Making the Tower Crossbody Bag

Making the Tower Crossbody Bag

Hi there and a little unexpected post that has slipped in between the upheaval in things here. We had expected our house move to go through any day and I was almost packing boxes and then the chain broke at the other end and everything is suddenly on hold again. It is unsettling and disappointing and infuriating and for a few days I was so fed up, I couldn’t settle to anything. But there is nothing like a little bag making and embroidery to calm things down and in sorting out my stash in the sewing room I had come across the last bit of a beautiful piece of raspberry coloured wool fabric that I had brought back from Stockholm.

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City Threads : Paris

City Threads : Paris

“Whatever one is doing in Paris, it is necessary to do it in style. There is also no doubt that Paris holds within it’s City limits, everything you can imagine to help you find your own style and embrace the love of fru…fru and all that jazz. It is always the place to be.”

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The Oak Leaves Embroidery

The Oak Leaves Embroidery

This lovely project came together over many months and from many sources and it is one of my most favourite pieces EVER! It is quite a story from tiny beginnings to a framing restoration challenge, but it is now an heirloom and, I hope the start of taking my embroidery to a higher level.

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Making a Sashiko Christmas Tree

Making a Sashiko Christmas Tree

So Christmas is coming (Yay!) and I am working on some bits and bobs for the festive season, but I wanted to return to something I made late in December last year and didn’t have time to write up a post about. It will be one of the first things I put out this year on December 1st.

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Making an Alabama Chanin patchwork scarf

Making an Alabama Chanin patchwork scarf

I finished this project just before we set off for Summer travels and I am just delighted now that autumn is approaching to have it ready and waiting for the cooler days ahead. I’m a little bit in catch up mode with journal postings so you may have seen this on instagram a few weeks ago, but I wanted to document it in a little bit more detail as it is just such a lovely thing.

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Creative Mending - a wool jumper and an embroidered patch

Creative Mending - a wool jumper and an embroidered patch

As part of my drive towards sustainable living, I have been wanting to attempt this for a while. There has been loads of inspirational images popping up on instagram and in the wider media about how to look at this, but it was buying, Flora Collingwood-Norris’ amazing book ‘Visible Creative Mending, that finally launched me on my way with it.

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24 Days of Sashiko ...

24 Days of Sashiko ...

The real joy of the internet is stuff like this….. I mean, seriously, it is just a wondrous thing to be able to follow a little programme like this, share your work and be amazed by people from all over the world, doing the exact same thing in every kind of coloured thread on every tone of cloth. It connects you to fellow stitchers and opens up new worlds of possibilities.

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Making a Safari Cushion

Making a Safari Cushion

The real joy of embroidering is when you can make a special gift for someone you love and this project has been supremely joyous in every way. I wanted to make a gift for my sister and brother in law who have recently done a bit of a make over in their living room. As they have just got new sofas, I felt a cushion was a good option and In thinking what to make, I thought of the holiday of a lifetime that they went on a few years ago, on Safari in Africa and decided on a safari theme. Yumiko Higuchi’s beautiful (aren’t they always) book of embroidered animals is just so gorgeous that it is easy to get drawn into her world of spectacular sewing and feel inspired to have a go.

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Four Period Costume Embroidery Patterns

Four Period Costume Embroidery Patterns

Hello there and Happy Easter. I do hope you have some sunshine to sit in while munching your easter eggs. There’s a new pattern in Ruby’s sewing room and it is just the prettiest set of little designs that are fun to stitch and great for putting on any number of things, especially handmade gifts.

These girls are around 5” high so they are quick easy projects to sew and there is a world of possibilities to explore with embellishments like teeny tiny buttons, seed beads, sequins and metallic threads.

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