Some Custom Orders...

I've just realised how long it's been since I last posted - way too long!

I had a lovely chilled out holiday in Spain with my bezzy mate - sat around the pool reading our books, listening to our ipods and having a good ole gossip! Bliss!!

Here are a selection of custom orders I've been busy with over the last few weeks. There is more, but silly me didn't take photos before I posted them off, usually because its late at night when I get finished and I then take said item to the post office the next morning...

One of my new embroidered shoe designs....

Beautiful butterflies for Eve ....

Another new design a princess door hanger - wow this took over 2 hours to embroider ....

For a Man Utd fan.....

Ballet shoes for Ruby ......

Happy Holidays!

I'm counting the days now until my holidays - yippee!! My bezzy mate arrives from Scotland at the weekend, then we fly off to Spain on Monday.

I'm lucky in that my parents have a small apartment in a lovely town on the Costa Blanca, so it'll be a week of relaxing and chilling round the pool with a good book, my ipod and a couple of glasses of wine or two!!!

I've been busy making a few things to take with me. I also wanted to make a cotton top of some kind, but have run out of time now.

Firstly, this half circle skirt in a lovely Amy Butler print. I used this Simplicity pattern which was very easy. I also opted for the download pattern from www.sewingpatterns.com where you can print it at home and then stick all the pages together. A bit of a palaver but it saves postage and I get the pattern straight away, for those moments of - I need to create something and I need to create it now! Does anyone else have those moments?

It sits below the waist and doesn't have a waist band. I used a bias binding for the raw edges of the waist band, nice and easy.

I was expecting this to be a nice cheap skirt, but I ordered (as usual!) far too much from www.equilter.com and went over the £18.00 limit and got clobbered for duty. I only went over by approximately 42p so I wasn't happy as I paid a small amount of duty and then £8.00 to the post office for admin! £8.00??!!! what a rip off!

Very pretty Amy Butler fabric!

I then went on a made this top for wearing over my bikini, when you trot off to get a drink etc. I made it from this Simplicity dress pattern in a lovely pale green cotton lawn, which has silver thread running through the fabric, which is hard to see in my photos.

It actually looks quite big in these photos, but is more fitted than it looks. If you were making the dress though you would need to watch the slit in the front as on me this opens very low and I mean very low!!! Over my bikini it will be fine.

You can just see the sparkle detail in this photo, but the colour is a really lovely pale green, which doesn't show up particularly well here.

And finally, my huge beach bag. I love this beach bag as it's brilliant for carrying all the paraphania you seem to lug around when on holiday, from going to the airport, a day out, the beach, etc

I used a cotton sateen, which is quite a thick but soft cotton and has a slight sheen to it. It is lovely fabric.

The inside, which I lined with a blue gingham and put a pocket in.

You can see the depth of the bag here. I would probably make the handles slightly longer next time though. I also used quite large eyelets and I could probably get away with smaller ones, as they are expensive to buy and the larger they are the more of a nightmare they are to fit.

I had real difficulty fitting the eyelets, but learned after lots of trial and error that you really do need to work on a hard surface, with no bounce. I have laminate flooring and thought that would be fine - er no, too much bounce. I kept moving around the house, trying difference surfaces and none of them worked. In the end I went outside onto the patio - 9.00 pm banging these blooming things in with gusto (cos I'd lost patience by then!!). Is there a knack to fitting these, I stress about them more than zips?

Anyway, I'm very pleased with my few items and cannot wait for a week of doing nothing! What bliss.

Happy holidays everyone x

Threadbare Bag Update

I've finally finished the new take on the threadbare bag in my previous post for Lee.

Lee chose the natural linen with the Moda birdy fabric, which is lovely and I used this for the lining also.

I finished it off with a chunky wood button. I was looking for a rustic finish with the button and the stitching around the applique. I love the cute birds on this fabric, especially holding the leaf.

As you can see it is an over body bag style, it's a little bit bucket shaped and the strap is wide and comfortable. You can fold the strap in half also if you don't want to wear it so wide across the body, which I how I wear the one I made earlier.

The inside lining and pocket. I also used a fine fusible fleece to give the linen some body, but not enough to make the bag too rigid, I still wanted the bag to be fluid, so it hangs across the body nicely.

You can see the inside lining on the strap here.

I'm really chuffed with the way the bag turned out. I have it hanging up in the living room, as I don't want it to get creased and I keep looking and admiring it, chuntering to myself "you're a nice bag, I like you"!!! I can't believe I actually made it!

I also bought a new button and changed it on the bag I made for myself earlier. I am much happier with the plain yellow chunky button. It doesn't clash with the ribbon now.

I bought the buttons at Duttons for Buttons in York. Ooh it's like been in your favourite sweetie shop and there's so many sweets you can't make up your mind!

I've just received a new bag making book from YesAsia, so my next project will be a bag from the book ......

A Threadbare Bag.....

One of my friends asked if I would take a look at one of her bags that had seen better days and could I replicate it?



As you can see it is an over body bag in velvet, which has obviously been much loved and well used and is unfortunately now rather threadbare!!

No problem said I, sounding a lot more confident than I felt. I set to with my pattern paper, pencil and ruler and starting measuring, and measuring again and oh, just for luck, I'll measure it again....

I never get my measurements right!!

I didn't have any velvet, so my friend chose some linen and as I didn't have much left and having not made this bag before, I decided to make a toile, not something I would normally do as I just wing it and hope for the best - not always the best policy!

Here is bag made up in calico and hey, what do you know, my measurements were perfect. That's a first for me.





Now I can be kind of impatient and as my friend had not chosen her design for the front yet, I couldn't carry on with the bag.... but it got me thinking.... I quite like this shape, I think I might make one for myself and I am meant to be doing more crafting for me.

I found some chocolate linen and a spotty cotton from Moda for the lining and then cut and appliqued the flower on. For an added touch I hand embroidered around the design.

I also used a fine fusible interfacing, a Vilene H630, which has a bit of body to it and helps give the bag a bit more substance but not make it stiff. I still wanted the bag to be soft and flexible, kind of....


The bag is sort of bucket shaped and has long enough handles to wear over the body, these are also nice and wide so it is comfortable on your shoulder.

I added a floral ribbon fastener and made the button covering - unfortunately the two together don't quite fit and it is too busy. Next time I am in town I will visit Duttons for Buttons and buy a lovely yellow button, which I think will work much better.

Here it is one overbody bag in linen with a lovely applique flower.

My friend has now chosen the design for her bag, so I'll need to make a start on that soon and will update with piccies in due course.

Embroidered Bookmarks

I finished these embroidered bookmarks a while ago now and have finally managed to find time to photograph, re-size, upload to Facebook, Misi and blog about them!

I thought the flip flops and umbrella design would be great for holidays - we all take a good book to read don't we? We settle down to read and relax - oh, no bookmark, so what do we invariably do? Find a scratty bit of paper or horror of horrors turn down the page!

What could be more stylish and practical than your own holiday bookmark!

These would also make a lovely "thank you teacher gift", pop into a birthday card, or give as a little get well to a poorly friend. Bought a book as a gift for a friend or family member - pop a little bookmark in to complement your gift.

These designs are now on my MISI page. There are more designs to follow and will have these uploaded to my MISI page soon at http://fabricandbags.misi.co.uk

A Wonderful Poem!

A huge thank you to my blogging friends for all your comments on my previous post. I am touched by your heartfelt messages, thoughts, helpful hints and compliments - they are all very much appreciated.

They have all given me food for thought and the one message I am receiving from you all is that I need to craft for ME because I love it, which I do.

Tracy at Pinkpurl sent me this wonderful poem yesterday, thank you Tracy, it really hit a nerve and it was what I needed .....

Be careful what you water your dreams with. Water them with worry and fear and you will produce weeds that choke the life from your dream. Water them with optimism and solutions and you will cultivate success. Always be on the lookout for ways to turn a problem into an opportunity for success. Always be on the lookout for ways to nurture your dream. - Lao Tzu

Sometimes maybe we cloud our own sunshine...

I have printed this out and will display it prominently on the wall above my crafting table.

Happy crafting...

The Stalls Arts and Crafts Fair

As you know I had a stand at The Stalls Arts and Crafts Fair in Leeds on Saturday 9 May 2009. The fair is held in Leeds Town Hall, which is a lovely imposing building and thankfully I didn't get lost this time!

The downside is there is no parking and we had to be unloaded before 9.00 am. One of the other stall holders kindly came with me and directed me to the university so I parked up there all day for free (always a bonus!). It was a 20 minutes walk, so by the time I got back to start setting out my stand I was a little hot and bothered! The nearby multi storey car park charged £12.00 for the day, this is something to think about in adding up all your costs.

We were down in the crypt, which is a large room, but with no windows it was quite dark. I had plenty of space around my table and had extra space on a side table, which was good. There were 22 stall holders on the day and the room could quite comfortably take more.

Onto the day itself - I have to admit I had another disappointing day and only took £37.00 and after stand costs of £25.00 and petrol as it is a 48 mile round trip - I am not going to be retiring any time soon! LOL

It was quiet, I feel very quiet and I cannot fault Natasha as both her and the other stall holders had done lots of publicity around Leeds. This is only the 2nd craft fair at the Town Hall and I do believe it takes time for people to realise it is on and is a regular feature. We just have to keep plugging away.

For me personally I don't know about plugging away, but I feel like I am flogging a dead horse and I am also having a crisis of confidence. I did receive complimentary comments, which helps, but few sales, which doesn't help!! I have a million and one questions and no answers running around my poor tired brain and it's exhausting and stressful.

Personally I think my products are nice, well made and I always use quality fabrics etc, but they may not be the cheapest, but I am refusing to lower my prices any further. I did do a thorough cost calculation a few weeks ago and was shocked at how much the items cost to make and I don't factor in the true time it takes to make an item.

Should I have more choice? different kinds of products? i.e. baby things, different styles and sizes of bags, make up bags, kitchen items - oh the list goes on and I am going round in circles!

I really don't know why I am thinking of doing other products, as I don't have enough time now. There are not enough hours in the day to work full time, look after a house and garden, sew products and come up with new creative beauties, photograph said items, size and crop and upload to website, Artfire and MISI, blog, read blogs, chat on forums and promote, oh and Facebook......

Sorry this has turned into a bit of a rant, but I don't know which way to turn - should I carry on and try some different things or give up altogether?

While I contemplate the above, I am going to take a back seat from it all and do some crafting for me, which I haven't done for ages. I have already cut out and will make a start at the weekend on a lovely beach bag for my holidays.

Have a lovely weekend everyone...