Shirt 1

I really want to make a William Morris patterned shirt for myself, but the Liberty type fabric costs an arm and a leg so I thought I should practice first. 

This material was quite expensive for me, £8 per metre from the Abakhan trip.

I used a McCalls Pattern M6436, B5 and I cut out a size 16.

I used the full seam allowances.  With hindsight I would have used a bit less.

I started in Oct and then got diverted when I got to the collar, a hard bit.

After the waistcoat I was feeling more buoyant so continued.

Another week of panic and procrastination came before completing the button holes.  Once again, deliberately cutting holes into the nice thing I had nearly finished and could ruin.  Deep breath.

I made a test square using the same material, sandwiching the same interfacing.  Then made 20 practice button holes of all shapes and sizes.

Time to bite the bullet.  Starting at the bottom of the front so no one will notice.  My machine makes button holes in 4 nerve shattering stages.  Breathe.

 

Not too bad

Lovely contrasting buttons saved from an old shirt.

Cuff

Cuff showing pleats

Closed front

Closed collar

Open front

Back

Open neck front.

Slight problem, my winter podge means it looks great when I am stood up, but less so when sat down.  No more pies for a while.  Good incentive.  Plus its a bit chilly for this at the moment.

Waistcoat 1

Mick joined Clitheroe Ukulele Orchestra last year and they play in waistcoats.  His first was acquired in haste from a charity shop.  It was time for an upgrade.

Carol had given me some grey flannel a few weeks previously and I had the blue from years ago.

The pattern was from the second Great British Sewing Bee book.  You have to trace them.  This was the largest size.

You use interfacing in the front panels.  In the book they use tack in interfacing, but I used Iron-on.

You attach the fronts to the back at the shoulders, then seam around the whole thing except under the arms on both sides.  Then you turn your brain inside out to figure out the bagging of the garment.  It’s very clever, but you pretty much sew the lining and the outer together, but leave a space to turn the whole thing through.

You end up with holes at each side in the lining which I sewed up by hand.

The pattern says that you can make a faux piping by ironing the front very carefully to show the lining and by heck it worked a treat.

Then for the bound button holes, more internet knowledge required.  The explanation in the book is quite good, but the videos really helped.

You lay a small piece of fabric where you want the button hole, on the outside, right face together.

Sew a narrow rectangle around the button hole, then slit the hole through all the layers….. of the lovely work you have been working on for days, very jangled.

Then push the external material through the hole and press it so that lips appear on the outside.

On the inside, trim and turn under the excess and sew very neatly,

And carefully.

Internal

External

Close-Up

More

More, cos I was so chuffed.

Open view

Closed view.  The lady bumps on my dress form distort the shape a bit.

Lovely perfectly matched buttons, from Patches and Buttons in Clitheroe.

I need to make a light weight summer version now.

Wet Felting

I signed up for a WI course on Wet Felting.  I can’t say it is something I have yearned to do but as an addition to a craft persons list of skills it seemed like a good idea.  I have been known to admire items in shops and galleries and wondered how they were made.

The list of items to take included a bamboo mat, I forgot about this until 2 days before the course.  So I thought I would make one, as the Sushi mats in the supermarket were far too small, but they did sell bamboo sticks.

More internet searching found a good example of the art.

My word it’s a lot of knots.  Three rows, systematically tied so it that it does not fall apart.

Had a read the brief better I would have realised that a 50cm x 50cm mat was required.

Immediately upon arrival my mat was deemed too small, and I was issued with another……Ho Hum.

We were asked to take a picture to use as a starting point for the pictures we were to make.  My dad took this picture in the Trough of Bowland.

First you lay down an old towel, then the bamboo mat,then one layer of netting (folded in half so that you can fold the other half over the picture), then if your picture is landscape view you layer a white bottom layer of wool across the mat larger than your finished picture, as it will shrink.

The wool is in long sausages and you literally pull pieces off and lay them down.

The next layer is put on vertically, so we add sky, hills, river etc.

Finally the third layer is finessing the final features.  I added sheep at this point but they came off in the next process.

Pull over the top layer of net.

Pour/spray hot soapy water over the whole thing and rub the picture with your fingers.  This will sud up.  The rubbing makes the wool felt together.

Roll the whole thing in the bamboo mat and start to extract the water.  Rub, rub, rub, roll, rub etc etc.

You can reshape your picture between rolls as it get distorted hence the removal of the sheep/undistinguishable blobs.

Sadly myself and a few others had accidentally been given silk wool for the base layer which does not felt.  So I eventually had to remove most of the base layer after the rest had felted together.

Its amazing how rough you can be with it after this stage.

When I got home and it had totally dried I used needle felting to add more sheep and define the landscape a bit.

From a distance it looks pretty good.

At the end of the day we made flowers using the same technique.  But instead of rolling you literally rub the flower after wetting and it shrinks beautifully and takes other colours.

A poppy is ideal for this.  The felted ball is a ball of wool wetted and rolled until it comes together.  They charge a bomb for these in shops.

The daffodil was less successful, as I cut a petal too few.

I also made a blue flower which I gave away.

Excellent day again, the WI run great courses for very little money.

I can see me using this technique to add texture to other projects.

Cross-Stitch UFO – Un-Finished Object

I bought this cross stitch 25 plus years ago.  At our Craft and Chat people turn up with un-finished objects all the time.

I was busy doing other things, but it kept re-appearing and whispering to me, I am un-loved and un-finished!!!!

So over Christmas this year I got down to it.

I had the presence of mind to put small pieces of thread against each colour years ago so I had an idea which colour was right.

Applying more recently acquired knowledge, I firmly decided which way was the right way up and stuck to it this time!!

I now have a slightly grubby finished article.

The big question is …. to wash or not to wash.

And shall I make it into a cushion using the same material on the back or a sturdier material to stabilise it?

Watch this space.

All suggestions gratefully received.

Clay Modelling 1

I have fancied a bit of clay modelling for a while and I received two blocks of DAS Modelling Material as a surprize Christmas present from Mick.

I saw a course to make a Green Man mask and was really keen to attend but it was on a date I could not manage.

So after many hours trawling websites I thought I would make a sun first.

Heck its more tricky than it looks.  I went to a school where we did none of this kind of thing, so I am doing my playing as an adult.

I started with a side plate to cut out a circle from the rolled out clay. 

I used half of a 500g block for the whole thing.

The internet said to use balls of rolled up paper under the mask to mould the shape of the face.

As I had no tools to form the features I used knitting needles, sewing needles, pins, crochet hooks, end of pencils and craft knives to eek out the face, using internet tips about the eyes, nose and mouth.

I then cut out triangles of rolled out clay to make the sun’s rays.

The clay is air dried, so I left it on cling film so that it did not stick.

24 hours later I had to turn it over as the underside was still quite damp.

Huh Oh, the rays started to fall off.

It dried to a lighter colour.

So when it was dry I stuck the rays on with hot glue, they are going nowhere now!

As an interesting exercise I made some beads with the left overs.

Then put them on cocktail sticks and painted them to see what the coverage was like and how the colours changed on application.  I was given a set of paints which needed trying too.

Well that was tedious.  Some took 6 coats and others I threw away as useless.

But now I have a Wilma Flintstone bracelet, if anyone is going to a fancy dress party.

Socks 3

During the summer it is good to have small projects on the go, so socks are perfect.

These were made for my biker friends to keep their tootsies warm.

I did ring to ask about shoe sizes, which was a little weird until I explained why, glad I did as Greg is a 9 and Mark an 11.  It would have been heart breaking to make them too small. 

They took me many weeks as I am not a fast knitter.

I was very diligent this time to take note of the colour I started on and start the second one at approximately the same place to keep the stripes even.

The third pair I made for myself as my friend Liz had given me a beautiful skein of beautifully soft wool for my birthday.

It is more of an artisan wool so the stripes are not so predictable.  It is lovely to knit with, a real treat.

They are super cosy.

Christmas Hat

Mick did several concerts during Christmas 2017 with the Clitheroe Ukulele Orchestra and on one occasion we realised he was the only one not wearing a festive hat.

I had some felt left from last Christmas and the fur was from a failed rabbit project.  The fur was just too soft to make a rabbit, but perfect for this.

Two large triangles of felt, sewed together.  Add the Hat band.  Make a bobble from a circle of fur filled with stuffing.

There are no pictures of him wearing it!  But he did.

Ropework 1

I have been playing around trying to make Turks Head Knots for a couple of years.

Last year I bought a small key-ring with a Turks Head Knot end and it started me off again.

Then this year Sister and Brother in Law bought a canal boat and on the tiller (steering stick) there is a brass pin which needs a device to stop it flying out.  Hence the request for this.  It hooks through a hole in the bottom of the pin and stops it from being accidentally lost.

I used ‘The Ultimate Encyclopaedia of Knots and Ropework’ by Geoffrey Budworth, which I found in a charity shop to get the ideas.  There are many tutorials on-line too.

This is my sixth attempt.

They take a lot more rope than you would think and the real art is having the patience to keep tightening and re-tightening it.

The Rope was a polyester mix, which will be more weather resistant.

Jackie and Murray were pleased with it and Murray has been spurred on to make some rope fenders.

It is a very satisfying pastime, but it hurts your fingers a bit.

Cushions – Trucks and Boats

This truck cushion was a Christening gift for a truck-mad little boy.

Front

Back

The fabric is way more expensive than I usually use, but I managed to buy a piece at a reduced price, so win-win.

The only tricky part was getting all the sign posts and lamp posts to fit into the square and prominently position the trucks.

Little boys grow into big boys and our friend Mark was having a 60th birthday party.  He is a sailing friend, so when I found this material it was an easy decision.

The pictures show the back and fronts of a pair of cushions.

All three cushions have zips and I sewed around them all twice for strength.

Bears 15

Short haired, faux fur, fully jointed.  I think this fur will look good on smaller bears.

Mohair, fully jointed.  Proper traditional looking bear.

The background is a beautiful tea towel with a Victoria sponge design which I bought for a present, but kept it!!

Zentangle

According to the person that created it.  ‘Zentangle is an easy to learn, relaxing and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns’.

A lady came to our W.I. to show us how to do this as it was an item in that years Craft Show and no one knew what it was.  We all thought at first it was fancy doodling, but the word ‘doodling’ made this lady bristle.

We were all given a set of instructions, a small bookmark sized piece of card and a 0.3 Fine Line pen.  We also had pencils and erasers just in case, but the idea really is to create in pen, crikey.

First pencil a simple design, like a zig-zig.

Then fill in the spaces using one of the Zentangle patterns on the handout.

I hope you can see that the left design is the start and the right design is the result.  The idea is to build up intricate patterns by starting very basic and adding elements.

It is very therapeutic and a little bit addictive, and in my opinion, a bit more creative than colouring, but that’s just me.

Erica’s Birthday Card

Lukas’s Birthday Card

Joanne’s Birthday card, she loves butterflies.

They take 2 – 4 hours to create and can be framed as a keepsake.

I like this possess as it takes very little start-up cost and can be very creative.  Pinterest has some great examples.  I like the black and white, but people use colours too.

Have a try, there are lots of patterns on the internet.