Anastasia’s Simple Sewing Crafts

Waste not, want not. That’s what my great-aunt Penelope Periwinkle used to say, and now that I’m counting every penny, I realize how right she was. But even before pauperdom walloped me upside the head, I always saved all the scraps from my sewing projects. You never know when you’ll need a 2” x 3” piece of felt or a 5” length of grosgrain ribbon for a project.

 

Here are directions for the two projects I taught on the cruise.

 

Tip 1: Cookie cutters make great patterns when you need simple shapes.

 

Tip 2: The heat from a hot dish will release the scent from the essential oils when the dish is placed on the finished hot pad. If you prefer to make an unscented hot pad, omit the oil.

 

Scented Felt Hot Pad

 

Materials: two 9” x 9” squares of felt; two 8-3/4” x 8-3/4” pieces of quilt batting; large heart-shaped cookie cutter; decorative fabric slightly larger than cookie cutter; embroidery floss in a contrasting color; essential oil (your choice of scent), straight pins; scissors; pinking shears (optional); embroidery needle; water-soluble or disappearing fabric marker; fabric glue.

 

Trace cookie cutter onto wrong side of decorative fabric. Cut out shape with either scissors or pinking shears.

 

Using fabric glue, glue shape centered over one piece of felt. Allow to dry.

 

Glue a layer of quilt batting centered on remaining felt square. Add a few drops of essential oil to the batting. When glue is dry, glue second layer of batting over first layer and add a few more drops of essential oil. Allow glue to dry.

 

Pin felt squares, wrong sides together, matching outer edges.

 

Using all six strands of embroidery floss, stitch around perimeter of squares in blanket stitch. Using three strands embroidery floss, quilt 1/8” from edge around heart.

 

Note: For no-sew version of hot pad, glue squares together along outer edges. Use a permanent fabric marker to draw quilting stitches on heart.

 

Felt Heart Pocket

 

Materials: small, medium, and large heart-shaped cookie cutters; two 9” x 12” sheets of felt in one color and one in a second color (or scraps left over from other projects); embroidery floss in a contrasting color; 12” of 1/4” wide ribbon or decorative braid; embroidery needle; assorted metallic decorative buttons or charms; needle-nose pliers; jewelry glue; straight pins; scissors; water-soluble or disappearing fabric marker.

 

Using the fabric marker, trace two large hearts and one small heart from the larger piece of felt and one medium heart from the smaller piece. Cut out hearts.

 

Pin medium heart centered over one large heart. Pin small heart centered over medium heart. Using four strands of embroidery floss and a running stitch, stitch around small and medium hearts close to cut edges.

 

Pin stitched heart over remaining large heart. Stitch together with four strands embroidery floss and running stitch along sides, starting and stopping even with top of medium heart on both sides to form opening for pocket.

 

Stitch braid or ribbon to inside of pocket on both sides for hanging loop.

 

If buttons have shanks, use needle-nose pliers to cut them from buttons. Glue buttons randomly to hearts, centering one on small heart.

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Keep reading for an excerpt from Stitch, Bake, Die!, Lois Winston’s next Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery