Happy Halloween

Just a quick post to wish you all a happy Halloween and to share some crafting. Not mine but Mr Bunny's! He has been busy carving his pumpkin and wanted me to share it with you all!

All about applique

I am a little bit behind on my textile course updates!  (Ooops - sorry!)  Being half term, my class hasn't been on this week but I am looking forward to learning all about trapunto quilting tomorrow night.  So far we have covered rag rugging, applique (the subject of today's post) and embroidery and cross stitch.  I have to say that I am really enjoying the course and have learnt lots of new techniques, met some fabulous people and have been truly inspired.  One aspect of the course that I am finding really useful and fun is keeping my themed sketch book and I will definitley be applying this strategy to my crafting at home.  It is just such a great way to store ideas and inspiration.

So, on to applique!  Applique is the craft of sewing, or attaching, one piece of fabric to another. The word applique comes from the French, appliquer, which means to put on.  It is a technique which is believed to have been around since people could sew and quite possibly began as a way of patching holes up in clothing.  One of the earliest examples found was in Egypt depicting a ceremonial canopy.  Today applique is a very popular technique used to decorate all manner of items by adding shapes and pictures in contrasting fabrics to the base. 

We learnt the quick and easy way to applique using bondaweb and it is just fantastic!  In class I appliqued a very simple tree shape and it worked really well.  I have also made my bellydancer phone cases from felt, appliquing (is this a word?) the bellydancer onto the base cover.  I don't use bondaweb for these as the felt 'sticks' to itself and doesn't move around when sewing. 

My (very simple) applique tree

I really enjoyed applique and am planning on using this technique to make some Christmas cards for friends and family.  If you haven't given it a go, I really suggest you do!

Christmas Rag Wreath

Colonial Christmas Wreath courtesy of Wormwood_3 on Flickr

Christmas wreaths can be dated back to Roman times and traditionally are seen in Catholic churches during Advent, lighting candles to countdown the Sunday's to Christmas.  I have alwyas loved the wreaths that you see on peoples front doors, all bright and festive with pine cones and fir leaves, but have never been able to have one on my front door as it opens onto the road and I just know it wouldn't last 2 minutes! 

You may recall a few weeks ago I learnt how to rag rug in my night course.  The following week we all shared our work and one lady had created the most gorgeous rag wreath for Christmas.  I absolutley loved it and knew that I wanted to make one to hang in my house as a decoration so I asked her how she had made hers.

To make mine I have used the inside section of an embroidery hoop for my base ( which I bought this for £3.10 from Abakhan)  but you can use any circular base, even an old wire coat hanger bent into shape. 

I then cut my chosen fabric into strips the same length and width using pinking shears to create a pretty, unfrayed edge.  I had to test out a few strips to get the correct length first.  I used 3 different colours which match my Christmas tree and decorations.  The teal fabric is from a set of curtains I bought in a charity shop which have been in my fabric stash for ages, the purple is left over fabric from another project and the pink is from the skirt of my wedding dress! (I got married at Christmas so this is a really nice way to reuse it)

Next I tied the strips of fabric round the hoop, pushing them up next to each other tightly to get that really full effect.  I made sure all the knots where on the same side (the back) to get a really neat finish to the front.  This took me about an hour to do and I randomly grabbed strips rather than having a set pattern to it.

I chose to make a dangle for in the middle of my wreath although you don't really have to!  My dangle is a felt star with a shisha mirror in the middle and then beads stitched on to add a little bit of festive sparkle. 




My finished wreath

 I really enjoyed making the wreath and it is a quick, easy and really effective decoration for Christmas.  I can't wait to put my Christmas decorations up so that I can admire it!

Holiday Happenings!

Half term has arrived!  Hooray!  This half term has been really busy and I don't feel that, on the crafty front, I have managed to get much done so I have lots of crafting planned for this week to make up for it.  Today's post is going to be a quick catch up on what I've been making and what I have planned for the week ahead.

I am still (yes still!) working on my Grandad's knitted ribbed scarf for Christmas.  It is getting there and I am optimistic it will be finished in time (it's a good job I started it back in summer!)  Hopefully, I will get a few more Christmas pressies started this week as there are only 9 weeks to go!

On the topic of Christmas, this week will see the start of some fabulous Christmas card making, a rag rug style wreath for my door and the dreaded Christmas cake.  Last year's Christmas cake was something of a disaster and it ended up in the bin - I do not plan on repeating that this year - and I had to buy a pre-made one from the supermarket which I marzipanned and iced myself.  I'm going to try Delia's recipe this time round which I have heard is really good.
 
Since the craft fair, I have recieved lots of orders for my handmade goodies.  Last night I delivered two handmade hair accessories for two gorgeous dancers and this morning I completed 2 other orders for finderless mitts (my own design!), flower brooch and a flower pencil topper.  I am off to purchase some more wool, including some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, for some mitts and a hat later on this week.

This morning I started a crochet project for me!  I see many photos of the knitted baktus shawl and have always loved it so I googled crochet baktus shawl and found a pattern.  I am using a beautiful hand dyed yarn I bought from The Woolclip (there is a trip planned for Friday) as I only have 1 ball of the yarn.  The baktus is a great project for those one off hand dyed balls of yarn!  Not only is it a really simple pattern but it shows off the colours in the yarn beautifully. 

I am definitley keeping myself busy this week - keep popping back to see my finished items!