little black teapot

Felt aeroplane mobile

2012-02-04T19:13:00.002Z

My newest mobile is this little felt bi-plane.

DH told me that the plane's propeller looks like a moustache and now I can't help seeing it that way! Weirdly I am then reminded of the Red Baron that Snoopy dog fights then :)

This little plane fits in my hand and is so light because of the felt and fibrefill that it spins merrily in the wind.

It is currently snowing outside so I'm not really opening windows to feel the arctic breeze but I did spend a couple happy minutes blowing this bi-plane around just to watch it dip and whirl.
Happy crafting!

Horace the Crochet Giraffe

2011-12-24T20:50:00.000Z

It's been a hectic couple of months, between a new job and a new home I now have a new craft space that is slightly larger- woohoo! Up until this point most of my crafting using my sewing machine has been done in slightly less than a meter square, perched on the edge of my futon, crouched in front of my sewing machine table which has one leg considerably shorter than the other two. I have moved to an actual desk and a real cupboard for my supplies instead- oh the luxury! I give you this nugget of my life to help you know that it can be done- not all of us get fully equipped craft rooms with shiny cutting tables and ribbon organisers and peg boards. but you can still create and give freedom to your ideas.

So! one of the ideas that was recently born is Horace:

Horace was supposed to be a crochet giraffe. But Horace grew to be his own thing- I'm not sure he is a giraffe, but that's OK, I like him.

Some things just insist on being the way they are, no matter how far away from my original vision they are!

Two on the way!

2011-10-06T21:54:00.000+01:00

It's so lovely when good friends announce they're expecting not just one little bundle but twins! The parents don't want to know the sex of these happy additions so for now we all know them as Topsy and Turvey. We're driving for 3 hours to see the couple before the arrival of these piglets and I simply had to take something in anticipation.
Firstly, the husband is a member of the Labour party like mine, and the two boys like nothing more than discussing the state of the world over a couple of beers. As a tribute to his leanings I had these printed by a lovely seller I found on Ebay.

Hammer and Sickle baby onesies! Awesome not so? And the quality of the onesies is simply great- nice, thick cotton. For the second set I shamelessly stole an idea from a Pinterest post and appliqued "copy" and "paste" on two more onesies.

I shan't show you my appalling aplique skills, it looks pretty decent from this distance but these are unfortunatley not such nice quality (oh, ebay, you hit-and-miss mistress!) so the stitches look a bit pulled because of the low thread count. sigh. It's the idea behind the gift right?

On a completely different note, I made my first apron for a friends birthday.

Just a simple pattern but without any fussy gathering. I already had the grey binding left over from my quilt, Score!

The sweet fabric is called Cartooon Dogs from the Boys Will Be Boys range designed by David Walker for Free Spirit.

I added a little button flower detail.
I have a tiny bit of this fabric left over but now I heart it so much that I can't bring myself to use it! I think I'm destined to have a hoard of material that I love too much to use! Am I the only one with this shameful secret?

Zippy Bags and a Swallow

2011-08-15T19:29:00.000+01:00

I made these little coin purses using this tutorial. I heart them! I can't help myself unzipping them all the time.
Here's a little show: (cue music)

Ta da! Cute, no?
And just because I can, and want you to see the awesome ribbon you can get on online (look at those tiny matroska dolls and the little blue whale!)

Also, because I have craft tourettes, I made a little swallow embroidery. This was heavily inspired by the amazing art show put on by the No Blood Spilt Art Collective. The show was all for charity and was mostly tattoo and alternative arts inspired.

It's not the neatest, and I definitely need to brush up on my fill stitches but at least its obvious what he is!
I have a craft fair booked for three weeks and am so nervous. What if nobody buys anything? What if someone is really mean about my creations in front of me?
Do you have any tips for this kind of thing? Also- what sells? I imagine a stall is different from my online shop. Please help me to choose the best things to sell in the commets below! Much appreciated!

Circus Tents Commission

2011-08-08T21:31:00.000+01:00

I received a commission based on my previous felt balloon mobiles. The lady loves all things circus so she requested two types of tents, a round blue one and one square yellow one.
First, the blue:

I embroidered little stars behind the curtains of the doors!
And the yellow:

I think they turned out pretty cute. The concept would never have occurred to me and that's why I love commissions. Combining two peoples visions can sometimes lead to far greater results than individual efforts. Now if I can only remember this when my DH tries to help with my projects.
As always I hope these give you a bit of inspiration to let your creativity out!

Little Crochet Delights

2011-07-07T20:11:00.000+01:00

I taught myself how to crochet using Youtube videos about a year ago and I have found that I am happiest crocheting amigurumi (little animals). The word is Japanese and means small creature or anthropomorphic object.
The first is this robot that I made for my cousins son (his name is Tim). I got to try crochet spirals! I love em!

The next is a little bunny pattern I found online

These are my favourite! For some reason I always have white wool. But its also the nasty acrylic stuff. To make this fluffy look I took a stiff hairbrush that had lost the ends of its bristles and attacked the monkey. I think it is much better this way!

Their faces are felt and they are super soft!

I sent them as a set to my parents in law. I think they should always stay together, they'd be sad apart!

Hope these are a source of inspiration for your projects :)

Swirly Quilty Quilt Quilt

2011-06-09T20:07:00.002+01:00

It's not my first quilt technically but it is only my second and the first I intend to keep. I'm not sure if other people do this but I plan my next craft whilst busy completing another- so it feels like I've been mulling over this quilt for a long time!

The top is just a disappearing 9 patch, which looks way more complicated than it actually is. I didn't get it perfect and there are some flaws but I'm OK with it and it's staying with me so I'm doubly chilled :).
Most of the colours were an eBay bundle of kona solid fat quarters and one grey shirt of my husbands. The binding is just plain dye sheeting that I bought on sale. The orange I've been hoarding for a project for me.

I freehand embroidered the quilt sandwich which took a full weekend and I'm thinking next time I'd do it a bit less densely. I used grey thread on the Block side and orange thread in my bobbin for the orange cross side. It kind of highlights how little my machine likes free hand embroidery because the pulled and skipped stitches show up very clearly!

This is the "back" but I think I love it most. I'm deeply in love with orange at the moment and the crosses just spoke to me.

Each cross was appliqued on before the quilting.

I'm really happy with the binding because I cut, ironed, ironed and ironed some more to get it to be right. The corners are not beautiful but I intend on hand sewing them into daintier corners (when I feel like it- oh happy day for projects without a deadline!)

Do you have a favourite quilt pattern that looks complicated but is easy for a beginner like me? I think I'm done with this variation for now but am thinking the quilting bug has taken hold.....

Plush Dinosaur with Sewing Pattern

2011-05-15T14:21:00.007+01:00

Finally the long awaited stuffed/plush dinosaur (brontosaur (Apatosaurus) vs diplodocus continues!) tutorial with sewing pattern! I've wanted a dino plushie/stuffie for a long time so I made three! :)

For this project you will need:

Paper pattern pieces cut from the Stuffed Dinosaur sewing pattern Page 1 of 2 and Stuffed Dinosaur sewing pattern Page 2 of 2. To print properly to a full A4 you need to Download the images then print them. Each of these pattern pieces is an A4 or standard letter size sheet. Join the sheets along the dotted line and cut the pattern pieces. A seam allowance of 0.5cm (1/4 inch) is given, add more if you like.
Fabric- I used good old quilting cotton here but any non-stretchy material will do, although heavier upholstery type fabrics will be harder to turn right side out. Use a fun contrasting fabric for the scales along the back or even a multitude of colours.
1 pair safety eyes- these are easy to find in craft store, fabric stores and on the net but you could replace them with felt eyes, fabric paint eyes, buttons etc.
Stuffing- I used fibre fill but old pillow stuffing, sewing scraps etc could be substituted
Scissors
Thread

To begin:
Cut all your pattern pieces like so-
Note the blue scales at the bottom are two pieces of fabric each. For the scales I used three of the larger scales, two of the medium and one of the smallest. Remember to cut two of the sides of the bodies and only 1 of the underside of the body. You'll need four of the circles for the pads of the feet.

With the fabric wrong sides together, sew the all scales along four sides only, leaving the bottom edge unsewn to enable turning right side out, as shown below:

This seam allowance is only 0.5 of a cm else the scales get too bulky. At each corner snip away the fabric as shown so that the corners are pointy when we turn them right sides out.

Turn all the scales right sides out (and press with an iron if you wish) and place to one side.

Next take the underside of the body piece and fold the leg sections towards the middle of the piece. Then sew a shallow arc as shown in the photo- this will enable the legs to stand underneath the body instead of splaying out to the side. Do this for each leg. Do not worry if there is not very much left of the "belly" material left. It'll work.

Next by matching up the leg pieces and starting at the feet sew the underside of the body to the side of the body. Note- DO NOT sew up the bottom of the feet. The photo below shows the three seams- front leg to chin, back of front leg to front of back leg and finally back leg to underside tail. Also note that the underside body only reaches to the chin and stops before the end of the tail.

Sew the other side body to the piece created above using the same method of starting at one of the legs. Here is a detail shot of what should happen at the the tail. It looks very similar at the chin. DO NOT at this stage sew along the back or around the head, Only sew the underside of the body to the side pieces. Not the side pieces to each other.

Another detail look at those legs before sewing all together- as you can see the arcs on the lower body will make those legs sections shorter. That is OK! Since I can't regulate how shallow or deep your arcs will be this is variable so I made the legs the same length and you can trim them to the same length.

That is the underside of the body complete.

Take your scales and line them along your dinosaurs back. I placed mine largest to smallest.

Flip each of the scales towards the inside of the body, sandwiching each scale between the side body pieces. Pin these in place since they tend to move about.

I didn't get any photo's of the next few steps.
Sew the body closed by starting at the chest where the underside of the body piece ends, around the head and to the tail. The only opening should be the undersides of the feet. Sew three of the four feet circles into three of the four leg tubes to complete them. For help on this see "Making the Feet" in the Baby Elephant Tutorial. Use the remaining open foot to turn the dinosaur the right way around.
At this point I loosely stuff just the head to get a feel for it and mark where I want the eyes to be. Then I remove the stuffing and insert the safety eyes according to their instructions. You can skip this step if painting or sewing on the eyes later
Beginning at the head and tip of the tail stuff the dinosaur firmly. If he is too soft his neck will flop from side to side. Once the stuffing is completed sew the last foot pad circle into the last open leg to close it.
That's it! Make an army of colourful dinosaurs and have a congratulatory cup of tea!
(The dino on the left was my prototype is a slightly different shape)

Please leave me a comment if you liked this project or, if you've made one, I'd love a link and perhaps I'll show it to everyone else in an update! Happy sewing!

PS Two of these Dinosaurs are available in the Little Black Teapot Shop

Single Sock Dog Update

2011-05-05T23:32:00.001+01:00

Single Sock Puppy is a favourite of the peeps who visit here and so I thought I'd add two photo's that people have been kind enough to send me of their versions of the puppy.
First from Emma over at http://emmalm.wordpress.com:
She made a standard one and then a dragon from the same idea. Love it!

These three were made by http://www.cutoutandkeep.net user Kantia and her daughter and a friend.
She was kind enough to repeat my tutorial for a single sock puppy on the website and show other users her results

Pam over at http://pamandmatt.blogspot.com kindly pointed me to hers in my comments. One is a mouse but I think he is super cute!

Thank you to everyone who visits and posts comments! It really helps to know that people are positive about my/our work and that I'm part of such a bright and vibrant community :)

Manic Mobiles

2011-05-05T23:07:00.000+01:00

What I should never do is stand in the shower and think about how happy and blessed I am. This is apparently like honey to bad luck flies. Seriously, a close family member dies, husband changes jobs (not for good reasons) and then husband slips a disc in his back and is bed ridden for three weeks.

But the interesting thing is this- it turns out I craft to relive stress. So there has been oodles of crafting- it's just that blogging is not stress relieving in the same way,so the proof of all the crafting starts now!

I had to make a mobile for my then soon-to-be-born Godson. I made many different its before settling on one idea but the others are still around and I'll sell them in my shop on Folksy. One of the ideas not to make the cut was this steam punk type airship:

I am particularly fond of the little patches on the balloon part. Oh! and the propeller. I didn't think the fins would turn out to look so convincing.

Next I tried a little floating house- which was too uncomfortably like the "Up" house (which I haven't seen but it seems my my sub-conscious has!)

But, finally, this is the pattern I liked the most although this one was a bit too big.

Eventually I got what I was looking for. What so much felt had to die for!

It was a wrench to give it away but since I made so many I'm fairly confident I could redo it in my sleep now!
Hope these brightened your day (they brightened some dark hours for me making them).
Stuffed dinosaur tutorial soon- just sketching out the pattern to be able to be downloaded. Sleep tight!

Quick and Simple Snack Bag Tutorial

2011-03-01T21:53:00.003Z

So here is a project that is supposed to be super quick and easy to satisfy a need. What need? Well! I like to buy the larger packs of snack etc because it's cheaper than lots of single helpings. However, these packs are not very easy to handle- trying to reseal a large pack of biscuits with an elastic band in a moving car on a road trip is not fun! The second need is very simple. If you give me a new packet of biscuits in a car I won't stop and will eat them all! This way I can portion out only a few and car trips can cease being a weight-gain fest...

These bags are easy to squeeze into the small spaces left when we've crammed the car for holiday and are wipe clean (but can be turned inside out and really washed if required). They also satisfy me eco-conscience because I'm not constantly buying plastic bags and containers.

I made some of these for an expectant mum and they went down really well! She has plans to use them for damp flannels to wipe dirty faces, sterilized pacifiers etc.

To begin:

We will need

Fabric- 1 window piece 20cm (8inches) by 24cm (9 and a half inches) and 1 back piece 20cm (8inches) by 20cm (8inches).
Clear plastic 2 pieces to the same dimensions as the fabric. (A note: I had the plastic left over from a clear plastic table cloth protector but you can buy this type of plastic in smaller amounts too. If you're willing to sacrifice the display window you can even fuse some plastic bags together to create the lining)
Hook and loop tape (velcro) about 8cm (3inches)
Bias binding (this can be avoided if you serge/overlock the edges instead)
Scissors
Thread

First, let's cut the window. Take the larger piece and cut a hole in the bottom half of about 8x8cm (3x3inches). Try and centre the window with and equal amount of space on the sides and the bottom. NOTE: Do not do like I did and get so excited about cutting the window that I cut it so the pattern is facing the wrong way! Doh! now my skull pirates are upside down :(
Next cut a 1.5cm (half inch) diagonal at the corners of your window like in the photo below:

At this point you could iron the folds inwards - but this project is DO EASY. So it's not necessary if you don't want to crack out the iron and speed and instantaneous gratification are more your thing!

Here's is a close up of the corners for clarity:

Next, sew the smaller back fabric piece to it's corresponding plastic backing with the right side of the fabric facing away from the plastic. It can be helpful to sew with the fabric side on your feed dogs (the little feet that move the fabric forward under your presser foot.) The plastic can get stuck on these whereas I found the plastic slid happily under my presser foot.

Again- this project is about speed and ease. Don't worry if it's not too straight (see below), I include a chop off your mistakes step!

Now, on one of the short 20cm (8inch) sides fold the fabric-plastic sandwich over twice to make a finished edge. Like this:

On the same edge, sew one of the pieces of velcro:

That's the small back piece done! tea time!

OK. Now take the larger front fabric piece and sew to it's plastic counterpart with the right side of the fabric facing away from the plastic. Once this is done it is easy to fold back the window flaps under the fabric outer and sew down (I used a zigzag stitch).

Close up:

The inside now looks like this:

Take the small back piece and the front piece and sew together with wrong (plastic) sides facing. See the yellow stitching below. Remember the top of the back piece will take extra strain at the seams so sew further than the edge.

Your bag should now look something like this:

Trim off the pesky not-lining-up bits! This also makes adding the binding easier since it removes the bulk inside the binding's fold.

Sew around the whole outside with the binding. There are many tutorials online for sewing on the binding (from the easy fold in half, set machine to massive zigzag and go for it! to the sew one side then the other. Do whichever suits you)

At this point sew on the other bit of velcro to the plastic side, on the flap of the front piece.

That's it! Admire your work

Fill with treats (optional: munch treats immediately after sewing bag!)

Make more!

Leave a comment below and tell me how you used your bag or point me to photo's of yours!

Stuffed Dinosaur

2011-02-15T21:07:00.001Z

So one of my best friends is having a baby half way around the world from me. I think this is very inconsiderate. Obviously I'll be crafting like mad, but now I'll have to pay for my makings not only in sweat and blood (hand sewing is torture) but also in postal costs! The agony!

Anyhoo. Here is one of many baby related crafts I've been sinking into:

A baby stuffed dinosaur! A green spotted, blue spiked baby dinosaur!
(Note: I BRIEFLY called him a brontosaur but after the ensuing wikipedia battle with my husband I came to realize it is only correct to call him a diplodocus. Who knew brontosaurus is no longer acceptable?- since about the turn of the century?!)

I was incredibly surprised at how well he turned out (I freely admit he is not my first dino, but the last one was tried about a year ago and I still haven't emptied the bag that the resulting demented half-creature lives...)
I made him with some super cheap bits of cotton that I already had in my stash and I used shrink plastic for his eyes. I'm a bit amazed at how much I like his eyes- they even follow you around!

So! Do you think I should make a tutorial and a pattern for everyone to have their own precious dino? I'm sure my construction could be figured out from my photos but its sometimes nice to have some help at 2am!
Let me know in the comments below.

Reworked for Oxfam III

2011-01-26T20:50:00.000Z

Can't believe its taken me so long to bounce back from the Christmas crafty madness! I felt so drained of creative energy. To get back in the swing of things here's a peek at some of the projects from the Reworked for Oxfam shop I volunteer at:

This was just a black heavy skirt that needed some creativity.
First- a crusty shot with flash:

And a close up of one of the teapots:

Then one of my absolute favourites! A messenger bag made from men's neck ties.

The cutest button in the world to close it:

I even lined the magnificent thing :), so super proud of myself.

Another shot for fun and adoration:

The rest are not things I made for Oxfam but they aren't important enough to get their own post. I made about a million (it felt like) zippered pouches for presents and for my shop. Each of these beauties is lined and has pleats and a lobster claw closure.

Shew! Time to work on a tutorial for the next installment! See you then :)

Super Hero Ninja Cape

2010-12-03T16:30:00.001Z

My first commission! An adult sized super hero cape with a ninja logo and eye mask.
Look how tiny my satin stitch had to be to keep the detail on the ninja.

You can't see them?- that's right! I think the width of his sword is only about 5ml so it was eye straining work. I should also add that I love interfacing to stabilize the fabric so it won't fray and also wonderful hem tape which I cut into tiny tiny bits to hold all of it together whilst sewing.
But even with all this help I could not do the letters, so I used the freezer paper method to make a stencil and paint them on.
The mask is made of cotton and rimmed in bias binding tape, mostly by hand.

I like how this turned out and I hope the buyer is happy, but most especially I hope they help a young hero kick some bad guy ass. :)

Reworked for Oxfam II

2010-11-04T20:25:00.001Z

My newest reworkings for Oxfam:

This corset was stained and was a bright white underneath the muck. I stained it with tea and sewed on the front lace panel and sewed on the buttons.
Next was a grey skirt which just needed a little something so I made a removable brooch of Zipper flowers:

And finally, a little cupcake bag/tote, made from some place mats and a scrap of the sweetest cupcake fabric.

Hopefully these will give you some inspiration to look at you clothes in a different light :)

Plush Baby Elephant Tutorial

2010-11-04T19:48:00.008Z

I finally got round to creating the tutorial for this little guy that was requested so often. Just in time too- only 2 months crafting time left till Christmas! This elephant is perfect for kids and if making it for babies you could replace the eyes with a bit of sewn fabric or paint them on with fabric paint.

Let's start:

You will need some fabric- I used a cotton print of a medium weight (for home furnishings) but I have made this pattern using a much lighter, softer cotton and also corduroy. I used a piece about the size of 4x A4 notepad sheets. But the pattern can easily be scaled up or down, just make all the pieces larger or smaller together. You'll also need some stuffing (I used fibre fill but you can use fabric scraps, old pillow stuffing etc), some coordinating thread and two buttons for eyes. A pair of scissors is necessary and I forget to picture a bit of twine or ribbon for the tail.

The link to the pattern is below, although as long as you cut the basic shapes you will be fine. Just remember to cut the long pieces that go around the circles longer than you expect (so give yourself plenty of leeway) and it'll work.Its homemade and these "quirks" are cool and make it lovelier.

These are the first pieces to cut. You will need:

1x A Body (The long side of this piece needs to be able to wrap around the circumference of piece B to form a tube)
2x B Body
4x C Ears
4x D Underside Feet
4x E Sides of Legs

The piece of the left is B, it is included to show the size to cut the side of head/trunk piece. This piece is cut in the shape of a 9. It is also cut on the fold, with the long straight edge (right most edge), on the fold.

This photo shows the final piece to cut at the top. The bottom is the 9 shaped piece from above, opened up. Don't worry about making the part at the top too long. You can adjust where the back wedge shape begins later on in the process.

Finally! Let's start sewing!
The head:
Begin with the pieces we cut out in the photo earlier. With the pieces right sides facing, begin sewing as shown, by starting at the V of the forehead and working around the circular edges.
It should look like the photo below as you reach the end. Don't sew this point all the way to where the trunk starts as you want to leave a bit of a gap to stuff the head (you'll insert stuffing where a real elephants mouth would be)

When you turn the piece above over it should look like the photo below.

Starting from the forehead V again, sew the other side of the head in a similar way.
It should look like the photo below when completed.

This may be a bit confusing, but this photo shows the V of the forehead of our elephant and the trunk (tail of the 9 shape) is opened flat to the right. This may be clearer:

At this point, fold the right sides of the trunk together and sew to look like this:

Now, turn the head so the forehead is on the work surface facing away from you and sew the end of the trunk closed. In the photo below the arrow is pointing to the gap you've left to turn the head the right way round and stuff,and the dashed line is where to sew the trunk closed at the bottom. I have finger pressed open the seam we did in the step previously.

Turn the head the right way round and stuff.

(A note about stuffing- when using fiber fill- mold the piece in you hand a bit before inserting and try to keep it all as one bit, instead of putting in individual blobs of stuffing. This helps prevent a lumpy look)

We made a head! have a cup of tea and take a well deserved break.

The body:

Start by taking 1 of the B pieces and sewing the long side of piece A around its outer edge with right sides facing. This should form a tube shape like the photo below. Don't close the side of the tube!

Similarly sew the final B part to cap the other side of the tube. Through the side of the tube you've left open, turn and stuff the body. Then, sew the opening closed by using the extra flap shown above and trimming the excess, if necessary.
You should now have this:

Pin the head to the body using pins. A note whilst making children's toys- Remember to keep track of your pins! I use large colourful ones to be very certain, but just do a good final check before handing the toy over.

Sew the head to the body. I just do a bit of a whip stitch around the "neck" part twice to make sure it is secure and doesn't wobble.

Making the feet
Make the feet using the same method as the body to sew the long side of piece E to the circle D to make a tube with an open side.

Then sew up the open side, turn right way around and stuff (not too full, leave some fabric at the top and aim to make short, dumpy legs)

Close the top of the leg up, like a parcel. This doesn't have to be too neat, just enough to hold the top together whilst you sew the leg to the underside of the body.
To make the ears
With right sides facing, sew two of the ears together but leave a little space to turn them right way round.
Before turning snip the fabric towards your line of stitching without actually cutting you sewing! This will help the curved seams lay flat. (green lines in picture below)

Attach
Using the method for connecting the head to the body, attach the legs to the underside of the body. Then attach the ears:

A close up of ear sewing- the pink is how to stitch them on:

Sew on the eyes, making very sure, if this present is for children, that you do this securely and well.

Lastly, using some string, twine or ribbon make your elephant a tail (ass shot!) and sew it on:

Well done!

Edit: Here are the basic pattern pieces. It is over two pages.

This is my first pattern so hopefully it works. The pages should each be printed on a standard A4 sheet (but you could scale it up, as long as you scale all the pattern pieces at once). You should probably cut out the pattern pieces and arrange them on your own fabric, as I just tried to fit them on a page and you may have patterns that require the pattern pieces along the grain/fabric design etc. I have not included any seam allowances as I mostly hand sew these and use a tiny allowance- so add one if you like.Please leave me feedback if changes are required so I can edit it to make it a better pattern for others and I can get better at it :)!

You've completed a baby stuffed elephant! Leave me a comment below if you need any additional help (or to point me and others to pictures of the ones you've made). I'll leave you with ones I've made using this pattern before, for inspiration :)

Swallow Stencil Shirt

2010-10-22T19:12:00.001+01:00

So we went on Holiday (oh yes! it was a Holiday, not a mere holiday), to the Greek Islands. To give you some idea I give you this picture

I know, I know.
Anyway, we came home to a quite chilly (!understatement!) England and I thought I was about ready to start some of the tutorials that I'd like to share and perhaps craft a few Christmas presents.
However, dh had other ideas and (by cooking one of his finest dinners ever) convinced me to spend some inspiration on one of his plain white work shirts. (Secretly, I was pleased to try out the freezer paper technique for stenciling on fabric after the awesome examples I've seen online, so there wasn't even a hint of bargaining :) ) .
Of course we're still relaxed and playful from holiday so the photo taking became a bit of an event.
I warned you!

I like it. It's weirdly country and a bit stark but I'm thinking that makes it interesting. And work shirts are so dull and mind-numbing, especially when women can be so much more flamboyant. Also- freezer paper stencils are the most awesome and amazing thing. What a joy. Print, cut out, iron on a paint proof stencil that won't move or leak. JOY!

lol! Back with a tutorial soon!

EDIT:
Here's a quick how to for this kind of stencilling.
"Freezer Paper" is something I'd never heard of before but seems quite common in the USA. It is similar to the waxed paper you would use for baking (ie one side feels waxy and one side is matt) although when subjected to a heat (like a hot iron) the wax side melts slightly. This slight melting causes it to fuse in a water tight way to fabric. But! It can be pulled off fabric easily too.

So- buy some freezer paper. I did a quick google search and a quilt shop in the UK sold and posted some to me. Its not very expensive (especially when compared to those printable iron on transfer things). It came in a large sheet, part of which I cut into 2x A5 sheets. I then printed a stencil I had found online onto the NON-WAXY side with my cheap printer. Then I cut out the black space using a pair of small scissors.
Using a hot iron I fused the freezer paper stencil to the fabric. It is worth spending some time on this step and ensuring that all the edges are fully fused before caring on.
Time to paint- I used Dylon Fabric paint which was supposed to be soft even without washing and it wasn't the puffy kind, just a good dye-like paint. Remember GO SLOW. Definitely put a piece of cardboard or newspaper underneath your fabric to prevent transfer to the back of your shirt. Make sure you mix your paint well as the top layer is always a bit watery and this will seep under your stencil (so cause blurriness) even if your stencil seems perfect. I found it best to not load my brush too much and work up to an even dark colour instead of gooping it on. Take your time- it is worth it.
Only when it is dry (or else annoying smudges!) Pull the stencil paper off slowly and use a hot iron to set the paint (or however the manufacturer of the paint suggests). Because this is a cotton shirt I could iron very hot for a long time.
And that's it! Hope it helps and if its not enough, I used some YouTube videos and craft tutorials to help me. Just search for freezer paper stencil.

Gibbous Inspired Corset Makeover

2010-09-13T23:06:00.000+01:00

I have volunteered at a new kind of Oxfam shop called Reworked for Oxfam. The idea is that we take donated clothes and rework them to be sold, sometimes because in their current state no one will buy them or sometimes just to add a bit more monetary value. This means that we are let loose on a varied collection of clothes to do whatever we think will be cool with them. Which is beyond awesome and hugely terrifying. "what will sell?" echos round my tiny head and I had a near break down on my first day from the sheer volume of choices awaiting me.

So I began with a simple (!) project. I took a slightly scruffy white corset (a gentle, underwear one, not a dominatrix one) and tried to make it more Gibbous inspired. (Have a drool over at Gibbous fashions for gorgeous ideas and out the box fashion thinking).

Basically I used lots of donated lace and ribbon to cover the corset in interesting textures and then used the sewing machine to add more texture.

This was surprisingly mentally difficult for me since I like finished edges and neat seams etc and this calls for a more free feel, a kind of relaxed, whatever comes, approach. I am not a relaxed, whatever kind of person :)
I'd love any advice or ideas and criticisms so please leave me a message below this post if you'd like.
I may now go off and dream of lace....

Single Sock Dino Tutorial

2010-09-07T21:09:00.005+01:00

Thank you to all the people who requested this tutorial, your encouragement made it happen!

So here is my favourite soft hearted beast for your sewing pleasure.

To begin we need to gather supplies:

A pair of scissors
A sock (This one is a bit thread bare and woolly and needs a new lease on life)
Some red (or, really, any colour) felt
2 buttons for eyes
Some coloured thread for sewing together and making his face
Some filling ( I used standard fibre fill, but even scraps of fabric would do)

Firstly, we need to cut the sock:

In this pattern the heel of the sock becomes his nose/face/muzzle (what is appropriate for a T-Rex?)
The part towards the toe of the sock is going to be the top of his head and the part towards the ankle is his body. The body part is about twice as long as the head part but don't be too worried about measurements etc.
Next we're gonna sew up the sock at the body hole.

To do this I turn the tube with the heel of the sock inside out and then run a longish stitch very simply around the lip of the tube, then gather closed. Once I've gathered I stitch across the opening a few times to seal it securely. Again, this is the part he will sit on so it doesn't have to be perfect.

Turn the sock right way round again and stuff with filling. You want to create the rough shape of the filling in your hands before you stuff it into the sock. This makes less lumpy bits. If you do need to add more filling, try making a space in the middle of the already existing filling and inserting the new in there. Um, like a pie filling :).
Now he's starting to look like something. There are two methods for the next bit.
The hole on the top of his head needs to be closed. You can 1) gather the hole closed like we did the other side or 2) do the slightly more elaborate, but I think neater, finish below.
If you do decide to just gather remember to pull the hole closed slowly and tuck the unfinished ends into the gather as you go (else he'll have a weird lumpy, sticky up bit)
This is the method I use:

Hold the toy facing away from you (to the left of the picture above). Pinch the hole closed so it runs in a line from the nose direction to along his spine. In the middle of this long opening make a stitch or two to hold in shape.

Now stitch about a thumbs width away from this holding stitch like in the picture above, then tuck the remaining edges of the hole back towards were the needle is. (In the picture above his nose is facing left and his bum is facing right) Stitch along these two new joins to close this end of the hole.

Repeat on the other side. There's no photo of this but to create his chin you need to sew a running stitch along his front, just underneath the heel of the sock, and from about ear to ear (If he had any!). (Kinda eye where you'd like the fold of his chin to be). Pull on this running stitch to gather it. The photo below shows how the sock dents under his chin but is smooth up his spine to the top of his head

You can also see in this picture how the hole that was at the top of the sock is towards his crown.
Next we need to cut the remaining sock bits to make his arms (sorry, claws) and his tail. The small bits to the left are cut from the leftover sock towards the shin and are folded double. ( the larger bit on top of the left group is just to show the ribbed elastic top of the sock and is not used). The group to the right is the original toe of the sock. I have cut from about the middle of the opening and gently curved the cut to make a pointy tail. The piece on the very right hand side will not be used.

Turn the tail and the arm pieces inside out and stitch into tubes with one closed end. Turn right way around and stuff gently.

Attach the arms and the tail to the body, tucking in the unfinished ends as you go.

Next we cut the felt for the scales. A word on cutting the scales- if you're gonna make more than one of these begin by cutting a rectangle of fleece and cutting the diagonals down the centre of this rectangle, never quite touching the outside edge of the rectangle. That way you get two scale pieces instead of one and a whole lot of useless triangles.

Sew the scales to the dinosaur. You can see how I sew on the scales in this photo.

He should look something like this handsome boy at this stage.

Next we attach his eyes- I liked traditional beady eyes but bigger crazy ones would be cute too.

Finally his face! I just free hand embroider a big toothy grin and some french knot nostrils on mine. If you'd like a bit more symmetry (which mine are seriously lacking!) then use some dress makers chalk, or wash away fabric pen to sketch on a mouth. If you don't know how to make a french knot, the internest will teach you or just sew two little crosses or circles etc.

That's it! Congratulations you've just made the world a more dangerous and cuddly place!
(P.S. Don't feel like sewing? Click here to buy them in the Little Black Teapot Shop )

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Single Sock Bunny

2010-09-02T20:11:00.002+01:00

I have been so overwhelmed by all the sweet messages and encouragement since the tutorial for a Single Sock Dog was featured on One Pretty Thing. Thank you to everyone.
Because of all the requests I'm working on a tutorial for the Single Sock Dino, but before this I made this little fellow over the weekend.

I made a very soft yarn pompom for his tail (I think its called teddy bear yarn and its so ridiculously soft it may be sinful :) ) and used pink flowery corduroy for the underside of his feet and ears. Originally he had a mouth but I decided I preferred this better since I wanted the pearl button nose to be the focus.
The flower is courtesy of the last gasps of my garden before winter comes to our corner of England and I forget what sun, flowers (and bunnies!) look like!

Second Jersey Skirt

2010-08-22T18:44:00.000+01:00

A bit of 50's with my new favourite- polka dots!

A super simple skirt with black jersey knit, cotton in black and white polka dots and turquoise cotton. It's coming with me on holiday to Greece!

Single Sock Dino & Kitteh

2010-08-22T18:38:00.002+01:00

After the joy of single sock pup I made these two: Single sock Dino and Single sock Lucky Cat.

The dialogue is brought to you by my dh. His superb contribution to my endeavours. (When we're not having "creative differences" about how big the kitty's tail should be...... :)

I am particularly proud of the kitty's paws even though I may love the dinosaur more. Shhh! don't tell them. Whats really handy is that I've already whipped up two more of these for donation into a church sale and they only take a couple hours.

(P.S. Don't feel like sewing? Click here to buy them in the Little Black Teapot Shop )
Update: Tutorial for Dino added: Click here for Single Sock Dino Tutorial

Single Sock Dog Tutorial

2010-07-27T19:21:00.006+01:00

I love these little guys and think I should spread the love. They are quite easy and are soooo soft and cuddly when they are done its ridiculously difficult to give them away.
You will need:

one stray sock (OK! so, technically, this isn't a stray since I bought a whole lot on ebay just for this purpose, but go with me here)
some fleece for the foot pads and the underside of the ears (a really small bit will do, no larger than an A5 sheet is needed, and it can also be cotton or another sock or and old t-shirt etc)
two buttons for the eyes and a third larger one for the nose
a bit of brown felt for the eye surrounds (this is optional and can also be any other type of material you can scavenge, you could probably paint both these and the eyes on if you're worried your sewing may be dislodged by a baby etc.)
some stuffing (I used fibre fill but really any old scraps are fine, try an old lumpy pillow for example)
a pair of scissors
some thread in a co-coordinating colour.

To begin get yourself a sock. I like the way that these argyl socks look on the puppy but it really can be any kind.

Then cut the sock like so:

The portion to the left is the legs, the middle is the body and head and the right is the tail and ears.
Take the middle section, turn inside out, and gather and sew the right most side closed (the non-stripey side in this photo).

The easiest method for me is to run some medium stitches all the way around then pull to gather and sew some stitches across the opening to secure shut. Flip right way around and secure on the larger button for the nose.

Notice how the heel of the original sock is going to be the forehead of our puppy. Stuff with filling. Because I'm using fibre fill and I don't want to make him too firm I softly sculpt the filling in my hands before I place it inside him. This way I can make three distinct balls, 1 for his nose, his forehead and his body. This is important a bit later when we create his neck.

Gather the bum end closed using the same method as above. Don't worry too much about hiding your rough edges as we'll sew his tail over this area later. Right! Thats the body done. Have a cup of tea and congratulate yourself on a job half done.

When you're ready, take the remaining bits from above and cut to look like this:

(Note, the remains are in the same order the first cuts we made above if you are uncertain). The sections marked back legs, front legs and tail are tubes and the section called ears is a pocket.
Next, cut like so

Each of the back legs and front legs is folded double. The tail is two pieces and the ears are single pieces to show the shapes.
OK-slight shortage of photo's here but do this

Placing wrong sides together, sew along the outside of the tail leaving the bottom open, turn right way. (Note, tail can be made out of fleece too if prefer). Sew the bottom edge of the tail around the gather of the bum of the puppy, hiding the gather edges.

Cut 2 pieces of corresponding fleece for ears. Taking a piece of fleece and a piece of sock- turn right sides together and sew leaving only a small hole for turning right way. Turn right way out and slip stitch hole closed. Put aside
Sew down the long sides of the back and front legs to make tubes. Cut circles out of your fleece that will cap the ends of these tubes and sew 1 onto each of the four legs. To sculpt back legs, fold "foot" up to "leg" section and stitch v closed. In the photo below the yellow lines are brought together and stiched together and the red line is the crease that is folded into the leg.

The photo below shows the effect you're going for with the back legs.
Take assorted body parts and stitch to body. Like so:

To make the eyes cut a circle of felt slightly larger than your buttons and sew behind the button when attaching. I like to put one or two stitches from the eyes to the ears to permanently sculpt the forehead but I'm not sure its absolutely necessary. At this point sew a row of medium stitches right around the neck and gather slightly to add definition between the head and the body.

And that's it! Love your puppy and look forward to stray socks in the future!

(P.S. Don't feel like sewing? Click here to buy them in the Little Black Teapot Shop )

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Update:
Some lovely people sent me photo's of their versions of this project. View it at Single Sock Dog Update.
Happy crafting!

Every Boy is a Super Hero

2010-07-27T17:59:00.001+01:00

Whipped this up (love using this phrase- makes it seem so effortless and amazing instead of the heartache sweat and tears that actually accompany a creative endeavor!) for my Godson. He seems to be really into super heroes and space this week. And since his last birthday kinda snuck up on us and we shamefully gave him money in a card this year I am totally justified in making another present, albeit months late.

Whilst this doesn't justify a full tutorial they are so simple that with a few pointers you can be on your way!
First I started with some very cheap and simple cotton as the base, cut the shape on the fold to get it symmetrical and hemmed all around ( I actually toyed with the idea of lining it and then remembered it was for a rough and tumble boy.) Next I added the ties which were simply long strips folded like bias binding then top stitched.

I fused interfacing to the letters since I didn't feel like using a close satin stitch would be appropriate (read: it takes too long and I'm lazy). This way the logo bits won't fray and the stitching is for placement only.
Here is a closer look at that stiching from behind:

Notice how my machine had a small hiccup with the bobbin thread that resulted in some super odd zigzag. I'm sure he won't care (well, I'm hoping he won't).

I then made him a mask which was just a single layer of cotton, trimmed in red bias binging with a bit of elastic sewn to the sides. I had to use some red embroidery thread around the eyes to stop the fraying becoming too ridiculous and I suspect that I should have used felt for the entire mask instead. This would mean absolutely no seams to worry about. But it wouldn't have matched perfectly. Sigh. maybe next time I'll come up with a genius plan.
Anyway, for all my self doubt, his mum told me that he loves it and wore it to the cinema today so I count this as a success!

My reconstructed shirt

2010-07-18T21:29:00.001+01:00

Wow I'm afraid of making clothes. Especially tops. Its ridiculous but I'm terrified. And its not unjustified too. Just before dh returned from Peru I attempted a black jersey knit top that failed so horribly i can't bring myself to open the plastic bag that I stuffed it and its sorry remains into. It will just continue to live in my material stash accusingly till it drives me out of my mind. (see? Irrational.). I'm not sure what I was thinking but the jersey knit was the thicker "I should be shorts" type and not the "I'll drape beautifully and cover you sewing mistakes" type. The joys of buying fabric on ebay are never more apparent than when a package arrives and it is nothing like you were hoping for.
To make myself feel better I found a tutorial for reconstructing a men's formal dress shirt into a pretty peasant top. In theory this would be better since it was mostly gathering and shapelessness anyway right?
So with the help of this tutorial, and a visit the a Help the Aged charity store, I give you my peasant top.

I replaced the buttons with blue ones and edged the sleeves in a patterned cotton. Its not a great fit and still a bit starchy and not nearly as soft and flowy as I imagined but it gave me hope for my clothes making future.

And hope has led me to follow some great web advice and cut out a top using one I already love that fits perfectly. Surprisingly (for me!) this simple idea worked and I know have a great black top that has proven to me that I can do this! Will get dh to take pics tomorrow so I can prove to the anonymous internet that I can do it too! Now if I can only stop myself from buying vast amounts of fabric for all these clothes that teem in my imagination...