Nice day for a white wedding...

Another set of our friends got married this weekend (a different Bride than the one who I made the Hen Party Rosettes for in an earlier post) and I wanted to make them something memorable for their wedding present.

I saw a set of 'tattoo' inspired embroidery pieces in an old issue of Mollie Makes and thought they would be perfect to be reworked into a set of wedding wall hangings!

For the centre image I used a 4" emboridery hoop and added the dates of the wedding to the scroll. This was my first attempt at using metallic thread and I did struggle to thread the needle with it as there was no way of combining the ends as with conventional thread. I think the overall effect it gives makes it well worth the effort, but not something I'll be using for 'everyday' sewing projects.

For the two name panels I used an 8" hoop and had to enlarge the template image to the correct size (thanks to my art training and the grid system this was pretty easy, although I had run out of tracing paper, and was forced to use baking paper as a last minute fix!). I then added the names of the Bride and Groom in the scrolls. I also flipped one of the images so the birds would be face to face.

To finish off the frames, I made a backing piece using thick cardboard covered in black cotton fabric. This meant I could hide the rough stitching on the back of the image, and tuck all of the loose ends inside. I cut the cardboard circles to the size of the inner hoop and pushed them into place. They were a very snug fit so I decided against using glue to hold them in place.

And here's the finished product! Hopefully they will signify the start of another long and happy marriage!

Cassette Tape Nostaligia

I have recently been having a bit of an overhaul of my folksy shop and trying to establish an identity for myself. My general approach to being creative has always been to do what I feel like doing at the time. I can happily jump from baking to sewing to knitting to cross-stich to drawing and have drawers of half finished projects to show for it. So my plan was to try to work in a more considered way and to actually create a collection of things with an underlying theme.

I had been thinking for a while about making a series of felt cassette tapes. There is something great about the cassette tape which I have to say I miss. As good as iPods are they are slightly soulless compared to analogue music playing devices. I remember happily swapping cassettes with people at college with no worry about whether you'd ever get it back. I used to paint the body of the tapes in nail varnish and stickers. And I miss the 'slowed down' thing that tapes used to do when the batteries were dying in your walkman. So the cassette theme seemed like a logical starting point (and links well to the record bowls I already sell)

I started by designing a make-up bag/pencil case pouch with a zip. I raided my stash of random felt, starting with light grey and adding the details in pale blue, dark grey, white and black (including letters for the A and B sides). I added a bright blue zip (by hand - still haven't mastered doing it on the machine) and a blue and white start patterned cotton for the lining.

Once I had designed the basic pattern, I decided to make a scaled down version to use as a brooch. I used the same basic colours but in a smaller version with a silver brooch back on the reverse. I like the cute diddy version a lot, it has a certain (wonky) charm!

All of the above can be found at the Rescued Rags shop.