The professional touch - Labels

It does not take long at a Sew Retro sewing class to go from being a beginner
to a competent seamstress making wonderful outfits and gorgeous gift.
A label gives the gift or outfit a lovely profession finish. Vicky was given
these labels for christmas they are from Easy2name. You can choose the
font, size, colour, etc............. I was very impressed with the quality.

Merry Christmas Every One

May all your christmas dreams come true.

The Great British Sewing Bee Christmas Special and Kath Kidson "Sew"

I am looking forward to watching the Great
British Sewing Bee Christmas special tonight
on BBC 2 at 7.40pm
Lets hope it's a good one !

Using the Cath Kidson "Sew" book I have made
these Christmas present. All of the items shown
in the book  "Sew"are made in using Kath
Kidson fabric.

But it shows how versatile the patterns
can be when you use different fabric.
The Kath Kidson pattern's are great
shapes, you have to trace them off !
This was easy to do. The instructions
are (I think ) quite hard to follow, but
each project is marked, easy not much experience,
more experience, etc. Pop this on your christmas
list if you like making gifts and lovely items
for the house.

Brighton Open Houses

Looking for some unusual gifts ? I would recommend
Brighton and Hove Open Houses.

Weekends from the 30th November to 15th December.

Visiting the Christmas Artists Open Houses is a great way

to discover the creative talent that exists in the Brighton and Hove.

You’ll find homewares,  photography, jewellery, ceramics,

crafts, toys and textiles as well as handcrafted Christmas cards, 

wreaths, tree decorations and foodie gifts.

I have found lots of fab Christmas gifts 

around the £15 to £20 price mark. There is also an added bonus

you get to view the interiors of some amazing houses in the city.

You can download the brochure from the link ! Happy

snooping  shopping.

Need a little Christmas inspiration ?

This cutie, is from the fab book Meet Me at Mikes.
You can make him ? her ? using all your scraps
of fabric, you only need tiny amounts and you
can get creative, with all those "leftovers"
from other sewing projects, fill him /her with
lavender for a good nights sleep,
or, so its machine washable, polyester stuffing.
I use the filling from old cushions and pillows.
After giving them a hot wash in the washing machine,
I slit open the fabric, and re fluff the filling by pulling it
apart, then squash it into the new object that needs
filling.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! Now the winters truly set in
its time to enjoy a few craft and diy projects,
I love this websites for inspiration.
Mollie Makes, website has a daily feed of
tempting, fun crafty,  ideas. Perfect
now that christmas is just around the
corner, and time AGAIN to make a
few pressies. And I  definitely want to try
making these. I hate the rain B U T
it's a good excuse to stay in a get
creative.

Home made Christmas

My thoughts are turning to Christmas -
Christmas gifts to be more precise. Last year
I bought Mollie Makes christmas, I loved and
made the vintage stocking and the I pad cosy.

Both as gifts that were well received
(i think !) and I used the finger puppets
templates to make some hanging Christmas
tree decorations. There are lots
of craft ideas and inspiration in the book.
Also some knitting and crochet projects.

 The book would make a good
gift for someone that likes several
crafts as it has a couple of christmas
projects, for knitting, crochet, embroidery,
paper craft, rather than just sewing
projects, however if you do not knit
or crochet, they would not be enough
in the book the justify the 7.99 price
tag.

 If you are looking for a few Christmas
projects for your home or, to give as
gifts, I would recommend Prima
makes Christmas, which you can pick
up in the supermarket or  at a newsagents.

Priced at 3.99 its got an easy project for everyone,
Christmas stockings, christmas baubles, lots of
wrapping ideas! a guide to making your own
Christmas cards, the lovely crochet bunting
shown above, pop poms, christmas crackers
the list could go on and on. On the plus side
too you get to flick through the magazine
before you buy ! I am going to try the
vintage fairy lights made with transparent
plastic cups.............. I will report back !