Liberty boxes

You know sometimes the more you make the more fired up you get?  I think I'm going through a bit of that at the moment.  It's fun while it lasts!

Anyway, I was looking at the crazy patchwork scrap fabric I showed how to make yesterday and thought how lovely it might look as a box, so I covered a sturdy chocolate box with pink tissue paper, and glued a panel to the top.  I used the same glue (white glue, which dries clear) to 'varnish' the whole box.

Then, as I was having a good time and putting off doing some hoovering I made another little box.  This one uses one of my Liberty origami brooches to decorate the lid and is going to contain a Christmas present.

Then I was quite pleased and had to take lots of pretentious photographs!

How to store and use really tiny scraps, and another way to make crazy patchwork

Over the last few months I have sewn a few projects using Liberty and was left with some very small scraps, none much over an inch at the widest, and some only a cm or so in width, so impossible to seam.

If you are like me and can't bear to throw this kind of thing away one way of using it up is to transform your tub of tangled bits into one piece of fabric which can be used in various projects.  You can do this using a method of crazy patchwork.

It is different to the 'spiral method' I used to make panels for my bags, and uses a foundation cloth, so as well as your scraps you need some cloth for your foundation (eg fine cotton sheeting), some Pellon/ Bondaweb/ WonderUnder, and threads.

Cut a piece of Bondaweb the same size as your foundation fabric, place your Bondaweb on your fabric rough (glue) side down, iron and then remove the backing paper to leave a layer of glue on your foundation fabric.  (Hang on to the backing paper for the moment.)

Now start to lay out your scraps on your foundation fabric, butting them up together or overlapping them just a bit if necessary.  You won't have to worry about seams and you don't have to lay them out in any particular order - you can be quite relaxed about it; it's a bit like crazy paving.  Just don't leave any gaps.

When you have covered your backing fabric with scraps you can use the piece of paper you peeled away (obviously now glueless) to protect your iron from any stray glue round the edges while you bond the scraps to the backing fabric.  I keep these bits of paper in my work tub - they come in handy.

You'll end up with this.

Now go over all the overlapped or butting edges with a small zigzag stitch or blanket stitch or whatever you fancy - again, you can be quite relaxed about it, crossing over pieces and reversing over your own stitching to follow another edge unless you are a perfectionist which I'm generally not.  You might see some lines of stitching below where I have crossed a piece of fabric and then kept going just in order to avoid having to lift the needle to stop and start another line.

Now you have your lovely, scrappy fabric which you can treat like any other.   First of all it is easier to keep in the cupboard without getting in a mess.  Then you can cut selectively from it and use pieces for applique - it is easy to cut as it is stabilised by the backing.  Or you can use larger pieces to make pouches or pincushions.  Of course you can also join panels together for bigger projects.

I used some of mine this week to make a table mat just for me.  It was inspired by Larisa's mats, which in turn were inspired by the Komebukuro bags and pouch I made.  I really like that about blogging!

[If you don't have Bondaweb but happen to have a can of spray baste you can spray your foundation fabric and fix your scraps to it that way - omit the ironing!]

New to Me in November

I'm linking up with Fiona for New To Me this month - I've dropped out of sight a bit for the last couple of weeks because I've been up to a few new things and on a bit of a learning curve as I went along.

First a bit of charm swapping - the Low Volume Charm Swap run by Rachael at the Floral Suitcase.   After a lot of deliberating about what exactly constitutes low volume I got lucky as Sarah did a post on low volume fabrics currently on sale - what a star!  I've got two spots in the swap so I should be receiving 2 bundles of 56 squares.  I'm quite excited about this but I have been putting off cutting up my fabrics out of terror at the hideous responsibility of doing it for other people and the fear of getting marks from my iron on the fabric, or cutting it squint. Now it's done!

I've found recently that when fabric comes off the bolt folded the pattern sometimes seems to banana in the middle, so after ironing my first fabric out flat I had to fold it in half by matching up the selvedges while holding it up to the light so I could make sure that the pattern line ran straight across.

Some stamp making - totally inspired by Fiona's own.

And finally I bet almost everyone who makes stuff has a little nagging voice of self-doubt but I decided to ignore it anyway and try making stuff to sell.  I'm dipping my toe in the shallow end by starting with bunting - and little bags to put it in - and giving it to a friend to sell in her shop.

I've made about 40 metres of it so far - here's hoping.

As well as the bunting, I've been making Liberty fabric brooches using charm squares from Very Berry Fabrics (tutorial here, shortly to be updated).

This is my favourite.

It's turning into really useful experience, partly because I'm realising just how little my hourly "wage" will be after deducting costs, which probably isn't news to anyone who does this for a living.  It's also useful from the point of view of learning about perfectionism and finishing things off properly.

Do you make things to sell?  Where do you sell your work?  And do you have a handy formula for pricing - or do you wing it?

Meanwhile, if you know anyone who would like to buy Christmas bunting, you can point them my way;-)

WIP Wednesday

Despite having a bit of a whinge about how hard I find the discipline of following a pattern, I'm getting very fond of this quilt in progress.

I now have all the triangles sewn together (there are some shameful cropped points, but I don't think anyone would really notice).

I'm going to customise it slightly by adding a border all round:  my daughter, who this is for, and I are just debating whether it should be pink, acqua or red.  (Or even the neutral, with a stripe of one of those...!)  What do you think?  Either way it's going to be a fun piece, I hope.  

I haven't decided how to quilt it but at the moment I think it would be nice to add to the colour madness with some perle hand stitching.

Other WIPS include some teeny-tiny crazy patchwork panels using the smallest of scraps left over from Liberty projects - some scraps are only a centimetre or so wide.  Because they are so small I have used a different crazy patchwork technique to the one I used for my Komebukuro bags - more about this soon.

I'm linking up with

Komebukuro Bag!

I've posted a how-to on the blog today.  It took ages to write and I'm not sure how comprehensible my instructions are so I'd be very grateful for any (kind) suggestions about how to improve them!

And, if you would like to help out by making a bag and giving me your thoughts in the next month I will send one reader your own lovely maxi pack of Liberty scraps to use.

How to Make a Komebukuro Bag - Part 2, General Construction

How to Make a Komebukuro Bag - Part 1 showed how I made the exteriors for two bags.

So, if you have decided to make a bag, settled on the finished size and made your sides here's what you need to finish it.

How to make a Komebukuro Bag - Part 1 Liberty Patchwork exteriors

I have got round to sorting the process photos I took when making my Komebukuro bags (here and here) and thought I would post a bit of a how-to in case anyone was curious. [edited to add links, sorry!]

These bags (originally made to contain rice) are quilted so they have a bit of structure to them, and being square and flat bottomed sit nicely on the floor or on a shelf when full.  I made the larger one above - great for knitting wools or a crochet project perhaps - and the smaller one below which could happily contain a stack of fat quarters.

The construction of the bag is quite straightforward, and you could make up the exterior in any way you like and to any size you want so I don't include measurements but just show how I constructed my two versions, with instructions for assembling the bag in another post.   If anything is unclear, or if you find it difficult to work out your own measurements, please do let me know.

Applique Music Bag 2

Another applique music bag.

The birdies in this one got fancier tails, red and pink...

 and blue-green variegated Guttermann Sulky.

This bag also features mice with bead eyes.  Birds or mice might have been enough from a compositional point of view but sometimes you just have to go for it!

I've been wondering whether anyone would buy a bag like this (we can all dream).

This one was made as a gift.  One of the reasons I blog is to make contact with people who also like making things and I am really grateful for the support of other bloggers, so once in a while it's nice to be able to show my appreciation.  Miss Patchy Rose this bag is for you  - I hope you like it!

Finished just in time to link up with Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Friday Finish

I finished the applique and machine embroidered music bag I have been making for my daughter.

I didn't want to faff about attaching the lining inside out and then turning it, so I just nestled the lining inside and bound round the top as if I was machine binding a quilt.

Then I made plaited handles so they were a bit robust, and sewed buttons on to cover the fixing stitches.

As a friend pointed out there's a lot of cream in there so I thought I'd better photograph it before it begins its working life this afternoon!

Linking up to Finish it up Friday

Fresh Sewing Day - A month of Liberty!

Not just because the children went back to school.  There's been a lot of Liberty fabric in my sewing this month.

First I finished this mini quilt which I started at the Stitch Gathering as part of a course on Crazy Patchwork.

Then I did something quite new to me which is bag-making.  Just before the summer holidays Ali of Very Berry Fabrics very kindly sent me one of her Liberty maxi scrap bags so I could have a play with it.  So, first I made a Liberty and linen komebukuro bag. I'll post details of how I made it because it was quite satisfying!

Satisfying enough to try a second komebukuro bag.

Then since I was on a bit of a roll (for me) I supplemented some of the remaining pieces with a few more bits from a scrap pack I had already, and made these - two Liberty pouches.  The squares are about an inch across.

Finally I used some of the remaining scraps to make a panel for a music bag.  This is a detail.

On the offchance you are not already familiar with Ali's shop you should check it out as it is full of beautiful and irresistable fabric - she also has a lovely blog, and is a really nice person to deal with.

My one non-Liberty make used Oakshott cottons, and is this entry for the Holiday Memories Mini Quilt competition at Celtic Thistle Stitches.  (Not too late to enter!) It is inspired by collecting pebbles with my nephew on holiday with family, and so represents three of my favourite things.

Linking up with Fresh Sewing Day.

Music bag - WIP

Making my daughter a bag to take her piano music to lessons.  Free-motion embroidery, raw-edge applique.   My ability is trailing behind what I wanted to achieve, but I'm having fun!

Zipped Liberty Pouches

Despite a day of pouch rage last week, I managed to get it together in the end.

The pouch is quilted, with the Liberty panel stitched in the ditch (or meant to be - oh the satisfaction when it works!).  The border was sewn with seed stitch and each colour overlaps the last and the next so there's a kind of rainbow shift in colour as it goes round.

It's lined with some of the ancient fabric I used for Komebukuro bag 2.  I wish I could find more in this colour.

And, along with a few goodies, it's going off to a new home where I hope its owner likes it and doesn't notice any of the flaws (huge mistake to make a first pouch for somebody else.)

The second one took about a quarter of the time to assemble and has also gone off to a new home.