SweetMyrtle

a lesson in patience and determination

I just wanted to share one of our teen sewing class members project as it shows initiative, determination and focus.

Rosie, age 14, finished her first ever quilt last night, and it is amazing!!

She initially started the patchwork with her Grandma in the holidays and continued making it in class over the last 3 terms. There was some complicated strip piecing to make up some of the initial squares which would flummox many confident sewers, plus she had the difficult task of designing and balancing all her colours. There were a lot of pieces to cut and join together too and i found her focus and patience with this so inspiring. She did not rush the process, and if she made a mistake she would quietly unpick it and restitch it.

Once the initial top had been pieced Rosie added the batting and backing and set about the HUGE task of free-motion quilting the 3 layers together. Many established quilters send this off to have done professionally as it can be tricky to fit the quilt under a domestic sewing machine.  Rosie persevered despite the bulk of the quilt and her machine sometimes not wanting to behave.

Finally last night she finished binding the edges (beautifully) and the quilt was complete.

When she held her finished quilt up at the end of class we all cheered. She had worked so hard and that moment of completion was cause for celebrating the enormous journey she had travelled.

So despite frustrations and struggles along the way and it being a huge learning curve, through patience, focus and dedication she had reached her goal.

A lesson for all of us there!

the Big Draw

Last week I was lucky enough to be involved in the Big Draw at an event at my local Art centre. Illustrator Emily set up in the gallery creating life sized monsters with the kids and my creative sewing buddy, Alice and I set up some sewing machines in the foyer and invited visitors to have a go at drawing with the sewing machine.

The technique for drawing with a sewing machine is called freehand machine embroidery or free-motion embroidery. It has become very popular in recent years and is the technique favoured by Cornish artist Poppy Treffry who has written a book on how to do it. Other UK artists who use this technique include Jane Lyndsey from Snapdragon, who creates beautiful wildflower cushions. my good friend, Janet Clare, who combines it with applique and quilting.  Linda Miller,who uses just stitch and creates highly detailed filled in pictures,  the amazing Lou Gardiner  who used it in a free-form artistic way layering with fabric and adding paint and the lovely Sarah from Lotus Blossom, who creates the most amazing stitched birds.

Here are some pictures of  our visitors creations from the drop in.

I had a few requests on our Alice And Ginny facebook page asking to explain how to set the machine up for this technique. The setting on your sewing machine is exactly the same as a traditional darning setting. Older machines will have the darning process explained in their sewing manual.

here is the process;

1.  Locate the feed dogs (the metal teeth which sit within the throat plate under the presser foot) which take up the fabric during normal sewing.

2. Cover (with a plastic cover) or drop the feed dogs (some machines will have a sliding knob to do this, so check your manual!).

3. Remove the standard presser foot and attach an embroidery or darning foot. If you don't have one you will be able to go to your machine manufacturer or local sewing machine shop and order one that fits your specific model.

Some artists recommend you stitch without a foot attached. This is possible but the foot helps hold the fabric in place and also helps  you keep your fingers safe as you can see more clearly where the  needle is.

4. Put in a new needle as this process doesn't behave well with a blunt one!

5. Place your fabric into an embroidery hoop to keep it taught. If your fabric is thick you may not need to do this. Applying a stabiliser (temporary interfacing)to the back of your fabric helps avoid puckering but it is not always essential. 

6. Set your machine to straight stitch and stitch length to zero. Loosen the top tension through the needle slightly to avoid the thread snapping.

7. Position your fabric under the needle and lower the presser foot. Hand wheel the needle into your work to find your starting point.

As the feed dogs are covered or dropped you will need to manually move the fabric whilst controlling the speed of the needle using the foot pedal.

Tips:  Move the fabric side to side or up and down and in a circular motion. Do not turn or twist the fabric or the thread will snap. Get into a rhythm. Keep your fingers out of the way!

Try drawing circles and swirls to get warmed up then have a go at your name in joined up letters.  It really is a case of diving straight in and having a go.

Once you are confident with the technique you are aiming for regular even stitches; if your stitches are too small you are moving the fabric too slowly and pressing the foot pedal too fast. If you have long stitches, you are moving the fabric too fast and pressing the foot pedal too slowly. 

It will take a bit of practice but it’s great fun and highly addictive too!

 

My final advice is to leave perfectionism at the door; this techniques creates a very sketchy feel and takes some time to master but when you have practiced it can be used to write messages, embellish applique and on your quilts to create that wonderful free-motion quilting effect. 

Enjoy and do let me know if you have tried this technique and how it was for you. I would love to see what you create.

Gx

Westival

as well as being a sewing teacher i also work as a craft workshop leader and run activities at events.

one of the arts centre i work at host a brilliant indoor music festival each year with real grass turf laid throughout the centre. Saturday afternoon is the family craft afternoon and in the past i have led various activities including paper bead jewellery making, woven sunshines,  and paper flower making.

This year we hosted a pre-Westival free drop in workshop  to make paper pom poms to decorate the centre for the event.  they are so easy to make and if you fancy  creating some of your own, there are some great tutorials about. we made some large ones but also had some smaller ones from  pre cut tissue paper circles. it was a fab day and over 70 pompoms  were made.

the acoustic stage is always in the gallery space and as there was no exhibition booked in during Westival then participants  of the drop in day were also invited to join some professional artists to create some art for the walls and also paint some chairs.

 

at the event i the ran flower crown making  and Alice (the other half of Alice and Ginny) had cut some fantastic stencils and was offering t shirt printing. we had a tiring but immensely enjoyable day and met so many lovely people. it is such a fun event to be part of and the West End Centre  is such a great venue for arts, music and comedy as well as running fantastic workshops, so  do check them out.

here are a few pics.

 

 this was my last day of work and i am now off for 2 weeks, yay!

summertime for me starts now :  )

new * Textiles Festival *Thread* Sun 3 Nov

I must share with you my excitment at being involved in a new Textile Festival hosted by Farnham Maltings in Surrey (also home of the amazing 2 day Unravel festival in February).

Thread will include inspirational exhibits, workshops, talks and a chance to purchase a variety of textile gifts and supplies.

Companies such as Clothkits, Mollie Makes, Guthrie and Ghani, Sew Sister, The Makery, Selvedge, Royal school of needlework, Think make do, Cloud Craft, Sarah Waterhouse  and The Silk Route are attending and also me with  Alice and Ginny showcasing our students work and offering sewing advice. full list here.

There is also a chance to show off your sewing skills in the 'Best in Sew' competition;

Adult catergory, make an A line skirt and under 15's sew a bag for life.

Full details can be found here... there are still a few days to get stitching and entrys are dropped off on the day.

So if you are free this Sunday do pop by,  it's going to be great!

aiming high

today i was lucky enough to be involved in running 3 arty sessions facilitating the creation of art canvases as part of hamphire county council's Aiming High Programme for young disabled people and their families. it was a great day and a chance for families to come, take part & enjoy activities together.  as well as art there was pottery and drumming workshops today.

here are some of the pieces created at the art workshop.

layers and patterns were built up by printing using bubble wrap and paint. stampers and feathers all featured strongly too.

arn't they wonderful? the glitter proved to be very popular too and i am still finding glitter on me this evening!

this was the first Aiming High day that i have been involved in and i thoroughly enjoyed it.

for further info on Hampshire's Aiming High programme click on the link here. and watch the inspiring inclusion in action dvd.

october 1st

well hello to October and hello to you dear friends who i have made through this space here. I hope you are all well and that life is good.

 image taken by my 10 yr old of the changing of the seasons & used with her permission in exchange for  cookies

 it seems that  i disappered for most of September, not intentionally but life has been so terribly busy.  another 'good' busy you will be pleased to hear (though i still have no cooker but not long to wait now!)

Alice and i have run lots of crafty and sewing courses during September and although i am a little tired i have really been enjoying it! I feel very fortunate to be combining two things i love; creating and sharing with earning an income.

Teaching brings many rewards including seeing the look of pride on a persons face when they have mastered a new technique and when they realise that 'they CAN' do it, getting to meet many different personalities of all ages and all the conversation that this brings and also helping me to  challenge myself and allowing me to experiment and develop my own learning so i can share this with others.

it's funny but i remember that as a child i enjoyed playing 'schools' with my dolls. I would make registers and plan lessons.  perhaps this is always what i have been destined to do? I read somewhere  that our childhood games often hold the key to what we may enjoy doing as proffessions as adults. I find this both fascinating and interesting. as a child i also loved making things...

The down side to being busy is that i have not been taking any photos. I got my camera out for the first time in weeks a few days ago to photograph some winter brooches i have been making.

I am so drawn to wools, suede and velvets at the moment. these are the first batch i have made. I have lots more cheery flowers  cut out in autumnal colours ready to stitch up. all the fabrics i have used are either recycled from garments, small pieces from swatch books or remnants, some are vintage too such as the ticking. they are backed with either wool, wool felt or recycled felted woollens and of course the buttons are salvaged too.

I am hoping to add some for sale to my not on the high street shop (if i can remember how) and my own site(s) at sweetmyrtle & aliceandginny (also if i can remember how as it has been a long time since i have added any thing for sale). now i need to work out pricing and sort out some images to upload.

I designed these little flower brooches some time ago now and if you wish to make your own you will find the patterns and instructions in our first book  'Sew Fabulous Fabric'.

The project is also included in the lovely little beginner sewers box set 'How to Sew' . Both books are published by David and Charles and are available  from www.rucraft.co.uk

and if you do stitch any up we would love to see them and if you email us we can also add your pictures to  our flickr page.  (which needs filling up a little!)

edit to add wow i have just seen that the embellishments book  (which the brooch project is in) from the 'How to Sew' box set is now available as an e-booklet 

Wishing you all a happy weekend

g x

summer bunting

bunting is so very popular these days and is a great way to cheer up an occasion or decorate a room.

last night alice and i ran a 2 hour bunting making session focusing on ways to decorate and personalise a  simple string of bunting.

we demonstrated  how to apply stencils, how to apply imagery with applique and embroidery and also showed some fun ways to add text.

each participant created a string of 7 flags  choosing fom a large selection of fabrics. some of the results are here on the aliceandginny blog if you fancy taking a peep.

the nice thing is that the four samples we created to illustrate the techniques to the class were created for our own children. i have now hung the two i made in my daughter's bedrooms, i wonder how long it will take them to notice?

a new friend and some bead fun!

for some time i have been meaning to properly introduce you to Clare (pass the pattern)

Clare is a vibrant, talented journalist who writes for a variety of publications including Knitting World.

you can read all about her  here  and read about some of her commissions here.

Clare contacted Alice and I regarding a feature for Cloth magazine  and spent a day with us in my studio last month.

  She experienced the double act that is 'alice and ginny' which to the uninitiated is rather like watching tennis, accompanied by incessant talking (usually from me!) Luckily she survived and has now written a wee piece on us which includes my Sewing notes  cover tutorial. Cannot wait to see it in the Summer issue of Cloth.

as Clare lives nearby she came to our Monthly Make workshop at The Westy on Monday. the 2 hour session called Bead Fun was based on the necklaces that i love to make using felt and paper beads.

each of the 30 women attending created either a necklace or a bracelet to take home with them.

Clare's  funky orange creation coordinated with her red hair perfectly.

here are a few more creations.. i am afraid that the photos are poor quality as we run the class in the bar area, which doesn't mean that i was drunk but it accounts for the weird lighting.(which i have tried to correct ... badly!)

 

 

 it was such a fun evening with a great vibe and the ladies all left proudly wearing their handmade jewelery.

do please pop over to Clare's Pass the Pattern blog for lots of inspiration  and an interview with our gorgeous editor, the fantastic mrs fox... you won't be disappointed and if you get a chance pop over to our alice and ginny blog to read about another wee bit of press.

oh ... and have a wonderful weekend

gx

surrounded by hearts...

i am really enjoying all the heart craft  love going on in blog land just now...

i have also been surrounding myself with hearts...

last monday we ran a 2 hour valentine workshop for adults... i wrote about it here and here...

this weekend we have a family workshop and are going to create lots of different types of hearts  with scrap fabrics, paper, threads and glitter . the 2 hour workshop covers min age 3 , max age 100, so we have to be prepared for many levels of ability and experience. i have had fun experimenting and this is one of the ideas that we will be sharing with the group... i thought i would share a' how- to'  create one yourself as it is so simple to achieve and really fun to do.

1. Cut off a 7 inch square of self -adhesive  clear book covering *( layering  with pva onto recycled clear plastic bags would be the alternative though in our 2 hour workshop we are limited for drying time).

2. Layer this with thread, fabric scraps, wording, tissue paper, heart shapes, whatever you have really. I used some dried rose petals for mine and cut out shapes from magazines. Add a sprinkling of glitter. Make sure that you leave some areas clear so the self adhesive can stick to itself, also it looks pretty allowing some light to shine through.

Other ideas you may like to consider are wee drawings, writing a message or the name of your love. Creating these with kids would be fun as they always seem to come up with  such great  ideas. A point to note is that if you wish it to be hung at a window then just be aware that the reverse side will also be visible, so layer with this in mind.

 

3. Cut another 7 inch square of self- adhesive book covering and carefully lay in over your work. Smooth out as it rolls of the backing sheet to remove air bubbles. Don't worry too much about getting it to look perfect as an extra bit  of texture looks great.

4. Draw out a heart shape onto card (i used an old cereal box). Lay it over your collage and draw around this with a felt pen. Cut out,  attach thread, hang and admire.

So very easy and lots of possibilities for creating different sizes and perhaps stringing them all together. Why not add a wee pom pom on the bottom too like i have on this one ?

 

 if you do make some please let me know as i would love to see your results...

have fun!

gx

a little loving....

alice and i  are preparing to teach a couple of valentine workshops next month... so lots of heart love going on here... i am really looking forward to february... it is also the month of my birthday (42nd year, i cannot believe, how did that happen?)... it's going to been a busy month workwise so i do hope i can relax and enjoy a little of my own family loving too.

thank you for all your wonderful comments and inspirational words on my last post...i love cathleen's word ~ 'savour' and i think i shall add simone's word, 'action' to my list too....

inspired by taking action i have finally tackled something i have been meaning to do for some time...

yes ... i have started an alice and ginny blog  here....

this space will showcase all things alice and ginny related ... please do pop over and see what we are up to and see some of the projects created at our workshops. teaching is a very large part of my life just now and i am loving it and learning so much.

 just one last thing about the image above.  I posted it to my flickr account and was asked if i could include it in a flickr group called camilles appeal... the current theme is love and the group was set up for a little girl called camille who has a tumor and to raise awareness about brain tumors in the under 5's. this terrible illness has also affected two families  within our small community...  one little girl tragically has not survived but the other is doing really well and is now back at school. to read  about camille and her family's story and to find out about the purpose of the charity please click here.

 thank you x