Dressmaking...

My little brother is getting married this summer, and rather than traipse round the shops looking for, and not finding, something good to wear I have decided to make something for myself...  I want to do something a little bit different so I had a look at all the wonderful vintage patterns that are available on Etsy.  There are tons sellers of vintage patterns available on Etsy - I used Goofing Off, and was really impressed with the quick delivery from the USA.
Here's the one I bought:

I'm making the sleeveless version, and am planning to crochet a little shrug or spencer to wear with it (maybe whilst we're on holiday next month), just in case!  Rather than rush straight in there with the final version, I am making a prototype with some cheap grey fabric.  It's going really well so far, but I wont speak too soon!  

As usual Flickr is a brilliant resource for inspirational dressmaking.  Mame*'s Clothes I Made is an incredible line-up of gorgeous clothes, many made with vintage fabrics.  This dress is my favourite, I think, but it's hard to decide!

Yesterday I listed a few new things on Etsy too - here they are in all their glory:

I had such a busy day, because I also managed to squeeze in a bit of domesticity.  I made a sourdough, some rhubarb compote and a new batch of our addictive House Granola.  It's so good, I've written up the recipe for you on our Seasonal Matters blog - give it a try!

Some New Needle Books

Here are some of the needle books I made in preparation for the craft fair the other week. Some pretty green ones: The 1st uses some cute spotty fabric from Amy Butler called Sunspots, and the other is Floating Flowers by Kaffe Fassett, which is one of my all time favourite fabrics. Isn't that green button cute? I picked it up on ebay as part of a set of vintage buttons - I love it! Here are some very BRIGHT needle books: I love that combination of pink cord and blue button with the Free Spirit sewing-themed fabric. The heart fabric is thrifted - it's part of a blouse I bought last summer - partly re-purposed for a sun hat (which was very cute!), and now I've used this last bit for a needle book. It's very vibrant - you'd certainly struggle to lose this needle book amongst all your crafty bits and pieces! These are all up for sale on Etsy now, and will be coming to my in-development Facebook store soon. Facebook fans will get a 5% discount during the first couple of days of my shop opening so sign up as a fan now! I'll be adding some more needle books over the next couple of days too.

Inspiring Wallets

1. upcycled vintage leaf pocket wallet, 2. handmade wallet in designer fabrics, 3. Embroidered Wallet Plum Zinnia on Seafoam, 4. Tomboy Wallet, 5. plaid and fern purses, 6. crochet/sewn purse !, 7. 3 Pocket Flip Wallet-Lollipop Forest, 8. big wallet . ziazia., 9. Wallet - Flower outlines Created with fd's Flickr Toys Other half and I both woke up feeling a bit under the weather today, so we've taken a long weekend (we home-school our boys and work from home so we get to do that kind of thing!) and we've tried to have a relaxing (if shivery) day. I've not been feeling like doing any proper crafting, so I've had a really enjoyable time browsing on Flickr for inspiration. A lot of people have mentioned how much they like the style of my needle books, but they don't sew... so I've been thinking that I'd like to design a wallet along similar lines. I'm trying to work out how I want to structure my design, and it's always worth having a look at how other people have approached the challenge. Aren't these examples really yummy? I'm sitting here now trying to work out which one is my favourite, but it's very difficult - number 3 and number 8 are extra wonderful, but really I love all of them. Which ones do you like best? I love this lovely flickr mosaic tool! It's great to play with - here's a mosaic of the knitting needle and crochet hook rolls that I've listed on Etsy this week. I was hoping to get more of my wares listed on Etsy this week and set up my planned new Facebook Store... but the weather has been terrible for taking photos - it's been so cold and rainy here - so I'm hoping for a bit more brightness next week and some motivation to get through the long slog of listing everything. In the mean time - have a great weekend everyone!

The Etsy Midlanders Giveaway is Here!

Get round to the Etsy Midlanders blog to be in with a chance of winning one of 6 mystery prizes. Good Luck!

A Large To Do List..

I don't expect anyone to read this post really. It's mostly just a reminder to myself of the stuff that I've signed up for/volunteered for over the next few weeks... First, and of most interest to you, dear reader, is the Great Big Etsy Midlanders Giveaway Competition. I can't tell you just how Big and how Great this giveaway is going to be. Put Sunday in your diary and get ready to sign up for the 1st round of prizes. Over at UKHandmade I'm taking part in their 1st ever Artist Trading Card swap. I had no idea what ATCs were (learning all the time!) but as soon as I had a look at some of the ATC groups on Flickr I had to sign up. Just take a look at some of the brilliant work in the Fabric and Textile ATC group. Our 1st theme is Trees - and my 1st ever ATC is just about complete - I'm looking forward to seeing what other people have made, especially as some of my favourite crafters have also signed up. I've also signed up for Claire's Pin Cushion swap. As I've really got an enthusiasm for pin cushions at the moment (a brilliant opportunity to mix crochet and fabric), this hopefully isn't going to be too stressful. Just to make this a less tedious list of stuff I have to do - here's a pic of one of my recent pin repositories. Finally I've just this minute decided to take part in Kitschy Coo's Design-It-Yourself Clothes Sew-Along. The group is using Cal Patch's book, Design-It Yourself Clothes, which is an introduction to making your own patterns. I bought it last week but definitely need some motivation at having a go - so here's the kick up the arse that I need. My dream is to own a pair of trousers that fit... But we are starting simple with the skirt. As I appear to only have 10 days, I better get ON....

Lots of Progress

It really is about time that I reported on my patchwork progress. I now have 8 12" square completed (please excused crumpled appearance - it's been rolled up in my bag over Christmas!). It's been brilliant fun so far - working with the other women in my class has been very inspirational and it's been great to see the colours and patterns that other people have come up with. It is fascinating that the same block can be made to look so different by the use of colour and arrangement. We are about to start our new term and I'm very enthusiastic - just hoping that enough people join up again to keep the class going. It seems a shame that there aren't more people out there who want to learn this amazing craft. This week I've also been working on a needle/crochet hook roll to store some of my crafting clutter. By complete coincidence, a couple of my crafting friends both approached me with a request to make one for them, so I thought I'd do one for myself first to work out a pattern - it's going well - just need to finish sewing up the binding and then I'm all done with that. I also have a commission to make a card wallet and a bag, so I've been buying gorgeous fabric and boring stuff like interfacing from the brillant Gone to Earth (ordered yesterday morning, received today!) and Cotton Patch. What a busy few days it has been - I've got lots of new followers on Facebook and great comments on my blog so it looks as if there's going to be quite a competition for the bag on Monday. That's all hugely exciting and it's certainly helped me to feel very enthusiastic about moving on with lots of new crafting projects. I've signed up for a crochet challenge - A Granny A Day over at Meet Me at Mike's. The aim is to commit to crocheting one granny square a day in 2010 - well there's no way I am going to achieve that, but I might manage 1 every other day. That would certainly be good for my yarn stash and also I'm hoping to end up with a groovy throw that would brighten up our newly decorated front room. Then there's also a very cool White Elephant swap at Juanita Tortilla. This is a great idea because it doesn't actually involve any crafting at all... go check it out and sign up if you have some crafty bits and bobs that you can't think what to do with! And in amongst all of this activity I've also managed to list a few things for sale on MISI and Etsy (phew!) - here they are, for your delectation.

An update after a long long break...

It's been so long since I've blogged that I actually had to think to remember my blogger password. It's been been a tough couple of months in our household, with illness and a very very sad bereavement. As a result I've just got utterly behind with blogs & forums, and my online life in general. What I have managed to do is a bit of crafting - it's been so good to sit down with a hook and a bit of yarn - crochet and reading have been my saviours at times like this...

So, I'm just to try and get back in the swing of things for now & post a few pics of the things I've been working on. In the mean time, to all my friends in the craft blog world - I am so sorry to have been out of the loop for such a long time, but will be back reading, admiring and commenting very soon.

A couple of log cabin-style patchwork needle books. Made with Kaffe Fassett fabrics, vintage buttons and crochet closures.

A couple of new designs for brooches/corsages, based on my tiny crochet flower pattern. The yarns I've used here are Debbie Bliss Cashmere Cotton in the 1st pic, and some of my favourite Mirasol T'ika 100% cotton in the 2nd pic. I love those colours, and I've actually made something that isn't purple..



An old favourite brooch/pin design that's always sold well for me on Etsy (thanks to all my lovely buyers!). I think the yarn in the 1st picture is Debbie Bliss Rialto, and the 2nd is some RYC yarn, but I have no idea which one... I really need to get more organised with my stash storing!

There's a few other things to come, but that will do for now.

Finally got a few new things into my Etsy shop

Gosh my Etsy shop was looking sad and dusty. The online equivalent of one of those sad shop windows with displays of kitchen roll and dead flies...! I've finally had a chance to list a few new things, so I hope you'll forgive a little promotional post.

Here are the new things:

A toddler (12-24 month) sunhat using gorgeous Michael Miller Zoology fabric.

A toddler (12-24 month) sunhat using funky Kaffe Fassett Fan Flowers fabric.

Some tawashi veg scrubbing / dishwashing cloths.

There's more to come, but that's enough advertising for today!

Actually that's not quite true because I also wanted to write about some brilliant yarn that I'm using for my granny square swap gifts. I am a huge fan of the yarns and the ethos of The Mirasol Project. I've used their Miski baby llama yarn before - it's gorgeously soft and fluffy and comes in a great range of colours. This time I've invested in some of their T'ika 100% cotton. Again, there are some great colours, and it is an absolute joy to crochet with. And great to feel that by buying the yarns I am supporting the textile heritage of Peru. You can read more about the Mirasol Project and their yarns on the project blog. It makes really interesting reading.

Bunny and Clyde

Bunny and Clyde
Originally uploaded by Craft Matters

I've been away for a while - yet again! I've been overwhelmed by the sudden demand for bunnies and by the very strident demands of our garden at this time of year. I've crocheted 4 bunnies so far, and have an order for another 4. When I got up this morning I noticed another Etsy sale & had a slight panic, but fortunately it was for the already-completed owl needlebook, I think I might have freaked a bit if it had been another bunny order. And of course, I have the Tea Swap items to complete and send by a week on Friday. Hmm, well, at least I've selected the fabric for that one... I took this photo of the 2 new grey bunnies yesterday, and Mr SM's immediate reaction was - it looks like Bonnie & Clyde... I've tried to think of a joke involving bunnies, Bonnie and Clyde & Warrens, but I just can't think of a punchline... probably for the best.

I popped up to my local wool shop this morning to buy some more Sublime Organic Merino (lovely stuff, lovely colours) and was inveigled into an impulse buy (well, it they will display books on shelves). I spotted Super-Cute Crochet by Nicki Trench and was absolutely bowled over by the really lovely designs. What I think is really lovely about these are the little touches like bows, ribbons & flowers. She also recommends some great yarns in gorgeous colours. Looking forward to having a go at some of these - I am hoping that it will add to my skills and ideas (that's what I told Mr Seasonal Matters anyway).

50 Things Challenge Update

*I've just realised that I missed out the brooches I've made from this updated list. Doh! It's now accurate.*

Another break from blogging - this time because my entire family has been struck by a horrid lurgy over the last few days... The boys both have terrible coughs, I was in bed with flu for a couple of days and now Mr Seasonal Matters has taken to HIS bed. I haven't done any crafting at all since last weekend when I finished the little purple booties - I just haven't had the energy, even since I started to feel a little bit better.

So I thought that now might be a good time to update my 50 Things list with what I've done and add some more projects to it. I think it will be good to have the motivation!


Update on progress:
1) Blue floral hairclips . Completed and sold.
2) Neckwarmer/scaflet in RYC soft tweed. Completed and listed on Etsy.
3)Pink wild rose hairclips. Completed and sold.
4) Tweed corsage. Completed and listed on Etsy.
5) Present for friend's new baby. Done - must post!
6) Crochet flower brooch made using Colinette Prism in Cezanne. Completed and listed on Etsy.
7) Crochet flower brooch made using Noro Silk Garden. Completed and listed on Etsy.

8) Brown and turquoise slouch bag. All cut out and ready to be sewn.
9) Crochet hairband for me to use when gardening. Started - about 1/3 crocheted.

10) 1 pair daisy hairclips for Molly
11) 1 gold slouch bag
12) Lily pad needle book.

New Stuff:
13) Owl related item for Meridian Ariel's Owl Swap. I think I have decided what to do - now I just have 2 weeks to make it!
14) 1 pair of merino wool booties to sell on Etsy. Inspired by my 1st booties, but in slightly chunkier yarn so should be nice and quick to crochet up. I really want to do a pattern to sell too, but I am not sure about my pattern writing skills yet..
15) A birthday present for my SIL. Not quite sure what I'm going to do yet and wouldn't give the game away on here anyway..
16) Another slouch bag using some of the gorgous Kaffe Fasset fabrics that I picked up in the Cottonpatch sale.
17) A bag commissioned by a friend in the style of this pink spotty one that I made and sold last year.

I think that will do for now. Instead of feeling inspiring this post is now making me feel positively overwhelmed so I think it's time to take a break...

Two more projects completed...

Well, I didn't expect it to be going this well at this early stage, but I have another couple of projects finished from my 50 Things Challenge list.

I've been wanting to create a slightly larger hairclip (& something other than the Daisy clips I sell on Etsy already) for a while now. I love wild roses, so I thought I might have a go at making something reminiscent of a dog rose (isn't that a terrible name?!). I've used some pink and white wool-rich felt to call to mind the petals and yellow and orange embroidery thread for the stamens in the centre. The stitching is put on pretty randomly - it's not very tidy in nature after all (it's a good excuse)... I like them a lot - although they look a bit foolish on me, and I don't really do pink, so I might well make myself some red poppy clips at some stage. More stuff for me!

When it comes to size however, the clips don't come anywhere close to the tweedy corsage I've also finished. It's grey & black and therefore much more my kind of thing. It's also pretty huge and certainly a statement. I think it would look fantastic on a big winter coat. Anyhow, I wont go into too much detail now because I want to blog on it tomorrow - the photos really don't go with the pretty pink wild roses.

Dear me...

I have been so lax recently! I guess it's a busy time of year but I find it so frustrating - I have lots of bits and bobs to post about but something always seems to come up before I get to write it down! However, I have 1/2 an hour before dinner so will make an effort to complete a post before then.

I think I'm done with Christmas stockings for a while (or at least the ones I came up with - I am in the process of copying someone else's work for a friend) & it made a LOVELY change to make some hairclips for an alchemy order on Etsy. Here they are (see left)... Don't they look pretty & spring-like!! I made them for Caroline who has her own Etsy shop called Seawood Designs. In return I acquired one of her gorgeous art rolls (see right) - which are pretty AND practical - always a winning combination. Caroline also makes gorgeous crochet cakes which have proved incredibly popular - I think she might be trying to set some kind of record for cakes crocheted!

I also had some last minute orders from the USA for Christmas pudding decorations & had to rush to get them done in time for the last posting date. I thought I could practically make them in my sleep by now, but it appears not. Whilst I was watching the last episode of the excellent 'The Devil's Whore' the other night I tried to make a pudding with 6 sections instead of the usual 4. Possibly I was distracted by the brilliant John Simm..

I'm told I need to go and 'encourage' the boys to tidy up - so I'm off again. But I'm aiming for another post very soon...really!

Lovely breastfeeding watercolours on Etsy...

An online friend of mine has obviously been working really hard to open her Etsy shop. Ann-Marie creates beautiful watercolours & her current subjects are breastfeeding & babywearing. I was very excited to learn that this piece is her interpretation of a photo of me breastfeeding one of my sons in hospital just after his birth (nearly 5 years ago now!!!).This is the photo it was based on - you can see from all the tubes etc., that I was pretty out of it, but very very happy. I think Ann-Marie's work really captures that feeling in a very dynamic way. I am very much looking forward to seeing her babywearing pictures too.

She's obviously also very talented in other ways because she has some really fun sock monkeys & sock monsters too. I hope her shop is a big success for her. Selling on Etsy can be a real rollercoaster but a very enjoyable one!

Elf Hat Christmas Tree Decoration -It's Tutorial Time

These felt Christmas tree decorations were pretty much the bestsellers when we started selling craft kits on Ebay last year (we've moved over to Etsy now - a much nicer place to be). You can buy a kit containing all you need to make one again this year but I thought it would be fun to offer the pattern as a resource for people who want to go & get their own bits & pieces for the project (or of course, you can raid your stash!).

Depending on how you fast you sew, this really isn't a time-consuming project & the results are really pretty. I reckon a beginner could make one of these in an afternoon so there's nothing stopping you! We use them to hold a big handful of sweets or chocolate money & then hang them on the tree.

You will need:

1 piece of felt about 12x25cm for main body of hat

1 piece of felt about 1.5cmx20cm for the hanging loop
embroidery thread
assorted buttons and beads to decorate
2 larger buttons to attach the hanging loop
needle & a couple of pins







Step 1
Cut the larger piece of felt so that it will form the shape of a cone when rolled. In the picture the 2 short sides are 12cm in length & the inner angle is about 130 degrees.

















Step 2
You don't have to do this next step, but I find it very helpful to mark a line 1cm along the curved edge to the central point (see picture). This reminds me not to sew any beads or buttons on that area which will be covered when you roll the hat into the cone shape.















Step 3
Sew on the buttons & beads in a random pattern all over the hat using 3 strands of the embroidery thread. Remember to leave 2 clear areas on opposite sides on the rim of the cone for sewing on the buttons for the strap/hanger (you'll do this after you have sewn the cone shape).

















Step 4
Roll the felt into a pointed hat shape, overlapping the edges where you have made your pencil line. Pin (if it helps ) & sew along this edge on the right side of the hat using overcast stitch - I like to use a contrasting thread here because it looks so cute.






















Step 5
Sew on the larger buttons on opposite sides of the hat about 1cm from the edge.



Step 6
Cut slits, a little shorter than the width of the buttons you have just sewn in either end of the piece of felt for the strap/hanger.


















Step 7
Fasten the hanger on to the buttons & tada! You're done...

I think some ric-rac edging and a little bell would make fantastic additions to this little hat if you have the inclination.

There's lots more Christmas decoration, food & celebration ideas and resources at our Christmas Matters site. Enjoy!

It's been a while...

Not had chance to post for a couple of weeks because we've been unexpectedly away from home. Before we disappeared off to the homelands of North Staffordshire I was getting ready to post on the bags I had completed. It feels like months ago now, but I am proud of them and hopefully posting about them will motivate me to get on with some more bags. For various reasons I feel like life is completely up in the air at the moment so it's hard to sit down to anything that takes more effort than a crochet hook and some yarn...

The first bag (left) is just a plain tote - useful for library/school/work books I would say. The fabrics are from the John Lewis furnishing fabrics department (pure heaven). Generally I am finding that furnishing fabrics make better bags because they are obviously stronger material & the designs and colours are just FAR more interesting. The only problem is that my clunky old sewing machine isn't really up to the job of working on them.

The pattern is one I have used before & I like the fact that it is straightforward to make larger or smaller versions and vary the patterns to have longer or shorter handles. This one has longer handles so that you can get them over your shoulder. I noticed that the tote bags I use most are the ones with long handles because having 2 young kids means that I don't often have hands free to carry anything.

The other bag uses the same fabrics & this time is fully lined. I got the pattern from a book I got from my local library. It's Bags, Bags, Bags by Dorothy Wood. It's a little bit dated, but has some nice patterns, tips and ideas (and is currently very good value on Amazon!). I wouldn't say that the patterns were written for a complete beginner, but it is a long time since I have done any sewing and I did ok! I am very pleased with it - I especially like the shaping round the bottom of the bag and I liked how easy it was to do the lining, which of course makes it look very smart. The buttons I managed to glean from my grandmother-in-law's old button box, so I am pleased to use them too. The best thing about completing this one is that a) I think the quality of the sewing is good enough to be part of the stock of my Etsy shop; b) I have had some much needed practice on the sewing machine and c) I have learned some really useful techniques for bag making.

Crocheting... here's my first ever pattern!! And some business news...

I have made myself a hair tie which I guess some people would call a scrunchy, but I wont because I bloomin' hate that word... It just brings back awful memories of the 80s, spiral perms & hoooooge quantities of hairspray. Yikes.

Anyway, I have long hair for the first time since I was about 6 and so am always looking for bits & bobs to tie it back. Put that together with my enthusiasm for crocheting circular things (so much easier than straight lines!!!) and it seemed obvious to create myself something a little more attractive than our postman's 'generously donated' (i.e. chucked on the garden path) elastic bands.

Here's a pic of what I came up with:


It's not a great picture but I really want to do this post now so it will have to do for now!

The pattern:
(Using British crocheting stitches rather than American)
Take elastic band or other stretchy circular thing of your choice and some yarn and a hook of your choice - this is a very flexible pattern...

Round 1:
Use a reef knot to create the 1st stitch on your hook then use the elastic band as if it were a chained circle and create a circle of double crochet (dc). Keep pushing the dc stitches together to get as many stitches as possible on there, so that when the band stretches it wont look too gappy. When you have squeezed on as many dc stitches as possible join the round with a slip stitch.

Round 2:
Chain 2, then make your 1st stitch in the 3rd stitch away from your hook. Now treble crochet twice into each dc that you made in the 1st round. Join the round with a slip stitch.

Weave in the ends and taadaaa! You're done.


This is one of the ideas that I have been working on since Christmas for our shop. Obviously, since we were selling Xmas decs things have come to a full stop with people making purchases and so we have had lots of times to think & develop our ideas for how things are going to go forward. I would very much like to open an Etsy shop and stock it with things produced by me, dh (and possibly other people too) and also kits too. Using Ebay was good as a temporary measure but I don't think people necessarily come to it for the sort of stuff that we want to sell. I've got lots of ideas for simple stuff to put in the shop - tote bags, drawstring bags, blankies, hairclips and hair bands, bibs, card toppers (using S's lino cuts), maybe my girly felt bags too. It's very exciting but it does mean we have an AWFUL lot of work to do.