Making Rainbows

I've admired all sorts of fibre art on social media for years, without ever having the time to have a go and make something of my own, so lockdown was the perfect time to have a go and make a rainbow. Especially as the rainbow image was being used in all the support NHS campaigns, it seemed double perfect.

Luckily, being a craft hoarder, I had plenty of wool, piping cord, and ribbon to get started, so quickly did.

I made this little one for me, and hung it in the window, which quickly attracted admiration from the neighbours (we live in a block of flats, and this was in the window facing our shared garden). 

I then made these ones, and posted a photo on social media, and quickly started to get some love!

By this point I'd run out of piping cord, but was sure I had some rope somewhere (no idea why?!?) and I quickly found a bag with lots of different thicknesses of rope! Winner! I wrapped and wrapped, and pom pom'd and glued, until I'd run out of my initial rope stash. 

Luckily our local independent DIY shop was open, and had some sash cord in 2 thicknesses - perfect for wrapping!

I bought a 10m length and was very happy, but then got so many orders, I'd wrapped the entire 10m in one day! So popped back the next day to but another length. And again wrapped the whole 10m, so popped back a third day to buy another 10m!!

By this point, the lovely shop owner enquired as to what I was doing, and why i needed so much cord!! I assured him I was not some sort of murderer/bondage fan, and showed him some photos of my rainbows!

Since then, I've been steadily making rainbows in all sizes and colour combinations, and making good on one of my lockdown resolutions - to use up my entire wool stash!!

They are very therapeutic to make, and I might sneakily add one to every window in our flat (we have 5 - haha!)

Happy Birthday Banners

Alongside all my personalised felt name banners, I also make Happy Birthday banners (and Christmas ones too - but it's too early for that yet!!). I love the idea of having a long lasting, reusable banner that can come out again and again for everyone's birthday, and replaces all the terrible single use banners you find in party shops.

The original one I made was in yellow and grey (surprise surprise), but I've since made a range of custom ones to suit other people's tastes too!

Here are some photos...

Which is your favourite? And which colours should I make next??

A-Z of name banners - part 2

It's been a hard decision choosing banners to put into this A-Z of names. Ideally, they'd all begin with the right letter, and so would the name (e.g Hearts & Henrietta which was one of todays posts). Sadly most of them don't conform to this, so I've usually picked one of each to show off.

Here are my recent ones:

Cole & Clouds = yay! Double 'C'

And then Connie with some awesome lions!

Daniel & Dinosaurs = Double 'D' - win again!

And another cool Connie, with 2 different dogs. 

Emilia & Elephants! = Double 'E' 

Emilia is such a beautiful name, and quite popular at the moment it seems - I've sewn 5 of these banners, all in different colours, in the last year. 

Faiz with 2 different animals. Because why not?

And Alfie and Foxes. It doesn't begin with F but does have an F nicely placed in the middle!

G is for Gael, and Giraffes. Sadly not in the same banner, but they still both look beautiful!

H for Hannes and Hearts - again not in the same banner, until I got the order last week for Henrietta with Hearts - which fitted in perfectly instead!!

More to follow, we're only on H! Watch this space! 

Unicorns!

After making a custom unicorn mobile for a lovely customer last year, I have been intending to make more! So last week I made one, and had sold it at Richmond Market on Sunday within half an hour of setting up!

So I've made some more....and not just pink girly ones....more neutral ones too....

With purple hearts, and pink tails!

With blue & yellow stars, and mint & blue hair! 

Silver sparkly horns!

Rainbows!!

All shades of pastel colours!

New Flat = Big Workspace

One of the first projects that I worked on in our new flat was making some Boden props for a summer shoot. This was when I had moved into our flat but my boyfriend still hadn't moved in, as our old house had internet and the new one didn't! This was good as it meant I could take over the whole living room and make as much (creative) mess as I liked without being in anyone's way!

Here are some things I made in my lovely new space!!

Painting on giraffe splodges

Sewing parrot feathers

Animal Tails

A cardboard zebra head

A baby play tent

And a fancy umbrella!

Sadly we now actually have normal furniture, so there is slightly less space for me to work, but still so much more than I used to have, which is very exciting!

Felt Name Banners

I've had the idea for a while to make felt name banners, using some of the felt animals from my baby mobiles, but with a hand stitched felt name in the middle, so they are very personalised.

I started with the elephants, as these are the ones I make most for my mobiles, and then went on to try some of my other favourite mobile shapes.....

I obviously had to make an Amy one first, so it goes with my stall!

Handmade Clothes Week

I was given the challenge, last week, of wearing at least one item of hand made clothing, every day. Now this is not too hard a challenge for me, as I do have quite a lot of clothes that I've made myself, but they are more summery items, and I was setting up for our school play last week, so on some days got pretty hot and covered in dust!

Anyway, I accepted the challenge, and here are some photos...

Monday - Handmade Skirt

I made this skirt a few years ago, from a piece of fabric from a bag that I got from a charity shop. The fabric had a few moth holes, so I had to design an item around where the holes were! It has a wide elastic paper bag style waist, which is really comfy, and is knee length, so good for school!

Tuesday - Handmade T-shirt & Handmade Dungarees

I was quite pleased to be wearing double handmade today! This spotty T-shirt is really old, I made it at uni as a mock up for a real item I made. At the time, this spotty black and white jersey fabric was on sale, and so I think was the cheapest jersey in our local fabric shop! 

I made this dungaree dress last weekend, after feeling that I'd made enough things for others for the moment and have been having urges to make things for me! I based it on another dungaree dress that I have, and this one is made from black needlecord, with big shiny buttons, and also sits on the knee. 

Wednesday - Fun Animals Dress

I made this dress last year, after spotting this fabric in one my local shops, and absolutely having to buy it! It is a beautiful cotton lawn, with lots of animals all over it, and slightly quirky, as some have boots on, and others have suitcases. It has a ruched waist, and fun clock buttons down the front, which I bought a few years ago in a market in France. 

Thursday - Double Handmade again!

Today it was freezing! And as I was wondering around outside quite a lot, I also wore my new knitted hat for a lot of the day. I knitted this in January, after I received some beautiful wool for Christmas. I found this stitch on a knitting blog, and thought it was fabulous (I will post the pattern later!)

I also wore my brand new denim chambray dress. I also made this last weekend, when I'd had the urge to sew for me #selfishsewing. This dress has tie shoulders, and a wide elastic at the waist, so is very comfortable, and is based on a design I've had in my head for a very long time. 

Friday - Chevron Sun Dress

And then it was Friday. This was the last night of our play, so I had to dress up a bit. I wore one of my favourite dresses, that I made a while ago, after discovering a beautiful new fabric shop down the road from my house, and I love it. I have worn it so so much! To make it fancy, I teamed it with a navy sparkly jumper, and I was very pleased with how it looked!

I love wearing clothes I've made myself, as it means that are different to anything else I see anyone else wearing, and also they fit me perfectly! I often find that shop bought dresses are too short, which is not suitable to wear at school, so I love making my own, so that they can be exactly the length I want!

Foxy Mountain Clouds Mobile

It's been a while since I came up with a new mobile design idea (I think the balloons were my last new idea) and then I was suddenly inspired by a baby jumper (I wish it had been big enough to fit me!!) which had Foxes and Mountains on it. I added in some clouds, as you usually find those around mountains, and went to play with some felt....

I'd made a felt fox once before, when I made a country mobile for a friend, so dug out my pattern and went to work. The mountains were free hand cut, and I think look like the shape of a stereotypical mountain drawing!