Design Dilemmas and the Magic of Social Media Feedback

What do you do with designs that go nowhere?

Last spring I started work on a bunch of ideas for possible projects to celebrate the Royal Wedding. I stitched and shared a simple cross stitch sampler pattern and put lots of work into this design for a cute embroidery pattern...

... but then I ran out of time and it never got made and now I'm not sure what to do with it.

Over the years I've worked on a LOT of sketches, doodles, prototypes and project ideas that never turned into anything. This is just part of the creative process! I usually squirrel them away for the future because you never know what might end up being useful as source material for another project, or what might end up working after all when you revisit it with fresh eyes in the future.

This particular design, however, was so specific that I was convinced that it wouldn't possibly ever be remotely reusable. But I also really liked how it had turned out thus far and didn't want to just chuck it away (and have, as a result, wasted all that work).

So, after finding the pattern in a pile of paperwork this weekend, I posted this pic on Instagram and Facebook and asked everyone: "what the heck could I or should I do with this??? "Should I take the time to neaten it up a bit and share it on my blog in case there are some Harry & Meghan fans out there who'd like to (very belatedly) stitch themselves a wedding souvenir? Or just recycle it??"

And, thank goodness for the magic of getting feedback via social media, because everyone immediately had such great ideas.

Some people suggested sharing it to celebrate their upcoming anniversary, and lots of people suggested updating the pattern slightly so it could celebrate Meghan and Harry's baby, which is due this spring (I had totally forgotten that they're expecting a baby!). This could totally work for the royal baby!

Other people suggested doing something just with the lion and unicorn on their own (maybe even adapting the whole design to be a customisable nursery sampler)... which I had somehow not thought of as a possibility??? I do love those little guys, though, they're just so cheerful and sweet and the unicorn took me absolutely ages to draw (because I am the world's worst person at drawing horses). I'm picturing the lion holding birthday balloons, maybe? Or the unicorn standing next to an awesome rainbow birthday cake? Something happy and fun and colourful, anyway.

What do you guys think? I'd love to hear which of these suggestions you like, and if you have any more ideas for ways I could revisit this design and (finally) turn it into a finished project. 

UPDATE: this embroidery pattern is now finished and available in my shop and my Patreon pattern library.

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Cherry Blossoms: Finished

Ah, there's nothing quite like finishing a big pile of sewing! Such a lovely feeling of accomplishment. 

Lots and lots of little stitches went into these cherry blossoms:

There are some pink cherry blossom trio brooches (already available in my shop, here), some white and peach brooches... and some cherry blossom headbands in both and pink and white/peach colourways. I made a few of the pink headbands last year, but with pale pink ribbons which I wasn't 100% happy with. I decided to switch to brown ribbons instead (to match the felt the blossoms are sewn onto) and I'm very pleased with how they've turned out. 

Hopefully I'll get some time this week to take some product photos and get all these goodies added to my shop. I'll be sure to let you guys know when they've been listed!

A Stitched Snow Globe

Remember the in-progress cross stitch project I blogged about a couple of weeks ago?

Well, I finished it!

As you can see, it's a little silver snow globe - with a couple of mountains, a little cottage, some fir trees and (of course) some snow.

This is the first cross stitch picture I've designed - before this I'd only made a sampler or two, and some mini sampler brooches. I'm quite pleased with the finished result and, apart from the fiddly silver sections and all that unpicking I had to do when I changed my mind about some of the colours I was using (sigh), this was a super relaxing project to work on in the evenings this winter.

I think there is definitely going to be more cross stitch in my future!

I'm hoping to get the pattern written up neatly so I can share it with you guys sometime soon... if anyone is interested?

Sketching

I've been feeling a bit under the weather this weekend (ugh).

I have managed to tick a few small things off my to do list, like catching up with a few emails, buying some embroidery thread for sewing more owl masks, and finally ordering some cushion inserts so I can finish the knitted cushion covers that have been in my WIP pile since January... but mostly I've been stuck on the sofa watching DVDs & lots of very highbrow (haha) TV like the X-Factor.

I am quite happy though that in my less foggy-brained moments I've been (quite slowly) doing a bit of sketching / doodling / planning for some new projects. It's always good to get new ideas down on paper and to begin the process of turning them from a vague idea into an actual finished item.
 

These have all got quite a long way to go, but it's a start!

Something New

At the weekend I went hunting through some old sketches looking for a bit of inspiration, and ended up sewing this...

... I'll let you know what it turns into!

Rosettes for Champion Tea Drinkers

Drinking tea isn't a sport, but if it was I think us Brits would be quite good at it! I definitely know a few people who'd be good candidates for an Olympic tea-drinking team.

My new brooches are perfect for tea lovers - prize rosettes decorated with cute teapot buttons.

I finished sewing them yesterday, and they're now available over in my shop on Etsy, in blue, pink, brown and purple. I'll be adding them to my shop on Folksy and to my website later today.

Scraps and Rosettes

On Monday I watched The Illusionist (which A made me blub and B made me want to start planning a trip to Edinburgh!) and cut out some felt shapes ready for sewing some bluetit brooches and auricula brooches. Even the leftover scraps look rather lovely:

Yesterday (Tuesday) I'd been planning on taking a trip into London to visit the V&A for a bit of inspiration but I wasn't feeling too well so had to postpone it in favour of a restful day on the sofa. Boo.

To cheer myself up I decided to have an impromptu "making day" and to work on a new design... The end result? Rosette brooches for champion tea drinkers:

Naturally, I drank lots of mugs of tea while working on these!

Each one will be decorated with a cute teapot-shaped button...

... and they'll be available in four colourways, hopefully sometime soon. I'll keep you updated!

P.S. talking of re-arranged plans, I'll draw the giveaway winners tomorrow :)

New Things + a Nice Mention

I'll be adding lots of new things to my Etsy shop this weekend - hurrah!

There are lots of new spring flower brooches...

Pale yellow primroses:

And burgundy auriculas:

When I work on new designs I often end up with a few prototypes where I've tried out slightly different stitching/colours/etc before finalising the design. These will be listed at bargain prices, so keep your eyes peeled :)

There's also a new cherry blossom headband, with three pink flowers sewn on a long ribbon. This is an extra-fancy version of the elastic headbands with single cherry blossoms which are already available in my shops - for parties and summer weddings, or just for people who like their hair accessories to make a bit more of a statement!

As with the spring flowers, there are a couple of cherry blossom prototypes which will be listed at special prices... including a very fancy headband with five pretty cherry blossoms. 

I've also been playing around with a few forget-me-not designs. There's a mini brooch with a trio of forget-me-nots...

... and a sweet headband too:

Finally, there are a couple of owl masks. These have been in my "work in progress" box for months and months so it's very satisfying to have them finally finished to share with you!

This was my prototype design...

... and this is the almost-finalised design that I'll be adding to all my shops just as soon as I can get hold of some more of that light brown embroidery thread!

All these new pieces will be popping up in my Etsy shop over the next few days, just as soon as I can get them all listed. Remember, if you mention my blog during checkout when ordering anything from my shops this month your order will ship with a free gift.

In other news... my book got a mention in the 250th issue of Cross Stitcher magazine which came out this week. Yay!

Cross Stitcher are having lots of cool giveaways to celebrate their 250th issue (and 20 years of cross stitch goodness), visit their blog for all the details.

UPDATE: My primrose design is now available as a sewing pattern! (And the cherry blossom pattern is coming soon!) Visit my shop to see all my printable PDF patterns

Cherry Blossoms and Forget-Me-Nots

I added a couple of new felt flower brooches to my Etsy shop this week. Each brooch features a mini "bouquet" of flowers - all hand cut and hand stitched (as always!) with seed bead centres.

Pink cherry blossoms:

And blue forget-me-nots:

You can find them in the felt flower brooches section of my Etsy shop.

New Pieces in my Etsy Shop

There are a whole bunch of "new" things over in my Etsy shop this week.

I've listed the three pieces I made for Stash Happy Felt:

The autumn leaves coffee cosy featured on the front cover....

(I made one of these for my dad last Christmas and it was a big hit!)

... and two felt circle headbands.

Plus a few prototypes I made when designing the projects for my own book, Super-Cute Felt.

There's a hand-embroidered mitten ornament...

... and two Christmas ornaments made using mini embroidery hoops:

All these designs are now available from my Etsy shop at bargain prices... or you can buy the books and learn how to make your own :)

Experimenting

You know when you get a sudden overwhelming urge to make something IMMEDIATELY...?

Well, I got one of those urges late last night. So instead of going to bed, I listened to a drama on the radio and did some experimental stitching.

A felt bead + some felt + speedy cutting and stitching = this flower:


I cut shapes at random and just used the first felt & thread I had to hand.


It was nice just making something from scratch without my usual steps of sketching, drafting a pattern and carefully planning colours... and I rather like how it turned out!

A Barn Owl

UPDATE: want to sew your own felt barn owl mask? You'll find templates and a step by step tutorial over on my Patreon page.  

 

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Ooh look, something new: a barn owl mask!

I've had this design in my head for simply ages so it was very satisfying to get the pattern drafted, the felt colours chosen and the stitching finished.

There's nothing quite like the feeling you get when you've finally got a design "just right" and how you pictured it in your head!

The owl mask is available from my Etsy shop.

New: Flower Crowns and Felt Buttons

A mere two months after I finished them (jeez louise!) I've finally started listing my nature-inspired "Flower Garden" crowns over in my Etsy shop:


I'll be adding the rest over the next few days - if there's one you've got your eye on which isn't yet listed, send me a message and I'll reserve it for you :)

Over on my website, I've added some sets of yummy felt buttons to my craft supplies section:


Each set contains eight buttons, all handmade by me using plastic cover buttons and the lovely soft wool blend felt I sell in my shops. There are only two sets available at the moment, but I may make some more in the future [UPDATE: the felt buttons have now been sold]