Monday 21 November 2011

My hook is on fire!

Not really, it’s made of metal, but if it was wood…

Remember these?

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Well I finally made enough to start sewing them together to make the baby blanket for little Liam. It was supposed to be a present for the shower but since he was born in October it’s a little late. Now it’s a Christmas present!

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I’ve sewn the granny squares together into strips and now I’m joining them with two rows of double crochet sandwiching a row of shell stitch.

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I’m using the Attic24 colour pack of Stylecraft special DK because it’s my favourite (I have a further unopened pack in my stash, I love it that much)

Right, better get cracking – I have two more strips to join then lots and lots of edging. I’m hoping Lucy blogs her tutorial soon for the lovely edging she’s been working out.

Beccy

Tuesday 8 November 2011

Quick draught excluder tutorial…

Brrr…. it’s been chilly here lately and I realised that there was a particular draught coming under the front door. Mum said to just get one of those brush strip thingies, but boy are they ugly!

Instead, I decided to make an old-fashioned fabric one like my great-gran used to have (although I have a feeling hers was in the shape of a dog – awesome)

This one is going to be like a long tube with round ends and will be stuffed with reclaimed sofa cushion stuffing. I used part of an old floral curtain to make mine, but you can use any sturdy fabric you have in your stash.

draw round round thing

First you need to decide how large you want your draught excluder to be. I wanted mine to be about 6” diameter so I rummaged around the house until I found something round and approximately the right size to use as a template. I drew around this lampbase and then added a centimetre seam allowance. Cut them out.

meausre round thing

I then measured around the lampbase to determine the width of the main fabric piece. It was 14.5” At this point I also measured the door, which was 40” wide.

finished pieces

I then cut one large piece of fabric 15.5” x 41” (don’t forget your seam allowances!)

sew together lengthleave gap

Place the large piece of fabric face-to-face and sew along the long edge so you have a tube. Leave a 6” gap in the middle somewhere – this is where you will stuff it.

pin round end

Now I pinned in the ends. This is a bit tricky but easier if you pin one side, then the opposite, then the gap in between each pin. Try and make sure it is still round and even and use as many pins as will fit!

sew round

Then I sewed in both ends. Go slowly and pull the fabric slightly to avoid wrinkles.

sewn round end

The ends all sewn in.

snip round edge

Now snip those curved edges. This allows the fabric to curve properly when you turn in inside out. You can also trim the seams to remove bulk if you like.

sew up hole

I then turned the whole thing right-side out and stuffed it with my ever handy stash of old sofa stuffing. I pinned the hole and hand-sewed it closed.

finished

Sorry for the bad photo, it was pretty dark today. This is the finished draught excluder. It’s a little bit pretty but if I’d had more time I would have made it nicer with buttons… or ribbons… or I would have raided my stash of vintage doilies… or done some embroidery. It still does it’s job though!

If you want to add embellishments, the best time is after you have cut your pattern pieces but before you sew them together.

Beccy

Saturday 5 November 2011

Bow bag showcase…

I’ve been meaning to share a few of these wonderful bow bags for a while now, but I’m seriously rubbish and disorganised.

Anyway, here they are! Click on the picture or the link below to visit the maker’s blog/flickr (if they have one)

the babe

Chic, understated and girly – this bag was made by The Babe.

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These two lovely bags were made by Xperimental, check out her mammoth Flickr photoset bags and purses (in fact her entire photostream is pretty awesome!)

The top bag is also on Craftster, which you should definitely check out if you haven’t already.

Purse 1-1Purse 2-1Purse 3-2

These three were made by Amy - I love the contrasting fabric on that last bag!

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Mrs P used a remnant to make this great floral version!

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And last but not least, Molly from Lilly Cakes used a vintage table runner and a couple of scraps of gingham to make her version. Beautiful.

Thank you everybody who let me steal their photos for this post. Everybody else, please visit them and give them lots of love!

If you’d like to make your own bow bag the tutorial is available here.

Beccy

Tuesday 1 November 2011

I made an exhibition of myself

I just wanted to show you some photos of the Night Scented Stocks exhibition at Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York that featured my work last month.

This was really my excuse for going to New York in the first place!

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More information here, and here

Beccy