Leather Purse Kit

 If I want to try something new but am not sure about it then I will see if there is a kit that I can make. 

So when we visited Creative Stitches in Exeter (it has a different name but I can not remember it) I saw several leather stands and I stumbled upon this lovely leather purse kit.

 It is made by Simple Way in Newcastle and they have a website.  You can buy a variety of kits including handbags and satchels.  You can also buy ready made.  The prices do vary so this would  be a present or a treat for yourself.

 There are a lot of pieces in the kit and the title of this one is Tardis Purse and it most certainly is.

 7 pieces in all plus more than enough waxed thread in fact there was enough left over that I have used it on parcel tags.  I really like red, in fact my current work bag is red and I thought this would go very nicely.  So one Friday evening when hubby was out and Sophie was tucked up in bed I set to work.

The instructions were very clear and the order that it had to be made in was a little tricky in places but that made it more of a challenge.

 Once the layers were put together loads of pockets soon appeared which made it clear why it was called the Tardis Purse!

Plenty of room and it expands without any strain.  The pig skin used  for the coin purse is overhanging a little here and I think that I can sort that out carefully with a pair of nail scissors.

 Blogger does not like this picture at all, sorry, but you can see the coin section here and all of the poppers are really strong, not cheap at all.

Took me at least a couple of hours to make it properly and knot off securely.  I really liked the look of this kit and the fact that the stand holder allowed me to choose the colour of the thread helped.  My hunch that this would be fun was right and I am so glad that I thought to buy a small coin purse for my best friend's daughter as she loves to make things.  It is ok she does not look at this blog, well I do not think she does.  Anyway it is not the same as the one above and Sophie helped to choose it.

I will admit that I do like the smell of leather (sorry to any vegetarians out there) and this is a lovely smell, not too strong and I feel that this will last for years.

Had great fun trying an area that I have never tried before. 

If you like this sort of thing take a quick look at their website, some lovely items on there.

Off to tackle some of my evening class work as there is another session tomorrow night.  Suffice to say that the giddy heights of my success in the summer has been replaced with a severe lack of time which I am struggling with.  A post in the near future about my first year sketchbook soon but I took some pictures a couple of weeks ago and they were awful.  These dark days and even darker evenings make everything look yellow!

Take care and stay warm.

xxx

Mollie Makes Issue 4

Felt, beads and stitch.

I started the kit from the 4th issue of Mollie Makes when it first came out.  Due to other things happening I forgot to go back to it. 

 With new eyes I decided to change some of it.  I like using felt and the type that they use in the kits is really fun.  Due to it being a bit thicker it does maintain its shape better and is easier to cut.

I was not really sure if I would wear the one shown above but I do like the colour of the felt.  I do not wear dangling jewellery to work in case it gets caught on anything.

I also wanted to add some embellishment to it as well. I have all these beads so I really should use them.

I used all of the templates that came in the kit but I just layered up them up.I made the leaves double thickness and added chain stitch plus some bugle beads.  There are two buttons in the middle, some seed beads and running stitch.

I made each section separately.

I used the coloured paper feel string and stitched them on so that they did not slide down.  Once all of the stitching was done I had enough felt to cut a circle to stitch on the back and hide everything to give a neat finish.

I then added a fastening which I recycled from a broken necklace and adding this proved to be the most difficult bit!

I asked Sophie to model it for me and I am pleased with the way it turned out as it was not planned very much.
I would love to try and find some felt like this to try out some more ideas.
I shall wear this with a dark or black top to show up the colours and possibly stitch something on the back of the flowers to weigh them down a bit more.
So I have been busy making but this did take a bit longer than expected and stitching these colours in the evening is not easy to see despite my new specs.
It is a glorious day here today so I am off to take Sophie out on her scooter for a bit.
xx

A Special little Gift............

Sophie disappeared upstairs for ages the other afternoon.  All was quiet and I called up to make sure all was ok.

"Yes Mummy"

More time passed and then she came downstairs with the above bracelet and asked to have a knot put in the elastic.  Not a problem and the knot was duly added.

Sophie then told me that she had been upstairs making this bracelet for me.  She thought that the colours would go with most of my clothes and that the little silver bells added a bit of zing.  Zing..... now I need lots of that by the time I get to Friday!!!

There was not a reason for making this. It was one of those "just because" gifts that are special.  

I did suggest that she could have kept this for Mother's Day but she said that she could not wait that long to give it to me.

Yep......a slushy mummy moment.

I do have several lovely cards that Sophie made when she was at nursery, I just can not bear to throw them away as they are a part of her childhood and she likes to look at them now and try to understand that she was only three when she made some of them.

My hubby has had more handmade key rings from Sophie than he can really use but they all have some keys stored on them, even if they never actually leave the house.

The above gift will be put on as soon as I get home from work at the start of the Easter holidays.

What gift have you been given that has sentimental value such as the bracelet above?

Etsy Addition

This has been added to my Etsy Shop tonight.  There are lots of bags and purses which you might like to look at, especially for Mother's Day in the UK which is not far off and always manages to sneak up on us in this house.  Not this year, however, I have it in progress already!

Had a great day in Exeter, more tomorrow once I have sorted out the pictures.

xx

Creative Zips - Students work

This picture did not want to cooperate so it is at a funny angle but never mind. These are pictures of the accessories that the students made during the work shop. They had no idea what they were making until they turned up.

I bought a special pot of buttons and I did not know what type or colours there would be until it was delivered. The students loved them, all the colours that I dislike really, but I think that might be due to my age! They do finish off the centre of the flowers.

Some were attached to headbands, some were attached to clips or badge pins.

There were three different shapes of flowers to have a go at.

The loopy flower, which I thought they would find the hardest, actually turned out to be the one that they found the quickest to get to grips with.

It was a new concept for them and they were very good in that they went along with it. Once I had shown them the first one they went off and had a go and went out at lunch time with a handful of different items.

I shall show you how at the weekend. Been a busy week again and today I have had my letters printed for a big trip that I am organising in the Autumn term. Lots happening.

xx

Accessory Workshop - Part 1

My trusty TA and I had made it to Friday of our workshop week and the day would consist of making as many little accessories by lunch time as we could. Some students were back for a second time, some for the first time. There were both boys and girls in the group but not as many as the other groups had been. First, was a good old key fob. I had a template already planned out and we kept the construction simple and several students made at least two of these.
They chose from a range of fabric available. Some of the finishing was not quite straight etc but they made them completely by themselves and several were surprised that they could create something so quickly. Smaller classes are the answer but unlikely to happen in state schools.

The split rings were really useful especially when someone forgot to add it when stitching across their key fob. All was not lost and it just twisted on. Another crisis diverted.

A stock of camouflage fabric is definitely a must even though I had other more masculine fabric in my store, lads still go for this fabric more than any other. It was nice to see that several of the students made a second one for Mum or Dad.

The boys went to make some sweat bands with the TA, which I did not get a chance to photograph, and the girls made some fabric wrap around bracelets. I adapted this idea from a project featured in Sew Hip magazine. Sorry, but there are a couple of mistakes in the instructions which I followed when making up an example and I had to alter the measurements too. I shall show you my version next week here as it would be fun to use up those long thin scraps of fabric. You will need some poppers too. They were pleased with these but the need to adjust to fit your own wrist was ignored a little so some were a bit big, but better than cutting off your circulation!

Some decided to use fabric to match their key fob.

We then went on to make some hair accessories which I shall show you tomorrow as I have a headache and need to hit the hay to get rid of it.

Many thanks for the lovely comments about Sophie's ballet achievement.

See you tomorrow.

xx

Purple Corsage.....

Despite the picture it really is Purple! I tried taking a picture in all sorts of places, it was starting to turn into some kind of comedy farce! So, honestly, it really is a lovely deep purple. I have used a good cotton and some organza layered up. This is perhaps a slightly better picture. I really enjoy making these and I have a whole load lined up, inlcuding a shades of brown version for a knitted bag that I made ages ago. I have attached a brooch pin on the back and it is ready to go on a jacket, cardigan or bag. Just a quick post today as I am up to my eyes in GCSE marking! Middle of the week tomorrow! Time is galloping by at the moment, Ineed it to slow down a bit so that I can keep up. xx