The weird weather month that was August is almost over and that means two things. One that our annual Makers Month is nearly here again and two that is is officially Autumn, my favourite time of year. Lets dive in to some more things I have been loving over the past month
I have been loving this home made granola that I saw on Lily Pebbles blog/vlog. I have never been keen on shop bought cereal, and although I like porridge and granola, it is expensive and usually has dried fruit in, which is not my fave. I have been making myself a batch once a week and having it for breakfast and an occasional snack too.
I have been spending a lot of time on everyone's favourite Pinterest recently, trying to streamline our blog account and build up my shop account too. Head over an follow our blog account or Sew Crafty too keep up with all the best crafty pins.
In between pinning sessions I have mostly been chained to my sewing machine and I have been loving it. I have been working on a super secret project which has kept me pretty busy, but I hadn't realised how much I missed sitting and sewing.
To anyone who has followed this blog for a while will be aware of addiction to stationery, in particular stick notes, well this month is no different and some of my fave places ( Paperchase and W H Smiths ) are doing a great job of keeping me in supply of really cool note taking equipment.
Hope you are all looking forward to a epic bank holiday weekend, Have a good one what ever you have planned.
If you head down to your newsagent this weekend, don't forget to pick up the October issue of Craftseller magazine, not just because it's a great crafty mag, but you may see an article with some familiar faces.
We were asked a few months ago to weigh in on the subject of how having a blog can help your handmade business. Something we love to talk about!
The piece by Karen Dunn includes some other amazing Girl boss bloggers, the lovely Kat and Kat founders of Blogtacular, Camilla Westgaard from the Folksy Blog and Alice Tams from Birds in hats. I know we are biased, but it is well worth a read if you are in any doubt as to whether blogging is for you and your brand. Spoiler alert. It totally is!
As if you needed another reason to head out and grab a copy there is also a great interview with Amanda Overs of I Can Make Shoes, who's workshops have been on our wishlist for ages. Definitely on our Christmas list now!
We would love to know if you have a handmade business or brand and how your blog has impacted it, or if you find social media and blogging just a bit overwhelming? What have you learnt about yourself or your customers via your blog?
I thought I would come back to a bit of simple styling this week for another nosey into my house and hopefully a bit of inspiration. I am nearly there with my workspace and so I thought this would be a good time to show a bit of simple styling. The rest of the workspace involves shelving and hiding things away in boxes and so not much to show there. To start with the Table was given to me by my folks and it does extend out so a great thing to have around and the chair is from the local charity shop.
You may or may not have noticed that H has been taking the reins this month, she has been picking up my slack over here whilst I have been dealing with some exciting things over at Sew Crafty. Today I can exclusively reveal Sew Crafty's first ever product release, on September 1st we are launching the Sew Crafty Sewing Journal.
To give you a little back story, My Mum has always kept lists and notes about her sewing and crafty makes. A few years ago when we started this blog I started doing a similar thing to keep track of all the stuff I was making for the blog and as gifts for friends. Earlier this year Mum and I were having a chat about what products we wanted to create that would also be useful in the sewing community. The answer was right there in front of us as we sat listing and sketching out ideas, a sewing journal.
After months of designing and making prototypes, the real thing is actually here and we are so excited to share them with you. Let's start at the beginning, there are three different covers to choose from, the graphic spot and dot cover where the little crosses are actually scissors, the watercolour peony and succulent cover which reminds me of a beautiful print fabric and lastly our photographic cover which features one of my favourite images of our little sequin pegs.
The inside pages is where we think our journal stands apart. We have designed pre-printed pages filled with prompts to help you record your sewing projects. Although if you are more of a crafter the journal still works as it is versatile enough to use for non sewing projects too!
In-between each set of project pages there are free sketching 'Ideas' and 'Notes' pages with plenty of space to plan your next projects. The journals are A5 which we think is the perfect size to pop in your bag for making notes on the go or taking with you to pick up supplies from the fabric store.
We wanted to make the journal something that you can make your own and use in a way that suits you, at the same time helping you to remember those little things that sometimes we forget. There is space to record the pattern you may have used as well as notes on what went right, what went wrong and the thing I always forget, where I bought my supplies! You can easily jazz up the inside with swatches, stickers and washi tape or leave it plain for a more minimal look
If you want to get your hands on one of these Journals they will be available from my online shop sewcraftyonline.co.uk from the 1st of September 2015 priced at £12.95 (plus £2.95 p+p you get free UK shipping if you spend over £25. International delivery is our usual low rate of £7.50). If you are interested you can pre-order your copy from today! Head to Sew Crafty and get your hands on a copy ASAP.
I am so excited to get these lovelies out into the world and see how everybody puts them to use! How will you use yours?
This month we got to have a little chat with Sonia from London Craft Club. We are going to a Friday Late at London Transport Museum next month where she will be making your Oyster card holder look extra special for their late night opening event. But mostly London Craft club runs workshops and meet-ups around London and their new venue - see below. They will also be at The Handmade fair, so plenty of places to find them. So let's hear what Sonia has to say about our random questions!
Yesterday we got the chance to visit the new workshop space for The Makery in John Lewis, London. We are big fans of The Makery as you may know from our posts about our visit in 2013 and again in 2014 and so we were so happy when we found out they were opening a workshop space in London and even more excited when we were offered the chance to join a workshop!
We decided to go for the Espadrilles workshop as neither of us have ever made shoes before and so what a great workshop to try. Also we thought we would let you join in the fun by showing you our photos as well as adding their You tube video as part of this post. So that you can make your own at home if you can't get to Bath or London for a workshop.
We had to bring our own fabric to the workshop - but luckily we have our own 'little' stashes at home, ahem. I went for rockets and spaceships and Sammy chose colourful chevrons. Although as the workshop space is on the 4th floor in John Lewis, you can always buy a little something from their fabric department if you forget or don't have any to bring.
We started by cutting our fabric using the pattern pieces for the shoe size we are. We cut 2 pieces of each and then 2 each of the lining fabric. One set is for the front and the other is for the back and sides.
Then, we made sure they were right sides together before sewing around the edge, making sure to leave a gap so that you can pull it through.
Once we had sewn around our pieces, we cut notches in the curves of the front piece where our toes will be and the bottom of the back piece to make the curve lay flatter when turning them through.
We then turned them through to the right side and pressed them flat, making sure to have points in the end of the front piece and turning in the gap and pressing down. You won't need to sew this shut as it will be sewn in place when you construct the shoe.
Now time for sewing your pieces to the soles. Starting with the back and sides piece, find the middle of the fabric and pin it to the middle of the back of the shoe, you then pin around the edge of the shoe at an angle (so the pin goes into the sole), with the fabric flat to the sole. I am sure this is where the video above will come in real handy.
Then it's a case of blanket stitching around the edge of the sole, making sure the loops go to the inside of the shoe, not on the edge of the sole - again I am sure the video will explain much better than I can, but you can see below how the stitching sits.
Once all the edges are in place, you need to straight stitch up the side of the back and side piece to the front piece so that it all stays together when you put them on.
Then voila, you are done - new shoes! I can see how these would be really addictive to make, Sammy has already bought another pair of soles to play with.
What pattern would you choose? I think if I was going to make another pair, I might go for classic on the outside and then a fun print inside, or slightly different prints for the back and front pieces.
Thanks again to The Makery for giving us the opportunity to attend the workshop, we had great fun!
