Corset addiction begins

Several weeks ago i started on a corset making class with a wonderful lady from Sew Curvy, Julia Bremble. She is one of the most passionate and inspiring and talented ladies I have come across in a long time and a wonderful teacher to boot. Not only does Julia give you three full days of attention (no matter how chatty her class were) but along the way her teaching is so good that you have the confidence to walk away and feel like you can adjust the pattern she gives you and make as many corsets as your heart possibly can. And trust me you definatley come away wanting to make so many more, though if you are anything like me then you won't have half as much time to as you would like.

One of the other amazing things I learnt on this trip was that it is so wonderful to be among some very smart and mutually minded people can truly boost your spirits. Hence we have all decided to do the next stage of our corset learning together! I don't think Julia is ever getting rid of us. 

These are a few examples of Julia's work, Catherine almost refused to take off that white one she loved it so much!

 Yes people, I know it is not like me but for the first time in history I own an item of clothing that has leopard print!

 See some serious concentration going on here!

 Also it would seem I am one of those weird people that can't sew in shoes so I took these along with me.

Stand by for the next class in three weeks time.

Cake International 2014

So it turns out I am very blessed to have friends with a wide variety of passions and talent. Today is a dedication to my friend Lauren Gillham who has indulged me by inviting to take me to the Cake International 2014. Every year this event has some things which remain basically the same and then other which change.

This year seemed to be mainly dedicated to sugar crafts and a lot of the stalls were based around this and learning new techniques. A large portion of the stalls were this year inviting you to get involved. One stall in particular seemed to have a very large buzz around it Cake Lace, from the very start of the day this stall was always crowded with people and I can understand why, the brand is very well presented and their selling team are amazing but I question wither this is just a fad item. Much like many crafts which are coming around again this form of cake decorating seems to be very niche and can only last so long in it present form though the effects that can be given with their tools are impressive and make this kind of cake decorating accessible to the masses.

I have to say I was also a little disappointed that they are encouraging the making of things but were giving you very few options for transporting them in. Though some stall had boxes there was very little time dedicated to the passion of encasing them well but rather cheaply in plastic cases.

There was inspiration here though, the cake from the competitions showed some real talent and patients. Though there were some disappointments.

 I can see this cake attracting a lot of attention this year as it has already been on a few sites in variety of different forms

 An of course every time I go to Excel London there MUST be a Storm trooper...... obviously!

See ya!

Making Ikea Curtains

Last week I took on the task of making curtains for my partners bedroom. Some would think this a mammoth task and, if I am completely honest, had they been full length windows there would have been tears before bedtime and lots and lots of swearing at the sewing machine. As it was I was saved all of this by the fact that the window its self is only a little 135cm x 144cm window. 

I chose to use adjustable pleats for this first set so that I could play around with what it would look like and have a little more control. I am a bit of a sewing addict but this was a real challenge because of the size of them. You need to try and have double the length of fabric (preferably 2.5 times the width you actually want the curtain to be) in order to be able to gather it. 

I also found that if you go into a high street store to buy the pieces to make curtains they are more expensive and not as sturdy as  what you can get on line, so shop around and find the right people. The curtain tape was only £0.70pm (per meter) online compared with £5.00pm in a local store. 

The back of the curtains has black out lining, I would suggest only using this if you are a confident sewer, nervous sewers will find that while they are sewing it doesn't site where they want it to, or that is slides, practice and time mean that you will get used to handling the more temperamental fabrics.

Make IT Craft Fair and a new addiction

A Few weeks ago my friend Sarah from Stuffed Duck went to the Make It craft fair. She has been going for a while but this was my first time. Within a few moments of getting there I fell in love with a wonderful lady who was doing free tutorials around decoupage on MDF. The lady doing the tutorial actually has a blog of her own http://iveartinmysoul.blogspot.co.uk/ and she is one of the best teachers I have come across in a while so give her our support!

Here are some of the other lovely things that they had on display, I loved the Steampunk draws so much I made Sarah hunt down the paper with me so that I could take it home and try it on my sewing draws!

I am now seriously addicted to this and on the hunt for some Treasure Gold!