F i E L D y

Moving On.

I have been busy unpacking my boxes and rearranging my knick-knacks over at my new home. I haven't moved there permanently yet but the day is drawing near - changes are afoot at Fieldy HQ!

Please stop by to say hello - bring cake!!

Toty Wee Hotties.

There used to be a handwritten sign on the roadside as you drove up the eastern side of Loch Lomond towards Oban that read ‘Toty Wee Tents Only’. Sadly it is no longer there - it made me smile every time I saw it - so when my friend presented me with quite a few of these…..

I knew that they were not just Wee Hotties but Toty Wee Hotties. In fact they are so ‘toty’ I was at a bit of a loss as to what to do with them! Looking around my workroom I saw a pile of felted wool jumpers (product of a brief flirtation with feltmaking and all things felty) and knew that the only thing I could do was make some pockets for the toty bottles and so the Toty Wee Hottie Pocket came about.

As I was making them I thought that it would make a good tutorial as they are so quick and easy to make – you don’t even have to have a machine, you could do all the sewing by hand if you wanted to and make it part of the design.

You can make these pockets out of anything really but recycled felted wool jumpers work really well, are relatively inexpensive and cut down on the amount of finishing you need to do. So without further ado here’s how to…..

MAKE A TOTY WEE HOTTIE POCKET

STEP 1

First of all you need to get your material sorted. It could be a felted scarf (works well especially ones with fringes on the end!), felted jumper or something like.

 

In order to get good felt you need 100% wool knit which you put in the washing machine (whole) at 60 degrees with some real soap flakes (be careful how much – read instructions!!) and something hard like some plastic flipflops, rubber ball or something similar to help agitate the fabric. The fabric should come out stiffer and will have shrunk quite a bit. You can reshape the fabric while it is still wet and hang to dry. Once dry, cut the garment along the seams and flatten out, iron it with a hot iron and you are ready to go. Before cutting out do a test on a small area – if it does not fray it is properly felted. If it starts to fray it will need to go through the wash again or may have some non-natural fibres in it which will stop it felting properly. ALWAYS CHECK THE LABELS ON THE ITEMS YOU INTEND TO BUY/USE FOR FELTING! They need to be 100% WOOL. Also try and get items that have an interesting texture and/or pattern which will look lovely when felted.

STEP 2

Make a pattern for the pocket including at least a 1cm seam allowance all round. The pattern I made was in 2 pieces – a front and a back – made to fit my toty bottles.

The back was 15cm wide x  33cms long (which included extra length for the flap to go over the top)

The front measured 15cms wide x 25cms long

Remember if you are using a particularly thick felt you might want to make the seam allowance a bit bigger to accommodate the extra bulk. I use drafting paper (tracing paper) to make patterns, as it is thick enough to stand some rough handling but thin enough to see the pattern of the fabric through the paper.

STEP 3

Place your pattern pieces on the fabric and cut out. If you are lucky you might be able to cut one continuous piece (just place the 2 pattern pieces end to end to get the right size) This works well with scarves as you can get up to 2 pockets from one scarf and the fringing makes a nice detail. If you place the back of the pattern with the flap end on the ribbing of a sleeve or back/front of jumper you will have an already finished edge for the flap……..

If your fabric isn’t big enough to get one continuous piece cut look at what you have and cut accordingly. Make the pattern work for you…

On this pocket I placed the paper-pattern on the fabric so that the pattern on the fabric would show when it was folded over to make the top flap. This piece was not long enough to make the pocket in one piece…..

so I placed the front of the paper-pattern on another piece of fabric so that the ribbing and coloured pattern on the fabric became part of the design too. On this one I had the pattern running different ways to optimize use of the available fabric……

STEP 4

Pin and sew the raw edge at the top of the piece of fabric for the front…..

Pin the edges together leaving space for the hottie….

I always pin in the direction I sew so that I can remove the pins as  I go along. Turn right ways out and press. Roll the unfinished edge of the flap and hand sew….

put hottie inside and fasten with a kilt pin or similar et voila! One finished Toty Wee Hottie Pocket!

 

You can get kilt pins from any good haberdasher including John Lewis/Hobbycraft. You could also use an old brooch, adapt the kilt pin with some beads, use a button, poppers, tie with ribbon – in fact you can fasten in any way you like. They are also good gifts for guys if you choose the right fabric……..

Of course you can use any fabric you like or knit/crochet a piece of the right width and length and just sew up the seams. You can personalise with a motif, the first letter of the persons’ name who you are giving it to – anything you want really. I have my own labels that I put on everything I make but you can buy limited numbers of labels saying 'Handmade with Love' from some craft outlets to further personalise your gift.

Are you enthused? Wondering how you can get your hands on your own Toty Wee Hottie bottles? Well, wonder no more! I am planning to make a few of these......

maybe with some appliquéd designs in felt and tweed. However, I have quite a few rubber bottles, to say the least, and I would like to move some of them on to new homes! My felted jumper supplies are finite!

Is there anyone out there interested in buying some of the bottles (in their packets) from me for their own crafting purposes? They come in 4 colours and measure 12cms wide x 22cms long. I am not trying to make money on these - originally they cost £1 each but I am willing to sell 6 for £5 plus P&P (which will be approx £2 for UK residents) I am also happy to sell them individually plus P&P. They would make great handmade gifts and can be customized in any way that you like! You can contact me by email if you would like some and I will list them in my Folksy shop if you are paying by Paypal or UK residents could send a personal cheque. Hey - It’s never to early to plan for Xmas!!  And nothing says "I Love You" like a Toty Wee Hottie Pocket - too much, have I gone too far??  Well you can't blame a girl for trying. Bottles available on a first come, first served basis and you would be doing me a huge favour – I can hardly move for Toty Hotties!!

Getting My Head Together.

In a previous post I discussed the need to develope your stall display each time you do a event or at least as you go along, to keep it interesting for both yourself and the customers.

Today I have a project to share which I have been meaning to do for some time. When I first started making shower hats I needed something to display and photograph them on so I picked up the cheapest polystyrene head I could. I got mine from Myers in Glasgow who represent Retif. (they also sell poly torso’s, hands etc for display)

 

 This head was very cheap – and looks it. It is also a bit lightweight so easy to knock over, easy to dent and very smooth,  so difficult to get the hats to stay on properly. I don’t know where I saw it but I saw a mannequin torso covered in different fabrics and thought that the same idea might be applied to my display head to make it more interesting. I had an old calendar (I usually make thank you cards and gift tags from my old calendars) that was perfect for the job so I got to work.

I tore the images into smallish strips of paper and got to sticking……..

It is best to put the PVA glue (any other type of glue will not work) onto the polystyrene neat and to have some glue in a pot slightly watered down (not too watered down or it will soak the paper and make it tear) to fix the paper. Also before you start sticking you should test the paper for colourfastness or it could get very messy. Then all you have to do is work your way around the head until it is covered and voila…..

 

one Brocante-style head! My head is now heavier, non-slip and less liable to denting. The paper and glue give a really nice finish and it is now easy to keep the hat on the head - it looks pretty too! All it cost was the price of the head (roughly £6) and £1.99 for a bottle of PVA. It is a great way of recycling bits of fabric, old magazines, maps, calendars etc and gives you something unique for your display.

After covering my head I still had some pages of the calendar left and as I already have loads of tags from last years calendar recycling I decided the images would make great mirrors – yes mirror mania strikes again!

Here are a selection that I made up…

 

I always have 2 calendars each year – one for social events and one for work so instead of making yet more gift tags from the second calendar I made some lovely abstract mirror sets.

Both these mirror sets and others are now available in my shop.

I did two events over the weekend and the mirrors were quite popular and a welcome addition to my product range. I think they will come into their own at xmas as they are ideal stocking fillers.

I am feeling very positive after 2 days of craft fairs that although not hugely lucrative were highly enjoyable. I met some more lovely crafters and bought some fab baby gifts for my friends' wee girl who I will be visiting for the first time this week! I have also been commissioned to make a handbag for one of the stallholders I met yesterday which I am looking forward to making. Blogs on both to follow this week!

I have decided to spread the mirror love and give these four sets of one mirror with six gift tags (image below) to the first four people who leave a comment on this post.

What the hell - It brightens up a dull March day!

 

New Toy.

I got me a new toy!

For some time now I have been considering investing in one of these gadgets….

 

They come in all shapes and sizes to suit all budgets. After a bit of research I plumped for this one. I bought it to make pocket mirrors as I thought that they would be a good tie in product for my make-up bags and handbags. I was also looking for an item to make that used up small scraps of fabric (I never throw anything away) that I couldn’t use for anything else and that were quick and easy to make. With this machine as well as making mirrors you can use it to make make button badges and fridge magnets. It also has the capacity to change dies so you can make different sizes if you want to. I bought the 58mm kit to see how I got on and I LOVE IT!! In fact I love it so much I have developed and RSI in my right shoulder from going crazy with the mirror making.

First I started with the Liberty and Echino fabrics………….

And then progressed to Harris Tweed……..

 

The tweed is harder to cut and moves around so you have to be careful when cutting otherwise the piece you cut is misshapen and useless. There is also a knack to mirror making and as soon as you stop concentrating you make a mess of it! I have spoiled several units but I think I have got it figured out now. There is something so satisfying about the finished product – they have gone down a storm amongst my friends – now I need to sell a few. They are available to buy here and here!

I am very interested to see what kind of response I get to the mirrors at the 2 events this weekend – they are very different events with a different type of visitor at each – fingers crossed they are well received!

A 'clutch' of bags.

Sorry for the terrible pun - I have so little to say for myself at the moment that it is hard even to think of a post title or even a blog worthy tale to tell so I am afraid that all I am in a position to do right now is post a few pics of my latest endeavours on the old sewing machine. I managed to get hold of some nice bag 'fixings' so that I could try out a few new things for the upcoming craft fair season. I have booked into quite a few large events and most of them are new to me so I am pretty excited about the prospect of casting my net a bit wider (see side bar for details)

So first up are these large clutch bags........

I really love the big bobbles on the top and the finished product is satifyingly chunky. I have 3 different colour lining fabrics and I have been mixing them with the fabrics that they work with best. The large clutches have a wee pocket for putting a compact in and I have sewn both the Harris Tweed label and my label into the inside as I feel it works best with a handbag (as opposed to a make-up bag)

I have also been using a different style of frame for some smaller clutches...........

they come in 3 different finishes (silver, gunmetal and antique brass) and I have managed to get chain handles to match so that they can also be used as shoulder bags.

and I have really enjoyed trying different decorative ideas and colour combinations...........

There is something very satisfying about bag making..............

but I think I will stop for a while until I sell these. I tend to get a bit over enthusiastic and make loads of something that I enjoy making, without actually testing the market. I am off to Troon this weekend for a Craft Fair run by Ayrshire Craft Association so we will soon see!

Wish me luck..............I could do with a bit right now!

PS One really lovely thing that I did last week was to meet up with Caireen for a visit to the Collins Gallery to see their amazing Sashiko exhibition. I am ashamed to say that in 18 years living here in Glasgow I have never been there before! It is a small but perfectly formed gallery owned by Strathclyde Uni and the exhibitions are mainly craft related AND IT IS FREE!!!! If you ever visit Glasgow you must go. Pop over to Bella Bheag if you would like to see a really good post about the current exhibition.

A Bit of Shameless Self Promotion.

I have been working away on a few new things which will be making their debut here..........

I am very excited to be showing my work amongst all these people which also includes the lovely Rebecca......

who will be  showing off her new range of painted ceramics. It is the perfect opportunity to get some original and interesting gifts for Mother's Day. I have some new Draught Excluders and Doorstops on display and also some purses, make-up bags and one Clutch Bag.

All the purses are this style of small coin purse in a variety of pretty colours..........

and the make-up bags come in two styles - curvy......

and boxy...............

in a wide variety of colours and patterns. I am pleased with the way they have turned out as I have never made anything like this before. Finding decent suppliers for the "bits" you need is time consuming but worthwhile. I got instructions on how to make them from the brilliant U-Handbag site - her tutorials are so easy to follow it is a great resource.  I have really enjoyed making something new and have recently purchased some more frames and chain to make some handbags so watch this space.

If you are in the Buchclyvie area this weekend please pop along to the gallery - you won't be disappointed - plus there is free wine on offer - always a good thing!!

PS The items pictured above have been added to my Etsy shop......

Something New.

Several people have suggested that I make tweed doorstops so I have made a handful to try out this year...

 

this one is made in MacLeod Tartan (I only have 2 tartans the rest of the patterns are plaids) and has a thick black felt bottom which will be very hard wearing. I have filled it with wheat and a little bit of wadding to pad it out. The wheat is in a zip lock bag so it doesn't get damp if the doorstop is placed on a damp floor.

I never really saw the point in doorstops myself but apparently they are very popular and essential, especially if you live in an old house with heavy doors! I now have one propping open my workroom door and grudgingly have to admit that they are quite useful as well as being a nice decorative addition to the home!

I am working on some other new products and will be launching them all this summer so fingers crossed people will want to buy them!