This month I have mostly been sewing.............

It's been another hectic month but last week i went away to Corfu with my lovely Ma for a much needed break and a lot of sunshine, although I did find myself pining for my sewing machine a few times!
But anyway back onto September craft news. At the last Old Mother Hubbarb Market I got a order for some bunting to go around a baby's cot! Luckily it was nothing on the scale of the stuff I made for my friends wedding! Was quite pleased with the finished result and think it will look lovely around a baby's cot.

Alongside this it was also my dearist Nan's birthday this month and as she is always shopping I thought I'd make her a shopper bag. This one is even lined with a inner pocket. The only MASSIVE pain was after I'd finished it I realised I had sewn the a in nan on back to front!!! Warning when using bond-a-web remember that although you have to write everything back to front that you should turn it the right way round when sewing on! But oh well she loved it anyway. And of course had to make a classic Crafty Ginge Birthday card to go with it.

And last but not least here's a photo of my latest market stall. There are a few new things I've recently made that I'm really chuffed with, just need to start on my stock for Christmas now!

sorry it's been a while

So I've been really rubbish at keeping this up to date over the past few months. Anyway I'm back and i promise to try and keep on top of this!
So here's a brief up-date of what I've been up to of late! My biggest project up until the end of June was the 50m of bunting I was making for my friend and work colleague's wedding! I tried to make as much of it as possible out of recycled fabric using old curtains, bed linen and fabric that's been donated to me. It was a tight squeeze to meet the deadline but I managed it, even having time to decorate a old shoe box using old music sheets, to put the bunting in! The icing on the cake was that my friend was so pleased with it that the other 50m of hired bunting was relocated to the barn and mine was used in the dining area. I still need to get a picture of the bunting in use but have a picture of the box below.

I also have a big pile of clothes I’ve collected from various charity shops across Manchester that I have plans to re-style in some way and I’ve finally gotten round to re-styling the below summer dress. I forgot to take a before picture but it had sleeves, so all I did was cut the top off and add elastic around the top! My friend Alice also made me the lovely belt out of recycled lace and buttons!

I also have a very large bag of jersey that I have been wanting to use to make various creations and I finally got round to making the below top using a old pattern from a top I made years ago but adding more of a sleeve.
I also was donated some gorgeous Laura Ashley esc fabric from a friend when she was moving down to London and couldn’t take it with her. I knew I wanted to make a dress from it and decided I would make one in time for my birthday, every girl needs a pretty dress to wear on her birthday! I already have a vintage dress that I love, so I took the pattern from this, minus the zip (they still scare me slightly)! I was really pleased with the outcome and got lots of lovely comments!

And last but not least via Action for Sustainable Living I met the lovely Alice and over the past few months she has been working with friends to set up a sustainable/ethical fashion network that provides work and swap shops and from this Stitched Up was born!
http://stitchedupuk.blogspot.com/
I had the honor of being invited to become part of this amazing group of ladies and over the next few months we have lots of amazing workshops planned. Please check out the blog and what were doing and I hope to see you at some of the workshops.

Ok I have lots more to tell but I think that will do for now. As you can tell I’ve got lots of exciting things planned for the rest of the year and I shall do my upmost to keep you updated! But for now I need to pack for Berlin, who know’s what amazing vintage treats I’ll find there!

Finally getting back to fashion!

So the whole reason I ended up in fashion was because from the age of 11 I have wanted to be a fashion designer!
So after becoming very dis-heartened with the fashion industry and finding a new passion in crafting it's nice to get back into fashion. It's not that I fell out of love with fashion, I just wanted my clothes to have a conscious.

I've had a go at making a few things before and they've turned out ok, but I've never properly had a go at customising something old and turning it into something new.

So anyway I've had this jumper in my pile of "things to do something with" for ages. It was originally destined to be turned into a cushion but then I was in Blue Rinse on Oldham St in town and came across these jumper skirts and thought I could do that!
so hey presto here's the finished thing! (sorry forgot to take a before picture).

The other piece I've started customising is a 70's folk dress I bought from a charity shop last week.
I loved the pattern on it and the shape of the top half but it was far too long for me, so decided to shorten it into a summer baby doll dress. I remembered to take before and after pictures this time too!

As you can see I've not finished the sleeves yet as I can't decide whether to keep them 3/4 or short? Although my friend Gemma did just have a good idea about have them tuned up with a button tab, so I may just try that! Watch this space.

Up-cycled mobile

So I recently found this tutorial on folksy:
http://www.folksy.com/makes/505-Pretty-Paper-Mobile

And decided to give it a go. I've recently acquired some old music sheets from my local, Fuel cafe, and was looking for things to do with them, so when I found this blog I thought it was perfect.
I also used images from my toast catalogue (for those who don't know this is not a catalogue about burnt bread, it is a clothing line that have the most beautiful clothing and v.good ethics)
To make the mobile pieces is very easy, it just involves folding, wrapping thread around the centre and then glueing. (see above website for exact details).

To make the frame I used an old wire hanger I had left over from my Christmas craft group and wrapped fabric around it.
I then attached the paper decorations using thread and then string to hang up the mobile.
I'm quite pleased with the end result. It now hangs from the light in our hallway.

As the tutorial mentions you can also use them as decorations on gift box's. I think I'm going to make more individual ones using beads as well. These could make cute gifts when also put in gift box's made out of old Birthday cards (a top craft taught to me by my crafter buddy Alice)!

My next project is to make a skirt out of an old jumper so shall try and take as many picture as I go along for that one.

Merchandise Success

So the Louis Barabbas and The Bedlam Six gig was last Sat and it was AMAZING!! It was a full house and I had a top night, seen these guys live more times than I can remember and still love them, of course ended the show by dancing in the aisles!
Due to the fact that to get your name in the 3rd album you had to fill in your details and the merch stall we got plenty of customers!
So many people bought both the 1st and 2nd album, so made a tidy amount for the Bedlam 6. My badges went down a storm, only had 1 left! Of course Mother Barabbas got the one with Louis face in!! The postcards and brooches also went down well, looking forward to seeing people's reviews of the night.
So here as promised are some pictures of my hand made merchandise.

Some things I have made so far

So over the past year I have been making presents for friends and family and then this has lead to said friends and family to comissioning me to make cushions for them.
Anyway here are a few of the creations I have made. It's mainly cushions but a few other bits and bobs too!

This was an eye-mask made for my house mate as her birthday present. Gotta love offensive words cross-stitched!!

First Post!

So I have been encouraged by quite a few people to start my own blog! Seems to be the craze these days. So here I am!
My name is Kelly and I have lived in Manchester for nearly 8yrs now. It has become my home and is the place where the majority of the people I hold dear are.

Over the past few years I have re-discovered my love for design, but rather than the fashion route which I had started on when I first moved here as a dow eyed 18yr old, but instead a more crafting route which has an green ethic.
It all started with me deciding to take up cross stitch again as a way of distracting myself so I wouldn't scratch my eczema. Which then turned into making xmas presents, then birthday presents and then people commissioning me to make presents for family and friends to me having my own stall at Fuel Cafe's Old Mother Hubbard Market!

Anyway that's a brief history of how I became the crafty ginge that I now am!



My current project is making merchandise for the Louis Barabbas and The Bedlam Six gig at the Dancehouse on Feb 5th (you must go it will be a night to remember, or forget depending how much you drink)!
These guys have been good friends for a few years now so it's great fun to be able to do this for them. Although it was hard to start as I've had to change my design head to dark and devilish to match the Bedlam 6 style. Will post pics of how I'm doing soon.

http://www.bedlamsix.com/
http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=189250644418707

Mushroom cushion that now belongs to my friend Gemma