Mandy Shaw - Sew Birthday Fun: Beautiful Projects for Special Celebrations

If the great celebration ideas in this book and the beautiful photography have inspired you to get creative, but you are new to stitching, this chapter will give you all the advice you need to begin with confidence. There is helpful advice on choosing fabrics and threads, essential tips on working the appliqu designs, as well as hand embroidery stitch diagrams for both left- and right-handers. All the projects contain a variety of sewing techniques to teach you new skills and perhaps brush up on ones you already know.

The fabrics I have used for the projects in this book have a retro Fifties feel with lots of spots, checks and stripes. I used a colour palette of pastels and primary colours which, I hope you will agree, gives a fresh, bright look that will appeal to all ages.

If you are new to making things from fabric you are in for a great treat. You have so much to look forward to as you build your fabric collections, from sourcing fabric shops, to stashing your buys on little shelves or in a special drawer. I love to work with 100% cotton to give a clean, crisp textured look to my makes. It is advisable to wash and press your fabrics before you sew in case the colour runs. Fabrics are often treated with a sort of starch dressing to make them easier to sew; after washing and drying, you may find that giving your fabrics a little spray starch will aid sewing.

I adore working with felt as it does not fray; it is lovely to sew, and especially to blanket stitch. There are various qualities of felt, which perform differently with wear; always buy felt that has a percentage of wool in it the higher the better as this will help to prevent the felts surface from going bobbly over time.

Vintage fabrics are a favourite of mine embroidered cloths, lace hankies, cotton monogrammed linens and similar treasures can be sourced from internet auctions, car boot sales and secondhand shops; you never know what you will discover.

As the projects call for different styles of stitching, I have used different types of embroidery thread. Stranded cotton (floss) is good for fine work but can be used to embroider thicker lines too, while coton broder is sometimes too thick for the detailed work required on some projects, so mix and match as you choose.

A favourite of mine, this single strand thread has a matt finish. It is available in different widths in several colours. I prefer No.16 which is quite thick and ideal for blanket stitching, outlining, backstitching, and quilting. Although shops rarely stock the whole range, they can be ordered.

This is available in skeins consisting of six strands which can be pulled out individually for use. It is most usual to use two strands in the needle, but for fine detail use just one, and for a chunkier stitching line use three or more.

This is a machine sewing thread that looks like wool and sews up a treat to give a hand blanket stitch appearance. You will need to use a larger size 16/100 needle; make sure you use a good-quality one as cheaper needles may have burrs that will shred the thread. For the bobbin thread, use an ordinary thread. Maderia Lana can also be used to hand quilt and embroider, and you will need to use a large-eyed, good-quality needle.

When making up your projects, always use a good-quality sewing thread in a colour to match your chosen fabrics.

Invest in a pack of good-quality mixed embroidery needles. These have large eyes and are very sharp, piercing the fabric and allowing the thread to be pulled through with very little friction. How do you know what size needle to use? If after three attempts the needle wont thread, change to one with a larger hole. My personal favourites are sashiko needles size 12.

Appliqu takes its name from the French verb appliquer, meaning to apply. The technique involves cutting fabric to shape and attaching it to a background fabric to create a surface decoration. The fabric shapes are held in position with fusible webbing and secured and embellished with hand or machine stitching.

Fusible webbing is an iron-on fabric adhesive that can be purchased in a roll or in pre-cut pieces and it looks like paper. One side is paper-backed and can be drawn on (so you can trace the motif you want) and the other has a thin membrane of glue that melts when heated by an iron to attach it to fabric. It is easy to use if you follow these simple step-by-step instructions.

1. Trace the motif you want onto the paper (smooth) side of the fusible webbing. Cut roughly around the drawn motif rather than following the drawn line accurately at this stage.

2. Iron the fusible webbing onto the wrong side of the appliqu fabric making sure that the fusible webbing is glue (rough) side down. The glue on the back of the fusible webbing melts when heated so be very careful to iron the paper side or else it will stick to your iron.

3. Once the fusible webbing has been attached to the appliqu fabric you can cut out the motif accurately on the drawn line.

4. Carefully peel off the backing paper and position the appliqu motif onto the fabric it is to be applied to. Iron to fix in place.

5. Always cover the edge of the appliqu with a stitch to seal the edges. This can either be done by hand or by machine.

Many templates provided for the project appliqus are drawn in reverse (like the robin from the Christmas Pennant) so that they will be the right way round when you come to fuse and sew them.

• Use sharp fine scissors to cut out your appliqu shapes to give you a clean cut edge to sew over.