this is to invite you to....

I mentioned in a previous blog that I've been spending a lot of my spare time planning a wedding and here is a chance to see some of what I've been up to!

Seeing as we've now given out all our invites there doesn't seem to be any need to keep it a secret any more!

I was inspired by browsing other wedding invites on Pinterest but we wanted to have something that was still unique to us.

Jonny (my fiance) and I came up with design ideas together which included a hand-drawn tree, map and swirly branches.

The tree on the invitation section is based on a necklace that Jonny gave me when he proposed and the leaves were painstakingly coloured in by hand to have a more authentic gold look that was tricky to achieve with a printer!

The fabric used to tie up the invites is the same material my mum and aunt are using to make our ushers' waistcoats. And the green colour is a fairly close match to the material of the bridesmaid's dresses.

The ivory and walnut coloured card came from a great company I discovered called Eco Craft who produce high quality recycled card and paper. And we also got our labels and envelopes from them too!

Putting the invites together was definitely a team effort and at one point Jonny, me, my two brothers, my mum and my cousin Sorren were all involved in cutting fabric, tying bows, filling in John Lewis cards, colouring in leaves, writing envelopes etc! 

 

My brother Simon refused to look at any design ideas because he wanted the final result to be a surprise! So he was the first to receive an invite meaning we could then get him to help us make the rest!

every knitter needs one of these...

I made this a while ago, around the same time I was starting to get back into sewing and made my pin cushion. It's one of those creations that I put to use immediately after making it and so forgot to write a post about it until just recently.

Being a keen knitter I've certainly had plenty of well-meant mockery head my way over the years but knitting has clearly made a very convincing comeback in recent years. Did you know that typing 'knitting blog' into Google produces 28,600,000 results! 

I don't think I'll ever have a blog entirely devoted to knitting but I can admit to being quite a fan of it. (And I actually think it's one of my less embarrassing hobbies, I can honestly say that fantasy RPG computer games will never get a blog post!) 

And a keen knitter would be lost without a case for all her needles.

 

An Unnecessary Doorstop!

For my birthday in April I got given a book called The Crafty Minx by Kelly Doust. 

Kelly is an Australian with a knack for making handmade treasures out of recycled bits and pieces which is just up my street! I found her blog yesterday if you're interested to take a look: http://thecraftyminx.com.au/

The book has lots of ideas and patterns for things to make and I took inspiration for my latest cushion cover from it. This doorstop was first on a list of things that I have queued up to make. It's made from bits of fabric I've picked up here and there: an old pair of jeans, some old curtains, upholstery material and some fabric I inherited with my sewing machine. It's filled with the contents of a bag of rice and some extra stuffing so it's pretty solid.

The only problem with making a doorstop is that my bedroom door stays open by itself so it's not a necessary accessory and we don't need it anywhere else in the house. However, while I was on holiday with my parents a couple of weeks ago, my mum mentioned that she was in need of a new one for the lounge so happily I was able to send mine to a good home.

So not such an unnecessary doorstep after all!

(recycled) birthday cushion!

It was one of my oldest and best friend's birthday at the weekend and so I really wanted to make her something special as a present. I've had several spare cushions kicking around recently so that seemed an good thing to make. And I also had a silk top that I'd bought from a charity shop years ago because I loved the fabric, but I'd never worn it. It made for a really luxurious cover though and as the top was lined I had the perfect backing material too!

I wanted to avoid having any seams in the fabric so it was a bit of a stretch to make the cover big enough. It was slightly on the small side but the bonus of that is a plumper cushion in the end! I also used the original zip from the top which was only half the length that I'd normally use but as the colour was a perfect match I hope that's not too noticeable.

. 

Happy Birthday Geri! I hope that you enjoy your cushion :-) x

a springtime cosy for rainy days

I made this tea cosy several months ago but it's taken me this long to get round to posting about it. It was one of the first projects I wanted to do when I brought my sewing machine up to Durham at the beginning of the year because it would a) not take too long to make, b) not require me to buy much fabric as it's nearly all recycled bits and pieces and c) be useful - we didn't have one in our house before!

I bought the green background but it was only a fat 1/4 and came very cheap from the quilting stall (which I frequent regularly) in Durham's indoor market. Although you can't see it in these photos, the tea cosy is lined with some checked material which was left over from a hat my Mum made me when I was about six. The floral Liberty fabric is the same that I used for my pincushion and the pink printed material was brought back from Ghana by my aunt and uncle when they lived there about fifteen years ago. And as you can see, my Mum found something useful to do with it back then but I've somewhat outgrown the trousers and top now.

I designed the cosy myself and made a paper pattern for it which I've hung onto in case I make one of these for a friend. It did become quite fiddly sewing on the letters and birds though as I wanted the stitching to be invisible so it was done be hand and had to be quite precise. I also spent longer than I needed quilting the background, pinning and tacking it first to get the distances and angles right before realising that I had a quilting foot on my machine which would do all that for me!

Recycled Cushions

I'm not always very good at throwing things away even if it's something I never use but I love to recycle. Clothing and other bits of material are especially good for this.

This green cushion was made out of a t-shirt that I'd had a little while and really loved but the style wasn't very good so I just didn't wear it much. It was fun to make (although not as easy as I'd expected it to be) and only took a few hours. I'd anticipated using the original side seams but they weren't straight enough so I ended up cutting a square each from the front and back and then sewing them together. I did however use the t-shirt's bottom hem on the back opening which gave a neat edge that I didn't have to do myself!

I also made the purple cushion from some old felt I had and another old t-shirt, but I can't claim originality for the idea because I found it on a Google image search!

My Old Bernina Record

This is my old sewing machine which I love.

My Bernina Record 730

It was given to me about eight years ago by a lady who'd bought it in 1967 for ninety-six pounds and nine shillings. I've been told that it was the Rolls Royce of sewing machines in it's day and although the pedal is sometimes a bit glitchy now, it still runs really well. I used it a little bit when I received it but I have to admit it remained largely untouched for several years. However, having resolved to make a particular effort this year to spend more time investing in creative hobbies, I decided it was time to have another play around with it.

My first sewing venture in a few years

90% recycled pincushion (the wadding was new)

One of my first projects was a pincushion as I wanted something nice and simple that I could do quickly. The patterned material was some Liberty fabric left over from a skirt my mum made years ago and the blue used to be bunting! It was a very practical item to make too and has come in very handy as I've progressed onto more complicated things. Expect plenty more blogs about sewing adventures!