Let's get Purse-onal

I drew up the pattern for these little purses the other day. Then, while I was at my boot making course on Wednesday night (by the way the boots are coming along very well but, who knew it would take so long to put them together! It’s partially down to the fact that there are way too many people in my class all vying for the teacher’s attention and direction. I’m not sure I’d take another course at LFC because the classes do feel a little over crowded. Anyway, back to Wednesday night.) I found some bits of scrap leather hanging around. I took it home with me and made up these purses.
They have cowboy style pearl snaps and colored stitching for a bit of flair.

I know it's only November but, I am trying to get together an arsenal of goodies for the impending holiday. These would make quite nice little gifts. Even better if I stuff them with some of the jewellery I’ve been making. I’ve spent a bomb at The Bead Shop in Covent Garden recently. Eek.

Foxy.

The dress that came too late.

This was supposed to be my Halloween dress. Not a costume but just a dress for Halloween. Is that odd? I dunno. It seemed right at the time. Anyway, I started cutting it out before Halloween and soon realized that I did not have enough fabric. My bf bought me this fabric from some random fabric store he saw one day in some neither region of London. Meaning, I couldn't get anymore from him.

I looked on ebay and found what I thought was the same fabric. Ordered it and waited. When it arrived and I noticed it was the same print but a totally different fabric. Err. I decided that I wouldn't let that ruin the spirit of Halloween, even though it had already passed, and I soldiered on.

The new fabric was much stiffer than the old one. I think, it probably wasn't quite right for this dress. I mean, one arm on it is seriously puffy. But, overall it's not so noticeable.

The pattern itself is a vintage Betsey Johnson Pattern. I love Betsey. I'm in the shop so much that the girls that work there know me. Maybe I shouldn't admit that but, my love of all things Betsey has given me even more joy about my new creation. Oh yes. This dress rocks.

Enid Collins inspired owl brooch

I've been wanting to make a felt brooch for a while. I always see flower ones which I like but I wanted to make something a little different. Lately, I’ve been on a real Enid kick. I’ve got another one of her bags coming to me in the mail.

Finding wool felt is not the simplest thing here. We have no Michael’s or any other type of craft superstore. I guess the closest thing is John Lewis on Oxford Street but, anyone who has been to Oxford Street knows that it’s a pretty maddening place to get to. This is mainly, because of the throngs of crowds that you must navigate through to get to the shop. In the end, the thought of John Lewis makes me just want to buy stuff online.

All that aside, there is a little craft shop up on Blackstock road near-ish to Finsbury Park. They have all kinds of yarn, buttons, knitting needles, findings and wool felt. I went there to get my felt. Then, after a few days of contemplation I decided that I would make an owl brooch based on one of Enid’s insanely cute designs. Whalla!:
I think a few more of these are in order. I’d really like a chicken one for myself!

Foxy.

We've been framed!

I've gone deep into the world of frame bag making. I found some frames that don’t have a nice little metal loop attached to them for your handle. So, now I’m trying to come up with ways to put a handle on and for it to be attractive.

So far I have executed one solution. This would be on the red bag. I’ve used loops, which are also stuck into the frame. I think this works quite well. The handle also feels really nice because it’s wide and has good padding in it.
I’m going to try a few other ideas out like surface mounting the handles and attaching loops into the frame at a point nearer to the hinges.

So stay tuned.

Also, Get Together Craftily is this Sunday at 3pm. 13 Bodney Road, E8. We’ll have stuff together for making Halloween cards, Carving Pumpkins and making Halloween themes tea pot covers.

Foxy.

That'll flat do it!

Recently I bought some bag making supplies from www.u-handbag.com. Lisa also has a blog which has ace instructions on how to make bags. I really love frame bags and have been wanting one for a while, so I bought a silver frame.

It arrived so quickly that I didn’t really have much time to think about what fabric I was going to use and really plot it all out. That didn’t really hold me back though, I was just too excited. So, after rummaging through my fabric I found this nice vintage silver lamee (I’d been saving) and turquoise and white stripe cotton for the inside. (Like a day evening bag.)

I think the bag took about an hour to make.

Amazing!!!!

Anyway, I took it out and the darn strap came off. Err. It's big and I am not the kind of girl to just carry a few small bits in her bag. So, I decided to buy some stronger jump rings to attach the handle to the bag. While I was at it, I also decided to do a little adjusting on the shape of the bag. I gave it a flat bottom.

Then I took it out again. It was doing fine until I started jumping around dancing with it on my shoulder. The strap came off again! Err. So, finally I decided I’d use some fabric to close up the slight gap in the jump ring. I used the littlest bit of fabric and some fabric glue, wrapped it around the gap and it’s been staying together. Yay! And I learned my lesson about dancing with it on.

When Jim came home from his tour and saw it he said “Oh wow, where did that come from?” I said “I made it.” He said, “No way! Really? I can’t believe women have not been running down the street after you asking you where you got your bag from.” Isn’t that super sweet? The haberdasher liked it too and was impressed with my tidy construction. I’m so proud.

Foxy.

Places are set!

I finished up the last one in my set of four crazy quilt placemats last night. I'm so pleased with them that I took loads of photos!

The boys in the house like this one best:This is the back of one. The quilting is done in the shape of lightning bolts!

Foxy.

He's long gone.

My Bub (boyfriend) has decided to up and leave me, for a week of touring with his rockin' band. He is now bathing in beer and eating sausages in Deutschland. (Darling, Please stay away from the currywurst. They'll only make you sorry.)

As a send off and a forget me not, I made him this bag:It's got this very cool green dice patterned fabric on the outside and black fabric with white skulls and crossbones on the inside. Both of which he bought! (I'm plaining a halloween dress out of the latter.) The bag actually is made from the same pattern that I drew up for my tote bag (see the leopard thing a few posts below) but, he's got longer skinnier handles as per his request. Long strapped bag are more manly, don't you know.

I hope it serves him well.

Keep on rockin'.

Foxy.

AFTER LONG LAST!

The skull and crossbones quilt is done. I am ever so pleased with it. I mean, this thing has been knocking about for a while. Mocking me and calling me lazy. But, I showed it that I've got the fortitude to 'getter done'.

Yeehaw!

Foxy.

Quit it. Err. Quilt it.

I've been working on tying up my patchwork quilt. I'm half way through it. Check it out: Foxy.

Tote it on over.

I drew out the pattern for this simple tote bag the other day. The bag is big enough to hold a notebook. Not that I still carry notebooks around. I’ll probably use it for shoes or knitting. Then I rummaged through my fabrics and found this old leopard print fabric that I had wanted to make curtains out of. (Then though, leopard flannel maybe a little too much for curtains.) This anchor and wheel lining was also in amongst my ‘fab’rics!

Foxy.

Swishy Sweater.

I recently bought a navy blue merino cardigan. It was darn cheap and fit really really well. BUT, it was a little plain. No pizzazz. Sure, you should have staple (plain) items in your wardrobe but still there is room for a little something special about them.

After buying the plainest jane of navy blue jumpers, I headed over to Kleins just off Wardour Street. They are a rather ace haberdasher. In the backroom on the ground floor they have all their buttons. There I spotted exactly what I had been looking for! A whole box of rhinestone buttons! Gasp. I grabbed the ones I wanted and paid £11 for 6. Ouch.

I got the sweater and the buttons home and sewed them on. Then I didn’t care about the price of the button anymore. They made my sweater be all it can be. Yes!

Check it out: The picture is a little blurry! oops.

Foxy.

I'm goin' Crazy Quilts.

Oh no let's go....CRAZY!!!

My Great Aunt Pearl used to make crazy quilts. Even when she was 90 years young. (I guess you could say I come from a family of die hard crafters!) I've always loved the one that Mom has which Aunt Pearl made. It's got some really amazingly awful fabric in it but, it works! AND to top it all off it's backed in brown. Yum. Still it it a thing of beauty.

Recently, I've become aware that I've got a lot of scraps of fabric laying around that are good for nothing but, a crazy quilt. However, I still haven't finished my skull and cross bones quilt that I started ages ago. (I will be finishing it quite soon though because pondering the great quilt work of Aunt Pearl has helped me solve the final problem of that quilt. Anyway...) So, instead of making a razy quilt for the bed, I've decided to make crazy quilt placemats!

Here's the beginings of them:

Foxy.

Abuse, Reuse & Recycle. The story of a scarf.

I think everyone has shrunken something wool by putting it in the laundry. The most memorable one for me was this amazing pea coat my mom bought me for Christmas when I was 15. I had been a pretty bad girl that year so it was kind of amazing that I got anything at all but, that’s not what I’m on about here. About two months after I got the coat I decided that it ready for a wash. I don’t think I had ever washed a coat before so maybe something was on it? I’ve never really questioned why I washed it. But I did! If that wasn’t enough I decided it needed drying too. Well, that was the end of that coat. (The lining so fine, which sort of made it all the more hideous.)

Last year, the washing machine struck again. A certain someone that is not myself but does live in the same house as me and might do my laundry from time to time happened to unknowingly slip one of my favourite black sweaters into the ‘felter’. It emerged child sized. I was a bit distraught. But I dried it and decided to put it in with my other materials in the hopes that I would be able to cut it up one day and give it a new life.

The sweater came out the other evening after I had enough time to morn and it was cut! I used the bottom bit, from below the arms down. That was cut into 4 equal pieces and then I used the sweating machine (zig zag stitch) to put them back together in the form of a scarf.

I was pretty happy with it but, it definitely needed some adornment. I recently bought some spray style fabric paint. So I figured this was a good opportunity to try it out. I rifled through my stencils and found the skull and crossbones. I laid out the stencil on the scarf, sprayed it, let it dry a little and sprayed it again.

The end results were pretty darn good. Maybe too go. So, I decided it needed a little more personal. I then got out some grey wool and embroidered around the outside and inside of the skull and bones. That did it.

Check it out:
Now, I know you shouldn’t go and reward such hideous behaviour as sweater or ‘jumper’ shrinking but, it is getting cold out and that certain someone did need a scarf.

Foxy.

Foxy Freakin' Cowboy Shirt Dress

A moment of pure craftiness hit me a few months back. I've had the pattern for a cowboy shirt dress for a while. I got it after I missed this lovely cowboy shirt dress on ebay. Anyway, after my second attempt at making a cowboy shirt for my beau failed, (once again too small!) I decided it was time to make something for myself.

I went over to Mermaid Fabrics in Hackney Central. They have loads of stuff in there. Generally, for stuff with really good patterns I go over to Rolls and Rems in Holloway but, sometime you'll find something really super cute in Mermaid. I got a pinky-orange faux crepe type material and decided that I would go through my trunk of fabric at home to look for something for the yoke. At home after some consultation I decided to use up some of my ace Alexander Henry black tattoo fabric. (I just love that stuff.)

There where also a few options for the piping but, in the end I went with red which worked out well. The dress, overall was pretty easy though I did get a little confused when it came to the sleeves. Once in a while directions fail to make any sense to me. Even with diagrams!

Funny enough the most difficult thing about this dress was finding colored pearl snaps! I sent away for some from a company here in the UK called Millcroft Textiles. On their website they looked like normal pearl snaps but when they arrived they were those funny plastic cover metal things, like this:

Eek! The people at Millcroft kindly took them back and refunded my money but, then I still had to find the snaps. After a bit of looking around I found the Bee Lee Company in Texas. They have a very wide assortment of stuff, however I didn't manage to order anything from them because they don't have a online catalogue. I like shopping online. (I will in the future get some of those nice diamond snaps from Bee Lee.)

Instead, I went to Wendy at The Snap Store. http://thesnapstore.com/catalog/index.php. I got some pink, red and black snaps. I thought I use the pink ones initially but, when they came it was pretty apparent they wouldn't quite go. So I went with the red ones. They ended up looking amazing.

I wore the dress out to DJ, check it out:

The pattern:
The dress:
Foxy.