B•B•B.....Big Button Brooch

Simple, simple, simple! Whilst browsing our local haberdashery, we spotted this gorgeous huge orange button for 99p. Bought it, took it home, glued a brooch pin/safety pin on the back then sewed thread through the holes to make it look as though it is really sewn onto your clothes when you are wearing it and hey presto! :)

Fabric Covered Bead Necklace

This necklace came about, believe it or not, after a clear out of my son's bedroom! It's inspiration lay in a lovely soft cotton shirt that I could not bear to part with but no longer fitted him.....a couple of broken necklaces which I had been moving from pillar to post were put to good use too.

After looking at the size of the beads we wanted to wrap in the fabric, we 'guesstimated' the width of fabric required and set about cutting the shirt into evenly sized strips. We machined the strips across their width, then folded and stitched them down their length to form a 'tube', turned it inside out and neatened and knotted one end. Do not underestimate how much fabric this will take lengthwise! We made a tube roughly 4m long for a necklace about 1m long. We then pushed the first bead down the length of the tube, pulled the fabric tight around it and tied a knot. The second, third etc bead were treated in the same way until the desired length of necklace was achieved. After the final knot, the end of the tube was neatened off to match the beginning and then tied in a 'bow'. Sooooo pretty!

Old Jumper?? New Necklace!

It may have a few moth holes or be beyond patching on the elbows but instead of throwing away that favourite old jumper, how about making it into a 'new' necklace?!

We made ours solely from the jumper arms and it is incredibly simple if a little time consuming until you get into the swing of making the beads - strips 1.5cm wide and 16cm long (obviously different widths and lengths of strips will make different sized beads), rolled up then sewn down the seam and across the top and bottom pulling the sides together until a neat ball/bead shape is achieved!

When you have your desired number of beads for your length of neclace, join them together with colour matched embroidery thread. Gorgeous!

Carnival Two-Tier Bunting Necklace

After recieving a copy of 'State of Craft' by Victoria Woodcock, we were imediately inspired by the bunting necklace, a guest submission by Lucie Ellen. Lucie suggests using MDF or plywood to create the triangles however we used high-density PVC (plastic) as it was easier to cut and drill through. Most important of all though, it's free if you recycle plastic from around your house! To decorate our triangles we cut floral patterns from magazines and scraps of intricate floral fabrics which we PVA glued on then sealed with clear nail varnish. Although Lucie often sticks to block colours, we felt far too inspired by our fabric scraps not to use them for a project as adorable as this! We were so, so happy with our necklace and are in the process of making another one. Chains and jump rings are very cheap from websites such as ebay, and with recycled plastic you could make this necklace for barely any money at all!

View Lucie Ellen's website here

Buy 'State of Craft' by Victoria Woodcock here

Tape Measure Rosette and Bracelet

After coveting 'How To Make Jewellery' by Tatty Devine for many weeks, we finally got our hands on a copy! But what we didn't forsee was the problem of deciding which of the incredible projects to make first! We chose to play it safe and create a tape measure rosette which, from the tutorial, only requires a punch and two split pins. You can't go wrong with that! The rosette only took ten minutes to make and we were so pleased with the result! The second item is a bracelet made from a scrap of tape measure fastened by a press stud. This bracelet (which is not from the Tatty Devine book but is an A & C idea) took even less time, with only minimal stitching involved. All that was required was to stitch the press stud on after cutting the tape to fit. To add extra detail (and cover up the stitching) you could glue on a button as we have; this really finishes the piece.

There is something so adorable about these tape measure items, especially knowing that they are simple and cheap to make. An absolute essential for any craft-lover! 

Buy the Tatty Devine book online here - https://www.tattydevine.com/shop/the-tatty-devine-book-and-tools.html

Welcome to SewHappy Stitchery! Here, our 'artists-in-residence' A & C will post their own work and things they love (or hate!) for the world to see. From jewellery, clothing and experimental textiles to painting pottery, this blog will soon be full of all sorts to amuse or inspire. The sewing machines are threaded up and raring to go - we hope you enjoy!