Now that Christmas is over and I've finished putting bits of party popper in the bin, I thought I'd have a stash review. It's looking quite scruffy to be completely honest, with big pieces of fabric in patterns I love but will never wear as well as scrappy little bits I couldn't throw out. I have quite a few Liberty prints and I thought they would look nice as pattern weights, so I had an enjoyable couple of hours making some and they turned out so well that I'm very excited.
Materials:
Cardboard (from a cereal packet or similar)
Sraps of fabric about 18cm square
Pins
Thread (why not use recycled thread)
Rice or plastic toy filling beads
Optional: 3cm of ribbon
Preparation:
To make the pattern weights, first draw an equilateral triangle (my GCSE maths is a little rusty, but I used the 60 degree angle on my cutting mat).
- draw an 18cm line on a piece of card, like a cereal packet.
- measure a 60 degree angle at the left hand corner (use your cutting mat by putting a ruler diagonally through the zero and matching it to the 60 degree line at the other side, then draw a line between the two points)
- measure along the line you've just drawn to 18cm and put a cross.
- draw a line from this cross to the right end of the base line, to get your third side.
- each side should be 18cm
Cut out a piece of fabric for each pattern weight.
If you want, cut out a 3cm piece of ribbon or tape to add to each weight.
Sewing:
Fold the baseline down the middle, right sides facing, so the left side point meets the right side point.
Then fold your tape in half and put it between the two layers. This needs to be on the right side of the fabric, with the raw edges inside. I put mine about 1/4 of the way along the edge so it's not symmetrical.
With a 1cm seam allowance, sew the first side.
Now match the two opposite sides together and sew. You will end up with a kind of kite shape. This makes your weight 3D. If you don't do this it looks like a weird envelope.
Trim the corners and turn the right way out.
Fill with rice or beads.
Turn the final edge in and sew by hand. Make the stiches quite close together if you are using rice.
Personal preference: don't overfill. The ones I stuffed a bit less have a nice, easy plumpness to them and sit better.
I think they look awesome! So awesome in fact that I'm going to make up some kits.
