Buzz off flies! Patched fruit bowl cover.

I hate flies. I suspect that I am not alone in this and I was so sure that when I left Australia and came to live in England that I would be fly free - well less flies anyway. But no, they live here too and they sit on the fruit in the fruit bowl and just look sickening.

Rant over and thank you for listening! Now I am not someone who just whines, I like to do something about the problems that I have and here is today's big solution. This is a patched and pretty fruit bowl cover with....wait for it....beaded weights on the corners so the little critters cannot get under! How exciting!

Okay, let's get on with it. Firstly, choose your weapons! I have gone with a retro cherry print with some green flourishy-floral and on the reverse, a red and white polka dot print so that my critter cover is reversible. What do you think...

As you can see I have also chosen some larger beads in coordinating colours and I have some special beading cotton too. This is extra strong and you can attach it easily to the fabric cloth.
I threw in some clear crystals and a couple of bead caps. We may not use everything but you get the idea.

Here is the cloth spread out. You can see what we are making in this photo.

This make is built on an economy patch which is a square en pointe surrounded by triangles and a sash border of red and white polka dot fabric. Super simple and great for triangle practice. Here is the economy patch block on its own as it looks when it is sewn up...

Start with a square (cherry fabric) which measures 11.5cm sq. then cut another square (green fabric) which measures 13.5cm sq. 

Cut the green square into quarters diagonally.

Now sew the triangles to the square - first north and south...

And then east and west to complete the patch. Next, we add the sashing. Don't worry about the length of this, just pay attention to the width and then trim the excess off. Cut a strip of sashing which measures 5cm wide. Sew it to the top (north) and the bottom (south) of the block and then trim the length.....

Now finish with the other two sides and trim. It must be noted at this point that this little cover fits a small to medium fruit bowl. If you want it larger, simply increase all of the measurements until you have what you need.

Now place your finished, ironed top onto the backing fabric (right sides together) and sew all around the perimeter, leaving a small gap for turning out. Turn out through the gap and slip stitch closed. topstitch around the edge by hand or machine.

Finally, it is time to make the corner beaded weights. Thread a suitable needle with beading thread. You can use a 'proper' beading needle or a normal one with a very small eye. Firstly, anchor the thread at the corner of the cloth with the end in the cloth itself.

Take a look at your bead selection and decide how they might look nice. String them onto the the thread in reverse order keeping the larger ones at the bottom. I have added a tiny spacer to the end before drawing the thread back up through the beads and securing it on the corner of the cloth with very tiny stitches. Repeat for the other corners. Here is my bead charm up close...

That's all there is to it really. These are about making your life prettier. Of course you can cover a fruit bowl with paper but who wants to? This cloth takes next to no fabric (so it is very suitable for scraps) and it is quick to make. I have several fruit bowls in my house so I will add to my collection and even make them different colours for other seasons.
This is made of cloth so it can breathe but you could consider using some oilcoth on the back so that they fruit cannot stain. You can buy products online to turn any cloth into oilcloth with the touch of a hot iron so time to explore

Now I look around, there isn't a fly in sight! Oh well, roll on next summer!

Here is the cloth doing its job anyway.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope that you enjoyed this little make
Hugs and kisses
Debs
xxx