Button Moon

Following on from my last post (Dragon Bag)..  I wanted a button closure but didn't want it to look out of place.  Didn't really take long for a button moon to pop into my head - only problem: I didn't HAVE a button anything like a moon!  So I decided to have a pop a making my own..

Inspiration came from 2 of my blogger friends this time:

Nicola at Clasheen blogged about some gorgeous little brooches she was doing as a mini workshop.. I think these are so cool, she had so cleverly used tiny resists to create texture.. I could picture a moon with tiny craters. 

A while ago Heather blogged about a gorgeous felt & leather button that she had made.. I loved this button.  I decided to have a play and try making my own version... as a full moon.  I certainly ENJOYED myself making them.. and will make other buttons in the future.  As far as my bag goes though THANK GOODNESS for Sharri of Buttonalia; she is making me some moony buttons as I write this :)  I  am so excited to see what she comes up with - and I know its going to be a lot better than my moons lol.

I laid out a piece of 'textural' felt with loads of different silky bits; fabric, hankies, fibres, caps.  Mostly white but with some deep gold (naturally dyed) which is actually UNDER the silk hankies on this pic.. you can just make out a glow

I chickened out at the last minute from doing the tiny resists.. not sure why.  I felted it really hard.  When it was dry I cut circles and using the darning foot on my machine, freemotioned some 'craters' - they all look like grinning halloween skulls to me ...
.

Button backs - from the left:
* felt back with floss loop - this is the inner piece of felt
* leather back glued on
* leather back sewn on (just machine stitched around the edge through both felt layers plus the leather
* leather back sewn on first to the back felt layer in radiating circles to make it flatter then around the edge through all 3 layers

Pleased with how the loop turned out. 
I cut a hole in the leather disk and threaded the loop through before attaching it.

Glued on - not very happy with this one

Zig-zag stitched through all 3 layers just around the edge. 
This was ok.. but I wondered if attaching it more securely to the back layer of felt would make it stiffer.

bit creepy..

  

Stitching the leather & felt at intervals did make it feel STURDIER

 

mmm





Glad I played around with this though.. even if I'mnot planning to use them :)  it was interesting and different.  I would do things differently again next time (apart from using interesting and colourful felt.. HAND embroidery and maybe some beads.. I shall try handstitching the leather back on to see how that looks.

Next post will be the finished bag (I hope).. I VERY nearly finished it a few days ago.. then decided to change the way I was doing the handle. 

xoxo

Dragon Bag

After my post on Tuesday.. and having caught up with the blogs I read - and finding inspiration there :)  I got down to experimenting, and playing with my new fibres (all merino in lovely deep wintery colours.. blue/black, blue/purple, deep red, juniper green, rich mustardy gold).

I have a range of Celtic inspired bags in my mind.. they have been there for a while, but I finally started sketching a couple of weeks ago.  Actually visiting Glastonbury got me moving with them..  Well one of the bags is a Dragon Bag, what I couldnt decide with this one is what SHAPE the bag should be.

Reading Heathers blog on Tuesday.. in particular the Green Bag posts it clicked into place.  SO, very much inspired by Heathers beautiful bag, I set to work.  It was a dark, miserable day and I had the light on all day while I was working.. I did take photos and am really pleased that they are OK to post. 

Resists for integral pockets. You can't see it, but the first thing I did was lay whisps of mustard coloured fibre where the pockets would be, so I now where to cut the resists out when its felted.

Mixed colours on the back.  I had a couple of layers of solid blue/black beneeth the colours.. I like the way it mutes the colours and brings them together.

Wetted the fibres on the front before putting the dragon on.  I had cut the body and wing shapes from acid green silk chiffon and laid this down first, then whisps of green merino, finished with pistachio green tussah silk fibre.

Removing the pocket resists part way through

Felted.  You can sort of see the resist behind it.. its shrunk by 1/3
 - which is what I expected as it was laid out pretty thickly

Next day I started pinning and sewing decorative ridges to emphasis the shape of the bag

I used my darning foot to freemotion around the dragon.
I had debated whether to machine or hand stitch around him.. went with the machine because I like the extra dimension it gives felt.  Didn't turn out quite the effect I wanted though..

So I am hand stitching OVER the machine stitching.. the felt is still pulled in by the machine stitch, the hand stitching is hopefully adding a little more definition.

I haven't finished the bag yet, so I'm breaking it down into 3 posts.. next time I'll show you the button I made today :)

Highs and lows

I've had a couple of really productive weeks.. worked on some custom orders, some new designs, some bits n bobs for a Christmas fayre Im doing this weekend...  and then WHAM  today I'm feeling totally lost.  Demotivated.  I really dont know what to do - and I know I can't afford to waste a day.  Grrrrrr

Instead of moaning I'm going to post some pics of a few of my makes :)

These are my custom orders.. all either at their new home or on their way now..

Custom coasters.. part way through (love these colours)

parallel stitch lines border

I had to rush to get the coasters shipped & didn't get chance to photograph them all finished.

Remember these? 
I posted pics of them part way done.. here they are all finished & ready to go

I played with textures on this one.. curly locks, silk caps, nuno silk chiffon (vintage sari), slubby woolen yarn and MASSES of sari silk fibre inside

And new designs..

Black, grey & a little white merino with LOTS of extras.. bleeched flax fibre (linen) silk laps, throwsters waste on one side and curly BFL locks on the other

Big and snuggly

I fancied a substantial fring on these.. so I felted 14 cords, leaving the fibres fluffy at one end & incorporating them in at layout stage

And a bit more colourful & glitzy

I added some strips of synthetic fabrics to this one.. this silver is torn from a vintage (prob 70s) disco type top - not mine :)  Its a very solt & slinky mesh-like fabric.. it felted in well & is much more silvery in real life than on the pics..it's still really soft to the touch too (thank goodness).  Lots of multicoloured firestar fibre blended in on this side too.

More felted cord fringing :) 16 this time.  I love the teal with the purples

This is the lighter, plumier side.. nice bright sari-sil ribbons and irridescent synthetic organza (it changes from midnight blue to copper depending on the light)

There you go.. now I'm feeling better :)  And as a bonus my latest fibre order just arrived.. Wingham have a nice range of non-standard merino at the moment and they are LOVELY.

OK, I'm off to play  xxx

A wild and windy seaside stay..

This week the children have been home from school for half-term.. and we managed to sneak away for a last, late seaside break in Dorset.  We had a great time as a family; it was very wild and windy which of course meant the waves were spectacular.. good job we weren't planning to kayak this time :)   There were a couple of days that I have no photos of - they were all out of focus 'cos the wind was buffeting me SO much, but I do have a few pics for you.. the first lot were taken at Lyme Regis.  We have never been there before, what a quirky and picturesque place.. 

Whenever I see seagulls close up I think of Pyramids by Terry Pratchet (LOVE that book)

I recon that poor chap got soaked

Lyme Regis is on the Jurasic Coast and is well known for finding fossils - Matthew found this one just lying there on the first beach we walked over.. needless to say he is thrilled to bits, Gary and Rachael tried hard to find their own fossils too.. but nothing near as good as this one.

You can clearly see 2 big critters (one on top of the other) plus 1 smaller very white & crystalised one, and what looks like quite a few much smaller ones

hello old friend.. 
on top of Glastonbury Tor
The remains of the chapel built in the 1300s 

We havent been to Glastonbury for far too long.. it is a place that has always pulled me very strongly.  Of everyplace that I have ever been Glastonbury has to be the most welcoming, accepting and inclusive... a day spent here soothes my soul.  We had an even bigger treat than expected this time..  As we were walking up the lane toward to Tor we came across the White Spring Water Temple for the first time.  For many years of visiting the Tor this place had been used for other purposes, but in recent years it has become the most amazing water temple. 

Through the doorway, we stood letting our eyes get used to the dark, down the old stone steps in to a candlelit vaulted stone cavern.. there were puddles and rivulets all over the floor and the sound of running water was SO loud,  burning incense and sweet music in the air.  I must go back and spend longer there, it was such a peaceful place.  After too short a time we had to leave.. we were off up the Tor.

.... When we got to the top there was a man playing hauntingly beautiful music on a flute...  How much do I love it here?  ... I want to go back already..

Now we are home & I made my first piece of felt for just over a week yesterday :)  Today its going to be all about pumpkins!  As a family of Harry Potter fans we have a Halloween feast every year, Rachael is planning to make a special spooky desert this year so we shall be having our feast tonight rather than on Halloween (my girl does everything at a snails pace so she will need lots of time :)

xx

Beeeautiful Buttons

If you have been reading this for a while.. or know me in person, you have probably picked up on my love of buttons.. I hoard them, my button tins are little treasure chests.  I have always felt that way about button tins actually, I loved my mom & nans button tins when I was a little girl and spent many happy hurs sorting through them.  Even my husband is always on the lookout for buttons for me :) bless him. 

I want to share a seller that I have found.. I have been admiring Buttonalia ceramic buttons on Etsy for about a year now.. they are always such gorgeous colours and look so plump and non-uniform.. each one is unique.  Every now and then I go look and drool and wonder what I would make with each one I fancied.. not really settling on a particular use... I just coveted them :)

A couple of weeks ago I spotted a couple of big beauties and straight away I could picture them on shawls / wraps as a closure instead of one of my usual stick pins.  So I brought them.. Sharry the talented potter behind Buttonalia, is absolutely lovely :) she got my buttons to me the very next day - which was great 'cos I was bursting to get hold of them!  I was so excited to get them I didnt even take a photo of them unattached!

First thing I did was attach one to my own shawl.. the nuno one with the Indian scarf which took forever and a day to felt in..

Perfect size to allow me to use the decorative holes as button holes :)

The button is black and green

The next one was just right for a wrap which which turned out just as I was picturing it (HUGE layout for this one) its more of a cape than a shawl..

SO, if you like buttons go take a look at Sharry's shop..  I can honestly say hers are the nicest ceramic buttons I have seen.. and as lovely as they are to look at they feel even better - you just wanna keep touching them

xoxo

Helenium Cushion - process pics

This all started with a lovely project article in FELT magazine - an Australian magazine which celebrates felt in all its forms :)  I have only been able to get hold of the one issues of this (issue 3) but really enjoyed it.

The project was for a poppy cushion and was written by Wendy Bailye.  Lovely clear instructions and lots of photos for making a seamless 3 dimensional poppy cushion with 3 petal layers (1 being the outer frill).  I very much enjoyed making this.. as you can tell from the fact that I followed Wendy's instructions :) something I rarely do.  After making my poppy cushion I decided to be daring and make one with even more petals.  I wanted to have a go at making a rose for my nans birthday.. nan has a beautiful rose bush that my grandad brought her many years ago and I decided to try and make the rose- cushion in those colours.

As you can tell from the title of this post (& the photos)  my cushion had a mind of its own and did not want to be a rose..  its more like a marigold or a helenium - and as heleniums are one of my favourite flowers thats what I'm calling it  :)

My first step was to card batts blending the colours that I wanted.. gold, bronze & pink, and turn them into roving.  (I LOVE carding batts and blending pretty colours - its so satisfying)  They actually look a little dull on the picture, in real life the pink against the gold and bronze was delicious!

Then I cut the resists; one big circle of foam underlay for the centre + 4 layers of thin plastic for the petals

The first layer of fibre was layed as rays extending out past the edge of the circular resist.. (all the fibres for this outer frill were layed going in the same direction so when they felted there was plenty of give to allow you to shape them into ruffles).

Then the centre of the circle was filled with perpendicular layers

Next came a layer of plastic with a hole in the centre where the petal layer felts into the main part of the cushion.

This was repeated 4 times..  each layer of petals I made just a little bit smaller than the last.

Flipped over and layed the back out

The next stage took AGES.  Cool wetting and rubbing till it was ALL holding together well.. and finally rolling it - again there were a fair few hours spent doing this.

When it got to this stage it was strong enough for heat and more vigorous fulling.  Making sure to stretch the petals out sideways as they shrunk so they were nice and flouncy..

(can you see all the silk? I used LOADS)

Till it looked like this.. 

 I cut button holes and healed the edges, for a button close back

It really doesnt look much like a rose to me unfortunately..  nan likes heleniums too though so I'm hopeful that she will still like it :)   I made this in early summer.. nans birthday is in November - talk about being prepared!

xx

Sunbathing in October.. In ENGLAND?!

Who would of thought it.. but this last week has been absolutely stunning!  Better weather than we had in August.  Most of my time during the week has been spent inside felting, but what a treat to sit out on the bench in the sunshine (wearing a sundress!) for a cup of tea or my lunch.. feels like a gift this late in the year.

I snapped this little fellow taking a stroll across the field at lunchtime yesterday.. he was only about 30ft - 40ft away, I've never seen a fox that close in bright dayight before, I think he was too hot to be bothered about being seen :)  Had him lined up sitting facing me & just as I pressed the camera button he turned round to scratch his chin!  Never mind.. you can see what a lovely sunny day it was.

Feeling hot n itchy

So, what have I been felting this week?  I got my hands on another vintage silk sari and made my first scarf from it :)  took a while for the wool to migrate through nicely but it was worth it.

super long & skinny

 I'm working on 2 pairs of slippers.. a version of the 'franken-boots' (Rachaels slippers from last year)re-christened Funky Boots.. they are about half way done.  And some mens mule slippers.. a  special request from a very good customer for her hubby.  They now have some pretty stitching around the openings and I just need to sew the soles on.  Think tomorow is going to be a sewing day.

LOVE this colour combo - chartreuse & turquoise

This weekend though has been spent in the sun and thoroughly enjoyed :)  Its been a lovely long weekend too, the kids school was closed on Firday for a training day.. with a little forethought we could of had a few nice days by the sea - ah well.

My next post is going to be the process pics of my Helenium flower cushion that I promised many months ago..

TTFN xx