May 2, 2024

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easy-diy-sewing-projects-made from canvas

Katie Alderson is admittedly handy. “But I definitely would not say I’m a good sewer,” adds the 29 year old, who has a degree in decorative arts from Nottingham Trent University and works as a kitchen designer for deVol in London.

When Katie’s father gave her a Singer sewing machine for Christmas during the first year of lockdown, she was daunted but put it to work. “My mum taught me to use it—she was a ballroom dancer and sewed all of her own costumes, and I had learned the sewing basics in school; to be honest, I’m still much more confident sewing by hand.”

Katie got to know her machine by using canvas, which she says is a great starter material. “Once it’s been pinned and ironed, canvas is really easy to machine sew because it holds its shape so well and mistakes are easy to disguise.” We came across Katie’s creations on her website and wanted them all. Come take a look—and consider doing some sewing yourself.

Lunch Bag

katie cut up an ikea canvas apron to create her first project: &#8\2\20;aft 9
Above: Katie cut up an Ikea canvas apron to create her first project: “After months of tossing food containers into a backpack, I decided to make a lunch bag to keep everything upright and avoid spills. The idea was to re-create the classic paper bag.” She sized the bag to hold a lidded glass container from Ikea’s 365+ series.

katie began by creating a paper template and then tracing the shapes on canvas  10
Above: Katie began by creating a paper template and then tracing the shapes on canvas and cutting them out. Before assembling the pieces, she hems and irons them and then folds over the edges and irons again, “so they’re all in neat straight lines.” For the bag, she sewed the base first, reinforcing it with a layer of heavier canvas.