Sew a Felt Swan Mask for Halloween

This week's addition to my Patreon pattern library is a tutorial for sewing a fabulous felt swan mask:

I'm gradually sharing a whole bunch of old newsletter projects with my Patreon supporters, and this is one of my all time faves. Swans are just so darn cool!

Want to sew your own felt swan mask? Click here to check out my new Patreon page and sign up.

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Felt Swan Mask: Sewing Tutorial

UPDATE: my felt swan mask tutorial (originally shared with my newsletter subscribers) is now available as part of my Patreon pattern library.

For a small monthly fee you can get access to my growing library of PDF patterns and tutorials, with an email whenever I add a new project. You can cancel any time. 

Click here to check out my Patreon page and sign up!

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The tutorial includes templates and step by step instructions for sewing the mask... which I'd normally say would be great for wearing to costume parties and festivals but we can't really go to those at the moment, can we?

Dressing up can bring a lot of fun to lockdown life, though, I think: why not wear a swan mask on your next Zoom call? or disguise yourself as a swan to do the washing up? Everything's got to be more fun when you're a swan, right?!

You could also make this mask in grey felt...

... and there's loads of possibilities if you want to make a pretty swan princess mask. You could add sequins or those little sew-on gems, stitch a bit of embroidery, or even add a little crown to the top of the mask!

Déjà Vu: Kensington Gardens & Sensational Butterflies

About this time three years ago, I decided to start taking a day off a week to get on a train and go somewhere.

This was basically one of the best decisions I've ever made. I've been on loads of Nice Days Out since then and am now totally hooked on exploring new places... and am positively evangelical about the importance of carving out time in your schedule to have a proper day off no matter how long your To Do list.

My very first Nice Day Out was a trip to Kensington Gardens, the Royal Geographical Society, the V&A and the butterfly exhibit at the Natural History Museum. When I sat down to write today's blog post - all about a morning I spent in London a few months ago - I realised that I'd recreated this first Nice Day Out almost exactly. What can I say, I love these places! They're awesome!

This time round I had excellent company - Polly was in town for the day and we had a busy schedule of places to visit to squeeze as much London-goodness into her trip as possible.

We started at Kioskafé, grabbing something to drink and oohing over their fabulous selection of magazines.

Then we walked to Kensington Gardens. The park was looking lush in the late spring sunshine - look at the loveliness that greeted us just inside the park!

We wandered through the Italian Gardens, and looked down the Long Water.

There were so many swans on the lake - and lots of cute little cygnets, too! Just look at those little fluffy fellas.

We headed down the right hand side of the Long Water, which is wonderfully wild around the edges and is also where you'll find the famous Peter Pan statue.

Reaching the other side of the park, we took a small detour to admire the shininess of the Albert Memorial (so darn shiny).

Then we headed down Exhibition Road, calling in at the Royal Geographical Society for their (then) current exhibition, photos of Britain from the air. I love the RGS, they always have such interesting exhibitions and they're a little oasis of quiet and calm away from the hustle and bustle of the main Kensington museums.

Talking of busy museums... next we visited the Natural History Museum for a quick zip round some of the galleries (top tip: use the Exhibition Road entrance, it's usually much quicker than the queue at the main entrance). This building never fails to enchant, and it is practically bursting at the seams with interesting things to see and learn.

Outside the museum in the summer is the Sensational Butterflies exhibition  - a temporary tropical butterfly house. This is basically pure joy, purchasable for a few quid. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Giddy from the magic of the butterflies, we went to the V&A for a late lunch and lots of oohing over the amazing building and its amazing contents (did I mention that the V&A is amazing? The V&A is amazing, you guys, so amazing).

Then we headed to the Tube for part two of our day... but you'll have to wait until another time to hear about that :)

Pretty Papers + Famous Swans

Did you do anything crafty this weekend?

I spent lots of time sorting through my craft supplies as part of my ongoing effort to tidy, declutter and generally organise my studio (I'm making progress, but slowly!)

I also did some nice relaxing paper crafting...

All these decorative papers were cover gifts with issues of docrafts Creativity magazine. I've designed several projects for the magazine over the past couple of years and have always been very impressed with their cover gifts.

The docrafts team have featured my free felt swan brooch tutorial in this month's issue (#67) and they kindly sent me a copy of the magazine - thanks guys!

 

There were three cover gifts included: a roll of craft tape, some little paper notes for making cards and tags, and a paper pack from their new Geometric Neon range.

I loved the neon designs so much (those little metallic details! omg!) I knew I had to schedule some time to craft with them asap.

(The other paper packs are from the Owl Folk and Simply Floral ranges.)

I spent several happy hours cutting and sticking these pretty papers, while while catching up with episodes of shows like Gotham, Supernatural and the X-Files. A highly enjoyable way to spend some time!

Pompom Packs and other New Stuff in my Shop

I added a few new things to my Etsy shop this week.

First up: lots of fluffy pompoms!

 

After abandoning my sky pompom project I tried to think of something to make with all the pompoms and totally failed to come up with anything - partly because, I think, I was still feeling a bit "ugh" about having abandoned my grand pompom-ing plans. So I've decided to send them out into the world to find new homes. Once all the pompoms have sold, I'll donate the total listing price to charity so something positive can come out of my otherwise failed project.

I've listed them in packs with some co-ordinating yarn so you can use them for gift wrapping (pompoms make great gift toppers!) but you could (of course) use them for any crafty project you can think of. Click here to see all the pompoms in my shop.

Also new in my shop this week...

... I've added a bargain bundle of ribbons to my crafty destash sale. Just £5 for 30 x one metre pieces of assorted ribbon and trim!

 

... and I've listed the two swan brooch samples I stitched for this tutorial. You'll find both mini swan brooches in my sample sale section along with lots of other bargain felt brooches.

 

P.S. The new Book People catalogue dropped through our door this week and - look! - there's my book! :)

If you fancy picking up a copy (or three? haha) of my second book, Super-Cute Felt Animals, at this bargain price, you'll find it here.

Swan Upping!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I decided to take an extended lunch break this week to see the Swan Uppers passing through my home town - enjoying some of the delights of the river along the way.

What on Earth is Swan Upping, you ask?

It's a historic ceremony, hundreds of years old, where the Queen's Swan Marker and the Royal Swan Uppers row down the Thames to conduct an annual census of the swan population - crying "All-Up!" when a family of swans is located. The Royal Swan Uppers wear traditional red uniforms, row traditional wooden boats, and (as they pass Windsor Castle) stand to attention and salute "Her Majesty The Queen, Seigneur of the Swans".

I love quirky traditions like this! I unfortunately missed seeing the Swan Uppers last year (I was too busy working towards a deadline to take the time off) so I was determined to see them this year as they passed through Boulters Lock.

As the scheduled arrival time approached, the sides of the lock began to get crowded as people showed up to watch. From snippets of conversations I overheard it seems some people come back every year to see the Swan Uppers and others follow them along their route up the Thames. How nice!

Just past 1pm the first boats came into view. The Royal Swan Uppers (in red) and Swan Uppers from the Vintners’ and Dyers’ livery companies (white and blue) rowing in traditional wooden skiffs, with support boats behind.

The Worshipful Company of Vintners and the Worshipful Company of Dyers are two of the only three bodies with rights to own swans apart from the Crown. The Companies' swans are marked with leg rings and the Crown's swans are left unmarked. Together, the livery companies and the Crown maintain the tradition of Swan Upping in the third week of July each year.

Many years ago swans were valuable as food to be served at banquets and feasts, but these days swans are no longer eaten and the emphasis is on conservation and education. The Queen's Swan Warden examines the birds for disease or injury, cygnets are weighed and measured and the swan population is thus recorded. The Uppers meet with school groups along the route, teaching children about the history of Swan Upping and how they can help protect the river and its wildlife.

 
The boats waited for the lock to open, then made their way through the gate...

... and into the lock. Check out the Queen's initials on the oars in the Royal boat and the swan feather in the Queen's Swan Marker's cap!

The support boats fly special flags so the lock keepers can easily identify them. I loved the swan vases filled with flowers on the top of each boat.

We all had plenty of time to admire the boats and the flags as the crews waited for the water level to adjust.

Then the lock gates opened and they were off again!

Next stop: Cookham Bridge (immortalised in Stanley Spencer's famous Swan Upping -inspired painting).

My next stop? Home and my work To Do list... via a leisurely stroll back along the river, of course.

P.S. Can you spot me in these photos from the day? (Tip: I was wearing a floppy black hat!)

If you're interested you can read more about Swan Upping and watch a video of the Swan Uppers in action here. 

How To: Felt Swan Brooches (or Swan Collar Clips!)

Have you heard of Swan Upping?

It's a historic ceremony dating from the 12th Century, where the Queen's Swan Marker and the Royal Swan Uppers row down the Thames to conduct an annual census of the swan population. They wear traditional red uniforms, row traditional wooden boats, and (as they pass Windsor Castle) stand to attention and salute "Her Majesty The Queen, Seigneur of the Swans".

My hometown is one of the places on the Swan Upper's route each July, but I've never actually witnessed it. I'm hoping to change that this year, and have got the date marked in my diary with a firmly worded Note To Self to make sure I'm not busy with work (like I sadly was last year). I'm rather looking forward to it!

Why am I talking about Swan Upping, you wonder? Well, it's because today I'm sharing a tutorial for making a little swan (or two) out of felt :)

This tutorial originally appeared in a bookazine called Adorable Animals, last year. It was designed as a tutorial for making cute swan collar clips but if you don’t fancy the idea of collar clips (or, like me, just don’t own many clothes with collars) you can just make a single swan and wear it as a brooch.

I chose light blue as a background to my swans as the white and orange both show up clearly against it and it looks like the swan is gliding on some water... but if you're making these to wear with a favourite outfit you could use backing felt that matches your garment instead.

You will need:

The template provided at the bottom of this post
White felt
Light blue felt
1 or 2 black seed beads (size 9/0) (one bead per swan)
White, black and light blue sewing thread
Orange and black embroidery thread
One or two brooch clasps (one per swan)
A needle and sewing scissors

Plus (if you're making the collar clips) small pliers and a length of jewellery chain (at least 11cm)

I recommend using embroidery scissors to cut out the felt shapes - the small, sharp blades are perfect for cutting out small or intricate pieces of felt.


To make the swans:

1. Use the template provided to cut out two swans from white felt, reversing the template to cut the second swan. Sew each swan onto a piece of light blue felt, using white thread and small whip stitches.

2. Cut a length of orange embroidery thread and separate two strands from the rest. Use these two strands to stitch the swan’s beak, starting with a line sewn at an angle to mark the end of the beak (as pictured) then filling in the beak with a series of single stitches. Sew over the white felt until it’s covered, starting and finishing each stitch flush with the edge of the white felt and sewing the stitches close together to create a solid block of orange.

Repeat this step for the second swan.

 

3. Cut a length of black embroidery thread and separate two strands, as before. Sew three stitches at the end of the swan’s beak, marking out a triangle (as pictured) then fill in the triangle with more stitches. Make sure you leave space to add the swan’s eye in the next step!

Then sew a small black stitch on the orange beak as pictured – in line with the top of the beak, and close to the wide end. Take care not to pull it too tightly and distort the orange stitches.

Repeat this step for the second swan – the swans should be roughly symmetrical but don’t worry if they look a little different!

4. Add a black seed bead eye to each swan, sewing each bead flat like an o with three or four stitches. Each eye should be positioned at the point of the black triangle, as pictured.

 

5. Cut out both swans, so they are framed by a few millimetres of blue felt. Use the newly cut out shapes as templates to cut matching pieces of felt – these will be the back of the clips/brooches.

 

6. Turn over the backing pieces of felt. Add a brooch clasp to each shape near the top of the swan’s body, making sure you leave space to sew around the edge of the felt later. Sew the clasps in place with a double thickness of matching blue sewing thread.

 

(If you're just making a swan brooch, skip to step 9)

7. Use a pair of small pliers to cut a length of jewellery chain approx. 11cm long (or sized to suit your collars).

 

8. Place the swan backs in front of you so they are facing each other. Hold one end of the chain in position (just under the “inside” end of the brooch clasp, as pictured) and use a double thickness of blue thread to securely sew the end link of the chain to the felt.  Repeat to sew the other end in position on the second swan back, joining the swans together.

Tip: When sewing the chain to the second swan, make sure the chain isn’t twisted!

 

9. Place the front and back of one of the swans together, and sew around the edge with blanket stitch (or whip stitch) and light blue thread. Lift the chain out of the way as you sew past it. Finish your stitching neatly at the back, then repeat this step to finish the second swan.

 

Click here to view the template sheet & print it at 100%.

This tutorial is for personal use only: you can use it to stitch as many swans as you want for yourself or as gifts, but please don't make any for sale. You may borrow a few 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 post or share the pattern itself on your site. Thanks!

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