House Sewing

Hi Everyone 

I’m sharing a little project for my newly decorated (only downstairs to date) house today. I’m not completely finished decorating but it’s time to start with the final soft furnishing bit (downstairs). I’m much more enthusiastic about this part of the process. Painting walls and woodwork is not exactly my favourite thing ! However, I’m very happy about the results and the difference in the house. I have upstairs to tackle but I want downstairs to be completed, first.

So, back to my Make for today. It’s a large cushion cover. 

               

I have lots of new cushion covers, some have been bought but I’m also making others. The large covers have been made from a throw which I already had. I’ve purchased some pompom trim in a soft grey colour and it’s a great contrast with the ginger shades of the throw. I love the result. I have one more cushion to sew up, using the same fabric. I’ve prepped the second cushion and it’s ready to go. Each edge of the fabric has been sewn with my Overlocker, to seal the fabric first. Sewing the trim in place is slightly tricky, I wanted the little pom-poms to be visible without the actual tape showing on the edge of the cover. I’ve probably over prepared by basting each stage in place and sewing each edge separately. It’s very easy to catch the pom-poms as they are sandwiched between the fabric pieces. I’m checking and removing any sections which are not perfect. I’ve only needed to resew a very small section - all is well.

Thanks for calling in today.

 Have a great weekend. I’ll be back on Monday with more Making stories.

Silver Sample

Hi Everyone 

I have a new Silver Sample to share today, this time it’s a ring. I was inspired to make this ring by a Pinterest image and it’s been in my head for quite some time. I experienced a few issues with my solder points but eventually, I worked it out.

                 

I used a combination of 3mm and 2 mm Sterling Silver wire for my ring. The main part of the band is 3mm wire and the two top rings use 2mm wire. I love the result. The ring is comfortable to wear and sits nicely on my middle finger. It’s a statement piece and not for everyone but I like big rings and I’m going to enjoy wearing this one. I just need to polish my ring and am hoping to do this, later today.

Although, the ring looks very simple, I needed to shape the band to accommodate the placing of the two separate rings on my finger. The rings are different sizes and I wanted the smaller ring to sit on the top of my finger. It took quite a few attempts to shape all the elements in order to balance the design. I didn’t want the ring slipping around my ringer, often an issue with big rings. Hopefully, the positioning of the top ring components will keep the whole piece in place - as I go about my business.

Thanks for calling in today.

Room Art

Hi Everyone 

I’ve been spending a little bit of time printing with my Gelli plates. I’ve had a lovely few hours, just messing about with paint. It’s a very long time since Ive done this and I’m definitely going to keep going - so uplifting with a little bit of frustration mixed in ! The inspiration for starting my experiments with paint (last week) was a need for some new bits of Art for my newly painted lounge. I hesitate to use the term Art, it sounds rather pretentious. However, I’m hoping I can use my Art prints to pull together new colours and textures in the room. The term Room Art is perhaps more appropriate ? My view is that I can’t buy what I need so I’m Making it. I’m using the prints to bring a little interest to the walls and will keep changing them until they work in the room. I’m not precious about the prints, if they work in terms of colours and textures, they will stay for a while. 

Here’s a quick look at the first batch of prints before going into their frames :

           

I’ve used acrylic paints, printing blocks and stencil masks in the prints. I have another batch of prints underway - I’m going to brighten up the colour range, more yellows and oranges. My aim is to create lots of layers, developing depth and bringing a ‘light and dark’ thing to the images. 

I have a number of traditional frames to fill but I also have a few large canvases. I have an idea to create an abstract street of houses using my prints ? This may or may not work - hopefully, I’ll know by the end of the week. I’m not totally sure how a I will do this but I’m keen to test out some ideas.  I’ll share the final pieces when a I have them. This house idea cam from a recent Gelliarts video blog post, it’s a fabulous idea and I’ll be creating some of the individual houses for another wall feature, check out the video Gelliarts video here. I’ll be using my own colour palette but the plan is the same.

Thanks for calling in today.

Sewing Project

Hi Everyone 

I have a new sewing project - a pair of jeans. I’m making a second pair of Morgan Jeans by Closet Case. This time, I have some lovely green denim from Merchant&Mills.

             

My denim was a Christmas gift but I’ve yet to get started with my jeans, it’s less than a month (just) but I still feel I need to get going with my jeans. I need to wash the denim today and that will get me underway. I’ll be able to find some lining fabric for the pockets and waistband from stash but will need acquire a suitable zip and I’ll be ready to start. 

My previous Morgan Jeans and the pattern use metal buttons for the fly but Closet Case do a great tutorial on the zip method and I’m keen to give that a go. The denim fabric is a lovely deep green colour and will be something different for my handmade wardrobe. 

My first jeans are a good fit so I’m reasonably confident this next pair will be OK too. Although, making jeans seems to be a tricky thing to make, I think it’s quite straightforward (famous last words) ! and very satisfying. The only intimidating bit for me is the fit rather than the construction approach, in particular, at the waist. Last time, after cutting out the fabric pieces, I basted all the upper waist/hip bits together for the fitting and this solved all fitting issues. Basting is a temporary straight stitch used to hold layers together, as it’s a long and loose stitch - it is easily removed after the final stitching is in place. If the fitting is not good, individual pieces can be altered. It’s possible to recut as well as decide on a new seam line for each of the pieces. Closet Case have lots of brilliant tutorials on their website to help with making and fitting jeans, check out all the tutorials here.

I’ll share progress with my jeans as I have something to show, here on the blog. In particular, I’m hoping to talk about the fitting and any alterations I make

Thanks for calling in today.

Jewellery Inspiration

Hi Everyone 

Today, I’m sharing a great book I was given as a Christmas gift. I’ve not had time to test out any of the ideas yet, today is the day I’m planning to choose the first one. I’ve been attracted to stonesetting for as long as I’ve been making jewellery but my stone setting projects have been rather limited,so far. I’ve developed a range of basic bezels and have made a few Claw settings but don’t have the skills or knowledge to achieve much more. 

This book, StoneSetting by Melissa Hunt, is amazing and I’m looking forward to trying out all of the techniques and suggested projects in the book. The book also details the types of stones available with detailed descriptions and characteristics of a wide range of stones. 

                

I particularly like all the samples on the cover of the book but my current favourite is a Tension Set stone in a simple Sterling Silver band (ring). Sometime soon, I’ll develop my version of this ring. I need to find a suitable stone for the job.

I especially like Citrine(yellow) and Peridot(green) stones, probably because of the colours. I have a very small Citrine in my collection and this week, I’m going to work on a bezel for this stone, to add to a ring. I should have something to share in my Silver Sample, later in the week.

Thanks for calling in today.