Sunday 31 March 2013

Handmade Monday 110

Happy Easter and Happy Handmade Monday, too!  Find out more about Handmade Monday here.

Has your Easter been filled with chocolate eggs and good food with family and friends, or with chickens and bunnies?  Mine has been about chickens...

how is it I can see those mealworms but not eat them?

We decided to add to our brood (of chickens, not children!!) and bought three young hens from a local farm on Thursday.  Only now am I beginning to relax - the poor new girls have been mercilessly bullied by three of our four older chickens (Sally, currently at the bottom of the pecking order, has decided her position is not worth fighting over).

the two at the front are youngsters 
the white one (Mary Jane) is the biggest bully of all 
(looks like she's getting ready for a hen-pecking session in this picture!)

They are all now beginning to eat side by side (albeit at a slight distance) but I still have to supervise bedtimes as the newbies get thrown out (rather loudly) if the coop door's still open.  They aren't yet fighting back, although they ganged up on one of the local cats today, so it looks like their confidence is increasing.

Meanwhile, you may remember I told you about the sofa clock being published again?  It's now featured in a rather lovely magazine called Handmade.


It's quite expensive (£7.99 - it always shocks me a little bit when a magazine costs more than a fiver!) but it is packed with projects which would probably justify the price if plenty of projects is what you are looking for (it has far more projects than many books I've seen).  It's jam-packed with ideas for the home - this is the home issue - and it's beautifully presented.  In fact, it's so gorgeous, I'm quite proud of my clock being a little part of it!


The little fabric-style borders you can see on the edge of the page (above) are featured throughout the magazine, but vary according to what "room" you are in.  This is the living room (above) - the kitchen pages have a cheery red gingham border!  I love it.

Regulars of Handmade Monday will know Sarah from Tilly Mint Boutique, who has set up an online fabric shop with her friend Maeri Howard from The Make and Do Studio.  They're both very lovely ladies (I'm privileged to have met them both in real life) and they tell us a bit about their new fabric shop here, over some virtual tea (and maybe there was some cake involved, too!) - do pop over for a read.

In between sorting out chicken squabbles and doing even more drawings and paintings...

line drawing and marker pen illustrations 
(these ones are earmarked for digital cardmaking printables)

... I'm hoping to put my feet up and enjoy some lovely inspiration from some gorgeous blogs.  You know what to do, so please ...

Friday 29 March 2013

Tea and a Chat with Make and Do Provisions

Today I'm chatting to Sarah Plant and Maeri Howard, who together run  a yummy online fabric shop.  Put the kettle on and join us for tea and a chat to find out more...

Hello!  Good to see you, the kettles just boiled what would you like to drink?
A nice cup of decaf earl grey for me please and a coffee for Maeri.

So, tell us a bit about yourselves and your business...
Make and Do Provisions was set up in November 2012 by myself, Sarah Plant and Maeri Howard. We mainly sell fabric sourced from America in unusual and quirky prints. We also sell bag making supplies and ready to sew kits. We have an online shop but we also sell through the Make and Do studio in Warrington.



What inspired you to start selling fabrics?
We wanted to provide those who visit the workshops at the studio the opportunity to buy fabric and other supplies, which then led us to selling it online. We ultimately wanted to supply hard-to-find fabric from America to customers in the UK.



How is your business developing?
As it's still in it's early stages, we are still tweaking things. We are constantly learning and adapting our site to the needs of our customers.

What are the main ways you promote your business?  
Mainly though social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Pinterest seems to be a popular way to promote as well. We do really well by word of mouth; people coming to the workshops are tempted by all the lovely fabric we have on display.



Whats your workspace like?  And do you have any workspace organisation tips for the rest of us?
All of our fabric and supplies are on display in the studio. It's quite a compact space but Maeri has done a great job of using reclaimed furniture to form storage space and shelves.


 What are the best and worst bits of running your business?
It takes a lot of time to keep the online store up to date as we are constantly selling stock from the studio. However it's great to be able to offer products to those who come to the workshops that we use and recommend. It's also quite tricky running the business between the two of us, meaning many meet ups with coffee and cake are needed!



What other creative businesses do you admire? 
Papercut Patterns  are a great independent company that sell clothing patterns. I love how they package the patterns, such an unusual and attractive idea to display the patterns after use.

What tips can you give to others who run (or hope to run) a small creative business?
First of all, go for it! You can start out small and see how things go, gradually building up your business with time. If you know someone with similar ideas, approach them and see if they are interested in becoming partners. It helps to share the load and you can bounce ideas off each other.

What are your hopes, plans or ambitions for the future?
Ultimately it would be great to expand our range, stocking more bag making supplies and yummy fabric. We'd both love to branch out into having an actual store, however that's a few years off yet!




Finally, where are the places we can find you online if we want to partake in a little friendly cyber stalking? 





 Thanks so much for stopping by it was so nice to be able to take the time to chat with you! 

Thanks for having us!

If you enjoyed today's tea and a chat with Sarah and Maeri, and think others might enjoy reading about your own creative venture, please contact me and I'll get the kettle on! 

Wednesday 27 March 2013

Sketchbook Pouch

I decided to make this sketchbook wallet pouch for all those times I want to take a sketchpad somewhere with me and don't want everything rattling around in my handbag.  I figured the sketchers among you might also find one of these useful, so I've put together a tutorial.


You can stock it with pencils and a sharpener and an A5 sketchbook and always be ready to sketch!


Or maybe you'd prefer some marker pens - whatever, it's roomy enough to carry plenty of art supplies, although it would be easy enough to change the dimensions to suit your own needs.


It's quite quick and easy to make (the pattern is just rectangles) and it has room for pencils, pens, a small ruler, a rubber (that's an eraser if you're in the USA - I have a sneaking suspicion that a rubber is something else altogether over there!), and a nice chunky A5 sketchbook.


If you like my sketchy stitching, then you can easily emulate it with black thread, just by sewing each seam at least 3 times and making your stitching slightly wavy.


If you don't like the sketchiness, simply use a straight stitch in a matching thread.



You'll need:






  • scraps of fabric for the pockets - I used several different cotton prints (which pick out some of the colours in the main fabric) from my stash for the pockets.



  • a zip - I think mine was 25cm, but  a little shorter or longer would both work



  • binding - I used bias binding, but because there's no need for stretchiness or give, cotton tape would do just as well, and possibly even ribbon.



  • fusible interfacing 48cm x 30cm


Cut out:


2 main pieces: 48cm x 30cm (plus one the same size of fusible interfacing)

pencil pouch: one piece 16cm x 30cm and another piece 11cm x 30cm (they'll be doubled for strength and durability)

small pockets for sharpener/rubber: one piece measuring 15cm x 6cm (again, this will be doubled)

pocket for sketchpad: cut one piece which measures 20cm x 32cm and another piece measuring 24cm x 32cm


How to Make your Sketchbook Pouch:


Iron the interfacing to one of the main pieces.  Make this one the piece you sew your pockets to.  Put the other piece to one side for now.


Place the two sketchbook pocket pieces together, wrong sides facing, and fold over the excess fabric twice, making a hem along one long edge.


Sew the pocket into place along three edges, keeping close to the raw edges and making two tucks along one 32cm edge as you go (this will help accommodate a thick sketchpad).




close-up of the tuck

Fold the two pencil pocket pieces and small sharpener pockets in half to make double thickness pockets.

Place the folded edges onto the zip.  Sew along both sides of the zip.

Place the small pocket at the bottom of the zip, folded edge uppermost.  Sew the on pocket as shown below, sewing right across the zip.   This will create two small pockets at the same time as creating a neat little stop for the zip.


Pin into position on the backing fabric. Place bias binding, tape or ribbon over the two long raw edges.  Sew into position, 8cms away from the left edge.

Sew 100cm of bias binding in half lengthways. Stitch along both long edges.  Stitch in place centrally on second piece of main fabric (the one you put to one side earlier), not taking it to the edge but leaving at least 3cm on one side and 6cm on the other.  The 3cm side will form the overlap on the outside.






Place both main fabrics together, wrong sides facing, taking care that the overlap on the outside will finish up on the side you want it.  Sew bias binding around all four edges.



Insert sketchpad and pencils, tie a bow in the loose bias tape and then a knot where you would like the ends of the bias tape.  Trim close to the knot.


Happy sketching!

Sunday 24 March 2013

Handmade Monday 109

Welcome to Handmade Monday!  Just a quick reminder for everyone: please only leave one link to your blog per week, please visit and comment on some of the other blogs if you can, and please link only to blogs (not shops or Facebook accounts).  More info here.

This week, I've been concentrating on drawing.  I've finally discovered the versatility of Promarkers - I had heard people getting all enthusiastic about these but I hadn't realised how good they were to use.  My daughter has done some gorgeous cute cat illustrations using them and it opened my eyes to the potential of marker pens.  So I had a go...

I love the colours

I'm also working on my line drawings for digital stamps - I expect to be able to have a few of these ready for download in the next few weeks.  I'm trying to make life easier for myself and work on A4 paper so it's easy to scan!

I obviously have a bit of a thing for shed shapes!

There was also good news on the sewing/design front - remember the sofa clock?

sofa clock

They're using it again in another magazine so are paying me again for it.  How lovely!  It isn't as much as the initial fee (it isn't very much at all, actually!) but it does feel rather nice to have a surprise payment for something I've already been paid for once!

So, what have you been doing this week?  As usual, please...

Sunday 17 March 2013

Handmade Monday 108

Hello and welcome to Handmade Monday!

This week's theme seems negative to begin with.  Rejection can sometimes be hard to take when you make everything yourself.  It can feel personal, even when it quite clearly isn't.  And sometimes you may need to allow yourself a little "down in the dumps" moment.  I guess we all have them occasionally, don't we?

But then it's time to turn it around.  Rejection isn't necessarily a time to give up - it's a time to try new avenues, new ways of working or possibly explore new ideas.



This week, I learned that the card designs I've been creating weren't wanted by the publisher I thought they might be a good fit for...

But when I picked myself up from my "down in the dumps" moment, I realised I still have so many exciting options and so many ideas still to explore.  Some I hadn't seriously considered before (licensing my art via an agent - let them handle the rejections for me!) and some I had (selling digital stamps for card makers).  I think both options are probably viable (maybe even both at the same time) but both need a bit more work (in particular, getting more images drawn and painted - the very best kind of work in my opinion!).


Hopefully, I will be able to share more with you as I go along.  In particular, if you use digital stamps, or would like to try them out, then watch this space!  I will want to trial them soon, so there will be freebies available for people who might be willing to give me some feedback.

Also, I've been asked to mention CRAFTfest today


which this time around features over 200 virtual craft stalls.  It's on until 23rd March, so hopefully you'll have time to pop over and have a browse.

Over to you now for Handmade Monday...

Friday 15 March 2013

Tea and a Chat with Michael Schienke - Vorbild Accessories


Today I'm having tea with Michael Schienke, who designs and makes luxury phone cases.  Pull up a chair, pour some tea and listen in as we chat about his business. 

Hello!  Good to see you, the kettle’s just boiled – what would you like to drink?

Tea please. Black, no sugar.

So, tell us a bit about yourself and your business.

First of all, thank you for having me. We set up Vorbild Accessories over a year and a half ago, after having started an architectural practice before, called Vorbild Architecture.  I always was a fan of iPhones and I was looking for a phone case for myself.  I couldn’t find anything on the market I liked, so I began to think about designing my own. 



What inspired you to start your creative business? How did it all begin? 

I am an Architect and used leather on a lot of projects and love working with it, as it is a luxurious and versatile material.  Thanks to my experience in the profession, I decided to approach designing an iPhone case the same way as if I was working on a luxury apartment.  When using materials in elegant interiors, the most important are the quality of finishes and logical and well-executed details.  The final outcome has to be more than just a sum of individual elements.  When designing the cases, I used these as a reference.

Almost all leather cases on the market are either made of two pieces of leather sewn together or out of plastic covered in / attached to leather.  In our case, the iPhone cases are designed, so that leather follows the shape of the phone.  Consequently, the phone lies even better in your hand and feels so much better!



How has your business changed and developed since it started?

In order to maintain the same level of detail throughout the whole manufacturing process, I studied artisan leather techniques and consulted with experts in the field.  To realize the design, I needed to reach out for traditional techniques, that are now used by very few remaining artisans.  It is also important for me to keep both production and sourcing the materials as local as possible.

Since the initial design, we went through a long process of prototyping to perfect the case.  We also worked with a big selection of leathers and pin pointed the ones that were suitable, as, for various reasons, not every kind of leather can be used.



What are the main ways you promote your business?  Which methods have been the most successful for you?

As always, it is word of mouth from existing customers. Social media however has helped a lot to create a bit of a buzz. We use our website www.luxury-cases.com and Etsy for selling. LinkedIn also helped.



What’s your workspace like?  Can we have a sneak peek?  And do you have any workspace organisation tips for the rest of us?

For collecting ideas and displaying them in an intuitive fashion, I use MindNode. A large A0 printout graces one side of our office. The rest we try to keep clean and free of clutter - that is the idea at least. There are always lots of leather samples lying around, our first boxes and some early case prototypes too.

In the team, we use the iPhone and iCloud tools to the max - Reminders, Calendars, all shared. I also particularly recommend Daylite and Billings, very helpful. Sometimes I use Merlin Project Management - helps to set out long term goals.
I can go on about this - please stop me when it gets boring ;-)



What are the best and worst bits of running your business?

Without judging if they are the best or worst - it depends on when you ask me ;-) All of it takes time. Forget about your 9-5 day. I love the planning ahead and setting myself deadlines, and steps - I have become better in making them more manageable and realistic over time. I love talking to people, even if the products are in the background. People want to work with people they like, so relationships are key.

The absolute best moments are when you see something you have just imagined being made. Immediately after this moment comes the realisation that there is much more to be done and new ideas come to mind, but it is great to cherish this moment.

I like to surround myself with some of the items I designed in my workplace - I can always look around to quickly remind myself how far I have already come.



What other small (or not-so-small) creative businesses do you admire? 

I am very grateful to Apple, but I also admire the small product designers and architectural practices who have taken the step to do it on their own.

What tips can you give to others who run (or hope to run) a small creative business?

If you think you have found an idea which no one else is doing yet, keep at it and be persistent. Stay cool and weigh out the pros and cons, make sure you have the time to do it. Very early on I got influenced by Anthony Robbins’ books - the single most important tip I would give to anyone is NEVER EVER leave a new project you have just planned without doing that first step towards realising it. Even if it is writing an email, or making a brief phone call. Don’t think you will make profit very soon though - invest in your idea and be patient with the rewards. They will come, don’t worry.



What are your hopes, plans or ambitions for the future? 

We are looking into partnering with other companies to create joint designs and also to expand our manufacturing. Step by step though ;-)

Finally, where are the places we can find you online if we want to partake in a little friendly cyber stalking?



Etsy 


Thanks so much for stopping by – it was so nice to be able to take the time to chat with you. 

Well thank you so much for having me. Next time you’re in London - drop me a line!

Thanks Michael! 

 If you'd like to be featured on this blog, we can have a chat over some virtual tea (and maybe virtual cake too, if that would make you happy) too.  Just email me for more details. 

Thursday 14 March 2013

Coin Purse Keyring - Quick and Easy Tutorial

There are hundreds of these coin purses, all over the internet - and I think I can see why.  Not only is it a quick and really easy project, it's incredibly useful.  It can also be made from scraps and leftovers - you could even unpick a zip from an unwanted garment and re-purpose a split ring from an old key fob.

I think my version would work particularly well with denim, calico or linen (for its fraying potential!) and a floral or bright spotty lining.  Whatever you choose, you won't need much fabric.


My vintage-style floral print was left over from a recent Abakhan purchase (the lining was some fabric the lovely Sarah kindly gave me at a craft fair!) and my granddaughter has this same floral print lining the first-ever tote bag she made.

Oh, and if you are scared of zips, this project is a very easy confidence-builder! A good a place to begin as any, I think.  It's an ideal project for beginners in general.


For me, this keyring coin purse will keep at hand some coins for car parking and supermarket trolleys.  It will also house that all-important "emergency fiver" - you know, so I always have some cash at hand.  I'm thinking that with inflation it should be an emergency tenner nowadays!

OK, this is my super-quick tutorial:

You'll need: two different fabrics, a nylon zip (any length - if you have to buy one, buy the shortest available), and a split ring.  Oh and some thread, either matching or contrasting - you choose.



Cut out the fabric as follows:

10cm x 10cm: 1 main fabric, 1 lining fabric

10cm x 7.5cm: 1 main fabric, 1 lining fabric

10cm x 4cm: 1 main fabric, 1 lining fabric

12cm x 5cm: 1 main fabric (this is the strap - you could omit this and use 12cm of ribbon instead)

Making up the coin purse:

Sew the 10cm x 7.5cm pieces right sides together along one long edge only, using a 1cm seam allowance.  Repeat with the 10cm x 4cm pieces.


Turn to right sides.  Press open then fold and press again.



Place the two stitched edges onto the zip.  Pin in position (you can baste/tack by hand first, if you are unsure about stitching zips).

the top of the zip shouldn't be right at the edge of the fabric...
leave a space (as above) for the seam

Stitch along both sides of the zip.  If you like the look of my stitching, aim for three or four rows of slightly wonky stitching each time (see, I told you this project is perfect for beginners!).


Make a strap for attaching to the split ring: fold the fabric in half lengthways, then fold in again so the raw edges are in the middle.  Stitch along both edges of the strap.




Chop off the rest of the zip.  At this stage do not be tempted to open the zip!!


Lay the zipped piece on top of the other two fabrics, placing them in the order the finished purse will be - linings inside, main fabric outside.  Insert the strap either at one corner or edge.

(if you want to make a pincushion like mine, the tutorial is here)

Stitch around all four edges, including sewing over the ends of the zip.  Your machine should cope easily with this as long as you have a nylon (not metal!) zip.



Your purse is finished - I felt mine needed a run through a wash cycle to fray up the edges



which I then trimmed (and pressed) so the fraying wasn't too ridiculous - although the option's yours!  I think it did kinda lose something in the neatening-up process...


And it needs a split ring.  If you are adding to an existing bunch of keys, you can just slip it onto a ring already on there, like I did.


On my never-ending quest to becoming a more organised me, I think my little coin purse keyring might be a tiny but significant step!