I'm a MISI maker now...

For a while now I've been wanting to open a shop using a web site based in the UK - most of my customers seem to be UK based, and I was finding it annoying having to work in dollars all the time. It's also frustrating having to change prices to reflect the ups and downs of the pound versus the dollar... I've looked around a bit and decided to go with MISI. I don't know if it's the biggest UK craft market place (not yet!), but I like the fact that it's been set up by a work-at-home mum (like me!) - the forums also seem really friendly, and I like the way the place looks. I think my shop is looking pretty good (and not as full as it was, because I've already made a few sales - hurrah!). I am wondering about listing on other sites too, but have had enough of getting used to a new system for a while...

So I've been looking around MISI to see what other people are up to, and as my contribution to marketing the place I've decided to do a regular MISI Matters post. And this time round I'm going to feature embroidery & needlework. Here are some of my faves:

This pleasingly witty bookmark is by Lorraine of Hippywitch Gifts. She makes some great stuff, including some lovely cross stitch hearts in my favourite Nordic style. I like to buy some new handcrafted Christmas decorations every year, and these are definitely on my list.

I love the button brooches and keyrings in the teasemade store. It's hard to pick out a favourite, but I really like this little keyring. If only that was my home sweet home! There's some lovely knitting themed button brooches that would make great gifts for knitting fiends...

I love this little Russian doll brooch with machine embroidered details. It's by Sam of incy wincy stitches. I wish I could get my machine embroidery so neat and tidy - and like a lot of people, I love a matryoshka doll. Sam makes some smashing covered buttons too.

Finally, I've been bowled over by this beautiful hand embroidery designs from the Hand Embroidery Network. If I had about 6 months to spare, and my hand embroidery skills were a bit better, I would be very tempted to buy this pattern - it would look so lovely on a cushion, or maybe even framed (after all, I would have worked so hard on it!). There are some simpler designs there too and some great Halloween themed patterns at the moment.

I pricked and pounced!

I've been personalising Christmas stockings full time for the last few days it seems. Because the stockings are made with quite rough textured felt it is a real problem getting the lettering on to the fabric so that I can embroider the names. I have been using a charcoal pencil, but that is rather unsatisfactory because drawing on the felt is difficult, smudgy, and the pencil gets very clogged up with wool. Yuck.

So, today, I had a bit of an inspiration when I remembered reading about the 'prick and pounce' method of transferring pattern to fabric in Diana Springall's book Embroidery. So I tried my own version of it.

First I drew my design on thick tracing paper.










Then I pricked along the lines of the tracing with a chunky needle (sorry, rubbish at knowing about needle sizes) - you might be able to see in the photo below that I missed the dot on the letter 'i'!













Then I laid the tracing on the felt stocking I'm working on at the moment. Holding it firmly in place I then scraped a bit of tailors' chalk dust on to the tracing paper & rubbed it in a bit with my finger. If you were doing prick and pounce properly then you would use pouncing powder - ground up cuttlefish - & a brush so I don't think you would need to rub it in.

















Then I lifted up the tracing paper and - tada! - it worked perfectly! I then pressed the chalk in a bit with my finger so it didn't just brush off.














People have been using this method of transferring pattern to fabric for centuries. I think the next step is to join up the dots with paint, otherwise the pattern would soon be rubbed off. Fortunately, the chalk I used lasted for long enough for me to finish the embroidery.













I've just read that it's also traditional to use ground cinnamon for pouncing. That sounds infintely preferable to using ground cuttlefish... And wouldn't it make Christmas stockings smell nice and Christmassy?

I feel the need to record how hard I've been working these last few days. So - we've got the embroidery above...

This very sweet little blue elephant:


















Some crochet brooches (er, not quite finished):














Finished a scarf using the stunning beautiful Colinette prism in Autumn Leaves:














No wonder I'm cream-crackered...

A pin cushion - more attempts to be organised..

Aware that I really must stop sticking in-use pins into the arms of our sofa (it really isn't safe), I knew I had ot make a pin cushion. I was not really looking forward to it because it brought back memories of the 1st weeks of senior school - a pin cushion was the 1st thing we made in 'Needlework' lessons (god it sounds like I was at school in the 19th century). I seem to remember that mine was in the shape of a tortoise, & its legs never did look right.

But I was inspired to get going after seeing a picture of a fab pin cushion in one of my 'new' books. I went mad on www.greenmetropolis.com the other day and ordered a few really good value craft books. My favourite purchase is 'Embroidery - An introduction to the basic skills and techniques of the craft' by Diana Springall (out of print but currently available for 1p on Amazon Marketplace - how do they do that??). It was published in 1980 but it has some absolutely gorgeous ideas in it. This (left) is the pattern that inspired me. I really like those slightly rounded squares & the very simple shapes. As you can see my version (right) doesn't have an awful lot in common with the Springall version. I've used felt rather than silk, I haven't bothered with piping & I didn't need to do trapunto because the felt is raised enough as it is. I am really pleased with the way the colours blend in the felt - although I think the white could be replaced by cream felt for a slightly less startling effect. I messed up the corners (I machine sewed the edges) - I should have made them much more rounded, and as a result they are too pointy. Next time I will also put the squares closer together in the middle of the cushion - at the minute I think it looks a bit like they are sliding off down the sides... but overall I am rather pleased with the effect & I will certainly get a lot of use out of it. And hey, now my family are all out of danger (until they find the pin cushion that is).

While I am on the subject of the Springall book I have to post a picture of one of her othe designs - this really wonderful felt elephant. I just think this is just great - I love the slightly psychedelic effect that you get from those pink, purple & gold swirls. I am not sure that my skills are quite up to something like this (and I certainly don't have time to try) but I might have a go at adapting the techniques she describes to make something a bit less complicated & a little smaller. I think I'll try another pin cushion first - I have an idea that pink, sage green, pale blue & white might go together quite well.