My Workshop With Suffolk East Embroiders Guild

A couple of weeks ago I was delighted to hold a workshop for the Suffolk East group of the Embroiders Guild in Ipswich. I had a fab evening with the 23 ladies and 1 gentleman making upcycled fabric needle books, felt beads and folded fabric flowers. Here are some photos from the evening...

The evening started with me demonstrating how to make folded fabric flowers using fabric scraps and embellished with a vintage button centre. I then demonstrated felt bead making, which could also be used as a flower centre or alternative "button" fastening for the needle books, as seen in my example here!

There was such a lovely atmosphere to the evening- the group meet once a month so there was a real social aspect to the evening- lots of chattering, tea drinking and biscuit eating throughout the workshop. My sort of crafting!

The group really got into making the needle felted beads and I demonstrated various variations and applications for using the beads

It was great to see the different ways the group interpreted the project and really made it their own

One lady in the group made some fabric hair slides to give to her Granddaughters, which was very sweet!

Thank you very much to the Suffolk East branch of The Embroiders Guild for inviting me to run a workshop for you and thank you to all the members of the group for being so welcoming and making it such an enjoyable evening!

3 Craft Podcast Recommendations

When I'm crafting I can usually be found watching iplayer or a DVD, but more recently I have discovered craft podcasts. Here are three of my favourite craft and knitting podcast discoveries so far...

1) Elise Gets Crafty

This is a brilliant podcast aimed at creative folk and small creative business owners covering a huge range of topics from social media, growing your business, managing your time, blogging and so much more. Through the podcasts Elise aims to motivate and inspire, discussing topics with guests who share their expertise in their particular subject. The episodes are extensive and I'm really enjoying listening- they really do motivate, inspire and make you think. I highly recommend having a listen if you are a small creative business owner 

2) KnitBritish

A friend recommended the KnitBritish podcast and what a treat it is to listen to! Louise who hosts the podcast has a passion for British wool and tries to knit with as much British grown and produced wool as possible, blogging and creating podcasts to promote her beautiful discoveries. The first episode I listened to was this one in which Louise travels to Shetland to visit Jamieson's of Shetland, interviewing the Jamieson family who share an insight into their woolen mill and the processes involved in producing the yarn. The accents and dialect really take you on a journey to Shetland- I'd love to visit even more now! I'm so looking forward to listening to more episodes

3) A Playful Day

Kate from A Playful Day writes a blog and produces podcasts based on a variety of creative subjects, featuring inspirational interviews with creatives discussing topics from exploring the terms maker vs crafter and Craftivism. I've found the episodes I've listened to so far really insightful and Kate's blog is a lovely read and full of beautiful images too!

If you have any recommendations for craft podcasts, share them in the comments below and I can add them to the list!

Warner Textile Archive Textile Fair, Sunday 17th May

I'm busy making new jewellery at the moment for The Warner Textile Archive Textile Fair in Braintree, Essex, on Sunday 17th May. 

There's a great line up of craft stallholders, talks, demonstrations, tours of the archive and a pop up tearoom- it looks set to be a fab day! I'm really looking forward to taking part and debuting some new pieces- hope to see you there!

Find out more about the events and how to get there here

On Instagram in February

February is the shortest month of the year but I tried to cram lots in. Here's a look at what I got up to via my Instagram photo roundup...

Mr Writer and I visited Greenwich as I've always wanted to go and check out the market. It was bloomin' freezing but the views across the river were amazing. Just love London. Ooh and we visited the Cutty Sark!

Lunch times at the day job often look like this for me

I'm kept company on lunch at the day job by this lovely lady, Mellow the work dog who lives upstairs. I used to have a lovely Black Lab and Mellow reminds me of her. Really hope to have another dog one day

I bought this plaque from Tigerlilly Quinn and I love it. An important sentiment to live by I think

I made this Chocolate Malt Cake with Nutella icing from What Jessica Baked Next. The icing is to die for! Check out her blog, she posts very tempting recipes!

Still on the cake theme, I had tea and scones with a good friend at my favourite cafe. There is a vintage shop upstairs so a visit here is a double treat!

Leave a bag or a box unattended for a second and Nelson will climb in!

He'll also help you with any craft project you have on the go!

But it's ok because if you're this sweet you can get away with anything!

Some new Liberty fabric off-cuts- the one with the animals on is my fave. I'd like to create a Liberty fabric jewellery collection because it's all so beautiful

Working on this How To

At the Minories in Colchester there was a fab exhibition by Clare Sams on throughout February. Clare created a knitted recreation of the true story of a yarn shop in Cumbria that was devastated by floods in 2009. Flood waters broke the window of the shop (called Knitting Fever) and the wool inside flowed out and through the town. Such a clever exhibition

I wear something handmade every day. I knitted this jumper a few years ago in beautiful Colinette yarn and I love to wear it with handmade brooches

If you'd like follow me on Instagram, you can find my by clicking on the Instagram button to the side of the page

What did you get up to in February? Wishing you all a great March!

DIY Crafted Christmas Tree Jumper How To!

This week I've made a DIY Crafted Christmas Tree Jumper! Everyone at work at my day job has started wearing their Christmas jumpers and I don't have one, so I thought I make a customised version!

It was really fun and thrifty make. All you need to make the Christmas tree design is a handful of green buttons, a few brown buttons for the trunk, a star button or gem and some red and gold bead string trimmings. This is a good way to use up odd buttons from your button tin, or an inexpensive bag of mixed buttons from a craft store and the trimmings could be recycled from gift wrap decorations. 

Grab yourself an old jumper, a needle and thread, put on some Christmas music and get crafting! (Add Mince Pies and it would make the ultimate festive afternoon!)

Starting with the top of the tree, stitch the green buttons on in rows. Leave a small gap between each row of buttons so there is space to add the bead trimming later on. I found that it helped to lay out the button design on the jumper first and take a photo, so I had a plan for the design

Add an extra button on each row, eg. row 1 has 1 button, row 2 has 2 buttons, row 3 has 3 buttons, etc

Continue adding rows of buttons until your tree is the size you would like. My tree has 7 rows of buttons

Stitch rows of brown buttons to create the tree trunk

Now the tree is complete, dress your tree with the bead trimming! Stitch it in between the rows of buttons, securing it every few centimetres with a few over stitches between the beads. 

Finally, stitch your star button or gem to the top of the tree!

So there you have it, a very unique and thrifty Christmas jumper that you can wear every festive season! If you make one I'd love to see! Happy making 

How To... Make a set of coasters using old CDs and lace

If you're anything like me you'll have some old CDs or DVDs hanging around that you're not sure what to do with- like the free ones you get with newspapers that you never get round to listening to. Sound familiar? 

Well here's an idea of how you can up-cycle them into something useful- make them into a new set of coasters! Combine these with that tester pot of paint that's languishing at the back of the garage and those doilies you found at a boot fair that you'd forgotten you had and it makes for quite a thrifty make!

1) You will need

Old CDs or DVDs, paint tester pot, PVA glue, heavy cotton lace doilies or trimmings, plain cotton fabric (I used the cotton fabric from a lace edged cloth but you could use Calico, an old shirt or sheet, etc), felt to match your chosen colour scheme, paintbrush, fabric scissors

2) Glue the felt to your CDs

Apply PVA glue to one side of each of your CDs and stick onto the felt. Leave to dry

3) Cut away excess felt

 4) Repeat step 3 on the other side of your CDs, this time using your plain cotton fabric. 

Leave to dry and then cut away the excess fabric

5) Apply a layer of PVA to the cotton side of your CDs

6) Lay your heavy lace onto the glued side of your CDs and leave to dry

It's much easier if you leave each layer to dry completely before moving onto the next step, and less messy too!

7) When dry, cut away the excess lace

You could use a regular thin lace for this, but I find the heavier lace and crocheted cotton doilies are more effective as the paint really highlights their texture

8) Paint your coasters

You could choose to leave the coasters unpainted at this stage as they still look pretty left like this, or you could paint them using your tester pot. Give each coaster one coat of paint and allow to dry

You could try this on a larger scale- I'd like to cover a wooden tray or cork place mats and mix and match with different colours

9) Use your new set of coasters as a good excuse to have tea and cake!

I'll be posting the recipe for my white chocolate, rosewater and pistachio cup cakes that you can see here on Wednesday!

Happy making!