A little bit of beading.....

I have had a particular project on the back burner for some time and was inspired this week to finish it!  The difficulty that had me procrastinating was the fact that I was beading blocked ballet points.  I had appliquéd some lace and beaded a small amount of this.  So far so good. But there I languished! I wanted the shoes to be " very beaded ", not just on the appliqué and this would involve a fair bit of effort.

So in the last couple of days I beaded away. I had to slide needles (yes plural as many broke!" ) between the satin and the block. And then .... Why not add some ribbon embroidery also! So I went to my stash (the one that is never ending - I'm sure most will relate to that) and found some beautiful silk ribbon in just the right colours - peach to pale pink with a touch of  dark pink.

These ballet slippers were purchased from Gumtree months ago with the idea of producing two little ballerina bear babies to sit in them. I had also purchased a Parisienne type case with flowers on the outside and a beautiful piece of lace depicting the Eiffel Tower all of which I had always intended to use in this project. The bears have been made for several months, but the poor things have been naked sitting in an empty case!

Of course,  one thing led to another and I have spent the afternoon with lace, trims, tulle, mod podge, hot glue, and Swarovski crystals until I have dressed bears, decorated case and beaded shoes.  I hope you like them!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Christmas wishes to my followers

Dear All,
Thank you for following my blog in it's infancy.

I hope that 2014 will see regular informative posts.  Have a wonderful Christmas and most importantly keep safe in this festive season.

Here are my tabletop Christmas trees this year. I love them !

Bears and trees and handmade decorations Christmas 2013

The difference mature age students make!

As a retired, very long ago, textiles teacher it is very exciting to be teaching ladies.  The one thing that never ceases to amaze is the creativeness that is exhibited.

I am renown for very detailed, step by step, notes on how to accomplish, with the greatest of ease, any project that is being taught.  I  want my ladies to be able to go home with the confidence that they will have the tools to finish the project. I think this is due to my secondary school teaching, all those years ago when one didn't have time, nor did the curriculum allow, the students to let their creative juices flow.  Teaching in those days was very teacher directed.

It was a beautiful surprise this week when my lovely student Carol tentatively said to me, " I added some pearls to the dress, is that ok?" She then showed me a photo of the beautiful work she had done.  We had been working on a silk print of Maureen Christie's, embellishing it with ribbon and stitchery, which had just about been completed in class with a few bits and pieces to complete at home.

I love that she used her initiative to put her own touch on the class project! Here is her piece for you all to enjoy!

Preparing for Christmas

It is a busy but lovely time of the year as the ideas I have had for the loved ones in my family come to fruition with lots of planning and sewing.  I loved making the Santa sack for my great nephew in the tradition of my mum who always made sure our Santa sacks, albeit pillowcases, where full no matter how strapped for cash she was. So here is Xavier's  sack ready for his first Christmas.
So easy to make.  Two Christmas panels of your choice. Right sides together and sewn on the long sides and bottom.  I also stitched across the bottom corners to make a "bottom" or if preferred you could make a padded circle for a base. Turned over at the top and stitched to make a casing. A drawstring inserted and your done.  I like to name each Santa sack I make so I embroidery by machine Xavier on a plainer piece of fabric using tear away stabiliser. Then I iron on Appi-Kay Wonder so as positioning on the bag is easy and then use a decorative stitch to attach the name.

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Simple Appliqué for Baby Gifts

One of our neighbours was blessed with the birth of their second daughter last week and although I had had about seven months to have a gift ready I didn't! I like to give new mums something to fit the new bub when he or she will be about 9-12mths old, l buy the long singlets that clip together at the crutch.  I like these as they don't ride up like normal singlets and if decorated nicely bubby can be stripped down to them if it the weather is hot.

In years past I have embroidered lots of bullion designs on these but have now taken to appliquéing animals, and for girls, flowers.
I use light weight double sided appliqué adhesive to achieve this. The kind that has the peel off paper! Draw or trace the design on the paper, iron to the wrong side of the fabric to be appliquéd, cut out around the design, peel the paper off and position on the garment and when satisfied, iron with a dry iron.  Hint: use baking paper on the ironing board and another sheet over the fabric and adhesive paper to prevent any accidental adhesive getting on either your ironing board or your iron.
All that is left to do is blanket stitch in two strands of embroidery thread around the design. I like to make the blanket stitch a feature so that it is not lost in the appliqué ......... So simple!

Maureen Christie's Bear Prints

A few years ago I purchased 3 of Maureen's beautiful prints to embellish with silk ribbon and  frame as presents for my grand-daughters.  This year I have been teaching one of these prints at Bear Essence in Tooradin. Here is the framed print borrowed from Meggie my grand-daughter.

and

The second one that I will be teaching in November/December at Bear Essence is nearly at completion. I have used Kacoonda ribbons and threads in this one as I wanted the subtlety of Patti's colour palette to enhance the delicate shades of the original print. Kacoonda ribbons are a delight to work with being a lovely light weight silk that resists fraying allowing you to work with about a 12" length. I also love that the colour way is consistent over the width range. 2, 4, 7, 13 & 32mm! AND the colours are mirrored in the thread range! So nearly finished ready for the framer.

The Joy of Finishing Projects

This is the first of my blogs!!!! Never thought that I would join the blogging world but here goes......

This week has been a productive one !  After being totally corrupted (lol) at Bear Essence by starting too many projects and never finishing many of them, I have finally completed several. I have been knitting, dyeing, embroidering, bear making, bear dressing/embellishing with the occasional bit of housework thrown in !

Sugabelle made by myself from a Merilyn Willits Pursell design looking good sitting on her matching Jasper Ware!