Handmade Correspondence Case

Making Gifts Issue 4


I have been lured into another magazine subscription. This time Making Gifts. I was seduced by the introductory gifts of a book on beading and another on stamping (if you've seen my Alice in Wonderland Notebook, you'll understand why the latter might come in handy).

So, when Issue 4 arrived, I had to keep to my rule that I need to make at least one thing from each issue. The quilled frogs and leather bookmark were sweet, but not really my crafts. Hence, I settled on  Helen Henley's Handmade Correspondence Case. This is just the sort of thing I love to make - ostensibly useful, but in fact just another piece of frippery.

I used a nursey rhyme fabric I had picked up from The Fent Shop in Skipton for the outer and two fat quarters of a tiny floral print for the lining and pockets from the same shop. I personalised the case with initial appliques from Pink Pineapple (I know you are supposed to make the project as a gift, but (a) I really wanted it for me, and (b) I'd need to find someone who likes their gifts with wonky seams).

The project instructions were very good and well-illustrated, which was handy with my limited spacial skills. The cutting out was all regular shapes, with iron on interfacing on each piece. The only thing I'd say is that I think the interfacing on both sides of the stamp pocket might have been overkill - it was moderately hard to iron it back into shape after sewing it right sides together and then turning. 

I sewed it together on a Friday night when, I must confess, I'd had a bit to drink. I go to my parents for dinner on a Friday night and, being good hosts, they are generous with the wine. Although you won't find this recommended in the manual, I tend to have slightly better results with the sewing machine when mildly inebriated - something to do with lack of nerves I think. My seams weren't any less straight than usual and I actually sewed everything the right way round. This would be a typical project where I have to unpick something because it's back to front or upside down.

The project also included some useful additional tips like ironing thoroughly at each stage, but being careful not to iron over erasable fabric marker lines in case you set the ink with the iron.

As you can see I've filled my correspondence case with lots of kawaii stationary, mostly from Art Box. It's just a shame that letter writing is such as dying art.

Melx

Zombie Bears Lampwork Bracelet

Cute & Scary....

Like a lot of people, I started making jewellery thinking I could make myself lots of cheap and cheerful pieces that suited my taste. As with many other branches of craft, however, over time I realised you could make yourself even more fabulous things if you started trading up and buying more expensive beads and findings.

These days, my very favourite beads are handmade lampwork glass. Not handmade by me I hasten to add. I have seen glass beadmaking demonstrated a few times and I soo don't have the steadiness of hand for it. Hence, for my glassy fix, I like to buy unusual beads from lampwork artists at fairs or online.

My favourite ever beadmaker is By Keiara. Keiara has an amazing selection of fab, kookie beads, as well as well as more traditional art focals and bead sets. I particular like her Goth and Halloween Beads, so when I spied this set of green zombie bear beads in her shop at the weekend, I just couldn't resist.

I am almost ashamed to say that the beads only arrived today and, bypassing several dozen other pending projects, I decided I needed to make them into a bracelet right away!

The bear beads are drilled through the side, so I decided to start by mounting each one on a eye pin with a green Swarovski bicone at each side. Luckily I had enough of the same colour - I keep a mix of crystal bicones on hand but it's always hold your breath time to see if I've got enough of the exact colour I need.

Spacing was the next issue (I spend far too much time thinking about spacer beads - buying focal beads is often like buying a skirt with no top to match it). I decided that black goes well with zombie green. Handily, I had a good supply of black lampwork spacer beads and enough black Swarovski bicones to make matching spacer pieces.

Having got five bears and five spacers ready, I then needed to check roughly how much bracelet I'd managed to assemble. I think bracelets (with the possible exception of the elastic ones) are the hardest pieces to make as you have to be fairly precise about the length. It looked like I'd got enough to join the bears and spacers together with the eye pin loops rather than needing to add jump rings, so I started doing that. In the event, I was able to use four spacers rather than five and I finished off with simple closed jump ring and lobster clasp.

I always find it's easy to make great jewellery when starting with great beads and these are beautifully made, so thanks Keiara. I'm looking forward to showing off my new bracelet. I have a wonderful friend at work who always admires my stuff, but then finds it's not quite what she thought. She'll say, "that's cute" and I'll say, "thanks, it's a dead cat" or similar and she'll give me a look that implies it would have been better if I hadn't have pointed that part out.

Wonder what she'll make of the cute bears when she finds out they're zombies...

Melx

Alice in Wonderland Notebook

Stamps in Wonderland


Perusing Issue 3 of Making Gifts Magazine, I was struck by a project to decorate a mirror using Stampbord pieces impressed with Alice in Wonderland designs. Although I didn't fancy making the whole project, it did inspire me to get some Alice in Wonderland rubber stamps and to try out Stampbord.


I got my Alice stamps from  Stamp Attack Art Stamps: an unmounted A5 stamp plate with 17 individual designs. Now, I am a complete novice stamper. Although, I've got quite a few wooden rubber stamps and clear stamps, I've never used unmounted stamps and wasn't quite sure what to do with them. A quick Google later and I found this great video on YouTube. Having discovered that EZ Mount is the things to use, I duly ordered some from Ebay and stuck the whole plate to the very sticky side. I then cut out the images with sharp scissors, which was a bit tricky but as long as you don't cut into the images themselves, I figured it doesn't have to be so neat.

Once I'd mounted and cut out the stamps, I unpeeled the other surface of the EZ Mount, which then sticks to the acrylic blocks like a normal clear stamp. I tried out the various images on card first, experimented a bit with colouring in the pictures and then decided to stick with black and white.

It was then time to try the Stampbord (another Ebay purchase - I kind of use Ebay as a general craft store when I'm looking for something quite specific). I used a Momento ink pad as mentioned in the original magazine project. I wonder if I over-inked my stamps as some of the images seemed too heavy and a bit smudged?

However, I was happy enough with the Cheshire Cat and decided to use that on the front of my mini book, which I covered with a DCWV sheet from the Green Stack. I used spray adhesive to attach both the cardstock and the Stampbord (I got a telling off from hubby as I also got spray adhesive all over the coffee table. Top tip: cover the surface you're working on first!).

 I put images of the Red Queen and the White Rabbit on the front and back inside covers. Alice herself is on the back cover and I stamped each page with a heart.

To make the notebook, I used my Bind It All. Now, you may have heard the manta, "I am not afraid of the sewing machine." I should add to that, "I am not afraid of the Bind It All". Except I am. I never used it all for  along time after I'd bought it and even now I only make small books that you can punch by putting the covers and pages in the centre of the machine. I think there are two reasons for the fear:

1. If you use the official Zutter covers and pages, it's kind of pricey if you slip up

2. You usually have to punch after you've decorated the covers meaning you have to start over if it goes wrong

In the event, I ruined three covers because there was some problem with the punching channel.

Eventually, I got the thing bound with black wire and added a little key charm to make up for the sloppiness in the stamping. I love the Alice stamps but I'm not sure I got the best out of the Stampbord and I still fear my Bind It All. Maybe I need to read up on it some more...

All suggestions welcome

Melx

Tea Towel Messenger Bag

Andy Murray's Made By

My sewing machine is now safely back from being serviced, which is handy as I've been itching to make something from the latest craft book I've bought.

I came across Andy Murray's Made By: An Inspiration to Make Things in this article in the Guardian Online. Being completely in agreement with the sentiment that nice tea towels are too good for the kitchen (witness the grey, creased mess that are my formerly pristine hand-printed Japanese tea towels), I duly trotted to Andy's website and purchased the book for £8.95.

The book arrived wrapped in tissue paper and signed by Andy himself. I also received a cute leaflet for todryfor.com, a designer tea towel boutique no less.

The book itself gives step-by-step instructions, with diagrams, for making a bag, laptop sleeve, watch strap, wallet and belt, all from tea towels. Interestingly, Andy uses glue to fix together the projects, but you can of course sew them instead, which is what I did. I guess the gluing makes the projects more accessible to a wider range of potential crafters, but I am particularly ham-fisted with adhesives so I thought it best to stick with the sewing...

I decided to tackle the bag first as a girl can't have too many (my husband may disagree...). It was actually him who bought me the supercute kawaii towels from Paperchase that I decided to use.

The project required three tea towels; one for for the outer bag, one for the lining and the third to make the sides and strap. I only had two, but as they seemed much bigger than standard tea towels (if there is such a thing?), I cut one side piece from the width of each. I used some pink webbing for the strap instead of making it from tea towel fabric.

The main challenge I found with sewing the bag with a machine is that I ended up with some quite thick pieces of towel to sew, paticularly as I did it all right sides together. My machine is quite lightweight and I managed to snap a needle (doh!). The flap of my bag wasn't quite as long as I intended either due to some mismanagement by me of the depth measurements. However, it was very easy to construct from the project's instructions.

To finish, I added a pink button to the flap for decoration and used velcro circles to fasten the bag inside.

Overall, I think it's really durable and rather cute. So, thanks Andy and I'm looking forward to making more things from tea towels very soon!

Melx

Fabric Bead Necklace & Earrings

Make Jewellery Magazine June 2010

After several years' faithful service, my sewing machine has been making an ominous noise, so I've taken it in to be serviced. So, time for some jewellery projects me thinks.

I subscribe to Make Jewellery magazine and, as with my other mags, I try to complete at least one project from each issue before the next one comes out. However, Make Jewellery is, to me anyway, quite a different kettle of fish to, say, Sew Hip. I see Make Jewellery as more inspiration and eye candy than a set of projects to be followed step by step. I'm always finding fab new beads to buy in there and it's a good showcase for handmade shops and new jewellery designers..

For the projects themselves, though, I never follow the instructions in detail, although I'm sure it's possible to do so. I tend to just look at the pictures (the photography is excellent) and check out the odd detail if I need to. I will then adapt the project to suit my tastes, my ability and the beads and findings I have handy or like to use.

So, this is my take on the Ditsy Chick project from the June 2010 issue. If you've seen it, you'll see I've simplified the design to a single strand necklace and ditched the curtain rings and ribbon. I used purple fabric beads rather than pink and also crocheted beads rather than felt ones.

For the supplies, I'm afraid the magazine committed the irritating sin of using a shop that doesn't have a proper online or mail order service. Although I probably could have got the beads by calling the recommended supplier, I opted to find some similar ones from Ebay. (This is not, however, as bad as the magazine using beads from a supplier that doesn't have any in stock and isn't sure if they can get any more, but that's another post).

I used some bead caps I already had for each bead and joined them together with eye pins as per the project. I used a closed jump ring and a lobster clasp to fasten the necklace. The earrings were completed with small translucent buttons and Swarovski crystal bicones (what did people do before we had them?). The whole thing took less than two hours and I think it looks really pretty.

Melx

Whatever Cross Stitch Purse

The Trouble With Zips

My Ma is a whizz at cross stitch and is always making me fun bits and pieces to put in my sewing. Recently, as a "gift", I bought her Subversive Cross Stitch By Julie Jackson, which contains some designs that perhaps aren't suitable for your mother! Mum duly whipped me up the fab "Whatever" design and I had to decide what to make with it.

I thought that a mini purse would be fun. Except that I hate working with zips. This loathing notwithstanding, I duly cut the cross stitch design to 4" by 4.5" and found a matching blue floral piece for the back of the purse. I used a pink floral in the same range for the lining and a white zip. I applied iron-on interfacing on the outer pieces to give the purse some substance and help prevent the cross stitch fraying.

There appears to be many ways to construct a lined zip pouch, but I decided to start by laying the zip down on the front right side of the purse with the lining underneath, wrong sides together. I repeated this with the back of the purse using the zipper foot on my sewing machine.

Now, for the tricky part. I hate the bit where you have to sew over the teeth of the zipper, having lost a sewing machine needle to a zipped pouch only the other week. No incidents this time though. In my wisdom, I thought it would be better to sew round the outer pieces of the purse and the lining separately (right sides together) and then tuck the lining into the purse. Due to a lack of spacial awareness, I managed to seal the zip between the outer purse and the lining. Oops!


I duly unpicked the bottom seam of the lining. I could then turn the purse the right way out. I folded over the two sides of the unpicked seam of the lining. and sewed them together. This gave a visible but neat seam. I could then finally tuck the lining in as planned. Yay!

I was slightly perturbed that the top of the purse seemed much rounder than it started out, but I think this is just from trying to cram a fairly thick zip into a fairly tiny space?

To finish off, I added a teapot charm for my zipper pull. I always think a nice zipper charm makes up for a multitude of dodgy stitching in the actual purse...

I shall see what ma thinks when I take my creation round tonight. Wish me luck!

Melx

Owl Doorstop

Sew Hip Issue 14

One thing I wanted to blog about is my experiences in completing projects from craft magazines. I have a bit of a magazine habit - I subscribe to several titles plus buy others on spec as I see them. By way of a bit of discipline and trying to get value out of all this inspiration, I always try to make at least one thing from each issue before the next one is published. This leads to feverishly searching each mag for something I am actually capable of doing.

This brings us neatly to Sew Hip Issue 14. There is much to like about Sew Hip. There are projects for all ability levels, decent, illustrated instructions and the pull out full size pattern, so no fiddling around with a photocopier.

Having hastily passed over the "make your own wedding dress" pattern, which I took to be for advanced users, I easily settled on the Owl Doorstop. I love all things owl and it looked easy. Yay and yay!

The pattern wasn't too specific about fabrics (again, something I like about Sew Hip), but it looked felty so I ordered some off-white wool felt from The Altered Element. For the feathers, wings and beak, I used some lovely wool felt I had in stash from Blooming Felt. For the weighting, the pattern suggested rice or sand. I prefer to use plastic pellets (in case it gets wet!). These can be hard to get in the UK - I got my last lot from Panduro Hobby.

What I liked best about the pattern is that the designer, Sarah Brangwyn, got you to add the face and feathers before you sewed it together rather than after. Almost all patterns try to make you do it the other way round, which is soooo hard.

I was really pleased with the result. By my standards, it's a fairly faithful rendition of what I saw in the mag and was both pleasing and straightforward to make. I actually decided it was a bit too nice (and light-coloured) to keep on the floor, so it's currently residing on the fireplace.

Melx

Cover Button Rings

Making Things Simple the US Way

For my inaugral project on my blog, I thought I'd start with simple cover button rings.

I discovered US-style cover buttons about two years ago and have never looked back. Even now, you see articles in UK magazines recommending using those terrible plastic cover buttons that involve sewing and gathering fabric. No, no, no, no, no!

What you need is the US metal cover buttons that come with a handy tool that makes it super simple to get excellent results. Mine came from coverbuttons.com. This is a really simple site that offers international delivery on lots of sizes of cover button and the all-important tool. Once you have your button and your tool, simply put your fabric (a square a little bigger than the tool itself) face down into the rubbery part of the tool. Insert your metal button cover face down and then stuff all your fabric inside (this may require a little trimming but there's plenty of room inside the larger buttons). Use the hard plastic blue cap to push down on the back of the button and you've done it!

On Etsy and Folksy you will see lots of cover button jewellery using Kawaii Japanese prints, which are great if you're talented at getting the right bit of the design in the middle of the button. For a first attempt, it's much easier to choose a tiny continuous pattern that doesn't require such precision.

You can make all kinds of jewellery and accessories with cover buttons (even actual buttons!) by simply gluing on the appropriate findings. To make the rings, I removed the shank from the cover button with pliers and then glued a ring blank on with E6000 glue (a hot glue gun also works well but can be a bit messy).

On the subject of ring blanks, I have what are technically known as "sausage fingers". My right hand ring finger is a size R-S and the weedy ring blanks you most commonly see are simply too small. So, I was pleased to pick up these more substantial ones for 40p each at http://www.the-beadshop.co.uk/.

Here are my finished rings. A really quick make to do as little gifts for family and friends or as a well-deserved treat for yourself.

Melx

Welcome to Crafting With Mel

Hi and a warm welcome to my brand new blog, Crafting With Mel. This blog is intended for anyone who, like me, loves the handicrafts but is sometimes confused about how to get those perfect results.

This blog will feature kit reviews, my take on projects from some of the leading craft magazines and some (simple) projects of my own. It will focus on sewing, jewellery making, papercraft and my (feeble) attempts to break into other crafts like crochet and knitting. The blog will include my pet peeves about learning how to craft and some of my own workarounds to gain maximum results with minimum effort.

Impatient? Slightly cack-handed? Challenged by spacial awareness?

This blog is for you

Mel x