Current Project

So on Monday I purchased some gorgeous floral cotton lawn I had spotted in passing, both in lovely pinks and purples with the immediate intention to make some spring dolls in floaty jumpsuits. 
I took the pattern from Tilda's Spring Ideas, which I have already used to make two denim jackets and a Sewingbird dress which feels very Marilyn Monroe. You can see a lady in jacket and jumpsuit on the cover:

Here are my ladies, just now ready to dress:

You may be beginning to notice how often I am sat up late in bed hand sewing something. Hence the poorly lit photos of my work on my pillows. My apologies but I never do seem to find the time to photograph anything during daylight, I shall ensure to do so tomorrow when I have almost finished my ladies!
I'm still debating whether to give either a jacket - or in the case of the one on the right, a gilet! - but both have thin belts from lovely faux cross stitch patterned ribbons, with a teensy diamonte buckle for each. 

Regardless I am in love with the fabric. The darker one immediately reminded me of the iconic Marimekko Unikko poppy flower design. And the colours truly sing next to the denim blue poly-cotton!
The lighter one has the feel of ultimate granny chic in the soft floral design. I've never really gone in for that before, usually it's my mum cooing over some vintage table cloth but this is just so delicate and feminine I had to have it. 

Both were quite wide and I bought a fair bit, mostly just in the madness of greed but who knows what future project they will give life to. 

Some Adjustments

Well for some reason tonight I decided to improve one of my Tilda dolls. I have made 5 now and three are of the same design from Tilda's Studio book. They each have a varied off the shoulder top and three-tiered skirt mostly in Tilda fabrics. My stash of those hasn't grown much in recent months but I do love considering what they'd be good for!

Anyway, this particular young lady had, like the others, hair made from hand dyed sheep's wool. I happened upon this some time ago through a German stockist on eBay. It's most satisfying for mermaid's hair and you can get hundreds of shades. 

Her hair was a bright yellow and not beautifully done I admit. Whilst my mum was keen to keep the other girls on display downstairs, she was less keen on this one and most likely because the hair just didn't work. 

So having found some dark beige cord - another favourite of mine for doll hair- I set about changing her hair from a frizzy mess to a sleek shiny waterfall. It only took me ten minutes or so and it's definitely an improvement. 

Here is the result:

And a close up:

I do apologise for the poor lighting and choice of location (my bed) but you have to make the best of it at this late hour! 

I will dedicate a whole post to my ladies soon so stay tuned for a better photo. 

Tilda's Fairytale Wonderland

Today I was looking forward to coming home because Amazon was delivering a new Tilda book over a month early!

For those who don't know, Tilda is a company run by Norwegian artist extraordinaire Tone Finnanger. She makes and designs beautiful home décor, toys and dolls and gifts. I have all of her books and have made at least 15 projects in the few years since I discovered this remarkable woman's work. You can buy her fabrics, paper crafts, kits and accessories in many shops internationally. 

Tilda's Fairytale Wonderland on Amazon UK

So before Christmas I discovered she had a new book out, already available in Norwegian from Panduro Hobby - the main website where you can find all her products. It featured items inspired by Swan Lake and the Princess and the Pea. You can only imagine my excitement. 
This week I received and email to tell me the book was being released now instead of the end of March and here I am with my greedy paws clamped tightly around this beautiful new book.

Just a couple of projects I am dying to attempt include the plumptious toadstool mushrooms, the ballerina's leg stocking, the princess and the pea wall hanging and the nutcracker soldier. 

I will post some photos of the book tomorrow when I have assistance from some natural light and possibly a mushroom by the end of the weekend!

Moominlock!

So today I finally received my new custom tee shirt all the way from the States, and though it has nothing to do with sewing it manages to amalgamate two of my favourite things: BBC's Sherlock series and Moomins!

Behold Snuflock and Moomin Watson :D

I cannot wait to wear this out, it's so me!

Anyway, to get back to what this blog is supposed to be about, here is a helpful guide to making your own bias binding. 

ProfessorPinCushion's homemade bias tape

I made some previously for my unfinished jigsaw quilt and it's surprisingly easy. However I haven't attempted to make my binding cut on the bias just yet, but I am eager to do so for my as yet to be started quilt. 

This one will be entirely -(well almost!) - in pale blues and Scandinavian style prints. I have been collecting fabrics, particularly from the Les Amis range by Patty Solinger for Michael Miller. I am a total sucker for anything with owls, foxes and woodland creatures. This will be my only major stray from the colour palette in the quilt, as I love the peachy orange as well as the grey/blue she has used for the range. I'm also using a selection of cute Viking print fabrics, also Michael Miller, because they're just so darn irresistible! 

I will post some pictures soon so you get an idea for the final look. I'm really excited to get started but there's just so many projects on going at the moment, and no time! Hopefully I can finish quilting and bind my jigsaw quilt this week, I can't wait to show off the finished result!

Dresden Plate

Well what a way to start my new blog than by showing off my first attempt at a Dresden Plate. I happened to be perusing the Missouri Star Quilt Company's YouTube page, as recommended to me, and discovered this delightfully simple design. 
Now, with limited time on my hands before I headed to Brownies and determined to do something pleasurable on my day off - i.e. sew something, I printed a template and got stuck in. 

I had a Bungle Jungle charm pack by Moda waiting to be made into something awesome and it was perfect to have ten fabrics to hand for the 20 piece plate. 
Since I am ill equipped in terms of quilting tools, I made do with scissors. Eventually I will purchase a rotary cutter and mat. It does seem ridiculous though that I work in a fabric shop and still have not purchased this very useful piece of kit. I digress.
If I had thought ahead I would have photographed the process. But basically all you need to do is cut 20 wedge shaped pieces of fabric, accomplished with either a plastic template or hastily drawn cardboard one. Mine had roughly a 1 ½” end and a 2 ½” end with about 4" distance. 

You sew the larger end together having folded it in half with right sides together, then turn it out and press. Then all that's left to do is repeat with all 20, stitch them together into a circle and press all the seams open. Once that's done you need to find a circular object, like a tea caddy lid, and make up a template for the centre. 
I'm going to stop there since my explanation already sounds pretty crappy - apologies! and instead I will post the link to the very helpful video. The nice American lady does a grand job of explaining, although she says 'this looks cool' too much in my humble British opinion. 

Dresden Plate Made Easy!

Check out the rest of their channel for lots more brilliant quilting ideas.