Felting workshop 2

Last week I went to my second felting workshop. I had been to the first one before Christmas where we were taught to make a piece of flat felt. I so loved my piece of felt that I didn’t want to cut it up in any way. I have ended up simply folding it in half and making a needle case from it. I now have separate pages for my beading, tapestry and sewing needles.

I made some of my own buttons, Dorset buttons, I think the correct terminology for them, to jazz up the front a little.

The second workshop was to make a 3D flower corsage using a plastic resist. I chose the colours to go with my new coat. Although I am not really a flowery person I do love the finished piece especially as it is a one off piece and nobody will have one exactly the same.

The workshops were run at the new art gallery and cafe near to where I live. Check them out on Facebook , they are called Byrom and Steel, if you are near give them a try, the cakes are to die for!

I have also been working on another dress but am not really happy with how it is turning out. I loved the fabric when I bought it but now I have made it up I think it is looking a bit frumpy. I hate it when that happens, I made the same dress the other week and it looks great in the other fabric. I shall leave it on Ethel and keep looking at it in the hope that it will grow on me.

Whatever you are up to this wet weekend I hope it is successful, happy crafting x

A bit late for spring cleaning

Ok so its supposed to be done in spring but that just didn’t happen. The boys are back at school and so there was no excuse not to clear out my craft space. I wish it could be a room but at the minute I have to be content with a cupboard. I long to have one of those immaculate craft rooms that are posted on pinterest but if I had to keep one as tidy as they are I would never have time to do any craft.

I pulled absolutely everything out of the cupboard and went through every box and jar and found loads of stuff that was never going to be used. Some has gone in the bin and the rest I can redistribute at the village craft group on Thursdayalong with a huge pile of crafty magazines that I have read to the death and know almost off by heart. I even pulled out the shelves and hoovered behind them finding the most enormous spider in the process. I must admit I turned big girly about it and got my 15 year old to put it outside- no spiders were therefore harmed in the process.

I have reorganised all my stash of stuff so that sewing is on one side of the cupboard and papercraft is on the other, not all jumbled wherever I could shove it as it was before. I wish I had taken a picture of the before but I can now show off the results :

Ok so its still not immaculate but it is a heck of a lot better than it was, the doors can now be opened without fear that something may fall out on top of you and in theory I will be able to find stuff when I want it!

Having cleared everything out I rewarded myself by having a play with my new gadget. I recently bought a felting machine with my birthday money but beyond making sure that it worked I haven’t really had chance to have a play with it. The machine takes about as much space as a sewing machine and has 12 needles to felt with at the same time.

 

 

I am planning to make some cushion covers onto which I want to felt some abstract flower shapes but wanted to do some practice just getting used to the machine first. I decided to have a play around with some different fabrics onto a spare bit of denim and this is what I came up with- very scooby doo!

 

I think some of the fabric that I used was a bit too lightweight and it had a tendency to scrunch up a little bit. The thicker stuff worked much better. Has anyone else got one of these machines, how are you getting on with it?

Since the clear out I found lots of christmas materials that I didn’t even know were lurking at the back of the shelves so I have started to make some Christmas themed items for our village craft fair in November- will I be struck down for mentioning Christmas already, apologies to anyone who doesn’t want to think about the festive season for a while yet!

I also found some other fabric and have run up another 13 frocks as a start for my next parcel for the Dress a Girl organisation.

Back to my cupboard then, clearing it out was very satisfying but getting it back untidy again will be even more fun!