And now for something completely different

Bought these jumpers, all pure wool, handwash only. Washed them in a rather hot wash (intentionally) and now they're a shadow of their former self. I'm going to make a bag from the hood of the blue one first, storage again! Not sure what the other two will end up as, will await inspiration.

Then there were three...again

I really enjoy making books(and covering them), think it must tie in with my love of storage of any description and stationery!
Have finally completed the final book in a set of three that i started a few weeks ago, seem to be making a habit of making things in 3s.
The covers are made from mixed fibres, mainly fancy yarns and snippets of fabric, sandwiched between water soluble vilene then stitched. Free machine applique, machined cords, buttons and beads were then added as embellishments.
I painted and printed onto some of the sheets of paper to be included as the pages, others i left plain. The lining of the books were made from painted and stamped(good old anagypta) pelmet vilene which was then stitched into place.
The final bit was stitching in the pages, which my machine didn't seem to mind at all. Now i need to put them to good use....

Another First

This must be my week for first PCs this time from my eldest daughter, she enjoys scrapbooking and card making and thought she'd try her hand at a postcard. It's absolutely beautiful, thank you. Hope it's the first of many.

Check this Out

I am absolutely thrilled with this PC, thank you. It's from my sister and it's her first one! Now i really won't ever believe her again when she says "I can't" because as you can plainly see, "she can"!
She spent last week here and as always i kept her busy. It's a bit of a family joke that when people come to stay they're not allowed to relax.... enjoy but not relax.
A calico foundation was used with layers of tissue and other papers, PVA then paint and stitch.
WOW.
Wonder how the book cover's coming on?

Fabric Paper Folio

Finally, have completed a folio using the second piece of Fabric Paper shown in my first posts. Really enjoyed doing it but should probably have been creating my May PC!
Am pleased with the "self covering button" think it worked well. The "inchie" was done using a water sol fabric sandwich with chopped fibres in between, and the three diamond shapes on the flap are painted peices of anaglypta cut out and stitched on.
Fabric shapes on the front are free machine appliqued, the little flowers are cut from painted papers using a "punch" (the sort sold for cardmaking) then stiched on using a tiny washer in the centre.
Free machine cords, felt bead and buttons were used to create the tie.

This lovely PC arrived the other day from a very close friend of mine, Mandi. We've been swapping PC monthly for two years now so have a great collection. Initially we alternated choosing an inspiring subject for each month, then we decided to choose our own for several swaps. However, we've decided this time to work in a series, choosing our own inspirational source. The subject of this PC is my son when he was little. I'm using Anemones as my source material, but as always am a little behind, it's only the 26th of May after all! Good job she's very forgiving when mine arrive a tad after the due date.

Completed Book Cover

Have completed a cover for my rather bulging sketchbook using the "fabric paper" i made last week. I'm really chuffed with it.
The corners seemed rather fragile so I re-inforced them with felt which was successful. My prototype book cover(attempt number 1!) using "fabric paper" which i made a few months ago for another skethbook had fabric along the edge where the corners are and therefore didn't need any re-inforcing.
Need to finish the folder i'm making now with the greeny blue fabric paper!

Thank You Val!
This arrived in the post yesterday, what a wonderful surprise. It was sent by Val, a friend of mine, little does she now how much i admired it at her recent exhibition.

Then There Were Three...

Last week i decided that i'd much rather have a small, soft, slim fabric purse, big enough to hold cash and my most used cards instead of the large bulky leather wallet i usually lug around! Simple i though, so off i went to purchase said item. Well could i find something that fitted the bill? Not at all.
So i though, as i do, i'll make one, can't be that hard surely.
Three purses and one week later i have an object that fits with what was originally in my head. It's a Goldilocks story really, too big, too small, zip in the wrong place etc etc. Next time i think i'll produce a paper pattern or at the very least measure my cards first

Book Covers

Book covers in progress using fabric paper from previous post! Watch this space!

Plastic Table Cloth!

Whilst waiting for some friends to make some purchases in a local fabric shop, trying to resist the temptation to join them,i came across some plastic doiley style table runner cloth! Not sure how else to describe it. So...
Having spent some time during the week successfully printing onto fabric using anaglypta wallpaper as my "block" i wondered if this table cloth stuff would work in the same way! I just had to purchase a little to try!
The white background piece with plum coloured design printed onto it worked really well. I just used acrylic paint printed onto pelmet vilene. Have have since washed the piece with ink and looing good.
The greeny bluey peice in the same photo are of said tablecloth but this time used used for sunprinting with Setacolour fabric paints! The other pic is of a different design piece of plastic cloth. Very pleased with greeny blue bit but not as pleased with the faux rosey lace bit.

Fabric Paper

Still getting used to this blogging stuff, what a novice i am with extremely limited I.T skills!
The bottom photgraph in this post is one of two fairly similar foundation layers i used to make "fabric paper" They were bonded with dilute PVA onto a paper napkin. I didn't need to use a muslin stabiliser as the paper napkin i had was a "posh" one and very robust.
The second two photos are of the finished pieces of fabric having been painted, stamped embossed etc. They're destined to become bookcovers, which when complete i will endeavour to post.
The method i used is the one outlined in Beryl Taylors book, Mixed Media Explorations. However have also experimented a little, replacing the PVA with bondaweb to try and achieve a softer finished fabric. Have been fairly pleased with those results as well.

Scrumpled Fabic Paints

Formally a rather sad old white sheet was dampened then painted with Acrlic paint mixed with a fabric medium, was then scrunched up and left to dry. I love the texture createdwhere the paint gathered in the creases. Ironed to set and ready for use! not sure what for as yet but am sure it will happen upon me.