how to frame your embroidery in a hoop.

i don't know why but when it comes to my crafts
i am a neat freak
so when i did the embroidery for the Alice swap i just couldn't bear to leave the messy stitching exposed,
also i had cut the fabric too small to lace it onto the hoop, i searched for a tutorial to finish off your work in a hoop but couldn't find one, i asked at the PhatQuarter group and got some good ideas there
but
this is what i came up with

take the hoop you will be working your embroidery in and
draw around the inside of the inner hoop on mounting board

cut out your disc, then trim it so it is a little smaller

cut out a circle of fleece or wadding
i drew around a hoop 1" bigger than the hoop i'm doing the embroidery on so the hoop i'm working my piece on is a 4" and the fabric disc is 5"
{edited from 2" to 1"}

next cut out your backing fabric
{again 1" bigger than finished embroidery}

next layer the fabrics and lace onto the card disc

until it looks like this

work your embroidery in your hoop

cut out your finished piece 2" bigger than your embroidery hoop

i added another piece of fleece for a nice padded look
i trimmed this off close to the hoop

then i stuck down my embroidered fabric with
double sided tape on the inside of the hoop

all stuck down

take your disc of fabric covered card
and push into the back of the hoop firmly
{i didn't use any glue}

you get a nice padded effect

finished!

i hope this is easy to follow
and it comes in useful for any other neat freak crafters like me!

Alice in Wonderland Swap - what i made.

wrapping up the parcel
another good excuse to use my button stamps :o)

and here is why i ran over the time allowance
i designed this cross-stitched piece in stages and then just ignored my design
and free-styled it in the end to tie in all the motifs,
this was the second attempt and i very nearly abandoned it but i think i got it right in the end.

a Wonderland themed button card

an "eat me" pincushion jar full of sweeties

Wonderland stick puppets

a set for making more
puppets/bookmarks/card toppers

my swap partner was Kitschycoo
check out her blog
http://www.kitschycoo.blogspot.com/
she always makes me smile
even her last post telling us she is suffering
with a case of fatal tonsilitus

*******

This fantastic craft swap was arranged by the wonderful MeridianAriel
http://meridianariel.blogspot.com/
who brought us other amazing swaps such as the Fairytale swap, the 80's fantasy film swap and the Owl swap {please read in the voice of Troy McClure}

*******
see everyone elses photo's here in the flickr group
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1350708@N22/

i'm late, i'm late for a very important date . . . .

teaser#1

teaser#2

i have finally finished my crafting for
the Alice in Wonderland swap
whoop whoop!

it was such a fantastic craft swap theme
that i've had too many ideas
jumping around in my brain
it was so hard to decide what to do
but i got there in the end
i'll send it off tomorrow and keep my fingers crossed that my partner likes it.

"button" cotton reel stamp

i am a real hoarder
and hate to throw anything away,
these plastic cotton reels have been sitting on my desk
waiting for me to find a use for them

i like to decorate the envelopes i send my orders out in
and made some button stamps from funky foam and stuck them on top of my mini versa-colour ink pads
but it was bugging my that the edges of the lid got inked up too

hmm what i needed was a round base for my stamp

so here's how i made the stamp
i cut out some circles of self adhesive funky foam
with my sizzix machine
i tried doing it by hand but i couldn't cut the foam neatly
then i made the button holes with my leather punch

then i cut a disc of card a little smaller than the button
and stuck it to the back
{this is because of the hole in the spool
the first stamp i tried wouldn't print evenly}

stick the button stamp to the spool

ink it up and stamp away to your hearts content!

i've made a few so i can have different colours
without having to clean the stamp in between printing sessions

so there you go
easy peasy crafting and recycling too!

"ice my biscuit"

ice my biscuit

trinket box

dirty biscuit designs

So i was designing some cross stitch
for another project which included some biscuits
and i innocently said
"i'm not sure if i should ice my biscuit"
oh my that sounds filthy i thought . . . .
so i stitched it and remembered
i had this trinket box to recycle . . . .
happy valentines!

Skirt Re-fashion.

i saw a lovely skirt on the internet the other day
it was steam-punk-y with a corseted laced type back
and i thought hmm i could do something like that
so of to the charity shops i went looking for a skirt to re-fashion

i needed to find one several sizes too big
so i could lace the back of it
and found this one for the bargain price of £1.50
in a size 2/3 times too large.
oh dear
when i put it on it wasn't so big after all
which if you saw the ammount of biscuits i've been consuming lately shouldn't have been such a surprise!

anyway it was a really good quality skirt
the fabric is lovely
and as i stood looking at it an idea formed . . .

so i grabbed my tin of pins
and got pleating and pinning

i put in 12 pleats/tucks up one side and
stopped about 10" from the hem

i put two tucks on the other side too
i think it has a neo-victorian look

i like the way the lining shows

i searched through my button stash and found
a matching set of 14 buttons and stitched
up the first side.

the result is fairly soft folds ruching the fabric

does my bum look big in this?!

these are my new christmas boots
they make me want to wear skirts!

after sewing on the 12 buttons and trying it on
i felt it didn't need the two on the opposite side
but i'm not 100% sure on that yet.

so now i have this sticky out bit
i pinned it in several ways but decided that it needs
to be loose at the bottom for ease of walking

at the moment i'm thinking of finishing it like this
would you call it a kick-flare hem?
i'm going to use two buttons and a little elastic
loop to close it
unfortunately that is all the buttons used up
which leaves none for the other hip pleats,
the perils of using vintage supplies!
OR
i could use one of those frog-braid fasteners
hmmmmm
and i might trim the shirt with black ric-rac
what do you think?

lickety split

i did a little bit of sewing today,
years and years ago i used to do
counted cross-stitch,
i was quite addicted to it for awhile
so had a lot of aida fabric left over
and today i had an uncontrollable urge
to stitch this phrase!
i like it BUT i find the fabric very restrictive
if you see what i mean?
i think need to be more free flowing with my embroidery.

{SOLD}
i've been continuing on my mission
to card up and list my button mountain

these blue buckles are from the buckle porn post
from months ago - that's how long it takes me
to get my act together!

http://www.folksy.com/items/256437-blue-buckles-vintage-mother-of-pearl-

*******

i got my puff collar#2 all sewn up, i'm really pleased with it but unfortunately it takes way to long to produce to be viable for me to make and sell :0(
i've bought some more fabric to make another as my daughter wants one, so i'm going to time myself very strictly to see how long it actually takes.
no photo's yet i'm afraid as i've been busy
and today it was too sunny to take photo's
when i had the time!