Fancy Fandangos Back to Home Page
The pictures you see here are thumbnails. If you want to see them more clearly, just click on them and they will enlarge themselves.
I made my needle case from 6” fabric squares, and used dragonfly buttons as embellishments. However, I found that starting with a 9” square was easier when I didn’t know exactly what I was doing. The bigger the square, the less fiddly it is at the end. I took photos of each step so that you can see how it will look at each stage. Please look at the photos as you go along. It helps with the more complicated parts of the project.
1. Cut out two 9” squares of contrasting fabric. (The edges of the finished article will be half that size.) Photo 1.
Photo1
2. Take one of the squares and finger crease to find the centre. Photo 2.
Photo 2
3. Fold the top and bottom edges to the middle. Catch in place in the centre with a few small stitches. Colour of thread doesn’t matter as it will not be seen when finished. I’ve used black thread in my example so that the stitches are clearly visible on the photos. Normally I would use a thread that was similar to the fabric colour. Photo 3
Photo 3
4. Turn the new rectangle through 90 degrees so that the edges you folded into the middle are now vertical. Photo 4.
Photo 4
5. Take the two top edges between finger and thumb of each hand and pull outwards. This will cause the fabric to fold towards the centre horizontally. Let it fold over and lie across the centre of the fabric. It will look a bit like a child’s drawing of a house at this point. Photos 5.
Photo 5
6. Turn the “house” so that it now becomes a boat”. Photo 6.
Photo 6
7. Take the other two edges (now at the top) and pull them outwards too. You should now have an elongated hexagon. Catch the new folded edges in the centre with a few stitches. If you turn the hexagon over you will see that a smaller square has formed at the back. Lay it out with the square on the table and the hexagon on top. Photo 7.
Photo 7
8. Your hexagon has two long sides and four short ones. Lay it out with the longer edges at the top and bottom. We are now going to work with the short edges. Take one of the four sharp points formed at the sides of the hexagon and lift the fabric so that it seems to be an upright triangle, perpendicular to the table. Where this triangle has a right angle at the base, pull it apart and move the corner pieces towards the right and left sides of the fabric – Photo 8.
Photo 8
This is going to be one corner of a new square. The longest side of the triangle will fall down into the middle of a small square forming a diagonal from the top left corner to the middle of the fabric where the stitches are. Photo 9.
Photo
9
Do the same for the other three points. Catch the four corners which are now at the centre of the fabric with a few stitches. Photo 10. At this point you should be saying (if you are in the UK) “This looks like one of those fortune telling thingies we used to make when we were at school. “ There the similarity ends.
Photo
10
9. Lay the square in front of you so that it looks like a diamond. We will work on the top new small square first. Take the corner that is in the middle of the right edge and the corner that is in the middle of the left side edge and lift them up. Photo 11.
Photo
11
Fold them in towards the centre of their own little square so that they form a triangle whose base does not quite reach the centre of the fabric. There should be a minute gap in the centre where the two folded edges of the square meet up. Catch the bottom of this triangle with a few stitches. Photo 12.
Photo
12
10. Repeat this step for the other three small squares. You should now have a square whose edges are half the length of the fabric you started with and the outline of a four pointed star should be showing on your fabric. Photo 13.
Photo
13
Put this piece to one side.
11. Repeat Steps 1 to 10 on the contrasting piece of fabric.
12. Take one of the squares you have just made and turn it over. Fold the corners backwards over towards the centre on the back of the square to form a triangle. Photo 14.
Photo
14
Catch in place with a few stitches. Do the same for the other three corners. Photo 15.
Photo
15
13. Place the larger square on the table with its edges facing horizontally and vertically. Photo 16.
Photo
16
14. Place the smaller square on top of the larger one in the shape of a diamond. This will hide the raw edges of the larger square. Catch the middle with a few stitches. (You can slip stitch the edges of the smaller square to the bigger one if you wish, but I like it better without.) Photo 17.
Photo
17
15. To hide the centre stitches of the top square (diamond), stitch on a button, a few beads or a small motif. Photo 18.
Photo 18
You now are the proud owner of a Fancy Fandango. Well done!
16. Make another fandango. Place them side by side and slip stitch along one edge. Photo 19.
Photo
19
17. Open out and insert a piece of felt slightly smaller than the width and length of the stitched-together Fandangos. (I haven't given dimensions here as you may wish to use different sized squares from mine.) Slip stitch them in place to hide the stitching on the back of the Fandangos. Add another piece of felt the same size as the first one and stitch it down across the middle of the needlecase to add a couple of extra “pages” to your booklet. You can add as many "pages" as you want. I just put in one.
18. Use a permanent marker to “label” the pages so that needles always get returned to the right place. Photos 20 & 21.
Photo
20
Photo
21
19. Enjoy, Jan.
If you get problems with my instructions, you can always click and send me an email.
Credit goes to the author of 'Tucked Up in Bed', Jennie Rayment for this design.
http://www.jennierayment.com/ Back to top of page