Nurturing creativity..

A few weeks back my neighbour and her friend asked whether I would be interested in making some fabric flower brooches to sell at our local Breast Cancer awareness breakfast. I, of course, didn't hesitate and agreed to make as many as I could. This was just what I needed to kick start a flicker of creativity inside me again. 

 I was given quite a bit of various types of fabrics to work with but also used some from my own stash to add different textures. None of the flowers I made actually use that much fabric but just take time to complete. Some of the bigger brooches can take up to 2-3 hours work .

 I should have really started making these brooches as soon as I was asked and I really did have every intention of doing just that. However life somehow keeps getting in the way for me at the moment and before I knew it I had exactly 1 week to make something, anything. Once I started though I kept coming up with new ideas on what I could make. Funny how being creative feeds creativity... 

The idea for these hearts came to me when I had just one day left. I have a couple of old brooches that have a safety chain attached to a pin so if the pin on the brooch itself fails and comes undone the safety chain will save it from coming off completely. I made the 'chains' on these little hearts by threading on beads and knotting every few beads. These hearts are quite tiny (the bigger heart is just 6cm) so were a little fiddly but satisfying to complete.

The breakfast itself which was held yesterday was a sold out success and a fun event to be part of. I ended up selling about 1/2 of my brooches so will put the remaining brooches in my Etsy shop if any of them take your fancy :-)

How do you feed your creativity??

Finished brooches!

I know I was only meant to make one brooch but the creative juices were flowing so I just couldn't stop at one. Hopefully I've got my partners tastes right with at least one of them. I can't decide which one I like best so she'll be getting them both.

 I finished the second one up this morning. It's made using 3 shades of pink felt with a little white as well. The centre is made using Heather Baileys free tutorial here. I used this same tutorial to make a brooch for my Mother on Mother's day but forgot to take a photo. The french knots in the flower centres were replaced for some pink seed beads to add a little sparkle.

And here's my original brooch idea all embellished with some embroidery and beading. I used a tutorial I found on Pinterest for some of the layers.

I'll be popping them in the post tomorrow. For more brooch eye candy check out our Flickr page here.

Sneaky peek...

 It's been a wet miserable day here but I've been happily ensconced by the heater surrounded by various silky fabrics, tulle, felt, beads, thread and buttons creating a brooch for my secret partner in the Flowerpress Brooch Swap. We have 10 more days so I thought I'd better get a move along.

Tonight I'll be adding some pretty details with some beading and embroidery. Sure do hope my partner likes it although I do have a 2nd brooch idea that I might whip up as well....they're sort of addicting once you start.

You can see more beautiful brooches on our flickr group.

Brooch swap mosaic

1. folded flower bookshelf decoration, 2. Martini brooch, 3. DSC_0009, 4. recent brooches, 5. Making use of the new felt rope., 6. Vintage Brooches On Dressmaker's Form., 7. Heart mobile up close, 8.green, 9. Little Pink House, 10. flickr.com/photos/74067014@N00/4976499711/, 11. main 006, 12.Mixed Media, 13. 'Strawberry Sundae' wall art, 14. susans flowers, 15. Embroidery from our workshop at Ballarat Patchwork, 16. little garden pin cushion

This is my first ever mosaic made for the Brooch swap. I hope it gives my partner some idea of what I like. Making a mosaic is really easy and fun. I followed Jo's instructions here using the Big Huge Labs Mosaic Maker. I think I might be making more mosaics in the near future :) 

A new swap!

While reading through my blog list last night (which is way too long) I came across this new swap on Susie's blog Flowerpress who is organising a brooch swap to celebrate her 500th post.  I've been wanting to join in  on a swap for a long time but really couldn't commit the time but this swap seems perfect for me. I love to make and wear pretty brooches and since Susie's given us 7 weeks to make one for our partners I'm sure I'll meet this deadline. If you are keen to join in sign ups are open till May 10th over here.

Shop update....

Newly listed in my shop are kits with instructions to make your very own heirloom sewing box. I know it's taken a very long time for me to get around to doing these kits but this was a bit of learning curve for me and I wanted to be sure  my instructions were easy to follow and full of good detailed photos of each step for those of you that need visuals as well as written instructions. Making your own sewing box up means you can choose specific fabrics of your choice and you also get sense of accomplishment at the end of having done it yourself. These boxes are fairly easy to make but do take a bit of time and patience. Of course I do have a couple made up and ready for instant purchase if you're time poor.

My creative space this week. Yes due to a custom order of a flower brooch I did manage to squeeze in some relaxing hand sewing creativity.

I'm loving the colour combo of this brooch and might have to replicate in other projects some time. Hope the recipient likes it!

Have just listed 3 different styles of these brooches in my shop.

Spring giveaway and an Announcement!

So you may have noticed that I have finally opened up an "Etsy Shop"!! I'm very excited about this and thought I'd celebrate my shop opening with a  "Spring Giveaway " as it's also the first day of spring in the Southern Hemisphere today. First of all I want to tell you about my shop and what you will find in it so far. I have made a couple of  needlecases, as shown in the above photo. One is made with scraps of Wonderland by Momo fabrics and the other from scraps 'Sweet' by Urban Chiks .  These needlecases open like a book but from either side.

I have just added 2 of these hexagon sewing boxes. This box is what I've been working on this past week and I have been photographing each step so I can make up kits to sell for those that would like to make up their own sewing box.

 

This one is made up in Sandi Henderson's Farmers Market fabrics and I've got to say this box came together much quicker than the first one I put together.

There are some pretty flower brooches like this one ..............

........and this one

...............embroidered patchwork heart decoration

and a pretty fabric flower garland, perfect for adorning a girls room.

You can have a good look at all these things by clicking on my shop in the left hand side bar.

So to help celebrate spring and spread the word of my humble little shop I thought a giveaway was in order! The next items I'm planning on making to sell are some pretty pillows and I would like to give maybe one or two of these pillows away. What I will do is make one to order for the winner according to their tastes. I will snoop around their blogs and/or flickr pages to see what they like. And as with all my other giveaways I will add some extra sewing supplies to the package as well.

So if you would like to enter all you have to do is leave me some sweet comments about my shop maybe some hints about what you'd like to see in it. I'm all open to ideas so don't be shy!

You can gain extra entries by either:

1. 
   
   Spreading the word about my shop on your blog.
2. 
   
   "Heart" my etsy shop.

I will be leaving this giveaway open till next Wednesday when I will pick a winner or maybe two !

***Please make sure I can contact you by having your email attached to your profile :)***

Fabric flower tutorial!

This is a hopefully simple tutorial on how I make my fabric flowers. I do quite a few variations but we'll start with a basic one.

You will need :

• Small fabric scraps for 2 flower shapes
• Paper for making flower pattern
• Steam-a-seam or similar product
• Small scrap of felt
• Small fabric scrap for yo-yo
• Coordinating thread
• Needle and small scissors
• Button

Draw and cut out to paper patterns of 2 different sized flowers. Fuse your fabrics together ( 2 layers of the same fabric wrong sides together) using the steam-a-seam. Pin pattern onto fused fabric and cut out.

Thread your needle with coordinating thread and tie knot at one end. Starting at the centre of the flower push your needle in between the 2 layers to 1/8 of an inch from the outside of the flower.

Using a running stitch sew all round the edge pulling the thread and shaping the petals with your thumb and finger as you go. When you've sewn all the way around push the needle back between the two fabrics and secure the thread ends together.Once all the layers are sewn together you will not see these thread ends.  Repeat these steps with remaining flower.

Cut out a small circle of felt. Make small wedge shaped cuts all around the edge by folding in half and cutting tiny triangles at each end of fold. Continue folding and cutting until there are even wedges cut out all the way around ( about 8 wedges).

For the yo-yo cut a small circle of fabric. I used a cardboard pattern from a covered button making kit.

Sew a running stitch all the way around folding a scant 1/8 inch as you go. The bigger you stitches, the smaller you centre will be.

Pull thread to gather up into a little pouch shape, flatten out into yo-yo and secure your thread ends.

You should now have four layers to make up your flower. Place together from biggest to smallest ending with the yo-yo. I secure the layers together making sure they are centred then sew the button on top sewing through all layers. Congratulations you now have one flower to use to embellish a bag or make into a brooch and pin to a plain top. You can make this flower your own by adding beads or use felt for one of the flower shaped layers. I also like to sometimes use a covered button for the centre. Play around with different flower shapes too. You can see some of my flowers here. 

I had intended to show what I have been making with all these flowers but it was an over cast day and my photos weren't quite up to scratch. 

Another handbag?

A girl can never have too many handbags , don't you agree? These little beauties are all Amy Butler patterns. I made the one on the left for my eldest daughter Amelia from a "Heather Bailey" fabric she chose herself. We found a beautiful fabric store called Material Girl in Grand Island, Nebraska and Amelia came in with me to help me choose. ( I'm so glad she did as there was a lot to choose from!) The first lot of fabric we saw was Heather Bailey's "Pop Garden and Bijoux" which I had been drooling over for a couple of months but had only seen it on her blog. This shop was the largest fabric store I had ever been into and had an amazing variety of fabrics, patterns and embellishments plus some beautiful antique furniture used to display fabrics around the store.

The other large bag is made from a Sandi Hendersen fabric and the smaller one from Amy Butler's "Daisy Chain".

I found Amy's patterns very easy to follow and I'm very pleased with how they turned out. This beautiful flower comes with the pattern. I put a brooch pin on the back so I can move it around. The flowers on the other bags I designed myself.

Sewn giveaway winners

Once again I would like to say THANK YOU to everyone who dropped by and left some lovely comments and great feedback. I hope you all keep looking in to see what I'm up to. Now winners of the SEWN giveaway are; "Sandy of Buenos Aires" who wins 4 fat quarters of batiks and a flower brooch AND "Melissa" who wins 4 fat quarters and a pin cushion. Congratulations! Please contact me via email with your address's.

Now unfortunately the winner of my Mayday Giveaway did not reply to my email so I had to draw another winner who is "Rafael's Mum".

I hope you all enjoy the batik fabric and look forward to seeing what you produce.

May giveaway winners!!

Finally I have a winner! I just want to say a big THANK YOU to all of you who left such lovely comments and gave such great feedback about my blog. I've taken it all on board and there will be a few tweaks here and there plus I will work on a couple of tutorials for you all who requested those. I have already added a followers button to make it easier to follow my blog.



OK, the winner of the 8 fat quarters plus the pin cushion and brooch is "kestch" from Ireland. I have sent an email tonight to confirm. I have another 2 fat quarters and brooch that goes to "Kyle and Leslie" who I would like to here from as I don't have their email.

Another giveaway!

Here's another 2 chances to win some lovely batik fabric. This giveaway is being organised by this blog and is to celebrate the launching of a new website called SEWN. Click on the red SEWN button on the left to read more. I have 2 packs of 4 fat quarters, one with a pin cushion and one comes with one of my flower brooches. All you need to do is leave a comment telling me what you like about my blog ( I'm loving all this great feedback) and what you like to sew. You have until June 8th until comments close and the winner will be drawn randomly. Good luck and don't forget to check out the other blog giveaways.

Giveaway day is here!

OK, here is my giveaway, hope you like it. There is 8 fat quarters of batik fabrics plus one of my flower brooches and a cute little square pincushion . I also might include a couple of other little sewing notions if I'm feeling super generous and I like your feedback about my brand new blog.So what I want you to do if you want to be in the draw to win this giveaway is to tell me what you think of my blog and work so far (be kind I'm new to all this). Also what your working on at the moment. If your never worked with batiks before there is some projects on my blog for inspiration.Please make the time to visit my friend Deb's blog as she is also hosting a giveaway but got left off the list! SORRY COMMENTS CLOSED.

Pretty flowers all in a row or 3

I started making these flower brooches about 6 months ago, inspired and egged on by my friend Darlene. I ended up selling quite a few by commission. They are a great way to use up your scraps as they don't take much fabric just a bit of time. Most are made up of fabric, felt, fine tulle, beads and/or sequins plus a button for the centre. You can wear them in your hair attached to a headband or hair tie, on a handbag or of course on your clothing. Very versatile! Gosh maybe I should set up an Etsy shop. What do ya think?