More Christmas Stuff

I'm determined to get all my Christmas stuff sorted by the end of January as I've been a very bad blogger this year so far. I'm trying to get the photos sorted for the BIG PRESENTS I made such a deal about in December - they'll come soon.

But for a bit of a giggle, here's the fancy dress costume I made for our Scout Christmas party. We usually get a lot of Santas and another leader is always Santa so I wanted to go for something different.

This took me just an hour or so to make:

It's made from a cardboard box. I opened out the top and cut a hole in the bottom. I used the cut out parts to hold the flaps out at 90 degrees to the box (so that it's open like this:)

I used a grey packing bag wrapped around and pleated to take the shape of the box to make the 'foil case' and stuck brown packing paper all around the outside edge. I used duck tape to make a channel at the top with some scrap fabric in as a draw string.

Finally I made straps out of more scrap fabric (I've found a use for all those bits left over when you use the overlocker!), jumped into it and voila - I was a mince pie!!!

Christmas gifts - cushions

Most of November & December were spent making Christmas gifts, and now that they’ve all gone to new homes I can write about them on here.

Firstly, my mum gave me the remnant of the fabric used to cover some of her chairs and asked me to make her some cushions with it. The fabric’s a large weave in blue and beige (way prettier than that sounds). I decided that the best style to suit my mum’s tastes in decorating was understated and stylish. I decided to create two 40cm square cushions with blue piping round the edge and fairly discrete zippers.

I’ve not made a cushion cover since school – one of the first things we made in textiles – so my first port of call was the Reader’s Digest sewing guide. It confirmed the approach I was considering and showed me the best way to make and insert piping (which amazingly I’ve never tried before).

I took a little sample of fabric to my local fabric shop but couldn’t find the right colour bias binding to make the piping. I could have bought some fabric and made my own, but when you see how much I made for Christmas you’ll understand that I had to cut some corners. I was looking around the shop when I found pre-made piping!!! I didn’t even know that existed! The colour was almost perfect and it was only 55p a metre!!! I bought zips in the beige rather than the blue as that helped them blend into the background.

My cushions were from Dunelm Mill – 38cm square. The Readers Digest book suggested cutting that size plus seam allowance, but that made me nervous – I didn’t have spare fabric so couldn’t cut too small. I decided to add 4cm for seam allowances and do a 1cm seam. I’ll say straight out that this worked perfectly for me.

So, I cut 4 42cm squares. Due to the weave (and wanting things to be perfect for my mum) I cleaned up two edges, cutting along the weave of the fabric first. Then I measured along and cut the squares using the weave again. I then manipulated the fabric (iron and steam) into a square. I did this as the fabric had been sitting around for a while and had got a bit wibbly.

I used the large weave to line up the piping around the edge of two of the squares and stitched it on. Then I set the zip onto one edge of each square, making two long pieces each with a zip in the middle and one end with piping on. I wanted the zip to form part of the back of the cover rather than sticking out so I folded them along the piping line and pinned them together (inside out). I stitched the three remaining sides including stitching over the zips and trimmed the excess. Obviously I left the zips open, ironed the seams, turned them the right way around and popped the cushions in.

Here they are. I’m rather proud of them...

Happy Christmas - some hatty gifts from my generous family

I was as excited as a little girl on Christmas morning. My husband and I were hosting and cooking delicious venison lunch for both sets of parents as well as his brother and his brother's girlfriend.

But more than that, there were some gifts to give and my new hat blocks wrapped up under the tree waiting for me to see them for the first time. I'll get onto the gifts for giving in another post.

I've shown you the two I bought myself in this post.

Firstly the dome block: apologies for the shocking photos - must have been after lunch when I was full of wine and food!

Next, we have the exciting one - the mini beret - and it's even more beautiful than I imagined (even if I can't get a decent photo of it)

I can't show it on Ermintrude properly as the block is solid - I'd have to remove part of her head!!! But you'll see once I've finished using this block just how it sits on the head

Finally I received a tremendous surprise from my parents. My Dad had picked up the blocks for me as he was working in Luton one day. Apparently he was chatting to the guys at Boon & Lane and asked them what I'd really really want. They were making something and said it would be perfect. I unwrapped a rectangular box that was heavier at one end, looked inside the box and squealed 'oh my god it's an egg iron!' I was shocked and overjoyed. There's nothing like a magical surprise on Christmas Day.

So here it is, my very own egg iron. Expect many exciting projects to follow

My new blocks have been picked up today. I can’t wait to see them. I’ve ordered four from Boon and Lane in Luton. Rich and I had such an adventure when we went to order them – I’ve just checked back and I never told you about it!

I phoned the lovely guys at Boon & Lane on the Friday to ask about the process for ordering blocks. They suggested that seeing as we’re so local we popped down to see us and that they tend to open about 7:30 so we could go before work. We got on the train to Luton at about 6am on Monday morning. It had been snowing (the first time) and the sun wasn’t even thinking about coming up yet. The factory is on a little industrial estate near the station. We entered around the side and as soon as we walked through the door were welcomed by the sweet smell of sawdust.

I’ve never been anywhere like it and found it incredibly exciting. There were blocks EVERYWHERE, every available space was in use. We were shown around and then went up to what I guess you could call their sales room, shelves and shelves of samples. No wonder they don’t have photos of stuff up on their website – there’s just so much!

I was after some fairly basic stuff to give me the basis for making more commercial hats – a simple crown, a large brim, a dome (to take the fascinator/headpiece stuff to the next level) and something a little special for my Christmas present from Rich. The first three were easy, but picking something out from amongst the rest was nearly impossible – there was just too much choice! These things have to be seen to be believed – they’re all works of art in their own right. I eventually (with help from my wonderful husband) settled on a mini beret. I requested a few minor alterations (this bit taller, this bit smaller, etc) to make it 100% my own and then left that amazing place and ran off to work.

A few weeks later (they had said at the time they were very busy and might not be able to complete the order before Christmas) I got a phone call to confirm the order and to take payment and today my wonderful Dad has gone to pick them up (he is in Luton anyway so I don’t feel so bad, but thanks Dad, it’s really really appreciated). I can’t wait to see them (some of them, I guess I’ll have to wait until Christmas day for the others) – I’ve got so many ideas ready for them, including a black and white version of my yin and yang hat and a mini beret in teal inspired by the Gina Foster hat I fell in love with almost a year ago. I have the three working days off between Christmas and New Year and intend to spend most of that time blocking, stitching and enjoying my new babies.

Lots of secrets - just a quick peek

I’ve got a little further with the home-made hat block, but I’ll do a full update on that when it's actually started to look different. The last two weeks have been chocker block full of gift making and Christmas parties.

I’m really pleased with the Christmas cards Rich & I made together. We’ve embossed a star on the front and written Christmas wishes around it with felt pen. Not the most exciting cards I’ve ever made, but at least this time we made them all in an afternoon rather than making half a dozen, getting fed up and going to Woolworths (actually, what WOULD we do this year now Woolies is no more???)




But I’m afraid the rest of what I’ve been doing is a secret. All I can say is there’s a few people out there who are going to be very happy on Christmas day (I hope).

And on the hat front, I finally got an all-over sparkly sequined beret. We are joined at the hairline. I’ve wanted one of these for so long...and it goes so well with my coat...

Merry Christmas! & a Christmas Day Project

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and feels as relaxed and contented as I do.

I had a wonderful day and got loads of hat books. The best one was Fashion Hats - Design & Make by Karen Henriksen - lots of fantastic ideas, tips and techniques and all really nicely laid out. Good for someone my level who knows the background and has confidence making the hats, but hasn't done much trimming yet.

Like any child on Christmas day, I put all my lovely presents aside and played with something else - some sinamay and feathers for a hat for my mum for a wedding in January. I blocked it on Christmas eve and got the piece wired yesterday. I was playing around with sinamay and made a fairly classic looking fascinator, which I attached to a comb. It was fiddly, but went together in just a few hours.

First I made a bias strip about the width of a DVD (what can I say, I used what I had to hand) and as long as the fabric could handle. Then I used and iron to stretch it and while it was warm I formed it into soft curls. I worked the curls into a ball shape and stitched it in position. I took several of the long feathers and laid them out in a circle. I used a piece of cotton to wrap around them where they met to make a fan shape out of them and then stitched this to the back of the sinamay ball. I then stitched the black feathers into the middle individually. Finally I attached the whole thing to a hair clip and popped it on my mum. I'm rather pleased with how it turned out.