Ruby Wedding

Today is my 40th Wedding anniversary. My Ruby Wedding !
Can't quite believe its been so many years married to my darling husband Trevor.
We have always been friends, always laughed at stupid things, never gone to bed on an argument,never left each other,( well never more than  for  a few hours),always said 'I love you' before we go to sleep, never messed around with anyone else,tried hard not to hurt the other one,always been generous with each other even when we couldn't afford it,always shared everything,  tried not to argue over money !!!!, shared interests, helped and supported each other though good and tough times.
Of course we both could have been done for murder several times in the last 40 years ( it hasn't always been perfect!-  I can very close once when I threw a heavy glass ashtray at him and it embedded itself in the wall and not in his head !!!!)
But after all these years we are still 'in' love with each other.

Oh and its also my 60th birthday today - yes we got married on my birthday - so he could never forget our anniversary !!!!!

Happy times to all xxxxxxx

 

Last week my friend Hazel opened her new Magpie and Thimble Studio. So I made her this in celebration . She has the words chalked up on a board for everyone to see and they seemed perfect to turn into a stitched panel to hang on one of the walls. 

I just love applique and free motion embroidery and quilting. Hopefully you do too. 

Heres wishing you every success Hazel.

So much happening in the past few months. Apart from the fact that I haven't been able to get into my blog- all solved now so here is some news.

Well of course the Jubilee Celebrations are coming up very soon. We are planning a street party here in Claremont Avenue, with tea and cakes and of course all wearing pinnies !! well the ladies anyway. 

I have made some extra ones to sell in my etsy shop and in Middleton Hall in May. Perfect for your street party or just as a commemoration piece to join in the fun. 

And a couple of Queenie Art Dolls too. 

Also in my etsy shop are my One in a Million Art Stump Dolls. 

Each one is  numbered and each one is unique. Really lots of fun. 

Just before I go I must tell you about my friend Hazel. She is opening a brand new 'inspire- explore- create ' studio in Newport Pagnell, Buckingshamshire. You will be able to experiment with paint , fabrics and all sorts and play to your hearts content. 

See her Magpie and Thimble blog ( on my side bar) for more info. 

Good luck Hay - great idea for the area. 

Bye for now. Promise I will try to add more often.

Exhibition in The Netherlands

The etsy European Street team are organising a collaboration project and will assemble tiny 7cm x7cm squares of works of art made by etsy members from Europe. Here is my piece that I have made today.

And a close up.

It is strange working on such a small scale and difficult too for what I wanted to show. Its me and StitchyWooWoo - well with lots of artistic license !!!

I have used some old linen and free motion embroidery.

The main exhibition is here in March.

www.stichtingtextielplus.nl/

Keep your eyes open for more tiny patches of wonder from lots of European Artists.

New Original Patterns

I have been very busy lately creating printed patterns of some of my art creatures and dolls.
It is hard brain work trying to get them just right for a maker to follow - that is one of the most important things for me being a teacher and tutor.

These are the Pretty Kitty Cats and the Horrible Hound dogs that you could make from my printed patterns.

The patterns and instructions are clear and detailed and intended as EASY level. They are really super made up in vintage fabrics.
I will be listing some kits with fabrics included of these patterns soon. Please contact me if interested so do look in my etsy shop.
I am also working on some interesting art doll patterns too.
|Enjoy.

Stitched Fabric and Paper Book Tutorial . Part 1 of 2.

By StitchyWooWoo

‘Little Love Book’

In this tutorial you will learn how to combine paper with fabrics, decorate and embellish with trim, text and stitch, to create a small book or journal for your personal notes and collections.

This tutorial concentrates on a romantic and delightful design called a ‘Little Love Book’. Filled with pretty pages and charming words and sayings it is ideal as a place to put poems, letters, love notes, anything that concerns the beauty of LOVE in your world.

Although this project can be done by hand stitching, a sewing machine is desirable. Basic sewing skills are required.

So let’s get started….

Stage 1.Preparation

You will need :

· 1 x 9” x 7” fabric for Outside Cover

· 1 x 9” x 7” fabric for Inside Cover

· 1 x 4 ½” x 3 ½” fabric for back inside pocket

· 2 x 10” x ½” torn fabric /ribbon for ties.

· 4 x 6” x 8” drawing / watercolour paper for pages

· 3 x 6” x 8” fabric for pages

· Small amount x scraps of plain/ patterned fabrics, papers, ribbon, trim, embellishments.

· Selection of matching or contrasting threads.

· Fabric pens and/ or inkjet transfer paper (with access to computer and printer)

· Sewing machine or hand sewing kit.

· Optional –small piece of bondaweb / wonder under – fusible web.

· Strong glue suitable for fabric/paper – I find ‘tacky glue’ to be good for most things.

*All measurements are adjustable if needed. Your book can be any size that you wish.

*For the purposes of this tutorial I am using contrasting colour thread.

*Best fabrics to use: any natural fabric – cotton, linen, wool calico, canvas. (Silk is best used for embellishment as it is more difficult to sew well and it frays badly. However a silk book does look wonderful). I am using vintage French cotton ticking for the cover, - unbleached calico and 120lb cartridge paper for the pages.

* I mostly use straight stitch on the machine, although you might want to use zigzag or a decorative stitch. I sometimes use a darning foot with free motion embroidery to apply shapes such as hearts ( if you know what how to do this then it’s easier, but don’t worry if you don’t know what I am talking about,( that needs to be another tutorial !) then just use straight stitch) . NOTE ; when sewing paper , use a long length stitch on your machine to help prevent the paper from tearing.

Prepare your pieces as above. Cut to size.

Stage 2 Text/ Lettering/Shapes

There are a variety of ways to pre - decorate your book with text and shapes

I do all my text onto small bits of plain fabric or paper first and then apply these to the pages /cover.

Photo4 Text on fabric

1. Hand write using fabric pens.

2. Use text/lettering stamps and an ink pad.

3. Print from computer using a variety of fonts. Print onto heat transfer paper (remember it is important to mirror image before printing , otherwise your words will be the wrong way round.

4. Lots of other ways to get text in your book, try some of your choosing.

Choose appropriate words/sayings for your ‘little Love Book’

Love , dream, believe, I love you, love me, love you, friend, lover, just because, you are my sunshine, forever loving you, darling, my dearest, valentine……… Any lines from songs or poems are also great.

As you can see I like to add:

This book belongs to ….

Name….

Little Love Book – as the title.

In this tutorial my text is transfer printed from the computer and then ironed onto small bits of calico/ linen.

*Bondaweb / Wonder Under – fusible web can be ironed on to back of pieces to assist with sewing down. Use parchment paper to stop the transfer print from sticking to your iron.

Applied Shapes

Hearts, flowers, anything connected with love. With complicated shapes I do use fusible web. I iron web onto small fabric piece, draw a shape, and then cut the fabric shape before removing the backing paper. Remove backing paper and iron on.

Once you have all your text and shapes prepared you can then think about where you are going to place them your pages.

This is Part 1 of this tutorial.

Stitched Fabric and Paper Book Tutorial . Part 2 of 2

By StitchyWooWoo

‘Little Love Book’

Stage 3 Making up of Cover .

Outside Cover.

Decorate outside cover on right hand side of fabric.

A  mixture of bits and pieces of torn fabrics, vintage hankies, laces, ribbons, trims, braids can all be used to add to your fabric and pages covers and pages. Use the tiniest pieces of old embroideries, old printed bits anything that is appropriate for your theme.

Stitch on title text piece. Stitch on ribbon or lace. Stitch on heart.

Here you can see I have added to the heart by stitching a gathered strip of printed cotton around the edge and doing a bit of free motion machine stitching.

Inside Cover

Take inside cover piece and stitch on ‘This book belongs to’ and ‘Name’ labels – on left hand side of fabric.

Prepare pocket – fold and stitch top edge of pocket. 

On right hand side of inside cover stitch around 3 sides of your pocket to attach to cover. Reverse stitch at top corners to secure.

I am making up my book with frayed edges because I love the look of torn and aged fabrics. *

So put wrong sides of outside and inside cover together

and stitch all round 4 sides of cover. Stitch ribbon /torn fabric strips, ties in place – one on the front and one on the back.

*if you prefer to have all your edges enclosed then put RIGHT sides together and stitch around 3 sides. Turn inside out and hand stitch opening together.

Crease fold down centre. That is your cover completed. Now for the insides.

Stage 4 Making the  Pages

Paper Pages

Fold paper in half down centre. Crease firmly.

On each sheet you will have a left hand page and a right hand page either side of the fold line. And of course the reverse sides of the paper, forming the other side of the pages. So with 1 sheet of paper you will actually have 4 pages.

Working on one page at a time decorate to your liking. There are no hard and fast rules. Just have fun placing bits on your pages. Either glue or stitch with machine. Note that any stitching you do will show through on the underside of your page. You can avoid this by stitching into small bits of fabric or paper and then gluing these onto your page. I am happy to have stitching on both sides as it adds to the handmade look of the journal. You can place things appropriately over any stitching if you work it out beforehand.

1.       Attach text pieces - under lay with torn fabrics or ribbons.

2.       Attach ribbons/torn fabrics/ lace/ torn papers.

3.       Attach pockets/ envelopes/ tags.

Decorate all 4 pages of your sheet of paper.

Do the same process with the other 3 sheets of paper- vary the placements and what you put on. Remember to leave plenty of room for your handwritten journal stuff later on.

Fabric Pages

Fabric pages are dealt with in the same way, sewing or glueing things into place.

However you do need to consider a few things:

Fabric is different to paper in that it does have frayed edges. – Do you like this effect or do you want to stitch the edges with zigzag or overlock stitch?  

It is harder to draw or write on. I tend to stitch stuff down after writing.

Fabric can be used to secure things by pining into the fabric. It is also better to have fabric pockets for heavier bits.

It can be embroidered either by machine or hand.

To make pockets simply fold pages in or up and stitch around sides – ensure you leave at least one side open to get into the pocket.

Work your pages as for paper pages – Crease or iron down centre to create fold. Decorate left and right hand sides of each page, flip over and work the reverse sides.

Do the other 2 pieces of fabric for your other pages , varying placements and trims/ embellishments.

You should now have 7 full sheets of decorated fabric and paper. That means you should have 14 pages and 28 sides. Hopefully we are all there!!!!

If you wish to add more pages either fabric or paper then now is the time to consider it.

Stage 5     Assembling Your Little Love Book.

Now we need to bring all this work together into our little book.

So……..

Putting pages together

Alternate fabric and paper pages – lay one full sheet on top of another full sheet. Try and get edges together but remember it’s a handmade book and sometimes things won’t always match up .

When you are happy with the arrangement of pages, fold in half and crease fold firmly.

Note : This fold line will be your stitching line.

Attaching pages to cover

Centre your set of pages down the centre of your fold of your cover.

Machine or hand stitch through all the pages . Secure stitching with reverse stitch on machine or knots if hand stitching. I add a tiny bit of glue on the ends just for added fixing here.

Fold book in half.

Your beautiful handmade Stitch fabric and paper book is now finished. Well done.

Stage 6     Your Little Love Book

Step back and admire your work.

You can now add other things to the pages, in journal style, write, draw, sketch, add special photos, love letters, love notes, pin brooches in , place secrets in pockets. Just have fun and personalize your little love book.

I do hope you enjoyed this tutorial and have made a lovely book to treasure. Please let me know how you have done. And show me photos of your wonderful finished books. Please also credit my tutorial instructions if adding your finished work to any blogs, social networking sites.

The inspiration of this book came from a 1940s Valentine card.

I have used the heart motif for the centre front cover and blue gathered fabric around the heart is inspired by the fabric on the embroidery ring. Using this card was A Creating the Hive e swap challenge.

Tutorial is to be used for non commercial purposes only. Copyright Sally Hutson

www.stitchywoowoo.co.uk