My new pattern/tutorial has been published for a few days at We All Sew. I have loved making those vessels for a the last few years first covered in quilting fabric and now in the rough. Their unique shapes and sometimes irregular sides can challenge many an exact quilter but I have found that they can also bring you zen...
|
This toy cradle was meant to become a Christmas present for little E but winter came early and it languished half painted in the garage until the recent turn for the warmer. I finished it as soon as the sun came out last week, two facts I am incredibly astonished about...
The cradle is spay painted in Heirloom White over a coat of gray primer. The little mattress and pillows are sewn in matelasse and filled with a few layers of cotton batting. I serged two rectangles of a soft woven for sheets.
Making good use of the Bernina 580 embroidery module again to decorate one of the sheets with her initial. The alphabet is pre-programmed in the Bernina, I simply added a layer for the heart frame and increased the stitch count by 30%, it gives a "bumpier" result, much like an antique monogram. the piece could have been stabilized a bit more though, next time I will use cut away instead of a thin tear away. It should reduce some of the pucking.
The cradle is already being played with as I type but it still needs a little blanket in Berrocco Alpaca, I am a bit slower going on that end!
|
The basket took a dip in a bath of Dylon red tulip. It's more pink than red and at the time I was a bit surprised but looking at the tulips at the shop today I can see that they are indeed more pink than red...
Next basket: cotton thread...
|
Finn has the talent that comes with his age to describe things exactly as they are. This morning as we were sitting together at our great table, he looking through Lego catalogues and I sewing a rope basket, he said: " Isn't it convenient that you remember how to sew and weave?". And I know precisely what he meant! I have had no time to do either since starting my apprenticeship as a floral designer and it's a kind of miracle when I just sit down and pick it right back up. Much like skiing or riding a bicycle...
This is not the first time Finn has pointed out my lack of crafting, last time he came up with: "Why do you keep all those calligraphy things since you don' t ever use them anymore?" Cough, cough, cough... I resolved this problem by dedicating a nib and holder just for him and now we practice together. So far we are focusing on not covering the table with tipped over bottles of ink (level difficulty: medium).
This basket is meant for a collaboration with a new website, more on that later, and will be dip dyed hopefully ombre. This one will keep the weaving bobbins, scissors and extra shuttles by my side on the loom bench. I love making those, they come up so fast and yet everyone of them is unique. The new tassel finish was a stroke of inspiration this morning. The resilience of the Bernina 580 never ceases to amaze me. At full speed, in such thick material while applying quite a bit of tension to the cord, the stitches stayed completely regular and the needle didn't break. I felt as if I was sewing instead on an industrial sewing machine, but in style!
|
A few patterns that caught my eyes:
I really like both the skirt's fullness in the front (but not the back) and the simple blue top. I might be inclined to mathe the top first actually... More ruffles with this one below, I never have too many tiered skirts, The fabric choices scare me though...
|
In Moda flannel and MayArts ribbon destined to become an hostess gift this weekend. ( Now what will I fill it with...)
Tomorrow, Liberty of London mesdames!
|
This post is inspired by a tutorial posted by Betz White on her blog. You can find it here. She is fortunate to have very thick felt on hand. I on the other hand only could find regular old wool felt in my stash and local suppliers. Scarcity really is the mother of invention as I realized that I could fuse two squares using fusible web (and lots of heat and patience) and get a color block effect. I hope you like the resulting woodland mobiles. The green one is travelling to Germany, as a 'thank you' for the Herrnut stars while the red one is staying home with me for once!
They are impossible to photograph when hanging as they are long, skinny and won't stop twirling. I use sewing invisible thread doubled and for the hanging loop a bit of raffia from MayArts ribbons.
Most of the felt balls were sourced from Amazon (look for felt beads). But the tiny mushroom were the result of my very first etsy purchase from a woman whose blog I cannot find anymore. tI was called Paper Scissors Glue (she's thinking).
The little leaves were cut out of the excess fused felt and then embroidered with a strait stitch using embroidery thread on the Bernina 580. I picked foot 20 for this job as it is very open and lets you see what you are doing. Setting the needle down and pivoting instead of the just using the backstitch button was a tremendous help. For too small a leaf, I have no trick, the feed dogs will simply have nothing to grab... still working on it...
Can you tell it's terribly late and Thomas is out of town? I feel like a zombie blogger, after a wonderfully full day of single mothering with the help of great friends. I always pack too much in the days when the woolf(daddy) is away and cannot let the evening alone end.
|
Remember the nisse? He was my first pattern for this blog and so popular too for a little while until Maileg shut us down with not so subtle threats. I must admit to have been saddened and rather turned off from their the company adorable image ever since (except of course for the brief lapse during which I purchased a 5 ft tall elf advent calendar...). But it's time to put all this brooding behind and maybe sew up some new friends. After all they cannot prevent me from using my own pattern at home... Cue the helicopters with tiny elves wearing camo descending on the house!
The first order of business was giving this long fellow some clothes. He is destined to travel back to the European north and settle in Köln, Germany where I hope he will delight and watch over a little boy. After taking him out of storage quickly came the realisation that he was naked, very much so, and his long limbs made him appear more insect than pixie.
First the entirely improvised sweater, knit in Noro Retro, a blend of wool/angora/silk. I took lots of mental notes and wrote an easy pattern for it on Ravelry. You can find it here.
Wearing a sweater only made the bum more bare and I had to sew up some linen pantaloons, trim them up... and finally knit a scarf (cascade ecological). Finn is completely enamored with him so I am off to start the sequence again with my last prototype.
The pattern for the wreath behind the elf should be available on We All Sew very soon.
|
Two weeks ago, I had the single most successful trip to Goodwill since they opened. There, T. and I found 6 antique linen sheets with spectacular monograms, some of them pairs (!). I believe them to be French in origin but if anyone knows better I would love to learn from you. Some have holes that need darning, and so far my experiments with the free motion foot on the Bernina 580 have been satisfactory. Still, I like to get validation from a higher authority and will have to write my sewing-savant contact at headquarters... Now without further blabla, behold the monogram galore:
The most spectacular maybe is missing from the pictures above as the sheet is enormous and I lost steam literaly and figuratively after ironing all this linen. Instead I added a napkin found as a set of twelve by my aunt in France. B L is my complete monogram, but so far I have not found a compelling digitized example and therefore only use L. Which leads to this weekend effort, yet another embroidered flatware cover. Taking advantage of the oval hoop (largest size furnished with the B580) I went for white on white. The wreath is meant to contain at least six colors but I like it much better with just one. Many motifs can benefit from less garishness, it lends them a classic look and is much faster/easier to complete.
Looking at it closely I notice only now that I must have skipped the caps of the acorns, oh well... too late now to do much about it.
Forgetfulness is not the only issue alas, as each slot is 1.25 inches when really 1.5" would have been more adequate. It's the tricky part with these covers, trying to guess how big the slots should be... which generally, in my case, turn out too large in the end. From now on it will be 1.5" for knives and might vary for the forks and spoons. To further protect the forks I sewed an additional rectangle of matelasse to place behind the blades. This cover will probably end up housing dessert flatware in the long run as it might accommodate those better.
|
