Christmas Trees

Hi Everyone

I’m back on my Christmas card project today. I didn’t get much done last Tuesday, so I need to come up with my samples today. I’ve been searching my stash (for suitable fabric) and have found trees from last years Christmas Makes which could work for the appliqué job. These trees, were part of a printing project and seem perfect for the appliqué job. The fabric was hand printed using acrylic paint (you can check out this project in my blog posts from December 2016) and the resulting fabric has a great stability which lends itself to machining. The plan is to sew the fabric shapes directly onto card, using my sewing machine. I’d like a range of small and larger cards and have ideas to link the cards - in design terms ? 

                      

I would also like to develop more tree shapes for the cards but these trees (in the photo) are a lovely shape. In addition to using fabric, I’m exploring felt and paper trees for the card range. I’ll bring the Collection together by using similar colours and stitching styles. I’m not sure exactly what I’ll come up with ? My design work will need a couple of days, so I’m extending this little project until the end of the week. 

The Collection will also include a range of gift tags, so I’m hoping to have some samples of all my experiments over the next few days. I’ll be back tomorrow with an update.

Thanks for calling in today.

Polymer Clay Day

Hi Everyone

I’m sharing the results of my Clay Day experiment from last week. The plan was to create some Polymer Clay beads (in red) using a mould from a previous project. I wanted to adapt the bead idea to have a flat back. The original project sandwiched two moulded pieces together. The flat back idea is a way of making the bead  smaller and potentially easier to wear for an everyday piece of jewellery. Here’s a quick look at the process of producing beads, so far :

                               

I used a simple round cutter to create a flat back for the beads (bottom right).Before  sandwiching the moulded half with the flat half, I placed a small stick over the flat half to create a channel for threading. I placed the moulded half on top of the flat black and used the cutter to ensure both sides are equal in size and shape. The beads are now cured (baked) and polished and ready for threading. 

My issue now, is to decide if I need some kind of spacer bead. I want the beads to have a beautiful, neat opening to the threading channel. I’ve used a shaped reamer to give such a neat hole but I’m still wondering if a spacer bead is needed ? If I go for a spacer bead, should I use the same colour clay or does it need a silver, flat spacer bead ? Not sure what to do ? There are so many options. 

My plan today, is to make some more small, red clay beads, to act as spacers and try them out. I’ll also try a few silver spacer beads and decide. Come back next week to check out my decision.

Thanks for calling in today.

Fibre Friday News

Hi Everyone

I seem to have been working on fibre stuff all week but I don’t have too much to report ? I do have a finished crochet object - a little Snowman bag/tree hanger. This item featured in our latest Making Working and has been quite a success with our Makers. It’s a very simple but cute little project and has got us into the very early Christmas preparations. On the subject of crochet, I’ve not done too much more on the Hanabira (read back last Friday for more on this) - only a few rows, not worth a photo ! Im happy with the project and am ‘in’ for the long haul, so all is well.

Spinning has also been a bit limited this week. I’ve completed another couple of rolags for the ongoing large sweater spin. You can read back Fridays for more details of this project. I seem to have been spinning forever ! It’s a lovely spin but not hugely exciting. I do love the resulting yarn and it will make a lovely sweater (it’s not even for me !) - eventually. I will do a more detailed review of this project next time.  However, still with spinning,I’ve got lots of lovely fibre in my stash and am going to start another little project to keep me interested and excited about spinning. I will choose a couple of bats of Merino fibre and spin a few hanks for a cardigan. I have an idea of adding a section of hand spun on the bottom and on the sleeves of a simple cardigan design. The main part of this cardigan idea will use some hand dyed yarn, waiting for the job. More next week on this new project. The fibre I’ve chosen for the spin, is a lovely combination of green/blues with some mustard and white elements. Very excited to get this underway.

My main knitting project this week, has been the red Nuuk. I did make a couple of mistakes (very early in the knit) and needed to rip out, twice  ? - not sure exactly what happened there ?The pattern is great and the yarn (Dovestone DK) is lovely. I’m well on the way now. I want to make a few changes to the length of the sweater and some possible changes to the sleeve - not sure exactly as yet ? I’ll report on the results next time.

The other project in one of my bags is the Polworth Socks, my final item in the Blacker Yarns KAL. I’ve literally just ‘cast on’ so nothing much to show. Hopefully, there will be progress for next time. I’ll also collect all my Blacker Yarns KAL items together for a summary of my efforts. I will have four items in total.

In the meantime, here’s a quick look at the projects I’ve talked about today.

                 

Thanks for calling in today. Have a great weekend.

Silver Day

Hi Everyone

It’s Silver Day today and I’m working on a little Collection of earrings. Each pair will have a surface design stamped or created onto the surface of a square or circle, in various sizes.

My inspiration is a current pair of silver earrings. However, this time, I’m going for a shiney, bright silver finish rather than the oxidised finish in my photo.

                           

I’m creating the main part of the earrings from Art Clay in silver and am not sure how many pieces I will get from my last small packet of clay ? I want to try for eight pairs, I’m hopeful I can produce this number of individual pieces. I will make the ear wires from Sterling Silver wire - which I will soldier onto the fired shapes.

I’m hoping to go for a completely new surface design. I like the idea of very simple lines and circle shapes at the moment but who knows what will happen ? I’ll share my earrings when they are ready. When I use Art Clay, I like to leave the final prepared items overnight - for drying before firing so it will be a few days before I have anything to show.

Thanks for calling in today.

Wardrobe Architect Responce

Hi Everyone

Today, I want to talk about something called Wardrobe Architect. This is an experiment which started in 2014 by Collete (the sewing pattern team). The Collete team talk about having a goal of ‘reviving the art of sewing’. I love this idea. Collete have been producing sewing patterns in both booklet and PDF form since 2009 and the Wardrobe Architect initiative has been going since 2014. It’s an amazing experiment for developing a ‘pared down’ and very personal collection of clothing, reflecting how better decisions can be made about what to buy and make in terms of fashion and personal choices. To read from the beginning, start here.

I’ve been reading about all this for some time and am hugely inspired and attracted to the idea of Wardrobe Architect. I’ve not really done very much about it (practically) but momentum is building and I’m starting to think about how to start. My own personal wardrobe is chaotic and unmanageable - literally, I don’t have enough space to keep all my clothes. Like most people, I probably use a very small proportion of them. I would like to be in a position to have a core selection of clothes which I like and which suit me. I’d also like to start to fill gaps or develop new styles by making my own clothing. 

The Collete blog has lots of exercises to try and work out what personal style is and how to interpret a range of information which allows this idea of personal choices to develop. Defining a core style with specific shapes and silhouettes, colours etc is central to the idea.

There are also lots of resources, downloadable sheets for instance which give a practical direction, to move through planning a personal Wardrobe. However, I have a wonderful resource of my own, a birthday gift from a lovely friend - from last year. This is a notebook from Merchant Mills- ready and waiting for my take on Wardrobe Architect. At the moment, I’m using my workbook for filing sewing ideas but I want to make it central to my own Wardrobe Architect response.

                   

I’ve dabbled over the last few years with the Collete Wardrobe Architect process but I’m going to start again, from the beginning and use my Merchant Mills book to record progress. I want this little project to become a pleasure and work towards getting my sewing on track. I have aspirations to make a pair of jeans and a coat this year (by November 2018) - hopefully these two items, amongst others will form part of my core Wardrobe.

Thanks for calling in today.