Sewing!

So I need to bring you up to date on some of my creative endeavors the last few weeks.
A lot of the sewing has been of the make-do and mend kind and not really very inspiring.
But I have also had a chance to try out my sewing book for kids from the 70s. Very fun!
Here are a few of the results:

This is made from an vintage duvet cover from the market 

and the trim is vintage Laura Ashley given to me by my mother-in-law.

This summer dress is made from a vintage cotton table cloth from the market

and the neck line is trimmed with Liberty Tana Lawn bias tape.

Next on my list to make:

A pair of flared overalls!

A productive saturday!

Yesterday Stefan looked after our wee one so I could get some of my sewing projects finished!

It was so great! (thanks Stf xx)

I halved the repair pile, finished of some retro baby hats (and listed the first of them on Etsy) and finished the "Play, eat, sleep, poop" embroidery + sewed it on to the cashmere sleeping bag (coming on Etsy soon!). Here are the results:

 

You can find the free pattern for the embroidery here.

What have you been making lately?

Stitch time

After yesterdays productive sewing it is Sunday and time for tea and embellishing.

I made this to stitch on to a cashmere sleeping bag:

 

What do you think? 

Feel free to use it in your own (private) stiching projects *Wink*

If you do -let me know I'd love to see.

If you need the Pdf just leave a comment with your e-mail and I'll send it to you asap.

In anticipation of your valued response,

Linda

First week or so of the new year!

How are you finding 2011?

For me it is proving to be packed with opportunities, new directions and posibilities. 

Very fun and also a bit daunting.

One of them being Jo from Darn it and Stitch asking me to do a dolls making workshop.

It's going to be a two day workshop for a parent and child.

On the first day we are making dolls and on the second we are making clothes.

How fun is that!?

So this week-end I was pattern drawing and sewing -this is what we will be making:

The workshops will be on the 12th and the 19th of March.

Want to join in?

Sign up with Jo as qick as you can -there are limited places.

Hope to see you there!

Etsy shop opening soon!

The time has come.

(dramatic pause)

I have decided to open an etsy shop. 

It opens in 3 days. 

Her is a sneak peak of some of what will be for sale

The opening will have surprises and a giveaway so stay tuned for 

a little drop of everyday art 

at Mundane and Beauteous!

Also I now have a page on Facebook so why don't you find me there too - who knows what interesting things might pop up there! *wink*

Making logo and labels

After a lot of back and forth I have finally decided on a logo and now I'm having some woven labels made (30x30mm) so I can add them to the things I make. It is very exciting!

And now I need your help! 

I want to order 2 or 3 versions of the label but which color combos should I do?

Here are the options:

Which one is your favorite?

Birthday party ideas I

Last Friday I had the honor of hosting a birthday party for my dear friend Mary. 

We had such a lovely girly evening -good food, nice wine, lots of chocolate, stimulating conversation, cupcakes, great coffee and did I say chocolate?

What's a party without a birthday bunting? 

How do you make a bunting in less than 15min and not enough time to get out all your crafty stuff? You use paper-dollies!

Cut 5 paper-dollies into quarters and spell out Happy <3 Birthday! -one letter on each triangle with a marker. Tip: Don't write with them in a pile as the marker might stain through

Then you just thread a ribbon through the holes in the dollies. Hey presto!

    
Happy Birthday!

Autumn

It's November, dark, cold and wet and still a bit early in my book to start doing Christmas decoration around the house. So in an attempt to enjoy November with all it's color and not jump ahead to Christmas I've made some fabric leaf bowls. They are so easy to make and look very cozy scattered on our table. You can fin the how-to here at Martha Stewart. 

More headbands!

Remember all the circles I made a month or so ago?

Well now some of them have been made to headbands:

Birds and Butterflies

Here are some photos of the newest selection of birds and butterfly jewelry hand drawn and crafted by me while Stefan reads out loud to us (we are currently reading G.R.R. Martin). 

Sounds idyllic -and I guess it sort of is... Sometimes we watch X-factor though *wink*.

If you are interested in buying one let me know. Hopefully I'll be selling them in a shop (TBA) in Oxford before Christmas - and who knows maybe I'll start an etsy shop? What do you think? 

Note to self - I need to work on my PhD too...

Fabric

Today was a long day at home alone with Aline -it could have become very dark, but with a little help from Aline's beautiful smile, a good cup of tea and the world wide web the day turned out to be very nice indeed. 

I've tried something new!

I've designed my own fabric at Spoonflower.

What do you think?

I made it in different color combos too. Let me show you a couple:

So in the next week or so I should be getting a little packet with samples of my very own fabric

whoo-hoo!

I can't wait to see how the colors turns out and what the size of the apples actually will be. (I think they might be a bit on the small side...)

I'll let you know how it turns out!

Why don't you have a go? 

Tag-cloths

Small fingers that like to touch and feel have now different textures to play with and a little mouth has tags to suck:

A small step into the wider world!

So I've take a step out into the land of blog-crafters and submitted one of my project to a compitition.

Go have a look 

- see if you can spot Aline's smile and click on the picture to see which project I entered *wink*

First ever tutorial - cozy baby trousers

Here is my first tutorial - super easy cashmere baggy trousers!

I'm not really into sewing jargon so excuse my lame explanations and hopefully you'll be able to understand what is going on and do it yourself at home.

1. Find your self an old woolly jumper with a turtle neck - I've used a cashmere one, they are super soft and snuggly, but unless you get them super cheap (or free from Charlie-at-the-market) you can use some other kind of woolly jumper. If the knit is very loose you might want to felt it a little by washing it on a warm cycle. Or maybe you've already done this with one of your jumpers by accident *wink* . The rest of the tutorial is after the jump (I think...) 

kcwc: day four and five

Yes I'm somewhat behind schedule with the postings for kcwc - such is life.
On day four and five I made a pair of overalls from the arms of the jumper I used in day one. Here are the results:

Still not decided on the buttons yet...

kcwc: day three

I must admitt I didn't do a full hour of sewing today...but I did do some crafty stuff.

I finished off this dress - which now fits more like a top - for Aline. 

 

This is what happens when you wait forever before sewing on the snappers... 

I finished and posted invites for Aline's christening

And I finished three of my bird necklaces - and yes they are for sale :)

kcwc: day two

A little less time to do stuff at home to day as I went into town this morning, but an hour of sewing had to be fit in... it was a question of going for a run or sewing. Such a hard decision to make! Not...

Today I decided to make Aline a hat. She has a big head (after her Dad) so I went for a size 6months. However the jumper I used to make the hat was very stretchy and I cut too much seam-allowance so it turned out even bigger than planned....oops! I think it is the experience of making the dresses too small that has now made me make everything too big. At least she'll grow into it.

kcwc is so much fun!

kcwc: day one

After a week-end that did not go according to plan as Aline had a fever, Monday was a day of catching up.  Aquinas had to be read, christening invitations were to be made, a little exercise had to be done and some tidying could not be avoided AND of course there was an hour of sewing to do too! 

Most surprisingly of all in some miraculous way I managed to get it all done - and have fun!

For day one of kcwc I lifted down my box of clothes that are up-cycle material - found a lovely dark purple (the photos don't do the colour justice) cashmere jumper, given to me by Charlie-at-the-market.

This I turned into a super easy pouchy trousers for Aline. When I put in the effort to sew clothes for her I want them to be versatile in size so that she can use them for a long time so these should fit her from now until she is 18 months. Now as baggy trousers with the 'neck' up under her arms, next year they'll fit more like Harem trousers.

Here are the results:

I even had time to make myself some wrist warmers with some of the left over scraps!

(- I know my hand looks kind off limp here...)

Hopefully by the end of the week I will have been able to post this as a tutorial so you can make some of these too!

ps. I still have the arms of the jumper left -should I make another pair of trousers or a little hat?

Unedited - My favorite moment of the day!

Evening has come, Aline is sleeping, the teacup is steaming, Stefan is reading out loud for us from G.R.R. Martin and I'm stitching up some circles for headbands - a perfect end to the day!


Tidying can wait until tomorrow.

Bib-mania

Aline is a dribbler - lying on her tummy she's like a running tap!
Solution? Mummy's super easy, super absorbent bamboo bibs!
Here is the newest collection: 

 Front:

Back:

Front:

 Back:

Front:

B

Back:

I think my favorite is the last one with the vintage silk with iris from liberty on one side and blue fabric on the other side because it makes Aline's eyes seem even more intensely blue than they do normally. 



Which one is your favorite?