to trace and cut out all the flags – not only did I have to trace and cut out twenty two flags from the patterned material, but also from the gingham fabric I was using for the backs. I then had to sew them all up and turn them the right way round – Mom and Nancy helped me out there! After that, Mom ironed the flags flat – this was the tricky part of the process. Once that was done, the bias binding needed to be folded in half and ironed flat. Spacing and placing the flags inside the fold of the bias with pins followed, then the careful sewing to ensure a good, straight stitch to hold the flags firmly in place. All this took about two days – tops. I am proud to say I actually finished the bunting without getting frustrated and without rushing!

Take a look at the finished product...