Hillarys Blind Country Crafts Fabric Competition Part Two

Continuing the Saga of the Useful Skirt. Part One is here.

I must apologise for my photographs. As my laptop was away I had to use my tablet which does not have a macro function, and apart from that I am not the best photographer.

So far I have cut out the pieces, using the Calluna fabric from the Country Retreat range, fitted them to Diana and sewn the darts on the back. Then I placed both back on front on Diana to make sure they matched.

Putting Back and Front on Diana

When happy I sewed the side seams together.

But only went up a few inches on the left side as I wanted to be able to get it on and off (naturally) and therefore needed a fastening.

Please bear in mind that I was doing this as I was going along, with pattern. Therefore some of the things I did might have been better done earlier.  Anyway, I then thought about the facing. I used more of the lovely fabric and some interfacing.

Thinking About Facing

When the facing was sewn on, I then proceeded to make a placket for the fastening. Before watching the latest British Sewing Bee episode, I had know idea what a placket was although I had obviously had one on a garment before.  I kind of did one without really knowing what to do. But it worked. I have a little flap of fabric onto which I sewed hook and eyes to fasten up the skirt. And when they are fastened you cannot see them.

The Placket

Oh I have just looked up placket, and it is the whole opening not just the flap of fabric - '

plack·et

ˈplakit/

noun

noun: placket; plural noun: plackets

1. 1.

   an opening or slit in a garment, covering fastenings or giving access to a pocket, or the flap of fabric under such an opening.'

   
   

This is the skirt finished. I hand sewed the hem.   At this stage you may notice it looks a bit wider than in Part One. That is because it is. After I sewed the seams I tried it on and it was too small, so I redid the seams. So please try it on yourself before sewing the seams. (You really get a good idea about my prowess as a confident, knowledgeable sewer, don't you?!)

And here is the skirt on me! Done. And I am rather pleased with it.

Crafteroo Pinterest Challenge - Fabric tape

It has been a while but here is the second project in the Crafteroo Pinterest Challenge. Remember this is my board here.  The challenge is to make something from it about once a month.  The first thing I made was the rag rug using the t-shirt yarn.

This next one is the Fabric Tape.

Now me being me, I didn't follow the wonderful tutorial exactly. I cheated and used double-sided sticky tape. The fabric I have used is also designed with bands going across, so I just used one of these bands.  So I cheated big time!

I have re-used an old tape inner thingy to put my new fabric tape on. As you can see I have only made a little bit so far.

And here it is in use.

Simple Felt Rose Tutorial

I have seen some gorgeous fabric and ribbon flowers.  With Mother's Day coming up, my boss asked me to help the children sew something for their mums. I had the idea of doing ribbon flowers but the ones I liked I found too fiddly for me let alone the children.  I am sure they could do have done them but I needed something simple but looked really good.  We have children aged 4 to 11 so it needs to be something all ages can do.

I remembered those lovely paper flowers and at the time thought they would be good in felt. So I hunted down a tutorial - I used this one but there are lots of good ones about.

Here is my felt rose.

I am really really pleased with it.

Here is how to make it:-

You will need scissors and felt plus brooch back if you want to make a brooch, or hair clip if you want one of those instead, or some sort of stem if you want to make a bunch.

I started with a rectangle of felt.

Then cut off the corners to make them curved.

start cutting at one end, or middle. You will be cutting a spiral.

Cutting the spiral

Leave a circle in the middle as this will be the base.

Thread your needle, and secure it in the end of the spiral.

Start to wind, starting from the end, sewing as you go.

Just keep winding and sewing.

At the end you will be left with the circle. This is the base so just pop it over the rest.

Circle base popped over the rest!

Then sew little stitches (which will be much neater than mine) around to secure the base.

Turn over and see your wonderful rose.

It is now finished and ready for whatever you want to do with it.

You can make big ones, little ones. Stick a bead in the middle. Decorate the edges with glitter. Try using fabric other than felt.  I like these as I know that each child's will be different.

Have fun and let me know how you get on.

Update from 26 February 2013 - I now also have a tutorial for felt roses on a stem and corsage - so pop over here. 

Following the Pink and Green Theme

Day 9 of Make a Day (Wednesday)
My pink and green hair snaps proved popular. I had a darker version of both colours and decided to make another pair using those. The buttons are also different as I have done one more row of the inner colour mainly because I forgot how many rows I did in the original ones.



Day 10 Thursday
I thought I would continue the theme of pink and green and make a beaded button. I have made these before in the bigger sizes but this is the first one in the tiny buttons. The middle colour looks redder in this photo which gives it a Christmas feel.  I might stick this on a hair clip. I am still deciding.


You can see the size of the little beaded button in this photo where it sits next to hair clips using the bigger ring.

I also have been thinking about making new tags for items I send out. In tidying my fabrics I found this one and decided this will do very nicely for my first ones.

 I embroidered the 'Bigbluebed' on a ribbon some time ago using left over bits of embroidery thread. I thought that people could use bits of the tags in their own projects if they wish. I can see that the one on the left is over embellished, so I will just keep to the simple looking ones like on the right perhaps with one button.

Snappety Snappety Snap

Here are some cute little purses. These ones are for the Handm@de Winchester on Sunday 4th July.

These have a snap enclosure. I really like these purses and will be making some more to list in my online shops.

If you are thinking of popping along to the fair then please do. It will be lovely to see you and you will also see some lovely things from a wonderful collection of designers and makers. Here is a list of who will be there.

This is my second craft fair. I would love to do more but due to lack of a car and high train fairs they will need to be near me. I am quite happy to jump on the train to somewhere fairly close.

Anyway, I will let you know how the fair goes.

Beautiful hats.

This lovely, lovely hat is made by Moaning Minnie at etsy.

There are some delectable hats in her shop and I am a very happy owner of one myself.

The reason I draw your attention to this sumptuous sun hat is because it is a result of a collaboration between us. Minnie made the lovely hat, I made the blue flower. I really think that the whole style and the choice of fabric in the hat brings out the best in the flower.

I love it.

So go and have a close look here and also spend a while browsing through the shop here.

Experimenting with Fabric

I love the idea of designing my own fabric prints. I have registered with Spoonflower but a few months ago someone told me about fabric you can print with an inkjet printer.

I ordered it yesterday and it arrived today. Fantastic service.

I have been drawing and doing a bit of a paisley design so I thought I would scan it it and try it on the new fabric sheets. It is not a brilliant design but I enjoyed doing it and it has shown up some things I can change next time.

This is the fabric with the backing still on.

Peeling the backing off.


The backing all off.

Now I am excited about doing some more designs. I will keep you posted.

Garden Swap (from me)

The wonderful talented Kerry of Pennydog Jewellery organised a Garden Swap (via Crafteroo).

My swap partner is Helen of Kitty Ballistic creations.

As she has now received my parcel, I have revealed here what I made and sent.

This is a photo of a fabric box that I had the idea for in my head. It is the first one I ever made and quite frankly, nearly the last. But it turned out rather well.

The very top photo is of some Dorset Buttons. My apologies for the bad photo. The 3 coloured one is supposed to be a sunflower. Hmmm.

More..

Following on from my last post, I sold the brooch and so have made more. You can see the other colourway. I love this fabric!

They are all available from my shop at etsy.

My last few posts have all been about me. But don't worry, I will be talking about other great artists and craftspeople soon.

We don't need plastic bags.

I have a new Treasury West on etsy. Check it out here.
A treasury is where people on etsy choose some of their favourite items from other seller, usually linked to a theme.
I chose bags as I love them and they are so useful. Don't take the supermarkets plastic bags buy a fabric reusable one instead.

Birdy purse and Velvet Chocker

This week I mastered sewing a zip into a purse thanks to this tutorial

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=22875.0.

I also had given to me, by my lovely sister Claire, a pair of brand new green velvet trousers which were too small. I am going to make a sumptious purse out of them, but first I made this choker.

We visited a local furnishing shop and bought some gorgous remnants. I am going to make a bag out of mine. Big enough to be handluggage on a plane but it will not be ready for our skiing holiday next Saturday.

We are all off to Austria. I made Claire a cowl and need to make one for Mary and me. And maybe also a hat for me. It depends on how much fleece I have left. I would like to find a supplier of recycled fleece. It can be made out of plastic bags.

Must get on with the cowls. I will post a photo soon.

Patchwork Throw

I found some fabric I had stored away in my wardrobe. It is perfect for my current needs. I have decided to start making a patchwork throw for our couch. It will be handmade i.e no sewing machine (but of course I might change my mind!). I was going to do octagons as I have an octagon template but decided it was too hard so it is nice easy squares for me.

I have posted photos of the very beginning and hopefully you will be able to see the progress week by week. This was a few days ago and already I am a little further on.

My mum has given me some lovely remnants that she bought from Allders (when they existed). They are going to be made into something sumptuous.

Also I went to a shop that sells curtain material and bought lots of remnants for a very good price.

So I have a very nice stash of fabric but I still want to buy some fat squares from Etsy. Lovely Japanese material.