Wonderwool 2012

It's been a whole since I blogged, so I thought I'd better get a post up before you all thought I'd disappeared! (life just keeps getting in the way!)

Last weekend I found the time to head down to Wonderwool in Wales. As I can't attend Woolfest this year (I'm away on a residential with my class), I needed to get my wool fix. I had even co-erced Mr Bunny to come with me! Plans were nearly scuppered by a very poorly guinea pig with an aggressive eye infection who needed feeding, by syringe, every few hours but my Mum came to the rescue and piggy sat for us.

Not being put off by the weather (which was truly terrible) we headed off early on Sunday morning and arrived just after 10.30am. Parking was easy and there was even a mini-bus shuttle up to the halls for the price of 30p (all money going to the Welsh Air Ambulance). We, however, thought it was a good idea to walk to the halls in the wind and rain. Needless to say, when we got to the halls we where freezing cold and in need of hot chocolate to defrost us!

The venue was huge and packed with traders and guilds. Just like Woolfest, I was totally overwhelmed by the choice of yarn and buttons and notions! We headed over to Toft Alpaca first to see the alpacas and proceeded to look at animals for the first half an hour or so!

We must have walked around 3 times before I actually bought anything as I just couldn't choose, despite being armed with a list! In the end, I bought some purple sparkly sock yarn from Laal Bear to make a shawl and a large button and alpaca pom pom (more a pet really) from Toft Alpaca. In all honesty, I could have spent a fortune!

Mr Bunny enjoyed himself, and I suspect he has bought me some birthday presents as he kept wandering off (he needs to learn that telling me to stay in one place just doesn't work, I'm like a magpie and if I see sparkle I'm off!). He loved the animals and had a go at weaving on a loom. He also bought a small amount of fleece so he can have a go at carding and spinning on my drop spindle!

Wonderwool isn't just about the wool. There are lots of other stalls selling textiles, buttons and lots if food! The wool schools they offer look fab and there are talks throughout the weekend. It is very well organised and there are plenty of people on hand to direct you and offer help. It is definitely worth a visit!

Fabric Postcards

Yesterday I received the most beautiful items in the post; a needle felted postcard and flower brooch from my very kind partner in the fabric postcard swap. 

The lovely card and brooch I received

This swap was organised by the fabulous Caithness Craft Collective (presenter of the Caithness Craft Collective podcast which, if you aren't already a listener, you really should become one!)  through her Ravelry group around a month ago.  Being keen and eager to try new things, I signed up immediatley and then had to find out how to actually make a fabric postcard.  A bit of googling later, and some help from my fellow swappers, and I was ready to go.

My postcard was inspired by crafting for bliss.  I began by cutting a piece of fabric slightly larger than the postcard itself and then glued and stitched things to it.  Adding the card to the back was the hardest part and I definitley need to work on that!  Eventually it was finished and here it is.

The postcard I made

I really enjoyed making it and hope that it is the first swap of many to come.

Patchwork Project Bag

It seems like such a long time since I last blogged (probably because it is!)  I have been busy working on a number of projects, many of which I have completed, and now have plenty to keep me going with my blogging for the next few weeks.

As part of the textiles course I have been attending at night school, we looked at patchwork.  I really love the mix and match look of patchwork and have had a go at a few projects using simple rectangular strips of patchwork in the past.  On the course we looked at the use of hexagons to create patchwork, a technique very popular in Victorian times and again in the seventies.  In class I made a simple hexagon patchwork flower, using some patterned fabric from an old skirt, which could very simply be used to decorate a cushion cover.

The patchwork page in my sketchbook

Everyone on the course chooses a final project to make.  I have been dying to make the hexagon patchwork knitting bag from Cath Kidston's Sew for a long time and saw this as my opportunity to finally get it made.  Now, this wasn't a small project - would I pick anything easy?  And has taken me quite a long time to finish.  This is why:

It required 60, yes 60, hexagons to make the  bag.  That meant:

Cutting out 60 small paper hexagons. (I used an old magazine)





Cutting out 1 larger paper hexagon to use as a template to then cut out 60 fabric hexagons





Sewing 60 fabric hexagons over the 60 paper hexagons

Sewing all 60 hexagons together, in a specific way, to make the bag and then sewing in the lining and attaching the handles!

A lot of work?  Definitley, but I really really enjoyed it!  It was a great project that could be picked up and put down as and when.  Some nights I managed 2 or 3 hexagons whilst other days I would make lots of progress.  It was really rewarding to watch it grow and to see how all the different patterns of fabrics came together and I love my finished bag. 

My finished bag

In the interests of sustainability, and saving some pennies, I used fabric from my stash.  There are fabric scraps left over from past projects, fabric from old clothes, fabric from larger pieces I have and, if you look carefully, fabric from the printing I did earlier on in the course; I just made sure that they were all of similiar weights.  Each fabric appears no more than 3 times and I arranged them carefully to create a real mix of pattern and colour.  The lining fabric and handles I already had; I bought absolutley nothing new to make it. 

Now I have caught the patchwork bug, I am desperate to tackle a large project - a cushion? another bag? or maybe an entire quilt??

Couching



Examples of couching can be seen in the Bayeux Tapestry


In what appears to be a catch-up series of posts, I wanted to share with you all some more of my work from my textiles course, couching. 

Couching is the technique of sewing down fabrics, yarn and other fabrics to a large piece of cloth. 

It is generally thought of as an embroidery technique and examples of couching can be seen on medieval textile work including the Bayeux Tapestry!  It is still a technique that is popular today, being used to decorate Indian and Palestinian clothing, most commonly wedding dresses and formal wear.

For my sample, I found examples of couching work on the internet and Pinterest, and then found whatever I could lying around, yarn, scraps of fabric and even some plastic, and stitched it down!  You can use straight forward running stitches or more fancy embroidery stitches to sew them down and can sew the fabrics straight or in spirals, zig zags and curves. 

My couching sample

Couching is a simple but effective way to decorate a piece of work and I think it would fabulous on bags, purses and other small items.