As we’re having a second summer this week, I just had to show you these flowery lampshades I made from Amy Butler and Heather Bailey cotton fabric. They measure 20cm in diameter by 18cm high but I’d like to see them on a big drum lampshade, hopefully someone else will too?!
It’s been a lovely week; not just because the sun’s shining; I’ve had so much fun making lovely things. Next on my list are another bag and a pouffe. Hopefully soon I’ll be all stocked up for my stall in three weeks time…
Alice, Amiee, Asha, Amelia..
I made a beanbag yesterday in indigo denim fabric with a personalised pocket. The idea is you can choose a fabric and your letter to have sewn onto the beanbag. The beanbag itself is a pyramid shape with a square base and a handle at the top (plus a zip in the bottom for refilling and the seams are all top-stitched for extra strength). I made them for my boys earlier in the year and they (and the cat) are always on them so they must be okay!
I’m pleased with the result but in the middle of stitching on the ‘a‘ and struggling to go round the corners, I did think it would have been much easier to start with an ‘l‘!
Ah well, it was good practice and I think the pocket goes nicely with the adorable lampshade I made at the weekend…
No I haven’t started tweeting on Twitter (yet?), but I did make a lovely bird today to fill with lavender. Oh yes, and a matching lampshade all handmade from Amy Butler fabric.
I went to a craft fair on Saturday and decided I need to make some small items as well as lampshades, beanbags, bags and pouffes. I loved making this little chap with an appliqued wing and button eye even though it was a bit fiddly, lampshades are so much easier!! I think I’ll make some hearts too.
It feels good to be back behind the sewing machine but I think I have a lot of work to do if I’m going to fill a stall at my first event (20th October – mini pamper and shopping evening run by Alwyn and Courthouse PTA), the next few weeks could be very busy!
Just thought I should put a quick update on gilhoolie as I haven’t blogged for ages, I’m still here! The last couple of weeks have been spent doing lots of screen-printing (some prints more successful than others, arghhh) as well as lots of behind the scenes preparation for getting started on selling things. I’m hoping to have a stall at a shopping evening at school next month so I’ve been concentrating on that by putting together some marketing materials and thinking about how to display everything. I also want to start selling on-line on folksy before then, so I’ve been writing a biography to set up a gilhoolie shop. So you see I have been quite busy really!
I’ve made some lampshades from my own designs (shown below) but also just ordered some pretty fabric to make some more. I’ve decided to not just make things exclusively from my own hand-printed fabric but instead to experiment with any other fabric that catches my eye. I’ve also ordered more denim fabric for making beanbags and bags. The designs will be made to order with a choice of fabrics for bag linings, beanbag pockets, pouffes and accessories (buttons and bows on bags). I’m really looking forward to receiving the fabric I’ve ordered as I’ve missed sewing and I’m getting impatient to start selling soon!
I’ll let you know as soon as my folksy shop is set up, watch this space…
Well, writing a business plan is going okay but I’m taking a break from Excel spreadsheets (reminds me too much of my old job!) to play with a new toy – a proper camera!
Thank you Neil and Angela for putting us up in your lovely new house last week and for giving me your old Canon digital camera. I really, really appreciate it and will try to repay you by sending interior design ideas for all those big rooms whenever I see any!
I’ve taken a few pictures of my tulip lampshade to see if I can make it look any better. Yes, I’ve got lots to learn; I’m not sure I’ve got the hang of focusing on the right part of the picture (not a good start!) I really should read the instructions beforehand but I wanted to have a play. Come on, they’ve got to look better than the old ones, surely?! I also need to practice setting up shots to make things look more professional but I’m sure when I have several lampshades set up in different designs and colours they’ll look ten times better.
I bought a frame today to display a sample of of my first printed tulip fabric so that I can look back and remember where it all started:
And here’s a gilhoolie label close up, can you see it now?! Oh yeh, and here’s my lampshade of course. Now I’m off to finish working out costings for lampshades, tea-towels and beanbags, oh and to read that camera manual…or maybe just play a bit more first… P.S. Did anyone spot the difference in the header on my blog?
Quiet in terms of posting on here but not so still as the boys are on summer holidays for six and a half weeks! However, I have moved on a lot since school broke up – I collected my A4 screens, practiced printing fabric and even made a lampshade with it today – yippee!! I’ve been so excited I haven’t been sleeping well, but hopefully I can sleep soundly tonight now that I have a gilhoolie tulip lampshade sitting pretty in our front room.
Here’s what I did (I’m making an effort to give you more detail this time as I can’t blog as much right now and people have been asking what it all involves).
I changed the old gilhoolie tulip design as I decided it was too complicated and I wanted something a lot less fussy. I’m still planning to print with the butterfly and windmill designs but this is actually my favourite so far.
Here are the three silk screens I’m going to use to print with and the tulip fabric on my printing table (worked brilliantly, thank you James!) This is for our living room so I chose a coral colour to contrast with the duck egg blue walls (it was all looking a bit too blue and grey for my liking). I just need to find some small matching accessories to complete the scheme. Although I originally wanted to go for pastel shades I think the tulip and windmill patterns are more suited to bolder colours as the lines in the designs are quite fine. Lots to learn but the only way to come up with final designs I’m happy with is to experiment.
Then I used a strip of the fabric and a lampshade making kit and wham boom! (Bjork again) you have a gilhoolie tulip lampshade! That bit was easy really and the end result looks very professional so if you want to make your own lampshades give it a go.
I’m hoping to start printing and making lampshades, tea-towels and beanbags with screen-printed pockets from September for a shopping evening at school so my next task is to put together a business plan, how hard can it be?! Arrghh!
Even though my workshop isn’t set up yet I decided to have a go at printing last week (I say workshop, it’s just our utility room really, maybe one day I’ll have a workshop in the garden that I can potter in all day – it’s good to have a dream!) It was all a bit make-shift and experimental but at least I’ve had my first attempt now. I’m a bit restricted on colours with my starter set of inks but I plan to order more soon so that I can mix my own (once again I’m trying to be patient, not very good at that!)
I definitely need to practice before I can put them onto a lampshade but it’s a start and these ones might look nice as a pocket on a beanbag perhaps? Feedback from friends is that the windmill design is the most popular so I may just stick to that in the beginning; I’m learning it’s best to take small steps at this stage but it’s easy to get carried away.
Nearly there, I just need to get a bigger piece of worktop so that I can do more than one print at a time…
Walls, ceiling and woodwork painted, fire surround painted, fireplace tiles painted, shelves put up, wallpapering done, mirror put back, new light put up… not a quick job this one but worth it in the end! I can’t believe how much lighter the room feels now that it’s a cool duck egg rather than a dark red.
The floral wallpaper is called Hudson Mohair from Laura Ashley and has a pearlescent sheen (not available any more though so the pressure was on when we were trying to wallpaper round the fireplace!)
The Dante chandelier is from John Lewis and has already been described as a disco ball by my five year old but I’m hoping it adds a bit of glamour and impact to the room.
My last task is to frame some pictures I’ve been collecting for the wall behind the sofa which is looking very empty – more photos of the rest of the room to follow, I just thought I’d do a quick update now.
Even the beanbags I made back in March match the scheme…
I’ve had a few set backs over the last week as it seems I’m being a tad ambitious trying to start off with A2 size screen prints. I was close to giving up but I really want to see my designs in print so I’m going to perservere and try and be a bit more patient.
I thought I’d have a go at making up some designs that could be printed A4 size and then repeated to make a lampshade. First of all I started along the lines of a trailing flower print but I think those kind of designs are more suited to bigger prints and wallpaper so I had to go for something a bit simpler (there I go again, being too ambitious!)
There’s so much choice in terms of textile designs these days; it’s quite hard to come up with something original but I like this and it’s definitely simple. The taller flower is supposed to be one of those pretty pink/blue/purple flowers (Allium Azureum for all you horticulturists!) which I love (an ornamental member of the onion family apparently, a bit like a big lollipop). The other one is just made up, can you tell?!
News flash – while writing this the printers have emailed to say my A2 screens are ready for collection – see, it does pay to be patient!!
I only have three silk screens, so I need to decide which three of my designs to start printing onto fabric. It’s not easy! To help me make a decision, I’ve been using CorelDraw to add my designs to some pictures of lampshades and my Moroccan pouffe. It helps me to visualise how they will look and how to scale the pattern repeat.
I think I’m going to go for these three: gilhoolie butterfly, tulip and windmill…. but don’t hold me to it; I keep changing my mind!
I might start by making a lampshade for our new front room (I know I said I’d start with tea-towels but hey, I’m multi-tasking!)
Decorating is ongoing but nearly there; just shelves to build and wallpaper to put up. Watch out for the photographs soon!
