Sunday 19 July 2015

Birthday Pattern Weights

For a while now, I've been meaning to make up some pattern weights using pyramids of fabric filled with a weighty material - many of these patterns suggest dried peas. I cut out my triangle template but somehow just didn't get around to it.

My husband suggested using lead shot, which would be suitably heavy, and I bought a packet of this in its own mesh container.
The lead shot mesh bag and a few pieces of lead shot together with tin

A few weeks ago, we were going around a local market. I was looking for some nice paperweights to use as pattern weights, instead. There were stalls with second hand goods, vintage goods and craft items. I didn't find any suitable paperweights at a price I was willing to pay.

The we came across a stall selling new vintage-type items. I rather admired some things on it, including some little circular tins.

DH bought me 6 of these. He wrapped lead shot in cling film and put a package in each tin, so that each tin was more or less full. Then he sealed each tin with glue around its rim.

Voila! Pattern weights.
The tins weight around 440g (just under a pound) each. They are 6.5cms in diameter (approx. 2.5 inches) and about 2.8cms in depth (approx. 1 and a 1/4 inches).
Each tin has a picture of a rose - 2 each of three designs.

One each of the three designs

They work fabulously well. They're just the right size to handle and sufficiently weighty (heavier than my Prym weights by quite a bit) so that I don't worry about them moving when I'm cutting out. I'm a bit fearful of scratching them and spoiling the rose picture so I'm thinking of making a nice soft container for them. In the meantime, they sit nicely along the top of my bookcase. These are not for taking to classes.

7 comments:

  1. What a lovely idea - these are very pretty. Mine are just common and garden curtain weights.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is brilliant and I am sure will work much better than dried peas. But I like the idea of pyramids!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. I still fancy making some pyramids, which would be better suited to carrying to class, though admittedly we can't use a rotary cutter there but can use these to hold paper still for pattern drafting and cutting.

      Delete
  3. Now, we can make own birthday beautiful from your idea's. Thank you. s, I am service provider of Air Conditioner Repair in Fort Worth TX. They can get more detail.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you for sharing interesting post with us. I learn more through this post. The commercial cleaning Dallas tx present the best quality work in a short time. Our professional team available at any time at any place.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You share the beautiful birthday weights. This post is very helpful for us. Thank you for sharing post. Further, The bail bonds services in Dallas TX deliver the best and reliable work.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog. Please leave a comment. I welcome each and every one. I value criticism (constructive of course! ), love hints and tips and would appreciate suggestions for future direction.

How Do You Read Blogs?

It's a while since I've posted a blog,  lots of reasons. I'm thinking of starting again. However,  I used to read the blogs I fo...