Enveloping fun

Wow - it's been a while! Life got crazy, and still is crazy, but i have a few minutes to break my blogging drought. I thought i would do that with these ... pretty envelopes!

I had a ball making the small pockets with wallpaper samples and lining the larger envelopes with recycled wrapping paper.

I love the colours, prints and patterns.

Its the simple things that make my heart smile.

Stitch-up and Colourful cushions

Well, it is December already. I know I feel this more and more every passing year, but where 2011 went, I really don’t know. 

Although saying that, one thing I have been waiting for very impatiently, that seemed to make the last few months drag, finally happened – the little sewing and haberdashery shop opened up around the corner yesterday and I was in there buying lots of lovely little bits and pieces. The shop name is Stitch-Up and yes, they are going to host sewing groups and classes so I am really excited! I had a pang of jealousy walking around the shop and hearing all the positive things the other eager patrons had to say, but ‘Shoulda, coulda, woulda’ as they say. 

The shop is called Stitch-up and they have a website at www.stitch-upinfo.co.uk that doesn’t actually appear to be up and running yet, but baby steps. Once it is, I think they will post information about the classes and groups they are running. So if you frequent the Wimbledon area in London, be sure to check it out. I made a suggestion for a little lesson on sewing in zippers because this is something I have attempted and pretty much failed at a few times now. 

In honour of this very sewey occasion, I thought I would share some cushion covers I made recently for a friend. 

I love the pom-pom trim - makes them much more fun!

Hopefully they bring some brightness to this otherwise very dull London Sunday.

Look what I made...

I had so much fun making these. Find out more over at Phoebe and the Letterpress.

These cards are now available on my Etsy shop @ phoebeandthe.etsy.com

Patchwork upholstery

Cath Kidston vintage find in the Brighton shop

Cath Kidston has been giving me ideas...again! I think i want to cover my little arm chair in a patchwork like this. I think it looks amazing.

I had better get sewing.

Quilting and instant gratification napkins

I have started a quilt - and i have probably bitten off a bit more than i can chew, but when has that ever stopped me?

I was shopping in Cath Kidston several months ago, when i spied the most beautiful quilt i have ever seen in my life! I don't know exactly what it was that made me love it SO much, but i think it might have been the use of white with the immense variety of pretty patterned colourful segments that pleased my eye. I am a pattern junky, and this quilt was overloaded with different types - all very retro, although i cant know its age, a lot of the fabrics remind me of my granny's linen cupboard, anything from 30's to 70's.

I think it is kind of a 'charm' quilt in that there were no obvious repeats in the fabric (there were a few though, it took me a good while to spot them), however i don't know that the white 'background' really fits with this. I wish i had some kind of quilt mentor who could answer my questions - in fact a quilt course at university would be brilliant, there is so much to know and learn! The other thing i especially loved was the 'floral' type arrangement of these patterned segments. I stood for ages trying to work out the pattern exactly and how it broke down into squares.

You might ask why i didn't just buy the quilt? Well at close to £500 it was a bit out of my budget, but i was determined to have something similar.

And so, after taking a few trips to fabric shops around London and to the Eternal Maker in Chichester, i have finally worked up the courage to try and make my own.

First of all, i needed to work out the pattern. I did this by using my finger and hand to measure the original pieces and then went from there - not an exact science, but i think i have got it right to the inch. I then got out my old school geometry set and employing both compass and protractor, started sketching away a plan. I had to remember all of the triangle rules and what angles i needed for each corner -  whoever said you never use maths again after school must have never tried to make up a quilt pattern before! Once i had this all sorted, i washed and ironed and folded about 12 different fabrics and began cutting.

I have managed to sew together the beginnings of my first square; I have at least 41 more to go! So, I am definitely in this for the long haul. I am pretty thrilled with it - and i hope one day i will have something that doesn't look too far off the original. As a complete novice i have struggled a little with sewing the curved edges together, but i am finding that hand sewing, is not only very relaxing, but also very forgiving. I hope that i will be able to employ my sewing machine at some point to try and speed the process up, but I'm not sure if i will be able to control how well all of the points meet. In any case, i am not in any hurry, aside from wanting to see it all finished and laid out on my new bed.

To sate my hunger for instant gratification, i whipped up these two napkins for the dinner table out of some left over Cath Kidston fabric i had left over from a table cloth.

Very satisfying.

Upholstery update - The finished bed!

No, your eyes aren't deceiving you, it is true!

I have finally finished!

After a good 18 months, i finally hammered in the last tack, glued on my double piping and stood back to admire my handy work.

Although i was pleased to finish, at first, i felt as though i never wanted to look at it ever again, but my husband was so enthusiastic when i bought it home, having waited forever for it, that he put it together that night and his enthusiasm was catching - I LOVE it!

I have already been up to Cologne and Cotton and picked up some special sheets for when we get our new bespoke mattress, complete with curved corners.

I still have another to do yet, but i have decided it can wait while i have a break from french antique beds and work on a little bucket chair instead.

Keep checking in for the little chair's progress. Hopefully some of the bed upholstery skills translate and i can be sitting back reading a book on it before the year is through. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Coastal Origami

Whilst holidaying back home last month, my husband and I headed down the coast for a mini holiday within a bigger holiday with some friends. Days were spent swinging in hammocks, reading books, lying on the grass in the cool tree shade, protected from the hot afternoon sun, swimming in crystal clear, salty water, lazing on the sand, canoeing in the lagoon, eating fabulously and having good old natters with everyone. It was just lovely. Lucky for me, one of our friends is an artistically gifted individual who suggested a bit of origami (after managing to sketch and paint a lovely little scene from the verandah view). We settled ourselves in for some paper folding and picked out a few of the easiest patterns to master first. Whilst folding, we imagined using paper similar to my wedding invitations (you can read more about them here) and creating some truly beautiful papery art. Despite our paper being plain, it was colourful, bright and happy and we produced some lovely little items.

Letterpressing for Christmas

For Christmas I have gone out on a limb.

I have got two magnesium plates made up to print our own personalised Christmas cards. One is the stamp I will be using on the backs of my cards with my logo and 'catch line' (Phoebe and the Letterpress, Custom letterpress papery things). The other was a Christmas message for the front cover of the card. I wasn't sure how well I would print with either of these, I was more worried about the logo stamp than the bigger Christmas stamp. But, it all felt a bit risky.

I thought the small font size, thin lines and detail in the fonts, namely rosewood, I chose for my logo stamp would give me issues. I remember when I was making my wedding invitations, the man who made my photopolymer plates, a Mr Sparrow, quite famous in letterpress circles, now sadly retired, warned me of the dangers of using small fonts. In fact I think I had to go up to a size 12 font before he would happily make my wedding invitation plates for me (maybe he was being cautious as I was a beginner). The stamps he made me printed very nicely, but I bemoaned the fact I didn't get the deep impression I was hoping for. I suspect this was more due to the hard card I was using than anything else. Edward, or Ted as he prefers to be known (brilliant name!), was a traditionalist and keen on the 'kiss' method as opposed to bashing the font forcefully into the paper. I remember him telling me that letterpress shouldn't leave any 'deep impression' on the paper other than the ink. I was confused as it was precisely this impression that had made me fall in love with letterpress. As I read more, I discovered two different views in letterpress. One is to leave the lightest kiss on the paper, and they other is to impress a deep 'debossing'. I personally love the debossed look. So, as I have progressed, I am always striving for the deepest impression I can muster, really thrusting those letters irretrievably into the page.

I started printing with my logo stamp and was pleasantly surprised. The impression, while not as deep as I like, was still fairly good and all my tiny fonts printed clearly, cleanly and legibly. Even the rosewood font came out perfectly. So I deemed this run a success. Good, that was the hard part over. Next I was moving on to my big Christmas block with large font using a variety of typefaces. This I thought would be easier as Ted had been so positive about large font. But NOOOOO! I cant seem to get the ink to transfer to the paper evenly let alone worry about the impression on the paper. I am double inking, and pressing 3 to 4 times and still I am getting problems with patchy ink particularly in the middle of the my stamp. I rollered the stamp myself thinking perhaps my rollers weren't getting at the stamp properly, I packed up the tympan in a variety of ways, I adjusted the impression bolts constantly and I still cant get it perfect. My husband has tried to reassure me that they don't need to be perfect because after all they are handmade, but it is driving me bonkers.

There are a few other options I can try to improve the prints but these all involve mess, something I wasn't prepared to undertake late last night. At the moment, I have the stamp sitting in the top corner of the frame thing (god, I really need to learn what everything is called already!), so I think I should try and move it into the middle to try and get a bit more control over where the impression bolts are affecting.

I have also been a bit dodgy and have been layering up my tympan in a haphazard fashion. I think I might need to take all of that apart and put it together properly. Other than that, im not sure what else I should do! Fingers crossed this works. If it doesn't, I am going to cry. Still they do look pretty cool, I particularly love the shade of red (one I got from Caslon when I purchased my Adana). It is lovely and bright and festive!

I have printed on 2 different papers - 

One was a Somerset

The other was thick watercolour paper cardstock

Here are some photos of that i have printed so far.

If i know you, you are probably going to get one in the mail. Sorry to ruin the surprise!

Nearly forgot, if you are interested in more about my letterpress, check out http://phoebeandtheletterpress.com 

ENO's La Boheme at the London Coliseum

I went to the Opera last night and saw La Boheme at the Coliseum in London. It was great, and quite something to hear those songs I knew so well from my parents CD and movie collection (Moonstruck anyone?) belted out 'live'. But I have to admit, the bit that really caught my imagination was the set design. WOW. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't fancy or dazzling or anything like that. It was the "miniature-ness" of it. Like a life size doll house, that spun around to reveal different rooms and even a street scape.

I couldn't take any photos unfortunately, I did get one of the curtain before it went up, but that was all I could manage. However there are a few lurking around on the web that you can see here or check out the video on the ENO page.

This particular version on La Boheme was set in 1930s Paris, and apparently was heavily inspired by photography from the time. The style of the windows, the brasserie and even the staircase were so authentic and conjured up a real sense of the Parisian architecture of the time. I particularly loved the advertisements painted on the walls, entirely reminiscent of those interwar years.

As the characters are 'bohemian' and essentially poor, there is no glitz to be seen, except perhaps in the brass fittings in the French brasserie they dine in during the second act. Otherwise, the sets are furnished with drab material, dirty looking bed sheets, an armchair that has seen better days, a few wooden dining chairs, some lovely old wash basins attached to the "invisible wall" we view the set through (nice touch in my opinion), and some long work benches that reminded me of the old science labs at school.

The use of light was special too. The room in which Rodolfo and Marcello live had some wonderful little skylights that cast lovely shadows on the room. These shadows were even nicer as panes of glass were cross hatched with lead to create long trapezoid shadings on the wall. The broad expanse of glass across the entire back wall of the room gave the studio a very artistic feel. Oh and the light fittings, some lovely industrial styled shades hanging from lone cords from the ceiling.

I found the female character's outfits were really quite lovely too, particularly as I am very fond of the fashions from that era. Again, poor Mimi's dresses were generally stained and marked with dirt, but the cuts and colours were really something special. Musetta's outfits were tailored pieces that were better cared for, probably thanks to her knack for snaring rich men.

What an amazing job it must be to come up with these set designs. All you set designers out there - I envy you.

Upholstery Update: The end is in sight!

Yes, that's right, I am almost there! I have finally reached calico on both sides. The front has been tightened  and i just need to tighten the back before i finish with the fabric. Ah, but before that, i also need to sew about 10 metres worth of double piping and pattern match and sew up both fabric panels. It is actually fairly nerve wracking as i don't have enough fabric to make any mistakes. It is sure to keep me busy this weekend.

Crochet

I have been getting back into crochet over the last couple of years.

Why?

• I blame Cath Kidston. A while ago now, I saw some lovely crocheted blankets in one of her shops. When I looked at the price tag I nearly fell over. I remember saying, slightly outraged, "I could make that!". And so I decided to try and make something akin to the granny square blankets my grandmothers made for me.
• Secondly, I am on a never ending mission to 'soften up' of my husbands very masculine flat and create a 'cosy' atmosphere in the previously Spartan and cold lounge room.
• And finally, it is nice to have something different to do on the tube to work. I love reading, but I have peaks and troughs with it as with anything, and it is lovely to be able to pick up something else. 

My crochet pedigree

My nana taught me the basics of crochet when I was young and I can vividly remember creating long crochet strings with my French Knitting doll. My nana really is amazing with her hands and creating things. I think it is where I have got my crafty bug from. The spare room in my grandparents rooms was jam packed with sewing machines, material, patterns and sewing models. My granny had a similar stash of wool and knitting needles, in fact I can remember my granny breaking a knitting needle in half and sharpening it on the concrete outside to made a pair that were suitable for my size (at the time I remember her saying to call her 'Supergran', and she was). So there was a lot of yarn in my childhood.

How I rekindled my crochet romance

Initially, I bought one book and hopped on YouTube to look at videos but kept getting myself muddled. It was around that time I discovered the Make Lounge and they were just bringing out two crochet courses (their offering has since grown). I enrolled on the Learn to Crochet: Fashion Accessories and the Crochet Amigurumi Toys courses. There were lots of 'Oh, that's right' moments, and before I knew it I was racing ahead creating my own little crochet motifs. The instructors were brilliant as always and it is such a lovely environment. Im sure I have raved on here about the Make Lounge before, but if you live in London and are looking for a crafty outlet, the Make Lounge is just brilliant.

This is my half finished Amigurumi bear. The poor thing has been waiting months for his arms. I must finish those!

But then, the crochet fever dropped off for another few months. It was upon returning to a wintry London earlier this year that I got fired up again, and this time I was determined to make a beautiful blanket.


I found the perfect book on Amazon - Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs and after reading the Patterns entry from Jane Brocket's blog  (she is amazing! And this blanket is so so so gorgeous!) I was inspired.

I still get stuck occasionally and have to unravel and start again, but I have found a simple enough hexagon motif from the Beyond the Square book that I am going to apply to a blanket plan like the one Jane Brocket made. I am going to continue with one hexagon style for a while before I venture on to some others. I will eventually crochet all my little hexagons together, although in true Phoebe style this may not happen for another 2 years.

Here are the beginnings of my blanket hexagons... well hexagon.

Phoebe and the Letterpress get stamping

As some of you will already be aware, I am trying to get my own little letterpress business started, Phoebe and the Letterpress (there will be more about that later on).

I am still in the beginning stages and trying to get all my materials together before I can list anything on my Etsy shop. But in the meantime I have been stamping away in preparation. One of these was a 'Thank you' stamp I had made initially for our wedding. I have popped some photos up on my website of these attempts and I think they came out beautifully. I really lucked in with the light when I was taking the pictures too, I think they almost look professional (to my amateur eye anyway).

I thought you might enjoy checking them out.

P xo

Finished quilt

Its a few weeks ago now since I finished my second baby quilt. The gorgeous girl smiling in the photo is the friend I made it for and you can see the finished product in her hands. It was a race to the finish line in the end, with all the tidying up of threads, washing and drying and the last bit of binding that still needed to be completed that day. I spent a good half of the day stitching away while watching a film (The Shipping News - no where near as good as the book in my opinion, and oh how I love that book) before giving it a gentle hand wash in the tub and praying the little bit of sun shining through the clouds would do its thing in time. It did, and the quilt was a success.

I still wasn't entirely certain of my fabric choice a fair way into making it, but it really came together and the binding really finished it off perfectly to accentuate the fabric on both sides. Subconsciously though, I think I knew it would work all along, because in the end, I had a very Autumn shaded quilt for an Autumn baby, complete with trees that have dropped their leaves. Meant to be, hey?

I was very proud to present it to the lovely couple. It was so touching when the mother and father-to-be were looking at it and realised the time and effort I had put in. In fact, I think I remember the mother saying, "Are you sure you don't want to keep it?!". I was certain, it was made for them especially and I hope its something they and their soon to be born baby enjoy in the years to come. 

Lots of love
P xoxoxoxoxox

My peg bag

Continuing on with the 'look what i made' thread, i thought i would show my ..... PEG BAG! Not exceptionally exciting, but i think its just as cute as the ones i have seen in Cath Kidston, even if the fabric is a tad more mod!

Upholstery update - the footboard.

I started in a new upholstery class this week. I loved my old class, but I wasn't getting a whole lot done. I would always arrive late, after I made my way there after work by way of a quick dinner at home (I can't do anything on an empty stomach), then I would have a chat with everyone, working my way around the class, and then before I knew it, I would only have 30 mins of time left to actually work on my bed! Hence the headboard taking me a year to complete.

So I made a decision to join one of the daytime classes on one of my days off. Its a longer class and I figured, if I didn't know anyone, I wouldn't be as inclined to chat. Well the extra length of time is great and the fact its during the day, but not knowing anyone certainly didn't help me keep my mouth shut and work. I have already made friends with half the group and im guessing I will tackle the other half next week. Still, maybe because I wasn't as tired as I would be when I went after work, I was able to talk and work at the same time. In one class (well, 2 if you count the very end of the summer school I attended) I have got the footboard looking like this! I'm pretty pleased with myself.

Maybe, as my teacher jokes, it wont be too long before Stephen and I don't have to sleep on the floor anymore.

For all of my upholstery ramblings, click on the upholstery label in the column to the left.

A Children's Apron for Isla

I whipped up a quick little apron for my friends daughter the other week. I didn't make a pattern or anything, just drew the basic shape on half the fabric and cut it on the fold. I think the fabric was by Amy Butler from memory with some matching lime binding tape sewn around the edges to create the tie.

I left the ties around the neck and waist open so they can be adjusted as Isla grows.

Super cute!

My quilts

Following on from my Reading for Quilters post, i thought i would share some pictures from my first attempts at quilting. I went to a short course at The Make Lounge and had a brilliant time picking up the basics.  I'm sure i have raved on about The Make Lounge before, but it really is fantastic and i highly recommend courses there for anyone in London. I have been to a fair few of them so if anyone ever wants a review on any of the courses, just let me know.

The lighter one on the right was my first quilt, made at the Make Lounge, and the darker one on the left is my second. I am making the second as a baby quilt for a friend who is 7 months pregnant. By far the trickiest thing i have found about quilting is picking the right fabrics, and i wasn't sure i had got there with the 2nd quilt, but i think it all came together when i picked the backing fabric (in the last picture). Let me know what you think.

From my tiny bit of experience, i have found every aspect of quilting incredibly fulfilling, and creating something so beautiful, that have traditionally been passed down as family heirlooms gives such a sense of achievement. 

Both are still incomplete but i will post some more pictures once they are finished.