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•Teach Children to Sew!
•Sewing Curtains
•Sewing Flowers
•Bags to Sew
•Sewing Projects for Pets
•ReUsable Fabric Grocery Bags
•Felt Animals
•Heart Shaped YoYos
•Sew Baby Shoes
•New Contact Form
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The FreeNeedle Blog
Hello and welcome to the FreeNeedle blog.
We'll be writing and musing on sewing and needlecraft related things. We'll also be publishing our own unique projects here so keep checking back or subscribe to the RSS feed to see what's new.
Take a look around and do feel free to leave comments!! It will be great to get some feedback on the site.
Teach Children to Sew!
The long summer days offer a great opportunity to teach youngsters to sew. There are many simple sewing projects which are ideal for children and will give them a good basic understanding of the craft. With just a few basic stitches, youngsters can create some lovely items.
Good fabrics to use for beginners are fabrics such as felt and fleece which do not unravel and are therefore more forgiving than other fabrics. Luckily these are readily available and are not too expensive. We've links to a few interesting projects on the Learn to Sew page.
If you know of any great projects we have missed then please use the Suggest a Link button to get in touch. We look forward to hearing from you!
Posted by Kate at 6:25 PM on Sunday, 20 July, 2008Sewing Curtains
Sewing curtains can be an excellent way to create wonderful and unique curtains. There are many great patterns and tutorials available - take a look at some of the great links that we have in the 'Curtains' category.
If you know of any great curtain or home furnishing patterns we have missed, do not hesitate to contact us!
Posted by Kate at 7:35 PM on Thursday, 10 July, 2008Sewing Flowers
There are so many free sewing patterns for projects that use flowers that we've a directory set up just for sewing projects with a floral theme! Flowers are great fun to make and, as they are quick and easy to do, make good gifts for many occasions. These are also great projects for summer sewing as they can be popped into a bag and taken out on day trips or into the garden for embellishing with hand stitching.
Take a look at some of these great projects in our Free Flower Sewing Projects directory!
Posted by Kate at 4:00 PM on Tuesday, 24 June, 2008Bags to Sew
Bags are great fun to make - they can be utilitarian shopping bags, or fancy evening bags - and so many more in between. Take a look at our 'Bag' section for ideas for over 70 free projects for bags to make.
Bags use small amounts of fabric and therefore are a good way to use up odds and ends, they area also a great opportunity to try different and unusual fabrics. Bags can easily be decorated with embroidery, applique or just a few beads.
If you know of a pattern we've missed then do let us know - either through the 'suggest a link' page - or email us at link@ freeneedle.com.
Posted by Kate at 10:17 PM on Monday, 14 April, 2008Sewing Projects for Pets
Don't leave pets out when you are planning sewing and needlework projects, there are many fun projects that are freely available. The great thing about many pet projects is that they are reasonably small and quick to complete (unless you are sewing for a particularly large hound!) They are ideal for using up odds and ends of fabric.
Here are a few to get you thinking and don't forget to take a look in the Pet Category for many more.
Posted by Kate at 9:27 PM on Wednesday, 2 April, 2008ReUsable Fabric Grocery Bags
Making fabric grocery bags is a great way to make wonderful hand crafted shopping bags AND help the environment! Fabric bags can be used time and time again, reducing the need for plastic bags.
Take a look at this article for more information about reusable fabric grocery bags and don't forget to look in the Recycle section here at FreeNeedle for some great free patterns and tutorials explaining how to sew your own bag.
Don't forget to let us know of any great free sewing patterns or tutorials that we have missed! You can contact us through the form on the About Us page.
Felt Animals
This is a really good idea for making cute animals out of felted jumpers.
It is really easy to felt sweaters and jumpers for craft projects - simply do all the things you would not normally do with a wool garment ie stick it in the washing machine on a hot setting, give it plenty of agitation and voila! It should finish a fraction of the size and felted into a firm fabric. Make sure the sweater is wool, and not preshrunk or washing machine suitable wool as this will not felt.
Happy Stitching!
Heart Shaped YoYos
With thoughts turning to Valentine's Day, the heart shape creeps into more and more projects.
If you are a Yo-Yo fan (which I am!) then I expect you'll be having a go at a heart shaped yo-yo or two. These are not difficult to do, but a little tricky to make a crisp heart shape. A sneaky stitch at the top of the heart helps. Read more about it - How to Make a Heart Shaped Yo-Yo
Sew Baby Shoes
There are some excellent online patterns for baby shoes and booties. Read more about sewing baby shoes and booties using free online sewing patterns.
Little baby booties and shoes are a great way to use free online sewing patterns. They are quick and small, meaning that there is not too much of a time or money investment. Free online patterns aren't for everyone (you do need to be able to print them out and sometimes decipher instructions) - however they are a marvelous resource, so why not give them a go! There are plenty of links to some excellent projects throughout the pages of FreeNeedle - so give it a go!
New Contact Form
We've been plagued by spam. So to avoid undesirables filling up our in box with rubbish, we've put in a small feature to ensure that contact emails are from real people.
Hopefully this won't put people off from contacting us - and will help to avoid any important emails getting caught up in spam. You simply need to enter a number in a box before sending an email or link suggestion - take a look and let us know what you think!
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