Patchwork!

My Granny's Bernina Sewing
Machine, brought in 1971!

Although I think it is physically impossible to try out every single craft tecnique, at the moment I am really enjoying having a go! So last weekend I went to my Granny's house to attempt patchwork.



Grandmother's Garden

My Granny is literally a sewing legend and has been making her own clothes since the 1940's! She is a bit like me in the sense that she enjoys a bit of everything, though over the last 10 years, patchwork has been her thing. I have benefitted greatly from this and so far, have had a single quilt, a lap quilt for when I was ill and now she is making me a beautiful double quilt in a traditional grandmothers garden pattern (and she has been making these quilts for her other 6 grandchildren!! Amazing lady!).

We decided to start with a basic patchwork technique that would build up quickly, so that I could come away with something at the end of the day. Therefore the log cabin pattern seemed to fit the bill nicely!

Cutting: We started by cutting, using a rotary cutter and board, a perfect 4" square for the centre. We then cut, 2.5" wide strips to surround this square, increasing in length as the patchwork got larger, using different fabrics to create the 'patchwork effect'!

 Sewing: When all the strips of contrasting fabric had been cut perfectly straight (not in my nature- I'm usually quite 'relaxed') we pinned the strips, two at a time, to the centre square. sewing them together on a 1/4" seam and pressing inwards with a searing hot iron (again usually quite 'relaxed' at doing this too! Oops!) to keep the design flat. Then we just kept adding strips until we had built a square large enough to fit the front of our cushion.

Constructing Your Cushion: The cushion was 16" squared, so when the patchwork reached this size, we started to make the backing. We did this by constructing an envelope, placing a smaller rectangle over a larger one, hemming it and the sewing the patchwork square and the backing, right sides together, we turned the envelope the right way and... finito! A beautiful Patchwork cushion constructed in 3 hours! Fab!!

Im now going back next weekend to trying something a little more advanced...squares perhaps? I will let you know...

Sitting pride of place on my sofa!
 

 

Making a Goldwork Bumble Bee

Yesterday, I spent a day learning the intricate craft of Goldwork Embroidery!

Goldwork is a style of embroidery using metal threads to create opulent and rich designs and is often used for military uniforms and royal robes. In fact, for Queen Elizabeth's Coronation, a team for skilled embroiderers worked constantly on the robes, taking shifts and sleeping on bunk beds in the studio.

I, on the other hand, am used to sewing on a much larger scale and any embroidery I have attempted has been using bold colours with 'child-like' designs' so something this ornate was pretty alien to me!

We had a wonderful tutor, Kate Sinton, who started as an apprentice at the Royal School of Needlework and has helped to produce numerous garments for royalty, the military and the clergy. She brought a long a couple of examples and I was speechless!

We started off stuffing a felt body with wadding; making your sure bee had a well stuffed body meant that it would really pop out. We then used purl purl (a singular coil of metal beads) to outline the body before cutting up 'chips' and sewing them on the upper body- this was my favourite part as it was sooo glittery! After this we had to cut out the individual strands, in black and gold, to create the bee's stripy body. I think this (cut work) was the hardest part, as you had to cut every strand to the nearest millimetre, so that the delicate metal didn't bow or snap! ...definitely time for lunch at this point!

After lunch it was all much easier, simply backstitching with gold thread to form the legs and lower antenna and then just couching (securing a thick thread, in this case Japanese, by looping it with a thinner, 'secret' thread) the wings and plunging the ends into the calico. Finally I couched the top antenna with the purl purl and fastened the head (a black bead) and I was finished.


I am so proud of my bee- I have already framed him!
I’m not sure this is a method that I will be using regularly as it is really time consuming and I am not sure I have the patience but it was a brilliant experience and I came away from the day literally BUZZING!!

You can book yourself on a similar course at
http://www.royal-needlework.org.uk/shop/index/58
or my day was at http://www.clementinesshop.com/

Hello!

I have been umming and ahhing about how to introduce my lovely new blog!
...Well I am Liv, I live in rural Wiltshire, in a little red brick cottage with my boyfriend Jonny.
I love to sew, cook and I've just started growing my own veg! My window sills are suddenly full of lettuce, chilli plants and potatoes chitting (something I have only just learnt about!)

 I have a serious obsession with flowers, particularly beautiful Liberty fabric, have a sewing machine called Janet and own the whole Royal Albert 1920's Polka Rose tea set!

I really wanted this blog to be somewhere I could document my ideas and post tutorials, hopefully making it all look  pretty.

So Hello blogoshere, welcome to my world!