A busy making time

I have been so slack about blogging, but like many others I've been busy making things.  I blame the New Year and resolutions involving using up my stash and increasing my sewn wardrobe. I have even joined a Facebook stashbusting group to keep track of how much fabric I use during the year. (So far: sewn 9 metres and bought 2.5 metres)

This post is really going to be a round up of selected makes from the last few months

A baby sunhat in cute spotted cotton

 This adorable sunhat was a gift for a friend with a young baby. I'd forgotten (even in the scant few years since my boy was that small) just how little fabric you need for baby items. The hat was made entirely from a single fat quarter. And that is with a fully lined crowned.

Zinnia hat, from a 1962 Australian Women's Weekly pattern

I've been crocheting some 1960s hats from patterns from the Australian Women's Weekly. Above is a 'zinnia hat' - the original was yellow with red flowers and I've made it in a slightly more subdued fawn and burgundy colour scheme. Below is the charmingly quirky 'field flower hat' which I've made in very close to the colours suggested in the original. I may redo the pompoms on this one, as I think I'd like them to be fuller. Both of these hats will be listed in my etsy shop soon. 

Field flower hat

Close up of the field flower hat 

 Several years ago, I treated myself to a 'I've finally finished the PhD present' and went to a ten day embroidery convention run by Koala Conventions. One of the two-day courses I did was on Mountmellick work and I did a beautiful design. Well I have finally made it up into the bolster cushion it was designed to be!

The finished Mountmellick bolster. 

I also, as part of both stashbusting and increasing my 'me made' wardrobe, made a kimono style dressing gown, decorated with lace I got for a ridiculously low sum at a garage sale. The pattern isn't a true kimono, although the sleeves are very close, and it is from a BurdaStyle magazine Plus Size special (E030, for anyone who might want to look, although I've checked and this isn't available online). It really needs an iron, but what doesn't?

Dressing gown. 

Close up of sleeve under construction - and the amazing lace!

 A lot of my crafting and blogging time has been curtailed by actual paid work now that my son is at preschool two days a week. Still, actual paid work has funded the purchase of some clothing patterns that I really, really wanted, so I hope to be blogging about those makes soon.  I'm also having some bad days on my medications, which eats into the time I have too.

The perils of finishing

#Finish It Friday has got me pondering why I'm so bad at finishing projects.

One of the problems I've found over the past few years with embroidery is that all the fun parts are at the start. I have a great time stitching, but then I'm left with a cool embroidery on a piece of fabric which I still need to turn into something. And planning and executing that is less engaging... so into the pine chest it goes.

Lately I've tried to complete some of those packed away projects to give as gifts or to use.  But they aren't always solutions I can keep using. I thought I'd go through some of the good and bad bits of these finishing techniques.

Frames
Always a traditional choice, I framed a tree and butterfly piece for a gift exchange.

This was a free kit with a cross-stitch magazine, and I feel that painting the frame to match makes it look nicer. Although clearly I needed to iron it more.

Pros:

• Huge variety of frames available, and can always paint cheap wooden ones to match anything.
• Only requires a small amount of extra work (lacing, etc) unless as mentioned also changing frame.

Cons:

• Traditional.
• Recipient has to find place to display frame.
• Not very useful apart from the aesthetic lift.

Boxes
I used a piece of stumpwork I completed at a Koala Conventions class in the lid of a wooden box to make a special present for my grandmother last Christmas.

As you can see, I also need to start photographing finished gifts before I give them. This photograph was taken on the day by my brother-in-law and I had to request a copy.

Pros:

• Looks beautiful and professional
• Only requires a small amount of extra work (lacing, etc).
• A potentially useful storage box.

Cons:

• To get a box worthy of the embroidery requires online ordering for many of us and it isn't cheap.
• Can really only be used once per recipient.

Christmas tree ornaments
Over the years I've turned many small bits of cross-stitch into ornaments for people. Naturally I don't have any photographs. That would be too easy.

Pros:

• You can repeat this for the same recipient in different years - no one can have too many ornaments.
• The finished work will be on display.

Cons:

• Only works for items that can be slanted as seasonal, holiday, etc and that are relatively small. 
• Can be lots of extra work to finish. 

I've also made embroidered pieces into bags, tissue holders, and potpourri sachets. They all have the "can be lots of extra work to finish" disadvantage. Any other ideas?
How many unfinished items do you have hidden away?

Embroidery class - year 2 - fine needlework - Madeira work

A while ago I blogged about the smocking component of the fine needlework module of the Embroiderers' Guild course, saying that I didn't want to write about the Madeira work until I'd finished the assigned piece.

Isn't #FinishItFriday useful? Not sure how many more years I'd have left it to languish otherwise. Oops.

The finally finished hand towel.

This project involved doing a gorgeous pin tuck hem on the two long sides and a coloured overlay with pin tuck detail on one short side

Close up of the pin tuck hems

a pigeonhole scallop on the other short side

The scallops were extremely hard to keep even.

and a shadow work design in the centre.

Close up of the shadow work design.

The design is worked in herringbone stitch so the dense stitches on the reverse create a "shadow" on the right side. There are also three small eyelets.  

I'm glad to finally have this finished and be able to show it off. This is the last of the embroidery course posts I'll be making, as I never collected my canvaswork assignments and I didn't do the goldwork module before I dropped out due to pregnancy exhaustion. I have looked into going back to complete the course but they've changed the schedule so the two modules I didn't complete are now in two different years. Still, I really want to find a way to finish, so maybe in a year or so when N. is older. 

My first "pretty"

I planned to use cloth nappies on N. before he was born. Going to various pregnancy expos, we found a prefolds plus covers system that we liked and invested in that. It wasn't until N was about six months old that I joined a cloth nappy community on Facebook.

That one quickly led me to a Buy/Swap/Sell group. Then some more. And so began my obsession with pretties. A "pretty" is a nappy with embroidery, custom tie dye, ruffles, or any other embellishments rather than a "workhorse" nappy which refers to a more plain everyday nappy (although with the amazing minky fabrics out there, they can still look pretty but not be a "pretty").

I bought one pretty for N that I couldn't resist - there's a hippopotamus on my roof eating cake - as I adored that book!

It isn't easy to photograph N from behind; he recognises the camera sound. 

It it hard to resist really cute or apt pretties. I'm currently resolutely NOT buying this awesome Lego Superman pretty. Or this Marvin the Martian kaboom! nappy.

I quickly decided that I was going to have to try making my own. In fact, I decided I'd make a pretty cover for my fitteds and prefolds. It has turned into quite an investment. The search for a pattern. Deciding to buy a snap press. Buying an embroidered nappy cut of minky, and some PUL (the waterproof layer). But here it is! One of my Finish It Friday projects from last week (two hours of time ALONE in the house was amazingly productive. Who would have thought.)

Back view, with spider embroidery. 

The front view. You can see the inside layer of darker PUL.

Closer view of the snaps. I'm enjoying the snap press.

I ended up buying the MBJM Sunbeam nappy pattern, as I've bought and liked other patterns from her. It is however a trim nappy pattern, and so unfortunately while the nappy fits N well, it didn't work over the fitteds. I'm planning on making an insert for this to use it as a nappy, and investigate some other options for cover patterns. One option is to make the crotch on this pattern wider, another is to look for a pattern specifically designed to be a cover.  

Assuming I get some more sewing machine time, I'm going to make others. As I won't be investing in a machine embroidery machine, I'll either buy some nappy cuts pre-embroidered or experiment with hand embroidery. I'm worried hand embroidery won't stand up to the rigours of washing that the nappies need though.

What do you think would look cute on a nappy? Spoonflower now prints on minky, so it opens up some options...

Busy, busy

This week's finishes.

Madeira work hand towel from second year embroidery class: finished.

First attempt at a "pretty" nappy cover: finished.

Free reindeer ornament kit: finished.

Too small blue hat I abandoned to make a fitting one: finished.

Calico mockup of shorts to test bigger size: finally finished. And tested.

Not a bad week, really. More detail on the towel and nappy cover to come.

A Creative Slump

I haven't posted in ages. Part of it is the time demands of N, who is now truly a toddler and needs lots of active engagement. But mostly I've been silent because I've been in a creative slump.

Oh, I've still been crafting. Sporadically. But I haven't felt inspired. I've been collecting patterns and stash and reading and reorganizing and planning but not doing much.

I've finally figured out that it is due to feeling insecure, not in a "are my skills ok?" way but a more basic lack of personal and financial security. I'm having anxiety issues over how much money we are spending on the renovation, and whether it will give us the house we want, and other things. Apparently I can't be creative unless I have a level of stress that is lower than mine has been for a while.

This is one of my personal idiosyncrasies, obviously, as otherwise the suffering artist wouldn't be such a strong trope! I deal with the stress by looking over past achievements, wallowing in patterns and plans, and hoarding my stash. I don't create.

In the last month I've been trying to counter this by making myself complete small projects. I'm embracing the ideas of WIP Wednesday and Finish It Friday, the first priorities for these being the unfinished embroidery class projects from 2013. I'm also trying to get small task done everyday - last night, for example, I finally put some elastic in the waist of some pants that have been waiting for months.

I also have a deadline to give me some momentum - I said I'd have a crafty stall at a fete in February which a friend is organizing.

Being a crafty person is a huge part of my identity and I think I've been sad and mad at myself in this slump. Working to get back in the swing of things will be difficult and I'm sure I'll have days when I don't get the time or don't have the motivation.  So please, ask me how things are going! Keep me accountable!