I’m all for recycling, so when a close friend asked me to make some bunting from an old, tired cushion to brighten up her daughter’s bedroom, I was more than happy to. The cushion had originally been made from a lovely pink, spotty fabric left over from the curtains in the room. It was just a bit unloved and she wanted to add a touch of colour to the white walls.
The small, soft cushion and colourful bunting I made have really brightened up the room, pulled the scheme together and put a smile on a beautiful little girl’s face. It’s amazing what a bit of recycling can do!
I spent the day in front of the computer yesterday as well as taking lots of photos for my folksy shop (nearly there, promise!) and really, really missed doing something creative. So I took a trip to the sewing shop this morning and bought some red cotton fabric to make some more hanging Christmas trees.
This time they are filled with polyester filling rather than lavender so they’re all soft and cuddly! It was so nice to sit down in front of the sewing machine and listen to the radio, I will definitely be making some more soon…
Luckily the postman has just delivered some things I ordered so I can get on and make a lampshade and pouffe for one of my first customers, thank goodness!!
I had lots of fun a couple of weeks ago taking photos of my friend’s beautiful little girl sitting on a gilhoolie beanbag and pouffe (with some bunting in the background). Thank you so much Sandi, I may ask again if that’s okay!
I know the model looks gorgeous but I’m also hoping these photos show my products well enough to start selling on-line now. I must admit I did get a bit carried away and didn’t always manage to get the whole of the beanbag in shot, oops! Ah well, I still have lots to learn. Thank you also to James for playing around with the photos in Photoshop; I think they are very professional and just the look and feel I was going for.
It’s taken a bit longer than I expected to set up my folksy shop but I think the photos are incredibly important. I’m going to take some more of my lampshades this week too as I’m not happy with the ones I already have. When you work for yourself it’s easy to not set deadlines and just go with the flow but I promise these will be on folksy by the end of the week, cross my heart and watch this space for details!
I had some spare time today so I decided to make a few more lavender decorations for tonight. As it’s a Christmas shopping event I thought pretty Christmas trees would be just the thing, ahhhh!
I might have to keep one of these for myself though…
Like I said yesterday, I’m nearly there now and even made some bunting today to go on my stall to make it look pretty. I used scraps from the other things I’ve made so it all ties in together and it was the easiest thing to do. Honest, if you like bunting (which I do) then there aren’t many easier things you can sew; all in less than an hour; so satisfying!
The birds, owls and hearts are all filled with lavender (took a while to do, thank you Caroline for donating the lavender!) Again, that was a bit of a family activity at the weekend as the boys enjoyed pulling the heads off the dried lavender plants in between painting their chalkboard signs and riding round the garden on their bikes!
I’ve been busy making things to fill my stall next Thursday and I think I’m nearly there, thank goodness. Here are two of the gilhoolie pouffes. The bright one on the left is made from Amy Butler fabric (I have some left over so will probably make a lampshade with that) and the one on the right is made from fabric I already had from our hall curtains and cushions. I’d like to be able to make them from the fabrics I have in stock for lampshades as well as bespoke to match an existing colour scheme, perhaps in a living room or child’s bedroom.
gilhoolie bag
Also, some of you will be pleased to hear…. I made another gilhoolie bag. This time I went back to the simpler design but I incorporated some of the details from the Tabitha bag I made last week with a coloured trim and patterned inside of the handle. I had a play with making flowers and bows to decorate the bag but ended up going back to the covered buttons to keep the look simple. The bows and flowers are always an option though as they did look pretty.
Now that’s all done I’m ready to start putting some things on folksy ready to sell, well almost. I just want to finish off the birds and hearts I started making last week and some bunting to decorate my stall, oh yes and a gilhoolie sign. We had lots of fun at the weekend, James cutting MDF and myself and the boys painting the boards with chalkboard paint; they even have one each for their rooms, one in the shape of a car and one a guitar!
I’m still not entirely convinced about making bags but as this blog is like a diary I thought I should put this on here anyway. It’s a ‘Tabitha bag’ and the pattern is by Flossie Teacakes. I like the end result but boy did it take a long time to make! There are 20 pattern pieces, some with interfacing hence just cutting them out took a couple of hours and I’m not sure I have the patience to do it again, in fact I definitely don’t! However, it was really good sewing practice and now it’s done I’m glad I persevered. The pattern itself is brilliant and incredibly easy to follow with great diagrams all along the way. I really like the patterned fabric in the pleats and the handle so I could incorporate these ideas into an easier bag at some point.
The blue flower picture in the background is a cross-stitch I completed a month ago by the way. Again, I love the picture but it took an awful lot of patience to finish; I’ve decided I much prefer projects that can be completed in a day, life is far too short!
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…
