Goldfinches

Now is not the time for getting to grips with the garden, no matter how much I long to get out there it’s far too wet. This means I can order yet more seeds…done….Read gardening magazines….just too frustrating. What better then than doing some sewing…

Well last weekend it was the RSPB’s bird watch count and as we all know lots of birds are facing problems what with loss of habitat and the use of chemicals to name a couple. So Monday morning I couldn’t believe my eyes when outside my workroom window were 20 + Goldfinches. We have had Goldfinches now for quite a number of years but I’ve never seen so many at one time. Sparrows use to be the most seen bird in many gardens, even when we lived as children in the built up areas of our city you would always see sparrows. Now they are becoming much rarer. After seeing the Goldfinches I had to get something down in stitch.

You may remember me making a journal that I was going to fill with painted and stitched images, well I have managed to fill a few pages as I have posted in the past. So here is my latest page…..

Using scraps of fabric and dyed silk, I first made shapes and bonded them to a backing fabric. With my old Bernina I free machined over the shapes building up a texture with more and more stitching, adding an eye with a tiny bronze sequin and bead. Once I was happy with this I cut the shape out, padded it slightly under the body and glued this to one of the pages.

The back ground is made up of paint and torn painted paper glued to the page.

I am quite happy with the image. So now I’ve managed to filled another page. I started the journal in 2009 and this is only my 4th image so it will take me a while yet to fill it.

Now looking for more inspiration……….. Sue

 

 

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The Bag Lady stikes again.

At the end of January we went to Castle Donnington where I bought some lovely soft leather.   Actually I bought 2 lots.

The first one to get made up was a soft grey glove leather. There was only a small amount so I decided to make a clutch bag for special occasions.

          Lovely soft grey leather.

                  After sampling I put swatches etc in a journal.

For this bag I decided to sew it up using the leather itself. I have never stitched using this method before and I found it to be quite easy. I just had to take care when pulling the stitches tight.

For the lining I found a piece of curtain fabric in my stash pile. This had large monochrome prints on it, so I managed to use one large motif which filled the bag flap nicely.

            The lining is bonded to the leather.

             The front of the finished bag.

               The back showing the fastening.

           Now all I need is a special occasion.

My second bag has taken a lot longer to design and make up. I knew that I wanted a large weekend bag, but I had to figure out the make up, the order in which you put a garment / product together. So this is again where sampling and drawing helps me get my head around all the problems that might arise. This bag has been my biggest bag and biggest challenge yet.

For both bags I needed some metal fixings. The oval rings and the button studs. I couldn’t find them locally so I sent for them from the internet, but they took nearly 3 weeks to arrive as they came from China. This was a bit frustrating as once I start something I have to carry on till it’s finished, I like a clear run.

         Rearing to go.

         ‘Golden Lily’ William Morris. A Sanderson print.

I had no problems looking for lining for this bag as I had been given a piece of William Morris printed upholstery fabric a few years ago and this has been waiting in the wings for just such a mammoth task. The fabric dates from the 70’s, and matches the brown leather perfectly.

                  All cut out .

            Assembling the bag handles, using electric cable as the inner. A bit of recycling here.

                  The inside of the bag, there are two large pockets inside to take all the little extras we ladies like to travel with.

              The bag handles attached.

                 All labelled.

The sides of the zip placket fasten down at the sides with a matching metal stud / button.

              Finished ready for the spring holidays.

  Now where shall we go this year…………………..