Wednesday 4 August 2010

Getting crafty

I have always had a thing for crafts, sewing and making things from fabric. I sometimes wish I had have gone down that route with my career, but in a way it's probably best I didn't as it's now just a hobby and something I can enjoy doing. I love being creative and decided as it's my birthday month this month, I would get a sewing machine and get creating! I'm starting off quite simple, my first project will be making cushion covers! I have plain white bed linen (it was really difficult to find anything for Superking size :s), and cream/taupe cushions. The cushions suited the old bed, but now they just look a bit drab, so I need a colour injection. I'm not really one for matchy matchy, so I thought I'd just find some fabrics I like and not bother if they clash. On plain white it doesn't look too overboard, they are only cushions after all. I looked online for fabric, mostly on ebay, and there are so many beautiful fabrics on there, but a little overpriced when you add on shipping. I wanted to go into an actual shop so I could see the fabric for myself. That's where I found out about a shop in Clapham called Fabrics Galore. Oh. My. God. I'm so glad I went over there. It's like fabric heaven! I read some reviews online and people were saying that they had a great variety of fabrics, some designer, at knock down prices. They specialise in end of line fabrics so I guess that's how they're able to keep their prices low. Amongst their lines, they had a lot of Liberty, Alexander Henry and Paul Smith fabrics. It was hard to pick out material for my three cushions but I'm happy with what I found in there. I got these three, along with a zip for each and it came to around £19. I bought the multi-coloured pins separately off ebay. I think that's quite reasonable as the blue skull one is Alexander Henry, and the other two feel like good quality cotton. The flower one is a very thick good quality cotton, it looks like you could cover your sofa with this. There were a lot of different patterns available in this range, and many of them were quite retro looking, reminiscent of Cath Kidston.
This one was the most expensive at I think £9 a metre, but the detailing is just gorgeous. I love the flower detailing on the skulls, who knew a skull could look so pretty?! And it has this hint of gold painted over some of the lines. It's pretty stunning. I'm thinking of going back for more and making a tote bag out of this or something similar. So now I have everything I need to make my cushions! I can't wait to start on them, and I will post pictures when they're finished.

I've also been getting creative with old bangles, and covering them with fabrics that I like. I'm thinking of making these to sell,maybe sewing buttons on them. I think I'm going to sell this one as it is. I hope no-one minds posts like this too much, I know it's going off the beauty theme a little.

1 comment:

Melly said...

It's really cute!

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