The problem with gifts...

… is that they can’t be blogged yet. Dammit. 

That is all. G’night!

Reversible Stretchy Belt!                                                                                               

I love the look of wide belts, but I’ve never found one that was both CUTE and COMFORTABLE! I want to be able to breathe, dammit, without the belt being so loose that it falls down. Tonight I had a brainwave, and I think it turned out pretty well! I made a reversible front section from fabric (with interfacing, so it doesn’t roll up or get slouchy), and added a piece of elastic to go around the back. You have to sort of shimmy into it by pulling it down over your head and shoulders. I love that it’s reversible and really showcases the fabric! I made them to wear with jersey dresses, mostly, but I think they’d work well with all kinds of tops. Also, I totally want to stick a brooch on them! Now the big question: Do I dare wear one for an interview tomorrow, or should I go more… classy?

Blurry pictures will just have to do!                                                                                        

We had a wonderful, busy weekend. J and I drove from city to city (fabric store to fabric store, really) yesterday and I stocked up on all sorts of goodies. Today I did some prep for school and spent a few hours crafting… and got a call for a second interview this week! Yippee!!!

Amongst all that, I’m happy to just accept blurry pictures. Sanity wins over perfectionism, right? I’m really happy with this batch of felt brooches, even though they don’t actually have pins on them yet. It was really fun to figure out which shapes of flowers work well together, and neat to see my colour schemes in action. Very addictive! 

This is what colour nerds do. 

Seriously, I stayed up way late for this, and woke up just wanting to gaze at the pretties!                                                                                                                                                 

I’ve been thinking a lot about colour combos lately, and how to make the bright saturated colours I love a little more… palatable for felt brooches. I love red, yellow, blue and turquoise, but it’s too much for even me when they are all together in one flower.                                                                                                                                                  

I started looking through online colour scheme generators, and pulling the ones I loved into a Pages document. I was really pleased to find that the ones I choose all fit into one of the four groups above, which all have some very similar tones of turquoise and mustard yellow! I don’t naturally go for neutrals, but in most of the colour schemes above, it’s the taupe or grey that really pulls it together. A good lesson for me, I think! (Anne, are you hearing this??!? I am singing the praise of NEUTRALS!!!! Ha!)                                                                                       

The final step was the slowest - Pulling swatches of wool-blend felt to match the colour schemes. I’m really happy with the result, and my felt order is going to much more targeted as a result. No ugly colours on a whim - Just colours I can combine in many ways!  My fingers are itching to get started!

Felted Flowers

I’ve really missed blogging lately - but I HAVE been crafting! Here’s the new felted flowers I was making the other night. They haven’t been sewn together yet, but I love the texture of the rough wool! Looking forward to perfecting the technique. 

The holiday is over… Hands, down, the best of my life! And just in time to distract me from school, I created a whole new fun thing to do with felt! Hopefully I’ll be posting the finished products soon!

Felted Flower Pins

I’ve been experimenting lately with a combination of needle-felting, wet felting, and pre-made felt. It really fun to experiment and see what I can make! 

Needle Felted Broach and Refashioned Sweater Cowl!

During the process of the day, I got cold and made myself this cowl by hacking off the sleeves and shoulders of a stained old sweater… And then needle-felted this little purple heart pin to match my dress! Cheers me up for a day around the house!

AlphaPillows 

These were a Christmas gift for my sister, Anne, who is a true typography nerd! I picked up the fabric at the Workroom in Toronto (My first high-end fabric purchase on Canadian soil!) I knew right away it was for her - The muted colours and crisp type suit her style perfectly. I was even happier to hear that they’d painted the bedroom in their new house a warm taupe! 

For each pillow, I chose two fonts that represented their character. For Anne, graceful historic type; For her husband Dan, bolder and more geometric design. The back of Anne’s pillow is French script (Ok, yes, it’s Christmas carols, but I chose to ignore that!), and Dan’s is teal with cream, black and rust coloured letters. 

If deciding the design was the easy part, then installing both piping and zippers was nearly my downfall! Anne is an amazing knitter (Hello, Chawton Mitts!)  who blogs all about her beautiful and intricate projects. We always shared a love of crafting, but her attention to detail is worlds beyond my patience! I wanted these pillows to be up to her standards, so I tried to do everything right! Thank goodness for internet tutorials, is all I can say! 

Anne took these beautiful pictures with her new Christmas-present camera - I love the lighting and composition! Thanks Anne, and Merry Christmas!

Fabric Coasters

I had a lot of fun trying out different finishing techniques on these fabric coasters. My first instinct was to do a running stitch by hand along the edge - but, man, it was slow and  tough to push the needle through all those layers of fabric and batting!  Next, I tried out two decorative stitches on the machine… but it would take more practice to be able to sew straight and make the corners neat and even! Finally, I just did a straight topstitch with the machine, with a wide and a narrow hem. In the end, I think I like those simple choices best!