Upcoming Class: Make a Felt Baby Mobile

As you might remember, I'm teaching some sewing classes at The Village Haberdashery in London this autumn.

On Saturday 29th October we'll be making rainbows...

... and happy little felt suns...

... and lots of clouds, then combining them all to make weather-themed baby mobiles!

All the materials you'll need to make the mobile will be provided in the class fee. After learning how to make all the pieces and assemble the mobile, you'll get a copy of the pattern to take home so you can make more mobiles or cute things like rainbow brooches.

(It took me a while to perfect my rainbow-making method - I'm so pleased with how they turned out!)

 

Click here for the full details of the baby mobile class, and to sign up. 

This autumn I'm also teaching classes on making a felt autumn wreath, and colourful Christmas ornaments inspired by vintage baubles - click here to see all the upcoming classes at The Village Haberdashery.

Four Fun Felt Projects for Mollie Makes #69

I got an exciting bit of post this week - a copy of this month's Mollie Makes magazine.
 

Why am I so excited about the arrival of this magazine, you ask?

Well, a familiar face makes an appearance this issue...

 

... yup, you guessed it, it's me! Yay! :)

The cover gift that comes free with Mollie Makes #69 is a kit for making a fabulous felt pom pom necklace, designed by Yoko Minemura Vega.

 
You also get a little booklet that contains three bonus projects: alternative ideas for using the materials in the kit... and those three projects were designed by me! (Double yay!)

 

I had loads of fun making these projects a few months ago, it's so nice seeing them styled so gorgeously by the Mollie Makes team.

You can choose from three home decor projects. A felt bouquet...

 

... a mini mobile...

 

... or a Scandi-inspired cushion.

I also designed a fourth project - a scalloped necklace. The necklace didn't fit in the printed booklet, so the lovely folks at Mollie Makes have shared it as a free project over on their blog. (Triple yay!).
 

Issue 69 of Mollie Makes is out now in the UK and is available in all good newsagents, supermarkets and independent craft shops, or from the official online store.         

Two Very Useful Things

I got two new things this week...

1. A compass.

I haven't owned one of these since I studied for my Maths GCSE which was rather a long time ago! I don't remember throwing my old one out but I probably thought "what would I ever need this for now I'm no longer doing Maths?"... and now here I am designing and making things for a living and drawing lots of circles.

I have a really useful little template (stolen from my dad) for drawing small circles but have (rather embarrassingly) been drawing round circle-shaped things in my house (rolls of tape, small glasses, coasters, etc) whenever I've needed a larger circle for a pattern. Finally buying a compass feels great, and I've already used it a couple of times this week. Next up: getting round to buying a protractor!

2. A "new" mobile phone.

Yes, that is a Nokia 3310. My previous mobile lasted me about 10 years, getting very occasional use when I needed to send texts like "my train is 30 minutes late!" when meeting up with friends. It served me well for many years but recently texted its last text. I ummed and aahhed about upgrading to a smartphone but decided that I just wanted to stick with something simple, not least because I'm already finding it hard keeping the distractions of email and social media out of my non-work time as it is without being able to access the internet on my phone!

Then I borrowed my dad's old Nokia to use during a recent weekend away, remarked to him how lovely and simple and back-to-basics it was and he surprised me with one of my very own. He is the best! This phone is great! I can send texts, check the time, set an alarm, what more could a girl need? :) 

Forget-Me-Not Brooches & a Raincloud Mobile

Thanks to me finishing a batch of them at the weekend... forget-me-not brooches are now back in my shops! You can find them in my Big Cartel shop & in my Etsy shop.

This batch has slightly different colour leaves to the previous ones I've made (a mossy green instead of a spring green), for the simple reason that I cut them out from the wrong colour felt! Oops. I think they still look great though!

I've also added a felt cloud mobile to my Etsy shop. This is the sample I stiched for my raincloud mobile tutorial. If you liked the tutorial but don't fancy sewing your own cloud, now's your chance :)

How To: Wallpaper Snowflake Curtain or Mobile

My plans for ten weeks of Crafty Christmas projects unfortunately had to be abandoned because of my unexpected move, etc this autumn... but I do have a few more festive bits and pieces to share with you this winter!

To start us off, here's a decorating project for the Christmas season - a curtain or mobile of paper "snowflakes" made from wallpaper and silver paper.

This tutorial originally appeared in the winter 2009 issue of UK Handmade, a fab free online magazine celebrating the UK craft scene.

You will need:

- Cups, saucers and other circular objects to use as templates

- Plain textured wallpaper, available from most DIY stores or you might be able to find a bargain roll in a charity shop

- Silver wrapping paper

- Thin cardboard, e.g. from cereal boxes etc

- White knitting yarn and a sharp darning needle

- Scissors, a pencil, and a glue stick or other craft glue

 

1. Using a selection of different sized items from your kitchen cupboards draw lots of circle shapes on the back of your wallpaper and cut them out (the largest circles in my curtain were drawn using a dinner plate). If you’re using a mix of different wallpaper patterns make sure you cut large, medium and small circles from all your patterns so they can be evenly distributed through your display.

2. Take your circle cut outs and glue them to the back of more wallpaper. Leave them to dry, and then cut out again so you’re left with an assortment of double-sided circles.

 

3. Now use cups, saucers and small items like spice jars to draw circles on thin cardboard - e.g. cereal packets and other similar card from your recycling bin. You will need to pierce the card with your darning needle, so make sure it’s not too thick. Aim to make approximately a third of the amount of circles as you made earlier.

4. Cut out all your card circles, and glue them carefully to the back (plain) side of some silver wrapping paper. When they’ve completely dried, cut them out again and repeat this stage so you end up with double-sided silver circles.

5. Spread all your circles out on a large flat surface, like your dining table or a clear bit of carpet, and play around with their arrangement until you’re happy with it. You want to aim for a nice natural-looking mix of circle sizes (and patterns, if you’ve used a selection of wallpaper samples) and for the silver circles to be scattered among the white ones quite evenly.

6. When you’re happy with the arrangement, you can start threading your strands together. Cut a long piece of white yarn for each strand, making sure to include some extra for hanging your curtain, and knot one end. Thread your darning needle, and starting at the bottom circle of the first strand, sew 1-3 large stitches through each circle leaving a small gap between each one so they can spin easily. Repeat this until all your circles are threaded into strands, and use the extra yarn to hang them in your window - tied to a curtain rail/wire or secured with pins.

 

  
To adapt this design into a smaller mobile:

A. Follow steps 1-6 above but use much smaller items for your circle templates and thread all your circles onto four long strands of yarn.

B. Use a dinner plate to cut out a “base” from stiff corrugated card, and cover it with silver paper. Punch four holes in the base with a very sharp pencil, about one inch from the edge and at north, south, east and west on the circle. (Alternatively, you could use the wooden circle from an embroidery hoop as your mobile "base")

C. Thread one of the strands of yarn through one of the holes, make sure the circles are hanging at the height you want them and loop the yarn through the hole several times and tie a knot. Do not cut the yarn at this point! Repeat this for the other three strands.

D. Hold the loose ends together until the card circle is level and the mobile is hanging straight, tie a knot in them (knotting all four together) and use them to hang your mobile wherever you fancy.

Please feel free to borrow photos if you want to blog about this project, but remember to credit me and link back to the original source, and do not reproduce my entire tutorial on your site. Thanks!

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Abstract circles

Gosh I've been such a lazy blogger this week. Many apologies :)

Normal service will be resumed shortly but in the meantime here's a quick snap of what I've been working on this week - lots of abstract circles for a custom mobile. Love all those yummy colours!

How to: Make a Felt Butterfly Mobile

Time for another butterfly-themed how-to, based on the butterfly template I have finally uploaded here. Today: how to make a simple but striking butterfly mobile from felt.

 

 
You will need:

- colourful felt,
- white yarn
- felt beads
- a piece of strong card,
- two large paper doilies.

The felt beads and doilies are optional, and if you don't have any felt you can just use sturdy coloured paper (e.g. sugar/construction paper) or thin card.

The construction of this mobile is nice and simple - four strands of butterflies, suspended from a card circle.

Cut out lots of butterfly shapes from your felt using the butterfly template. You can keep these as single sided butterflies or cut out two shapes per butterfly and sew them together with matching thread to make them more sturdy (the single ones will be more likely to flop!). Alternatively, you could just use card.

In between my felt butterflies I threaded some fantastic felt beads, but small circles of felt/paper (about 1 inch in diameter) would work just as well.

 

To make each strand, cut a long piece of white knitting yarn and knot one end.

Using a darning needle, sew about three stitches through the middle of each felt butterfly, leaving enough room between them to let them spin easily and mixing up the butterflies and felt beads/circles as you go.

You might want to spread out all your materials on a large surface like a table to get a good mix of colours and shapes before you start.

If you're making your mobile using paper butterflies, use an ordinary sewing needle and white sewing thread.

To make the "base" from which the mobile hangs, I used a paper doily as a template to cut out a piece of stiff corrugated card.

Using a very sharp pencil, I punched four holes in the circle of card. Imagine the circle is a compass and make one hole at north, south, east and west. Each hole should be about an inch in from the edge.

I then glued one doily onto each side of the card to make it more attractive and cover the holes. You could use any kind of paper for this - a dinner plate makes a great template for cutting out a large circle!

Thread one of the strands of yarn through one of the holes - you should be able to feel through the paper where one of the holes is, and pierce through easily with the needle (the rest will be much easier to find when you've found the first one!).

Make sure the butterflies are hanging at the height you want them, and loop the yarn through the hole several times and tie a knot. Do not cut the yarn at this point! Repeat this for the other three strands.

Now take all four loose bits of yarn and hold the ends together until the card circle is level and the mobile is hanging straight, tie a knot in them (knotting all 4 together) and use them to hang your mobile wherever you fancy.

If you've used paper butterflies and sewing thread, once you've secured each strand to the circle you can trim the remaining thread and tie on 4 lengths of knitting yarn for suspending the mobile.

Remember - as with all mobiles - to hang it well out of the reach of babies and small children! The design will fade over time if hung in direct sunlight.

 
This tutorial is for non commercial use only: you can use it for as many mobiles as you like for yourself or as gifts for friends but please don't make any for sale. Please feel free to blog about this project, but remember to credit me and link back to the original source, and do not reproduce my tutorial on your site. Thanks!

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Picking up Leaves

I'm visiting my parents today, and have braved the wet and chilly weather (brr) to pick up lots of leaves from their garden ready for some crafty projects I have planned...
What a nightmare it is using someone else's camera! :)

I was reminded that I needed to go collect some leaves when I read this simple-but-entrancing autumn mobile project on Design*Sponge yesterday:How charming is that? Even the twig looks stylish! A great way to bring the outdoors in and savour the fleeting delights of autumn, and if you loved the look of this but wanted something slightly longer-lasting or a fun project for your kids you could perhaps make your own leaves out of coloured paper (or maybe even felt?) and hang them in exactly the same way.

Sunday Projects

Today I have...

... gone a bit cross-eyed whilst reducing all my Etsy prices: bargains galore thanks to the weak pound!

... measured for curtains to hide my messy workspace. I'm planning on using this vintage floral-print bedsheet, it will look awesome hung up under the blue and white breakfast bar where I stash lots of my boxes:
... started a new accounts book (pictured above with the eerily matching fabric), which is always fun from a stationery-nerd point of view :)

... looked for a place to hang up the cute mobile made for me as a thankyou gift:(how darling is that teacup? I especially love the steam!)

... and I've even managed to squeeze in a bit of sewing as well: photos coming soon.

365 / 259 - Covered in Felt!

Last night I spent a lot of time doing dull things like catching up on Etsy feedback, but I did manage to watch the end of America's Next Top Model and finish this:
I like to think that watching 10 whole seasons of ANTM has instructed me well in the art of modelling... but perhaps not!
Hopefully (fingers crossed) I may have some volunteer models soon so the rest of the designs I'm planning can get listed without me pulling silly faces at the camera and relying on a bit of blur to hide many a blemish!My boyfriend thinks I have gone off my rocker (110% loopy bananas) with this one, but I think it's pretty awesome. It's designed like a garland, so you can loop it round yourself or hang it in your house (I wanted to make one of these for a felty Christmas but never got round to it).
Smaller and simpler versions of this should be coming soon but you've got to start with the showstopper, right? (in ANTM vocab: this one's couture, ready-to-wear is coming soon!).

365 / 150 - lines and circles

Last night my crafty task was to finish sewing all the pastel circles together for the mobile strands I'm working on. I thought I'd managed this but as I was packing up I found a sneaky little set of circles that had hidden from me, so one more still to go before I can sew everything together. I made a start on the embroidered lines on the oak leaves, too. Such an enjoyable process...

I am determined to get lots of sewing done this afternoon & evening instead of being distracted by housework or the internet or any of the many things on my to do list, so just a short blog post today. If all goes to plan though I shall be back tomorrow with lots to report! :)

365 / 60 & 61 - finished pastels, a secret treat, and lovely post

On Friday (day 60) I finished the pastel mobile I've been working on. Here are lots of lovely pastel photos:
It's very interesting (to me at any rate) to see the familiar mobile shapes in unfamiliar, softer colours. Sewing the finished discs onto the ribbons was a different process to normal, too, as they were single-sided (it's to be a wall-hanging) so the back looks like this:

Yesterday (Saturday, day 61) saw the arrival of some Etsy post (photos coming soon) and my secret swap package from the lovely Ally of AughrasLair... THE most gorgeous tote bag (great colours, great fabrics, I love owls, I use a tote bag most days) and a cute matching plushie:
I am just in love with that bag and cannot wait to show it off to everyone. Its arrival also prompted me to finally make the swap item I will be sending out... and because it is a SECRET there will be no photo until it has arrived at its destination.

I should have made it last week or even the week before that but I've rather been letting things drop while I've been unwell and working out the pattern etc for this item actually took a bit of brainpower (shapes to be drawn! colours to be chosen! decisions to be made! etc). It's 95% finished though and just in time for the end of the postal strike, hurrah! Just the last few finishing touches to add and some nice wrapping to attend to and we'll be sorted. Naturally as with all these things I have a few improvements I would like to go back in time and suggest to myself (darker thread there, perhaps? this colour instead of that, maybe?) but overall I am pleased with how it's turned out and I'm also very pleased that it looks how I imagined it in my head (sometimes this really does not happen). Fingers crossed that my swapee likes it too!

365 / 55 - Pastel circles everywhere!

I have been sewing lots and lots of pastel circles of felt together... and after a lazy Sunday mostly spent sewing I've nearly finished all the discs for this mobile. I probably could have finished the whole lot (only 6 more to go) but I got distracted by doing some work on little apple pins. Here are all the discs I have finished, stacked neatly in sixes in the little box I use to carry my crafting out of the house - ready to take when I went ribbon shopping today. It's very useful to have the real thing for comparing colours (though I should have taken some business cards with me cos I got asked what it was I was making!) ...
Oh, and in the wee hours of this morning it seems that a couple of my little baubles were on the Etsy front page. The lovely insomniac ColdCell snapped a screenshot for me which I have now stolen to put on my blog, thus: