Huge news for Jackdaw Bindery!

TRYING NOT TO FAINT HERE.. It's been SO hard to keep schtum about this.. SO HARD and I still can't believe it myself I'm literally in daydream mode here, but after a couple of weeks of incredibly hard keeping quiet I can finally reveal that Jackdaw Bindery is

ETSY'S FEATURED SHOP!!!

I've been reading Etsy's articles about the wonderful designers, artists and makers who sell their amazing work through etsy for so long it was a huge shock to the system to be contacted myself about little old ME being featured. I still don't believe it but now it's finally been published I'm just sitting here in silence staring and thinking.. *ME... THAT'S ME!* 

My good friend Natalie Miller came round to drink tea and shoot some beautiful photos of me and my studio that I'm so thankful for. If you're interested to know more about myself, Jackdaw Bindery and how it all happened, you can read the whole article on the etsy blog.

Still letting this sink in. The support for my journey so far has been amazing so thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who has supported me, even in the tiniest way, thank you thank you thank you ♥

These are a few of my favourite things . . .

Some of my favourite handmade, illustrated and hand-printed items I've collected over the past couple of years. I love the thought that a lot of the items I own aren't also owned by the masses and I love supporting artists and designers around the world. Of course, this is no where near all of the incredible handmade goodies I own, so I'll have to do a follow-up post in the future with more!

 From top left in a sort of.. wonky clockwise direction:

• My well-loved typewriter illustration bag by Ceridwen Design. This has been thrown around in my bag and in the washer so many times and it still has tonnes of life left in it!
• Super cute chasing foxes coasters by the ever-talented and lovely Caleighill. I also have one of her crazy-odd creature prints, 'Creature Hoarder' up on the wall and I love him so!
• Quite possibly the most beautiful and comfortable shoes I own, my Audrey sandals. Handmade here in the UK by eco-concious Cholesburys using recycled leather and a gorgeous vintage Liberty print.
• Layered wooden fox brooch by Martin Tomsky who has managed to transform his illustrations into these amazing laser-cut brooches and wall art. The rest of his work is totally worth checking out to really appreciate the impact and depth he manages to create with just one material!
• Hand screen-printed tank-top by Mon Shop. I picked this up from their stall at Camden Stables Market and seriously had to hold myself back from buying just about everything I saw there!
• 'Things We Found in the Field' pocket mirror from The Aviary.. I think I have like.. 4 of these all in different designs, they're all so pretty!
• Gorgeous barefoot sandals. I bought the pattern from Isamo Crochet knowing full well I can't crochet to save my life. Thankfully, a lovely lady from Mauritius crocheted these for me and sent them all the way to the UK for me! Lucky lucky me, I'll be wearing these on the beach this Summer!
• Just for fun, temporary butterfly tattoos from The Aviary. I originally bought these as a gift but they umm.. accidentally stayed in my stash here instead.
• 'Hello' Soap dish by Stone's Throw Ceramics. It's actually a spoon rest, but I bought it to use as a soap dish and now I've seen it with jewellery in, well I think I might have to buy another for my dressing table! When I first came across this I was actually browsing Etsy for something totally different - then this popped up and I had to have it, I love everything about it! Check out Susanne's Octopus mugs too, they are SO COOL.
• Last but not least, my go-to piece of jewellery that I wear pretty much every single day. My archery bow pendant from MisoPretty - I'd had my eyes on this for months and finally caved and treated myself! Archery has a special place in my heart since my grandmother gifted me my own bow many years ago. ♥

Create because you can, not because you have to.

We've just returned from a week in North Devon, celebrating a lifelong friend's wedding which was so so beautiful, pretty much everything was hand-made, with so much time and love gone in to every lasting detail it really was one of the most beautiful weddings ever - some images from the day can be found on the official photographer's blog here.

What with the wedding, days lounging on the beach until darkness, watching the sunset, fighting through crashing waves, walking for hours along riverbanks and through sand dunes with no real destination, upon returning home I've never been so inspired to create - I even found inspiration for a new dress in a washed up pile of rocks at Putsborough Beach (of which I've brought a few home as a reminder).. I'll be collecting fabrics for this over the next few weeks or so.

As for dresses, I actually started on a brand new dress today and have spent the last few hours playing with materials and my Singer, the living room looks like a fabric bomb has hit it. It's very much based on the dress I made for my wonderful friend in Canada which you'll find here.

Some progress shots?

I've been having so much fun these past two and a bit years growing my tiny little business that I completely forgot to slow down and take a break - even throughout my holidays I'd continue working..! I LOVE running my little shop, it means everything to me and I love all the people I've met who support me and make it possible for me to do what I love - over the last couple of months it's sort of exploded into something so much bigger than I ever imagined, every spare minute of my days and nights have been spent working hard on my etsy shop and bookbinding, I totally forgot about all the other things I love to do as well! 

Some of you may have noticed my etsy shop is currently in 'vacation mode' and will remain that way until at least the end of this week and possibly a little longer whilst I re-visit all the stuff I've not had time for like dressmaking, illustration, photography and generally being creative.

I'll announce on facebook / twitter once I've re-opened and if you really want to stay up to date, you can use the 'notify me' button in my etsy shop using the link above. 

Until then, never forget - it is ok to slow down from time to time. Don't miss out on the other great things life has to offer and always take time to create because you can and not because you have to. 

Happy creating - I'm off to explore my fabric boxes..

♥

Colette Sorbetto Tank Top Pattern Review

During my self-induced Pattern Therapy sessions (hah) I decided I needed to make myself some new tops for Summer since my wardrobe consists of the same colour palette: creams, khaki greens, smudgy browns and dusty Pinks! Seriously - If you've seen me anywhere around over the past 12 months you'll think I always wear the same thing! 

Not only does my wardrobe consist of the same colours, but also the same style of garment, namely the trusty tunic, thus begins the search for the perfect tunic pattern (I can only change one thing at a time, and this time it's the colour, NOT the style, K?). Whilst looking for the perfect tunic pattern (still searching if anyone has any suggestions!) I re-stumbled across the Colette Sorbetto tank top and since it's a freebie download from the website, decided to give it a go.

I've had to peg the tank for 'aesthetics' - more on the sizing below!

The top itself is a basic tank with no closures (yey) and a box pleat down the front. This would be a great starter project for beginners using only two pattern pieces and just a handful of basic techniques. It's easily adaptable if you want to make adjustments too which is my next challenge.

The pattern prints out onto 25 pages which includes all your instructions, there's no colour coding so you can print out in grayscale to save your ink. It was simple to piece together and the fact that I have a guillotine REALLY saved me some time cutting out each block! 

I found the fabric requirements to be very generous, suggesting 1 1/2 yards of a 45in or 60in fabric but I used a 60in fabric and managed to squeeze the pattern into just half of that with a 27 inch cut for the size 10. If you want matching bias tape you'll need more and I can't vouch for any size larger than a 10 as I haven't made them! You'll definitely need more if using a 45 inch fabric. 

I have SO much of the fabric I used so this project would help use a bit more up (I really have to start using the materials I already have and stop buying new stuff and squirreling it all away). It's a lightweight cotton given to me by my grandmother last year so the ideas was to make a pyjama top to match the knickers I made using the same fabric a few weeks back. 

I won't lie, the length of the original scared me - I'm used to wearing my tops swinging around my hips, this is WAY too short for me but I wanted to follow the pattern accurately to work out adjustments for the next one and for a PJ top this length is just fine.

Now, sizing.. Because this is US sizing I made sure I took all my measurements to get the right size and came up somewhere between a 6 and an 8. The pattern recommends taking the larger measurement and cutting this size so I should have cut an 8. Somehow when I came to actually cutting the pattern though I managed to follow the lines for a size 10 and only noticed when I finished - I think there must have been a mental note embedded in my brain telling me I'm a UK 10 so cut that, urgh.
To make things easy I just went with it and made up the 10 BUT it didn't matter this time round, firstly because this was just a trial to see how the pattern goes together and secondly because it's only going to be used as a pyjama top so actually, the larger size is ideal. I'll pretend I did it on purpose ok? OK?! When I re-make I'll have to go for the 8, maybe even the 6.

See those gaping arm-holes? That's kinda what it looks like on me!

This pattern is so easy to follow and I'll definitely be buying from the Colette range in the future. All techniques are fully explained before going ahead to do them so if it's your first time you can't really go wrong! The one and only bit I really really hated was applying the bias tape. This was horrid - not because it was hard, it was just too tedious for my liking! If I'm going to go through all that effort again I'll definitely make matching bias (although I have my eye on this amazing panda fabric from The Eternal Maker, and some blue spotty bias similar to the stuff I used that goes really nicely)!

I'll definitely be making more of these, in the smaller size for day-wear! Adjustments I'd like to make are the following:

Add a peter pan collar with buttons down the pleat

Add lace on pleat

Lengthen into a tunic

Lengthen into a dress (maxi, anyone?)

Invert the pleat

Buttons down reverse

All in all I'm happy I have a new set of PJ's, I've used up some more of this fabric which seems to be never-ending and I have a new pattern to play with - yey!

Pattern Therapy - Dyslexia Busting Flirty Thrifty Floral Short Shorts

I can't be the only one who avoids shop bought patterns can I? Back in my pant post I mentioned how rusty my pattern cutting skills were. Well, I also really need to brush up on pattern reading skills! I've been dressmaking for a while now but have fallen into this irritating habit of avoiding shop bought patterns because they scare the heck out of me - and I don't think it's just because if I'm making for myself I can be a really really lazy seamstress. 

My dyslexia has always been a total pain in the backside when doing anything remotely academic. If I have to read it first, it's 100% going to take me 10 times as long as it should. I need to either see or do, to learn anything. With a deficit in working memory, short term memory loss and a 'below average' comprehension score, I find it really hard to follow the simplest of instructions, especially when I have to read them, so this pattern reading lark was a little test to see if I can train my coconut in to thinking it's cleverer than it actually is. Let's call it pattern therapy. Yeah I like that. T.H.E.R.A.P.Y.

"Read. Now read again. And again. Well done. Ooh what did that bit say? OK now read again. OK good, now sew. NO NO WAIT. WAIT WAIT. Read again. Double check that bit. hmm.. Tea break."

If I'm one day going to be the super pro dressmaking lady I hope to be I need to dream big and start small - easing myself into this new pattern reading territory with a nice and simple starter project. I had a rummage through a whole bunch of old patterns that belonged to my grandmother and picked out a 1969 McCall's (9784) misses dress and shorts pattern with a little "Time saving QUICKIE" logo that I liked the look of! I opted for the shorts as a nice easy make to start with. And a nice easy make they were!

I was super happy to find I didn't need to buy a single thing for this project which I LOVE. I used supplies I already had and the fantastic floral stripe fabric which used to be a curtain came from my stash, originally bought from a car boot sale for about 50p. I have literally so much of this fabric it's about time I actually started using it. 

I also want to point out that after not bothering to check my measurements against the envelope or even try them on whilst making to see if it was going to be worth the effort, I'm happy to announce that they are the perfect fit - which means this was a very smooth make indeed.

I found this particular pattern really easy to follow, with minimal 'extra effort' steps apart from the occasional traipsing off to press fabric and seams which I should be doing anyway. The only thing that bothered me was the zip and that was my own fault. Let's not talk about the zip, I got there in the end and that's all that matters. It definitely took me longer than it should have, but I made it through the entire pattern (many times) and my shorts look like shorts! The only alteration I made was to the length, turning them up twice as much as the pattern states and outwards to make the turn-ups a feature as opposed to inwards to make a tidy hem. I really really love these, the pattern could easily be altered too - I'd definitely like to try making them with a slightly heavier fabric next time and a wider waistband.

I loved doing this, so I now challenge myself to work my way through the entire pattern box.

 Here's to Pattern Therapy ♥

New Year, New Stuff

Wow ok, 2012 whizzed right by without even stopping, did anyone see where it went? As usual, in typical 'me' style, not only is my New Year blog post a week late but also my 2012 New Year goals were swept away when life took over. Here they are in all their un-finished glory and underneath, whether I achieved them or not:

• Explore the United Kingdom
  Nope - This makes me sad.
• Keep a journal
  Nope (although I have acquired numerous pretty books with the intention of using them as a journal so the thought was there).
• Take more photos
  Nope. Wait a minute, does photographing stock count? No? Then nope.
• Shoot at LEAST 3 personal photo stories
  First thoughts, nope. Then I looked at my flickr and YES! BIG FAT CHECK. Thanks to Caroline, Lizzie, Francesca and Fru.
• Discover amazing music and art
  Music, yes. Art, not so much.
• Blog more
  Nope, only half of the previous year's total, this makes me sad too!
• Organise my studio
  For a short while it looked beautiful! Not so much any more. So - Nope.

Other than these little mainly-non-goal-achieving-set-backs, what DID 2012 bring? Well now. Three house moves? yes. New 'other' job? Yes (and I love it). Road-tripping to the South of France? Yes. Holiday in Devon? Yes. Christmas in Dorset? Yes. It has been a rather busy and stressful year I'll admit, we seemed to be moving home every couple of months and I can't quite figure out whether this is funny or not (most probably not) as my brain is all fuddled with moving in-out-in-out of places so many times over two years (yes, we moved more the previous year too), but we've ended up right back in the same home that we left back in 2011! Living out of a suitcase and boxes isn't too bad but it'll be nice to finally unpack for the last time until we find the perfect place and BUY it!

Anyway, this year I'm not going to set goals, resolutions or any of that sort of thing as they don't seem to work for me! Instead I'm just going to write a nice list of 'things' that I can look to for inspiration to get stuff done (yes that's sort of a list of goals but if I don't call them goals then I can pretend they're not goals - ok?).

• File tax return - this one's always fun
• Be Healthy - sort of easy
• Be Happy - always easy
• Say hello to old faces and new - yes please
• Try to blog at least once per week - feature post, photo post, tutorial post go go go.
• STOP buying new fabrics and use the ones you've got - this is a biggie!
• De-Stash (as a result of the above) 
• Do not move again for at LEAST 12 months
• Shoot some pretty photos!

January has been a busy one so far and as a result I've had to take my made to order books out of the shop to allow myself the time to get other stuff done, they kept me super busy in the run up to Christmas - so busy in fact that I'm nearly out of the lovely leather I'd been using so I may need a totally new best-seller all together!  Ooh what'll it beee WHAT'LL IT BEEEE?

I've put a bunch of cool stuff into the sale here, there is a lovely 20-50% off selected items. 
Once I've crunched some numbers I'll be preparing new designs ready for spring, totally can't wait. 

Happy 2013 ♥

Don't get your Knickers in a twist!

Wow OK, so back in college during my fashion and clothing course I decided I wanted to have a go at making some undies when I had a chance. Well, I finished that course over five years ago now and either this is my absolute worst ever case of procrastination OR I must've been a seriously busy bunny since then. I like to think it's the latter though the former seems much more realistic. My to do list pretty much goes to the moon and back a few times and unfortunately cool stuff like this just get pushed way back and gets all dusty and forgotten about. 

For the first time in a few weeks I've found myself with a spare couple of afternoons to play with so grabbed the opportunity and spent my free time pattern cutting. It took me a while to get my head around it all again, I'm a bit rusty on the drafting front as I haven't actually sat down and done this properly since college so this was a really good exercise for me and once I got back in to the swing of things I was on a roll! After my fourth draft and a pile of toiles made up in hideous fabrics I finally cracked it ('scuse the pun) and here you see my very first totally finished pair of knickers! These were made using a cute vintage bed sheet I had sitting around and some lace-edged elastic. There are definitely a few things I need to adjust but in general I'm really happy with how they've turned out and I'm so excited to expand this project, I've got some cool things in the pipeline revolving around these little panties! - What do you think?

And just because this is super adorable, this little fella was mooching about in the garden today, HOW CUTE IS HE?

Don't mix him up with your knickers though . .

♥

SEWING MACHINE IS HOME IS HOME IS HOME ♥

Good news, after going two and a half painful months without my beautiful sewing machine I finally have her back and SHE WORKS AGAIN, YEY! I'm so excited to get on any make lots of new things I've been dreaming up in her absence. To celebrate her return I've been on a couple of recent supply splurges (definitely not necessary based on the state of my studio right now, there is stuff pouring out of every nook and cranny. Who am I kidding.. Of course it was necessary!) so have lots of cool stuff to create some beautiful new bits and pieces.

Whilst attempting to clear up my workspace this afternoon to make way for her majesty, I found these little pendants I made back in the Summer hiding at the bottom of one of my stock drawers so they've gone into the shop today! I've also revised all of my postage costs to keep the costs as low as possible for my customers.

In other news, M and I are planning a collaboration for the near future. Hopefully it'll be ready for the new year and we're both very excited about it, I won't go into too much detail right now but soon soon soon I promise. Until then ♥

Secret Garden Dress

One year on Etsy!

I've just taken a quick peek in my diary and seen that it's one year today that I officially launched my etsy shop! How time flies huh? The first thing I ever sold on etsy was this gorgeous plaited bracelet! I kept behind a vintage buckle to make myself one similar but never got around to it *adds to list of things to do*

Becki Button Love ♥

This post is long overdue but there is no better time to post than today. Let me get this straight - I LOVE receiving packages in the mail. Even boring supplies that most of the time I've forgotten I bought, I just love it. And I love it even more when I flip the package over and it has Becki's address on the back! This girl is far too good to me and I have had so many goodies from her over the past couple of years she is deserving of an enormous package from me some time soon! So this post is dedicated to the lovely lovely Becki Button and her utter creative awesomeness.

I received this today out of the blue. Just in time for my favourite season - Spring ♥ HOW CUTE IS THIS? It's a laser cut lamb necklace complete with white felt woolly fluffiness!

Excuse the non-make-upped face, I was so excited to upload this I didn't have time to spruce myself up for the photo!

Bookbinding - New found Love

Hello everyone! Sorry for the awful silence from me, Christmas fairs sort of momentarily took over my life for a while but I'm back and so very excited for 2012! I've had a wonderful Christmas surrounded by loved ones and have been well and truly spoilt rotten. 

Have you had a nice Christmas? Looking forward to the new year? I must write my resolutions but I'm always so worried I'll fail half of them! Anyway, until my 'NY resolution/bye bye 2011 post, I thought I'd flash you a few piccies of my newest venture - Bookbinding! 

Recycled Silk Sari Ribbon Nautical Jewellery Wrap.

Day Three of 30 days of creativity. I love plaiting things. In fact, the only thing I can't really plait is my own hair because I can't quite get to grips with the whole backwards-upside-downiness of it (I WILL learn one day!). Plaiting fabric though I definitely can do, and I love making these jewels so much I've got a whole load in my back-up stock, and a few in my shop!

This one was created using recycled silk sari ribbon. If you don't know what sari ribbon is then all I can say is this: you need some in your life and whilst we're on the subject, sari yarn is also mighty beautiful - I can't knit or crochet and even I have some!

I picked out and cut three strands that complimented one another (in this case, turquoise & golden, red & white striped and chequered navy & cream). I secured one end in a loop, plaited my way down the strands, secured the other end in a loop and added a glass cross pendant. Sure, for my nautical-themed jewellery wrap I think an anchor, boat or seashell charm would have looked better but I couldn't find any in my stash and the glass cross had not long arrived in the post amongst dozens of other 'things' I've ordered for no specific reason other that 'it was shiny and I wanted it'. It just seemed to 'go', so on it went.

 

The longer these are, the more uses they have. This one measures  26 inches so it can be worn as a bracelet, anklet, necklace or anything else you can think of! Lovely ♥

Antique Keys . .

I know I'm not the only one who has an obsession with these things.. So I thought I'd dedicate a post to them. I've acquired old keys from everywhere - the internet, family members, junk shops, antique shops, car boots.. I just can't get enough of them!

I think it's the mystery that surrounds them that makes them so appealing. Not knowing who it belonged to, wondering what it was used for.. Did it open a gate to a secret garden? A secret room? A treasure chest?

I thought I'd share a couple of things I've been working on -
First up, a skeleton key garland to hang wherever you please! This little beauty has been sent across the country to a lovely girlie, as part of a swap package. I am SO making one of these for myself! It starts with a braided base of vintage floral fabric and ribbons, and the keys are wrapped in the same florals as the base, each key was looped onto the garland as I plaited and it's all finished off with vintage buttons and some skinny ribbon at each end to tie it up with!

Second, a bib style necklace with a faded blue felt base, rolled muslin and lace roses, the pink flower in the middle was made from reclaimed sari fabric and the whole thing is finished off with a sweet little antique key, tied down with vintage lace bows, vintage glass pearls and a vintage button! These necklaces are so much fun to make and of course each has the opportunity to be a complete one-off piece, I'm really looking forward to making more!

I'd love to know what you all think! ♥

Pouches, pouches, pouches . .

I've been so busy making things over the past couple of weeks, I'm still working on my next tattered dress but I'm waiting to find the perfect fabric for the skirt part - I have so much material I can use already here with me, but I have this vision in my head of a beautiful full tea-stained lace skirt. I'm going to Emmaus on Monday so fingers crossed I will come across some beauties there!

I've also been making prototypes for my upcoming shop! Here's an example of a sweet little fold over pouch Made with vintage 1970s floral print fabric & lined with reclaimed vintage linen to match. All of these will be adorned differently and finished off with a beautiful vintage button, so they'll all be one-of-a-kind.

Measurements

Width:
7 inches

Height:
7 inches (fastened)
11 inches (unfastened)

These pouches are amazingly useful for holding all sorts of treasures - here's just a few ideas:
*make-up
*jewellery
*money
*holiday documents/Passports
*keys
*ribbons & bows
*stationary
*seashells, sea glass & pretty stones
*sewing supplies
*trinkets and findings

The fastening ribbon also doubles up as a hanger to pin to your wall so you can store all sorts of useful things!

I have one of these in my bag all the time so if I find any treasures when I'm on an adventure, I just put them in my pouch so I know they'll be safe until I get home!

You can also see an example of my garment tags there, I'm SO excited for this to take flight!

♥

Isn't it Beautiful, Jackdaw? My Leaf Dress . .

Yes, the amazing girlie who I made the dress for in this post, made me this one in return.. isn't it just.. stunning? When I opened the package my jaw dropped to the floor...



it's the most intricately created masterpiece I think I've ever seen!
Have some detail piccies!







There's not a single area of the dress without something to look at! She made it in such a way that it will photograph beautifully from every angle, she sure didn't get that wrong!

It laces up at the back like a corset, and there's a lovely chunky zip at the side. the straps are pretty lace that you tie to fasten.

I can't stop looking at it.. it's just.. amaaaazing!







Those gold leaves are gold dipped! The dress is jam packed with vintage linens, laces, buttons.. ribbons, just.. everything! I can't wait to take more photos of it!

You can read all about the dress in this forum post over at Craftster.org

Cass if you read this, thank you SO much for creating such a breathtaking work of art for me!

Love x x