rubykittyruby

  I was watching a YouTube video by Annie Claxton yesterday morning as I ate my bowl of breakfast porridge.  I like a slow-start in the mornings.  No rushing around, just a gentle introduction to the day.  Annie was using up material from a Bazaar scrap pack, and that set me off thinking I'd make a similar fabric wrap from a piece of Indian patchwork I'd got squirrelled away.  So I ignored my extensive 'To Do' list and hastily put this together.   This is the back of the wrap.  It's an upcycled piece, so it's had a previous life and is slightly tatty here and there.  That made me decide to not treat this crafty 'make' as one I needed to agonise about.  I'd put it together speedily and not worry about aiming for perfection.  I lined the pink Indian patchwork with a cotton print, and added fabric twine for a fastening.   This is the inside.  The two pockets are made from Bazaar scraps too, while there are two pages of p...

Us Brits are never happier than when we're either drinking tea or discussing the weather.  Preferably both.  Today has been unseasonably warm.  I mean, it's April.  It shouldn't be so mild you don't even need a coat or a jumper on.  I can't decide if it's just a routine weather event or yet another scary sign of global warming.  Anyway, on to craftier matters.  The day began with me unearthing this buckle while I was rummaging in a button tin.   I realised the colour meant it would look good as part of a fastening for this fabric wrap that I'd almost-but-not-quite completed.  I sewed the buckle on, and paired it with this dotty black ribbon.   The ribbon's not totally perfect, but I need to remember the ' better done than perfect ' saying, don't I?  Right, that fabric wrap's finished and I can tick it off my work-in-progress list.  The other thing I finished is this circle bag.  It didn't really turn out how I en...

  I don't know about you, but I could happily spend hours browsing on Instagram.  It can be intimidating to see unbelievably perfect creations, but on the whole the photos are inspiring.  I saw these lovely fabric dolls sewn by 'quaintmarie' - link here - and despite my many works-in-progress I had to try making something similar.  Firstly I cut out a basic paper pattern. I stretched a piece of calico over an embroidery hoop, then selected scraps of material and arranged them on the calico.  Putting the paper doll on top, and as I don't have a fabric marker pen I used a bright yellow thread to tack around the doll's outline.   Then I stitched the pieces down and embroidered on top of them.   Once I was happy with that, I added backing fabric and stuffed my doll with leftover thread and tufts of wadding.  I plaited three different colours of embroidery thread and attached a loop to hang the doll from.  Overall, I was quite happy wit...