Tis the season for strawberries...
I've noticed there is a lot of jam making happening in Blogland lately, plus with Wimbledon also on, and so thought this tutorial for a really easy jar jar topper might be useful, if you have jam left over you'd like to give as a gift.
To make one for strawberry jam (the pattern can be easily adapted for other fruit), you will need - a jam jar with lid (mine is 8.5 cm across, and notice, once again for the purposes of photography, I have 'stunt' jam, not homemade!), a circle of felt measuring 16cm across (you will need a larger piece if your jam jar is larger than mine), two pieces of red felt 2.5cm x 4.5cm, another piece of red felt cut into a strawberry shape about 3cm tall, a small amount of green felt for leaves, about 58cm of narrow ribbon, some red, green and yellow embroidery thread (I've used pearl cotton 8), a small amount of stuffing, pencil, pins, sewing needle and some scissors.
First, scallop around the edge of the large felt circle, I just used normal scissors for this and did it freehand, but if you have some scalloped edge scissors, you could use those.
Then, place the jam jar lid centrally, and draw round it with a pencil to mark its position. Thread the needle with the ribbon, weave it in and out all the way round, 1cm away from the drawn circle. You may need to poke a small hole with some sharp scissors first, just make sure that both ends of the ribbon come out on the top side of the topper so they can be tied in a bow.
Next, to make mini strawberries to decorate the ribbon with, fold the red rectangle in half, and sew down one of the open edges which is at a right angle to the fold. Trim the open side to a curve,turn the shape inside out so the seams are on the inside, fill with a little stuffing, then sew running stitch all the way round the open edge, and pull to gather.
Before you sew it up, poke in one end of the ribbon, then secure the top with a few stitches.
Next, decorate the strawberry with a few yellow french knots, cut 4 small leaf shapes out of the green felt, and sew them to the top with the green thread. Repeat, for the second strawberry.
Place the topper on the jam jar, and gather the ribbon, then pin the felt strawberry shape centrally to the top. Applique it on by sewing blanket stitch around the edge, leave a small gap at the top, fill with a little stuffing, continue stitching to close it up.
Again, decorate the strawberry with some yellow french knots and add some more green felt leaves. Then pop your topper back on your jam jar and tie the ribbon into a bow. The good thing about making this in felt, is felt is quite forgiving, it is really easy to sew with, doesn't fray, and has a little 'give' in it so will stretch to fit if it's a little tight.
There you go, all you need know are some scones, clotted cream and a pot of tea!