Soft & Sweet :: The Groupies

Just finished off these little rocker dudes... ready for their trip to Melbourne for some Kiss Army convention. And just in time too. I'm moving house. We are in sea of boxes, sticky tape & bubble wrap...and I can't sleep as lists of things "To Do" are swimming around in my brain. But I'm excited! I'm going to have my very own office/ crafty room... and a little garden. It seems like a dream come true!

Unfortunately the Internet will be turned off soon... so it might be a bit quiet around here for a wee while. Hopefully not too long as I have got to make use of that new room! ...suppose I better pull the gloves back on and do some cleaning. T

P.S Yes my husband went to Fashion School... and is a fashion designer. I have been given his sewing machine, fabric scraps and sewing books. He buys my clothes and doesn't say my butt looks big in anything... just that I should consider my silhouette!!!! For all this he still had the boxing on the telly last night despite my objections!

Sew Sweet :: The Bound & the Beautiful

Avert your eyes Nicky!... this is the hassle of sharing a blog, maybe you are making something for the other contributor and they might just find out what you have been up to!



And I have been up to binding! Binding used to be such a mystery to me... When I sew I just jump on the sewing machine and hope for the best. It might take me longer than the average josie/ joe, as I just usually figure things our for myself. Don't get me wrong, this is not my general behaviour... I do read maps and ask for directions! But as a result of this particular sewing philosophy my binding creations have been a disaster!



Making this little padded jacket spurred me to rely on the wisdom of others and read a book ! My husband handed his mint condition tome that got him through fashion school. It is brilliant! It opened the door to more binding possibilities than I thought were possible... turning tatty to bound & beautiful.

As my skills improved I started to dislike the first bits I had sewn. Isn't this always the way? But after 8 hours of binding I can say I am now over it... but it is good not to have to lie to Nicky anymore with stories of making oven mitts! T

P.S The baby hasn't arrived yet... and Nicky has cleaned everything and is telling me she is bored. I believe this is called the calm before the storm!

Sew Sweet :: Nursery Tales (Part 3)

Nicky has gone into serious nesting mode... and apparently this means scrubbing everything within an inch of its being. So I have been given the task of posting about our 2 day crafty challenge. As you can't predict when the bub will arrive everything seems to be urgent... we dropped all other tasks (sorry business) to make this nursery crafty centerpiece before the little one's arrival! And boy did we have a lot of fun- forgot how fun it is to craft with a friend.



We used inspiration from everywhere... Nicky really wanted to feature a tree. It was all about the tree. After searching on the web and books the inspiration was right on her desk calendar... the fabric for the trunk is some thrifted tweedy wool. We adhered it to some Ikea linen with Visofix - an amazing fusible web. I had never heard of this iron on product before, but it is safe to say I am in love. Oh, the instant gratification! No sewing required!



The little critters were inspired by shoes, the amazing felt book and from prints on fabric...

Once we had attached everything to the background linen it was staple gunned to a board of Caneite (I think this is called Homasote in other countries). Caneite is another great discovery, light weight and can be used as a bulletin board. It can be a bit fibrous though and it was a real challenge trying to find a hook that would stay in, so it could be hung on the wall. I think this is a trial and error thing. I want to make another hanging crafty work but this time I might talk to hardware store peeps about the best way! Hope the little bubba likes it! T