A quilter's emergency valentine's card

So, it's Valentine's Day this weekend and I'm very excited.  My husband has organised a lovely trip to the ballet (how romantic!) and the children are having a sleep over at the Grandparents.  So we may even sleep beyond 6am on Sunday morning! Only issue, I forgot to get him a Valentine's card - opps! Now, I know that I've got all week to go to the shops and get one.  But we have always preferred to find something a little more unusual and he will have spent his lunch breaks at work scouring notonthehighstreet.com for the perfect card for me.  In fact, it will be much quicker to make one than walk to the shops and try and find one not too soppy for his taste. So, giving myself a half an hour deadline (as I do need to get on with some work today and that is how long it would take me to get to the shops), I grabbed some card, paper, fabric, wadding and glue dots.

I started by folding one of the sheets of card in half. I cut a 16cm by 12cm rectangle out of the other piece of card and the same size from the patterned paper.  I glued these together (using a normal glue stick) and scribbled a rough frame round the edge with a black pen.

I have a folder of templates, most of which have been cut out of cereal boxes. So I checked my template folder and found a heart template which fitted nicely in the patterned frame.  I drew round this on the fabric and cut two red hearts with a seam allowance. I also cut a heart shaped piece of wadding, but made this slightly smaller than the template.

With the fabric right sides together, I sewed all the way round my chalk mark.  I know what you are thinking right now - ''shouldn't you leave a gap for turning?'' - well, yes, usually, but I'm doing this quickly, and you can see that my sewing isn't particularly neat either!

So then I pinched out the two sides like in the photo below.

This meant I could cut a hole in the middle of one of the sides.

I used this hole to turn the heart right side out and the entry point for my wadding.

The wadding I've used is fusible to help it stay in place, so I gave it a little press of the iron.

I positioned the padded heart on the patterned card and, with chalk which would erase later, drew a smaller heart about a centimetre from the edge. I then got some embroidery floss and, using a basic running stitch, stitched through the heart and card to secure.

Once finished, I tied the floss off at the back and removed the Taylor's chalk mark (I always find baby wipes are good for this mainly as they are the close to hand in my dining room). Then I put glue dots all round the outside of the patterned card and carefully positioned it onto place on the folded card.

So that was half an hour well spent, a definitely not soppy valentine's card!

Easy bow tie

My son's school is having a ballroom dancing day this week and he needs to wear a bow tie and waistcoat for his dancing lesson.  I'm really excited too as parents can go and watch the professionals dance, which I'm really looking forward to. But, back to the outfit.  As he doesn't yet own either bow tie or waistcoat, I made him a really easy bow tie with a velcro fastening from a few bits of fabric and some stiff interfacing.

The first attempt (in black) was a success, but I know he loves this monster fabric, so I thought I might make another to surprise him later. My daughter was obviously keen to know whether I was making her a bow tie too! So I've followed the same process, but have changed the neck band into a hair band with the use of some elastic.

For the tie, I used the following fabric sections:

• 9'' by 5'' (23 cm by 13 cm) for the bow part
• 15.5'' by 2.5'' (40 cm by 6.5 cm) for the band to go round the neck
• 3.5'' by 2.5'' (9 cm by 6.5 cm) for the knot section
• Firm interfacing - a 4'' by 2'' (10 cm by 5 cm) piece
• Small piece of velcro (or 'hook and loop' tape)

I always use a quarter inch (6mm) seam allowance, so if you prefer to use a larger one, then you may need to add a bit onto the fabric dimensions above.  As the fabric was directional, I also had to consider this when cutting the sections.

Start by folding the bow fabric in half right sides together so it measures 4.5'' by 5'' (11.5 cm by 13 cm). Sew around, leaving a 2'' (5cm) gap midway along one of the shorter sides for turning inside out.  Snip corners and turn inside out, but don't worry about pushing the corners out. It actually helps if the corners are pushed in slightly.

Give it a quick press of the iron.  The interfacing needs to be inserted in through the turning hole and positioned in the middle of the piece.  The photo below shows the correct position it needs to be once it is inside.

Insert the interfacing to that position and then iron in place to set.

Fold the top section down behind the interfacing and the bottom section up to meet in the middle, and neatly hand stitch them together.

Fold the bow in half (the stitched line should be along the fold) and then fold top and bottom back on themselves (see photos).

Put a few stitches through the centre so the bow holds this shape and set to one side while you work on the other sections.

For the band, fold the material right sides together so it's a long, thin piece, then sew one end and down the full length.

Turn inside out and iron, folding the unfinished end under.  Now sew on the velcro to each end, remembering to change the top thread to match the colour of the velcro.

For the tie, fold the fabric right sides together so it measures 1.25'' by 3.5'' (4 cm by 9 cm) and sew one end and then down the length.

Turn and iron, again, tucking the rough ends under.

Now, it just needs assembling. My first attempt (the black tie) had the velcro at the back, but my son (who is nearly 5) found it really difficult to do up and take off.  So for the monster tie, I have positioned the end right behind the bow as in the picture below.  I put a few stitches to attach the band to the back of the bow to make sure it stayed in place.

Then I positioned the tie piece around the centre of the bow and neatly hand stitched the ends together at the back to finish.

The girl's headband follows exactly the same process as the bow, but the band section is much longer (24'' or 61 cm) and I sewed down the length (but not the end) to form a tube. Once turned, I threaded a 14'' (or 36 cm) section of elastic through. When I was happy with the length, I stitched the elastic into place at either end and hid the ends behind the tie of the bow.

So now the bow tie is complete, I just need to look into making the waistcoat!