Tools & Materials

I post a lot of photos of scraps of felt and colourful threads but I use a whole bunch of different supplies and tools when I make stuff.

Here's a list of some of the things I've been crafting with this week:

Felt
Thread
Embroidery thread (floss)
Needles & Pins
Scissors (for cutting paper, embroidery and fabric)
Pinking shears
A pencil, pencil sharpener and eraser
A biro and pad of paper
White paper for sketching
An iron and ironing board
Interfacing
Stuffing
Tissue paper (for drawing embroidery patterns)
A ruler and tape measure
A fine black liner for drawing template sheets
An air-erasable fabric marker
Ribbons
A tea towel
A compass
A stapler and staples
Mini pegs (clothespins)
Bakers twine
Yarn
Scrap card
Sticky tape
Buttons
A glue gun
Pipe cleaners
Washi tape
A die-cutting machine
And lots of colourful felt beads

What have you been crafting with? :)

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? :) 

Circles

I'm working on a few things at the moment which involve drawing circles.

Whenever I have small circular pattern pieces to draw I use this super-useful circle template:


I pinched it from my dad many years ago (what a terrible daughter I am!), it's getting a bit old and worse-for-wear now but my goodness it's a useful bit of kit.

I'm also thinking of buying an old fashioned school compass for drawing larger circles and maybe even a protractor too. Such excitement!