Another Christmas Present Finished

Whilst looking for woolly jumpers in Knaresborough's charity shops I came across a wonderful book, ' Making and Dressing a Rag Doll' by Suzy Ives. It has a basic doll pattern and then a varied range of clothes including: Smock and Lucy Locket apron; Regency Dress; Pantaloons; Victorian dress and so much more. One of my favourites was the ballet dress, Taglioni Style c 1825, which I decided to make for my daughter. I should really have been making some purses for the craft fair, but I have really enjoyed this project, and couldn't wait to see her completed. Her dress is silk dupion and chiffon, with tiny beads sewn on to add a bit of sparkle (my daughter loves a bit of sparkle). I had to give her a choker as her neck looked a bit funny and was in danger of flopping. Anyway here she is, my first rag doll.


I'm very pleased with her and am already planning the next one. I fancy making a pirate, so I will have to design a new doll.

Another Fair

Knaresborough Viaduct on a wet and windy day.

After saying I wouldn't be doing anymore craft fairs, I've booked myself to do another on Sunday the 3rd of December. It's only £10 for a stall, and I've got stock left over from the last one so I figured I may as well. Besides it's in a fantastic location, Henshaws Arts and Crafts Centre in Knaresborough. I used to work there before I became a Mum, teaching textiles to adults with visual impairments. It's a brilliant place, there are different studio's such as textiles, jewellery, paper making, pottery and woodwork. During the week these are open to the public so you can see the artists at work. There is also a huge sensory garden which the children love and a gallery with touchy-feely art and crafts. I'm hoping to get some little purses made for this one, thought they'd make good stocking fillas .


Here's my latest charity shop bargain, I got all of these for £1.50. I love wooden tree ornaments, they are so colourful. My daughter had a good look through them when she got home from school. Her favourite is the little white angel with gold wings at the bottom.

Whiplash Competition

Here's my entry for the design section of this month's whiplash competition. Hope I'm not too late. When I saw it was alternative crafts I got quite excited. I recently got a copy of alterknits and fancied knitting something, (I have neglected my knitting for a while). I brainstormed what alternative yarn I could knit with and decided on lace. Some month's ago I acquired a lot of lace and keep thinking of ways to introduce it into my work. So here is my finished piece, a shabby chic purse to keep treasured bits and pieces in. The lace is knitted in garter stitch, then I used some odd buttons from the button jar for decoration and threaded bits of ribbon through the knitting on the top flap. Hope you like it.

Blog Makeover...

I've had a day of tweaking, hope you like the new look. I definitely think white is better than black. I have also been busy today listing more eco craft products and funky bags on Etsy. I love the new site. The shops look great with the larger thumbnails. The items I've listed are left over from the craft show. I have more to list over the next few days. Here's one of the bags that's now being displayed in the shop.


If there are any felt makers out there, I have sponsored the felting competition on the felting and needle felting forum this month. If you win you get to choose £20's worth of goodies from my ebay shop. Last time I looked there wasn't any entries so the odds look good. The theme is "holiday".

Talking of holiday, I'm making very little headway with my mission to make as many Christmas presents as possible this year. I have started some little booties though, they are so cute, just trying to work out how to get them to stay on those tiny little feet!

I've also finally got round to listing some silk paper making kits (silk fusion) in the ebay shop. I put them together for the craft fair, and sold quite a few. I demonstrated the technique (helps pass the time away in those slow periods). If you are unfamiliar with silk paper making, there are instructions on my website. It's very easy to do and looks fantastic. My 4 year old daughter was helping me demo, she loves it. Here's a tree a did a while ago.

Hello, it's been a while since my last post. I've had a mad week of making things for the 2 day craft fair at the weekend. Our dining room has had a permanent mountain of felted jumpers in the corner, (fluff everywhere)!! And was it worth it? Well no, not really, I sold things and have had interest in my workshops, but I wasn't exactly rushed off my feet. So that's it, no more craft fairs for me (deja vu moment). The good thing is I have a lot of lovely bags and brooches now so I'm going to host a shopping party at my house, no extortionate fees to pay, just wine and nibble to buy.

I was thinking the other day that I set out to create a felt makers blog, hence the name, and there hasn't been a lot of felting recently. I apologise, the reason for this is the weather. In spring I set up my studio in the garage, which was great, I could leave projects out, and not worry about messing the carpet. Unfortunately, now autumn has well and truely arrived, my studio is very, very cold, and I don't do cold!! I have plans for a shed / log cabin in the garden which I can insulate and heat without too much expense, but for now I have moved inside and am spending my evenings playing with felted jumpers. Here's my latest creations....

The bag above is one I have made for myself, it's a wristlet, but I have discovered the handle is just the right length to fit over one of the buggy handles. The bag then nestles in the buggy hood, allowing easy access for me, whilst keeping it secure.
I'm really pleased with this bag, I bought the frame on ebay. It took me along time to work out how to get the fabric to stay in the frame. Very frustrating but I cracked it in the end. I used some sort of adjustable wrench with bits of jumper secured to the ends with elastic bands (to stop scratching) to squeeze the frame, trapping the fabric. I have since carried out my bag test (hanging the bag up overnight with my very heavy purse and mobile phone in it), and it passed!!!!
This is another brooch, I have made a couple of these for my Etsy shop. The cotton fabric is from a shirt bought from the big jumble sale!

I'm planning to do a 2 day craft fair in 2 weeks time. I have only just decided to do this, I must be mad, I really need to get busy creating. I am going to sell my craft kits as well, so they will fill the stall up a bit. I will proberbly demonstrate silk paper making. From past experience I've found it's a great crowd puller.

I took my Son to the library the other day, and couldn't resist popping into a few charity shops. Here's some of my haul.... the blue curtains are Sanderson fabric.