By Alice | Published:
March 4, 2008
Ok so I was having dilemmas over the teacosy for my sister.
That was it yesterday.
Then I added this little guy. Ha! I am not sure if that improves it or not but I think my sister will like him :) He is a character I have been using forever. Thinking about it she has a bag with a similar character. Oh and I see that this guy was in a lino print experiment. (Wow, that was back in 2006!)
This is the other side.
In March I am working more on owls so I have been coming up with a prototype for my owls. At the moment they are all different shapes and sizes as the mood takes me but I would like to work out the definitive one that then can be individualised.
Also posted in I made things |
By Alice | Published:
February 28, 2008
Getting commissions can be a bit of pressure. You know that the person has an idea of what they expect in their mind and it is about finding out what they would like with what you want to do.
Also on a side issue I find that being known as a person with a sewing machine I get asked to hem a lot of trousers! Which I never agree to doing as I know I am not good at that sort of thing :)
For my aunt’s birthday she asked me to make her a mirror. After a very long period of mental percolation I set to work.
This old mirror was at the antiques market for only £3.
It had always been in my mind to use this fabric. I inherited it from my
grandmother, it still has the label on it from when she bought it.
It is a lovely crisp fabric and I am a huge fan of the pattern.
I cut strips of the fabric (the reverse side is shown here) and glued then to the frame with PVA glue.
It was a bit of a risk to use PVA as I wasn’t sure how it would work
out but it was fine in the end. I used a crochet hook to poke the fabric into all the corners.
Over the period of two days I then applied 3 coats of clear varnish. My favourite kind of varnish to use is from DIY/hardware stores and is low-oder gloss indoor varnish, rather than the specific craft varnish which can be a bit more expensive.
The varnish layers create a nice glossy sheen to the frame.
Here is the finished mirror. I want to keep it!
I hope my aunt likes it.
Also posted in I made things |
By Alice | Published:
February 25, 2008
I have been working on a few projects involving fabric and I have decided that my method of pulling everything out onto the floor from the shelves and then stirring it around to find the fabric I want wasn’t quite what I wanted to have to do each time. So I have been having what I’m calling a ‘fabric audit’ to work out what I actually have. There was that moment when it got so much worse before it got better, but otherwise it has been pretty fun. Let’s see how long the tidiness lasts.
Also posted in I made things |
By Alice | Published:
February 14, 2008
How do people manage to take nice photos of themselves? I find it almost IMPOSSIBLE, I’m either pulling a funny face or the camera has gone in front of my face because I was looking at the screen to see what was going on. Useless! Also I feel pretty stupid doing it.
You may question why I was taking a picture of myself, not for my Facebook page I promise you! I just want to show off an outfit I adjusted. What happened is that I needed a new stage outfit on zero budget. I found this black dress for the ok price of ¬£12 but it didn’t quite hit the mark, even when worn here (for the more casual look) with a long sleeved t-shirt and black trousers..
The problem was this..
Too much lace! Lace is cool but there was something a bit too frilly about this.
So I cut it all off just leaving the white button hole strip and buttons. And I was left with a very pleasing very plain black outfit! Yay! I haven’t really bothered with altering clothes before which is a bit disgraceful for someone who really really likes their sewing machine. I think it is because I like things to be quite plain and most altering would seem to involve adding patches and things.
But as I have a very small budget at the moment I am definitely going to look into doing this more! It is quite nice knowing that no one else has quite the same outfit.
Oh yes, these are my favorite converse that I wore with the outfit. They look quite disgraceful there. I bought them in Japan many many many years ago and they are special to me! They have been through the wash many times and are bleached and worn out with age. They have been on the beach, in mud, on stage, in many countries, in the rain, in the city, in the country, etc!
Also posted in I made things |
By Alice | Published:
February 10, 2008
Orange and Lemon cake for Lizz.
Small chocolate.
Replaced by threads as I worked on a dress.
Card for a new baby.
