Shibori Pouch

A hand stitched pouch I have made for my friend, Laura.

 

She requested a new handmade pouch,

(showing me the worn out pouch she had been using).

Of course I was much obliged.

Laura likes Japanese things

and her room is full of beautiful objects from when she lived in Japan.

 

 

I used this beautiful shibori fabric which was made by Joanie.

 

 

 

The blue floral bias binding, and the green trim, are Liberty of London and I bought them in Paris. The cardinal button is from a shop in a little town in Illinois, America. I've been saving it for years. It was perfect for this project ( I like it when that happens!)

 



 

The red floral bias binding was a gift, i think it came with an order from Melissa

 



I stitched the whole thing by hand. I like the way it isn't perfect, the way the hand stitching creates irregularities.

 

I printed the fabric which I used for the lining with one of my hand carved stamps.

 

ps. Laura is a wonderful musician and I would highly recommend listening to her beautiful songs.

Holiday Stitching

I'm on a weeks holiday in Southern Spain and it's given me time to do some sewing. I've made two pouches, which I look forward to sharing when I get back. Nothing quite like being able to do a bit of stitching in the sunshine. Especially in February! I do find the sunshine helps so much in refreshing creativity. Tonight I started drawing in a small sketchbook which I made for my trip.

collecting shells on the beach

making salads

studying plants

listening to the birds

bike rides

tapas in old friendly places

The perfect ways to restore my creativity.

Phone case

The same evening as I made the pouch for my camera I also made this little phone case. Fun and so quick. I'd like to make some more for friends. Hope you have a cheerful start to your week.

 

 

 

Stitched pouch

I made a little pouch for my new camera.

A couple of weekends ago I went to Paris and I bought some Liberty bias binding.

I had just the job for it.
 

 

I lined the pouch with shibori dyed fabric, which the lovely Joanie had given me.

And then quilted it by tying threads.

 

 

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It feels a little funny blogging after so long away. I'm unsure what to say or do. Kind of like opening an old sketchbook with lots of blank pages. Pages I want to fill, but unsure how to make them flow from the previous ones. As time has passed the experiences I've had have brought new creative ideas to the surface. But it's been a while so it may take some time to find my words, like old friends bumping into each other in the street, you know?

 

I've been crafting

I've been crafting.

I made a pizza pencil case for someone who really likes pizza and drawing.

 

 

 

 

Also, thank you for the welcoming comments on my last post. It was nice to hear.

 

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Flower Power

I haven't been around much lately.

There hasn't been that much crafting or drawing going on.

It's a bit of a strange time, not in a bad way.

I did however, manage to make this great Tshirt to wear for going out dancing. I bought and old Tshirt from a charity shop, cropped it, and sewed lots of flowers on it. The flowers are a mix of stiff polyester, satin and cotton. I also used vintage glass beads in the centre of each flower.

I hope you guys are doing good and well. My apologies if I haven't stopped by your blog lately. I hope your summers are going nicely. I won't stop raining here in London! 

Glitz Vans

I made spangle sparkle glitsy trainers! There's pencils, a frog, scissors, trainers and cola bottles on these babies.

Cushions

One of my new years resolution was to not buy stuff. I have a lot of stuff already, and I really don't need more. I have given in and bought some things (books), but mostly I've been quite restrained (I haven't bought any clothes so far all year!).

Well, yesterday I made five cushions for the living room. I wanted to smarten the couch up a bit. It's old and well loved, as you can see. So sticking to the 'don't buy stuff' thing I only used what I already had. Fabrics, trimmings, decorations, filling.

I took these photos when I had made three new cushions, whilst it was still light (they're the three on the left), the other two I made after dark and will show pictures soon. The cushion on the right I made years ago.

I got my hands on a selection of good quality vintage fabrics about six years ago. I'd kept hold of them but hadn't used them. I used three of them.

 It looks a little bulky, but will flatten down quilckly I'm sure.

I attached a little bird brooch for decoration. See the way the satiny fabric has a bark effect? Nice.

This one I made from a vintage pinnie which I used to use but had since put in my fabric box. See the little pocket? cute hey?

The top cushion I made with more of the vintage fabric. It's a think sort of satin with wool woven in. I used turquiose ric rac as a trim.

Had I not been trying to be resourceful and use what I have, I know I would have gone to the shops and bought the exact fabrics I wanted. But this way, I have put a dent in my fabric stash (if a very small dent) and not spent money. Just an afternoon spent sewing and now I have five new cushions!

Did you make anything nice over the weekend? Do share.....

A place for trinkets

The other weekend I made this little 'dish' for trinkets. I figure someone might like to put their jewellery in it on their bedside cabinet. I'll put it in the shop once I've made some more items.

I hope each of you os having a good week and thank you for stopping by.

Handmade Christmas: Pot holders

This is the green set of oven mitts and pot holders which I mentioned. I had hoped to make all the pot holders in the star quilt style but that was the first bit of 'proper' quilting I've done and it took longer than I expected. I had to just revert back to my usual 'casual' style patchwork. I was happy with how it all looked. See how one of the fabrics is a detailed map? I love that fabric.

Homemade Christmas: Shopper bag

A few months back my mum told me she'd lost here shopping bag so she needed a bag which folds up flat in her handbag. Voila!

Handmade Christmas: Hot water bottle cover

From the collection of fabrics I've been printing recently I made a patchwork hot water bottle cover for my good friend Joseph. The photos aren't good quality as it went dark by the time I finished it. This was a project which involved lots of swear words. After making the entire thing I realised the hot water bottle didn't fit! Lots of cutting, mumbling and re-sewing made everything alright.