Witches Stitches - Penny Rugs – How to Make One

Witches Stitches - Penny Rugs – How to Make One

 I have always loved penny rugs. They come in every color and size and look wonderful in any decor. You can make them to match seasons or holidays. I have always wanted to make one. I decided I should start with something a bit smaller, like a candle mat. So that is what I am going to start with.

You can use any felt you choose for your Penny Rug, but I chose to use the less expensive felt you can buy in a craft store for my first try. When I get good at it I will buy good quality wool felt. The good quality wool felt can be a bit pricy so the craft store felt it was for the first try.

 Instructions

 Get together the colors you want to use for your project. Take your time in choosing by laying the colors on top of one another to make sure they will look good when your project is done. Colors you may think will look good together may not when placed on top of one another. Also you will have to choose a color for your background piece.

 Once you have done that draw your template on paper. Draw the shape you want for the background then the pennies. You can use any number of round items to cut the circles for your rug. It all depends on what size your project is, you can even use pennies!!

 Organize the pieces for the penny rug by color on the background. When you have it all in place, everything fits and you are happy with the way it looks you are ready to start sewing.

Sew the pennies together one on top of the other, then sew them to the background piece.

You will stitch around the edge of the background and then attach the pennies using a blanket stitch.

 Knot your thread, and bring it through the edge fabric from back to front. Take the thread down through the fabric approximately 1/4 inch away on the diagonal from the original entry point. Come up through the fabric at the edge of the felt. Keep the thread under the needle to create the blanket stitching.

 I know this sounds like a lot but it is easy and I am sure there is something on u-tube to show you how. Once you do this with each penny on each stack and it is all stitched on the background you are done. As I said you may want to start small, but when you make one you will want to make another.

 Enjoy and as always if you have any questions, give me a shout.
 Faith

Witches Stitches - Ageing fabric with Paint and Sanding

Hello all,

I am sorry but this is going to be a short one this week. I am in NJ, (I live in NC), taking care of family business.  

If you are a lover of prim like I am, the more prim it looks the more I like it. There is something so wonderful about a piece of furniture that has peeling paint or doll with a well-worn look. I like to think about who may have used or played with it over the years and what their story is. 

When I make my cloth dolls I tea dye them then I paint and sand them. This gives them a great aged look. Through trial and error this is the steps I use.

1 – Sew and stuff your doll.

2 – Tea dye the doll, making sure you use a heavy coating of tea. You may want to dye it a second time if the first one is not dark enough. You can use instant coffee to get a really dark look.

3 – After the doll is dry paint it with your choice of color. Make sure you water down your paint. Use 2 parts paint to one part water.  The thinner paint will sand easier during the next step.  Dry the doll.

4 – When the doll is dry use a med grit sand paper and lightly sand your doll. Make sure you sand all in the same direction, it just looks nicer when you are done. When sanding make sure you do not sand in one spot to long you will sand right through the fabric.

 5 – How much you sand or how little you sand depends on how old and worn you want your doll to look.

Note – Do not take a short cut and not tea dye your item first. If you don’t tea or coffee dye the item first, when you sand the light color of the fabric will show through and not look as aged as you may want.

This can be on any painted fabric surface. If you want to cover a stool or a book with fabric and have it look old and worn, you can tea dye, paint and sand it and it and it will l look as if it has been round for 100 years.

If you want your item to have an even more worn and well-aged look, you can sand in one spot long enough for it to sand through the fabric. Make the sanded spot small and then take a needle and thread and mend it. After all 150 years ago they did not toss things in the trash it he first sign of wear. They fixed and reused everything they could.  

We can take a lesson from our ancestors, fix and reuse!!

If you want to see what a tea dyed, painted and sanded item looks like just take a look at my etsy site. The link is at the bottom of this post.

Well I guess that was not as short as I thought it would be.

Have a great day and thanks for reading!

Faith - The Primitive Black Hat Society

www.etsy.com/shop/PrimitiveBlackHat