This one is easy and it is a bit of sewing, a bit of quilt-as-you-go and a bit of stitchery so something for everyone. Best of all, it is a stash buster so you can use up the little bits and pieces.
January brings a bit of tidying and sorting at my house and this time, I have noticed how many jam jars I have collected so it seemed to be the right time to do something with them. Covers which then turns a jar into a small cannister seemed to be the idea and you can put anything into them that takes your fancy.
And here is what you will need....
a jam jar
some thin wadding
some plain backing
a small strip of natural linen
scraps of fabrics in one colour but several different patterns
dark brown perle 5 cotton
some archival ink in jet black
a piece of cotton tape (1 1/2 cm wide)
some fray stopper
glue stick
some alphabet stamps. I have used a courier font.
Grab a water soluble marker too and your usual sewing needs.
The first thing to get past is that I don't know which jam jar you have so we will work with an idea which means that you can fit these to any size jar at all.
You will need your wadding first and also the jar and the water soluble marker. Measure the height of the jar from the bottom to the bottom of the lid. Mine measures 8cm. Now measure around the widest part of the jar and add a centimetre. Mine is 25cm + 1cm = 26cm.
So I need a piece of wedding and a piece of plain backing fabric which measures 8cm x 26cm. The extra centimetre is the the seam allowance.
Here is what it looks like so far...
And don't forget to be frugal! Wedding can easily be joined so don't throw away the scraps. Join with a zig-zag stitch and then trim to the size that you need. You will not see the wedding when we are finished.
Here are a couple that Frankenstein would be proud of!
Next we need a bit of a theme per jar cover - well you don't really and they could be really scrappy but I am going with the theme for now. I have ticking in three colours so that will be my binding and also set the trend for the theme. Of course you don't have to bind with ticking. This is just what jumped out at me. For this tute, I will concentrate on blue.
PLEASE NOTE: the amounts that I am giving here are for my jam jar sizes. You may need to add or subtract a square or two for yours. Don't worry though, it is very easy.
Go through your scraps and find lots of pretty offcuts in blue and cut out 8 squares which measure 4cm x 4cm. The one on the end may be a little shorter than the others.
Begin by laying square number one in the middle left hand side of the wedding like this...
Stitch square number one down the left hand side and then lay square number two on top of it with the right sides together. Sew along the right hand side only...
Now open square number two out....
As you can see, the squares are being secured to the wedding in one step rather than patching and then quilting down. Keep going like this until all of the squares are secured and finish the last one with a seam down the right. Keep them even but don't worry too much about wonky tops and bottoms just yet. This is what we have now...
Now it is time to add the linen strips. Mine need to be 3cm wide and 26cm long. To get the measurement, measure from the bottom of the squares to the bottom of the wedding and then add 1/2 cm. You can add more and then trim it back if you are nervous.
Lay the linen strip along the squares with the edge of the linen on the edge of the squares...
Sew along the top edge and then fold the linen over. I like to zig-zag along the outer edge to keep it neat and easier to bind later on.
Repeat for the other linen strip.
Sew a running stitch of perle cotton about 1/2 cm in from the edge on the top and bottom linen strips...
And finally (for this bit) a cannister is no good unless you know what it in it, soooo, we need a label. Firstly, decide what is going into the cannister. Is it tea, coffee, sugar, cat treats, mints? Or is it pins, bobbins, buttons or thread offcuts?
When you have decided, cut a piece of cotton tape long enough to stamp the word and then treat the ends with fray stopper.
Next, take your stamp set and ink pad and stamp your word onto the label.
Mine is going to be used for tea so here is the label ready for sewing on....
Find the centre of the cover (and the label) and glue the label on with the glue stick to hold it while you sew (pins are too fiddly). Sew it on and it will look like this...
So far so good! Home stretch now. Carefully matching the seams and squares, stitching and so on, sew the back together with the right sides facing.
Do the same for the lining and then drop the lining into the outer circle with the wrong sides together. Pin or baste. Cut the binding next. It needs to be 3cm wide and as long as is needed to go around the cover on the top and the bottom. Bind the cover either by machine or by hand. It looks like this now....
That's about it really. You can make as many of these as you can think of things to put into them and they look really nice lined up on a shelf. Much better than throwing the jar away- or leaving them in a dark cupboard.
Here they are again....
Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope that you will find this pattern and tute helpful and fun!
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