I've done quite a lot of relief and intaglio printing over the years but my one experience of screen printing a long time ago was a bit of a disaster. Recently though I've started thinking about transferring ideas to fabric (partly inspired by the work of Elizabeth at Bottle Branch) so I wanted to come back to it and have another go.

This weekend I was lucky to go on a day course learning to screen print on fabric with Karen Lewis, at Jo myBearpaw's shop.

During the day we learned how to make a straightforward screen that would be easy to assemble at home, and had plenty of time to design and print two different patterns.

It was fun to see such a variety of styles among the group - you can see us, and our work, on Karen's blog!

If you can't get to one of her courses, the process is described in her book Screen Printing at Home, which is full of inspiration.

(Amazon affiliate link)

Karen was a lovely and enthusiastic teacher and the whole process was completely addictive.  I came away completely buzzing with ideas and can't wait to do more.  I have a plan for the trees too.

Liberty boxes

You know sometimes the more you make the more fired up you get?  I think I'm going through a bit of that at the moment.  It's fun while it lasts!

Anyway, I was looking at the crazy patchwork scrap fabric I showed how to make yesterday and thought how lovely it might look as a box, so I covered a sturdy chocolate box with pink tissue paper, and glued a panel to the top.  I used the same glue (white glue, which dries clear) to 'varnish' the whole box.

Then, as I was having a good time and putting off doing some hoovering I made another little box.  This one uses one of my Liberty origami brooches to decorate the lid and is going to contain a Christmas present.

Then I was quite pleased and had to take lots of pretentious photographs!

Imperfect but finished. Everything is a learning experience, and I'm happy!  Not much time to be making anything else at the moment apart from a seriously bricklike Christmas cake.

WIPing along

Taking a break from bunting (which I've started dreaming about at night) to do a bit of experimenting.

A gold leaf for a golden wedding.

I thought the one above was too autumnal so perhaps not good psychology...This is my current favourite but I need to practice a bit with finishing and ending the fancy stitch.

I love the backs though.

New to Me in November

I'm linking up with Fiona for New To Me this month - I've dropped out of sight a bit for the last couple of weeks because I've been up to a few new things and on a bit of a learning curve as I went along.

First a bit of charm swapping - the Low Volume Charm Swap run by Rachael at the Floral Suitcase.   After a lot of deliberating about what exactly constitutes low volume I got lucky as Sarah did a post on low volume fabrics currently on sale - what a star!  I've got two spots in the swap so I should be receiving 2 bundles of 56 squares.  I'm quite excited about this but I have been putting off cutting up my fabrics out of terror at the hideous responsibility of doing it for other people and the fear of getting marks from my iron on the fabric, or cutting it squint. Now it's done!

I've found recently that when fabric comes off the bolt folded the pattern sometimes seems to banana in the middle, so after ironing my first fabric out flat I had to fold it in half by matching up the selvedges while holding it up to the light so I could make sure that the pattern line ran straight across.

Some stamp making - totally inspired by Fiona's own.

And finally I bet almost everyone who makes stuff has a little nagging voice of self-doubt but I decided to ignore it anyway and try making stuff to sell.  I'm dipping my toe in the shallow end by starting with bunting - and little bags to put it in - and giving it to a friend to sell in her shop.

I've made about 40 metres of it so far - here's hoping.

As well as the bunting, I've been making Liberty fabric brooches using charm squares from Very Berry Fabrics (tutorial here, shortly to be updated).

This is my favourite.

It's turning into really useful experience, partly because I'm realising just how little my hourly "wage" will be after deducting costs, which probably isn't news to anyone who does this for a living.  It's also useful from the point of view of learning about perfectionism and finishing things off properly.

Do you make things to sell?  Where do you sell your work?  And do you have a handy formula for pricing - or do you wing it?

Meanwhile, if you know anyone who would like to buy Christmas bunting, you can point them my way;-)

How to make bunting - a faster and less fiddly method

Last year I made Christmas bunting. I used what is probably the usual method - ie laboriously cut loads of triangles, sew them together, turn inside out and then string together.

That's obviously the way to do it if you are using scraps but I realised that there is a way of sewing and cutting them which just helps to make the process a bit faster and less fiddly, if you have the luxury of yardage.

From a piece of cardboard cut a triangle template the size you want your flags to be including your seam allowances all round.   You can see how I have used the angle marks on my quilting ruler to cut an equilateral triangle.  Your triangle can be any kind you choose.

 Now cut two strips of your material as tall as your template.  (I chose a triangle size which meant I could cut four strips from a fat quarter.)   Obviously they can be wider than mine if you are using a full width of fabric - having a wider strip speeds up the process further.

Place down right sides together.  (Do be careful to make sure that directional fabrics are running the right way).

Now flipping your template as you go, mark off a row of triangles like this, using your favourite erasable pen - I love my Frixion pen which was in my Stitch Gathering goody bag - or even a pencil will do the trick.

Mark a triangle.

Flip and mark again

And again...

Do this until you have gone along the length of your fabric strips.

Don't cut your triangles out yet.  Instead, using your preferred seam allowance, you are going to sew seams on either side of your pencil lines. The quickest and easiest way is to zigzag up and down the triangles.  Go one way first - and if you sew as in the diagram below you can stop just before you reach the edge of the fabric, drop your needle, and pivot to turn without having to take the fabric out.

When you get to the end,  zigzag back the other way (shown in red)

You can now press your sewn strip to set all the seams in one go!

Now take your sewn strip, and cut along your pen marks in between your stitching - just like you do when making HSTs.

Voila! - a nice little pile of flags waiting to be turned inside out.

Snip the ends to reduce bulk and turn right side out.

I still never manage a very pointy point - if you have a good tip, please let me know.

Do you want to make even easier and faster bunting?  Just mark and sew your strips right sides out, and cut along the lines with pinking shears.

Either way, you're now ready to insert into your folded bias binding/cotton tape/ribbon and sew along. Leave a space between the flags, or butt them up together, whichever you prefer.

All those little offcuts from the ends of your strips can be cut down and made into mini bunting, which looks sweet wrapped round a Christmas tree.

I'm linking up to Fabric Tuesday!

Komebukuro Bag!

I've posted a how-to on the blog today.  It took ages to write and I'm not sure how comprehensible my instructions are so I'd be very grateful for any (kind) suggestions about how to improve them!

And, if you would like to help out by making a bag and giving me your thoughts in the next month I will send one reader your own lovely maxi pack of Liberty scraps to use.

How to Make a Komebukuro Bag - Part 2, General Construction

How to Make a Komebukuro Bag - Part 1 showed how I made the exteriors for two bags.

So, if you have decided to make a bag, settled on the finished size and made your sides here's what you need to finish it.

How to make a Komebukuro Bag - Part 1 Liberty Patchwork exteriors

I have got round to sorting the process photos I took when making my Komebukuro bags (here and here) and thought I would post a bit of a how-to in case anyone was curious. [edited to add links, sorry!]

These bags (originally made to contain rice) are quilted so they have a bit of structure to them, and being square and flat bottomed sit nicely on the floor or on a shelf when full.  I made the larger one above - great for knitting wools or a crochet project perhaps - and the smaller one below which could happily contain a stack of fat quarters.

The construction of the bag is quite straightforward, and you could make up the exterior in any way you like and to any size you want so I don't include measurements but just show how I constructed my two versions, with instructions for assembling the bag in another post.   If anything is unclear, or if you find it difficult to work out your own measurements, please do let me know.

Applique Music Bag 2

Another applique music bag.

The birdies in this one got fancier tails, red and pink...

 and blue-green variegated Guttermann Sulky.

This bag also features mice with bead eyes.  Birds or mice might have been enough from a compositional point of view but sometimes you just have to go for it!

I've been wondering whether anyone would buy a bag like this (we can all dream).

This one was made as a gift.  One of the reasons I blog is to make contact with people who also like making things and I am really grateful for the support of other bloggers, so once in a while it's nice to be able to show my appreciation.  Miss Patchy Rose this bag is for you  - I hope you like it!

Finished just in time to link up with Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Friday Finish

I finished the applique and machine embroidered music bag I have been making for my daughter.

I didn't want to faff about attaching the lining inside out and then turning it, so I just nestled the lining inside and bound round the top as if I was machine binding a quilt.

Then I made plaited handles so they were a bit robust, and sewed buttons on to cover the fixing stitches.

As a friend pointed out there's a lot of cream in there so I thought I'd better photograph it before it begins its working life this afternoon!

Linking up to Finish it up Friday