tiny happy

pinboards

I love a good old-fashioned pinboard, with bits and pieces of this and that, all collected and held for future reference. But I'm bad at organising the one in my workroom. It's threatening to fall off the wall, actually, with everything I've tacked to it. Shown above is my latest, clean wall with just a few things to look at: some watercolour playings I did, as well as postcards and magazine cuttings too lovely to go into the recycling bin.

Recently I discovered Pinterest, which is an online tool for making and sharing such pinboards. I started playing around with my account last night and discovered that it can rather time-consuming, in a good way (though, that could be a reflection of my self-discipline more than anything.) I made three themed 'boards' which I'll use to file away lovely things I find on my internet travels. The next challenge is not to get too overwhelmed by all the images- sometimes i find myself feeling paralysed by all the goodness out there on internet. I know there are many other tools like this in use (tumblr, delicious, etc) but the simplicity of this one is especially appealing to me.

white cosmos

I planted some white cosmos seeds at the start of summer, and they're just now starting to bloom. I love their generous petals like crinkled silk, and their feathery leaves. Their name means 'an orderly system' and I think they do have a harmonious and peaceful quality to them. I embroidered some onto a piece of natural linen and sewed it into a drawstring bag for my shop update today. 

I hope your Wednesday is going well, dear readers.

inspiring interiors

I found this book at the library last week. It's called ETCETERA and it's by Sibella Court, an Australian stylist and designer. Each page is crammed full of lists, colours and ideas for collecting things you love and displaying them in your home. It's not so much about buying designer goods or expensive stuff, but rather about becoming a curator of the things you like and find along your journey in life. The ideas are fairly simple yet, I think, poetic. Pinning ornate paper to the walls with thumbtacks, wrapping jars and bottles in brown paper with typed labels, hanging your favourite clothes as artwork, framing insects and shells in tiny decorated matchboxes or test-tubes, to name a few. There are also stacks of colourful textiles from Uzbekistan, Japan and Morocco. All of it is gorgeous and has me wanting to renew my passport- I recommend a look if you can find a copy!

aubergine

Thank you for your well-wishes over the weekend- my sister's wedding was gorgeous, but I forgot to recharge my camera batteries, in the whilrlwind of getting ready. So I don't have the promised photos of the table settings, etc because the camera died at the crucial moment. Sorry about that. It all went smoothly though and all Sarah's organising paid off. Instead I have these photos I took the next day- these are of my bridesmaid bouquet (just because I don't want to forget how pretty it was, really.) The florist had mixed bits of spruce with pale roses and cineraria leaves for a sort of smoky/faded look, and she used some of our dress fabric to wrap around the stems.

The top photo above is of my bridesmaid's dress, made by S's best friend for all of us. The full skirt was sewn from a kind of sheer taffetta in a grey/mauve shade, and then long lengths of attached aubergine-coloured stretch fabric formed the bodice which we could wrap and tie in various ways. She did a great job and I loved wearing mine!

My sister and her new husband were so happy at the end of the evening- it was lovely to see.

P.S

Thank you very much for your support of Crafting for Courage which finishes tomorrow. All my offered items sold, so I was able to make the donation to Save the Children Japan yesterday. I also discovered Hearts + Hands Japan which presents a great fundraising idea with many talented artists taking part. 

little ties

I made these little ties for Arlo (the long one) and my baby nephew Leo (the bow-tie) to wear to a wedding. My youngest sister is getting married this weekend, and A will be her page-boy while L will have the important job of smiling and looking cute (it comes naturally to him) and getting his cheeks pinched by aunties. They will match their flowergirl-cousins (all six of them!) who have dress-sashes sewn from the same cotton lawn print. 

One of my bridesmaidly duties was to organise the table decorations at the reception, and for this I collected some vintage glassware over a few weeks (as you can imagine, there were no complaints about this job) and these will be arranged with garden and wildflowers inside some, and tea-light candles inside others. I'll try and take some pictures at the wedding to show here next week.

To make the miniature tie, I used a vintage Simplicity pattern from the 1970's, but then later I found this one online which looks better, actually. (The Purl Bee also gives directions for a handmade man's tie- check it out.) To make the bowtie, I used a method quite similar to this tutorial for a double-fold bow tie, but I made it a bit smaller, and I threaded it onto an elastic loop for ease of taking on and off.

Thank you for your support of my fundraising efforts yesterday. There are still a few things left in my shop as part of the Crafting for Courage sale, as well as items on the CFC blog, too.

Hope you have a great weekend, blog-friends.

crafting for courage- for japan

A group of friends are joining together under the name Crafting for Courage to raise money for Save the Children in Japan, after the terrible earthquake and tsunami that happened there two weeks ago. I read this morning that an estimated 100,000 children have been displaced from their homes since the earthquake, and many are facing a lack of clean water, safe food, and warm shelter. 

I was keen to join in and make a few special things for the sale when I learned of it a couple of days ago. But my days have flown by this week, so I've put together some things from my craft room instead. One connection that many of us have to Japan is a crafty one. I've been buying books, notions and beautiful fabric from that country since I first realised I could- probably back in about 2004.

I've scoured my shelves for anything Japanese I could find, and have put together three little bundles of linen/cotton prints. Anything in my etsy shop right now that is made from Japanese fabric will also go into the sale. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to Save the Children Japan. Because the Crafting for Courage group sale begins officially on March 24 in the Northern Hemisphere, I'll list these later on this evening (around 7pm, for NZ readers.) You can go to the CFC blog to see who else is taking part in the sale, and the beautiful items they've donated. Cheers!

made in china

I've had this shirt for a long time, it's worn and old and much too small for me, really, and it's been hand-dyed a kind of grey (once when I was a teenager and liked everything in dark colours.) I gave it a wash recently and the seams came undone, so I knew my days of wearing it were over. It's one of those amazing old hand-embroidered garments from the 1970's, made in China. 

Anyway, I knew those perfect and gorgeous Chinese hand-stitches were too good to go to waste, so I made a couple of small things for my shop this week: a brooch and a little purse. The Bohemian-style embroidery made me think of the late-summer flowers that are everywhere at the moment: deep-coloured hydrangeas and red geraniums.

pixelated oven mitt

Well, it's not every day one can use that title for a blog post. This is something I made this week: an oven mitt. It's one of those things I've always needed, but never gotten around to making. I recently found the book 'Sew' by Cath Kidston at our library, and there was a pattern for this beauty inside it. (There are lots of other great patterns, too.) The cotton canvas fabric was a flea market find a while ago- those pixelated roses appealed to me (or are they supposed to be like giant cross-stitched flowers?) and I'm pretty sure the apple-green bias binding was also second-hand. For the interior batting, I used some thick wool fleece.

I have to admit that I really hated sewing this oven mitt. It's a great pattern, but I dislike the awkwardness of sewing bias binding over chunky layers. It took so much longer than I had hoped. Never mind, all was forgiven when I did a bit of lunch-box-baking this morning- it's a useful thing to have.

a spot of handsewing

Good morning! I've had a few requests lately for tips on applique work. I love using applique in my projects, but I really only use one technique these days. When I showed it to my mother once (she's an accomplished needlewoman who employs many different applique techniques in her quilts and embroideries) she was less than impressed, but I've stuck with my method because it produces the effect that I'm after with applique. And that is an application of fabric that is smooth and soft, with no 'crispy' edges or awkward corners. Because I usually applique onto things for children, I've found that my favourite method washes well with no disintegration of the fabric layers, and it's softer and more comfortable to wear.

I know there are many different products on the market for helping with applique- such as fusible webbing. I've never remembered to look for them in my local craft shop, although I'm sure they are great products if you're after a quick applique job. But in my opinion you don't need these, but rather, just a good old needle and thread. This method works best when you use a light-weight, tight-weave fabric for the appliqued motif.

Here's how to do it.

You will need:

A fine, sharp sewing needle and fine thread (poly-cotton blend is good.)

Something on which to applique- a tshirt, dress or cardigan for example, plus some fine, but tight-weave cotton fabric to use for the applique. 

Paper and pencil, sharp scissors and dressmaking pins.

First of all decide what shape you'd like to applique, and draw it on the paper. Use this pattern to cut the shape from your fine fabric. (I'm using a plain old circle here for ease of explanation.) Iron this shape well (you might want to carefully iron the surface of your tshirt/etc too.)

Using some little sharp scissors, cut small incisions all around the edge of your shape, as shown below. (My cuts measure about 3mms.)

Centre your motif onto the garment, and pin all around the shape.

Thread your needle and tie a knot on the end. Now you can start your applique. Fold a bit of your motif under at one point of the edge and press together with your fingers. Hold this edge in place against the garment with your left hand while you insert the tip of your needle into the garment, and up again through the folded edge just a few millimetres away. Hmm, it's a bit tricky to explain, but you should get the idea from the photo below. Basically, you're just folding the shape under along the edge with your left hand while securing the edge with your little stitches. (If you're right-handed that is.) You can pull them in place securely but be careful not to pull too tightly. You want a smooth worked surface, not a puckered one.

Carry on like this all the way around the shape. Remove the dressmaking pins as you go. When you're finished your applique, tie a knot close to the edge of the work and thread it under the motif to hide it.

I know those stitches look rather small and tiresome, but it really doesn't take too long. Before you know it you'll be sewing all sort of shapes onto all sorts of things. Good luck!

seed cycle

Collecting seeds from the garden. Some to send to friends around the country, and some to keep for next spring. I love the autumn time.

Wishing you a happy weekend, blog friends. Coming up next week: applique without any fancy products, wedding decorations and a miniature tie. Hold on to your hats!