A couple of weeks ago at work, H was over visiting and I was bemoaning the fact that I couldn't find a new clock that I liked for Sew Crafty. Our blue plastic 80's Argos special didn't seem to cut it after all the hard work we had done renovating the shop. As usual it was H to the rescue when she suggested that we made one! (yes she is an undiscovered genius) Here is how we went about it.
We took the old clock to bits, to use the hands and the mechanism. We removed the face and pulled the hands off, which freed up the back with the mechanism and battery pack up from the plastic surround.
H, Mum and I picked out some scraps from my bits and bobs drawers and got to work. Starting out by doing a little sketch of what things suited what materials. Some things like trimmings would curve but some things were better suited to the straighter numbers. We used a 12" embroidery hoop with calico stretched over it as a base.
I had this sewing machine brooch hanging around my desk for ages and I thought it would be a cute addition as our number 12
A reel of thread seemed obvious as our number 1 and ric-rac curved just enough to be no.2.
Number 3 was cut out of a fabric scrap, the same I used to cover the clock hands. For number 4 we used ribbon and No.5 was made with half of a broken zip.
Number 6 we cut from felt and no.7 was the end of a tape measure
(I had used the rest for a previous project)
For 8 I used a vanishing pen and used a coordinating thread and embroidered it in position, Number 9 was lovingly crocheted by my Mum from embroidery thread.
I knew I wanted to use a needle and thread at some point and number 10 seemed to fit really well, I used pinking shears to cut the 0 out of fabric and stitched it in place with a regular needle, then added the bigger needle afterwards to be the number 1. No. 11 was an excuse to use up some cute little buttons that I had been saving and they were the perfect colour.
I used glue to cover the hands in fabric, made a small hole in the calico and attached the mechanism to the back with strong HT2 glue. I used a small scrap to cover up the shadow from the black box that housed the clockworks and pushed the hands into place.
Doesn't it look cute! It is now hanging in its home above the 'care and repair' section by the pattern drawers in Sew Crafty. It's so much nicer than any of the ones I saw in the shops and suits our little shop to a Tea.
Sammy xxx
