Velvety Goodness

I just thought I would show you some of the cotton velvet I had dyed for the Big Textiles Show. I had a wide range of colours and textures to choose from and they sold really well! Here are some of the ones I had left which, conveniently, will be available in my Etsy shop! They are only smallish pieces which are ideal for appliques where you only need a tiny bit. Larger pieces can be dyed if anybody wishes for cushions etc made from it just contact me.

Sewing club launch!!

I am launching a brand new sewing club in Wolverton, the first session begins October 7th.
Classes are every Monday from 7 - 9.30 and Tuesday 12 - 2.30

Come along and learn how to create and decorate fabulous textiles for the home and family, make new friends and learn new skills.

All ages (13+) and abilities welcome.
Learn all the basics; how to use a sewing machine, make new items or customise/alter your own. Or, try your hand at Textile Art and learn how to embellish using creative techniques such as fabric printing, free machine embroidery and appliqué.

If you would like more information please ring me on 07876140154 or take a look at my website www.scissorsncloth@rocketmail.com (will be updated soon).

Booking required due to limited places.

£10 per session all materials provided, discount given on block bookings.

Hopefully we will have lots of fun making colourful creative textiles using lots of different techniques.

New stuff

Here is some new stuff I haven't shown you before. I have put the cushions on Etsy and I will list the pattern for the Sunny Dayz cushion tomorrow. They are all 16 inch square feather filled cushions with appliqued designs and an envelope back.
The pattern has step by step diagrams aimed at those people who are just venturing into the world of sewing and applique, its dead easy too!

Sunny Dayz

Sunny Dayz

Red Lolly Pops

Orange Lolly Pops

Fresh from the printing table

The weather has gone from a glorious sunny week to a miserable cold few days. I seems like no sooner you put away your jumpers you are getting them out again! Almost like someone is trying to catch us out so they can point and laugh when we go out togged up for winter and the clouds part and we are left sweating in 30C sunshine! At least with the greyness outside it is a lot less tempting to be playing in the garden!

I have been playing indoors with a bit of fabric printing. They are all fat quarters, the fabric was dyed the other day in various ways. The second two are magenta but for some reason it hasn't shown up as nice as it really is. This fabric is printed with a very simple foam printing block which produces some nice vintage type results.

The fabric is destined for glasses case, which I am sure you would have worked out already!

Hand parfait dyed scarves

As you know I love the dyeing side of making fabric unique and my other favourite part is making stamps or lino blocks. I have decided to combine them both in a range of personalised printed scarves. I have a range of light weight scarves I have been bought over the years. I like them because they don't itch, you can wear them in summer when there's a little chill or in winter when its freezing. They tend to be rather long and wide and beg to be parfait dyed and printed. 

 Below is the first scarf I printed just for me. The colours are subtle on the grey which I think is a nice effect. 

The blue one has been created for my hairdresser featuring of course the tools of the trade, scissors and comb.

Below is a few of the colours to choose from and I will enjoy making the printing blocks on request. They will make ideal presents, every one needs a scarf or three don't they?!

A Gorilla in the midst

I have a Gorilla mad friend who had a birthday the other day and surprisingly turned 21 again! So I then hit the dilema of what do you get someone who seems to have everything you think of ? There are a few credentials to work with.... purple, gorillas, that can narrow things down quite a lot! Then I hit upon the idea of a handprinted scarf which I'm sure you have guessed it will be both purple and include Gorillas!

Printing materials.

Original printout and first print from the block.

I started with a print out from the computer, some scissors, glue, foam and cardboard. I traced the picture and very patiently cut it out and glued it onto some card . You can see the original print at the top of the second picture with the printing block and the test print on paper at the bottom. I used 50/50 acrylic and textile medium to print the image onto both the paper and fabric.

First fabric print on some scrap fabric.

The scarf itself was backed with some nice warm fleece, unfortunately I only had white to hand, but it could have done with being black really. Anyway it was received as it was intended and I think she was very happy with it despite being white on the back!

The first scarf print.

The finished scarf.

Parfait dyeing ........take 2

Lots of dyeing took place the other day. I have always painted and have mixed colours in many different mediums so it intrigues me as to why I find the mixing and application of dye to fabric so fascinating. I think part of it is the way it takes on a life of its own. The technique of dyeing in plastic bags give fabrics a mottled texture, parfait dyeing creates unique fabrics with different colour combinations every time. If you just played with the same three colours you will always get a new and exciting combination of pattern and colour appear every time you emptied that jar.

Below are some of the parfait jars I set up and the resulting fabrics.

The fabric for the first jar is on the left of this photo, the piece on the right was just left over dye on wet fabric.

Yellow Magenta and Turqouise Parfait

Green, Orange and Purple Parfait

Orange Parfait Fabric

Purple Parfait

Green Parfait

Dyed fabric drying on the line

Fascinating stuff! I have bought wax and other things to play with so a whole new world is about to open up, watch this space!!

Bye for now.

Charlie Cuggles

Say hello to Charlie Cuggles.

A soft and cuddly bear. Charlie has been made from super soft fleece fabric and is lovely and squishy just right for cuggles cuddles. He has very few pieces and is very easy to put together just right for Nan to make whilst waiting for a new grand child to makes his/her appearance. The pattern will be available on my Etsy store next week. All my patterns are super easy and have lots of colour diagrams to help you at every step of the way.
Charlie will have a hoppy little friend joining him in the near future watch this space!

A little house for little people

A new pattern for a cute little fabric house. This house has been designed for the little people in the photo to live in. I have designed the pattern to be as simple as possible. It contains step by step instructions with colour diagrams which show you what to do and how to do it. 

I have developed my patterns after visiting many shops that sell fabrics and patterns etc and being shocked at the price of a pattern and what they contain. One shop I visited wanted £5 for one black and white A4 sheet of paper!! I couldn't believe it! There were no diagrams and not too much instruction, it was even folded neatly!

I think the price and lack of direction can often put off people who are new to the wonderful world of creativity and make them feel that a pattern is going to be difficult to understand. On the other hand a simple beginners pattern can be plain and uninspiring.

And so Scissors N Cloth was born. I hope to over the coming months create and deliver a range of attractive but achievable projects for anyone to have a go at, either being a creative beginner or more advanced sewer who could add their own slant to the pattern. 

This time next year Rodney!!

Visit me to see what's happening at my shop www.etsy.com/shop/Scissorsncloth.