United we stand

I couldn't resist this this lamp that I found at an auction recently. It has a beautiful wooden base and amazingly was in good working order. It had a rather shabby shade which I updated or in fact back dated with a vintage flag. I love the effect.

Simple and effective

Letters, letters everywhere. I know that the letter thing is a bit over done however I do love this take on the trend. It was so simple and took only a few hours and heaps of patience.

You will need:

A cutting knife and board
Stencil letters
A piece of cardboard
Scraps of paper
glue and scissors

Start by tracing around your alphabet with a pencil and then cut out the letters using the cutting knife. Do this really slowly taking breaks as nessecary as one slip will result in potentially ruining the whole thing

Once that is complete cut scraps of fabric to size and glue to the back of the cardboard. I used an acid free glue that dries clear and doesn't yellow.

Once you have completed this stage allow the glue to dry and frame in a frame of your choice.

Heart of the matter

We made these fabulous mobiles last week after school. They were so simple and effective. All you need to do is trace four large heart shapes onto different coloured cardboard and inside the large heart trace a smaller heart and cut them out. Then mix up the colours and with sticky tape attach some thread to the hearts and tie them onto the coat hanger. You could also use a stick or a piece of thin wood in place of the coat hanger. Enjoy making your heart mobile.

One Sunday Autumn Winter range now selling!
Off to beautiful Brisbane next week to see clients - very exciting!

xx

Young at art

Today we made this artwork for Eliza's room. I say 'we' but really she did the whole thing herself part from the mounting and framing. This is how we did it...

Cut out the shape you want to use, you can do this by hand or use ones of these nifty cutters, available from art shop.


Paint the cut outs with different coloured paints


Using a clear drying glue, sprinkle with beads, glitter and little buttons and anything else that takes your fancy. leave to dry then shake off excess.


Cut out some cardboard for mounting, I used the inside of an old sticker book.


Then arrange your cut outs onto the cardboard and stick down, double sided tape works well and is easier to use than glue. It is such a simple project for kids to do and provided you don't use too much paint and glue it is achievable in an afternoon! Enjoy making your creations, trains would be gorgeous!

Inspiration

I love this image the colour and pattern is just divine. I am not entirely sure where I got this image from, sorry to anyone who owns it. It is a section of fabric that has been printed, I would love to embroider this pattern onto something... I will keep you posted.

Scraptastic

I made this cushion from a collection of fabric samples that I received from a fabric wholesaler. At the end of every season I have a bit of a clean out and I just couldn't bring myself to throw these out. They had been conveniently already cut with pinking shears which made it really easy to roughly sew them together with running stitch. The colours are fabulous and have given our red sofa real lift.

The week that was...

OK so maybe my promise of photos in a week didn't quite happen but better late than never!

My little big girl was patient and 'modelled' the clothes for me. She didn't take to modelling and pronounced that it was 'the most bring job in the world and why would anyone want to do this!'

Anyway hope you like what you see, we have had a great response and will be instore around July/August this year, only in Sydney at this stage.

Now the fun bit designing autumn/winter!

xx

The eve of One Sunday

I am so excited on Monday I pick my samples for my older children clothing range from the sewer. I am just hoping that my design morph into great wearables for kids. Will keep you post with images next week. xx

christmas is childs play

The girls and I made this fantastically easy wreath for the front door. We used some beautiful felted wool that I had left over from a project and ribbons from our ribbon collection.

It is so easy to assemble you just cut the felted wool into squares and thread it on to a piece of wire shaped into a circle. You could make the wreath any shape you like including a heart. Once you have threaded on all the squares, you loop together the wire and cover up the messy ends with ribbon. What could be more simple!

To felt your own wool, scour op shops for second hand, pure wool (ideally not fine knit) jumpers and put them on the hot cycle in your washing machine. Once wool is felted it can be cut to the shape you require and does not need to be hemmed as it will not fray.

midnight in the garden

Every year we go to a party at the art gallery. It is a fabulous event and lots of fun, last year's theme was 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" and I made this head-dress with a good (flowers, butterflies) side and an evil side, complete with cockroaches, spiders, flies and wintery findings. This year the theme is 'Where the Wild things roam' and I am brain storming for ideas, I will post the results in the next week or so!

Swift gifts

My Tuesday kids sewing group and I came up with this simple gift for Christmas. It takes only about 30 minutes to make and is ideal for little ones looking to make gifts for Christmas.

First, cut two strips of felt measuring 22.5 cms long and 11cms high and two circles with a radius of 7.5cms. We used a blue and purple piece of fabric.

Second, make a cylindrical shape out of the two strips and pin together, don't allow the fabric to overlap as you don't want it to be be bumpy. This shape will form the basis of the holder. We did a simple over stitch to secure it, which worked well. Trim any excess felt to ensure the two pieces are the same size.

Third, seal one end with blanket stitch. Pin the two pieces of felt together then attach the circles of felt to the other end also using a basic over stitch.

The project is suitable for children as young as six, as the stitches are very basic they will need help with pinning and trimming the felt.

You can add things to your holder like embriodery or buttons or felt applique, enjoy!

Human hair sampler

My husband celebrated his 40th birthday recently and I was keen to sew something for him but was at pains to find something that would really appeal. So many of the things I do are not always suitable for men. It also had to be unique and ideally not cost too much money. Many years ago we had seen a cross stitch at a museum in Witney, Oxfordshire done by a little girl at the Foundling Hospital in London using her own hair. She had sewn a 'sampler' into her underskirt the result was astounding. We were struck by the poignance of this beautiful piece of work. So I decided to undertake my own cross stitch using my hair for him.

After choosing a poem I started to chart out the script onto grid paper. I used a piece of linen with quite a small cube to work in the tiny stitches were very hard to execute and I almost went blind in the process, however it does look very effective. I used four strands of my hair, anything else appeared too washed out. I have to be honest with you this was a labour of love which I have worked on for the past eight months. Hair is quite tricky to work with as it can slip around a bit and the more tired you are (I only work at night) the harder it becomes!

The effect is amazing though, and needless to say he was suitably impressed. I hope you enjoy it too and anyone out there interested in trying it themselves please feel free to contact me for any words of wisdom and encouragement.

Fancy lamp

I made this fancy cover for an rather boring shade I have had for quite sometime. The base came from an auction and has made a great addition to my desk.

I used an off cut of cotton with metal thread through it which gives it the petticoat effect. The ribbon was one from my collection. I hemmed the fabric with the aid of my hot glue gun, then I pinned the fabric in place making a tuck every 5cms or so and then secured it with the ribbon. Once it was secured I removed the pins. And voila!

Early spring joy

Spring is just beginning in sunny Sydney and I thought you might enjoy this spring blossoms.

Thrift alive and well in the 30's

I saw this at a museum in Gulgong and loved the simplicity of this idea in a 1930's Australian country kitchen.

Lantern love

Having endured many cold winters in London, not always with the best of grace, I now long for the feeling of being truly cold and needing to 'rug up' accordingly. Tonight is cold and crisp in Sydney and the littlest one's pre-school held a lantern festival where stories were told and songs were sung and we went for a walk in the dark with home-made lanterns to light our way. It was magical! When we got home we had a picnic dinner in front of the fire with candles and our lanterns and sang songs (mostly show tunes!) and told stories (although ghost stories were strictly banned by the middle one). Children really are so wonderful at making you appreciate the little things, even my rather dismal story telling had them begging for more.

Life's a game

My girls love playing the Memory game, I think it might be becasue it is so easy to beat mummy! We found a version of Memory on the gorgeous inchmark website and we adapted it. I decided not to use fabric as I though it might get grotty and laminating it seemed a shame. Instead we dived into my Japanese papers collection and made these treasures. Needless to say so far I haven't managed to win a game.

Cosy eggs

The Tuesday sewing girls made these today, aren't they clever.

Felt is such a great fabric for children to use as it is so easy to sew and doesn't need edging! This project idea was taken from Cath Kidston's make! it took just over an hour for ten and eight year olds to complete.

Felt fancy

All little girls love something fancy. I made this for myself and before it was even finished it was 'bagsied' by the little one. It is hard to say no to such gorgeous eyes.

This necklace will be online soon.