craft in london

No I didn’t bring craft away with me but today I was walking around London, actually looking for Soho but being a bit lost and walked past this shop.

Its the Cath Kidston shop from the book Make It!

It was lovely – she really does have a thing for roses though.

Saw a gorgeous dress in there but was 140 quid so I left it…

Also saw some tops craft books in Tate Modern…

honeycomb smocking

I was digging around on some sites this week and came across a honeycomb smocking tutorial on Tumbling Blocks.

So clever and so stylish… a new project for the Den girls?
http://tumblingblocks.net/blog/index.cfm/2008/9/22/Honeycomb-Smocking-Tutorial

sensational skirt

Lis made a trip to Materialise this week and got a few fab tips from Sophie.

Lis says, “I would like to thank Sophie at Materialise in Nedlands for the inspiration and the recipe to make this skirt.

It uses panels of scrap (or in this case special-favourite) material, sewn together leaving most edges raw to fray.

Make two skirt layers as one will be an under skirt to give it fullness. Then a gather stitch at the top, and then binding sewn on top of that. Gorgeous!

Sophie is more than happy to direct clueless sewers and she also takes students for craft/sewing tuition. info@materialiseyourlife.com

mama needs new shoes

well baby needs new shoes…

I loaded up a post about baby cloth shoes last week and this week I had a crack at them. They turned out to be a bit fiddlier than I thought and I had a little trouble with these ones so I am putting them down to being the prototype (even though they are someone else’s design)

Check out the result, so cute…

cameo silhouette

Lis has been crafting up a storm lately and has just sent around her latest creation – a beautiful silhouette of baby V.  Its just beautiful and will make a stunning addition their wall.

Lis told us how she did it.

Take a picture of your subjects side profile

Using a computer image program change picture to black and white. I used photo shop and also darkened picture so I could see the outline easily

Print your picture and cut out line of subject

Place your cut out subject on a black piece of card/paper and trace around with a white pencil (lead pencil shows up too)

Cut out your tracing to leave you with a silhouette of your subject. Erase any pencil lines with a rubber if you can see them

Find a frame you like that will fit your silhouette

Cut out white or coloured card to fit inside frame. This will act as your background. I used Green

Glue your silhouette picture to your background card and place in frame, easy!

craft hiatus

It’s been such a long time since I blogged about craft because there hasn’t really been much we’ve been up to…

This month the Den girls have not been able to catch up – some of us have been away,  others just busy but its time to get cracking again.

For inspiration I have bought a couple of books to get me on my way.

In my quest to make more clothes for myself I bought this gorgeous book on making skirts.  I love how simlple they have made the patterns and am looking forward to rummaging through the den to find some inspirational fabric.

shir thing

PG and Mrs B were talking about shirring the other day which got PG onto the search and again she’s come up with gold…

This tutorial from Portobello Pixie shows just how to do it.  Looks like fun, if not a bit tricky.

Something for the Den girls to give a crack next time we meet.