Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Saving money on this project

Now, I have enjoyed making this project and have had a few comments (not posted) about the cost of it. All up this has cost me in the ball park of $100, more if I had used 'proper' batting.

So, everything I purchased from Spotlight with my 'VIP' card, not sure what that entitled me to as I had the wrong card and someone else has been swanning around with my card and benefitting from my spending! Anyway, we sorted that out on Sunday...

The felt was about $13 a metre. If you are looking to save some $'s I would cut the numbers out of the larger square and cover the cut out with the smaller square, so you have the same colour number as you do large square, or if you are going to make more than one, keep the numbers and sew the cutout as the number (so the reverse of the number is that makes sense?). Or you could use plain fabric in 3 colours...

The fabric for the top and the bottom, you need about 3m. If you are savvy and good with mixing and matching you could go through the remnents bin and see if you could muster up 6m of oddments, if you are going to mix and match and do panels as I have done then you would need 35cm as a minimum (x 6) and 40cm x2 (for numbers 1 and 10) and make sure everything is the same width! then 2.5m total or there abouts for the backing.

Batting - this is the most expensive part of this project by far! I had thought of using polar fleece but as Amelia's fabric is so pale it was going to have to be white and of course that was one that wasn't marked down... So, Spotlight do a bamboo batting that is $15.99/m and it is about 2.4m wide. I purchased 2m of this and cut it in half for the 2 hopscotches. They won't be as nicely padded as the one in the magazine but it is about practicality not looks as far as I am concerned!

If you are giving the hopscotch as a gift make sure the recipient knows the washing instructions of the batting. You don't want it going in the drier and being ruined. Actually, with the felt on the front you wouldn't want it anywhere near a clothes drier! Handwash only! An old bath sheet or several towels might work just as well but would add to the weight and the wetness but it was something I thought of.

Look, maybe this isn't the done thing to do but in these economic times and handmade gifts being the choice for a lot of people I would rather put these out there than keep them to myself.
The finished Hopscotch in Homesewn is divine and if you stick to the pattern you should get a similar result. There are no rules that say you HAVE to use the materials suggested, jus tlike there are no rules that say you should take my suggestions on board!

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