The Urge To Be Creative

Being a busy mum of two gorgeous girls I find it hard to get time to myself. For me getting creative is my escapism.

I am well known for spotting lovely things and suggesting that I think I could make it myself - either better or cheaper. I love nothing more than making homemade jams from fruit I have picked from the garden, as well as using scrap fabrics sourced from car boot sales and flea markets and turning them into something inspirational. So I have decided to actually do it, for me this blog is a way of recording all my ideas and sharing them with you.

With summer fast approaching we have recently bought a brand new 5 metre bell tent.

I have great expectations of lazy summer evenings spent with family and friends chilling in deck chairs, drinking Pimms in front of an open fire whilst cooking up a feast in some remote spot.

Since purchasing our tent I have been scouring antique markets and boot fares hunting down retro cooking equipment, floral bunting and unique ideas.

I then came across an idea on Great Little Trading Company - such an easy concept.

We often have friends children to stay, and having to store spare mattresses or camp beds can take up valuable space. This concept does away with that, only needing to store a piece of fabric small enough to fit in a shoe box. 

So with ideas buzzing around my head I started looking for fabric I could individually sew into pillow cases - I then turned to a well known website and looked at duvet covers, as I figured half of the work was done for me... the length was perfect for a child or in fact adult and the width was perfect being over 2 pillows wide, therefore with plenty of material to finish off the edges.

In-keeping with my bell tent I placed a bid on a vintage floral double duvet cover with matching pillowcases and after a nervous wait and a few more bids I managed to pick it up for £7 including postage.

I started by chopping the duvet in half longways. The two halves were then slightly different as one half already had poppers down one side which made my job even easier. I literally ran the sewing machine down the parallel long side whilst the fabric was inside out, popped a pillow in and marked where I needed to sew. I was able to fit 4 pillows in the duvet cover; I also decided to sew on the pillow case to the bottom this would then allow the person using it to flip it over so it would then become a pillow.

There was a little spare fabric so I made a matching bag 

The other half of the duvet cover took a little longer. I took inspiration from the pillowcases which had an internal flap to hold the pillow in place - so I did exactly the same. First I ran the sewing machine down one long side whilst the fabric was inside out. Then with the fabric the right way round I turned in the flap using a pillow as a guide and an iron. I then did the same as I had previously - using a pillow as my guide, I sewed across the fabric allowing room for 4 pillows.

From start to finish I was done in around an hour and I'm sure as a second attempt I could cut the time down to 45 minutes or so. I can't wait to take them camping.

Overall a bargain at a grand cost of £3.50 each!

If who think this is too difficult or are unable to use a sewing machine, a really simple alternative would be to grab a selection of existing pillowcases and either hand stitch them or pin them and ask a friend for help.

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