A fabric notebook cover

This is my current notebook. I use it for keeping track of swap information, to do lists and noting websites, shops, items etc basically anything I need to make a note of!

I'd been taking this to court everyday when I was on jury service and all that carrying about started to make it a scrappy so I decided it needed a cover. It's made from a patchwork of, mainly, fabrics featuring roses/flowers. I've lined the cover with fabric from a vintage pillowcase. I also added a vintage image  that was printed onto fabric and a notes label, with the words printed using various stamps and inks.

The cover is fairly loose on this notebook, but as I want to use it on future notebooks, I allowed enough space for a slightly larger and/or thicker book.

TTFN
Louise

Swathed in Stitch 10 - design sheets 8 and 9

This is design sheet 8, I haven't used letters on this one, instead I've added a couple of new shapes, circles, flower stems, and long ovals, filled with spots. I like this design, and I want to use it to create further designs that I can draw onto fabric.

This is design sheet 9. I'm not so keen on this one, I don't think that the circles fit in with the elongated ovals. I won't be chucking it away though as it's a reminder that I don't think those to elements go together and  there are small sections of it that I could reuse in the future.

Karen Ruane's next class is a ledger class (it's called 'Reinventing the page') so I imagine that designs from both of these sheets may appear in the work I create from this class.

TTFN
Louise

Swathed in Stitch 9 - making lace with net

In my 'making lace with cotton scrim' post I told you that the looseness of the scrim meant that I had to add a lot of machine embroidering to give a surface that could be worked upon, using net is completely different. Even though the net is very fine (it's the thickness of a net you'd use for a wedding veil, as opposed to a thicker net that you'd use for a net underskirt), the net itself, is already a workable surface I could get away with using one layer of circular motion machine embroidery, giving the surface a lighter, delicate feel.

I'm using cotton perle 12 to do the embroidery on this piece, a thinker thread would add too much bulk. I'm starting with adding buttonhole lace around the holes. I'll then be adding french and bullion knots, before adding some tiny beads. This piece of lace will be mounted on silk and probably converted into a pillow top. As I am using fine thread, it'll probably take some time before this piece is finished, especially with the other things I'm working on too! But I'm not on a deadline so there's no hurry to complete it.

TTFN
Louise

Swathed in Stitch 8 - Design sheet 3

This design sheet, which I showed you in February (you can find that post here), has now been filled in with dashed lines. I love the way that the lines, as they go around each letter, create different curved shapes. If you stare at them too long they look like they're moving! I may use tracing paper to use these to create new designs sheets.

My jury service has now finished (it lasted for 10 weeks and two days), so the frequency of blog posts will increase as I get back to my normal routine. One benefit of the jury service, especially in the last week, is that I've had the opportunity to create more design sheets. I'll be sharing these with you soon.

TTFN
Louise

Swathed in Stitch 7 - making lace fabric with cotton scrim.

This small piece of cloth has been made from a very loose cotton scrim, so in order for there to be any kind of surface to embroider on I had to do a lot of stitching on the sewing machine. It does create a lovely holey piece of fabric. When I've finished the embroidery on this, and bound the edges, I'll mount it onto some fabric and use it to make a pillow.

I'm going to use a fine net to create my next piece of lace fabric. I'll let you know how that turns out.

TTFN
Louise

Swathed in stitch 6 - a pocket

Karen Ruane has been making a few pockets lately, and a week last Monday I had a surprise afternoon off from jury service, which coincided with a sudden desire to make a pocket for myself.

I've pieced this one together from a piece cut off from a large damask napkin, which I have used for the background. I then added the checked fabric (cut from an old shirt of my husband's - I did have permission to use it!), lace, a corner from another napkin and some blue-flowered fabric. I've used a mixture of french knots, stab stitches, pekinese stitch and buttonhole lace. There's just a bit more to do to this and then it'll be damp-stretched.

TTFN
Louise