#our52weekproject - week 17

#52weeksof stitchingthecircle

As my next few weeks of samples will be about fabric manipulation, I too this book of the shelves so I can delve into it's world of fabric manipulating. This week I'm looking at pleating. I've created four different samples, though I've only used stitch to form the pleats, rather than ironing them, so they're soft rather than crisp.

This first one is of folds attached down in the centre with back stitch.

This sample is folded in the same way as the last one but the ends of the edges of each pleat is attached down in in the opposite direction to the other giving the pleat a twist.

This one has been made from a strip of fabric with running stitch down the centre that I used to pull the fabric into pleats. I then twisted the strip as I attached it to the fabric.

This sample has the running stitch along the bottom of the strip of the fabric and pulled up tightly.

Next week I'll be doing more of the pleating, but with the use of an iron.

I'll be back on Tuesday. 

TTFN
Louise

The house in the pretty garden

This is another piece from my wip* pile that's now finished. I used a piece of vintage linen as a base for this work and used pieces of vintage fabric and lace for the house. I used various embroidery stitches for the house detail and the flowers and shrubs, mainly back stitch and my favourite french knots.

I've backed the work with a piece of a glazed linen tablecloth, that has a blue embroidery transfer printed onto it. I picked the tablecloth up, along with four or five identical tablecloths that has the transfer printed onto all of them, ready for the embroidery. I've used some of the linen in previous projects, just as fabric and adding stitch to the transfer. I've added a piece of green stain ribbon so that the picture can be hung up.

This piece of textile art is now available in my Etsy store.

I'll be back on Sunday with this week's #our52weekproject post.

TTFN
Louise

*wip - work in progress.

A birthday card

May is the start of our family's birthday season and this is the first one. I used a double-sided 250gsm paper and decorated it with some rose die-cuts, a couple of wooden flowers and some glitterywashi tape.

I'll be back on Friday.

TTFN
Louise

#our52weekproject - week 16

 #52weeksofstitchingthecircle

For my next few circles, I'm going to do some fabric manipulation samples. 

For this first one, I cut a piece of white cotton into a rough square. Next I created little fold and pleats and secured each one down with a stab stitch. Once I was satisfied with the way it looked, I attached it to a circle drawn onto a piece of linen with irregular cross-stitch.
 
I then embellished the manipulated cloth with french knots and buttonhole stitched threads to create little bridges across the fabric. I love the slightly hidden places that the folds create and I'm wonder how bigger folds, with a larger hidden areas would look and whether I could 'hide' something in there. I'll explore that in me next #our52weekproject post.

Please don't forget that you can still get 10% off everything in my Etsy store till the end of tomorrow, Tuesday 25th April. Just use the code SPRING2017 at the checkout when prompted.

I'll be back on Wednesday.

TTFN
Louise

Nearly finished!

This little collage will be finished by the end of today. There's just a few bits (the items pinned and the button) that need stitching to the piece. I'll then mount it onto mountboard ready for it to be added to my Etsy store.

In celebration of that, plus it's such a lovely sunny day I'm offering 10% off everything in my Etsy store from now until the end of next Tuesday. Just add the code SPRING2017 when prompted.

I'll be back on Sunday with this week's #our52weekproject post.

TTFN
Louise

Covered button tutorial

First of all, apologies for being late with today's post.

Here's how I do my covered buttons.

You can use any old button, such as those on the left in the photo above, though it can be a very fiddly with a very small one.

When you've chosen your button and fabric, you'll need to cut out to rough circles of fabric - one about double the diameter of  your button and another circle just a bit bigger than the button. You'll also need a couple of circles of batting the same size as the button.

With your larger circle, create a small hem by just folding the edge over to the inside using running stitch - you'll need to leave a tail at the start as you'll use this to help gather your circle up around the button.

Once you've stitched all the way around gather it up a little and place the button inside with the two pieces of batting underneath the button. Pull the gathers up tight with the two ends of your thread and tie a not to keep it closed. 

This is the stage when you can add decoration, like the beads that I've used above or stitch (I've done chain stitch and buttonhole stitch) and woven threads. Use the underneath of your brooch for your thread ends etc.   

Once you've finished decorating your button attach the smaller circle of fabric to the back of the button by folding over small hem and slip stitching in place.

These buttons are really for ornamental purposes, but you may get away with using a plain one on a garment, otherwise I'd use a self-cover button rather than this method. Attach the button by stitching the button down through the back of the button.

I hope your week is going well and I'll be back on Saturday.

TTFN
Louise