Wallet 1.0

So after a bit of time thinking, drawing and sewing, here's my 1st attempt at a wallet. Don't look too closely or you'll spot a few mistakes. Put it this way - it wont be appearing in my shop any time soon! I've found that it's very rare for me to hit upon a design that you're happy with the first time round, and this time is no exception. There's quite a few slightly dodgy sections here! The positives: I'm really happy with the outer section - it looks very simple and (I hope) sophisticated - although I must say it's really hard to go wrong with this yummy Amy Butler fabric. I also like the layout - 3 card pockets, a little section for change, another pocket for receipts, shopping lists, stamps and all that other ephemeral I seem to collect in my wallet, and a section for paper money (that you can't see - it's in between the outer fabric and all the inner pockets. The negatives: in my enthusiasm to get it all finished I forgot to topstitch the pockets, which means they look a bit wonky and a bit home-made rather than handmade... There's also a bit too much clumsy stitching and bumpy seams for me to be completely happy with it - that was mainly because I miscalculated the seam allowance, so had to squeeze everything a bit too much so that it would fold up right. The main design problem is that seam down the middle of the inner section - it makes everything far too bulky and hard to sew and fold. So, I'm off to have a rethink... By the way - if you want to leave a comment, I would love to knwow what you look for in a wallet..

Quilts 1700-2010 at the V&A

I had a wonderful time in London last weekend - and have been trying to catch up with myself every since which is why I haven't updated recently. The Quilt exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum was an absolute joy - I spent a good couple of hours having a look at the wonderful quilts that they have collected together. The only down side was the poor quality of the information provided alongside the pieces - I assume that was an attempt to encourage you to buy the book linked to the exhibition... I would have loved to read more information about the practicalities of putting together quilts, but that was sadly lacking. However, the quality of the items on display more than made up for that. I could probably go on at length about almost ever piece in the exhibition, but as I don't have any photographs (not allowed) I'll just mention my favourite piece a coverlet (i.e. it is not wadded) created in 1820 by Ann West, who it seems, was probably a tailor in the Somerset area. It is created on a wool background with masses of wool applique and is a very early example of this kind of work as well as being the only known example of work like this created by a woman (they were often created by male tailors to advertise their work). The pieces of fabric have been manipulated and sewn so that the pictures she has made are incredibly textured, full of life and absolutely captivating. She has intertwined biblical scene and every day domestic vignettes - the central panel is a well loved biblical image of Adam naming the animals - the animals pictured include a squirrel, a robin, a goose, a peacock, a hedgehog, a turkey and a monkey, and the whole thing is adorned with very modern-looking wool flowers. In this detail you can see a little band of performers and street sellers - one playing a little violin, and others with masks. I have thought about this coverlet loads since I saw it - and always with a smile. Can you believe that it was discovered a few years ago, folded in a trunk in someone's garage. The owner used the money he got from its sale to fund a trip to the Football World Cup! Since I've been home I've been working on my Facebook Store, putting the final touches for a VW Campervan ATC for a swap, and working on my design for a wallet, as well as trying to get our garden into some kind of order. It's been such a cold winter and spring, but with the recent warmer weather all the plants of gone completely crazy, trying to make up for lost time! It's lovely to be out there though - I don't think I'll be working on any huge quilts any time soon - definitely a winter activity.

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!

First steps in patchwork...

I confess I have made patchwork bits and pieces before - the log cabin needle books for example, but I pretty much made it up as I went along. I've been wanting to do a course to learn how to do it properly for ages, so I was really pleased to find a Beginners Patchwork course at my local college. It started a couple of weeks back now and this is the beginning of my first block. The plan is that we are going to do 9 blocks in all - all of them taking us through the basics of different kids of patchwork. I am hoping that my finished article will look good enough for me to give to someone as a Christmas present. Or maybe I should make it the prize for my 100th post giveaway, which is coming along very soon...! I'm using mostly scraps and fabric from local charity shops, although I have bought a couple of new fat quarters and some background fabric from Abakahn.

I was quite stressed making this up this morning - I was a bit scared that I wouldn't be able to get the corners to match up and that it would all come out too small / too large / too cockeyed, but it worked pretty well (I really concentrated - I am not known for my accuracy!), and everything pretty much matched up, and it measures the right size. The fabric consists of an old pillowcase, a thrifted baby dress from Gap, a bit of vintage Laura Ashley, a thrifted shirt, and 2 bits of new FQs. Can you guess which is which?

The really disappointing thing is that it's possible that our last patchwork class will be tonight, because although there are 8 enthusiastic pupils, the College has a policy that self-funded classes need a class size of 12 to make them viable. We spent a lot of time last week trying to work out how we could keep the class going - so fingers crossed there will be better news tonight. Otherwise I will just try and keep teaching myself - I hope I can motivate myself as well as the class would have done!

I've been doing a lot of experimenting with applique lately. I want to make lots more wallets and needle books to sell, and I think a bit of applique will make a nice change from the ordinary. It's also a great way of jazzing up the plainer upcycled fabrics that I like to use. Here's a couple of examples of what I've been working on. The background fabric for both of them is from an old pair of Boden cords. The bird applique is made using a little bit of Kaffe Fassett fabric (Striped Vase in Lavender), and some yellow felt. The applique stitch is up and down buttonhole stitch, which I think looks good, a bit more showy than standard buttonhole stitch / blanket stitch, and so works better with this rather dramatic fabric. I'm using it for the front of a proper purse / wallet (with a zip and everything!) which will be in my Etsy shop very soon. I just need to take some good photos..

The owl decorates a business card / credit card wallet, which just needs a press stud to finish it off (I am so not a finisher...). I put it together pretty quickly last week - I like it but I'm not sure if the fuzzy fabric isn't a bit too fuzzy, and I'm worried that those bead eyes might make him look a bit too scary. He might well go in the shop at a 'prototype' price!

A Fancy Card Wallet

Duelling Crafters' Challenge

The last couple of days, when I haven't been busy in the garden, I've been working hard on my project for Blotted Copy Book's Duelling Crafters' Challenge. I decided to use my dad's old tie to make a wallet to hold my business cards, and the cards I get from other crafters. It will be great to have somewhere to keep the safe and easily findable amongst all the rubbish in my bag! I got it finished four hours before the deadline and managed to upload the photos on to the Duelling Crafters' Flickr Group with a couple of hours to spare.

The wallet has a very simple design with 2 business card-sized pockets inside, made using turquoise cotton fabric, which is also used for the lining. There is a little bit of fusible fleece between the lining and outer fabric, just to give the whole thing a bit of structure.

I was quite pleased with the result and was going to submit the wallet at that stage, entirely unadorned. However, having slept on it, I decided that, much as I love the tweedy wool fabric, it needing prettying up a bit. So I added a tiny crochet flower, complete with some recycled, bright red beads. The final touch is a little bit of red stitching - just because I think red and turquoise go so well together. I still have some of the tie fabric left so I've just cut out another piece so I can make a needle book for my sister's birthday next week. It's going to be really nice to use something every day that brings back such great memories of my dad.