Getting fobbed off! - a giveaway

It was a good friend's birthday recently, and although I was unable to send Kat a knitted gift, I did manage to sew a little 'something' for her. When I was at Fibre East, I bought a cute sheepy scissor fob which I have attached to my sewing scissors. Kat has recently started quilting again, so I thought a scissor fob might be a fun gift for her. I rummaged through my scraps of fabric and found the perfect piece - a comical sheep. In no time at all, I had a finished scissor fob. I had some scissors in my gift box and I added some pins to the pin cushion. Quick and simple! See for yourself!

Scissor fobs today are more of a decorative item, used to personalise a pair of scissors and make them identifiable. I've attached my fob to my sewing scissors to make sure that they don't get used for cutting anything else apart from fabric. Also, if I'm using them sat on the sofa, they can't slip down the side so easily. In the 18th century, because clothes didn't really have pockets, ladies used to have chatelaines to carry some of their most  frequently used items such as scissors, keys, thimbles, watch etc, suspended on a chain or cord from their waistband. 

Scissor fobs are so simple to make, you can easily make one for yourself if you'd like to. You'll need two pieces of fabric measuring 11cm by 8cm, preferably one patterned and the other plain. 

With wrong sides together, sew around the edges, allowing a 1cm seam, and leaving a 3.5cm opening either side of one corner. (You'll need to do this to turn it the right way round and add stuffing later.) I stitched one stitch diagonally on each corner to help with the shape when turned the right way. You can see from the photo below. Trim the corners off so that there's less bulk to deal with.

Turn the fob the right way out and press, folding over the corner seam where the ribbon or tape will be attached after stuffing. Push a pen lid into each corner to ease it out. Fill it with toy stuffing until it's quite firm, especially if you are going to be using it for pins too. Then it's time to attach the ribbon or tape. I found some fun tape with a tape measure printed on it - I thought this might be useful as an emergency measure! Allow about 30cm to attach to the fob. It's a little bit fiddly here as you need to tuck the ends inside the fob, between the front and back fabrics, and sew a seam close to the edge. It sounds a lot more complicated than it is, honestly! I made these in less than an hour! 

I made this one especially for a zombie-loving friend; I thought she'd laugh having to stick pins into the little zombie on the pin cushion!

I'd love it if you had a go at  making one for your scissors. But if it all seems like too much, I'm offering you the chance to win one in a little giveaway. It'll be my blog's 7th birthday (Really?! Have I been blogging that long?!) while we are away, so to be in with a chance of winning, all you have to do is tell me what your favourite celebratory cake is and which of the scissor fobs you'd like if your name is first out of the hat. You have until the end of August to leave a comment. It's open to everyone, wherever you live. I look forward to drooling over your cake choices. (Mine is carrot cake by the way!) xxx