Archive for the ‘sewing’ Category

Surfing the net, I found this web site which I thought was cute and quirky. It’s called Sense & Sensibility Patterns as it sells dress patterns from by gone days… If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to wear one of these dresses out a Jane Austen’s novel, here’s your chance! How cool is that!

Weeks ago, I went to the Birmingham NEC Craft fair. A very good friend of mine is a Pastry Chef and works in Sugar craft. The cake show was on at the same time as the craft fair and she invited me to come along. (I should have written a post about it but the pictures I got are on my phone and I can’t seem to find the cables to get them on the computer-sorry I’m not great with technology in general lol)

I had the best time, meeting lampworkers, crafters, jewellery makers and…teddy bear makers!

These teddy bears are the cutest edgiest thing ever! Barbara and Andy from Barbara-Ann bears handcraft traditional and modern bears. They even do dragons!  I fell in love with the ’new wild bears’ and so Betty and I bought a kit to make Kerfuffle and a pattern to make Pugwangler.

(This a photo of the front page of my pattern to make Kerfuffle)

Their kit contains hand died Mohair (Barbara does it herself and you can find her mohair pieces here) glass eyes, threads…

As you can see, my teddy is going to be green/turquoise, very hairy and very soft…So many colors and types of mohair to choose from!

So I’m sort of slowly making it: pattern traced and cut out… I’ m taking my time and really don’t know how it’s going to come together. But eh! If Teddy looks presentable, I’ll show it to you. Hopefully…^_^

Ok, you will not believe what happened….(see post below for part 1) I was happily getting ready for that wedding on saturday afternoon : put on my makeup, put the dress on, got Dylan ready. My favorite part is when you put the final touch on, the accessories. I was really looking forward to dress up with my lovely dress. So I  just bent down to pick up something on the floor and squooooooooooooooeeeek. The zip was w i d e  o p e n . OMG! What am I going to do?!

After a lot of  efforts, my husband David managed to put the zip back together. But really, if it happened once, could I ever trust this evil zipper again?? Imagine it happened during the ceremony…I had these horrid visions of my dress opening up for everyone to see :O

 Anyway, as it stayed in place and knowing that I had a trench coat on ‘just in case’ I got in the car. Not even out of the drive way, the zip failed me again. That was it! Had to get changed (fortunately, I had brought another dress with me). Guted, so I was. But all accessories matched the other dress. Which was real comfy and in the end, it all worked out.

Still a bit annoyed I couldn’t wear my dress. But eh! I can get it fixed and wear it again some day.

Here are the accessories I made :

Swarovski crystal rondelles in 3 different sizes set in sterling silver with sterling silver. (sold)

My cute satin turquoise bow on headband. I made it all myself and was so proud to wear it. Forgot to take pics on the day though!

My fanciful fascinator…first one I’ve ever made, using scraps from my dress, felt, tulle and swarovski crystals on a tiny comb. It was an option B so in the end I didn’t wear it. Still had a great time making it!

Bracelet made with the beads I got from the petite bead box swap a few weeks back. The colours were absolutely perfect for the dress.

This is my first ever clutch using satin. Just used an A3 sheet as a template for an enveloppe style handbag. Added a flat ruffle and a handle. Looks dead easy like that by as I had never done anything like this  before, it took me ages. There’s even a poket in the lining woohoo!

David, Dylan and I on the day

 Here’s a little fabric box prototype I’ve been really wanting to make. It looks a bit rough because I had never used my machine to zigzag edges that way. So it’s been a wee learning curve and getting to know my machine a bit better.

It’s double sided as you can see and quilted too. But then again this is a sample so will look much better next time.

Really handy to take with you when travelling and bring back some bling Great keepsake little box that has a lot of potential…holding all sorts of girlie things. I really enjoyed making it and I already know what to improve to get that cute little box to the next level. So watch this space!

Thanks to Hayley from Two boos (who’s also part of the Etsy Ireland team), I have made my very first pencil case folks! lol I mean, really, I had never sewn a zipper before in my life. It is a real step forward in my new sewing endeavor: the ultimate goal being making my very own clothes *yeah like that’s going to happen anytime soon*

Before that though, there’s a couple of items I wanna make and that you will probably, if successful, see in the future posts:

- a frame purse

- a handbag

- a cushion for Dylan’s chair

- a full apron (start with a half one)

- a skirt

 And if everything goes according to plan, it would mean that I would have acquired enough skills to make my very own..TA TA dress!

Enough of day dreaming and going down to business with this brillant pencil case tutorial from Hayley’s blog, here’s what I made:

Going through my fabric stash, I knew what I was looking for: a remnant of Ikea fabric I had bought in the belfast store for like 1 pound. Ideal for this project!

All sewn up and ready to reveal itself to the world…

My case flat…

And how it should be! Well, far from being perfect but ya know…good enough for me!

Thanks Hayley

These fabric flowers are so cute, I just learned how to make them and as it was a first, I kinda chose one of my least favorite fabrics…But it works well together! I plan to make many more, this time mixing and matching gorgeous fabrics…And if it works well, maybe I could offer them in my Etsy boutique?…Something to think about!

So, yes I forgot to say that I made this flower into a brooch!

Made a little ‘carton handbag’ to present the brooch into…

I love using contrasting colours and I’ve notice that Black and white together mixed with specific colours is stunning. You’ll probably find this mix in  my creations…I mean, just look at the blog! LOL

Ready to go! I’m going to offer that one to my friend as we’re staying with them this week end in Clifden, Connemara. Hope she likes it, but I’m quite confident, she’s very arty crafty herself and loves buttons.

 Thanks for looking ^_^

We’re just back from England where we’ve attended a family funeral  But we’re off again this week end for 2 weeks in the south-west of France where we’re going to stay with my family. 

Unfortunately before we can relax we’ve got loads to do and prepare. Given that on wednesday I’m going with Dylan and an artist friend to the craft market, I need to get all my available jewelry tagged and ready to go. That means making sure I’ve got enough handmade gift pouches with me (I made a few last week), look into taking a table + chairs, a table clothe, my earrings displays, enough food and toys to feed and keep baby happy…oh!and closing the etsy shop for 2 weeks and everything else I can’t think of right now but will hit me at a later date lol.

So anyway, I’m sure somehow it’ll get done. That if Dylan will let me, He’s growing 2 teeth at the moment and has the sniffles since the week-end.

He’s got nearly 8 teeth now, is starting to stand up from sitting on the floor when holding on to something and started to crawl a couple of weeks back. Yes it’s all happening and he’s just turned 11 months!

The quilt I was talking to you about is now complete and thought I would share with you some pics before I take it to France to its new home…

It’ a single bed size and there’s nothing complicated about this quilt, as it had to be done relatively quickly, it’s the print that really makes it…