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Pink Diary Cover

Pink Diary Cover

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I managed to finish the diary cover for my sister this week. Last time I posted I’d got as far as making pink batts and choosing the embellishments. I finished the layout the next day.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI wanted to create a feel of lots of different textures, but without it looking like it was ‘piled’ with embellishments. So after adding the fancy fibres and the cotton, silk, organza and synthetic fabrics, I added wisps of wool that I pulled from the batts. Close up of embellishments:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt took a long time to do the layout, so I didn’t get chance to felt it until the next day. This is the piece when I’d just felted it and rinsed it:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI was taking lots of photos of the felting process for a tutorial and I think by repeating some of the steps for photos, I ended up fulling it a lot more than I usually do! It did shrink quite a lot.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERACoincidentally, it shrunk width-ways to the exact size I needed for my notebook cover. This is a photo of the pieces cut out: Main piece, the front and back pieces for the closure flap, and the strip to cut two straps.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI didn’t have the right colour thread for blanket stitching, so I made my own by splitting some lengths of embroidery floss in half and joining some pinks and lilac shades together. This is the front all finished

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAnd this is the back:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt does remind me a bit of a toilet roll cosy and I’m sure Barbara Cartland would have loved it, let’s just hope my sister does 🙂

More Bamboo and a Couple of Diaries

More Bamboo and a Couple of Diaries

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It was bright enough yesterday to take some photos of one of the other bamboo pieces I worked on over the last few weeks. This piece was made mostly from English 56’s, the base was two layers, then I added some thick twists to the top to help define the ridges I wanted. I added 2 very fine layers of 18.5 mic merino over the top, then positioned some black bamboo over the raised parts where the twists were. When it was almost felted, I folded it concertina style, secured with sewing thread and finished felting by rubbing, and rolling one end at a time to get a twist in it. It’s about 8 inches long.
This is the back:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThis is the front:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAClose up of the texture on the inside of the back:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAnd close up of the bamboo:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI’ve mostly spent the past week getting ready for the Craft Fair this coming Saturday (it’s at the LGBT Centre on Sidney Street, Manchester if you’re in the area!) I’ve printed tags and business cards and have made and cut out felt for 5 Diary covers. I’ve only got 2 finished so far, but it takes about 8 hours just to position/reposition/double check the closure straps, and then blanket stitch around them and all the edges (I’m up to episode 24 of Prisoner Cell Block H!) This is an orange one that I finished first:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAnd this is a green one I finished yesterday:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThanks for all the tips last week about fairs and markets 🙂

Something Different

Something Different

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I’m still trying to finish projects and WIPs so I can tidy my summer sewing stuff away. I found an unfinished project from years ago when I was putting some felt offcuts away. Hopefully, this link will show some of the pieces I made, if not search my photostream for ’embellished’. It inspired me to finish it off and make some more. So I had a rummage through my offcuts and found lots of nice ones, so many that I started to think that maybe I wanted to do something a bit bigger, like a notebook cover (surprise, surprise!). I found some thin pieces of felt to use as a base and sewed them together. I really wanted to make something the complete opposite of the carefully measured and carefully and neatly sewn notebook covers I usually make. So after spreading all the felt offcuts out, I got some contrasting sewing thread and set to work attaching the pieces to my felt base. I didn’t expect it to take as long as it did and I got through quite a few episodes of Foyle’s War while I sewed 🙂

When I’d attached all the pieces, I attached a piece of thin blue cotton fabric to hide all the stitching and thread. Then I folded the flaps in, machine stitched them in place, then hand stitched the top and bottom edges. I think you’ll agree, that it’s nothing like what I usually make 🙂  This is the front:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAnd this is the back:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI tried hard to make sure nothing matched, and that it wasn’t too neat or even, including the top and bottom edges, I just followed the edges of the base felt. This is the cover opened out:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI didn’t attach felt pieces to the base where the flaps would be, I didn’t want it to be too thick. The felt I used for the flaps was originally white merino and cotton which I experimented on with direct dyeing.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI also made a strap closure for it in much the same way as I made the book:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt just fits around the book and clips together with a Delrin clip.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
I thought this notebook would stick out like  a sore thumb in my etsy shop, but surprisingly it doesn’t. But maybe that’s because it probably has a little offcut from almost every other piece in there with it!

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