Thursday 16 September 2010

Hi there,
Here is some beading from the weekend. I have been very busy at work this week so I haven't been able to make much. Also I need to buy some more fabric for my next project. 



So I have made a pair of earrings, I am quite pleased with how they came out. I used pale blue and light Swarovski crystals. The white seed beads had a large impact on the whole earring, so next time I may I use another colour. I do like the shape of these though, I will do some experimenting with this pattern.


The one is one of my favourite designs. It is a simple but effective pattern and works well in many colours.
Enjoy   :-)

Tuesday 7 September 2010

A bit of beading

Hi,
So the last couple of days I have been doing some beading, some photos are below. I have quite alot of beads and shouldn't really buy any more, so I am trying to use different types and different styles to what I normally make


I found the blue square bead in my box, and chose to build the design around it. I chose memory wire so that the design would be simple. I added some swarovski crystals and fire polished beads to draw out the colours. 


This bracelet was made using beads I bought in Australia (the ones with writing on them) and the green squares are from a shop by the sea in Sussex. I like how this ended up and the green brings a bit of colour to the design. I was using cotton thread for this, so was a bit difficult to string the beads as it was quite thick.

Saturday 4 September 2010

My first project - apron

Hello there,
Well when I got home from work yesterday I had a nice surprise, some of the fabric I ordered had arrived, which meant that I had all the supplies to make my first item J
I had bought the magazine ‘Sew Hip’ a few weeks ago (September edition, Issue 20) and it is a very good magazine, it had a variety of projects to do, some easy for beginners and others a bit more complex as well as useful adverts for fabric suppliers. One article had instructions to make a basic apron. Having had a read through it seemed simple enough and I ordered my supplies.
So today I got started. The instructions were to use some linen for the main piece, some cotton for the trims and twill tape for the ties.

As I had bought patterned fabric I adjusted the design slightly, so instead of folding the linen, I cut a piece and sewed it on for the pocket. Next was to sew on the blue trims, followed by the red twill tape and then to stitch up the sides to form the pocket. Lastly was to sew lines up the pocket to divide it into three sections.
All in all I am pleased with it, it was very fun to make and I loved the feel of the fabric and doing something practical again. There were not any problems apart from when I was sewing a part where I had folded the fabric a few times so that it was too big to go under the foot, In the end I just stitched that bit without the foot down and it seemed fine.

I love the fabric I chose, the Russian dolls are cute, and the linen makes it a bit more rigid and durable. I am not sure about the blue trims, I could have chosen a different colour, but it was hard as I was ordering online.
To break it in I made some chocolate fairy cakes which were delicious and I am eating one whilst typing this.

Thursday 2 September 2010

First post :)

Hello,
So I will start by saying welcome to my blog, as you can see it is a bit bare at the moment.
I will begin with a little about myself. I have been crafting and making things all my life, my Mum used to get sewing magazines and she would give me the free gift which was a small sewing project to do. When I was about seven or eight I was given a broken necklace and I bought some more beads and created a pair of earrings and three bracelets from it. I guess it all started from there :)
Since then I have tried many crafts, cross stitch, patchwork, hardanger, rubber stamping, card making, knitting, beading, lacemaking......
My main passion has always been beads though, I have many of them. I loved going to craft shops and looking at the beads there, and when I went to America for the first time, well, they have bead warehouses, they are like supermarkets, I thought I was in heaven!
My beads are the only supplies which travelled to university with me, and lived under my bed for four years, occasionally being taken out when I had less uni work to do!
Another continous theme has been sewing in some form or another, I love going to the craft shop and looking at all the beautiful fabrics. I like patchwork alot, as it can start off small and grow, and I can buy lots of different fabrics.
I was recently given a sewing machine and decided that I am going to sew more. Now I am a graduate with large university debts I can't afford to buy clothes anymore. So we will see what I manage to create!
I hope that you follow my journey and enjoy reading here.