Category: inspiration

Yarn Overload!

This week I seem to be absolutely drowning in wool. Not that this is any kind of complaint, you understand!

A friend of mine was having a clearout of her yarn stash, and kindly passed on a few goodies that she thought I might like.

Yummy new sock yarns

These are two sock yarns. The purple one is by Opal, and the other is one of the Kaffe Fasset colourways for Regia. These yarns together would make a lovely pair of the Simply Knitting socks that I’m still working on. Alternatively, as I only really wear very short socks, I might even manage to get two pairs of anklets out of 150 grams of yarn. We’ll see – I’ve got plenty of time to think about it while I’m finishing my current sock!

I’ve also come into possession of a complete pack (10 balls) of RYC Cashcotton 4 ply, in a beautiful peachy colour. I don’t quite know what I’m going to do with it yet, although a lacy summer cardigan seems like quite a nice idea.

Macro wool...

Over on the Simply Knitting website they’re running a series of articles about taking photographs of your knitting in new and interesting ways. I thought I’d see what the “super macro” setting on my little camera could do, and this is the result. I like the obvious difference in texture between these two yarns. You can almost imagine how they’ll feel from looking at the picture.

The top ball is the peachy RYC Cashcotton – 35% cotton, 25% polyamide, 18% angora, 13% viscose and 9% cashmere. The lower one is Debbie Bliss Soho – 100% wool.

I’ve been updating my stash details on Ravelry to include these new goodies, and although I don’t have as much yarn tucked away as some people, I think I probably don’t need any more just now.

This is particularly disappointing, as I received an email from Colinette this morning, giving details of several new colourways. I’m also intrigued by their new Creative Project Packs, where you can buy a bag of one yarn type, but in little hanks of different colours. I can feel some interesting scarves and socks coming on…

That was quick!

Less than a week ago I ordered eight yards of Alexander Henry prints from Buy Fabrics Online. They turned up this morning – all the way from America in just five days, and I didn’t even have to pay any customs charges.

I placed an order with eQuilter on the same day – let’s see how long it takes for that one to arrive. I wasn’t expecting to receive either parcel for at least another week, so I’m pretty impressed so far!

Alexander Henry Fabrics

From top to bottom we have:

“Bewitched” in purple – intended for a skirt
“Carnaby Stripe” – also intended for a skirt
“Rose Tattoo” in tea – this one’s going to be a dress for me, probably in a 1950s style, if 4 yards of fabric is enough for that.

The fabric that I’m waiting for is also the Alexander Henry “Rose Tattoo”, but in a different colourway.

I’m still working on my August corset orders at the moment, and I have another two dresses to complete before I can start sewing with these lovely fabrics. I guess I’d better get a move on!

Simplicity 2927 – up a tree!

Climbing a tree...

This is an action shot of Simplicity 2927 – up a tree!

The leggings are from a pattern that I drafted myself – something that I want to do a lot more of in future. It’s taken me a long time to find a UK supplier of nice fine organic cotton jersey, so I’d like to make the most of it! The jersey only comes in cream or white, so I’d probably fill the washing machine with Dylon dyes, to bring in a bit of colour. (The fabric shown was bought from The Cloth House, a long time ago.)

I’m currently coveting pretty much everything that Near Sea Naturals have to offer, whilst simultaneously agonising about the environmental impact of flying organic fabrics all the way over from America. It seems a bit daft to buy low-impact fabric and immediately add 3,000 airmiles to it! Although, as Miss Alice rather eloquently put it, “it’s not like locally produced organic cotton’s falling out of the sky”.

I’m still in the process of using up some of my stashed fabrics to make pretty corsets, so you’ll be seeing a few of those turning up as the weeks progress. Realistically it’s going to take me until next year to be really ready for doing something with my own designs and drafting my own patterns for them, but I’ll be working on it.

Fruit Salad

Fruit Salad

I fell in love with this wool back in December. John Lewis were having a clearance sale, and I was tempted into buying a whole jumper’s worth.

The yarn is Debbie Bliss Soho, in colourway 16. I wouldn’t normally go for yellows and oranges, but the colours reminded me so much of those little Fruit Salad chews I used to get entangled in my braces as a child that I couldn’t resist!

At first I thought the wool was going to turn into a pullover with a deep v-neck. Then I spotted these buttons, hard and translucent like delicious boiled sweets, and knew that they’d be perfect for a chunky cardigan. I spent a good while trying to choose between the pink and the orange and, uncharacteristically for me, I left the pink ones behind.

Now I just need to find the time to break out the coloured pencils, and draw up a design for a Fruit Salad cardigan, with boiled sweet buttons. Irresistible!

Sewing Plans for this Autumn…

One of the perks of working in a fabric shop is that you find out in advance when the pattern companies are just about to have a special offer, or discontinue lots of styles. Now is the time of year when all of the autumn/winter pattern books appear, which means special offers galore!

I have something of a weakness for buying patterns, so I’m trying to be very good and only buy them if I’m absolutely definitely positively going to make them in the near future. I have fabrics in mind (and in my stash!) already for the four patterns below, so I felt justified in picking them up.

My sewing plans for this Autumn...

Top left: McCalls 5591.
I bought this pattern as an alternative to McCalls 5431. The two patterns have many of the same elements – a full skirt, contrast band at the hem and large pockets. McCalls 5591 has the advantage of working with one-way prints on 44″ fabric, which 5431 can’t accommodate. I’m sure that I’ll use both patterns, and I’m hoping to find myself living in these skirts for the rest of the summer. I certainly have plenty of fabrics I can use to make them…

Top right: Vogue 2784 (now out of print)
This is a Donna Karan designer pattern for Vogue. The dress itself is very sheer, and the pattern includes a bias-cut slip to wear underneath it. I have the perfect fabric for this project – a sheer black georgette with little black roses, which was given to me by a friend several years ago. I think it might be interesting to make a few slips in different colours, to change the look and feel of the dress. I plan to wear this one to other people’s weddings.

Bottom left: McCalls 5717
Everyone at work fell in love with this coat pattern as soon as we saw it on the back of the new McCalls catalogue. Naomi’s already bought a length of bright pink tartan, and I plan to make this one in my Waverley flamingo fabric.  The collar and the ruffle at the bottom will be in black velvet, as will the buttons. Then I just need to add a sparkly flamingo brooch to the lapel, and I have a fabulous winter coat!

Bottom right: Vogue 8211 (now out of print)
No, it isn’t the same as McCalls 5717! This one’s going to be a more dressy coat, and I plan to make it from a heavyweight cotton curtaining. It’s cream, with gold bees embroidered on it. I’m not certain how many opportunities I’m going to have to wear a cream evening coat covered in bees, but I’ve had the fabric for a long time, and this is the first pattern I’ve seen that’s really been right for it.

Now I just have to carve out a tiny space in my hectic sewing schedule, and set aside the time to make something for myself!

My name’s Claire, and I have a fabric problem.

 

Today I took on four new corset orders, to be completed during August. In order that people could choose the fabric that they wanted, I decided to organise a gallery.

All of the fabrics shown below are part of my very own fabric stash, which I’ve been collecting since approximately 2004. This is only a small selection, you can see the rest over at Flickr.

Corset fabrics

I’m not quite certain what I thought I was going to do with all of these fabrics.

Well, okay, I knew I was going to sew them one day, and I have been procrastinating like mad with regard to making corsets for exactly as long as I’ve been collecting the fabrics with which to make them.

I don’t know how I thought anybody was going to ask me to make a corset from any of these amazing fabrics when they were all tucked away carefully in my Shed, in an enormous box.

What I’m planning to do from now on is to offer a limited number or corsets for sale each month, made from the fabrics in my collection.

I’ll make a page for all the details later, but if you like the look of any of the fabrics, please feel free to claim it, and join the queue!

Having a go at weaving.

Today Paul and I went to our local Fun Day, organised by the Lions Club. We go every year, primarily to see the ferrets. The Hants and Berks Ferret Club bring lots of ferrets with them, and they have races, which are hilarious! The ferrets run through an obstacle course of pipes and bridges and seesaws. Last year we managed to place a bet on the slowest ferret of all – he stopped half way through the race to have a nice long drink from the water obstacle! Today I got to cuddle a ferret called Zorro. He was adorable, although extremely wriggly. Thankfully he (and his owner) didn’t seem to mind when he squirmed right out of my arms and landed on the floor!

We have a pet rabbit, so there’s no way we could keep a ferret at the same time. It just wouldn’t be fair to the rabbit to bring a predator into his home. In the meantime though, we’re quite happy to visit the Hants and Berks Ferret Club when they’re in our area.

After playing with the ferrets I headed straight for the crafts tent, where there was a weaving display set up. I was immediately overcome by the wool fumes, and as soon as I’d picked up a little skein of wool for a squish, I was encouraged to have a go on the makeshift looms.

Lower Earley Fun Day - weaving

Here I am, a couple of rows in. I believe I was doing weft-faced weaving, as the warp threads would have been completely hidden if we’d been packing the rows together tightly enough.

Look at the little boy opposite me, in the football shirt. He has the most intense look of concentration about him, and he was weaving away for ages!

Lower Earley Fun Day - weaving

Here’s my finished bit of weaving!

I really enjoyed doing it, and am very tempted by the idea of buying a little table loom of some kind. When my hands won’t allow me to knit any more, I think a little light weaving would be an interesting way to carry on having fun with yarn.

Paul took the photos on his new iPhone, and he was checking his email as I was weaving away. Something of a technology clash going on there! It worked to everyone’s benefit though, as one of the ladies in charge of the weaving demonstration has asked us to email the photos to her, “to demonstrate that anyone can do weaving”.

We chatted a little as I played with a piece of lovely soft roving which matched my hair. As soon as I picked it up, it seemed totally natural to twist it between my fingers. I think perhaps I should back away slowly from the idea of weaving, before I find my house filled with roving and a drop-spindle.

Never mind ferrets – please can I have a sheep?

Shoe Envy.

I really must get a move-on and work out how to make little canvas shoes.

The Nice Man Who Knows About Feet told me that I shouldn’t be wearing Converse any more, so I sold my yellow pair with daisies and ladybirds to . I still have a pinstripe pair that didn’t sell, and I keep looking at them, and wondering whether the next time I put them on they’ll magically be okay for my feet.

(Note to self: This didn’t work with the Doc Martens, so it seems unlikely that the Cons would be okay.)

Because I am a sucker for punishment where shoes are concerned, I’ve just been to look at the Converse section of the Schuh website.

Look! They have Converse with Little Red Riding Hood on them!

I immediately want to make a little red gingham dress to wear with these.

I’m not so keen on this year’s ladybird design, but I do rather like this blue and yellow floral pair. I’m sad that these Sailor Jerry low-tops are men’s, because that means they don’t come in my size. They’re so pretty that I’d happily have worn these with all my summer skirts.

Mind you, if I’m looking at Converse, I ought really to be looking instead at Ethletic Sneakers. It would be really easy to buy a cream pair and paint on them, and then I can have whatever design I like, as well as supporting Fair Trade and renewable resources.

Having said that, has just pointed out that the Little Red Riding Hood Converse are part of (PRODUCT) RED, which has a global fund to provide anti-retroviral drugs, to help fight the AIDS pandemic in Africa. I’ll be looking out for that one red eyelet if I do decide to buy a pair of Converse in future.

I’m still quite a few steps away from being able to transform the slippers I’ve been making into outdoor shoes. I just need to resist the urge to give in to temptation in the meantime!

Tired and Inspired.

Insomnia is not my friend. Half past six on a Sunday morning is a terrible thing to see, especially if you’ve already been up for two hours. I plan to snooze in the bath later this morning.

Thankfully the internet is a twenty-four hour operation, and instead of wasting half the night on Cute Overload or I Can Has Cheezburger, addictive as they both are, I’ve been reading lots of inspirational blogs.

This list is mostly for my benefit, so I’ll remember where I’ve been, but I thought it might be useful to other people as well.

Lauren and Emira have a book and a blog called “The Boss of You”. It’s about being a designer and an entrepreneur, and gives excellent advice on setting up and running your own business.

Jenny Hart talks about Crafting a Business – this article specifically talks about some of the copyright and licensing ideas I that I was discussing the other day.

At decor8, Marcia Zia-Priven talks about finding your niche as a designer.

Design For Mankind has several interesting posts about “Roadmaps”, and how they can help you as a creative businessperson. Follow the links to other blogs and websites, for even more inspirational designers and crafters!

I became quite a fan of Seth Godin after I bought one of his books, Small is the New Big. I read his blog regularly, and he always seems to have something relevant to say.

I also bought three interesting books this week:

DIY: Design It Yourself is full of inspirational design ideas, coupled with extremely useful practical advice – something which is missing in a great many craft books!

Fabric Jewellery contains twenty-five projects which I will almost certainly never make. But it’s already inspired me to think in different ways about the materials that I already have at home, which is exactly what I’d hoped it would do.

Sustainable Fashion & Textiles: Design Journeys is a series of essays by Kate Fletcher, about various aspects of the fashion industry and how they can be approached in a more ethical manner. I haven’t read this yet (6:30 on a Sunday morning is probably not the best time to start!), but I’m looking forward to learning some interesting things, and seeing what differences I can make myself.

As it happens, I didn’t exactly buy that last book – I bartered it for one of my duvet cover skirts. I’m more than happy to be paid in goods rather than money (sometimes – books don’t pay the bills!), so if I’ve made something that you like, please feel free to barter for it, if you’ve got something that I might like in exhange.

But I can’t even drive…

Know what?

I might possibly be persuaded to have more than two driving lessons, if I thought I’d ever be able to drive around in one of these:

It’s a Morgan LifeCar. It’s a prototype at the moment, but it’s designed to run on hydrogen fuel cells, which produce zero harmful emissions. Just water, I believe.