CRAFTable

Cats are well-known for their curiosity, but giraffes? This pretty, prancing giraffe certainly has an inquisitive side to her nature, although she can be a bit jumpy and bound off if things go horribly wrong as a consequence of her investigations. Simple gathering is used to good effect here in creating Gerbera's frilly mane and attractively shaped ears. She may be spotted like her wild cousins, but her cover is easily blown with her coat of a heady mix of bright colours and patterns.

Eddie the Elephant is a gentle giant. He has big flapping ears to hear even the tiniest of sounds, but that doesn't stop him from getting scared. The naughty little mice always try to make him jump, and when an elephant jumps, everyone knows! Eddie's ears and feet are lined with pretty scraps of fabric, and his tail is made from a crocheted chain. Purl ridges make the wrinkles in his trunk.

Red and white samplers have been popular throughout sampler history, sometimes used to practise marking linen for future seamstresses and sometimes purely for decoration. Helen Philipps' own red and white home sampler is a more contemporary take on the Antique French style, with ultra-white linen, a white frame and buttons. It has a contemporary look but the old French influences are still there.

These cute cookie-shaped toys make lovely decorations for the kitchen at any time of year. You could make Mr and Mrs Gingerbread, as shown here, or make a whole family and decorate each one in a slightly different way by using a variety of ribbons and other embellishments. You could also make padded gingerbread hearts and stars from the same linen to match the gingerbread family.

These flower corsages are a novel and attractive way to make use of your favourite fabric scraps. Color-wise, the sky is the limit.From pretty florals and funky retros to winter wools and velvets, you could make a corsage to coordinate with every outfit. These corsages look fantastic pinned on to a jacket, but they could also jazz up a hat or a bag. Have fun embellishing with buttons, beads or stitch details to create a huge variety of different effects!