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New Nuno

New Nuno

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I blended some fine 18.5 micron Merino recently to make a scarf for my Dad for Christmas. I used what was left of a blue/purple/green blend I’d made for another scarf, and ran it through the drum carder with more green. This is one of the batts:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI had to go into town on Wednesday, so I wanted to try out a scarf I’d bought from a shop there when I last went, so I could see if it was worth getting more, since they were only £1 each. The batts I made for my Dad’s scarf were the perfect colour so I ‘borrowed’ some of them to try a piece out:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt’s probably just over a third of the size of a full scarf, or a full sized small collar:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt made a really nice texture, which is a shame because the shop had shut down recently 🙁

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAnd, of course, a supermacro:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThose of you who go on the forum will have seen this piece, it’s a sample I made using some georgette fabric I got from Abakhan last time:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI knew from other similar fabrics I’ve used that it would only attach loosely, the weave isn’t particularly open, and one part of the bottom edge didn’t attach at all. Even though I was fairly certain it would felt like it did, I like to just try a sample on top without wisps etc at first to get a good idea of how it felts, sometimes fabrics like this attach well around the edge if they are quite frayed.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI haven’t decided what I’ll use it for yet, but I did make it big enough to make a coin/zipper purse out of, I thought that might look nice.

Catching Up

Catching Up

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I’ve been trying to some of the projects I started before I began working on my polymer clay e-book. I had a few purses and glasses cases cut out or part sewn up. The first one I finished was a ruffle camera case. It hadn’t even been cut out, so I did some measuring and cutting then discovered my electric machine won’t work 🙁 I cleaned out the bobbin case and took the parts off and wiped them and put them back, but the needle won’t pick up the bobbin thread. From what I can tell it is timing or something and I don’t think it’s something I can fix. So, out came my ancient electric Singer without the electrical parts. It’s slow going but it works, for straight stitching anyway 🙂  This is the front of the case:

rufflesAnd this is the back:

ruffles 2This was one of the purses I hadn’t even blanket stitched, it’s made from the same piece of felt as one I made earlier. It’s a slubbed wool which I added some cotton and silk threads to and some strips of rolled edges from silk scarves. Front:

purseInside:

inside purseThe felt this wool makes has a really nice texture. Back:

purse backA piece of coppery bronze felt that I made a while ago was just big enough to make a purse and matching glasses case.

coppery bronzeDo you have piles of WIPs at different stages?

Giveaway Winner and Latest Project

Giveaway Winner and Latest Project

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The winner of Polymer Clay Simply Made is…. Anne L. Congratulations, Anne! Please leave a comment so I can send you a download link. Thanks a lot for all the entries and all the nice comments too 🙂

Giveaway winnerI thought it was time for a well earned rest after finishing the Polymer clay book, we had a ridiculous heatwave here too, so it was far too hot to blink without sweating. I took refuge downstairs where it was a bit cooler for a few days and then had a look through my felt box to see what I could work on next. I found the pink nuno pieces I made for Ann’s Challenge and decided to work on those. I started with the larger piece I made for a notebook cover. I’d measured carefully when I made the piece so I’d get the ruffles just on the front and back. This is the front:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAnd this is the back:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI must have measured properly because it worked out well. I didn’t want any of the ruffles where the flaps for the inside would go.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI’m going to swap the notebook for a red one, then list this on etsy. I’ve already cut the other piece for making a camera case, so as long as it stays cooler, I’ll work on that next.

Pink!

Pink!

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On my last post I showed you a sneaky peek of the ripples and ruffles of the nuno felted piece I made for Ann’s challenge. Well, here’s the finished piece in full:

pink nuno fullHere it is from another angle:

nuno rufflesIt’s kind of double-nuno because I started with some pieces of cotton gauze that I’d dyed a while ago. I wanted it to be extra sturdy to make a camera case out of it:

pinky gauzeI really liked how it turned out, so I thought I’d make a similar piece. I measured this one carefully to make a book cover out of it. I also added some wisps of orange, beige and white to the merino at each end to match the patterns and colours of the fabric.

nuno notebookYou can see the texture more from this angle:

nuno textureAnd of course, a supermacro close up 🙂

pink nuno flapsI have just one more piece I made from this fabric, but it is still drying.

Synthetic Fibres and Fabrics

Synthetic Fibres and Fabrics

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A couple of felt pieces I chose to make into things for etsy recently were both made using nylon fibres. This first piece has crimped nylon fibre which I dyed myself, blended with merino tops. The felt had a really nice feel to it, thick and kind of spongy but still light, and the nylon gave it a nice texture and sheen, a kind of wet look.

Nylon rainbowoIt was the perfect length for making into a notebook cover, and I got to keep the natural edges again too.

notebook coverI decided to use the orangey yellow side as the front cover:

OrangeThe other piece was one I made a while ago with trilobal nylon. It comes as rainbow tops and I carefully separated out some of the colours and blended them with merino. The result was hard to capture on camera but it gives a nice texture and shine to it, and when the light catches it, it really sparkles. The piece was big enough to make two camera or gadget cases out of. I’m just finishing a slightly larger one than this, but this is the first one I made:

stripey nylonI hadn’t realised how small my new camera was until I used some props for demonstrating the size of the cases, apparently mine is about the size of a pack of cards, it makes the new iPods look huge 🙂 I used a standard sized camera to test the ‘fit’ here:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI was really pleased with the way the flowery camera cases came out. These were made from a piece of nuno felt I made with a polyester scarf on the top and muslin underneath.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAnd because I keep moving all my sewing stuff from upstairs to downstairs and back in a shoe box, I thought I’d make myself a little case to keep my glasses safe. It was made from a piece of felt I made ‘just for fun’ last year and has as many different fabrics and embellishment fibres on there as I could find room for!

glasses case

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