Hardy - Sewing in No Time: 50 step-by-step weekend projects made easy

For a quick-and-easy way to bring pattern into a room without completely redecorating, why not make this pretty fireside rug? Made from vintage-style, floral fabric edged with a ruffled border that picks up one of the colours in the main fabric, it is as decorative as it is useful. A wide velvet ribbon in a contrast colour provides a lovely finishing touch. Choose a heavyweight furnishing fabric that will withstand a bit of wear and tear.

• 50 cm/20 in. plain fabric for the frill
• 1 m/40 in. heavyweight floral cotton or furnishing fabric
• 1.5 m/60 in. velvet ribbon
• Sewing machine
• Needle and matching sewing thread

Take 1.5-cm/-in. seam allowances throughout unless otherwise stated.

2 hours

1. Cut two 15 x 150-cm/6 x 59-in. strips of plain fabric for the frill. With right sides together, fold in half lengthways and machine stitch along both short ends. Turn right side out and press. Work a line of running stitches about 1 cm/ in. from the raw edge along the whole length. Pull the thread to gather the fabric so that the frill is 54 cm/21 in. long. Secure with a few stitches at the end.

2. Cut two 57 x 75-cm/22 x 29-in. rectangles of floral fabric and two 60-cm/23-in. lengths of velvet ribbon. Pin and machine stitch one ribbon onto each short end of one of the floral pieces 5 cm/2 in. from the edge.

3. With right sides together, aligning the raw edges, lay one frill along each short end of the floral fabric to which you stitched the ribbon. Pin and tack in place.

4. With right sides together, lay the other floral piece on top. Pin and machine stitch all the way around, leaving a 20-cm/8-in. opening along one long side. Trim the corners, turn right side out and press. Hand stitch the opening closed. Top stitch all the way around the rug 1 cm/ in. from the edge.

This is the perfect way to transform a plain, shop-bought lampshade; the same technique can be used on shades of any shape or size. Just gather up ribbon with a simple running stitch and finish with a thin ribbon or braid around the middle.

• Small square lampshade
• Enough 22-mm-/1-in.-wide ribbon to go roughly six times around the base of your lampshade
• Needle and thread
• Sewing machine and matching sewing thread
• Enough narrow ribbon to go around the top and base of your lampshade
• Fast-drying craft glue

1 hour

1. Work a line of running stitch along the centre of the wide ribbon and pull the thread to gather the ribbon. Check that the gathered ribbon fits neatly around the base of your lampshade, then finish with a few small stitches at the end to hold the ruffles in place.

2. Arrange the ruffles evenly along the length of the ribbon and machine stitch along the centre of the ribbon.

3. Pin and machine stitch a length of narrow ribbon over the stitching on the ruffled ribbon.

4. Glue the ruffled ribbon around the bottom of the lampshade, overlapping the ends neatly to finish. Glue narrow ribbon around the top of the lampshade, starting and finishing at the same spot as the bottom ruffle.

Liven up a plain curtain with patterned borders and braids or use this method to lengthen existing curtains to fit a new window. Choose fabrics with similar colours, mixing spots, stripes and florals, and add ricrac braid and ribbon for extra decoration.

• Spotted fabric
• 50 cm/20 in. striped fabric
• 50 cm/20 in. floral fabric
• Sewing machine and matching thread
• Two lengths of braid
• One length of jumbo ricrac braid
• Curtain lining fabric
• Curtain heading tape

Take 1.5-cm/-in. seam allowances throughout unless otherwise stated.

3 hours

1. Cut a piece of spotted fabric to the required size. Cut a piece of striped fabric 26 cm/10 in. deep and a piece of floral fabric 29 cm/11 in. deep; both pieces should be the same width as the spotted fabric. With right sides together, pin and machine stitch the striped fabric to the bottom of the spotted fabric and the floral fabric to the bottom of the striped fabric. Press open the seams.

2. Pin and machine stitch one piece of braid over the join between the floral and striped fabrics. Pin and stitch the ricrac braid along the join between the striped and spotted fabrics. Lay the second piece of braid over half of the ricrac and stitch in place.

3. Cut a piece of lining fabric the same length as the curtain and 3 cm/1 in. narrower. With right sides together, pin and machine stitch the lining fabric to the curtain along both long sides. Turn right side out and press.

4. At the top of the curtain, turn over 1 cm/ in. to the wrong side. Turn over an additional 5 cm/2 in. and pin. Pin the curtain heading tape along this folded section and machine stitch in place. Hem the bottom of the curtain by folding over 1 cm/ in. and another 3 cm/1 in. and machine stitch in place.