T-Shirt Print Make-Over

Hello, sorry about the hiatus in posts. Busy, busy, busy and something had to give- the beautiful weather we've just had was not the reason at all ;-)
The Sun shining has inspired me to start on the summery makes- I have been making lots of jug covers for an up-coming craft fair on Saturday 25th of May. I've mainly crocheted them so far but I'm going to start on fabric ones with a crochet trim- watch this space.
I went to London on Saturday to meet with my best bud from Uni. I bought lots of big beads perfect for weighing down the jug covers so I have no excuse not to make lots by the Craft Fair. We also discovered a wonderful shop in Kingly Court, just off Carnaby Street, called "Things British"- http://thingsbritish.co.uk/ It sells some exquisite, handmade items and to show our support we bought each other a present- it would be rude not to support such an enterprise with lots of beautiful items for sale! My present was a pair of earrings and my friend's was a bracelet, both from a maker called "Altered Era". The theme of mine is Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice", one of my favourite stories. The bracelet is Wuthering Heights, my friend's favourite. How could we not treat each other and show our support? Here's a pic of mine- love them!

So onto this post's tutorial (an extension of a previous one really) -
Top/T-Shirt Print Make-over

Continue reading for instructions to make your own . . . . .

Flower Brooch Tutorial

Yay, the Sun is finally shining! Spring is here and when the daffodils are at their best the car-boot sales start- wonderful places to pick up some buttony bargains. It can be difficult getting up early on a Sunday morning but with the sunlight bursting through the curtains we decided to go to our first this year. It was not a disappointment. The hubby spotted a Quality Street tin, often a great sign, and sure enough it contained buttons. I love taking them home and sorting through them, it's not quite the same when they're already sorted. There was a card labelled with "Fashionable Buttons, Made in England" with 3 yellow buttons still attached priced at 6p. The best before date on the tin is Oct 1988 and it was still Mackintosh Quality Street back then.

My favourites were two sets of green buttons, similar but different so I can't decide which I like better.

I also bought some knitting and crochet bits and bobs, I'll feature them in a future post. Fingers crossed for more car-boot sale finds this year! Now on to the tutorial.

Flower Brooch Tutorial 

This brooch can be made using any a variety of fabric providing it has a bit of stiffness. Felt is a good choice, shop bought or from a wooly jumper shrunk in the wash. A previous post, "Keep Your Cutoffs", features a brooch made in the same way using left over bonded fabric. The finished example using the measurements below creates quite a large flower, approx. 10cm X 10cm. Obviously if you want a smaller one just decrease all the measurements as required. All the measurements are approximate as they don't need to be spot on, after all flowers aren't geometrically precise so the brooch needn't be either ;-)

You will need- felt for the flower in colour of your choice- roughly 20cm x 20cm, green felt for the leaves- 6cm x 5cm , brooch finding, needle and matching thread

Instructions continue after the break. . . . .

Baby Booties

It’s been a busy week and I’m guilty of burning the candles at both ends. Naughty me!

Saturday was spent shopping for a bridesmaid’s dress with my wonderful friend Becky. Her wedding is in February so it’s full preparation mode now. We had a great day and have more planned.

We also called into Bristol’s Vintage Fair, well it would be rude not to, and a purchase or two-ish was made ;-)

I haven’t made much this week as I was busy, busy, busy but I did manage to make a pair of baby booties. 

Unfortunately they weren't smooth sailing. This was mainly due to not thinking my materials through thoroughly and that led to a major mishap. I bought a lovely, fleecy blanket in Ikea for the fabric. It’s purple on one side, fuchsia on the other and is really soft and snuggly. I thought I would use this to line the boots with the purple side facing out. As the outer fabric is cotton I decided it would be best to bond the fabrics together before sewing. In doing this, the heat from the iron caused the purple and fuchsia sides to separate, something I really should have taken into consideration. This resulted in the fleecy side of the fuchsia being bonded to the outer cotton, leaving a shiny side exposed. Not good! To overcome this I had to separate more of the blanket fabric and had to cut all the pattern pieces out again from just the fuchsia side. I didn’t bond this to the already bonded cotton and fleece, I just pinned it and sewed the sections together whilst completing each boot. Obviously, If I had chosen a single layer fleece or separated them first, I would have saved time and effort.

I have put together a tutorial for the booties if you fancy making a pair yourself. I have done it as if I hadn’t messed up, so let’s just pretend I didn’t, yeah? I designed the pieces using the measurements of an average newborn weighing 7lb 8oz, that is approximately 7.5cm long by 2.5cm wide.

Continue reading for the tutorial!