Free patterns, tutorials and recipes

The links below are to various sewing and craft tutorials and recipes that I have posted here on my blog. I hope you find them useful. If you have any questions, you are more than welcome to contact me.

All my tutorials are licensed under a under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License. To see what this means, look over here.


NEW Tutorial - "Hem along"
The hem-along is underway. Weeks 1 to 4 have been posted, covering double and single fold hems, hemming stretch fabrics and blind hemming by hand and machine. After a short break .... I will be covering rolled hems, faced hems, scalloped edges, Euro-hems, flared hems and more! (Re-commencing September 2009)


Tutorial - "Seam-along"
A 9 week series of posts covering various ways to sew and finish seams. Includes French seams, Hong Kong finishes, overlocking, falt fell, channel seams and more. Downloadable PDF available soon.



Tutorial - make a shower cap
A downloadable PDF pattern and instructions for sewing your own pretty shower cap. The shower cap has a bias binding trim and a nylon waterproof inner.


Tutorial - make a gadget wallet
A downloadable PDF pattern and instructions for sewing a soft carry case that will hold a gadget such as a small digital camera or a GPS.


Tutorial - make a fluffy teddy card (kiddy craft)
Downloadable stencil for creating this furry friend on a card.


Tutorial - make a gingerbread cottage
Hint and tips for creating your own gingerbread cottage from scratch. Includes details of patterns, baking and decoration. I am not able to cook with eggs for our family, so also includes details of making royal icing without egg whites. Available as downloadable PDF.


Tutorial - freezer paper stencilling
Hints and tips for creating a fabric printing stencil using freezer paper. Includes information about choice of paper, creating your stencil and inking and setting the design. Available as downloadable PDF.


3-by-3 kiddie canvas
This nine square picture canvas is a super easy project. The picture is designed to be either free-standing or hung. The squares are individual canvases padded with batting and fabric. The corner designs are appliqued and the child's photo is inkjet-printed to a special cotton fabric. The canvases are secured with a plastic backing and then again around the perimeter with ribbon. The tutorial includes designs suitable for a boy or girl.


Tutorial - create a stencil image from a photo using Microsoft Word
A workaround for those of us who don't have the fancy graphics software to help create stencils. Available as a downloadable PDF.


Tutorial - add special characters to your blog post
Add symbols and other characters not usually found on your computer keyboard to your blog post.


Stand-back-and-throw (simple) meal ideas
Don't get me wrong ... I do like to cook. But sometimes I just like things to be easy: to stand back and throw. Includes recipes for main meals and sweet treats. Do try the easy-peasy no-bake cheesecake!

More ...