Knitted Bow Ring

After a mad week, we were so glad to finally sit down and have time to knit. Today's project? A knitted bow ring! This project is perfect for even the most novice knitter as only a small amount of knitting is required. First, cast on as many stitches as you would like to make the width of the bow, then double it so the knitting can go around the back. Knit as many rows as you wish until you get the perfect height for your bow. Cast off. Join the ends together then place this join at the back. Using a length of wool, wind tightly around the middle of the knitting to create a bow shape. Fasten the wool but do not cut off. Use it to attatch to a ring base and there you go!

Union Jack Pencil Case

We, like many other artists, seem to collect sewing and craft books with good intentions, but never seem to get around to making anything. These books have such glorious projects but are often resigned to dusty book shelves until their time comes. Today's book is 'Stitch!' by Cath Kidston, which, although it provides a range of projects for even the most amateur stitcher, seems a little beyond many people's skills base. The intricate floral patterns are actually surprisingly simple, however they can easy fool you into believing they are difficult. To challenge this assumption I decided, as someone completely inexperienced with tapestry, to give one of the most difficult projects in the book a go, the Union Jack purse.

 

The purse took me a little over a week to stitch then assemble, following the instructions in the book. The design chart was,at first, difficult to comprehend but after that was surprisingly easy to follow as the design has a limited colour palatte so a lot of the work was blocking in colours. 

 

As the Queen's Diamond Jubillee is coming up, fabric stores are full of fabrics displaying typically British motifs. I was particularly drawn to this cream 'busses, taxis and flags' print which I decided to use for the back of the purse. I felt is was more than appropriate! The lining was a simple print from IKEA as it was cheap and it didnt matter if it got dirty. The blue was also almost exactly the same blue as the stitching so the fabrics really worked together. I am so happy with the result of this purse, proving that tapestry is not just for seasoned stitchers!

 

Buy Cath Kidston's 'Stitch!' here!

Christmas Cracker Charm Bracelet

Over Christmas, we had some crackers which held small neon plastic toys such as spinning tops and trophies. We were charmed by their plastic awesomeness and just could not resist making them into something. Since Christmas they have been living in an old Quality Street tin alongside some beer caps and a champagne cork however, last week, with the help of a drill, some jump rings, tiny pliers and an old chain they we assembled them into a truly adorable pink and yellow neon charm bracelet. There is something so nostalgic about cracker presents! This is definitely a new favourite of ours!!

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