And then this happened outside my window…

Which makes it less of a Wollaton Park day and more of a hot tea and muffins, soup and catching up with your blog day!

So, 2010 has brought craftiness into my family. Last month I had a lovely day with my 3 nieces showing them how to crochet, embroider and do a spot of French knitting too! I wish I had some photos of the things they made. I was so proud to see them crocheting colourful granny squares and stitch pretty embroideries. They picked it up much quicker than I did and they tell me they’re now completely addicted!

I made some handmade family gifts too. A Frankenstein’s Monster cushion for my nephew, just to show him we didn’t forget about him on our girlie crafting day, and a felt brooch for my mum. For some reason I didn’t take photos of those either. What was I thinking?

I do, however, have photos of the gifts I made for my big sister for her birthday. Patchwork cushions to match her bedroom with dragonfly embroideries. Dragonflies are her favourite.

Bedroom slippers to match

And a case to keep them in

There’s nothing nicer than sharing your craft love. Who do you share yours with?

I still have lots of good intentions for 2010, to keep learning techniques and finding out about textiles, colours and tools of the trade. Despite my hectic life this blog has been quiet recently, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t found time for some creativity.

Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show

Back in November the Textile Workshop organised a trip to the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show. Of course the Stitched Up ladies were there and we had a great time admiring the stunning artwork.

I bought a few lovely things too, including some 1970s braid, vintage embroidery transfers, a few pieces of beautiful fabric (hopefully) destined to become skirts and not forgetting the amazing giant ric rac!

I’d never been to the Harrogate International Centre before so it was a surprise to stumble across its Royal Hall. A beautiful theatre built in 1903, still shining and glittering from floor to ceiling.

Discovering BurdaStyle

This was quite a biggie! The first thing I thought when I visited the BurdaStyle website was “why on earth haven’t I been here before?”. If like me you’re a bit slow off the mark and haven’t enjoyed BurdaStyle yet then go (www.burdastyle.com).

As they say, its ‘for people who sew‘. This site is for dressmakers and crafters of all abilities, where patterns are labelled from ‘novice’ to ‘amateur’. There’s way too much to say about BurdaStyle here so all I am going to say is that if you want to be inspired and whipped up into a sewing frenzy then that’s the place to go!

The Great Craft Room Clear Out

OK, so a clear out might not be strictly creative but it is absolutely necessary for me to have a clear brain. The craft room clear out was part of a bigger wave which started with us emptying the loft for new insulation and has carried on with a major tidy up of every room in the house. For me it’s better than therapy and along the way I found some things I’ll treasure for many more years to come.

My first (and very tiny) ballet slippers.

Birthday cards from when I was little and my very first ‘aunty’ card from my baby nephew.

Christmas Crafts

I have to admit I’m usually a bit grumpy at Christmas, this tends to be because I just don’t have the extra time it requires to fit everything in – but then who does?! This year though I decided I was going to make the effort to enjoy the build up, rather than treat it as a chore, by incorporating a little craft along the way.

For my close family I made little felt tree decoration Christmas cards. I was too rushed to take photos before I sent them but they were snowmen, gingerbread men and baby deer, a bit like this one.

A few prezzies were hand made too, including a cotton apron for my great aunty, a crochet scarf for the lovely Hannah and a zip up purse for a welcomed home friend. I even did a bit of baking, which is unheard of, for my Dad and Norman (a very special fella). Plus this giant granny square blanket for my husband’s Nana. I never knew I could crochet so fast!

I have to say that making these things didn’t ease the pressure of Christmas preparations at all but it did make it much mure fun.

Having lovely, thoughtful friends and family I was lucky enough to receive some truly beautiful handmade and crafty gifts:

This absolutely gorgeous patchwork quilt made from vintage 1970s fabric by the very talented Claire was such a fantastic surprise! Claire is one very busy lady and so I’m even more grateful that she found the time to make this for me.

Hannah knows me very well, spoiling me with more wonderful vintage goodies, including crafty books, the cutest bunny jelly mould and this adorable hand mirror which I love (I’ve been drooling over vintage hand mirrors for ages). It’s a bit like she read my mind too with the vintage Christmas card holders!

My youngest neice gave me the sweetest sewing box which will be ideal for taking to sewing class and craft group and my in-laws treated me to books on dress making techniques and patterns, exactly what I need.

I know I’m a very fortunate girl indeed and I don’t take that lightly! Thank you everyone!!!!

How about you? What have you been doing these past couple of snowy months?

I’m sitting Claire’s weekly evening course ‘Making Things from Vintage Patterns’ at the Textile Workshop. The first thing we made was this 1950′s domestic goddess apron. The fabric for mine came from a really pretty duvet cover I bought in a charity shop ages ago.

Then yesterday Claire and I sat Hannah’s one day vintage slippers class. How sweet are these? They’re from a 1940s pattern and will make a great gift so I can’t wait to get on with my next pair.

I really want to do some dressmaking for the next few weeks of the course so I have bought two dress patterns and one smock top one, 1970s of course. I’ll let you know how they go.

Finally, yesterday we made this Halloween lantern from a home grown pumpkin. We liked the way that he looks too happy to be evil…

Although I’m not a complete beginner I thought this course would be useful to make sure I have the basics down before I move forward. Indeed it was useful.

It felt like I discovered things I never knew my machine could do! I even felt a little bit guilty for not having let my machine live out its full potential.

If you’re a self-taught sewing machine user like me I would definitely recommend a class like this. Its those extra pieces of knowledge you learn in a class that make all the difference.

Although I knew how to set up and thread my machine I wasn’t sure how to recognise if the tension wasn’t right and how to adjust it. Nor did I know what type of stitch to use for which type of fabric or job… Now I do.

Although my machine came with various attachments and feet, I didn’t know what they were and when to use them. Now I do.

I didn’t know what it was like to ditch the feed dogs and go freestyle, to applique curved shapes and use the machine to embroider in all directions on fabric and paper. Now I do.

At the end of the course we were given the opportunity to use our new skills and make something. Of course, I made a bunny, my first ever soft toy.

This beginners sewing machine course was lead by Claire from Pinky and Boo for the Textile Workshop. You can find dates for sewing and other craft courses on both websites:
www.pinkyandboo.co.uk
www.thetextileworkshop.co.uk

In my last post I talked about the patchwork quilt project for the Fourth Plinth living monument. Well, here’s my patchwork square and a little explanation for my message from the plinth…

The butterfly effect is a simple phrase to describe a more complex part of chaos theory. Basically the idea is that something as tiny as the flutter of a butterfly wing can cause a major and seemingly unrelated event later.

I think our actions are like the butterfly effect. Everything we do has a knock-on to something else and most of the time we will not even know what that is. So, it’s important to try to be aware of the possible consequences of our actions and aim to make them as positive as we can.

This is why my message from the plinth is “our actions have an effect” and the motif of my patchwork square is the butterfly.

Because the patchwork quilt is about celebrating women I’ve used traditionally feminine prints and colours and added the flower which holds the initials of all of the girls and women in my immediate family.

Don’t forget to see the patchwork quilt displayed on the plinth on 12th August at the One and Other website.

Don’t ask why. I had planned to alter some clothes after the great wardrobe cull last weekend but all I wanted to do was make a bed for Murphy, our house rabbit.

No newly-learned skill went into this project, just machine and hand sewing and a smidgen of embroidery. The little appliqued bunnies are, however,  ‘Ecospun’ felt which is made from recycled plastic bottles. I bought mine from an online shop called Craft Felt UK but unfortunately this no longer seems to exist and I can’t find any other shops that sell the eco felt here in the UK. A quick search on Google gives results for shops in the US though so all is not lost. It seems our crafty friends in the States are putting us to shame when it comes to green fabrics.

Anyway, here are some cute pics of Murphy with his new bed just for the hell of it….

My dressmaking was interrupted with a very welcome interlude of a stroll to the park with my husband and then a mosey down the pub for lunch and a beer or two. I’m not sure if it was a good idea to operate the sewing machine after that but things seemed to turn out OK.

I was particularly pleased that I managed to make French seams which are good for delicate and lightweight fabric like this. They make the finished garment feel stronger and prevent fraying because there are no raw edges exposed. I’ve added a video tutorial to the resources page (under ‘dressmaking’) on how to do French seams in case you’re not already in the know.

I also love these little flower buttons which really go with the colour and style of this fabric. I bought these at a fantastic craft fayre in Brinsley a year or two ago. I wish those craft fayres could happen all the time.

Although I’m happy with my new cute top I’ve learned that I’m not yet ready to cut my own patterns as the shape is far from perfect. That’s OK though because I’ve lined up a whole load of patterns to watch in eBay ready for the snipe!

By the way, did you notice that my little ole blog has had a makeover? You like?

Before I was made aware of a fantastic way to tackle this puzzle I literally used to dream about how to solve it (yeah, I do sweat the small stuff). I just couldn’t picture how I could have both zips and linings using the ways that I knew to add them separately. Well there is, in fact, a very nifty way to do it.

Although this is a technique I learned a little while ago I think it is a really important one to share because I’m sure it will help me work my way around other zip or lining related challenges in future.

I can’t take the credit for this, it was actually brought to my attention by Claire and originally came from a tutorial by Heather from Heather Hales Designs.

Like Heather I swap bags all the time and as a result have to change over my diary, lip balm, hair brush, pen and other rubbish that ladies keep in their handbags. So it is useful to have a little purse to keep these things together and throw into to the bag of the day. I actually needed to make a few of these handy zippy purses so I did them all in one go today.

The one with the scary looking lady on the front was the first embroidery I ever did so I have a bit of a soft spot for her. Rather than waste her I thought I’d use her to decorate one of the purses. The matryoshka doll fabric was given to me by Pamela, my friend and one of our Stitched Up ladies, because she knows how much I love them. Isn’t it pretty? I can’t remember where I got the William-Morris-on-acid print fabric but its been shouting for attention for ages.

Here’s a very brief step by step on how to do it but for full details and a much better explanation check out Heather’s tutorial.

1. Cut 4 pieces of fabric all the same size (depending on how big you want your purse to be). Two pieces will be for the lining and two for the outside. I used the same fabric  for the outside and the lining. Fold over about a centimetre at the top of each of your fabric squares / rectangles and press.

2. Place the a lining and outside piece at the top and bottom of one side of the zip and pin them into place. They need to be wrong sides together.

3. Use your zipper foot and sew each side of the zip to the fabric.

4. Place the outside pieces and lining pieces together and sew all the way around the outside of the fabric. Leave a hole in the lining which will be big enough to allow you to turn the whole thing inside out. Do this with the zip half open.

5. Pull all of the fabric through the hole that you left in the lining and then sew that up. Hey presto! You have a purse with a zip and a lining – best of both worlds!

Excuse the pose. I didn’t think it would look the same hung on a coat hanger.