Screen printed fabrics

I like to print fabric more than anything else...I have limited space so I can only use small screens.  I have some very large screens in the shed awaiting the summer when I can set up a table in the garden.

I print using stencils cut from thin paper. It takes a long time to cut the design with a scalpel and to get the screen ready .When I print I have to keep on going as I know the stencil will eventually fall apart or clog up. I do a run of as many as time will allow...or until I get fed up .Usually I start with a light colour, maybe a pink and add more red as I top up the ink to vary the colour after which I may add blue to change it to purple etc. I hang the prints to dry on the washing line.

These are some old prints I did which I made into bags and sold at a farmers market and on eBay. I printed it on paper first so that I can re cut the design and use it again.

I like to colour some of my prints by hand with fabric paints. I love the way one design can be changed in so many ways...

                                   These are old photos rescued from my old blog...
                   the camera was only a cheap and I cant  seem  to alter the photos very well.. 

This is one of the finished bags.........

Handmade gifts ... Easter bunny rabbits ...

 A busy day today.....at last I finished sewing my Easter bunnies...

Each rabbit is about 14 inches tall from the tips of his toes...to the tops of his ears....

The pattern is my own....each is different .....the eyes are felt...sewn on by hand with tiny stitches...embroidered faces....

I hand sewed a pocket on the front of each and popped a little carrot in...I found the carrot fabric a while back...a good quality linen ,orange with tiny white spots. At once I knew exactly what I could use it for and bought it excitedly....My son Charlie said he thinks I am a little nutty!!

Before I finished the rabbits I posted these lovebirds to a new customer, Teri...She was introduced to me on my facebook page by Claire who bought many 'I love you' dolls from me at Christmas..Teri has bought them as a gift for her sister's shabby chic style wedding. I thought that was a really nice idea....

Just a quick post as now I need to cook dinner....An angels work is never done.....

I have a very small kitchen...

I would just love to have a big farm house kitchen....not that I am a keen cook...or for that matter, a good cook....but because I want a big pine table where I can sit with family to chat over tea and cakes...where I can sit and sew alongside Charlie whilst he does his lessons...However..I have a tiny kitchen...I ripped out cupboards..put the fridge under the stairs... and had to have my table cut in half to fit it in. I took out more cupboards to fit in my kitchen dresser...my most loved possession.

Some years ago I bought the flower fairy lights just because I fell in love with them, one of those impulse buys ...they sat in their box for a couple of years as I had nowhere to put them...Last year I put them around the top of the dresser...a little ketch...but they look so pretty in the evening...

I think my mum gave me the angel...it has been there about six years along with the peace decoration that I put up one Christmas and never took down... 

Somehow this photo has got a bit stretched...I'm not that thin...my bottom not that flat!! As you can see I have to stand on a chair to put my saucepans away...I'm 5' 5"...average height...My eldest son is 6' 4"...he can stand in the kitchen and put his hand flat on the ceiling. That would be handy for decorating you think...no such luck....

This heart plate was free with tea bags !....When we have special sweets or pretty little cakes I display them on the heart plate. The mug was a charity shop find...unused for a pound....I knew Charlie would love it.

Below are my kitchen curtains...not a good photo I'm afraid...photography is not one of my strong points....along with writing and spelling....thank goodness there is a spell check on here....

It took a while to find the right fabric to go with the wall paper...I found it at 'The old loom mill' where I used to rent an area to sell from....

The tie backs I made from a long necklace that was made from a string cord with little charms and beads threaded on it....I undid the necklace and cut it in half. I cut the gold flowers from a leather off cut and sewed them on back to back catching the string between the stitches. Next I put back the charms and beads and tied  little brass curtain rings on the ends...

This cat is a prised possession as it is one of the few things my son Peter has ever given me...It is made from wood and has been hand painted...a holiday souvenir...I think it is brill !!

A fabric heart I made and decorated with some shiny squeezy paints I bought for Charlie, but I just had to have a go with them...it hangs on an old pine wall cupboard from the local secondhand furniture shop...

This mosaic was a gift from my friend Alison when I moved in....eight years ago...goodness I have been here a long time now and still have not got it the way I would like it.....

 

I put this photo on so that you could see my wallpaper more clearly. I just love this paper...it is a gold that sometimes looks silver, and a teal blue....I know at first it seems a strange paper for a kitchen but everyone remarks on how great it is....When I am in this room I feel like I'm inside a big present that has been wrapped inside out.......

 

Fabric birds .....fairy lights in a twiggy tree.....

Before Christmas I bought this pretty twiggy tree complete with fairy lights....Sometimes I love my decorations so much that I keep them up all year....So it was with this tree.

 I have a dark little house and in the evening the stair light is permanently on as Charlie is forever up and down the stairs.....I adore the twinkle of fairy lights and placed the tree on a little chest of draws on the landing....It looked pretty, but a bit bare ....so....I made these little birds in various sizes from some of my favourite fabric scraps to hang in the tree.

 I wanted real feathers for the tails but no where locally sells them...impatient as I am I used wool. I cut the wool over twice the length I needed and knotted it in the middle, inserted it in the tail end and sewed up the hole with tiny stitches catching the wool in so that it could not pull out.....I used flower sequins for the eyes, sewing a weeny black bead in through the hole...the wings are just felt sewn on with a contrasting button. I threaded fishing line through to hang them from as this is fairly invisible....

This is the result....I tried to take a photo in the dark but it did not show up the details...so...sorry you can not see how pretty they really look....I put them on as soon as it starts to get dark and they light the stairs in a much nicer way than a ceiling light...

Handmade cat and owl cushions....

Everything is a bit slow going at the moment...it is that time of year when businesses are quiet.....it is cold and miserable outside....and we are all looking forward to spring .

Personally I can't stand being cold, as soon as the sun shines I my brain seems to wake up and I feel motivated again.

I am trying to find a suitable on line shop...I only want a little one that is easy to manage...that I can link to my blog. I have been selling on eBay for five years but I find it far to expensive to run....listing....selling ....and paypal fees can at quiet times come to more than I am actually selling. Setting everything up is taking far longer than I thought it would...I am feeling frustrated by the whole thing.

I have designed a couple of cushions that have been going around in my head for a while...I made the patterns and tried them out to make sure they worked....I made the cat cushion from my fleece jacket that was feeling a bit tight after all that Christmas food...I put a zip in the back and made an inner cushion pad....I am very pleased with it, now I just need to find the right fabrics so that I can make some to sell...

 

Owls are very 70s and there are some nice cushion designs for sale on ebay and in shops...I was tempted to but one from eBay but I did not like the face so I have designed my own...The fabric I used is from my own stash...unused original 70s fabric that I thought was ideal as the design was reminiscent of feathers...I machine embroidered the eyes over two delicate flowers that I printed and appliqued them on. He  has a zip in the back and I lined him, placing a layer of wadding between the layers to give the whole thing more body and a better feel. The wings also have wadding inserted..I made an inner pad and feel very pleased with the outcome...He has a home on and old chair by the front door....

The way I work is probably a bit back to front ! I spend a lot of time looking for beautiful, quality fabrics for my work....but I like to buy remnants and ends of rolls so that I can keep my prices down...I don't design something and then but the fabric to make it from....I have the fabric and then think...what can I make from this...

Sometimes I have to wait before I can make up my patterns...for the right material and I like to make each thing unique in some way...I never make identical items.

My handmade gifts are loved....

I was sent these photos from one of my customers who is now one of my friends.....This is her beautiful daughter with a black cat that was given just before Christmas....Apparently she takes it everywhere....

The cat has been named Miss Perfect , and has visited Father Christmas and The Snow Queen.....

Just after Christmas Alison bought another cat...a pink one,

and for some reason her pet cat has taken a liking to it....

Along with the pink cat she also asked for a kitten in a bag that her cat carries around in its mouth , I would love to see a photo of that.......

When given this mermaid apparently Allison's daughter said....."I don't like it....I LOVE IT !"

Below is her other pet cat with some of the dolls.....

Knitting on four needles....

I am not a great lover of watching the telly...I don't mind a good film, and I have watched Eastenders since it began....apart from that I consider it a wast of my time,I would rather be doing something.

However...on a cold winter night my son Charlie and I sometimes snuggle under a blanket and I will let him choose what we watch as long as I can do some knitting or crochet.

I knitted this beret on four needles...a labour of love as it ended up a bit big and I made myself undo half of it and re knit it so that it would fit....I have a large head so I couldn't understand why it was large on me....either the pattern was wrong or my work was too loose....

Now, this jumper I am very pleased with !....I got the pattern from a google search...It was knitted on a circular needle and I made the fair isle pattern up as I went along.  I followed the pattern for the shaping....I am very pleased as it is a perfect fit and I enjoyed every stitch....um...decisions...what shall I knit next?

Handmade dolls..Goldilocks and the three bears..

 I thought it might be  fun to make some dolls from stories and nursery rhymes.....I am very pleased with how these turned out....However I shall not use the same fabric for the bears again....I used needle cord which gave the look I wanted, but it was so hard to turn them after sewing as the fabric is too stiff.....I shall repeat on these but in a different material...

I was in a mood for doing fiddly things when I made these, not at all normal for me...the clothes can be taken off..I added a little pocket and patch to Daddy bears trousers...I have been asked to reserve these for a customer, but I shall be making more soon....

Handmade fabric rag dolls.....

A lot of my customers say that my dolls have a retro look about them.....I suppose they do !....I drew some sketches...and decided to make a doll that looked a bit like how children draw people....I just love children's drawings...they have a way of simplifying everything..I have sold many of these, each is different. They are about 31 cm tall.....some have felt eyes sewn on with tiny stitches, but I am gradually going over to printing the faces...this adds to the retro look.  My main love is screen printing fabrics and I hope at some time to print the whole doll...I just need a bit more room in my tiny house to fit in a bigger table and use my larger screens. I print in the sun room in the summer...there is no heating out there, so some things I want to do will have to wait...

Handmade patchwork fabric lovebirds ...

These are Shabby Angel love birds....I made them in patchwork just because I love it and I thought it would make them colourful...They are 25 cm tall. Each has button eyes...a felt beak sewn on with tiny stitches and a pocket hand sewn on with a little stuffed heart . The wings have a layer of wadding in to give them some body....the feet are felt. These were quite time consuming but I enjoyed every minute...I sold three as soon as I made them....All my things are as well made as I can make them. All the things sewn on are done with very strong thread and as secure as possible...

Handmade gift...I love you...fabric cat dolls...

I was asked to make some pink I love you cats....the ones I made before Christmas were in colours suitable for boys or girls.....I sold out of them. So I have made these as I was asked and sold one to the lady who requested them....Little girls just love pink !  When I was little I wanted every thing purple...and I must admit it is still my favourite colour in any shade.

These cats are about 24 cm tall..they always seem to vary for some reason....the faces are printed and I did the words in various ways in order to make the all individual....

Garden art....things I have made for my garden..

I thought you might like to see some photos of my garden....Last year I did a lot of work out there to transform a muddy mess, and make it my own....My garden gets flooded, it is clay soil and it is hard to grow anything...or was.....I raised borders and dug up the grass, laying a patchwork of slabs, wood and pebbles.....A friend decked the top area and the very bottom is half done as the summer went and we ran out of time.

This was how it looked half way through the summer....

I wanted some garden art ,I have loads of ideas but only made a few things as most of my time was spent working, planting tending my veg. and watering....I bought galvanised wire and dug out my beads, buttons and old broken jewelry......these are the tings I made with very little cost...I used only a third of the wire which only cost £3.50.....