Craft Fair! - Tunbridge Wells AEC

So I had my first craft fair - it was organised by Bev Russell from Tunbridge Wells Adult Education as a chance for students to learn how to sell and to promote the courses.

Was a bit daunting to start with as I didn't know anyone - was the only person from my Soft Furnishings course who exhibited.

Had few pieces pre-prepared, but when I realised just a few days beforehand that I had a whole table to fill on my own I panicked and spent every spare hour sewing - which was great fun - but slightly stressful.

Wasn't the busiest craft fair I have ever been to and halfway through after only selling three things I was feeling a little despondent but things did pick up towards the end.

The best part was meeting all the other sellers - such a lovely bunch of people.

Can't wait to do my next fair now!!

I made this! - Polka Dot Teacup Pincushion!

Another one for the craft fair - this is now the third teacup pincushion I have made - and I think this is my favourite! Loved the leaves on Dianes Teacup and was itching to add more colour and pattern so used one of my last remaining scraps of my vintage floral print cotton.

Have shown my work in progress as I often get asked how I make these. This latest one has a little lavender bag inside it also - just for the hell of it!!

I made this! - Lavender Birds!

Still love anything birdy - so was dying to make my own bird hangers. Thought they would be great for my very first craft fair - they went down a treat luckily - especially as they took much longer than expected to make!

I made this! - Doorstops!

Used a pattern from one of my favourite books - Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter.

The largest one is from the actual pattern and the two smaller ones are a scaled down version as I found the original to be too large - and costly to fill!

I adapted the handle from Lotta's original specification as I prefer it to be the full width with the ends hidden in the seams - you just have to make sure that you really securely stitch the ends inside the seams as they are pretty heavy.

Pretty easy to make - just have to take it slow and be careful when you attach the top section as if you are slightly misaligned it will look pants.

I made this! - Sock Mouse!

Always been a bit of an animal lover - especially anything cute and furry.

So I thought I would turn my burgeoning sewing skills towards creating something cute and woolly!

As I cannot knit I thought I would make good use of the many colourful pairs of socks that are bought for me each Christmas - many of which remain unworn.


If anyone wants to try making one of these here's my mini tutorial -



1. Firstly take a sock - preferably clean - preferably unworn. Cut down the back through the heel to the toe


2. Cut a heart shape out of the sock - any shaped heart will do!




3. If you want to add an appliqué shape on the belly then you will need to pin the sock heart shape onto an embroidery frame - I used some hideous fabric that I wouldn't dare use on anything else - don't worry no-one will see it!! Then I pin the appliqué fabric in position and draw the shape I want in chalk. Using a close together zig zag stitch you carefully sew round your shape.


4. Remove the fabric from the frame - cut off any excess hideous fabric then very carefully trim around your appliqué shape. The first time I tried this I snipped through the sock and had to start again!


5. Now is the time to decide to what kind of tail your mouse should have. On Marvin mouse I spent forever turning piping inside out - which creates a stiff rat like tail. For Molly mouse, she has a more simpler tail - a strip of fabric with the raw edges folded in twice - stitched one line along the whole length then knotted the end!



6. Once you have trimmed off all the fabric and made your tail fold the shape in half and pin. Contrary to my photo I would advise starting from the tail end - if you look closely at my photo you can see a white mark on the right hand side - this was my stop sewing mark. If you start from that end and sew towards the nose end it is much easier!! Learn from my mistakes. Before you start sewing tuck the tail inside and position - it is much neater and more secure if you machine sew this on as part of the seam.


7. Once you have sewn the back seam, turn inside out making sure the nose is as pointy as possible and start stuffing! I use natural lambswool but you can use anything you like.


8. When you have finished stuffing you will need to weight the mouses bottom - I use a large plastic button which weights it and creates a flat surface helping your mouse sit up. But I'm sure there are many other ways to do this!!



9. This is a rare sight of Molly's bottom! This part needs to be hand sewn. Naturally the open ends come together as shown above - but if yours doesn't just trim bits off until it does!! Tuck the raw edges in and use invisible stitching (ish) to bring it all together.


10. All you need to do now if add the finishing touches - The ears - are just two Pac Man shaped pieces of felt, and the eyes and nose very small buttons - but beads could work just as well.


The Beauty of these little meeses is that they will all be different - no matter how many you make!!

Would love to see other peoples sock mice - post a link to your image - or share on flickr. Other images of Molly and Marvin can be seen on my flickr gallery

I made this! - Pleated Bag

Started making this in my soft furnishings class during the week. Was supposed to be learning how to make a fabric box. Due to my dodgy measuring the box wasn't going to work so to save wasting this lovely fabric I had a spark of inspiration to add a few pleats and a handle and hey presto a new bag!!

Used this for the first time today - such a pleasure to make use of something you have made - can't wait for the day that someones says "Oh I like your bag . . . " and I can say "Why thank you, I made it myself!!" (proudly). I'll have to swing it around a bit to get it noticed!!

As you can see my cat Fizzy decided to use it as a cushion whilst she had a little nap - nice - a hairy handbag!!

I love clotted cream . . .

Just came back from a lovely holiday in Cornwall. It was a surprise for my boyfriends 30th. We stayed in the most beautiful cottage on top of a cliff overlooking St. Ives. I know it's a cliché but the light really is amazing down there.

I've posted a few of my favourite photos.

P.S. If anyone is planning a trip to Cornwall I can give you the details of the cottage . . .

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside . . .

Went to Whitstable today with my family.

Started off a little grey and gloomy - but turned into a beautiful day. Felt inspired to take some photos - here they are!

I made this! - Easter Egg Card

Instead of those calorie ridden, overly sweet and naughty eggs we gave my other halfs sisters money this year for Easter. But to "Easter it up" a little I just had to make a little fabric egg card to hold the money in!

Are quite simple to make. Cut four egg shapes from card (I used foam board which is about 3mm thick). Two of the eggs were about 5mm smaller. Using alot of pritt stick, UHU, sellotape and double sided tape I smothered the cards in tissue paper for one of the smaller ones, Velvet with foam padding for the back, spotty cotton with a pocket for the other smaller egg shape, then for the front I sewed ribbon and buttons onto some stripey cotton using lots of different stitches.

Glued all the bits together with bright pink grosgrain ribbon to hold the front and back together and to also tie the card up with a big colourful bow!! Pressed under a weight overnight to set (all that glue takes a while to dry!!)

After all that I think the money was the most exciting bit for the girls - but I still enjoyed making them!!

Happy Easter everyone!!

I made this! - Easter Eggs!!

Thought I'd make a few fabric Easter Eggs for my family this year - this way everyone can have an egg - dieters, diabetics and all!!

They are all a little mishapen - but as always I'll put this down as character!!

What do you think?

I'm on Folksy!!!!

Been thinking about it for a while and finally decided to take the plunge and try selling some of my bits and bobs.

Had so much good feedback from the livingetc forums, etsy forums and flickr that I bit the bullet.

So here's my Folksy Shop - link

Wish me luck!!

I made this! - Rosettes

Learned how to make rosettes in my Soft Furnishings class last week.

Amazed at how easy it is - all you do is -

• cut (or rip - I prefer the raw frayed edges) a strip of fabric - no specific size or length.
  
• Using double thread, stitch a loose running stitch along one edge (about 5mm from the edge works well).
• When you reach the end gently pull and gather the fabric the together - you will see how the rosette starts to take shape.
• When you are happy with the shape sew the ends together - I prefer to knot in the centre then stitch the two ends together to hide the gap.
• You can either add a button - or a smaller rosette, or a ribbon rosette, or a pom-pom - whatever you fancy.
• Maybe sew onto a scrunchy or a brooch or a bag or a jumper!! So many options - so little time!!
  

I made this! - Teacup Pincushion!

Came across a few people on flickr who had made similar teacup pincushions (Made by BeaG, Mel Garza and cupcakeDD) and felt inspired to try my own version.

Bought a cheap cup from TK Maxx and using offcuts of piping from my cushion projects I started by glueing the first section then once this was completely dry starter hand-sewing the rest on in a big swirl, stuffed very full with polyester filling before sewing closed and hey presto!!

More photos of this appear on my flickr page.

Update 11/4/09
I've been blogged!!