Our Creative Spaces: Finishing cushions

I'm playing along with the Our Creative Spaces meme again this week. 

To sign up or see other spaces visit here.

In my space this week, I've been finishing the ripple cushions. Actually, 

I'm a bit stressed at the moment because my machine is playing up... I take

my foot off the pedal and it won't stop  :( 

I'm investigating solutions... Meanwhile, this is literally my space...

I really like details and finishing touches that have a practical application 

but also work aesthetically. Linen tape, found here, binds the cushion seams

to shape and looks pretty cool too I think ;)

Hope you've had a wonderfully creative week ... and sewing machines that 

work well for you!

Our Creative Spaces - MOF 2

I'm still doing my Month of Finishing (MOF) here. This is an 
embarrassing one actually. It's a dress I was making for a friend. 
Do you remember this fabric? 

It's been draped over the mannequin for quite a few months now.
I just couldn't seem to cut into it. I have no idea what my problem was
but at least it's done now...

I ended up adding a bit of colour on the straps to link in with 
the tree colour in the screen print. I also lined it because it
is quite see-through...

My friend has been really lovely about it, but I feel bad for taking so 
long. So, I'm working on a necklace design to go with the dress... 
a bit of block printing, a bit of stitchery and hopefully finished with 
some silversmithery too :)

What in your creative space today? You can find more spaces here.


I nearly forgot! This is my 500th post :) 


Big thanks to everyone who's supported me along the way. You are all totally amazing 
and have helped me so much with your encouragement. September is a very busy month 
for me (we'll be travelling - yah!) but I will have a giveaway in October to say thank you :)

My Creative Space - Little Blue Dress

Make avatar

There are so many things I should have been doing this week, instead I made a dress. 

My Little One received some fabulous blue shoes for her birthday which reminded me of the fabulous blue and black striped jerseys I had in my stash... and I just started cutting and making it up as I went.

 Thankfully, she loves it. 
I think she must like a bit of asymmetrical wonk like me :)

If you want to dance along just channel Leo Sayer You Make Me Feel Like Dancing :)

Just in case you haven't heard the news... Kirsty (who has tirelessly hosted My Creative Space at her blog Kootoyoo for ages) has now discovered some new directions she'd like to explore. So, rather than drop things, she has kindly set up a new blog just for Thursday's crafty show-and-tell peeps... and it's called Our Creative Spaces. 
To see some more spaces or join in yourself, you can now find all the links here.
Thanks Kirsty!

My Creative Space - Atomic Collar

I've been wanting to make a collar for a friend for a while now but just couldn't settle on a fabric design. Then clever Cindy suggested this one when I posted about my Atomic Wallflowers print-up. Perfect...

... except of course the buttonhole. 

I'm done with them... that is, until I can find someone to show me how. I think this is the first time my 'trial and error' method of self-teaching has let me down.

Anyway, happy creative space day everyone! 

Hope it's been a wonderfully creative week for you :)

Visit Kirsty's at Kootoyoo to see more spaces.

My Creative Space - Fabric first

A friend of mine asked me to make her a dress. It was one of those requests where there are no firm guidelines about what she actually saw in her mind so I was at a bit of a loss as to what to do. It wasn't until I read Ingrid's wonderful post about Zandra Rhodes that I realised how I'd gone about it. [Don't get me wrong here, I'm NOT suggesting any comparable link between myself and the magnificent Zandra!] I just thought it was interesting how one approaches dress design; the process you develop for yourself... and I realised I start with the fabric, it's all about the fabric really.

So, I began by designing a fabric for my friend... pottering around with colour and pattern and placement until I'd put together a design that screamed her name to me...

... I added detail to draw it all together...

... then I threw it over the mannequin and just looked at it... I was looking at how the fabric draped and thinking about what kind of dress design would best suit it.

I started playing around with a few ideas, pinning the fabric into shape to see if it would work, and I think I've decided on the style on the right (below).

I'll just play with some details around the neckline and then I'll start cutting and sewing :)

What's in your creative space today? Visit Kirsty at Kootoyoo to see more.

My Creative Space - Following through

My Creative Space this week is about finishing projects and following through on ideas. Plan B dress is finished and my fabric-rolled silver now has threads and a selvedge (of sorts).

I've been toying with the idea of drilling lots of holes and using floss to do a simple cross-stitch pattern on it. Final decision was to leave this one as is (I do like it's simplicity) and do another one for the cross-stitch.

Find more creative spaces over at Kirsty's.

My Creative Space - Plan B

It's Creative Space Day again. Visit Kirsty's at Kootoyoo to see more.

I've been a bit down in the chops lately. My lovely friends here do this wonderful thing where they ask me to make something for them... We've never actually discussed it - I'm not sure if they know that I know they're just trying to help me... but that's the point I guess... they are good eggs and it helps me get back on the sunny side up ;) 


It does usually work. 


It worked when I was block printing upside down bunny ears onto linen... It worked when I cut out and sewed row upon row of bias frills... 

... it even worked when I came to piece all the bits together, sewing in a side zip as I went...


But then I realised I'd cut the bodice too narrowly... there would be side-spillage factor 1000... my friend would never wear it.


I was going to call it Failure Dress, but after a quick discussion with this good egg I realised that there really is no such thing as Success Dress. 

I've shaken off the blues again. I'm going to re-do the bodice. 
AND, thanks to my silversmithing course last night where we did a detailed study of how to properly plan out jewellery pieces... It was fabulous and I really should, and am going to, use it with all my projects. So, here's to PLAN B :)

Sorry for the ramble this week... ON A HAPPIER NOTE: my gorgeous Big Girl is turning 14 tomorrow. I have that strange feeling of having known her forever and of how quickly time has sped by to get us to this point. I've just spent the last hour looking for a birthday coin for her... and finally found this humble 5 cent piece to incorporate into her card.

 

Hope it's a fabulously creative day for everyone :)

My Creative Space - New Dress

I'm playing along with Kirsty's My Creative Space meme today. Visit Kootoyoo to join in or see more spaces :)

There are a lot of things I should be doing... instead I found myself working away on this simple dress idea. I made up the pattern as I cut and adjusted as I went. It's fully lined and I had some fun with one of those chunky zips too. Somewhere along the way the pattern on the fabric (hugely discounted Orla Kiely bed linen!) wasn't center-balanced anymore so I think I'll make a brooch out of my bunny ears design too. Can you see my bunny tail? :)

Happy Creative Space day - hope it's a great day for everyone.

2 Bunnies + a Bear

I thought of a way to use up the part of my 'bunny ears' design that I wasn't happy with... can't think where the inspiration came from to make bunnies ;) 

2 bunnies and a bear are now in the shop.

Collar Tutorial

Some of you have requested a tutorial on how to make collars, so here it is :) 

I've done my best to make it as easy to understand as possible. I haven't actually done a tutorial before, so let me know if there are bits you don't understand...

Step 1: Print out the above image as A4 sized (21cm x 29.70 cm). Cut out the two shapes and place on the fold of your paper pattern. Add to or decrease the length of the collar within the red arrow area. Cut out your pattern and open the fold to reveal the full shape. 

Step 2: Fold your chosen fabric(s) so that you have two layers with the right side facing each other. Pin your patterns to the fabric(s) and cut out. You should have two pieces in each shape, as above. If you haven't altered the length of the collar, it should be about 48cms along its straight side.

Step 3: Sew the two pieces of the collar together on the three straight sides, right side facing inwards. Cut the corners of the collar and turn the collar inside out so that the right side of the fabric is facing outwards.

Step 4: Iron the seam flat. This will make it easier to do the next step of ironing the outside of the collar down flat.

Step 5: Cut out a strip of fusible web. Position it inside the collar and iron according to the fusible web instructions. This will give the collar a stiffness. At this point you can also choose to sew a seam along the collar or leave it, as you please.

Step 6: Place the layers for the pieces of neck fabric on either side of your collar piece, facing right side inwards.

[click on image to enlarge]

Step 7: Sew the neck pieces to the collar. Use pinking shears to cut the curved edge of the neck piece and collar that you have sewn together. Sew the ends of the neck piece together. Turn inside out and iron the neck fabric down flat.


At this point I usually iron a hem on the length of each neck piece. Then I position inside a strip of fusible web, iron the fabric together and sew along the edge. This is quite fiddly and difficult, so I've provided an alternative below which is much easier...

Step 8: Iron a hem on your neck fabric, insert a strip of fusible web and iron. At this point you can either  turn your hem and sew it, or cut out a strip of fabric and sew to exposed edge and turn and sew down on the reverse side in much the same way as you'd attach some bias binding.

Step 9: Iron along the join of the neck piece to the collar so that it will sit correctly... And, there's your collar!

Step 10 is, of course, devising a way to attach the neck piece at the front. I've been playing with buttonholes, clips, brooches and ribbon (not always successfully). If you come up with a great idea, I'd love to see it :) Have fun collar making!

GIVEAWAY!
If you'd like to win this collar then let me know in the comments section. I'll be leaving it without any clip or attachment (so you can have all the fun with that one!) I'll do a random number selection for the winner  next Sunday 6th February.

M.C.S - Blundering Buttonholes (Batman)

I'm playing along with Kirsty's My Creative Space meme today. Visit Kootoyoo to see more spaces or to join in yourself.

Do you remember the collars? I was thinking of ways to attach them and decided on a simple buttonhole. What could be more straight-forward and less worthy of a drama-packed episode of Batman? Alas, it was not to be... I think the word is 'adequate' :(


Can someone tell me or direct me to a site that explains how to use the automatic buttonhole foot on a Janome? I thought it'd be so simple - you attach the foot and place your fabric and off you go.... Nope, it's "Blundering buttonholes, Batman!"

See you next week... same Bat-time, same Bat-place! ;)