Embroidery

Follow The White Bunny

Ever since I sewed my first stich on a piece of binca I have loved embroidery.  At primary school we were taught sewing as a lesson, can you imagine this being taught now in primary schools? And I really am not that old!!  We were given a piece of binca and were taught different stitches and completed whole rows of these until our rectangle of binca was full of bright, varied stitches, which was then backed with gingham and became our needle roll. 

Applique Originals

During the following years I tried a complicated cross stitch sampler but after a while bored of counting stitches and opted for my own designs. In the past year I have found a great calm in embroidery in my hectic life and love sitting and stitching small pictures or toys. 

Caroline Watts Embroidery

Of course there is a current trend for freehand machine embroidery that gives fantastic results.  I have a copy of Poppy Treffrys book and hope to have some time in the future to try the projects.

September House

But for now give me a piece of linen, a hoop and a box of floss and I am a very happy bunny!!

I can highy recommend this book, Embroidered Treasures by Claire Garland and am happily working my way through it now!

Fabric Friday- Clothkits

There has been a little reminiscing in our house over the past couple of days as our eldest son turned twelve yesterday and our daughters had found some old photo albums tucked away on a shelf.  Lots of cute toddlers and toothless grins!  All of this got me to thinking of my own childhood and have a strong memory of this fab short dungaree set made from navy nylon with a large red apple on the bib!  Being born in the mid seventies nylon and cheesecloth were standard features in my wardrobe. 

During the seventies there was a new company launched that offered their customers an easy option for sewing some new clothes. Clothkits was an inspirational company for women who were trying to have a career and still make clothes for themselves and their children.  In 1968 Anne Kennady created the Clothkits concept from her kitchen table, where so many businesses are born.  By the late 1980's Clothkits was a huge success and employed over 400 people but when Freemans brought the company these fab kits disappered and the Clothkits label remained dormant. 

Two years ago Kay Mawer relaunched Clothkits with a fresh new collection of great cut out and sew kits. The company ethos remains that beautiful items can be created without the need of a paper pattern. These kits are perfect for even the novice sewer as you cut around the dotted lines printed on to the fabric and then clear instructions enable you to create a new item of clothing very easily.  And whats more most of the kits come complete with thread and all the haberdashery needed to complete the project.  Yet Kay understands that not everybody has time to complete a Clothkits project so has also introduced Clothkits Couture, enabling you to order your item already made up.

The majority of the fabric is hand screen printed in the UK and Clothkits also have a team of digital printers allowing you to custom design an order.  There is a great choice of kits to choose from aswell as a small variety of fabrics sold by the metre and habadashery items, all available from the Clothkits website.

VW Traffic Dungarees Kit

Birdie Dress Sewing Kit

Ruby Photo Skirt Kit

Municipal Green Trellick Skirt Kit

Fox & Hen Bag & Purse Sewing Kit

Clothkitty

As you can see the finished article form a Clothkits kit is fantastc!

**For all my fellow fabric addicts I am having a fabric focus next week, looking at having your own designs printed, with a post about Spoonflower, another post about the UK version of Spoonflower. Next weeks Fabric Friday will feature an interview with the designer behind Kristopher K Designs, whose gorgeous desigs aravailable through Spoonflower.**

Seeing YoYo's before my eyes!

I have spent the past few days in between everything else sewing fabric yoyos for some cushions I am busy making.  Big ones, small ones, medium sized ones.....pink ones, stripey ones, dotty ones and yellow ones,  I'm beginning to wonder if it's spots or yoyos before my eyes!!  So to give me a break from little running stitches I decided to see what other people are using yoyos for!

Available from Seams So Easy

Available from SH Creations

Available from Bliss Knits

Available from Tefi

Available from Yoyoodyne Inc

Availabe from DK Temple

Yoyo's are a great embellishment to many projects and very simple to make.

• Cut a circle of fabric double the width you want the finished yoyo to be.
• Fold the raw edge in,(with the wrong side of the fabric facing you) but not too much, enough for a small hem.
• Sew a running stitch all the way around the circle, folding over the edge as you go, if you haven't pinned it.  (I do it this way as I can never be bothered to pin the hem!)
• Now gently pull the thread so the edge ruffles until you have what resembles a rossette
• Tie off your thread, you now have a yoyo!
• WARNING they are addictive!!

Creative Children

Carrying on from yesterdays post I thought today I would think about crafting with children.  My children all love to make things, my eldest son loves to bake, my younger son is always doodling and drawing and my three daughters love all things crafty.  For Christmas I  brought each of three daughters a little polka dot suitcase and filled it with ribbons, beads, fabric scraps, felt and for my three year old chunky crayons and glitter glue aswell.  They have now added to their collections with patterned papers, buttons and lots of other little bits & pieces, including squares of wrapping paper salvaged from the eldests birthday.

My mother taught me to knit and bake and my grandmother taught me to sew and embroider, so I think it's important to pass on skills to my own children.  Both my sons can sew on a button, a skill I must teach my husband!  I have always encouraged all of my children to be creative, never shying away from toddlers and paint and not shouting when I found my sons colouring in the wall when they were 2 and 3!

There are lots of great kits out there for children to make things or you could just buy some card, glitter glue , beads and ribbons and there are plenty of free backing papers that can be downloaded to help them get creating.

Crochet Taster Kit

Crafty Treats Jar

both available from Rachel Henderson Crafts

Mini Bunting Kit

available from Sew Recycled

Make your own Sock Hopper

available from Made by Kate

Children's Card Making Kit

available from The Blithe Bee

Owl Sewing Kit

Russian Doll Painting Kit

both available from Kit and Caboodle Design

Hours of fun!!!

Making things with Mummy

With a crafts revival and more women wanting  a work/life balance there are many businesses being started by creative mummies.  Many of us were taught by our grandmothers or mothers how to bake, crochet, sew and knit but we have expanded our reportoires with jewellery, cards and scrapbooking.  Of course I musn't forget painting, photography and ceramics.  The list is possibly endless but I think I have covered the main art & craft practises being seen on the likes of Etsy & Folksy.  It would appear that us mummies are a truly talented bunch in between school runs, nappy changes and cooking the tea! 

So as a tribute to all creative business mummies I am going window shopping for some lovely things that I would love for Mothers Day which have been made by other mummies.  (I cannot possibly include everybody and everything so please accept my appologies if I haven't shown your work).

Available from Ticketty Boo

Available from Polka

Available from Clairanna Designs

Available from Eva B Designs

Available from Black Daisy Designs

Available from Emma in Wonderland

Available from Sascalia

Available from Zoe & Drew

There really are so many talented Mums out there who hopefully are acheiving the work/life balance and still getting to be creative.  As a mother and a creative person I hope I can find the balance.