The Sewing Attic: buttons

Showing posts with label buttons. Show all posts

Monday, June 24, 2013

New cushion cover designs....

I started these cushion covers a couple of weeks ago now but they had to go on the back-burner for a week while I worked on Amelia's ottoman in my last post. The blue/purple/green 'brick' design cover is just a simple pattern I have wanted to try for a wee while now. It is made up of some scraps leftover from making these memo boards for Caitlin's room. It always feels good to use up leftover scraps doesn't it. The big pink flower design is an idea that came to me while doing some design doodling one evening and I decided to make it while the inspiration was fresh in my mind.

The centre of the flower is made up of 3 different sized yo-yo's with button centres. I do seem to have a thing about yo-yo's I think :-) and yes they did take a little while of sitting in the sun to sew them all on.

The blue brick design cushion cover is just simply quilted with some fairly random wavy lines to break up the straight lines of the piecing.

The backs are a simple slightly off centre envelope enclosure using some of my favourite buttons on each.

Available in my shop from tomorrow :-)

Friday, April 12, 2013

New cushion designs......

For the last couple of weeks I've been working on these new cushion designs for my shop but I kept getting interrupted with 'life'. I've had these designs floating around my head for a while now then I drew them out in a sketch pad and that was as far as I got for a while until the time seemed right to actually make them.

I'm really pleased with how they finally turned out and how they evolved further as I made them. I like how the grey background makes the prints pop out. The addition of the little buttons on both these cushions was not in my original design but not a surprising addition since I love buttons in general, you know big, small, new or vintage or whatever....

I did my favourite pebble quilting on this one but instead of circles I did ovals to echo the oval applique's.

Then on this design I just did random loopy squiggles. The fabrics are a real mixture of prints but I did start off with some of Sarah Feilke's fabric line "On the Pond" she designed for Spotlight.

And my usual handmade button and loop enclosure teamed with some pretty ric-rac :-) on the reverse.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Spring flowers in autumn...

I'm in the midst of making fabric flowers today which remind me of spring and summer flowers even though it is in the middle of autumn here. It's cool and very blustery outside so I'm quite happy to be inside and up in my sewing attic happily absorbed with making these simple flowers, making them up as I go and working with some pretty pinks and reds.

Here is a sneak peek of a nearly finished project I am working on. I sewed these flowers on over the weekend with Caitlin nearby playing with the buttons in my button tin. I remembered being a similar age, enjoying the very same thing, picking out favourites, wondering where some of them came from and their past lives...

1. Spring/Summer Bags, 2. Klammern, 3. Crocheted cushion, 4. PTS 7 Sneak Peek, 5. hand quilting progress, 6. nannas patchwork, 7. Mimo..., 8. scrappy swap, 9. polly pinwheels block!, 10. zipper pouches , 11. granny bag - spring floral , 12. summer quilts-ready for a picnic, 13. Untitled, 14. zippered pouches, 15. little bird blue, 16. Sewing machine

I shall leave you with this mosaic of some pretty things found around Flicker recently...all very happy and pretty don't you think :-)

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Goodies in the mail.....

Before Christmas I was lucky to win a giveaway through the SewMamaSew giveaway day on Tanya's blog Second Chance. I haven't won a giveaway in such a long time so it came as a lovely surprise to have my name drawn. I always participate myself in these giveaways as it's such great way to find new to me blogs to follow which does usually mean I don't have time to enter many myself. So last Wednesday I recieved a lovely parcel all the way from the UK. It's always so exciting to get mail from halfway around the world isn't it!

Tanya had wrapped it up so prettily with ribbon and that little wooden heart tag plus had taken the time to write a lovely long letter outlining what she had included and a little about herself . It was so nice to get a hand-written letter and also to get to know her a little more.

Inside was this pretty tote that Tanya had made using up fabrics from her 2 daughters grown out of clothes. I love how she has re-used these fabrics giving them a second life and making this bag so much more special.

Inside was a wee treasure trove of goodies including a cute little christmas stocking that her daughter "Hope" had made at pre-school and gifted to my girls from Hope, 3 fabric pieces (my favourite being the one in the middle of this photo with the animals on it) , a little red brooch ( love wearing brooches!) some thrifted reels of cotton, lace and ....

.....a yummy selection of vintage buttons!! Love me some old buttons!! Thanks so very much Tanya for such a lovely bunch of beautiful gifts which I hope to include in some projects throughout this coming year.

Tanya is a busy Mum of 2 wee girls, recently taken up sewing and blogging and just might be hosting yet another giveaway on her blog sometime soon :-)

Monday, September 12, 2011

New additions...

Every year my Mum and I have a girls day out at the Hamilton Quilt and Craft fair. It's a great day out looking and talking about things we both like, inspired by new products, seeing fabrics in person rather than online, and gazing at the beautiful featured craft displays. This years display from 'Creative fibres New Zealand ' really wowed us and left us in awe wondering how they create their hand woven and felted garments and art pieces. The quilt exhibitions also included some stunning work and again we were impressed with the details on the quilts and the beautiful machine quilting. Unfortunately I did not remember to take my camera with me so can share no photos with you. The only disappointment for me was that I only saw one quilt that included some hand quilting on it. I certainly know it is not a dying skill because I see many hand quilted quilts online but very rarely do I see them in local exhibitions.

While my budget didn't extend to buying yet more fabric I did add to my button and ribbon collection. And yes hidden under the buttons and ribbon is a copy of "The Farmers wife Sampler Quilt". I have been admiring the blocks being made in this Quilt along for a while now like Camille's here, Kristyne's here and Jodi's here, but was on the fence about joining in since I hadn't seen the actual book. This particular copy was reduced from $45 down to $30 due to very minor dog-eared corners so how could I not resist :-). Now I just need to find some suitably pretty fabrics!

Monday, August 29, 2011

The humble square

Even though I have 3 projects on the go at the moment last week I pulled out some fabrics for yet another project. With my youngest daughters 12th birthday fast approaching I realised I'd better get going on the things I wanted to make her. Why I leave things till the last minute I do not know but all of a sudden I realise I have a mere 3 days left to get the ideas out of my head and made. I'm sure I'm not the only busy mother who does this. Anyway I had decided to make her a memo board for her new study/play area that used to be her sisters bedroom. I knew what colours she liked from her helping me out with the layout of the crochet rug, which were aqua, purple and red and had also decided to make her board the same way I made my memo board here. I really love how just a simple patchwork pattern of squares really shows off the fabrics I chose. I think sometimes in an effort to be original or different we can over complicate things. These squares reminded me that a simple shape is all that is needed to let those favourite fabrics shine.

I did however go to town on the machine embroidery which meant getting to play with all the decorative stitches on my new Janome. I started off just using ordinary thread then switched to some nice shiny specialised machine embroidery thread which really made those stitches stand out.

As you can see I actually made 2 memo boards because one big one wouldn't fit in the space I had in mind. I chose purple buttons and a mauve ribbon for one board and aqua buttons and ribbon for the other. I even sewed these squares in front of her without her knowing what they were for. I guess I do so much sewing that she doesn't take too much notice until I finish something.

Here's a close-up of some of those pretty, decorative machine stitches I used. I think these 2 are my favourites. These boards are really easy to make but just take a little time especially sewing on all those buttons! (16 on each!!) And just to prove how last minute I am I was up until 1am Saturday night finishing these boards off and wrapping her presents for her birthday on Sunday.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Yo-yo's and yet more yo-yo's

I've finally started making some yo-yo's for Penny's 'Yo-yo along'. After finishing up my crochet blanket I needed something to keep my fingers busy at night in front of the TV as I just hate to sit and do nothing so making these yo-yo's is the perfect activity that keeps me busy but still lets me watch my favourite programmes. I've decided to do one colour group at a time so it doesn't seem such a daunting task although having a yo-yo maker certainly makes it quicker and easier. I'm up to 24 as of last night. Penny's making 1008!

And in keeping with the yo-yo theme this is a wreath I made with some of my leftover Bliss fabrics and a few yo-yo's. What do you think?

I really enjoy adding little details to my projects so I embellished the yo-yo's with a selection of buttons and sewed them on with some sparkly beads.

I also wrapped some white ric-rac around the wreath and did a simple running stitch with some pale pink perle cotton to keep it in place and a ric-rac loop for hanging embellished with some simple french knots. Pretty don't you think and its for sale in my shop here.

Monday, May 23, 2011

It's Giveaway time!!

Welcome to my loyal readers and to all those first time visitors who have come over from the "Sew Mama Sew" blog. I love hosting giveaways and making connections with fellow crafters so I if you are new here I hope you can stay a while and have a good look around my blog and find out a little about me.

For my giveaway I have whipped up a knitting roll for knitting on the go plus some quilting fabrics and buttons. I also like to pop in some surprise goodies before I post it off :)

This knitting roll is inspired by my Mother who actually does all the knitting in our family and has provided us with some lovely warm hand knits over the years. I haven't made her one of these rolls yet but a while ago she asked for a knitting roll to put her knitting in for travelling so this is what I've come up with. It has room for 10 pairs of needles and then a generous size pocket on the left side for your current knitting project. I can knit myself but just don't have the time to fit it in at the moment.

For the supplies part of my giveaway I have 4 pieces of quilters cotton and a handful of buttons just because I love buttons. The fabrics are all fat quarters except one that is cut across the fabric width.

This is the outside of the knitting roll It is padded with batting and quilted with straight line quilting.

So if you'd like to win this knitting roll plus the fabrics and buttons all you have to do is leave me a comment and tell me what your current crafting passion is at the moment. My main passion is sewing quilts, cushions and other home decor but I also like to find time to crochet and scrapbook.

This giveaway is open until 9pm May 25, and international visitors are most welcome! The winner will be drawn by random and will be notified by email so please make sure I can access your email address! Good luck!!!!!

Monday, February 21, 2011

Cut once, make two...

One Friday a couple of weeks ago I decided to have another go at making a round segmented cushion. I made up a pattern for the segments, selected my fabrics ( the fun bit!!) and started cutting and soon realised it was just as easy to cut out 2 pieces of each fabric as it was to cut one plus one pillow could be a present for a friend of Caitlin's who was having a birthday celebration the next day. Her favourite colours just happened to be blue and yellow, perfect :)

The back is made up of 3 spotty blue fabrics I had in my stash with 3 large buttons for the enclosure.

When we gave it to her she was really pleased and apparently carried it around with her for the rest of the afternoon.

With the second one I added some extra 'circles' of quilting to the top and added the same blue/white check piping to the edge.

The fabrics are predominately from Heather Bailey's "Nicey Jane' and 'Pop Garden' ranges and it is my favourite colour combo of green and blue with a splash of yellow. Can't believe I actually cut into my precious 'Nicey Jane' fabrics at long last!

I decided to add a bit of interest to the back with a 'scalloped' button enclosure which was easier to do than I thought it was going to be. The hardest part of making these cushions ( apart from getting those points perfectly matching in the centre on the front) is to end up with a perfectly round cushion. After a couple of sessions of unpicking seams and restuffing the inner I think I've got it to as near perfect as I can. I tell you, square cushions are a lot easier to make than round!

I read this quote recently about failing and trying again which I found very inspiring after making these cushions. This second cushion is available for sale in my shop:)

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

I've been making..........

....little handmade buttons from Michelle's tutorial except instead of a ribbon shank I made a loop with the embroidery threads then stitched over the loop with a blanket stitch.

The buttons were made for these bright and fresh cushions that were inspired by the cushion I made for Deb here. I had some left over half square triangles which I added to, then played around with some designs and ended up with 2 cushions.

A zig-zag design....

and this one with alternate colours. They are both simply machine quilted with straight lines echoing the patchwork design.

I used up some scraps for the backs which I like as the fronts.

Although I'm sure I could find a place for them in my home they are up for sale in my etsy shop here.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Handmade Christmas - a fabric wreath

We had a rather cool and very wet day today as you can see from the rain on the windows in these photos. As they say "good for the garden" and I say good for some creativity in my sewing attic!

Everything I used to make this wreath is what I had on hand. I love it when I can make something entirely from my stash! Leftover scraps of batting wrapped around the cane base, then leftover ends of bias binding were used to cover the batting. A couple of yoyos and a fabric flower leftover from previous projects.

The big red flower is one created by my clever Mother and was the perfect match for the colours on the wreath base. I have quite a few of these lovely knitted flowers just waiting for the right project to be matched with. Thanks Mum!

I added more yoyo's made from scraps and finished with various buttons from my button stash. The little Christmas tree is a ceramic button that I got a few years ago and thought I would never use. And for a little sparkle I added a few beads when I sewed on the buttons

So there you go another inexpensive and easy Christmas decoration and something bright and cheery to lift a dull rainy day.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Pillow talk - take 4 and some mail!

A couple of weeks ago I won a giveaway on Georgie's blog 'All things Crafty'. She is giving away a craft book a week and I won the above book "Handmade Bags" which I was really pleased about because I do enjoy making bags. She also sneaked in some pretty little crochet flowers. Thanks so much Georgie!!

Now this is my latest cushion! I started it last week along with another I have finished but can't show you yet. I've had this circle cushion idea written down in one of my notebooks for a while now and got the urge to make it when I saw the green "Erin McMorris" print in my stash with the circles of green leaves. I pulled out some more green prints from my stash and scrap basket and just had fun creating the different sized circles and placing them randomly on a base of pale green fabric.

I then decided to practice my free motion machine quilting. I initially tried doing loose swirls but quickly switched to a pebble design which I think suits the random circle design more. It's far from perfect but I just really love it and it looks great on my green couch although I think it needs some friends!

I used this bold green and white polka dot with the circles for the back and isn't that green button in the middle the perfect match. Such a shame I didn't have 3. Can't tell you what this print is as I've thrown out the selvage.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

A new bag for Caitlin...

So this is what I've been sewing this week, a new bag for my youngest daughter Caitlin. She decided she needed a bag to carry around her things and it needed to be big enough for a few books and some art supplies because drawing and just being creative is what keeps Caitlin happy. We decided to make the 'taxi tote' from Anna Maria Horner's book "Seams to me" but made it it a couple of inches longer. I let her loose in my sewing attic to choose some fabrics and together we chose 2 batiks for the outer and inner and added some bright swirly blue for the trim and some green and aqua hand dyed cotton for the pockets.

I added an extra pocket on top of the larger pocket because extra pockets are handy in a large bag. This bag came together really easily and I found the instruction clear and easy to follow. I probably could have done it in a day if I'd had a whole day to spend on it.

A nice big button to close it! I'm feeling very proud of this button because it's the first button I've made from scratch using this tutorial. Thanks Michelle for the easy to follow instructions!

I'm linking this post up to Sew'n'tell friday . Head on over to Amy's blog to see all the other fabulous finishes this week!

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