Yet more shuffling about.

Ivory Hat

I’m still shuffling things about between Etsy shops, as I think about where they really need to live. This ivory hat has been really popular in terms of Etsy favourites, but it hasn’t sold in the Emporium, so it’s now going to live in the Eternal Magpie Etsy Shop for a while.

The hats generally seem popular on both Etsy and Pinterest. They’re being included in Treasuries and re-pinned like mad (thank you!), but people seem very reluctant to buy. I’m hoping it’s just a seasonal thing – after all, who wants to think about wearing a warm felt hat in the middle of summer?! Now that the weather’s started to turn a bit more autumnal (I WILL NOT put the heating on in August, damn you summer!), perhaps people will be thinking more hat-related thoughts. I hope so anyway, as I have a batch of felt hoods in lovely autumnal colours just waiting to be turned into more hats.

Headscarf

These headscarves, made originally for the Vintage Night at work, back in May, are also now in the Eternal Magpie Etsy Shop. I must take some new photographs of these, I hadn’t realised they were still on the polystyrene head – and in some cases, not on a head at all! There are eight of these left (two of the dark blue floral), and I don’t think I’ll be making any more once these have sold out. They were really just for that one occasion, and not something I want to keep going with. I have too many different ideas to restrict myself to making the same thing over and over again! I might consider putting together a kit or a pattern though, as these are very easy to make.

Four sash belts

And finally, these sash belts have undergone a make-over, and have also moved into the Eternal Magpie Etsy Shop, out of the Emporium. The starry velvet one has sold, but the other three have had nice heavy D-rings added to one end, so you can just loop them through instead of having to tie yourself in knots. I made one for myself which fastened that way, and then immediately changed all the others, as they’re so much easier to wear – especially with trousers. No more having to wrestle with some nightmarish Gordian knot every time you want to go to the loo!

Once again, I probably won’t be making any more of these belts in precisely this incarnation. I started work on a prototype felted version weeks and weeks ago, I just haven’t quite got around to finishing it yet. I want to wear it a bit first, before I decide whether felted D-ring belts will become a new addition to the shop. I think they might.

I haven’t set foot into my craft room for what feels like weeks now – although I did sleep in there for two nights, while some friends were visiting! That was strangely comforting, to be sleeping on a little fold-out bed surrounded by all of my Stuff. Being the school holidays, I’ve been doing a few extra days at work (teaching wet felting and how to make bread and butter – not at the same time), and all of my spare time at home has been taken up with gardening and tidying and enjoying having guests to stay. Hopefully once we move into September (next week! already!), I can start to get myself back on track again.

Fitting in some sewing

Cherry sash belt

It’s not going to be all Me-Made May all the time around here – I’ll post a round-up every few days. In the meantime, I’ve been doing a bit of sewing from my extensive stash of increasingly small pieces of fabric.

Four sash belts

These are a series of sash belts, very simple ones that you can just tie around your waist. They’re all one-offs, and you can find them in the Etsy shop.

I have more belts planned for the future, as soon as my order of d-rings and rivets arrive. With the help of some organic cotton and some hand-made felt, hopefully something interesting will emerge.

Four Headscarves

These are headscarves, designed principally for the 1950s Night that’s coming up at work in a couple of weeks. Again, in the Etsy shop. I need to go back to the fabric shop for a small piece to make one of these to match my own dress. I’m not totally convinced that this kind of headscarf will suit me, but if it doesn’t look right in my hair I can always tie it rakishly around my neck.

Zipped Pouches

And finally… a huge pile of zipped pouches! These have been sitting on my shelves staring at me since Christmas, so I can finally stop feeling guilty about not having sewn them yet! These are all multiples – eight of the Eiffel Tower print, three dancing skeletons (so cute!), eight skulls & roses with a plain red lining, and two with black & red stripes inside. All, you’ve guessed it, in the Etsy shop.

In fact, while I’m throwing Etsy links at you, you might like a little something in return! If you’ve never shopped on Etsy before, you can get £5 off your first purchase by following this link. You don’t have to spend it straight away, you can claim it as credit to use whenever you like. It doesn’t need to be in my shop either, the link should work throughout Etsy. (In the spirit of full disclosure, I should probably mention that if two people use the link to make a purchase, I get a £10 credit to spend myself.)

Also in the spirit of full disclosure, I should probably say that I don’t know how many more of these zipped pouches I’ll be sewing. There’s no doubt that they’ve been popular, but I don’t really like the production line method of working that’s necessary to sew them up quickly, and now that my stash is depleting… well. I’ll have to think about it. I want to concentrate much more on organic fabrics and haberdashery, but organic cotton zips are much more expensive than nylon ones, which pushes up the price of a little pouch by a significant amount. We’ll have to see.

These are the last that I have planned for a while though, so if you want one I’d go for it sooner rather than later!