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Wednesday 28 September 2011

Rainbow Dash!

That's what we did today rushing to get to kindy in the rain! It's dull and dreary today so I thought  little colour was in order.

Pearl is wearing an assortment of hand made, hand dyed and hand-me-downs and she couldn't be happier! Princess raincoat and purple boots from cousin Sophie, handknit rainbow jumper from a 2nd hand fete clothing stall, black leggings and flet rainbow flower clippie made by me and rainbow twirl redondo hand dyed and sewn by Sara at Willow & Moo. Pearl keeps sprouting up and her skirt is now above her knees and getting tight around the tummy so it won't be long before it will be some other little girls  twirly joy. That's the circle of life  love ;)

Tuesday 27 September 2011

Quick tee surgery

Phew it was warm today! Most of my clothes were in the washing machine and I had this daggy old tee left. It was a regular v-neck with sleeves to my elbows, and felt much too hot.
So off to the sewing room, chop the sleeves short with the rotary cutter, then chop out the heavy v-neck with some ridiculously large foot long dressmakers shears (cos my scissors were elsewhere..).
First I took the tee in a few cms each side, starting at the waistband, zipping up the sides on the overlocker to the sleeve edge.
I zipped a rolled hem around with the overlocker on the raw edges on the sleeves and neck and put 2 rows of shirring around the neckline.
I actually don't mind this tee now. I can see lots of tee surgery in my future..

(Hmm, better clean that mirror.. just keeping it "real". ;) )

And of course, that then left me with some scraps to play with! :) Rolled rose and a plait. Who knows what I will use them on if anything, but a good technique practice. The rose was from one cut off sleeve piece, cut into one continuous strip.

Meanwhile I have also been making 5 petaled flowers from more scraps. there's also a button cluster awaiting a clip backing. I had some broccoli boxes hanging aroundand found the foam lids perfect to pin the flowers onto to keep everything tidy and stop them being crushed.

And the scrappy flower blooms are increasing.

Friday 16 September 2011

Scrappy Flower Tutorial.

 I am making a stack of these scrappy flowers to sell on my Christmas market stall. they will feature on hairclips and bands and all sorts of accessories. Here is a field of scrappy flowers awaiting their final touches.


Cut 6-7 circles the same size,

I used my clover yoyomakers for easy guides. I put a few layers inside then just cut around the edges, Some people like plain circles and the frayed look, I've used my pinking shears.



Use one circle for the base, depending on the final use, you might like to stiffen it or use felt.
Take a second circle and fold in half.

Then fold the half so that one third of it covers the second third.

Place it so the edges line up with the base and stitch it up through the doubled third and back through the single third.

Rinse and repeat
Place each subsequent folded circle onto the single fold of the previous one, leaving a small gap.

When you get to the end, tuck the single side of the last piece, under the double side of the first piece. Mostly I use 5 pieces around but for some reason, this time I needed 6 to go around



Embellish with yoyos or buttons or whatever and attach to whatever you like such as hairband, brooch, hairclip, dress, etc. Make double or triple layers in graduating sizes for an even fuller look.
Here's one using a second layer of the same size circles overlapped just a little in the centre.

Now, go get your scraps and start snipping and stitching !

You can make these to sell or use however you like yourself but of course the text and pics and tute itself are copyright. Which means you need permission to reproduce. (In case you hadn't figured that out).